Chapter 121
Gu Jiao got up before dawn. After washing up, she went to feed Little Jing Kong"s baby chicks.
Actually, the baby chicks had almost grown into big chickens nowadays and would occasionally cluck. If no one in the family got up, they wouldn’t stop clucking.
There was a small market nearby, which was in a different direction from the Imperial Academy and one could quickly reach it on foot.
Gu Jiao headed to the small market with her back basket.
"Steamed buns— fresh and delicious steamed buns—" shouted a vendor.
Gu Jiao walked over and asked him, "How much is a steamed bun?"
The vendor saw the birthmark on her face but his expression didn"t display the slightest difference. He was a native of the capital and had seen a lot, so he was no longer surprised by anything unusual.
The vendor smiled and said, "There are pork steamed buns and brown sugar steamed buns, both cost three wen! How many does the girl want?"
The steamed buns were so big that a single one of them was enough to make one full. Gu Jiao took out the food box from her back basket and replied, "Eight pork buns and four brown sugar buns."
The sugar brown buns were for Little Jing Kong to eat while the pork buns were for the rest of them.
She really wasn’t sure if four was enough for him to eat his fill, after all that little guy"s appet.i.te was also somewhat amazing.
"Here you go! Thirty wen altogether! I also added an extra steamed bun!" The vendor packed the two kinds of steamed buns separately for Gu Jiao.
"Thank you." After paying the money, Gu Jiao went to buy pots and pans and other kitchen utensils, followed by firewood.
The cost of firewood in the capital wasn’t cheap. A bundle of firewood cost ten copper coins, which could last for about two to three days at the rate of their family"s firewood burning.
Gu Jiao bought two bundles of firewood and asked how much the charcoal was.
The firewood vendor said, "Does the girl want black charcoal or silver charcoal? Black charcoal is five wen per catty, silver charcoal is twenty wen per catty."
"Why is silver charcoal so expensive?"
The firewood vendor laughed, "Silver charcoal is more convenient to use ah!"
This was the truth. Black charcoal wasn’t only not burning-resistant, but also produced so much smoke that people were p.r.o.ne to choking. By contrast, silver charcoal was more resistant to burning and produced little to no smoke.
In the end, Gu Jiao bought one hundred catties of silver charcoal at the price of seventeen wen per catty.
The vendor drove his mule cart and personally delivered the firewood and silver charcoal to their door.
Xiao Liulang had gotten up and cleaned the kitchen by now. He was cleaning the backyard at the moment. His movements were very light so he didn"t wake anyone up.
"Morning." Gu Jiao greeted him.
"Morning." Xiao Liulang nodded.
Gu Jiao directly asked the vendor to move the firewood and silver charcoal to the kitchen.
After the vendor left, Gu Jiao walked over and took the broom from Xiao Liulang, saying, "Let me do it, you go and sort out your things."
On this trip to the capital, Gu Jiao, the elderly woman, Gu Yan and Gu Xiaoshun didn"t have much luggage, but Xiao Liulang and Little Jing Kong brought several boxes filled with stuff. Xiao Liulang"s things were mostly books, Little Jing Kong"s things were those he brought back from the temple, and of course, his seven baby chicks.
"Okay." Xiao Liulang turned and went to the study.
After a while, Gu Jiao brought him two big pork steamed buns, "Eat these first, I"ll cook some congee."
"Have you eaten?" Xiao Liulang asked her, causing her to pause her steps.
"Not yet." Gu Jiao shook her head.
She wanted to say that she could eat while cooking congee, but Xiao Liulang pushed the plate forward and spoke first, "Let"s eat together."
Gu Jiao thought for a moment and replied, "Okay."
They hadn"t eaten alone for a long time since the family grew bigger. The last time was in the inn in town, but that was already more than half a year ago.
They sat face to face, as if they had returned to the original days.
Gu Jiao chuckled.
"Why are suddenly you laughing?" Xiao Liulang asked.
Gu Jiao held the big pork bun in his hand and said, "I just suddenly recalled the first time I asked you to eat and can’t help laughing. At the time, you thought I poisoned the food so you dared not eat, right?"
"I didn"t." Xiao Liulang denied it.
Gu Jiao suddenly leaned over and stared at his handsome face that was almost within reach, saying, "Are you no longer afraid I’ll poison you?"
He had so much trust in her now?
When Gu Jiao was feeling immeasurably self-satisfied, he saw Xiao Liulang look at the steamed bun in his hand in a complicated way. Then he took Gu Jiao"s steamed bun and gave his own steamed bun to Gu Jiao.
Gu Jiao：“…”
After the two had breakfast, the rest of the family still hadn’t woken up. Xiao Liulang was going to the Imperial Academy to report his name. Guessing that others would probably sleep till noon, Gu Jiao decided to send Xiao Liulang to the Imperial Academy.
The Imperial Academy officially opened at the end of the tenth month and there were already a lot of Imperial Academy students who came to report, some of them were locals of the capital while others were like Xiao Liulang, who came from other places.
The Imperial Academy"s regular students didn’t have to pay a tuition fee. All expenses, including their bedrooms and meals, were covered by the Imperial Academy, which also received allocated funds from the imperial court.
After going to the Academic Affairs Office to report his name today, Xiao Liulang planned to directly go back home. Of course, he could stay in the Imperial Academy for self-study if he wanted to.
The Imperial Academy owned the largest library in the whole State of Zhao, otherwise it wouldn’t be regarded as the holy land that all scholars dreamt of.
Gu Jiao was waiting for him outside the Imperial Academy.
The endless stream of horse and carriages and people before her eyes gave Gu Jiao a very fresh feeling.
So this was the imperial capital. It was really different from the county town. The road here was much wider and several carriages would pa.s.s by beside each other from time to time. Most of the young ladies on the streets wore veils, and those who showed their faces in public like Gu Jiao were very few.
Gu Jiao was watching the scenes around enthusiastically when suddenly the crowd rushed towards one place. Everyone stood on both sides of the street, their eyes fixed in one direction.
Gu Jiao was standing not far from the street. She was pushed aside and her foot was even stepped on.
"Ah! Sorry! Sorry!" The culprit hurriedly apologized to Gu Jiao.
The other party was a youth dressed as a scholar, but whether it was the appearance or the deliberately low voice, Gu Jiao could tell that this person was actually a girl.
She had a pretty face.
"I"m really sorry! I didn"t mean to do that!" The little scholar disguised as a man bowed to Gu Jiao.
Gu Jiao didn"t mind.
She gave way to her.
But the people behind prevented her from giving way at all.
She was stuck in the middle by the swarming crowd, unable to advance or retreat.
The little scholar also kept pushing forward a.s.siduously, but she was too weak to squeeze into the front row.
She gave up the fight, wiped the sweat from her forehead, and asked Gu Jiao, "Girl, what"s wrong with your face?"
Gu Jiao calmly answered her, "A birthmark."
"Ah..." The little scholar covered her mouth, saying, "I thought it was rouge, right, right, sorry."
Gu Jiao didn"t care about her unintentional offense.
On the other hand, the little scholar felt guilty. It was embarra.s.sing enough that she b.u.mped into somebody else and also stepped on their foot. Now she even said the wrong thing and poke somebody else"s sore spot——
Alas!
Not a day went by that she didn’t offend anyone!
The little scholar looked at Gu Jiao and said, "Girl, are you not from the capital? Your accent doesn"t sound like you"re from here."
Gu Jiao: "En."
The little scholar continued to question, "Did you come here specially to see the Crown Princess?"
Gu Jiao said oddly, "What princess?"
The little scholar’s round almond eyes stared at her, "The Crown Princess! You came here so early to wait, wasn’t it because you heard that the Crown Princess has returned after praying for blessings and will pa.s.s by the Imperial Academy?"
Gu Jiao shook her head, "I don"t know the Crown Princess, so I’m not here to see her."
The little scholar gasped and said, "Who, who here came to see the Crown Princess because they knew her? Can people like us even know the Crown Princess in person? Isn"t it because we heard about her and admired her that we want to see her appearance from a distance?"
Gu Jiao said seriously, "I have never heard of her and don"t admire her."
"Are you from the State of Zhao? You really have never heard of the Crown Princess?"
The little scholar"s voice was so loud that people around them looked over their direction one after another. They all looked at Gu Jiao with incredulous gazes. Obviously, just like the little scholar, they found it unbelievable that someone didn’t know the Crown Princess of the State of Zhao!
In the middle of their conversation, someone in the crowd suddenly shouted, "Here comes the Crown Princess—— Here comes the Crown Princess——"
With his exclamation, the crowd became restless at once.
Hundreds of imperial guards came on iron hooves. They encircled the carriage of the Crown Princess in the middle, just like a huge formation of troops. The people couldn’t even see how many wheels the carriage had, and only saw the imperial guards escorting the Crown Princess until the imperial procession disappeared into the end of the street.
The crowd then dispersed in succession.
The little scholar looked at the disappearing backs of the imperial guards on armored horses and stamped her feet in anger, saying, "Oh, I failed to see the Crown Princess again! It wasn’t easy for me to come out! I even got up so early!"
Gu Jiao breathed a sigh of relief as she finally got out of the dense crowd.
She was really not used to being so close to strangers.
The little scholar saw that Gu Jiao was not the least bit chagrin and sulky, and asked curiously, "Are you really not here to see the Crown Princess?"
Gu Jiao said flatly, "I already said I’m not."
The little scholar asked again, "Why?"
Gu Jiao replied, "I already answered that too."
The little scholar said, "You really haven"t heard of her?"
Gu Jiao only looked at her without saying a word.
In the eyes of the little scholar, the Crown Princess should be the most admired by people. She would never allow anyone in the world who had not heard of her to exist!
The little scholar explained to Gu Jiao with incomparable earnestness, "Do you know who the Crown Princess is? She is the best woman in the whole State of Zhao. There is no man who doesn"t admire her and no woman who doesn"t envy her. Do you know the great genius of the Zhuang Family, Zhuang Xianzhi? The Crown Princess used to be his student. Do you know who she went to school with? It’s the Little Marquis of Zhao!”
Gu Jiao looked at her calmly.
The little scholar blew her top, "For real? Don"t tell me you don"t know who the Little Marquis of Zhao is! It’s the Little Marquis! The Young Chief!"
Gu Jiao thought for a moment and said, "Oh, I"ve heard of him."
A long time ago, Young Gentleman Qin got a painting from somewhere, saying it was the treasured piece of the Little Marquis, which Xiao Liulang refuted.
That day was the only time she had heard of Little Marquis of Zhao before this.
The little scholar slapped herself on the forehead, saying, "Oh, Heavens, did you come out of a crack of some stone or something? How can you not know the Little Marquis and Crown Princess? One of them was the number one talented youth of the State of Zhao while the other was the number one talented young lady of the State of Zhao. They are childhood sweethearts who grew up together and had an engagement. After the death of the Little Marquis, the Crown Princess remained faithful to him for three years. Only this year did she accept His Majesty"s bestowment of marriage to the Crown Prince. You’ve really never heard of such a legendary story?"