Chapter 123.2
Yao shi did choose the gifts in person and it even took her a lot of thought. However, Yao shi didn"t do it for her own sake, instead it was to keep Old Madame Gu from getting angry with Gu Jinyu.
Old Madame Gu curled her mouth. Anyways, she didn"t like Yao shi. It would indeed be better if Yao Shi didn"t come, saving her from feeling upset.
"Where’s Yan"er? "Old Madame Gu finally asked about Gu Yan," Why didn"t he come with you?"
Marquis Gu didn"t dare say that Gu Yan had already arrived in the capital before them. He merely smiled and said, "Yan"er is not well, so I told him to come slowly. There is also a physician accompanying him."
"En." Old Madame Gu didn"t ask further questions.
Marquis Gu said, "I"ll take Jinyu to the palace later to greet the imperial concubine."
At the mention of Imperial Concubine Shu, Old Madame Gu’s gaze at Gu Jinyu became kind as she spoke, "Good, your aunt has also been missing you for a while now. She had sent people to inquire about you several times."
Gu Jinyu smiled with relief, saying, "Jinyu misses aunt very much too."
While they conversed, a servant came to report the arrival of the second and third young master.
Old Madame Gu’s face immediately showed an undisguised doting.
If one asked Old Madame Gu who she loved most in the family, it would be her three precious grandsons. Even Marquis Gu, this biological son of hers, wasn’t as important as these grandsons in her mind.
Gu Chengfeng and Gu Chenglin lifted the curtain and entered.
"Grandma."
"Father."
The two people saluted, cupping their hands in obeisance.
Gu Jinyu stood up and saluted her two brothers, "Second brother, third brother."
Gu Chenglin cast her a lukewarm look.
Gu Chengfeng said, "No need."
He spoke politely, but his tone was filled with alienation.
Gu Jinyu was used to it. These several brothers were not necessarily targeting her, their aim was her mother, so they would never like any of her mother’s children.
"Where’s your eldest brother? Why don"t I see him?" Old Madame Gu asked.
Gu Chengfeng answered, "Eldest brother came back late last night and went to the military camp early in the morning."
The eldest grandson of Marquis Ding"an Estate wasn’t an easy position. He was the heir of a Marquis Estate and shouldered the rise and fall of the Marquis Estate. Thus, he had to work harder than other children.
Old Madame Gu loved her grandson dearly, but she really couldn’t drag him back from the military camp now, could she?
Marquis Gu saw that it was about time to cut to the chase. He cleared his throat and said to Old Madame Gu, "Mother, I have something to tell you."
"What is it?" Old Madame Gu looked at him inquiringly.
Marquis Gu glanced at Gu Jinyu, took a deep breath and solemnly said, "It"s about the life of my two children."
……
After several days of hard work at home, Gu Jiao finally neatened up both yards. She planted green onions, rapeseed and lettuce in the small vegetable garden. She also planted some peas at Little Jing Kong"s request.
The small vegetable garden only occupied the left half of the front yard. As for the right half, Gu Jiao was thinking about building a grape trellis, where she could grow some calabash, and also grow some grapes and luffa in the spring next year.
Xiao Liulang had quickly returned home from Imperial Academy after getting his waist plate and also registering Little Jing Kong’s name by the way.
The private elementary school of Imperial Academy was also divided into four cla.s.ses according to grades and ages. In addition to these four cla.s.ses, there was also a very special cla.s.s that focused on recruiting gifted children, which was somewhat similar to the elite cla.s.ses of Gu Jiao’s previous life.
This elite cla.s.s had only been opened in recent years, and Xiao Liulang never attended it when he was a child.
Gu Jiao"s action of cutting vegetables halted, "Huh? Wasn’t the Imperial Academy closed for the past few years? How come the private elementary school was still running then?"
Xiao Liulang added a piece of firewood to the stove chamber as he said, "Strictly speaking, the elementary school division of Imperial Academy does not completely belong to the Imperial Academy. It is separated from the Imperial Academy by an alley. When His Majesty originally shut down the Imperial Academy, he did not deliberately mention the private elementary school, so the private elementary school took advantage of this loophole and has been operating ever since."
And since it had been up and running for several years, they should have plenty of experience in teaching prodigy children.
Gu Jiao asked, "What is the entrance exam like?"
Xiao Liulang replied, "Judging from the exams in previous years, they should test the students’ literacy. There are also cla.s.sics filling and arithmetic."
Gu Jiao said, "Little Jing Kong should be able to handle these."
"En." Xiao Liulang nodded.
However, to be on the safe side, they still spent a lot of money to get their hands on the previous exam questions and let Little Jing Kong answer them. Little Jing Kong’s accuracy rate in the exam was very high, only, his handwriting was slow and ugly, truly incomparably hideous!
As a result, one more activity had been added in Little Jing Kong’s daily schedule: practicing calligraphy.
Little Jing Kong wasn’t happy about this at all. He suspected that his bad brother-in-law was depriving him of his childhood amus.e.m.e.nt!
Xiao Liulang said to him, "JiaoJiao practices calligraphy every day too. Both of you will practice together."
Thinking that he would have some alone time with JiaoJiao, Little Jing Kong happily agreed!
Gu Jiao hadn"t dreamt for a long time.
The last time she dreamt was before Xiao Liulang went to take the provincial exam, and it had been four months since then.
She almost forgot that she could have these prophetic dreams.
However, this night, when she went back to her room after practicing calligraphy with Little Jing Kong, she soon fell into a very strange dream.
It was very strange because it was neither Xiao Liulang nor herself that appeared in the dream.
Rather, it was the man who had saved Little Jing Kong that she had almost forgotten.
The man was clad in blue-green armor and a cape almost as red as blood was draped over his shoulders as he sat on a majestic horse.
As he pa.s.sed through a secluded alley, the man was ambushed by a wave of a.s.sa.s.sins, all of whom were first-cla.s.s martial arts experts. Despite this, they were still no match for the man.
Just as the man was about to win, one of the a.s.sa.s.sins suddenly threw out a child and tried to stab the child with his sword.
In order to save the child, the man was slashed in the right arm by the a.s.sa.s.sin.
The a.s.sa.s.sin"s sword was coated with a highly toxic poison. Although the man"s life was saved, his right arm became useless from then on.
Strictly speaking, Little Jing Kong had something to do with this a.s.sa.s.sination.
The a.s.sa.s.sins had been secretly tailing the man for a long time, but they never dared to do anything. However, after they accidentally witnessed the scene of the man saving a defenseless child, they thought of an idea and decided to employ this trick, which led to the a.s.sa.s.sination afterwards.
Gu Jiao woke up looking a little confused.
She was becoming more and more baffled about her dreams. So she could dream about anyone now, even those she had no relation to?
Well, in any case, he still saved Little Jing Kong"s life. If it were not for him saving Little Jing Kong, those a.s.sa.s.sins wouldn’t have come up with this method of a.s.sa.s.sination.
She couldn’t just sit back and do nothing. She must at least return the favor.
The time of the a.s.sa.s.sination was tomorrow evening. As for the location, she remembered that there was this inn called Magical Cloud near where the man was a.s.sa.s.sinated.