Chapter 128.1
Yao shi lifted the cloth on the bird cage and saw a young falcon inside.
Yao shi asked Little Jing Kong how he knew that big brother, and Little Jing Kong recounted how he had rescued him before, "...I went to save Little Seven but was almost hit by a carriage. It was big brother who saved me! Big brother is amazing!"
As he spoke, his eyes were full of admiration for Gu Changqing.
Yao shi and Gu Changqing hadn"t lived under the same roof for ten years, and her impression of Gu Changqing remained before he was eleven years old. At that time, Gu Changqing was easily influenced by the slanderous words of G.o.d knows who and firmly believed that Yao shi had killed his mother.
Gu Changqing desperately set himself against Yao shi and the way he looked at Yao shi was always full of resentment.
He didn’t treat Gu Yan nicely either.
Gu Yan, who didn"t understand at first, often went to see his three older brothers, only to return black and blue every time.
And every time Marquis Gu found out about it, he would beat up his three older sons as punishment. However, after the beating, someone would always tell the Old Madame and in the end, the ones to suffer a loss were still Yao shi and Gu Yan.
Yao shi knew that Gu Changqing himself never laid a hand on Gu Yan, even so, he never once saved Gu Yan from the clutches of his two younger brothers like he saved Little Jing Kong.
Yao shi felt sour in her heart. Since he could be kind to strangers, why couldn’t he be kind to Gu Yan, his own brother?
Forget it. That was ten years ago and she had already moved on.
Gu Yan had JiaoJiao by his side now, and he was living extremely well here with JiaoJiao. He didn’t have to go back to the estate to look at anyone’s face, and didn’t have to get hurt unnecessarily.
"Big brother is a good person!" Little Jing Kong said as he held the birdcage.
Yao shi could only put on a wry smile and remain silent.
As a soldier of the State of Zhao, Gu Changqing had the obligation to protect the people of the State of Zhao. He was a good person to everyone, but when it came to her and Yan’er, he was someone who couldn’t wait to eat their flesh and drink their blood.
From Little Jing Kong"s mouth, Yao shi learned that Gu Jiao had also met Gu Changqing, it was just that neither of them knew each other"s ident.i.ty.
Gu Changqing didn"t see Gu Yan, but even if he had met him, he probably wouldn"t be able to guess his ident.i.ty too.
"Has big brother been here only once?" Yao shi asked.
"Hmm... Today is the third time!" Little Jing Kong answered.
The first time was when he saved Little Jing Kong and sent him home. The second one was when Gu Jiao returned home with him. This time, he should really be just pa.s.sing by, and thinking Little Jing Kong was cute, he gave him a bird.
Otherwise?
Could he have made a special trip here to celebrate JiaoJiao"s birthday?
The one he saved was JiaoJiao"s little brother, not JiaoJiao.
Besides, who would give someone’s daughter a fierce-looking young bird on her birthday, right?
In fact, this was the truth. Gu Changqing indeed intended to send this young falcon as a gift.
And this young falcon, a gyrfalcon to be exact, was known to be an auspicious bird which was one out of tens of thousands of its kind.
Little Jing Kong didn’t know about falcons and whatnot. He only thought that this young bird was big, "Alright then, you will be called Little Nine in the future!"
“JiaoJiao, JiaoJiao! Big brother has just been here! He gave me a bird!"
Little Jing Kong, holding the birdcage, went to look for Gu Jiao.
The alley on this day was really full of bustle. Shortly after Gu Changqing left, Wu Yang arrived.
He came to send birthday gifts to Gu Jiao and Gu Yan at the behest of An Junw.a.n.g.
An Junw.a.n.g"s reason was very aboveboard, "My family’s Junw.a.n.g received an invitation from Marquis Gu and originally wanted to come and greet you personally, but he isn’t feeling well these days, so he asked me to send birthday gifts to Young Miss Gu and Young Master Gu on his stead."
Since it was Marquis Gu who sent an invitation first, then An Junw.a.n.g"s action of giving gifts made sense.
It was just that Yao shi vaguely remembered that the place indicated in Marquis Gu"s invitation was the Marquis Ding’an Estate. How did An Junw.a.n.g find this place then?
Gu Jiao asked, "How did your Junw.a.n.g know that we came to the capital?"
Wu Yang replied smilingly, "Junw.a.n.g is also a student of the Imperial Academy. After reading the roster of the Imperial Academy, he learned that Young Gentleman Xiao had also come to the Imperial Academy. It actually took us some effort to find out where your place is."
Gu Jiao let out an ‘oh’ and scrutinized Wu Yang up and down, saying, "I suddenly feel you look a bit familiar. Are you the thief that night?"
Wu Yang shook his head hard like a rattle drum, "I"m not! I’m not!"
Heavens! It had already been so long, how could she remember?
He was almost recognized!
Xiao Liulang wasn’t present at home when An Junw.a.n.g came to their door, but he had heard about it afterwards. Xiao Liulang"s gaze fell on Wu Yang instantly.
Wu Yang, who suddenly received his suspicious gaze, involuntarily coughed and said, "Is Grandaunt there? I"ll go and say h.e.l.lo to her."
Xiao Liulang"s eyes flashed a meaningful glint.
Wu Yang went to the backyard to meet the elderly woman and handed her two boxes of exquisite and delicious osmanthus cakes.
The elderly woman was very joyful.
Seeing that the Empress Dowager"s mood was very good, Wu Yang was secretly relieved.
Gu Jiao could actually feel that Wu Yang treated the elderly woman differently. When An Junw.a.n.g visited their home for the first time, she already found it very strange. He kept saying that he came to apologize to her for Zhuang Mengdie’s matter, but who would come all the way to apologize empty-handed and sent the apology gifts only the next day?
In fact, it wasn’t that An Junw.a.n.g didn"t realize his flaw, it was just that there was no better excuse at that time. He only hoped that Gu Jiao wouldn"t be so smart to notice this flaw.
Gu Jiao always felt that the a.s.sa.s.sination that night had something to do with An Junw.a.n.g.
This guy named Wu Yang looked more and more like the man in black who shot an arrow at the elderly woman that night the longer she looked at him.
Gu Jiao had no idea that Wu Yang had only missed the shot back then. She thought that they were there to kill the elderly woman.
Therefore, Gu Jiao was very wary of Wu Yang. When he went to see the elderly woman, Gu Jiao stared at him from beginning to end, making it impossible for Wu Yang to even whisper to the Empress Dowager!
Halfway through, Gu Jiao asked Little Jing Kong to call him, and he could only leave sooner.
Wu Yang sighed and departed angrily.
“Junw.a.n.g.” In another alley near the Imperial Academy, Wu Yang got into a carriage to make a report to An Junw.a.n.g.
"Does she like the gift?" An Junw.a.n.g asked.
Wu Yang didn"t know the answer to this and simply asked, "Why didn"t Junw.a.n.g personally give the present to Young Miss Gu?"
An Junw.a.n.g laughed grimly and said, "There are a lot of people in the capital staring at this prince. We have to be careful about our every move. In case someone finds out about this place, the Empress Dowager won’t be able to hide anymore."
……
The family spent a full and happy day on the birthday of the twins.
When it was about the period of zishi(11 pm-1 am), Yao shi returned to the Marquis Estate.