Chapter 130.2
The chief examiner sent to preside over the provincial exam in You Province was a good friend of Director Li. After he returned to the capital, he privately talked to Director Li about the article.
Director Li’s eyes almost popped from their sockets after listening. Was that examinee courting death? He was actually so daring to lecture the Emperor like this?
Naturally, his friend didn"t dare to give the examinee too high of a score in that round of exam, for fear that the Emperor would want to see it and get displeased as a result.
And yet, it didn’t make any difference as the examinee did too well in the first and third exam, becoming a Jieyuan in the end.
Therefore, this was indeed a very strong examinee and wasn’t just someone who got into the Shuaixing Hall through luck.
It was just that Director Li couldn’t explain this all to Director Zheng.
Imperial Academy didn’t publish the students’ scores in the exam, only their designated cla.s.ses.
Xiao Liulang was admitted to Shuaixing Hall, Feng Lin entered the Chengxin Hall of the second cla.s.s, as for Lin Chengye, he also got into the Chengxin Hall. The difference was that Feng Lin was in Cla.s.s A of Chengxin Hall while Lin Chengye was in Cla.s.s B.
Meanwhile, the private school where Gu Yan and Gu Xiaoshun would be studying had also been settled. It was in the Qinghe Academy near the Imperial Academy. All the admission formalities had been completed and the two would start going to school next month.
Gu Jiao cooked a big table of delicious food and invited Feng Lin and Lin Chengye over to celebrate the start of school days for everyone.
It would always start to get cold in the capital at the end of the tenth month. It was said that the first snow had already fallen on the hilltop of Huguolong Temple. Presumably, it would soon reach the capital.
The silver charcoal Gu Jiao had previously h.o.a.rded came in handy. She bought several hand warmer furnaces and put the silver charcoal in them. It could warm them up for an hour, and at noon when they dropped home, they could replace them with new charcoal.
Nowadays, the price of charcoal had gone up again. Fortunately, Gu Jiao had the foresight to store up enough charcoal, which saved the family from spending a lot of money.
On the first day of school, Little Jing Kong wanted JiaoJiao to send him to school.
Therefore, Gu Jiao sent him and Xiao Liulang to the Imperial Academy, and then sent Gu Xiaoshun and Gu Yan to Qinghe Academy.
When she returned to their house in Bishui Alley, the elderly woman had just gotten up. She was currently relaxing on the rattan chair in the backyard, teasing the baby falcon given by Gu Changqing.
This baby falcon was picked up by Gu Changqing at the bottom of a cliff. It should have fallen off the cliff not long after birth. It was unknown whether it fell by itself or was fanned down by its mother’s wings. In any case, it appeared that its mother had forgotten to pick it up.
Despite this, it didn"t accept its fate. It stubbornly struggled to stand up where it fell, as though beneath its little body lay some concealed great strength.
At that moment, a pet.i.te figure suddenly emerged in Gu Changqing"s mind.
He picked up the baby falcon and brought it to the alley.
People in the alley didn’t know anything about the origin of the baby falcon, only that it was a gift from that big brother, as Little Jing Kong said.
The baby falcon was fierce. Anyone who fed it at home would be pecked by it, but the elderly woman had a trick under her sleeve.
The elderly woman went to open the chicken coop.
Little Jing Kong"s seven little chickens swaggered out. They were very brave chickens, entering the baby falcon’s cage fearlessly. Then, they lined up like when Little Jing Kong walked them usually. Afterwards, one of the little chickens took a mouthful of raw meat and fed it to the baby falcon.
With the seven little chickens acting as its mother, the baby falcon was well-behaved and began crying for food!
The elderly woman enjoyed watching them.
Gu Jiao suddenly came over and said, "Grandaunt, I"m going to the military camp to give something to Gouwa’s uncle."
Before they left the village, Xue Ningxiang asked them to deliver a letter and some thick winter clothes to Gouwa’s uncle, as well as a protective talisman that Xue Ningxiang asked for from the temple.
Gu Jiao also added another jar of pickles she made herself and some dried meat.
The elderly woman nodded her head, "Go ahead."
There were several military camps in the capital. Gu Jiao’s destination was the Hushan Camp, which wasn’t too far away from the alley. If fast, she could get there in half an hour.
Gu Jiao hired a carriage.
When she arrived at the military camp, a training was being conducted and she could hear the hot-blooded voices of the soldiers from afar.
The carriage stopped outside the military camp.
A soldier came over and stretched out his hand to stop the carriage, "Who is it?"
Gu Jiao got off the carriage and said to him, "I"m looking for someone. He works for Deputy General Hu. His name is Zhou Erzhuang."
Gouwa"s father"s name was Zhou Dazhuang.
The soldier sized up Gu Jiao and then said impatiently, "Visitors are forbidden in the military camp, leave quickly!"
Gu Jiao said, "Just for a little while."
The soldier uttered coldly, "That won"t do either!"
Gu Jiao persisted, "After I hand him something, I"ll quickly leave."
But the soldier only grew more and more impatient, saying, "Just leave it here and I"ll send it to him later!"
Zhou Erzhuang had mentioned in his letter that some soldiers usually confiscated the things people sent in, so Gu Jiao wanted to hand the things to him in person. She said, "Then when will they finish training? I"ll wait for him here."
The soldier frowned and said, "Hey, what"s up with you? Is the military camp a place where you can loiter about? How do I know you’re not a spy sent here?"
"I"m not." Gu Jiao replied.
The soldier clamored, "Are you not just because you say so? Then I can also say you are!"
"What’s wrong?"
Just then, a majestic voice came from the direction of the military.
The soldier turned his head and immediately made a respectful salute, saying, "Commandant! There"s a woman here who’s looking for someone from our camp, but our soldiers are in training at the moment, so I told her to go back first and I"ll take her things to the person later."
The man the soldier referred to as commandant walked out of the military camp and came to the front of the two people.
The soldier"s body sank lower.
The commandant’s eyes fell on Gu Jiao"s face, "It’s you?"
Gu Jiao nodded, "It"s me."
The soldier froze. The two of them... Knew each other?
This little girl didn’t seem to come from a family with a very good background at all. How could she know the commandant of their military camp?
Moreover, the commandant didn’t seem to be as terrifying as usual when talking to her...
What about that Iron-faced Yama? Where did it go?
Gu Changqing looked at Gu Jiao and said, "You know someone in the military camp?"
Gu Jiao nodded again, answering, "En, we are from the same village. His family is my neighbor. They asked me to bring him something."
Gu Changqing asked, "What"s his name? Who does he work for?"
Gu Jiao replied, "Zhou Erzhuang, he’s Deputy General Hu’s subordinate."
Gu Changqing said, "Unfortunately, you came late. Deputy General Hu had just been transferred back to the military camp in Qishan County. Qishan military camp is far away from here; if you go now, you won’t be able to come back at night. Hand the things over to me and I"ll send them to him tomorrow."
"Thank you for your trouble." Gu Jiao handed the things over accordingly.
The soldier was dumbfounded. Just what on earth was the origin of this little girl that the commandant would be willing to run errands for her personally?
Gu Changqing turned to look at the soldier and asked, "Don’t you know that Deputy General Hu is no longer in the military camp?"
The soldier choked up at once, "This humble... humble soldier..."
Gu Changqing"s eyes were as sharp as a knife, "You knew but didn"t tell her, and even asked her to leave the things here. I think you just wanted to pocket them for yourself!"
The soldier"s legs went soft as he tried to deny it, "Ths humble, humble soldier, dare not!"
Gu Changqing spoke with a cold voice, "Then you really don"t know? As a sentry, you don"t even know that there had been such a big transfer in the military camp. This is a dereliction of duty!"
"Commandant, have mercy!" The soldier plopped down on his knees.
If Gu Changqing could show mercy, he wouldn’t have earned himself the nickname Iron-faced Yama.
In the end, the soldier was dragged down and was punished with a hundred strikes of military flogging, almost losing half his life.
Gu Changqing wasn’t trying to help Gu Jiao vent her anger or anything. He had just always been strict.
After handing the things over to Gu Changqing, Gu Jiao went back to the carriage. Before leaving, Gu Jiao asked him to give Zhou Erzhuang her address and told Zhou Erzhuang that he could drop by and look for her if anything happened to him.