Chapter 181.2
For this kind of people who came knocking on their gates and trying to seek connection, they had seen too many of them already. Xiao Liulang"s clothes were shabby, and he didn’t look like from a high background, so the gatekeeper didn’t take him seriously.
It happened that there were several murders in the capital during that time, and the joint efforts of the Ministry of Justice and Court of Judicial Review failed to solve the case. His Majesty then handed the case to Marquis Xuanping.
Marquis Xuanping became extremely busy.
Finally, when he solved the case, Little Marquis had another accident.
In short, by the time Marquis Xuanping got the news, Xiao Liulang had already left the capital.
Marquis Xuanping said in a heavy voice, "This Marquis knows all this, it was this Marquis who told these things to you. What this Marquis wants to know is how things went when you traveled to the county to find him!"
Steward Liu, who was sent to other places for years, was transferred back just two years ago.
Steward Liu replied, "I went to the county town without delay and found out that he was a student of Tianxiang Academy, so I went to the academy to look for him, but he did not admit to his ident.i.ty. I didn"t give up, and then... Sigh, I came up with several means. I used both hard and soft approaches, but this young master is truly worthy of being Lord Marquis’s blood. His bones are really hard to chew ah! Of course, he’s just as well-learned too. He pa.s.sed the provincial exam as a Jieyuan in You Province, and was sent to the Imperial Academy to study."
Countless storms began to stir within Marquis Xuanping"s eyes as he asked, "What happened to his leg?"
Steward Liu answered, "I asked someone about this. I heard it was more than a year ago. He was injured after saving a cla.s.smate and turned lame afterwards."
Marquis Xuanping: "Can’t it be treated?"
Steward Liu: "It has been treated, but somehow, his situation didn"t get much better."
As soon as they arrived at the Marquis Xuanping Estate, Marquis Xuanping quickly headed into the study and took out a portrait from the secret compartment.
In the portrait was a 13 to 14-year-old boy who looked as warm as a jade with an outstanding appearance and a tear mole under his right eye.
If he survived to be eighteen...
The appearance of Xiao Liulang flashed in Marquis Xuanping’s mind.
……
Little Jing Kong slept all the way and only woke up when they got home. He instantly turned into a lively little trumpet player again!
The first thing he did was go find Little Nine, and he was relieved to see Little Nine in his birdcage.
"Don"t be too happy yet." Xiao Liulang said behind him, "Are you going to confess yourself, or should I tell JiaoJiao?"
Little Jing Kong wilted at once.
In the end, Little Jing Kong chose to voluntarily confess. JiaoJiao once said, leniency to those who confess, severity to those who resist!
As soon as Gu Jiao came back, Little Jing Kong took the initiative to tell her how he took his baby falcon to the Imperial Academy and compared birds with his cla.s.smate. As a result, his cla.s.smate wet his pants in fright.
Gu Jiao didn"t immediately blame him, but asked him why he did it.
Little Jing Kong answered in a sad tone, "Because they laughed at me for being small. They mocked me for not growing up and still being a baby."
It was true he wasn’t as big as them, but the bird he raised must be the biggest!
He often walked his little chickens in the alley. Of course, now there was an additional dog and a baby falcon. He had seen a lot of grandpas taking a stroll with their birds, either a laughingthrush, magpie, or crested myna, none of which was as big as his Little Nine!
He simply wanted to compare their birds, not to scare people.
"But why did he take off his pants?" Little Jing Kong looked puzzled.
Now, aside from the adults" confusing behavior, there was another children’s confusing behavior that Little Jing Kong"s brain couldn’t comprehend.
Gu Jiao nearly choked up.
This… Gouwa, who was only one and a half years old, was probably aware of this, but Little Jing Kong grew up in the mountains and simply never came across such a lowly slang word.
Ultimately, Gu Jiao didn"t explain to him the other meaning of that word. She merely patted his little head and said, "What are the grades of those who laugh at you? Do they rank first in exams every time?"
Little Jing Kong pouted and said proudly, "No! They often make mistakes! Only my answers are all correct!"
Gu Jiao responded with a soft voice, "Right? They all make mistakes when answering problems, and what they say isn’t always correct. They say that you’re not tall, but they are wrong. You are still young. When you grow up, you will grow taller than all of them!"
Little Jing Kong thought carefully and was successfully persuaded by Gu Jiao.
If he could be good at studying, there was no reason why he couldn’t grow tall in the future!
Little Jing Kong had regained confidence in life and became full of fighting spirit!
Gu Jiao added, "Is there anything else that you’ve done wrong?"
"Yes." Little Jing Kong honestly said, "I shouldn"t have taken Little Nine to the Imperial Academy. I won"t do it again."
Gu Jiao nodded with relief, "Alright, you can go."
"En!" Little Jing Kong turned and left with the baby falcon in his arms. As soon as he entered the main hall, he poked his little head out and asked again, "But why did he take off his pants?"
Gu Jiao：“…”
……
Old Chief was out so Gu Jiao cooked their dinner.
Xiao Liulang came in as usual to help her add firewood, and Gu Jiao vaguely felt that his state wasn’t quite right.
Gu Jiao made his recent favorite crispy meat, but he ate half a bowl of rice less than usual.
After dinner, he checked Little Jing Kong"s homework like normal while Little Jing Kong went to check the homework of his two big brothers. Afterwards, Xiao Liulang went back to his room to study, but he didn"t read the book for a long time.
Gu Jiao knocked on the door, "It"s me."
The door was left unlocked.
Xiao Liulang paused, picked up the book lying upside down on the table and said towards the door, "Come in."
Gu Jiao pushed open the door, came in with a bowl of lotus seed soup, and put it on his desk, saying, "I just made this, try it while it"s hot."
Xiao Liulang looked at her little hands, which were not supposed to suffer these hardships, and sighed, "Why did you cook again?"
“You didn"t eat much for dinner." Gu Jiao replied.
Xiao Liulang lowered his eyes.
Gu Jiao sat down in the chair opposite him.
The yellow candlelight fell on his handsome jade-like face, and the shadows of his long lashes quivered gently on either side of his nose.
Gu Jiao looked at him with her chin on her hand and asked, "Aren’t you going to eat?"
Xiao Liulang had no appet.i.te, but he still picked up the spoon and tasted it.
Very sweet.
Even his heart seemed to become less bitter.
Xiao Liulang slowly ate up the bowl of lotus seed soup and looked up at her after he was done eating.
She was staring at him too.
Candidly.
She didn"t feel the slightest embarra.s.sed even when she was caught by him. Her eyes only continued to shine like stars.
Something seemed to slowly fill up Xiao Liulang"s heart until the unpleasant emotions were forcefully squeezed out.
He was the first to look away. He cleared his throat and said, "I"ll wash the dishes."
"No, I"ll do it!" Gu Jiao stood up and swiftly took the bowl over. "You should just continue to prepare for the metropolitan exam. I want to be a Gongshi’s wife!"
"Oh." Xiao Liulang felt disappointed.
Just a Gongshi’s wife? There was still the Jinshi after the Gongshi, and among the Jinshi, there were the Zhuangyuan, Bangyan, and Tanhua. [T/N: First, second, and third ranker in the palace exam respectively.]
But that form of address——
The little tsun Liulang: "Wife..."
Gu Jiao: "You called?"
Did he say it out loud? Xiao Liulang was instantly fl.u.s.tered, "No, I..."
Gu Jiao looked back and smiled, "Oh!"