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At night, Gu Jiao was recording the power and drawbacks of various hidden weapons made of black gunpowder in her room. Unknowingly, the night had grown late.
Knock, knock, knock.
Suddenly, there was a light knocking at the door. Gu Jiao rubbed her sore neck and turned to look at the partially open door, "The door is open, come in."
Xiao Liulang pushed open the door and walked in with a bowl of mung bean soup.
He came to her and placed the bowl of chilled mung bean soup on the table in front of her.
Gu Jiao looked at the bowl of mung bean soup, chilled with well water, and tilted her head in surprise.
In the past, she was the one who always brought him things. Today, as if the sun had risen from the west, he actually brought her something.
Wait, that wasn"t entirely accurate.
When she had menstrual cramps, he had made her brown sugar water.
But today, she neither had stomachache or menstrual cramps. She didn"t understand why he was being so considerate of her right now.
Xiao Liulang sat across from her and calmly said, "Just now, Jing Kong was clamoring for mung bean soup. I made a little extra and saved a bowl for you."
"What are you doing, brother-in-law?"
"Making mung bean soup."
"I don"t want to drink it."
"JiaoJiao wants to drink it."
"Well, fine, I"ll have a bowl too."
As the memory with Little Jing Kong just now flashed through his mind, Xiao Liulang coughed lightly.
Gu Jiao didn"t notice the subtle change in his expression. She happened to be thirsty, so she scooped up a spoonful of mung bean soup and fed it into her mouth. "Mm, it"s so sweet."
Xiao Liulang wasn’t good at cooking anything, but he had made the mung bean soup quite well. However, the sight of her devouring it exceeded his imagination.
Xiao Liulang couldn"t help but ask, "Is it really that delicious?"
"Mm!" Gu Jiao scooped up a spoonful of the mung bean soup and fed it naturally to Xiao Liulang’s mouth.
Xiao Liulang paused for a moment. Gu Jiao"s eyes were clear and innocent, and she seemed to have no ulterior motive. However, he often overthought things and couldn"t help but add some nonexistent implications to her actions.
Xiao Liulang"s throat moved as he slowly took the spoon from his mouth and swallowed the sweet soup with his head lowered.
"Is it sweet?" Gu Jiao asked.
"Yes." He replied while looking at her. It was uncertain whether he meant the soup was sweet or her action was sweet.
"I think so, too." Gu Jiao took the spoon that he had just used and continued to eat the soup.
Xiao Liulang"s eyes glowed as he watched her put the spoon in her mouth.
“Do you want more?" Gu Jiao pushed the bowl of soup towards him when she noticed his intense gaze.
"I want more of..." In the middle of his sentence, Xiao Liulang regained his senses and stopped. He was stunned. He almost said something else just now!
He broke out in a cold sweat.
Gu Jiao tilted her head and looked at him, uttering, "Want more of me?"
“Cough! Cough!“ Xiao Liulang choked.
His face turned red, either from choking or embarra.s.sment.
Was it really okay for his wife to be so direct?
"Hmm..." Gu Jiao brought the bowl back and scooped up a spoonful of soup. "I guess it"s not impossible."
Xiao Liulang"s eyes flickered.
"But you see, my body is still too small. You"ll have to wait for me to grow up some more." She said seriously, and after speaking, she added, "I"m delicious though!"
Xiao Liulang"s mind exploded like fireworks in the night sky. His heart pounded violently and he couldn"t even breathe.
This was too much...
Did this girl even know what she was talking about?
Of course, Gu Jiao knew. But teasing him didn’t cost her anything, so why not?
After she was done teasing, she went back to eating her mung bean soup nonchalantly.
Xiao Liulang: "..."
Gu Jiao was slurping and eating when she suddenly raised her head halfway through, "My herbs..."
"Got it." Xiao Liulang took a deep breath, suppressing his restlessness. He had decided not to talk to this girl again in the future.
After teasing him every time and leaving it at that, she was fine, but he felt unwell.
"Oh." Gu Jiao continued eating. "Jing Kong"s swing..."
"Repaired." Xiao Liulang interrupted.
Gu Jiao: "Jing Kong"s trunk."
Xiao Liulang: "Cleaned up."
Gu Jiao: "Aunt Liu"s basket."
Xiao Liulang: "Returned."
Gu Jiao: “The salted duck eggs that Uncle Zhao wants.”
Xiao Liulang nodded, “Delivered.”
She had forgotten to tell Yuya"er and Grannie Fang about these things, but she didn’t expect him to be so thoughtful and attentive. He had quietly taken care of everything.
Gu Jiao looked at him with her chin propped up, her eyes shining as if there were countless stars in them. "Husband, you"re so great."
You"re great too.
Xiao Liulang silently replied in his heart.
Gu Jiao continued to drink her mung bean soup.
Xiao Liulang"s gaze fell on the large silk brocade bag on the table and asked, "What"s this?"
Gu Jiao answered, "Flower petals, picked from the imperial garden. I made fresh flower cakes with them, and there"s a little left over, so I brought them back to make dried flowers."
Xiao Liulang had seen her making dried flowers before, and he roughly knew the process. "I"ll go get a sieve."
"Okay." Gu Jiao nodded.
Xiao Liulang got up and went out. Gu Jiao was used to being alone, but occasionally having someone else around to work with didn"t feel bad.
Xiao Liulang came back with a sieve. He opened the brocade bag and poured out the petals, but he suddenly heard a "clunk" sound. A noticeably heavy object fell out.
Xiao Liulang looked at the jade pendant that had suddenly appeared among the pile of petals and asked in confusion, "What"s this?"
He was about to ask if the jade pendant was given to her by Grandaunt, but when the words reached his lips, he noticed that the jade was broken. Grandaunt would never give something like this to Gu Jiao, even if it was the priceless millennium cold jade.
Gu Jiao didn"t know anything about the millennium cold jade, she only thought that the pendant looked delicate, but unfortunately it was missing a corner.
She shook her head, "Grandaunt didn"t say she was giving me anything, I don"t know where it came from. Maybe it was accidentally put in this brocade bag."
Accidentally?
A piece of priceless millennium cold jade was accidentally placed in a brocade bag?
Well, it wasn’t impossible, after all, Renshou Palace was very wealthy…
Xiao Liulang paused, "Did you put these petals in yourself?"
"No." Gu Jiao shook her head and said, "It was Fei Cui."
“Who is Fei Cui?" Xiao Liulang asked. He didn"t visit Renshou Palace very often and wasn’t very familiar with people in it.
Gu Jiao replied, "She"s a maid at Renshou Palace, an efficient and clever one. She serves Grandaunt at her side and is mainly responsible for taking care of the Empress Dowager’s jewelry and clothing. I don"t know if she accidentally put Grandaunt"s things in the brocade bag. I"ll return it to her next time."
"No need, I"ll do it." Xiao Liulang said calmly as he touched the piece of precious millennium cold jade. "I happen to be going to the palace tomorrow to teach the Crown Prince."
Gu Jiao nodded in agreement.
The next day, Xiao Liulang went to the palace to give lectures to the Crown Prince. He didn"t give the Crown Prince a hard time today and let him go when the lessons were over.
The Crown Prince was puzzled, why is he being so nice today? Is he not going to make me stay for more lessons?
"What medicine are you selling in your gourd?" The Crown Prince asked coldly.
Xiao Liulang took out a stack of paper from his notes and handed it to the Crown Prince, "If Your Highness feels that I"m being too nice, you can finish these questions and I"ll check them next time I come."
The Crown Prince looked at the sudden addition of dozens of pages of questions and the corner of his mouth twitched in frustration.
Why did he have to ask that question?!
Xiao Liulang made his way to Renshou Palace.
Empress Dowager Zhuang was reading memorandums. Eunuch Qin invited Xiao Liulang in and asked, "Shall this servant inform the Empress Dowager?"
"No need, I just brought some food for the Empress Dowager." Xiao Liulang said as he handed the already prepared food box to Eunuch Qin. "The dates were picked by Little Jing Kong, he told me to bring them to Grandaunt no matter what."
At this time, Little Jing Kong, who was attending cla.s.ses at the Imperial Academy, was unaware that he had once again been used as a tool.
Eunuch Qin smiled as he took the food box. "Little Jing Kong is thoughtful."
Xiao Liulang asked naturally, "By the way, Eunuch Qin, does Renshou Palace have millennium cold jade? I wonder if I can borrow it for a look?"
"What"s difficult about that? Senior Compiler Xiao is not an outsider. I"ll have someone bring it to you immediately." Eunuch Qin invited Xiao Liulang to sit down in the pavilion and instructed someone to bring the jade pendant from Empress Dowager Zhuang"s bedroom.
"Senior Compiler Xiao, please take a look." Eunuch Qin personally presented the jade pendant to Xiao Liulang.
Xiao Liulang took the jade pendant and felt its texture and patterns. "It is indeed a fine jade. Even in the scorching summer, it feels ice-cold to the touch. I wonder where this jade came from and who gave it?"
Eunuch Qin smiled and replied, "It was given to Princess Ning"an by the imperial son-in-law, who gave her a whole piece of jade. Princess Ning"an had it carved into three pieces of jade pendants, one was given to Empress Dowager, one to the Emperor, and the last was given to Imperial Concubine Dowager Jing."
After a moment of contemplation, Xiao Liulang asked, "Is there no fourth piece?"Raz P."s Thoughts
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