Chapter 73
On the other side, Marquis Gu stayed at the Hot Spring Villa.
Marquis Gu occupied an important position in the capital, so he couldn’t be away for too long normally. However, the matter here was of great importance, thus he had written to his second son in the capital, asking him to enter the palace to request a leave from His Majesty.
It might not be possible for an ordinary Marquis to seek an audience with His Majesty, but who let Marquis Gu"s sister be His Majesty"s favorite imperial concubine? Therefore, it wasn’t difficult for Second Young Master Gu to enter the palace.
His Majesty was also aware of Gu Yan"s situation, and he guessed that Gu Yan might be in a quite bad condition, compelling Marquis Gu to stay. He told Marquis Gu that he could stay at the villa with peace of mind and take care of his family affairs.
...In other words, he could return to the capital after dealing with Gu Yan’s funeral.
Marquis Gu knew nothing about His Majesty"s inner thoughts as he was busy looking for that child.
Marquis Gu first found the midwife who delivered the babies for Yao shi back then.
That midwife had been invited from a nearby village at that time. And since the search range wasn’t wide, news soon came.
According to the news, the midwife"s family had moved away many years ago. It was said that after they received a large sum of money for delivering babies for a n.o.ble personage in the temple, they went to the town to settle down and build up the family fortune.
When Huang Zhong found the family, it was a pity that the midwife had already pa.s.sed away several years ago, and her family knew very little about her going to the temple to deliver babies in the past.
Marquis Gu didn’t give up. He started looking for clues in neighboring villages, and he did find some clues.
There were a total of five children born in the same temple. Among them, one was eighteen, the other was nineteen, and the other was only seven years old. The ages of all three didn’t match, but the ages of the remaining two were correct. They were both villagers living at the foot of the mountain, one in Xinghua Village and the other in Qingquan Village.
Marquis Gu"s confidant bodyguard went to Xinghua Village first, and found that the other party was a boy and the birth month wasn’t right.
The twins were born in the tenth lunar month but this boy was born in the eighth lunar month.
In that case, only the child in Qingquan Village was left.
If this was still not the right one, they would have to look outside Qingquan Town, turning the scope of search wide.
“Lord Marquis.” Huang Zhong, the bodyguard in charge of the investigation, was a confidant brought by Marquis Gu from the capital. He said, "Lord Marquis, Qingquan Village isn’t a village at the foot of the temple. It’s all the way on the other side of the mountain, I"m afraid..."
It wasn’t very likely.
Marquis Gu also thought so, that was why he put Qingquan Village at the end of the list for investigation.
He said, "Go and see first. If it’s not, come back quickly; don’t let the news leak. Then... I"ll be waiting for you at the tea house in town."
"Understood."
After receiving the order, Huang Zhong immediately took a carriage and headed to Qingquan Village.
Huang Zhong was a burly man with a gentle face in his early forties. He looked like a good person at a glance, and it was easy for him to win the trust of strangers.
"That"s the baby of the Gu Family!" Said the old man sitting at his door, basking in the sun.
The old man was quite old, and already had difficulty hearing and remembering things, but he still remembered that a baby of the Gu Family was born in a temple.
"Which Gu Family?" Huang Zhong asked.
"The Village Chief! Village Chief Gu!" Waving his hand, the old man showed the way.
She was actually surnamed Gu as well? What a coincidence.
Huang Zhong thanked the old man, got on the carriage and headed to the Gu Family"s old residence.
Gu Dashun and Gu Xiaoshun were in the academy, Village Chief Gu took Gu Changhai to the yamen to collect rice again, and Gu Changlu and Gu Ershun were spring-sowing in the field. At the moment, only Gu Yue"e, Wu shi and her two daughters-in-law were in the house.
Gu Yue"e opened the door.
It was no longer Gu Yue"e’s first time seeing a distinguished person and a carriage, but she was still stunned. She asked, "Who, who are you looking for?"
Little girls from the countryside had never seen the world, so this reaction was normal. Huang Zhong revealed a smile and said, "Is Village Chief Gu here?"
Afraid of talking to an unfamiliar man, Gu Yue"e turned around and ran into the house and shouted, "Grandmother! Someone is looking for grandfather!"
The mother-in-law and daughters-in-law were chopping peppers in the backyard. Seeing Gu Yue"e running in a panic, Wu shi frowned impatiently, "Who’s looking for your grandfather?"
Gu Yue"e pointed back and replied, "I don"t know. He came by carriage."
Hearing that the person arrived by carriage, Wu shi"s expression changed.
She put down the kitchen knife, wiped her hands with a rag, and quickly went to the door.
Huang Zhong"s carriage was drawn by two horses, which was one horse more than the carriage of the Steward that sent doc.u.ments to Gu Xiaoshun last time. Wu shi immediately calculated in her mind. This person had a higher ident.i.ty than the Dean of the academy!
But why did such a distinguished person come to their house?
Wu shi smilingly asked, "Who might you be? For what reason are you looking for my husband?"
"My surname is Huang. I heard that your family has a child born in a temple. I want to inquire about that child."
Wu shi"s smile suddenly disappeared.
So he was looking for that little star of disaster. As long as it had anything to do with that little star of disaster, it mustn"t be a good thing!
Wu shi was about to close the door with a dark face, but Liu shi came over, her eyes flashing as she said with a chuckle, "You can"t just make inquiries with nothing."
Huang Zhong understood. His smile remained unchanged as he took out a silver ingot from his bosom.
The eyes of both mother and daughter-in-law instantly widened.
Liu shi reached out to grab the silver ingot, but Wu shi beat her to it!
Liu shi secretly grinded her teeth!
After Wu shi received the silver, her expression looked much better. She said, "What do you want to ask? Go ahead!"
"How old is the child? Is it a girl?"
"Fourteen! She’s a girl!"
Huang Zhong"s eyes brightened at this moment and continued to ask, "When was she born?"
This question stumped Wu shi. A little fool who was worth nothing, who would bother to remember her birthday?
Liu shi said hurriedly, "I, I, I, I know! She was born in the tenth month!"
That month, she was pregnant with Gu Xiaoshun, so her memory of it was quite deep.
Even the birth month was right. Huang Zhong"s heart began to get excited. He asked again, "What day was it?"
"The seventeenth or eighteenth, I guess?" Liu shi couldn’t remember this one clearly. It appeared that apart from Gu Xiaoshun, no one in the Gu Family really remembered Gu Jiao"s birthday at all.
The twins were born on the eighteenth. These clues could be said to be very close.
Huang Zhong continued to ask, "In which temple was she born?"
Liu shi pointed to one direction and said, "Where else if not the temple on the other side of the mountain?"
Just then, Gu Changlu appeared with a hoe on his shoulder.
Liu shi waved to him and asked, "Ershun"s father, was Jiao girl born on the seventeenth or eighteenth?"
"Eighteenth, what"s the matter?" As he spoke, Gu Changlu looked curiously at the man and the carriage in front of their house.
Everything was matching, making Huang Zhong very excited. He believed that this should be the right one.
Unexpectedly, the child they didn’t put their hopes into was actually the exact one they were looking for!
Gu Changlu came to Wu shi and Liu shi"s side. At this time, Zhou shi also came out to watch the fuss.
Only Gu Yue"e was timidly hiding in the back door of the main room and secretly looking over this way.
Huang Zhong"s excitement could no longer be hidden. Gu Changlu sized him up and asked Liu shi, "Why did you suddenly ask about Jiao girl?"
Liu shi pulled Gu Changlu aside, pointed to Wu shi"s pouch, and whispered, "He came to inquire information about Jiao girl, and gave us a piece of silver ingot in return, but it was taken away by mother!"
Gu Changlu stared at Liu shi. He was dissatisfied with Liu shi complaining about his own mother in such a tone, but he didn"t quite agree with Wu shi"s approach either.
He walked over to Wu shi and said, "Mother, we can"t accept this money."
Wu shi gripped her pouch tightly, "Why is that?"
Gu Changlu glanced at Huang Zhong and said, "We don"t even know who he is. What is he inquiring about Jiao girl for? What if he’s a bad person and plans on doing something bad to Jiao girl?"
Wu shi wasn’t so happy to hear this. So what if some bad s.h.i.t happened to that little star of disaster? If she died, it would also save the whole family from being jinxed!