Chapter 77
Moments just as the County Magistrate left, Huang Zhong arrived.
“Lord Marquis! Lord Marquis!”
"Why are you alone? What about the child?"
"We’ve almost been cheated! The one in the Gu Family isn’t it!" Huang Zhong narrated in its entirety how the Gu Family tried to subst.i.tute their own daughter for the child, "Fortunately, we ran into little brother Xiaoshun, otherwise we would have gotten the wrong person again!"
Marquis Gu was furious. Very good, this group of people didn’t want to live anymore! He’d deal with them later!
"Are you deaf? Answer the question I asked you!" Marquis Gu glared at Huang Zhong.
Huang Zhong pursed his lips. Weren"t you still hesitating to recognize people at first? Why were you in such a hurry now?
Huang Zhong took out a lifelike woodcarving from his bosom and said, "Little brother Xiaoshun gave this to me, saying that this is the young miss!"
The last woodcarving was given to Dean Li"s mother. After that, Gu Xiaoshun carved a new one, which he didn"t have time to give to Gu Jiao yet.
Huang Zhong was very careful this time. He didn"t tell Gu Xiaoshun the truth and only said that his master had received a favor from his sister and thus wanted to invite her sister to town to thank her.
Gu Xiaoshun gave him the woodcarving for fear that they would thank the wrong person again.
Marquis Gu thought the woodcarving looked a little familiar.
"There is something missing in it." Huang Zhong held the woodcarving in front of him and found a small piece of dough, which he pasted on the left face of the woodcarving. Then he said, "Little brother Xiaoshun said there is a red birthmark on the young miss’ face."
Red birthmark...
Marquis Gu finally realized why the woodcarving was familiar to him. Wasn"t this the stinky girl he just had arrested?
"Aren’t you mistaken?" Marquis Gu frowned.
"There’s absolutely no mistake this time!" In order to verify whether it was true or not, Huang Zhong checked with the people in the village again, and she was indeed the real child of the Gu Family’s third branch!
Marquis Gu only felt a lightning striking his head, and his whole person began to somewhat wobble.
Huang Zhong noticed the abnormality of Marquis Gu and asked anxiously, "Lord Marquis, what‘s the matter? You don"t dislike the young miss flawed appearance, do you? Little brother Xiaoshun said that although she has a birthmark, she’s not ugly at all!"
Beauty was in the eye of the beholder, and in her little brother’s eyes she was a beauty. Gu Xiaoshun never once thought that his big sister was ugly.
Huang Zhong was waiting for Marquis Gu"s words when he discovered that Marquis Gu disappeared the next second!
Marquis Gu naturally went after Gu Jiao. He didn"t expect that girl to be the child he was looking for all this time!
What had he done?
He actually sent people to prison with his own hands!
Regardless of whether he recognized her back or not, afraid it would be difficult to ask her for blood as a medicine supplement when the time came!
When Marquis Gu arrived at the county yamen, the County Magistrate and his party had also just arrived.
Earlier, he revealed his ident.i.ty to the County Magistrate so that he would do his bidding. Upon seeing him at this time, the County Magistrate rushed forward to give him a salute. Who knew Marquis Gu wouldn’t even spare him a glance and just walked towards the carriage where Gu Jiao and Little Jing Kong were being held.
But unexpected things happened. The carriage was empty, there wasn’t a figure of a person at all!
Marquis Gu asked with a glare, "Where are the people?"
The County Magistrate was dumbfounded as well. Right, where are the people? They definitely saw the little girl and the child sitting inside the carriage with their own eyes. They never stopped all the way, how could they disappear?
Could that little girl be a hidden expert or something?
The County Magistrate broke into a cold sweat and said, "This, this lower official committed a dereliction of duty. This lower official will immediately dispatch people to arrest her! She’ll be subjected to cruel punishment! See if she still dares to escape!"
You dared to subject the blood of the Marquis Estate to cruel punishment? Marquis Gu scolded him to his face, "Dog officer! You will actually arrest two children?! And even subject them to cruel punishment?! You’re outrageous!"
The County Magistrate looked at him with a confused face, "Pardon... didn’t you order this lower official to arrest the person?"
Marquis Gu gave him a kick and said, "So you’ll just arrest anyone I tell you to? Who is the official serving the people here in the end? If you don"t defend the people or stand up for the people, and only know how to fawn on and curry favor with the powerful, what’s your use?"
The extremely stunned and speechless County Magistrate: "..."
…...
The evening was dawning in, and the last trace of the setting sun disappeared into the horizon, painting the sky gray, an incomplete darkness.
Gu Jiao was holding Little Jing Kong"s hand as they walked neither too fast nor too slow on the quiet street.
Although the osmanthus cakes were gone, there were still the sugar-coated haws.
Little Jing Kong might be a little guy, but his courage wasn’t small. The series of events just now did not frighten him in any way. He licked the sugar-coated haws again and again, and very seriously at that!
Gu Jiao paused, and still couldn"t help but ask him, "Were you not frightened at all?"
"Hm?" Little Jing Kong licked the sugar-coated haws and blinked his pair of big eyes at Gu Jiao. After a long while, he realized what she was talking about, "I wasn’t frightened at all!"
He answered.
Gu Jiao responded with an ‘en’.
As long as you’re not frightened.
The first thing Gu Jiao learned was the way of survival. She didn"t care too much about being good or bad. However, after Little Jing Kong arrived, she seemed to start to care about it.
It didn’t seem to be good for children to learn something like a prison break.
Gu Jiao was thinking about how to educate Little Jing Kong when she felt Little Jing Kong shake her hand, "JiaoJiao, you’re very powerful!"
"En." Gu Jiao only regarded it as a child talk.
Little Jing Kong: "I"m going to be powerful too! Better than JiaoJiao! So JiaoJiao won"t have to be too powerful!"
"Hm?" Gu Jiao paused and looked at him, puzzled.
Little Jing Kong looked up, and his clear eyes without any trace of impurities looked into Gu Jiao"s, "JiaoJiao must have it hard, right? Master said that powerful people have gone through a lot of hardships and will continue to face more hardships in the future."
Little Jing Kong actually didn’t understand why people still experienced hardships if they were powerful. His Master told him it was because all powerful people were destined to go up the mountain, and those who climbed the mountain faced hardships, but in the end, it also made their descent more comfortable.
This was the first time that someone asked Gu Jiao if she had it hard.
She joined the organization at the age of eight. She was whipped, electrocuted, tortured... Her body suffered from shocks almost every daily training. People around her only cared whether she could still take the next task; not a single one ever cared whether she had it hard.
For a moment, Gu Jiao didn"t know how to answer.
When Little Jing Kong thought about what happened just now, he bowed his little head in low spirits and said, "I... Am I making things harder for JiaoJiao?"
Gu Jiao didn"t expect him to ask such a thing. Gu Jiao patted his little bald head and replied, "No, raising Little Jing Kong is not hard at all."
"Really?" Little Jing Kong looked at her blankly.
Gu Jiao saw a trace of anxiousness from his eyes. To think this simple-minded little fellow was actually more vulnerable than anyone else.
Gu Jiao nodded with absolute certainty, "En, really."
Little Jing Kong’s smiling expression was back again. He patted his small chest and promised, "JiaoJiao, when I grow up, I will carry you up the mountain!"
If powerful people were really destined to go up the mountain, he would go up the mountain with JiaoJiao on his back!
JiaoJiao didn’t have to walk. He would take on all of JiaoJiao’s hardships!
Gu Jiao didn"t understand what this carrying up the mountain business was all about, but she clearly felt the little fellow"s concern for her.
She crouched down and gently scratched the tip of his nose.
At this time, Gu Jiao didn"t know that the promise made by some three and a half year old little guy would really be fulfilled when he grew up.
No one ever expected that an adorable little dumpling would one day become such a awe-inspiring G.o.dly General——
Within the six states and even the whole world, no one would dare to make Gu Jiao suffer.
When they returned to the village, Little Jing Kong was already asleep, lying in Gu Jiao"s arms while drooling.
A carriage was parked at the entrance of the village, but Gu Jiao didn"t pay attention to it. However, when she got closer to it, she found a familiar man standing beside the carriage.
It was Marquis Gu who ordered people to arrest and put her and Little Jing Kong in prison.