Chapter 87.1
It seemed to be a man"s voice, reading something intermittently. Every time, he would get stuck at the same place, and then read again from the very beginning.
Little Jing Kong"s obsessive-compulsive disorder found it a little unbearable. He walked over with his baby chicks and saw Gu Dashun with a frown under a big tree outside the Gu Family’s house.
Little Jing Kong knew Gu Dashun, but he never talked to Gu Dashun. He didn"t understand why Gu Dashun chose to study under the tree rather than at home.
The Gu Family was currently arguing over the tea and the old hens. The second branch was blaming the first branch for having a rotten idea, and the first branch was blaming the second branch because Gu Xiaoshun screwed up the plan...
Gu Dashun couldn"t concentrate in the middle of it all, so he came to seek refuge under the tree. Unexpectedly, as he read, he found that he didn’t know how to read a few characters.
"Avoid! That’s how you read that character!" Little Jing Kong stood behind him, looked at the words in his book and said.
Gu Dashun was startled by the sudden voice of a little child. He turned his head and looked at Little Jing Kong in surprise.
Little Jing Kong had been in the village for so long already. Gu Dashun had heard of him and seen him from afar before, but he had never interacted with him.
Little Jing Kong saw that he was at a loss and thought he didn"t understand. He read another one, "Hard clay, this character sounds the same as avoid!" [T/N: Their chinese characters were both p.r.o.nounce as duǒ.]
Gu Dashun would not believe a three-year-old child. He glanced away and said, "Don"t talk nonsense if you don"t understand."
Little Jing Kong rested his hands on his hips and said, "I"m not talking nonsense! I’ve learned them!"
Gu Dashun asked, "How could you have learned them?"
Little Jing Kong replied, "I can recite the Vajrasattva Mantra and Heart Sutra long ago!"
Gu Dashun gave him a skeptical look, pointed to the book and asked, "Then how do you read this?"
"Because all buddhas of the three ages —past, present, and future— attained Supreme Wisdom, they attained “unsurpa.s.sed, complete, and perfect enlightenment”. (Prajna Paramita Heart Sutra)." He spoke with his tiny mouth in one breath. He read it so smoothly that he didn"t even pause a bit.
Even if Gu Dashun didn’t know Buddhist scriptures, he understood that such difficult sentences couldn’t be made up by a three-and-a-half-year-old child.
So he really did know how to read it.
After that, Gu Dashun pointed out a few more words to Little Jing Kong, some he knew, some he didn"t. He did not expect Little Jing Kong to know all of them, and he could even tell the source accurately.
Little Jing Kong looked at Gu Dashun sadly, "How do you study? I heard that you are a Xiucai. Are all Xiucai so bad like this?"
Little Jing Kong suddenly remembered that his bad brother-in-law had just become a Xiucai. He wasn’t this bad, was he?
How was he going to support the family then?
Could he manage to support them by himself until he(LJK) grew up?
Little Jing Kong, who immediately became worried about the situation of the family, suddenly lost the mood to walk the baby chicks, and brought all them from Little One to Little Seven back home.
He put several chicks back in the chicken coop and quickly headed to the west room.
At present, he still couldn’t write very well, mainly because he had little strength and couldn’t grasp the brush, but he had cla.s.sic books in Confucianism.
He dug up some of these books from his small box, and came up to Xiao Liulang. After opening a page at random, he pointed to an uncommon character on it and asked, "How do you read this?"
Xiao Liulang glanced at him and read it casually.
Little Jing Kong frowned seriously and nodded secretly.
He read it correctly.
Little Jing Kong pointed to another character, which was the first character that Gu Dashun didn"t know.
Xiao Liulang read it out easily.
"En." Little Jing Kong was quite satisfied.
After that, he pointed out a lot of characters one after another to test Xiao Liulang, and he read every one of them right.
He also checked Xiao Liulang"s interpretation of the sentences, and Xiao Liulang"s interpretation was similar to that of his Master, or perhaps even more concise and thorough than that of his Master.
Very well. It seemed that his bad brother-in-law had been studying hard. With this, Little Jing Kong was finally a little relieved.
How could Xiao Liulang know about his little thoughts? He only thought he suddenly wanted to read.
Children in the town began schooling at the age of seven, but this little monk was smarter than ordinary children. He was taught in the temple at a young age and had a little foundation. Maybe he could be sent to primary school earlier.
That way, he wouldn’t have to stick to Gu Jiao all day long.
Xiao Liulang secretly took note of the matter about sending the little monk to school.
…...
Meanwhile, Marquis Gu"s injury had basically healed.
He didn"t tell anyone that he was kicked into this state by his own daughter, only saying that he accidentally fell, and people could only believe it.
Huang Zhong received a letter from the capital.
After reading the letter from home, Marquis Gu’s eyebrows gradually frowned, forming the character “川” between his brows.
Huang Zhong asked, "What"s the matter, Lord Marquis? Did something happen in the Marquis Estate?"
Marquis Gu let out a sigh and said, "Everything is fine in the Marquis Estate. It"s a letter from Imperial Concubine Shu."
Huang Zhong wondered, "Imperial Concubine Shu? Is she summoning Lord Marquis?"
Marquis Gu reluctantly folded the letter and put it back in the envelope. He replied, "Her birthday is approaching. Jinyu’s birthday is in the same month as hers. She asked me when I will bring Jinyu back to the capital. This year is Jinyu’s coming-of-age, she asks me not to forget it."
Huang Zhong said with emotion, "That’s right. In the blink of an eye, the young miss is going to be fifteen."
Marquis Gu said, "It"s still half a year away."
The twins were born in the tenth month.
Huang Zhong smilingly said, "Imperial Concubine Shu must be missing the young miss."
Imperial Concubine Shu was Marquis Gu"s younger sister, and she had an excellent relationship with the former Marchioness. She wasn’t very fond of Yao shi, the second wife, and her att.i.tude towards Gu Yan was neither too hot nor too cold. Only Gu Jinyu won her favor with her talent.
Marquis Gu felt a headache.
He couldn’t go back to the capital yet, and even if he did, he would take Yao shi and Gu Yan with him.
After all, it was Jinyu"s coming-of-age ceremony. How could her mother not be there to accompany her?
Besides, he saw that Gu Yan"s condition had already improved greatly. It was now possible for him to follow him back to the capital.
"What about... the young miss?" Huang Zhong was referring to Gu Jiao.
"Of course I will take her with me." Marquis Gu said.
You’re so determined? Have you not been beaten enough already?
Huang Zhong said after a brief pause, "Is Lord Marquis no longer going to do any blood test to prove your relationship?"
Marquis Gu said angrily, "That requires her blood, too! Are you going to get it?"
Huang Zhong shrank his neck and said, "This subordinate dare not."
Marquis Gu frowned, "It can’t be wrong since Yan"er is so close to her like that. As for the medicine supplement, the medicine in the Rejuvenation Hall is effective for the time being, so it"s fine to get the supplement later."