Chapter 119.1
Bad brother-in-law"s grades weren"t so great at first; it sure wasn’t easy for him to get the first place. Thus, Little Jing Kong decided to praise his bad brother-in-law after going back home.
As a result, when he got home, he found that there was no need for his own compliment at all as there were many others in the house who already did that for him! All these people came to congratulate his bad brother-in-law!
See, his words were correct, were they not? Bad brother-in-law’s grades were extremely poor, so that when he got the first place in the exam now, everyone was pleasantly surprised!
Little Jing Kong, who was completely ignorant about the real worth of being a Jieyuan, decided to withdraw his praise.
When others in the house had left, Little Jing Kong found Xiao Liulang who was packing up in the west room.
Xiao Liulang turned to look at the little guy, who had his hands behind his back just like a little adult, and asked him, "Is there something you want to talk to me about?"
"En." Little Jing Kong nodded with a solemn look while keeping his little hands behind his back. He looked like a teacher in cla.s.s and even spoke in the same tone, "You’ve been listening to praise all day. I won"t say much. Just don"t be complacent after hearing too many compliments. Be modest and study harder, otherwise you will be laughed at if you fail to take the first place next time!"
Xiao Liulang looked at him and said, "Who would be laughing? You?"
Little Jing Kong harrumphed, "I"m not that bored! If you can"t get the first place in the exam, you won’t be able to support the family. I have yet to grow up!"
Xiao Liulang grinned, saying, "Didn"t you say it didn"t matter if I don’t do well in the exam?"
Little Jing Kong suddenly got stumped.
Xiao Liulang went on, "Don’t you remember?"
"I don’t, you remember it wrong! I never said such a thing!" Little Jing Kong decisively exercised the privilege of children: going back on one"s word!
This was the knowledge he acquired in primary school, something his deskmate taught him all day!
Soon after, Little Jing Kong quickly repositioned himself and went to find Gu Jiao to be her little tail!
At dinner, Gu Jiao talked about Xiao Liulang"s going to the Imperial Academy to study.
"Aren"t you coming along?" The elderly woman asked.
Gu Jiao solemnly replied, "What am I going to do there? I’m not a student, and I"m not curious about the capital, not at all!"
Everyone looked at her with a face of disbelief. Who was it again who was crying and singing to go to the capital that night? Hehehe.
The home couldn"t do without Gu Jiao. A day or two was still fine, Xue Ningxiang could manage to take over. But if it was a long period of time, people would be worked to death.
In the end, the family unanimously decided to go to the capital together.
"But is one travel permit enough to take the whole family?" Gu Jiao didn’t want to leave anyone behind.
"One isn’t enough." Xiao Liulang answered, “However, I also have Feng Lin’s with me. It should be enough to enter the capital if we use his travel permit as well.”
Steward Liu was too confident of his ploy, counting his chickens before they hatched. In the end, Xiao Liulang made a fool out of him. He didn"t expect that after scheming against Xiao Liulang like this, Xiao Liulang still managed to get what he wanted.
The Imperial Academy would open at the end of the tenth month. Right now it was still the ninth month, so they had to make haste and set out on the journey as soon as possible.
Gu Jiao handed over the task of completely opening up the mountain to Village Chief Luo. Luo Li hadn’t read many books but he still recognized some words. Besides, his son was a scholar and could understand the drawings and plans left by Gu Jiao.
There was nothing of value at home apart from Xiao Liulang’s books. Xue Ningxiang told them that she would take care of them.
"By the way, Gouwa’s uncle is also in the capital. Once you arrive there, please meet him and give him some things for me!"
"Alright."
Gu Jiao readily agreed.
Xiao Liulang went to Tianxiang Academy and private school to handle the drop out process for his three younger brothers.
Gu Yan didn’t like going to school, so he was very elated to drop out of school!
Gu Xiaoshun was only attending the academy to learn the characters that could be used as wood carvings. In fact, he could just learn them from Little Jing Kong.
As for Little Jing Kong, in truth, the private school had long been unable to find a suitable cla.s.s for him given his level of intelligence. If he were to jump a grade further, then he would already be in a cla.s.s that focused on taking the imperial examination.
There was also an elementary school division in the Imperial Academy, where there were many little geniuses of the State of Zhao. Xiao Liulang thought Little Jing Kong would be a better fit there.
Xiao Liulang also went to say h.e.l.lo to Dean Li.
Dean Li was in a complicated mood. He had been looking forward to the day Xiao Liulang would go to the capital to take the imperial exam. But now that he was really about to go there, he suddenly felt unwilling to part with him.
He let out a sigh and said, "No matter where you go, you will always be the disciple of this teacher.”
Xiao Liulang wanted to say something but then hesitated.
About being your disciple, I’m afraid it’s impossible to have this wish of yours fulfilled in this life.
“Speaking of which, I should have had a junior brother in the capital." Dean Li suddenly said, "Unfortunately, he died young, and I didn"t even get a chance to meet him."
Xiao Liulang gave him a faint glance before walking out of the Zhongzheng Hall and letting out a big sneeze!
Gu Jiao took Little Jing Kong to the temple.
Little Jing Kong bid farewell to the abbot, his senior brothers and little friends.
He didn’t see his master.
However, Little Jing Kong had long been used to it. It was almost impossible for his Master to be in the temple all year round.
"Are you going away too?" The little monk Jing Fan asked.
Four little monks sat on the steps of the temple, each holding a bunch of vegetarian meatb.a.l.l.s made by Gu Jiao.
Little Jing Kong took a bite of the meatball in his hand and sighed, "Yes, my bad brother-in-law has been admitted to the Imperial Academy and our whole family will accompany him to the capital. But what do you mean by ‘too’?"
Jing Fan smiled happily and said, "Because we’re also going away! The abbot is going to take us to the Dharma a.s.sembly[1]!"
"Oh." Little Jing Kong was actually interested in this Dharma a.s.sembly, but this might be the price of going down the mountain. Having JiaoJiao, he was destined to give up some things.
In his heart, JiaoJiao was the most important!
Gu Jiao brought a lot of delicious food this time. Aside from vegetarian meatb.a.l.l.s, there were also vegetarian roasted duck, vegetarian Dongpo pork shoulder, and two boxes of osmanthus cakes from Li Ji.
The four little monks spent the whole afternoon happily.
Gu Jiao also went to the medical hall to say goodbye to Second Owner, but was told by Shopkeeper w.a.n.g that something had happened to the Hu Family, so he had already returned to the capital a few days prior.
Gu Jiao thought that maybe they could see each other in the capital.
After that, Gu Jiao paid a visit to Dean Li"s house next and sent some mountain goods and hawthorn cakes to Old Madame Li. She was still in a muddle state, but she looked much better than before.
The servant boy said that when Old Madame Li was awake, she would beamingly say that she had a little grandson, making her seem happy the whole time!
……
Hot Spring Villa.
After several days of recuperation, Marquis Gu finally recovered from the injuries on his face and body. He went to Yao shi"s courtyard to look for her.
Yao shi was instructing the servants to pack their luggage.
Marquis Gu was stunned, "Wife, what are you doing? Are you not going to live in the villa anymore? Are you leaving?"
"Yes, I’m leaving." Yao shi nodded her head.