Chapter 127.2
There was nothing to do at Grandaunt"s side, he couldn’t copy books for others like his brother-in-law, and unlike Gu Xiaoshun, he wasn’t good at carving. After much deliberation, he locked on to Little Jing Kong.
Little Jing Kong received a monthly rent of 30 taels of silver, he was a little local tyrant at home.
Here was exactly how Gu Yan make money from him——
Feeding the little chickens of Little Jing Kong every day, five copper coins!
Walking the little chickens of Little Jing Kong every day, five copper coins!
Cleaning the little chickens’ manure every day, five copper coins!
b.u.t.tering up Little Jing Kong every day, ten copper coins!
He worked for ten days and earned a total of 250 copper coins.
Originally, he took a fancy to a set of pearl head ornaments, but unfortunately he didn’t have enough money to buy it, so he settled for the next best and bought a yarn bracelet with jade on it.
Any precious stone in Gu Yan’s room was worth a lot more than this jade, but those were not earned by himself.
Gu Jiao put on the yarn bracelet. It looked very nice.
Naturally, Gu Jiao also prepared a gift for Gu Yan, but Gu Yan didn"t open it in public and instead went back to his own room to secretly open it alone!
This made Little Jing Kong feel as though a cat was scratching his heart and lungs. He really wanted to know what gift JiaoJiao gave Brother Gu Yan!
"Grandaunt, where"s your present?" Gu Yan asked upon coming back quickly.
"I don’t have any!" The elderly woman turned her face aside.
Gu Yan muttered, "I clearly saw it, you were secretly doing it every day!"
Gu Jiao looked at the elderly woman.
With a face of reluctance, the elderly woman took out a pouch, put it on the table, and shifted both eyes to the sky, saying, "I made it unthinkingly!"
Gu Jiao picked up the pouch.
Little Jing Kong leaned over to look at it and said in surprise, "Wow! Grandaunt! You can also embroider ducks!"
Ducks? Those weren’t just ducks but mandarin ducks!
One was your big sister! The other was your brother-in-law! And there were also a few little duck eggs... Er, she meant mandarin duck eggs!
Seriously, this smelly little monk was leading her astray!
The elderly woman knew nothing about needlework, this sort of feminine art.
She didn’t embroider these mandarin ducks in one go, instead it was the result of her secretly practicing many times, wasting a lot of cloth in the process.
It was true that Gu Jiao"s pouch was already worn out, and it was time to replace it.
The elderly woman looked out of the window, but she was inwardly paying attention to her reaction.
Gu Jiao smiled and said, "Thank you Grandaunt."
The pouch made by the elderly woman wasn’t good-looking, but it was very practical. It was divided into several layers, which could separate silver banknotes, broken bits of silver, copper coins and other small objects. In addition, there was also a specially sewn compartment.
How could average people be so meticulous in their thinking?
This showed how much the elderly woman loved Gu Jiao, and also that she was good at doing things she put her mind to.
Yao shi made two sets of clothes for each of her two children.
After coming to the capital, Gu Jiao no longer had to go up the mountains to gather firewood, etc., so Yao shi made her a set of clothes that was suitable for working at home, and another beautiful and gorgeous set of dress just like those of the young misses in the capital.
There were also other boxes of gifts prepared by Marquis Gu and those other brothers in the estate, but they opened none of them.
Finally, it was Xiao Liulang’s turn to give his present.
Everyone was looking forward to it.
It shouldn’t be a brush or paper this time. In fact, the whole family already had a clue as to what he would give her. It was a copybook, wasn’t it?
Just then, Xiao Liulang took out a brocade box.
Under the eager gaze of everyone, Gu Jiao opened the lid of the box.
As a result, it was indeed a pile of copybooks!!!
Gu Jiao：“…”
Everyone else: "..."
However, they didn’t seem to be ordinary copybooks. Each and every one of them was a record of poems.
Gu Jiao thought these poems should be excellent, although she couldn"t really understand them.
Gu Jiao patiently flipped through every copybook, and Xiao Liulang, who didn"t expect that she would look through the copybooks in public, suddenly looked strangely nervous.
When Gu Jiao picked up the last one, she found an unexpected surprise. This box was actually specially made, and at the bottom, there was an inlaid magnolia hairpin.
Hm?
Gu Jiao"s eyes were wide open.
This clueless, one-track minded guy finally knew to give her hair pin?
What Gu Jiao didn"t know was that this kind of hairpin was also known as the coming-of-age hairpin. In the State of Zhao, women’s fifteenth birthday was usually also their coming-of-age ceremony. On this day, the older generations of the family would insert a hairpin to the women’s hair to signify that they were now adults and of marriageable age.
Of course, if a woman were to marry before she reached the age of fifteen, then she would perform this ceremony on the day of marriage to signify that the woman had come of age before the wedding.
There was no such ceremony when Gu Jiao got married. The Gu Family wouldn"t bother about a fool, but it had always been on Xiao Liulang’s mind.
Seeing the hairpin that her son-in-law gave her daughter, Yao shi instantly understood what was going on. She originally thought that her daughter had already done her coming-of-age ceremony back then, so she only thought that today was just an ordinary birthday celebration.
Her son-in-law was truly thoughtful.
Gu Jiao also finally understood why this guy always didn"t give her a hairpin. As it turned out, hairpins were really a big thing here.
You couldn’t use a hairpin without a ceremony!
Yao shi"s eyes suddenly turned red as she said, "JiaoJiao, let me arrange your hair."
Yao shi and the elderly woman both arranged Gu Jiao"s hair into a bun and inserted the hairpin, and Gu Jiao completed her coming-of-age ceremony in front of everyone.
……
The half moon slowly found its way above the sky.
The sound of horse hooves could be heard leaving the bustling streets.
Gu Changqing rode his horse to a quiet alley. He dismounted and led the horse with a light pace.
Unconsciously, he came in front of a familiar house.
The gate was ajar, and from time to time there came the laughter of women and children, accompanied by the voices of teenagers. It was a happy atmosphere.
Gu Changqing paused before the gate for a while, but ultimately didn"t go in and just turned to get on the horse.
Suddenly, however, Little Jing Kong ran over and squeezed out of the ajar gate, "Big brother! Is that you?"
Gu Changqing turned around and looked at him, replying, "…It"s me."
"Jing Kong, who is it?" Yao shi opened the slightly opened gate, and when she saw Gu Changqing outside the gate, her smile stiffened.
Gu Changqing was also taken aback seeing Yao shi here. What surprised him even more was the unguarded smile on Yao shi"s face. Though it soon turned stiff, it was still seen by him.
He never knew that the always cheerless Yao shi could have such a great time that she would smile like a child.
"You..." Yao shi hesitated to speak.
Little Jing Kong looked at Gu Changqing and Yao shi, and then asked, "Benefactor Yao, do you know each other?"
"Benefactor?" Ordinary people wouldn’t use this appellation. Gu Changqing looked at the little guy strangely and inquired, "Are you a monk?"
Little Jing Kong explained in a serious tone, "I was a monk before I went down the mountain! I"m no longer now though! Benefactor Yao was a worshiper in our temple! I see her a lot! I know her very well! Big brother, are you also here to celebrate JiaoJiao"s birthday?"
When Little Jing Kong said he saw her a lot and knew her very well, he meant it as a family. But when Gu Changqing heard it, he only thought that Yao shi and the little monk’s family were simply old friends and he was talking about the past.
What a coincidence that he and his stepmother knew the same little friend.
Gu Changqing solemnly said, "No, I was just pa.s.sing by. Do you like birds?"
Little Jing Kong bowed his head and thought for a moment before answering, "Like!"
Gu Changqing handed him the birdcage covered with cloth hanging from the saddle and said, "Here you go."
With that, he mounted his horse and left without looking back.
Little Jing Kong looked at the figure riding against the wind and waved his little hand, "Thank you, big brother!"