Chapter 56
As both parties remained in a deadlock for a long time, more and more staff of the Rejuvenation Hall had been attracted to this side.
There were only three people who knew Gu Jiao"s medical skills in Rejuvenation Hall: Second Owner, Shopkeeper w.a.n.g and the old physician.
Although others often saw Gu Jiao coming over, they only regarded her as a family member of a patient.
As for the polite treatment of Second Owner and Shopkeeper w.a.n.g towards her, everyone only thought that it was because her husband was a student of Tianxiang Academy.
Don"t look down on any scholar. In the future, they would likely become village gentry, landowners, and even local officials.
Only, they didn"t expect her to do such a thing.
"Didn’t expect someone who looks honest at ordinary times is actually a thief."
"Right, ah! She actually stole somebody else"s jade pendant and jade thumb ring."
"I told you, her husband didn"t come today, and she’s not here to get medicinal herbs either, so why did she still go here in the Rejuvenation Hall? Could she have been eyeing that young miss? She followed her here and stole her things!"
"Is she not afraid to damage her husband"s reputation?"
"Right! For a scholar to have this kind of shameful woman by his side, he must’ve been out of luck!"
Many people were present on the scene, but afraid that aside from Second Owner, no one else believed that Gu Jiao was innocent.
Wasn"t it obvious? She was but a poor village girl, how could she have such a good jade pendant?
"Young miss, please keep the jade pendant on yourself." The servant girl said, and then stooped down to hang the jade pendant on her young miss’ waist.
Gu Jiao reached out to get it.
"Audacious!" With a cold look in her eyes, the servant girl raised her hand to give Gu Jiao a slap.
But before her slap could land on Gu Jiao"s face, she was easily knocked down by Gu Jiao"s backhand slap instead.
The crowd simply didn’t know how Gu Jiao did it. By the moment they were able to react, the servant girl was already lying on the ground, and her cheeks were swollen.
The young miss was also shocked.
Gu Jiao stretched out her little hand, which was scarred by years of hard work, drew open the young miss’ veil, and pulled off the jade pendant hanging around her waist.
Throughout the whole process, Gu Jiao held her breath so she wouldn’t smell the scent of her cosmetic powder.
The young miss widened her large, round eyes and stared at her, "You... Impudent!"
This village girl from the countryside was actually so brazen as to touch her!
After Gu Jiao got back the jade pendant, she didn"t rush to put it in her pouch. Instead, she took out a clean handkerchief from her bosom and wiped the jade pendant thoroughly.
The young miss’ breathing became stagnant.
This village girl... was she despising her for being dirty?
If Gu Jiao wanted to infuriate someone, she would definitely do it in the most perfect manner possible.
The young miss’ felt stuffy all of a sudden, and she couldn"t control her anger.
Clenching her teeth, she shouted furiously, "Report this to the authorities for me!"
"Who wants to report to the authorities?"
At the same time the dignified and cold voice of a man dropped, the Dean appeared with a stern expression.
Here came another existence not to be trifled with. All staff of the Rejuvenation Hall quickly made way one after another.
When the Dean entered the room, he looked at the young miss who was seething with anger and her servant girl who remained lying on the ground for a long time. He naturally came up to Gu Jiao"s side.
His position clearly indicated which side he stood on.
He turned around and faced the young miss in a neither servile nor overbearing att.i.tude, "Is it this young miss who wants to report to the authorities? I wonder what happened to make the young miss so angry?"
His words were polite, but his tone wasn’t.
The young miss frowned and asked, "Who are you?"
The Dean said, "I am the Dean of Tianxiang Academy."
Young miss: "Dean Li?"
Dean: "That’s me."
Dean Li"s name was very resounding in the capital. It was impossible for the young miss to not have heard of him. Although Dean Li retired from his official position and became a teacher in a small town, his influence in the capital still remained.
The young miss took on a polite stance towards him. She looked at Gu Jiao and said, "She stole something from our family and won"t give it back to me."
"I didn"t steal it. The jade pendant is mine." Gu Jiao couldn’t be bothered about the young miss’ opinion, but she cared about the view of the Dean. She was Xiao Liulang"s wife, and she didn’t want to leave a stain on the Dean"s heart that could affect Xiao Liulang.
"What about the jade thumb ring then?" The young miss asked.
"It accidentally fell into my sleeve pocket and I found it when I got home." Gu Jiao said honestly.
The servant girl said angrily, "That"s not what you said just now. You admitted that you stole it!"
Look, this was why Gu Jiao didn’t want to explain to them, because they wouldn’t listen to her at all.
"Let me take a look at the jade pendant." Dean Li said to Gu Jiao.
Gu Jiao handed the jade pendant to him.
Dean Li remembered that his teacher had an identical jade pendant, and that his teacher had sent Gu Xiaoshun a New Year"s gift. With this, he understood what was likely going on.
This piece of jade pendant was given by his teacher. It didn’t matter whether it was given to Gu Jiao herself, or to Gu Xiaoshun, who then gave it to Gu Jiao.
The important thing was that Gu Jiao definitely didn"t steal it.
After his teacher lived in seclusion, he didn"t want people to know his whereabouts. Naturally, he wouldn"t mention his teacher at this moment.
Dean Li smiled faintly and said to the young miss, "Young miss is mistaken. This jade pendant is not yours, this is something my teacher gave to me, and then I gave it to her husband."
"Her… Husband?" The young miss sized up Gu Jiao once.
"Her husband is my disciple." Dean Li one-sidedly declared people as his disciple.
In that case, it all made sense.
Dean Li"s teacher was the former Chief of the Imperial Academy. Before he retired and lived in seclusion, he was highly valued by His Majesty. It wasn’t surprising that he had an object from the palace in his hands.
However, the young miss still found it inconceivable. How many people in the capital wanted to recognize Dean Li as a teacher but had been declined by Dean Li? This girl was just a poor village girl no matter where you look, and it went without saying that her husband should be just a poor guy in the countryside as well. So how did he manage to get into Dean Li"s eyes?
Just as the young miss was in doubt, a staff of the Rejuvenation Hall came running in breathlessly, "Found it!"
"Achoo!" Gu Jiao smelled the scent on the jade pendant and couldn"t resist sneezing again.
The jade pendant was found in the gra.s.s, and it had the same fragrance as the young miss. Compared with Gu Jiao’s jade pendant, this piece was obviously more like hers.
"Is the truth out now?" Gu Jiao asked.
"Even if you didn"t steal the jade pendant, you still stole the jade thumb ring." The servant girl muttered.
"Stop it, Yuru." The young miss stopped her. She cast a complicated look at Gu Jiao, stepped forward, and then bowed slightly, saying, "I’m sorry, I misunderstood you."
"Young miss!" The servant girl turned pale with fright!
Her young miss was the daughter of a Marquis Estate. How could she humble herself in front of a lowly, insignificant village girl?
Even if she had accused the other party wrongly, couldn’t she just acknowledge her innocence? Why apologize like that?
The young miss said to her servant girl, "You must also apologize to this girl quickly."
"But..."
"Apologize!"
The tone of the young miss turned severe in an instant. The servant girl also did not dare to disobey her words, so she apologized to Gu Jiao with a black face.
The young miss turned to Second Owner and said, "I hope this matter will not affect the Rejuvenation Hall"s treatment of my brother."
Second Owner looked at Gu Jiao silently and saw that she had no objection. He then smiled and nodded to the young miss, "What is Young Miss Gu saying? Our Rejuvenation Hall practices medicine precisely to help people. The treatment of the patient will not be delayed because of personal matters."
"Many thanks." After a moment, the young miss left with her bruised servant girl.
Dean Li looked at the young miss’ departing back and said thoughtfully, "Gu Family? The Gu Family from the capital?"
Second Owner said with emotion, "Aside from the capital’s Gu Family, who else can raise such an excellent young miss?"
All people make mistakes. But being able to admit one’s mistakes and sincerely apologize to a humble village girl, it showed that she was n.o.ble in character, full of fine qualities.
Dean Li refrained from mentioning the young miss’ name, which was Gu Jinyu.