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At this point in time, Grand Secretary Yuan had also finished his conversation with his colleague and arrived at the appointment room.
He saw An Junw.a.n.g and Gu Jinyu in a disheveled appearance as well as the messy interior of the room, and yet Yuan Baolin was nowhere to be seen. It was unclear what Grand Secretary Yuan was thinking when he stormed off.
In any case, this marriage proposal was considered a failure.
An Junw.a.n.g laughed self-mockingly and said, "If she"s not qualified to marry me, then who is?"
No one was qualified. Her big brother was the best and most outstanding man in the world, and no woman could be worthy of him.
However, Zhuang Yuexi did not dare to express these thoughts out loud.
She could sense that An Junw.a.n.g was truly angry, and he might never want to see her again.
She knelt down, grabbed An Junw.a.n.g"s wrist, and cried out, "Big brother, don"t you already have someone you love in your heart? I... I know you don"t want to marry her... I..."
Hearing her question, An Junw.a.n.g"s expression was trance-like for a moment.
Zhuang Yuexi continued her cries, "Big brother, I was wrong... I won"t do it again... Please forgive me..."
"Get out." An Junw.a.n.g lay down in a daze, not pulling back his arm that Zhuang Yuexi grabbed. He had no energy left, and he felt nothing mattered anymore, "I don"t want to see you right now."
"Big brother..." Zhuang Yuexi panicked, she had never been so afraid like this before, her tears falling like broken pearls.
"Get out." An Junw.a.n.g turned over, facing away from her. He closed his eyes and did not speak to her again.
……
Meanwhile, Grand Secretary Yuan had left Brisk Wind Tower and began searching for his granddaughter"s whereabouts. He did not find her nearby and thought she had gone back, so he went back home.
The servant informed him, “My Lord, someone had come and left a letter for you.”
After reading the letter with a frown, Grand Secretary Yuan made a trip to Bishui Alley.
Little Jing Kong went to walk the chickens, Gu Yan and Gu Xiaoshun went to their craftsmanship cla.s.ses, Xiao Liulang was explaining problems to some Hanlin bachelors at the Hanlin Academy, and Gu Jiao was giving acupuncture to the little Taoist nun in her room.
It was Yao shi who received Grand Secretary Yuan.
Grand Secretary Yuan was of the same generation as Old Marquis, so she greeted him as a younger generation.
Grand Secretary Yuan saw that she was pregnant and quickly told her that she didn"t need to be too polite.
Yao Shi didn"t say that she was from the Marquis Ding"an Estate, only that her husband"s family name was Gu.
There were many people with the Gu surname in the capital, so Grand Secretary Yuan didn"t immediately think of Marquis Ding"an Estate. He bowed, cupping his hands and saying, "Madame Gu."
Yao Shi invited him into the main room, and Grannie Fang served him tea. Yao Shi explained in a warm voice, "I went to the Shunlai Cloth Shop near Brisk Wind Tower today to order some clothes and happened to come across Young Miss Yuan who was injured and fainted on the roadside. My daughter is a physician, so I brought Young Miss Yuan back home to treat her. Young Miss Yuan has already woken up and is currently being treated in the room. Please wait a moment, Grand Secretary Yuan."
Although Grand Secretary Yuan was worried about his granddaughter"s safety, he did not forget his manners. He bowed and said, "Thank you, Madame Gu, for saving her life."
Grand Secretary Yuan didn’t know that his granddaughter had already met people from the Marquis Ding"an Estate. He a.s.sumed that his granddaughter had revealed her ident.i.ty after waking up and that the family had come to inform him.
"Madame, guye’s books are all dry!" Yuya"er came over from the backyard with a large stack of books.
Yao Shi said, "Let me take a look."
"Okay!" Yuya"er placed the sun-dried books on the wooden table between Yao Shi and Grand Secretary Yuan.
Yao shi had only recently realized that Xiao Liulang had too many books, some of which were rarely read by him and had ended up getting damp. She took advantage of the hot weather these past few days and had them dried up under the sun.
"This book needs to be basked again." Yao Shi handed a book with a slightly damp bottom to Yuya"er.
"Okay, there"s still a little sun, servant is going to dry it again!" Yuya"er took the book and went to the backyard.
Grand Secretary Yuan didn’t mean to snoop around, but sitting there bored, he unintentionally glanced over.
It was fine when he didn’t know, but seeing it made him greatly startled.
How could a small household like this have historical books from the previous dynasty?
The attraction of books to Grand Secretary Yuan was equivalent to the attraction of weapons to Old Marquis. Once they saw it, they couldn’t resist it
Grand Secretary Yuan"s eyes were fixed on the books.
Yao Shi noticed his gaze and asked, "Does Grand Secretary Yuan want to take a look?"
"Is it convenient?" Grand Secretary Yuan asked.
"It"s just a few books, there"s no inconvenience." Yao Shi replied.
Feng Lin and some other people often came to borrow books from Xiao Liulang, the same went for the few scholars living in the alley, and Xiao Liulang would always generously let them borrow his books.
At first, Yao Shi would ask for his permission first, but later he let Yao Shi make her own decisions.
Xiao Liulang trusted and respected Yao Shi.
Of course, the respect was mutual. Yao Shi also cherished Xiao Liulang"s things very much.
Grand Secretary Yuan had a special fondness for books.
Grand Secretary Yuan picked up a book from the table and started to flip through it.
Just now he only took a quick glance, but now as he read more closely, he found it even more astonishing, especially when he saw a book about the second Emperor of the previous dynasty, Emperor Wen Hui, inside of which contained more than half of the literature piece "Ode of Yanbei".
This book was missing a part, but the missing part was made up for by a page of letter paper, which detailed the sources of the excerpts from other major ancient books, historical records, and other doc.u.ments.
The handwriting looked quite new, no more than a year old.
That was to say, this part of the "Ode of Yanbei" had indeed been lost, but it had been pieced together by someone who had consulted countless other literary works.
Grand Secretary Yuan knew it would be very difficult for him to do this himself.
Wait, how did the source of "Ode of Yanbei" end up here?
He remembered that there was also a history book in the library of Mount Yueluo that mentioned the "Ode of Yanbei", which was completed by An Junw.a.n.g.
Could this family have something to do with An Junw.a.n.g?
"May I ask where this book came from?" Grand Secretary Yuan asked.
Yao Shi said with a smile, "This is my son-in-law"s book, I don"t know where it came from. Maybe it was a gift from his Granduncle, or perhaps it was bought at a bookstore."
How could it possibly be bought at a bookstore?
This was clearly a unique copy.
"Who completed the second half of the "Ode of Yanbei"?" Grand Secretary Yuan pointed to the bookmark and asked.
Yao Shi looked and said, "It"s my son-in-law"s handwriting."
"Has this book ever been lent to anyone else?" Grand Secretary Yuan asked.
"This one? No." Yao Shi shook her head. If it had been borrowed, it wouldn’t have been left damp in a box.
Grand Secretary Yuan was about to ask who Madame Gu"s son-in-law was when the little Taoist nun came out of the room.
She jumped from the second floor and sprained her left foot. Gu Jiao supported her as she hobbled along.
Even though Gu Jiao had a flawed appearance, Grand Secretary Yuan was not one to judge people by their looks, and he didn"t look down on Gu Jiao"s ident.i.ty as a female physician either, unlike other people.
He thanked Gu Jiao sincerely and paid her five taels of silver as medical fee before taking his granddaughter home.
After they left, a tall and st.u.r.dy figure emerged from the study.
He approached Yao Shi and bowed respectfully, saying, "Thank you, Madame."
"I didn"t do anything. But do you really have no intention of letting Grand Secretary Yuan know that you saved his granddaughter?" Yao Shi hadn"t even left the house today, so how could she have coincidentally come across Yuan Baolin, who was injured?
It was Gu Changqing who brought her back.
Yao Shi looked at him and said, "What I mean is, you"re not young anymore, and you"ve saved Young Miss Yuan twice now. Even I think it"s a rare fate. If you agree, I"ll personally come to propose marriage for you another day."
Yao Shi"s willingness to propose marriage for Gu Changqing showed that she had let go most of her grudges against him.
She might not be able to be a caring mother to him, but she could be a proper and dignified stepmother.
"What do you think, JiaoJiao?" Yao Shi looked at her daughter, trying to pull her into her camp.
Gu Jiao thought seriously and said, "En, Young Miss Yuan is quite good. I like her, but most importantly, you have to like her too."
She looked at Gu Changqing as she spoke.
Gu Changqing took a deep breath and said slowly, "I… don"t plan to get married."
He had no intention of getting married.
His grandparents" relationship seemed harmonious but was actually estranged, while his parents had no love between them. If getting married meant ending up like them, he would rather remain unmarried for the rest of his life.
Gu Jiao rubbed her chin and said, "I didn"t expect you to be a follower of celibacy."Raz P."s Thoughts
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