Chapter 90.2
In order to prevent a certain someone from trespa.s.sing, Little Jing Kong moved a small stool and sat at the doorway, keeping an eye on Marquis Gu.
Marquis Gu: “What are you doing?”
Little Jing Kong: "Keeping an eye on you."
Marquis Gu: "Humph, This Marquis won"t go in!"
Little Jing Kong: "Who knows?"
Marquis Gu: "If you don"t believe me, you can bolt the door!"
Little Jing Kong said firmly, "What if you climb over the window? I will keep an eye on you to prevent you from doing bad things!"
Marquis Gu: At the very least, I’m also Marquis Ding"an of the capital. Is my reputation bad enough for me to be watched by a little monk?
One big and one small pair of people stared at each other, confronting each other at the door.
Yao shi didn’t care about her husband at the moment, her heart had been filled with Gu Jiao.
When she entered the room, she sat down directly at Gu Jiao"s bedside.
Gu Jiao"s complexion looked much better than last night, but it was still slightly pale.
The so-called sickness was in the child"s body, but the pain was in the mother"s heart. Yao shi"s heart really ached seeing her child suffering from sickness like this.
Looking at the house where she lived, Yao shi"s eyes turned red.
Yao shi held Gu Jiao’s hand, and the calluses and scars on her hand made Yao shi"s palms ache.
Yao shi couldn"t help it any longer and began to sob silently…
The elderly woman, who got some more sleep in her room, woke up and planned to see how Gu Jiao was doing. As a result, as soon as she made her way to Gu Jiao’s room, she saw Little Jing Kong sitting at the door of the house like a small stone statue.
"Yi? You didn’t go out?"
The elderly woman wondered.
Despite the fact that Little Jing Kong was only a three-year-old child, he was actually very busy every day.
He continued to do the temple’s morning and evening cla.s.ses even after going down the mountain. When he got up in the morning, he would recite Buddhist scriptures, and after reciting them, he would go to the woods behind the house to practice martial arts.
Once, the elderly woman came out and saw him grabbing his feet with both hands, wrapping himself around a tree. The elderly woman almost thought she had seen a little snake demon!
He practiced basic martial art skills. Occasionally, Gu Jiao would accompany him in his training, and if no one was with him, he would practice by himself with the same enthusiasm.
After his training, he would go to his friends in the village, come back for lunch at noon, and help Gu Jiao do ch.o.r.es in the afternoon.
Right now, it was time for him to go to his friends in the village.
Little Jing Kong replied, "JiaoJiao is sick, so I want to stay with JiaoJiao."
No one else was allowed to disturb his schedule, only JiaoJiao could.
This answer wasn’t surprising. The elderly woman gave a sound of response and looked past him so that her eyes landed on the unfamiliar man at the door.
"Who is this?" She asked lightly.
Little Jing Kong restrained to say the three words “the evil man”, because she promised JiaoJiao that he would not tell their family about their being taken away, so as not to worry Grandaunt and her bad brother-in-law.
"There is just me here." Little Jing Kong said disapprovingly.
The elderly woman. She could see the other man though?
But the elderly woman also didn"t think much of it and just continued to head forward.
At this time, Marquis Gu also noticed the elderly woman coming towards his direction.
Marquis Gu inquired about the current situation of Gu Jiao clearly. He not only knew that she had adopted a little monk, but also knew that she had picked up a cripple husband, and there was also a Grandaunt who lived with them later.
This Grandaunt belonged to the husband’s family.
Seriously. She was so poor herself. Why did she always pick people up back home?
Could she at least pick up a Grand Secretary or an Empress Dowager? [T/N: Some foreshadowing. Lmao.]
Didn’t she have any idea how much of a burden she would be carrying?
Thinking of this, Marquis Gu was furious.
However, when the elderly woman got close and he saw the other person"s face clearly, it wasn’t that he was out of breath, but that he couldn’t breathe at all!
"Em, em, em, em, empress..."
Empress Dowager?
Marquis Gu"s knees went soft in an instant, and he stumbled on the threshold. He was utterly shocked!
The elderly woman looked at the stranger who threw himself at her feet and performed such a big kowtow in their first meeting. She stroked her chin and said, "…It"s not necessary."
Little Jing Kong turned his head and said, "They’re looking for JiaoJiao. The benefactor has already gone in. I’ll stay here to guard him. I won"t allow him inside!"
There was nothing wrong with not allowing men into Gu Jiao"s room, so the elderly woman didn’t suspect anything at all. Without bothering to ask who Marquis Gu was, she yawned and just decided to go to the backyard to eat melon seeds.
Marquis Gu got up with his almost broken forehead.
From his point of view, he could clearly see the elderly woman sitting on the bench outside the back door of the main room. She was dressed in commoner"s clothing and her head was wrapped with a headscarf like that of an old village woman.
Seeing her like this again, Marquis Gu thought they were not so similar.
Empress Dowager Zhuang married the former emperor at the age of thirteen and was given the t.i.tle Empress Xiande as soon as she entered the imperial palace. She reigned in the harem for decades, and governed the state from behind the curtain for seventeen years. Although she didn"t give birth to a son or a daughter for the former emperor, the present Emperor was the one she single-handedly helped ascend the throne, and her position in the harem and the court was unshakable.
It was impossible for most people to see Empress Dowager Zhuang.
But Marquis Gu had the honor of meeting her twice. Once at the palace banquet during the New Year Festival. Though he only saw her figure from afar, Empress Dowager Zhuang’s phoenix aura was so domineering, it wasn’t at all inferior to the Emperor beside her.
On the second occasion, he went to the palace to visit the pregnant Imperial Concubine Shu, and he ran into Empress Dowager Zhuang’s imperial carriage.
He retreated to the side to salute the Empress Dowager Zhuang.
Feeling bold for a moment, he tried to look at her, and her sharp eyes almost overwhelmed him on the spot.
Empress Dowager Zhuang wasn’t a good person, otherwise people wouldn"t secretly curse her as a poisonous and demon Empress.
The elderly woman in front of him did resemble her in appearance, but where was the aura of Empress Dowager Zhuang in her?
"Grandaunt, did you steal snacks again?" Little Jing Kong suddenly noticed that there was something wrong with the sound of the elderly woman eating melon seeds. When he looked back, he found that she was holding the jar of candied dried bayberry since who knew when.
The elderly woman decisively turned around and turned her head away from Little Jing Kong, saying, "Don"t talk nonsense! You don’t see me getting them, do you?"
As she spoke, she grabbed a handful from the jar and put them into her snack bag.
By the time Little Jing Kong came to confiscate the jar, she had already stolen a lot.
Marquis Gu had a panoramic view of everything, and he was more and more convinced that this person, who was a foodie, wasn’t the ruthless and cruel Empress Dowager Zhuang!
Inside the room, Gu Jiao woke up faintly.
She could have woken up earlier, but Yao shi temporarily made a curtain to cover the window in order to let her sleep more.
The dim light really made people sleep well. Gu Jiao slept until noon.
When she opened her eyes, she found a person sitting by the bed, and the alarm in her head went off!
She pulled out the dagger under the pillow, reached out to the other party’s neck and put the tip of the dagger on it as she locked the other party in her arms!
"JiaoJiao, it"s me!" Yao shi said.
Hearing the familiar voice, Gu Jiao’s vigilance dispersed. She took away the dagger and let her go. She said in confusion, "Madame Gu?"
Just now, she really startled Yao shi"s into breaking a cold sweat.
Yao shi turned to her, collected herself, reached out and touched Gu Jiao"s forehead, saying, "How do you feel?"
Gu Jiao subconsciously tilted her head away from her hand.
Yao shi had a slight pause in expression and then asked, "Did I scare you?"
Because the light in the room was a little dim, Gu Jiao failed to see the redness of her eyes, but she could see the bloodstain on her neck.
It was when she seized her just now.
She had a high fever, and her strength wasn’t as accurate as usual, so she accidentally injured her.
But Yao shi’s first reaction was not to pay attention to her injury, but to Gu Jiao.
Gu Jiao looked at her with a complicated look.
Yao shi noticed Gu Jiao"s gaze. She covered the wound with a handkerchief, and smilingly said, "I"m fine, JiaoJiao, how do you feel?"
She asked for the second time.
Gu Jiao thought for a moment, then replied, "I"m fine too. What is Madame Gu doing here?"
"I came to see you." Yao shi answered. She went to the window and opened the curtain, so that the intense light shone in through the window paper instantly.
Gu Jiao slightly shut her eyes, and it took a moment to get used to the light. She said, "Madame Gu has just been poisoned and should stay in bed."
Yao shi"s gentle eyes fell on her little face, "I know, I came here today because I actually have something to tell you."
Gu Jiao looked at Yao shi, and suddenly found that there were crystal tears in her eyes.
Yao shi slowly came up in front of her, took her hand and carefully caressed her face.
She was very weak, but this time she mustered up great strength to say, "JiaoJiao, I’m your mother."