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The Emperor accidentally exposed the two people’s secrets at once, unaware of his actions. While pondering how to reward the little miracle physician, he secretly returned to the palace with Empress Dowager Zhuang, leaving behind the bewildered young couple at the kitchen door, staring at each other in shock.
Yuya"er was summoned.
"When did your guye’s leg heal?" Gu Jiao asked with a serious expression.
Yuya"er"s heart thumped. She glanced nervously at her guye, lowered her head, and weakly replied, "It"s... it"s the day after guye’s mother came to the house for the first time..."
Gu Jiao remembered.
Princess Xinyang"s first visit was shortly after Ning w.a.n.g’s incident. At that time, Xiao Heng was harmed by Ning w.a.n.g, injuring his right hand. Gu Jiao went to Zhuque Street to inform Princess Xinyang that Xiao Heng had been living in the shadows of being abandoned by Princess Xinyang and self-loathing due to his unbearable background.
Princess Xinyang came to find Xiao Heng, and with Grandaunt"s a.s.sistance, Xiao Heng learned that Princess Xinyang had never abandoned him.
The mother and son"s knot in their hearts was untied.
So, after his emotional recovery, did his leg also heal?
But the next day when he went on duty at the Hanlin Academy, it wasn"t like that at all!
"By the way, how"s your hand? Is it still painful? Can you write with it now?"
"It doesn’t seem quite good… It still doesn"t have much strength. My hand, is it the same as my leg now...?"
He sighed painfully at that time, hesitant to speak, looking exactly like a little cripple who could no longer walk!
She comforted him, saying that with strengthened rehabilitation and more ma.s.sages, he would definitely recover. Then she proceeded to ma.s.sage his hand all the way!
Gu Jiao now seriously suspected that not only had his leg healed at the time, but his hand as well!
He was faking it!
Gu Jiao looked at Xiao Heng with her arms crossed, her pair of eyes looking a bit fierce.
Xiao Heng really hadn"t antic.i.p.ated that he would be exposed one after another. Not only his pretense of still being lame was revealed, but also his feigned hand injury.
Now, it wasn"t clear who should be demanding an explanation from who.
"What"s wrong?" Yao shi noticed the odd expressions of the three people.
Neither Gu Jiao nor Xiao Heng spoke.
Yuya"er pointed at Gu Jiao and quietly said to Yao shi, "Young miss got seriously ill at the border and almost froze to death. After returning, she lied and said nothing happened."
Yao shi"s face changed.
Yuya"er then pointed at Xiao Heng, "And guye’s leg actually healed long ago, but he kept lying, pretending to still be lame."
Yao shi: "....!!"
Yao shi took a deep breath, tightly gripping her handkerchief, "We’re celebrating New Year, don"t get angry, don"t get angry..." She squeezed out a smile and said, "Today is Ah Heng and Jing Kong"s birthdays. Everyone is waiting for you in the main room."
Then, she looked at the young couple and said with a smile that didn"t quite reach her eyes, "We"ll settle accounts after the New Year!"
Turning around, she took Yuya"er"s hand and went to the main room.
Gu Jiao raised an eyebrow, looking at someone, "Did you hear that? We"ll settle accounts after the New Year."
Xiao Heng lightly tugged at the corner of his lips, "You make it sound like I don"t need to settle accounts with you. Gu JiaoJiao, your offenses are more serious."
Gu JiaoJiao! What’s with this new nickname?
It was just a nickname that Xiao Heng spontaneously blurted out, but he felt pretty good after saying it.
Suddenly, he curved up his lips and called out again, "Gu JiaoJiao!"
Gu Jiao opened her mouth, pondered for two seconds, and looked at him meaningfully, "Since we"re actually even, then tonight..."
Before she could finish, his slender fingertip lightly pressed on her soft lips, "No, not allowed, not showing."
Gu Jiao"s face turned black!
……
Since the cat was out of the bag, Xiao Heng simply stopped pretending and openly entered the main room.
However, everyone"s attention was momentarily not focused on his leg. They only glanced over and vaguely felt that something was amiss, but couldn"t quite put their finger on it for a moment.
Yao shi had also learned to misbehave, deciding not to remind them and just wait for these few people to frighten themselves.
"Brother-in-law, have a seat." Gu Xiaoshun invited Xiao Heng to sit down.
Xiao Heng and Little Jing Kong were the birthday stars, seated side by side on a long chair.
As a matter of fact, they didn"t really have the habit of celebrating their birthdays. It was Little Jing Kong who celebrated every year, and thanks to his influence, the family had begun to celebrate birthdays.
The only ones missed out were Gu Jiao and Gu Yan"s birthdays. Gu Jiao was on her way to the border and didn"t celebrate, so neither did Gu Yan.
Gu Yan said he would just celebrate with JiaoJiao next year.
"Little monk, here." Gu Yan handed a small clay sculpture he made to Little Jing Kong. This year, it wasn"t an empty house. It was a small fish pond with two ugly fish carved out of white radishes.
Meanwhile, what he gave to Xiao Heng wasn"t a fish pond but a courtyard. This year"s gift complemented his gift last year, forming a small residence. It was indeed a unique idea.
Gu Xiaoshun gave them two penholders, one large and one small, finely crafted and engraved with poetry.
Little Jing Kong liked it a lot, and Xiao Heng was also very pleased.
Gu Xiaoshun had been studying sculpture for so long. His progress wasn"t just in his craftsmanship though, but also in his knowledge. He knew more characters now than several Xiucai in the capital.
Whenever he was told which characters to carve, he could immediately remember all of them.
Most people remembered characters based on stroke order, but Gu Xiaoshun remembered them as patterns. Although the method was different, it achieved the same result.
In contrast, Gu Yan"s knowledge was truly appalling.
It wasn"t that Gu Yan was stupid. On the contrary, apart from Xiao Heng, he was the cleverest in the family.
Nothing escaped his notice.
For example, the gecko cinnabar on Gu Jiao"s face.
Yao shi hadn"t told him, nor did he overhear it that night in the corner. However, he guessed it.
There were also the occasional glances that Gu Jiao directed towards Xiao Heng. Gu Yan couldn"t possibly not know what Gu Jiao was thinking.
There was no way around it. Twins were just that powerful.
Before leaving, Empress Dowager Zhuang left gifts for the two. She gave Little Jing Kong a string of gla.s.s Buddhist beads, the first batch of gla.s.s successfully made by the State of Zhao after receiving the gla.s.smaking technology from the State of Liang. The quality and l.u.s.ter were excellent.
Of course, Little Jing Kong also liked it very much.
Empress Dowager Zhuang gave Xiao Heng a gla.s.s inkstone.
Old Chief gave them books, and Yao shi personally made two sets of clothes for them.
Gu Jiao also prepared gifts. She gave Little Jing Kong a rattle-drum from the border.
After winning the war, a four-year-old from Yuegu City gave the only rattle-drum to her as a reward, "You were right, the army didn"t leave! This is a reward for you!"
It was the most sincere sentiment a child could have amidst the war.
Little Jing Kong soon noticed something, "Why doesn"t brother-in-law have a gift?"
"Your sister already gave it to me." Xiao Heng glanced meaningfully at Gu Jiao.
She was his best gift for his birthday.Raz P."s Thoughts
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