Chapter 82 Chapter 82 is the only genuine version...
Lu Jinyi opened the wooden box with his own hands, and inside was a rather thick scroll.
Gu Zhizhuo's eyebrows moved slightly.
Looking at Lu Jinyi again, the thin calluses on his hands are all on both sides of his fingertips, which are caused by using a pen frequently.
My third uncle said that Uncle Lu is good at painting.
Is this a painting?
"Abai, open it and take a look."
Gu Zhizhuo and Gu Yican exchanged a glance, and they both stepped forward and took the scroll out of the wooden box. The scroll was very heavy, so they each pulled one end. Gu Yican slowly backed away, unfolding the scroll slowly.
"This is……"
When the scroll was unfolded, it was as long as the entire hall. The brother and sister stood on either side of the hall.
This is a map.
Gu Zhizhuo was amazed. Maps were so precious. The more exquisite the map, the rarer it was. And at first glance, the mountains and rivers on this map were obviously much more detailed than the one hanging in Gu Baibai's study.
There were mountains, rivers, towns, and villages, all labeled with their names. Unlike ordinary maps, which were simply drawn with a few strokes, this one even included the general shape of each village and town, as well as the surrounding streams and paths.
Gu Baibai was amazed and couldn't help but praise: "Brother, you really have a pair of skillful hands."
Lu Jinyi smiled shyly.
He was not good at socializing, and all his emotions were expressed in his paintings.
When he was thirteen years old, he took a few old servants to travel outside the capital. He first followed some travel notes and then added to the travel notes one by one.
Whenever he arrived at a place, he would draw all the mountains, rivers and streams he passed by as a souvenir.
Later, his marriage was unhappy, and as he grew older, he could no longer leave the capital at will. He began to wander around the suburbs, and at most visited Yizhou. He visited every village, every mountain, and every river in Yizhou, having his servants help him measure them. It took him a full ten years to complete this map of Yizhou.
Gu Zhizhuo felt itchy in his heart, so he called a servant over, grabbed the scroll at her end, and ran to the front to take a look.
She looked from left to right, and then back from right, marveling at it.
"Uncle Lu, is this the capital?"
Gu Zhizhuo was good at reading maps and found the location of the capital in no time.
"Yes."
"This path..." Gu Zhizhuo leaned in closer to look. She didn't dare touch it with her hands. She just waved to Gu Yican and asked, "Brother, come here. Have you seen this path?"
Gu Yican used to love to go horseback riding in the suburbs of Beijing with a group of playboys, and he had been to many more places than she had.
Gu Yican also gave the scroll to the servant, ran to her, and the two of them looked at it together with their heads touching.
Gu Yican touched his chin with his hand and recalled carefully: "No."
Lu Jinyi said, "To the north of the capital, there's a small stall selling herbal tea. It's been there for fifteen years. Behind it is a river with thorns growing along the riverbank. After passing through the thorns, there's a small path."
The river and the thorn bush were also drawn on the map.
And Lu Jinyi could tell the story without even looking at it.
He spoke slowly, pointing at the map and speaking leisurely.
"I've walked this trail before, it leads directly to Daliang Mountain in Yizhou."
Lu Jinyi pointed to the location of Daliang Mountain again.
The most important thing in drawing a map is accuracy.
He traveled to almost every corner of Gyeonggi and Yizhou, and the paintings he had drawn filled two warehouses.
The two siblings were silent. When he raised his eyes after he finished speaking, he saw that they were looking at him with two pairs of similar phoenix eyes, with sparkling eyes.
"Uncle Lu, you are so amazing."
"Uncle Lu, is there a hidden lake here?"
“Uncle Lu, there’s actually a small village here, I didn’t even know!”
"Uncle Lu, your hands are worth gold. No, even gold can't compare to you!"
Do the children of the Gu family always praise others so directly?
Lu Jinyi was extremely shy, two crimson blushes appearing on her pale face, extending all the way to the back of her ears. She spoke even more slowly, "I've walked there too... several times. Some of the small paths and hidden rivers aren't hard to find... You just need to walk around more and ask the elderly people nearby... I just drew them."
Gu Baibai was staring at the direction of the Xishan camp on the map.
This map even shows the layout of the Xishan camp and the terrain and underground rivers of nearby villages.
If he and Lu Jinyi were not very familiar with each other and knew that he only expressed his feelings through calligraphy and painting and would not think about anything else, he would probably have thought that this was a spy painting.
No wonder it took him ten years to complete this painting.
With such a map in hand, you can at least defeat thousands of troops.
They could even use some secret passages in Yizhou to transfer troops from the northern border in small batches.
Gu Baibai lowered his eyes and responded, "Your uncle Lu is very thoughtful. The landscape painting he drew for me last time in Northern Xinjiang helped us win a complete annihilation battle with fewer troops."
"No, no."
He really just drew it casually for Abai to appreciate, but Abai insisted that he saved the lives of at least 30,000 soldiers.
The eyes of the two children from the Gu family suddenly brightened, and Lu Jinyi felt a burning sensation behind her ears.
His face must have been red. He stiffly changed the subject: "Abai, I originally wanted to make this a birthday gift for you, but now it's just a thank you gift. I'll prepare other gifts for your birthday."
"Brother," Gu Baibai just smiled and said, "This is a gift for your nephew's third birthday, not a thank-you gift."
Lu Jinyi was stunned and couldn't help but smile.
Given the relationship between their two families, it would be too inappropriate to talk about a thank-you gift.
"Yes. It's for Xu'er. Is Xu'er okay?"
Lu Jinyi has no children, and his sister's two children are no different from his own.
"I'm fine." Gu Baibai's heart softened, "Thanks to the real person."
Gu Baibai finally looked up from the map and recounted the thrilling events of that day. Lu Jinyi's hands trembled as he listened.
He was extremely angry, but he couldn't utter a single curse word. All he could say was "hateful", "excessive", "too bad" and so on.
"Brother, think on the bright side, this is a blessing in disguise for you."
Gu Baibai looked at the gray hair on his temples. He was not yet thirty years old, but the frustration over the years had added several fine lines to the corners of his eyebrows.
Now perhaps he has finally succeeded in getting rid of the word "prince consort", Lu Jinyi finally has a little more smile on his face, and looks particularly elegant.
Lu Jinyi suddenly said, "I let those people go."
He was talking about those male concubines.
After Gu Baibai left, the palace sent a large number of rewards, not knowing whether it was for compensation or just for face, including gold and silver, as well as the contracts for the twenty-three concubines, which meant that he could deal with them at his own will.
He gave all the deeds to the steward and asked him to return them to them. He also helped them to remove their slave status. As for whether they left or returned to the princess's mansion in the future, it had nothing to do with him.
Gu Zhizhuo and Gu Yican were still huddled in front of the map, chattering away, trying to find some small paths, mountain trails, underground rivers, and the like that they had never noticed before, and talking about going to check them out tomorrow.
Gu Baibai retracted his gaze and said with a smile, "Brother, do you want to go see Brother Xu?"
"good……"
After Lu Jinyi agreed, Qiongfang came outside and said, "Miss, Princess Danling is here."
ah?
Cousin Danling is here? Gu Zhizhuo's face lit up with joy.
It had been a long time since I last saw Dan Ling. Gu Zhizhuo reluctantly said goodbye and ran towards the ceremonial gate with light steps.
From a distance, she saw Xie Danling leaning against the carriage, playing with a gift box boredly. When she saw her coming, she just turned her head lazily, looking very unhappy.
"Cousin Danling."
Gu Zhizhuo skillfully took her arm and began to coax her: "Did you come out of the palace just to play with me? I knew you liked me the most."
The tone was sweet and the voice was upturned, sounding well-behaved and sweet. Xie Danling's stern face relaxed a little, and a hint of good mood jumped between her eyebrows, as if to say: Don't stop, keep coaxing me.
"I didn't mean to avoid looking for you, but if I go into the palace now, I will be beaten out."
Xie Danling pouted, leaned her head on her shoulder, and casually pushed her veil aside.
"Why are you out today?"
Coming out openly! Speaking of this, Xie Danling was in a very good mood: "The Empress was scolded, and she has no energy to care about me now. The Anguo Mansion sent a lot of concubines, saying that they were presented to the Empress by the eldest princess as a filial gift. Father scolded the Empress for being shameless and even meddling in the princess's boudoir affairs. She doesn't have the grace and dignity that a mother of the country should have."
"My father asked the Empress to hand over the Phoenix Seal. Now my mother and the Imperial Concubine are jointly assisting in the management of the six palaces."
"So! This princess can go out now!"
Having said this, Xie Danling raised his hands high, looking very proud.
Gu Zhizhuo quickly clapped his hands in cooperation.
Xie Danling's anger faded quickly. She put her arm around her and said as she entered the ceremonial gate, "My mother asked me to come and perform the baptism ceremony. My father agreed."
"Also let me tell you that cousin Wang will be arriving in the capital in a few days."
"Is it Cousin Yan or Cousin Xing?"
"Cousin Xing."
Wang Yan and Wang Xing are both direct descendants of the eldest branch of the Wang family. They are their cousins, whom they met when they were young.
"Cousin Xing, are you planning on leaving next year?"
That was a little too early.
"Oh, you don't care about me at all." Xie Danling pouted and said, "I told you last time that the Empress insisted that I learn the zither. I later discovered that she wanted me to please her concubine so that she could send me to the Cheng'en Mansion to marry her silly nephew."
Xie Danling was so angry that she didn't even bother to use honorifics.
Gu Zhizhuo felt a little guilty. She really hadn't cared about her little cousin these days.
"What happened next?"
"Mom wrote a letter to Grandfather, and he asked Cousin Xing to come over." Xie Danling's eyes sparkled. "Mom said, let's take it one step at a time. If it really doesn't work out, let the Wang family propose. If the Wang family and the Cheng'en Mansion are put together, the Emperor will definitely choose the Wang family. Cousin Zhuo, do you still remember Cousin Wang Xing?"
"He always bullied me when I was little. Why didn't Cousin Yan come here?"
Xie Danling held her cheek with one hand, looking troubled.
The two cousins had only been to the capital when they were young. At that time, she and Xie Danling were only five or six years old at most. She actually didn't have much impression of them. She only remembered that cousin Wang Xing always liked to provoke them. After making them cry, they would run away and then get beaten. It was so pitiful.
However, Cousin Danling didn't know that it was actually Cousin Wang Yan who went to complain every time. After watching Cousin Xing get beaten, he took them out to play as if nothing had happened. This is bad.
Gu Zhizhuo's eyebrows curved, full of joy.
really.
Even if the Queen really wanted to marry Dan Ling back to the Cheng'en Mansion, there was no doubt which one was more advantageous, as the Cheng'en Mansion, which had nothing and had to rely entirely on the Emperor's support, or the Wang Clan of Langya.
My aunt was just taking precautions.
No matter what, it is better for cousin Danling to marry back into the Wang family than to be randomly betrothed to someone else or even be married off as a foreign prince.
In the previous life, cousin Dan Ling passed away, and the emperor's fourth princess married into the Liang Kingdom.
"When will cousin Wang Xing arrive?"
"We've already left and should be able to reach the capital in August."
"Then I'll go to the Wang family's house in a couple of days to see if there's anything I need to buy."
The Wang family had a house in the capital, looked after by several old servants. But the servants only cleaned and repaired it, never actively going out to buy anything. August was hot, so they had to put up a shed and stock up on ice.
Xie Danling walked briskly, skipping and jumping. "Cousin Zhuo, do you still remember what cousin Xing looked like? I wonder if he was good-looking. When he was a child, he lost a front tooth and looked so ugly."
Gu Zhizhuo smiled brightly, holding his head in his hands, and said happily, "We are both as beautiful as flowers, so my cousin will definitely not be ugly."
"That makes sense!" Xie Danling nodded slightly, satisfied.
As long as it's not ugly.
For Xie Danling, nothing is more important than looking good.
"Yaoyao, my mother told me to tell you that you haven't reached the age of marriage yet. No matter how soon you get married, it will be next year. She will check on your cousin Chen for you. Whether it's good or bad, don't be silly and believe everything others say." Xie Danling poked her forehead, "You really make me worry so much."
"Yes, yes, yes."
Gu Zhizhuo leaned on her shoulder and giggled.
As they were talking, they arrived at Ronghe Hall.
"grandmother."
As soon as they entered the courtyard through the hanging flower gate, Xie Danling called out affectionately.
The lady heard her sweet voice while she was still in the room, and immediately smiled.
"Our little princess is here."
Xie Danling has always been sweet-mouthed and always calls the Lady Dowager "Grandma Gu" and never puts on airs. The Lady Dowager is happy from the bottom of her heart when she sees her.
Without anyone notifying her, Xie Danling walked into the room with her skirt lifted up, skillfully held the lady back to prevent her from greeting her, and sat down next to her.
Xie Danling often came to visit, and the lady would quickly ask someone to prepare her favorite sweet drink.
"Grandma, where is my little cousin? I put a little gold lock on him."
Her personal maid, Awu, placed an exquisite box in her hands.
"I haven't brought him here yet."
The third-day bathing ceremony was scheduled for Ronghe Hall later, but the auspicious time hadn't arrived yet, so the baby hadn't been brought over yet. Xie Danling smiled and said, "I'll give it to you later. This is the design I drew myself. I had Yin Zuoju draw it long ago. It's beautiful."
The lady praised: "Our little princess has good taste."
Xie Danling held her chin high, looking very proud.
"Madam,"
A maid ran hurriedly to the corridor and bowed her head and said, "The Prime Minister and his wife are here."
"Huh?" The lady was startled.
Why is the Prime Minister here?
The Gu family didn't plan to hold a big celebration for Xu'er's third day bath, and only invited the in-laws and a few close friends of Gu Baibai and his wife.
The maid brought the gift list. Madam Gu took it and looked at it, and was stunned. This gift was too expensive.
It's even more expensive than a first-class gift.
Does their family have such a good relationship with Prime Minister Song?
"Um..." Gu Zhizhuo raised his hand cautiously, "I roughly know."
Madam Gu glanced over suspiciously. Gu Zhizhuo chuckled and said, "That's right. When I went out a few days ago, I accidentally saved Prime Minister Song."
"You saved Prime Minister Song?"
Gu Zhizhuo nodded happily.
Did she forget to tell him? She seemed to remember telling her brother about it.
“You, you…”
Madam Gu pointed at her, speechless for a long time, and finally said angrily, "You really don't say a word. Sooner or later, you will forget about it too."
Gu Zhizhuo just smiled, and it was a sweet smile.
The lady glared at her and said hurriedly, "Please come in."
On a happy day, it is unlucky not to turn away guests.
After a while, the wife of the Prime Minister was brought in, and the Dowager personally met and greeted her.
The Prime Minister's wife brought with her a very cute little girl, about eleven or twelve years old, wearing a crimson dress.
She followed behind obediently and saluted politely, her expressions and movements were standard and perfect without any flaws.
The lady was filled with joy just by looking at it, and took off the bracelet as a gift. She thought: If Miss Zhuo could learn from others and be as well-behaved as them, she would be satisfied.
One of her biggest wishes in this life was to have a well-behaved daughter. Thinking of Gu Liaoliao, the lady stroked her forehead.
Or the good granddaughter, thinking of Gu Zhizhuo, her forehead twitched.
"Miss Gu."
After the greetings, the Prime Minister's wife thanked Gu Zhizhuo repeatedly, holding her hands, not knowing what to say, her eyes red.
His master said after he came back that it was just a matter of seconds. If it weren't for Miss Gu's intervention, his life would have been in danger.
Song Jiuniang looked at her curiously.
"Madam," the Prime Minister's wife said, "I should have come to thank you yesterday, but my master couldn't get up yet."
In fact, after returning that day, Prime Minister Song was already able to walk freely, but yesterday, seeing Third Master Gu running around for the Duke of Anguo's Mansion, they did not come to cause trouble.
"You really have a good granddaughter."
"This ability to revive the dead and turn flesh into bones is like having a pair of divine hands."
"You are so lucky."
The lady was so flattered by the compliment that she said smugly, "This girl is so clever!"
"Sister Gu." Song Jiuniang spoke softly and gently, "People say that if you save someone's life, you must pledge your life in return."
"As a granddaughter, I should share my grandfather's worries and promise him my love!"
Her eyes were bright and lively.
The lady's hand holding the teacup froze. No, where is that sweet and cute little girl?
"Sister Gu, do you want a little doctor? I don't want wages, just one meal a day is enough."
Gu Zhizhuo: ...
Not getting paid is fine, but what does it mean to eat one meal a day?!
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