Chapter 27
The next day.
Gu Yanling opened her eyes in a daze, feeling something was wrong. She quickly realized that Xiao Xinghan was hugging her from behind.
There was nothing wrong with just holding her while she slept. What was wrong was that Gu Yanling didn't wear any underwear last night. The sheets were as smooth and cool as water, and felt very comfortable against her skin. So he didn't feel ashamed and just went to bed naked. He had been stuffed with pills last night.
After one night, the medicine dissolved naturally.
With Xiao Xinghan holding him like this, even though he was wearing pajamas, the eagle that woke up early in the morning was so noticeable.
It just happened to peck him!!!
Gu Yanling suddenly woke up and pushed Xiao Xinghan away in panic.
Xiao Xinghan hadn't slept well to begin with, and Gu Yanling was talking in his sleep. He had good hearing, so he was naturally unhappy when he heard her mumbling and scolding him. So he hugged Gu Yanling from behind and covered his mouth with his hand. After holding him in his arms, Gu Yanling finally stopped talking in his sleep. Xiao Xinghan felt comfortable in his arms, so he didn't let go. He buried his face in the crook of her neck and fell asleep.
I didn't expect that the other person would start making a fuss as soon as he woke up after not long in sleeping.
Xiao Xinghan's face was full of displeasure, and he pulled the person into his arms. Gu Yanling leaned back because of his action, and was pecked even harder.
It pecked right into the gap, and through the thin pajamas, I felt completely insecure.
Gu Yanling didn't dare to move anymore and could only call out softly: "Master, Master."
How could Xiao Xinghan continue to sleep? He opened his eyes with a cold and unhappy look on his face, but did not let him go.
Gu Yanling: "Master, are you awake?"
Xiao Xinghan didn't say anything.
"Hey, Master~"
Gu Yanling's voice unconsciously changed direction because of Xiao Xinghan's actions. He really didn't expect Xiao Xinghan to be so shameless.
Coming straight through clothes so early in the morning!!!
When Li Youfu brought the young eunuch in to help his master wash up, Gu Yanling hid in the bed curtain in shame and anger and didn't dare to go out.
After Xiao Xinghan finished teaching him a lesson, his displeasure faded considerably. He instructed through the bed curtains, "Go get another basin of hot water."
Li Youfu asked someone to get some hot water. When he came in, he smelled something in the room. When he saw the pajamas that the Crown Prince had worn yesterday fell on his feet, he knew what had just happened. He quickly went to the cupboard to get a clean undergarment for the Crown Prince.
Xiao Xinghan was helped by Li Youfu to wash up, and then he raised his hand to let everyone leave, "You can come out now."
Gu Yanling then lifted the bed curtain and looked out, only to find that there was indeed no one there. She quickly took a hot towel and wiped her body, put on her clothes, and began to wash up. She waited for the two of them to come out for breakfast before the eunuchs came in to clean the room.
Because of what happened in the morning, Gu Yanling didn't want to stay with Xiao Xinghan. This guy got excited easily, and he didn't want to be so unrestrained, so he had breakfast and went back to the west wing.
The little parrot was drinking the fresh water that had been changed for it. When it saw Gu Yanling coming, it immediately flapped its wings and jumped up and down, "Master, Yuanbao has realized his mistake!"
"..." The shopkeeper who sold the parrot said that the bird was very psychic and very smart. He originally wanted to teach it this sentence, and saw that it had learned it by listening along the way. Gu Yanling happily praised it for being really smart, but he never thought that it could only say this one sentence.
Gu Yanling felt that she had been deceived and cursed, "Idiot!"
The little parrot flapped its wings: "Yuan Bao is not stupid!"
Gu Yanling was taken aback when she heard this. Her eyes widened in shock. She thought she had misheard and stared at it expectantly: "Say it again."
"Master, Yuanbao already knows he's wrong!"
Gu Yanling waved her hands: "No, no, it's the previous sentence, Yuanbao is not a fool!"
"Yuan Bao is not stupid! Yuan Bao is not stupid!"
Gu Yanling was extremely excited. It seemed that the shopkeeper had not lied to him. He was really a smart guy. "Young Master is an idiot!"
"Master is an idiot! Master is an idiot!"
Gu Yanling clapped her hands in approval, her eyes curved with laughter as she continued to teach: "Yuanbao is the smartest guy in the world! Young Master is the biggest fool in the world!"
The little parrot opened its tiny eyes and started again: "Master, Yuanbao already knows he was wrong!"
Gu Yanling was in a playful mood at the moment, and found the parrot really interesting. "Don't say this again in the future. I'll teach you something new."
After a while, the servants guarding outside the west wing heard: "Yuan Bao is the smartest guy in the world! The young master is the biggest fool in the world!"
They all lowered their heads, pretending not to hear such disrespectful words.
Gu Yanling taught in the west wing for half an hour. Feeling thirsty, he drank some water to moisten his throat and stopped teasing the parrot. Instead, he went out on the pretext of buying herbs to make sachets for Xiao Xinghan. He was afraid that Xiao Xinghan would send someone to follow him, so he would look back every few steps to see if there was anyone behind him.
I'm not going out to do anything bad, so what should I be afraid of? After thinking this, Gu Yanling swaggered into the herbal medicine shop, bought a few bags of herbs, and went to the spice shop. When he passed the entrance of the casino, he slowed down his pace and found that the door was closed.
Gu Yanling felt more and more that her guess was correct. Since those criminals were still locked up in the prison and they had no thugs, they simply closed the door for a few days. If they opened the door again, they would either find thugs or the criminals would be released again.
Gu Yanling didn't rush back, but went to the teahouse with the medicinal herbs, found a seat, ordered a plate of melon seeds, and pretended to listen to a storyteller.
The teahouse is the gathering place for information in Yangzhou City. If something happens in the city, they can find out almost everything by sitting here for an hour.
Gu Yanling was eating sunflower seeds while asking the middle-aged man next to her, "Why is the casino on West Street closed? It was open just yesterday."
The middle-aged man grabbed the sunflower seeds from his plate without hesitation and said, "Oh, you've asked the right person. Do you know who owns this casino?"
Seeing that he had finished all his melon seeds, Gu Yanling asked the waiter to bring another plate of pine nuts and said flatteringly, "I don't know, who is it?"
"Who else could it be? It's our prefect's brother-in-law. He's a black-hearted man. It's impossible for him to walk away after winning a lot of money."
Gu Yanling: "It's too much for him to open a casino like this. Why not just not go there?"
"Of course he'd go. Look, there are no casinos in our city. If he just does this business, other businesses won't be able to do it. He's so overbearing."
Gu Yanling thought to herself, how could I not know that since Hu Jiawei came here, he has monopolized the Chamber of Commerce and whatever he says is what he does.
His family's cloth is made with exquisite craftsmanship. Not only is it famous in Yangzhou City, but they also cooperate with garment shops in Beijing. The clothes they make are very popular among dignitaries. Hu Jiawei suppressed them as soon as he came and opened his own cloth shop. Those garment shops in Yangzhou City had to cooperate with his cloth shop, causing the Gu family's cloth shop business to plummet. Fortunately, the Gu family's business is big and they are involved in other industries. Other merchants in the city have been suppressed and their financial resources are limited. However, because of the prefect behind him, they dared not speak out.
Years ago, Hu Jiawei summoned merchants in the city and said that he would send some fine products from Yangzhou to the court at the end of the year. Every family had to produce some rare and precious things. He said that if they could please the emperor, maybe they could even be named imperial merchants. Gu Yanling's father came back and was so angry that he lost his appetite for three days. He said that everyone present knew that he was talking nonsense, but if they wanted to continue doing business in this city, they had to do as he said.
In early March, Hu Jiawei once again summoned merchants to discuss repairing the riverbank. The prefect wanted to relieve the emperor of his worries and prepare for a rainy day. It rained every year, so if a flood came, as long as the riverbank was stable, there would be no fear. He claimed it was all for his hometown, the people, and the court, but in reality, he was forcing them to donate. The emperor had already offered his services, so who would dare not donate? In the end, no one knew what happened to the tens of thousands of taels of silver. It was likely that they had embezzled the money, as it was never used to build the riverbank.
The reason why Hu Jiawei can be so rampant in the city is because of the prefect behind him. As long as the prefect falls, Hu Jiawei will be nothing. But it is impossible to bring down the corrupt official with just these means. Gu Yanling knows it well, but he has heard that Hu Jiawei is selling official positions. As long as you donate enough money, you can get a small official position. However, there is no evidence for this and it needs to be investigated. But there is no smoke without fire, and it is very likely to be true. It is not surprising what Hu Jiawei can do.
Xiao Xinghan is a big shot from the capital, so it is easy for him to investigate these things. This is why Gu Yanling chose to be Xiao Xinghan's male concubine. Because of this relationship, he can whisper in Xiao Xinghan's ear, and Xiao Xinghan will also pay attention to the investigation.
Gu Yanling collected her thoughts and asked, "Then why did it suddenly close?"
"I don't know about that, but I heard that my brother-in-law is recruiting fighters these days. Anyone with good skills can go and try. I heard the salary is good."
Gu Yanling realized that what he thought was almost the same. She placed the plate of pine nuts in front of the man and said, "Brother, you really know a lot. Eat."
"Haha, there's nothing I don't know about this city. My brother-in-law went to Nanfeng Pavilion a while ago. Do you know where Nanfeng Pavilion is?"
Gu Yanling was about to leave when she heard this and quickly peeled two pine nuts and put them in her mouth. "I know, I know. What was he doing at Nanfeng Pavilion? I only heard that he likes to visit brothels."
"My relative works as a handyman in the prefect's house. It's said that the prefect has a male lover at home and dotes on him. The prefect's wife doesn't like it, so she probably told her brother about it. I guess the brother-in-law wanted to see what men are like, so he went to have a look."
Gu Yanling really didn't expect this, but what surprised him the most was: "The prefect is over fifty years old and still has a male lover?"
"Old but still strong."
“…”
Gu Yanling listened to a lot of gossip in the city before returning with the medicine bag. Seeing Xiao Xinghan sitting in the pavilion, she hurriedly lowered her footsteps, said a word to Li Youfu, threw the medicine bag to him, and hugged Xiao Xinghan's neck from behind, "Young Master~"
Li Youfu walked out of the pavilion with his head down, carrying the medicine bags and spices he had bought.
Gu Yanling walked around from behind to the front of Xiao Xinghan and sat on his lap with ease.
Xiao Xinghan took a quick glance and saw some melon seed shells on the tip of his nose. He raised his hand and rubbed them away. "You ate the melon seeds with your nose?"
Gu Yanling pushed him and wondered if he could speak. "Who eats with their nose? I eat with my mouth."
Xiao Xinghan grabbed his hand and asked, "Where did you go to play again?"
Gu Yanling snorted: "Young Master didn't send anyone to follow me?"
Xiao Xinghan said calmly: "No."
Gu Yanling didn't believe it: "Is it true?"
Xiao Xinghan: "Yes, yes. No, no. I never tell lies."
Gu Yanling heard his subtext, which turned out to be a mockery of her love of lying. She was very disdainful of it. It wasn't that she didn't tell lies, but she simply didn't say what she didn't want to say. "Master, you should give people a chance to reform. That was all in the past. Now I am being completely honest with you! Not a single lie!"
Xiao Xinghan glared at him: "Really?"
Gu Yanling: "Of course!"
Xiao Xinghan: "You'd better be. If I find out that you lied to me, I'll show you how I'll deal with you."
Gu Yanling touched Xiao Xinghan's forehead with hers and said coquettishly, "Oh, really not."
Anyway, once this matter is over, he will leave Yangzhou City. The emperor is far away and they will never meet again. How can Xiao Xinghan have the chance to deal with him?
Besides, he would have changed back to his original appearance by then, so even if he stood in front of Xiao Xinghan, he wouldn't be recognized! !
The more Gu Yanling thought about it, the more she felt that her disguise was really clever and flawless!
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