Gu Jinke smiled and shook his head: "Mr. Qiao and Mr. Qiao of the Minister of War are from the same clan, but Mr. Qiao's branch settled in the capital later and rarely went back."
She remembered asking Xun Ji to do a quick check before, and Qiao Xi himself also briefly mentioned that there was this connection. This time he went to the capital to seek refuge with his relative, the Minister of War.
Unexpectedly, Xin Shuang smiled mysteriously and said, "It's not this."
Gu Jinke was a little interested in Xin Shuang's expression and joked, "It can't be that Mr. Qiao is still Mr. Qiao's child, right?"
"How did Your Highness know?" Xin Shuang asked in surprise.
Gu Jingke: ...
She just said it casually, how could she know anything? But how come Qiao Xi is Mr. Qiao’s child again? She was a little curious and couldn't help asking?
Xin Shuang did not answer this question, but Qiao Xi answered it himself. He spent money like water on his way to the capital and bought a lot of good things, which he left with Gu Jinke. Later that day, he took the initiative to contact Xun Ji and wanted to take the things away.
Gu Jinke originally didn't need to meet Qiao Xi, but thinking of the help Qiao Xi had given her in Qingcheng Prefecture and the changes in Qiao Xi's life experience after coming to the capital, she took the initiative to meet Qiao Xi.
"Mr. Qiao!" she greeted.
Qiao Xi, who followed Xun Ji into the mansion, was still wearing a blue brocade robe. He originally had a calm expression, but his eyes lit up when he heard the words. He looked at Gu Jinke with some surprise and some joy: "Your Highness!"
He looked at Gu Jinke without hesitation, and Gu Jinke smiled and invited him to drink tea: "Mr. Qiao has arrived in the capital, and it is my turn to show my hospitality. I would like to thank you for your help in Qingcheng Mansion."
Qiao Xi bowed earnestly, not daring to accept her thanks: "Your Highness will succeed without my help, and it is also for the people of Qingcheng Prefecture. What Qiao Xi can do is just a little icing on the cake."
Without Qiao Xi, things could be accomplished, but the effort and cost would be incomparable. However, Gu Jinke did not refute him. She knew the situation well. She asked about the changes after Qiao Xi came to the capital: "Mr. Qiao, what is your background?"
How did he suddenly become Lord Qiao’s son?
Qiao Xi smiled and said, "These are all things about the elders. My father was originally the first wife of Mr. Qiao. After Mr. Qiao went to Beijing to serve as an official, my father was sick and weak. He had never been pregnant and had to stay in his hometown to serve my grandparents. Who would have thought that I would be born by chance at that time. My father tried his best to give birth to me and was dying. Because it was a boy, my grandparents did not let us announce the good news, fearing that it would delay Mr. Qiao's official career. My father's health deteriorated after giving birth to me, and he could not hold on for a few months. Therefore, he passed away without seeing Mr. Qiao for the last time."
He turned the teacup in his hand, his expression lighter, "I was originally going to deliver the news of my father's death to the capital, but I received a letter from Lord Qiao saying that she was favored by the son of the former Minister of War in the capital, so my grandmother and grandfather decided on this marriage, saying that my father had passed away a year ago, and asked Lord Qiao not to delay."
"In order not to affect the marriage, I was kept secret again. After Lord Qiao and his new husband got married, they had a child. They only found out about me then, but they couldn't bring me to the capital, so they raised me in Qingcheng Mansion and told others that I was just a relative."
He looked at Gu Jinke, a little embarrassed: "I am sorry to have embarrassed you with these family matters. I was originally prepared to live like this in Qingcheng Mansion for the rest of my life and had no plans to go to the capital, so I didn't tell you about this. It's just that I suffered a disaster this time, and life is difficult. I had no choice but to come to my biological mother. I didn't mean to deceive you."
Gu Jinke felt a little sad when she heard such a true story, but when she heard the last sentence, she couldn't help but look up at Qiao Xi. Was this man serious when he said this?
Life is difficult and you have no choice but to go to your biological mother?
Qiao Xi's brows relaxed and he smiled at her gently, like spring flowers blooming.
Gu Jinke looked out the window toward the outside of the courtyard. The gate of the courtyard was open. The servants of the Princess's Mansion and the people brought by Qiao Xi were constantly moving boxes. These things were all bought by Qiao Xi on the way to the capital. Although they were bought casually, Gu Jinke vaguely remembered that the prices were not cheap. These things had already filled up a cart.
This was because Qiao Xi was concerned about using Gu Jinke's manpower and felt embarrassed, so he stopped spending the money.
Gu Jinke felt that he needed to re-understand the phrase "life is hard".
She shook her head: "Does Mr. Qiao's background need to be told..."
Qiao Xi refused before she could say anything: "It's just a small matter, don't bother your highness."
He blinked and said jokingly, "Your Highness's favor is worth using in a more important place."
Qiao Xi was a smart man. Gu Jinke laughed. She didn't mind interacting with such a smart man. She never looked down on men. She immediately said, "What kind of favor is this? I thought I could be called a friend of Mr. Qiao."
The relationship between her and Qiao Xi became awkward because of Qing Chengfu's rejection, so whether Qiao Xi was getting along with Gu Jinke, or Gu Jinke was getting along with Qiao Xi, both of them were careful to handle things properly and pay attention to the degree. Originally, because of Jiang Mo, Gu Jinke had to be more careful, but now that he knew what Qiao Xi did and his methods and abilities after coming to Beijing, he had no other concerns. Gu Jinke admired and magnified Qiao Xi and immediately made friends with him.
Qiao Xi's eyes suddenly lit up, and joy overflowed from his eyes: "Your Highness!"
Gu Jinke handed him a cup of tea.
…
After sending Qiao Xi away, Gu Jinke felt a rare sigh of emotion. There are still many bad women among the ministers in the court, the original Li Qi, and the current Mr. Qiao...
However, it can also be seen that during the years the Empress was in power, she still built a team of her own. In addition to Prime Minister Gongzhong, Tutor Jiang and others, many ministers in the court were gradually promoted by the Empress and replaced the original old officials in the court.
She couldn't help but think of Lord Xue Cang in the court. In comparison, Lord Xue could be said to be a breath of fresh air in the court. No wonder Xue Luan, who was raised by him, was also very sincere. Gu Jinke smiled and shook his head.
After Qiao Xi left, Gu Jinke focused his attention on the current situation. The three princesses were temporarily dealt with. The Queen and the King were also in a state of waiting to explode. Gu Jinke couldn't help but think of another person.
She summoned Xin Shuang: "Where is the fifth princess?"
After dealing with the Third Princess, she did not forget the Fifth Princess. After all, the mountain bandit incident was not only the work of the Third Princess, the Fifth Princess also had her hand in it.
Moreover, compared with the third princess Gu Jinxiu, Gu Jinke was more disappointed and angry with the fifth princess Gu Jinyun.
Unlike the Third Princess, the Fifth Princess Gu Jinyun's father is Lord Degui. She has been very close to her father's Qi family since she was a child, and she also learned martial arts from the general of the Qi family. He was educated from childhood to be loyal to the emperor and to the country, and to help the weak and fight against the strong. When he grew up, he went to the frontier to serve as a general because of the empress's favor, and he also made many military achievements.
Gu Jinke always felt that for the Fifth Princess who was brought up in this way, the belief of defending the country and protecting the people should be ingrained in her bones.
Moreover, the Fifth Princess lived again and experienced first-hand the devastation and misery of the people in Qingcheng Prefecture in the original book.
So before this, Gu Jinke had been expecting the Fifth Princess to release the news of the earthquake first, or to make some preparations for the earthquake in Qingcheng Prefecture. But Gu Jinke did not wait any longer and only received the news that some food had been stockpiled.
Gu Jinke was very disappointed.
What was even more disappointing was that the fifth princess, Gu Jinyun, had the same idea as Gu Jinxiu. She wanted to make Gu Jinke and Gu Jinxiu's disaster relief efforts fail. To this end, she allowed bandits to rob the court's supplies. The lives of the people seemed to be completely out of her consideration.
In fact, Gu Jinxiu’s failure now is closely related to Gu Jinyun, who is the source of everything. While the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. Gu Jinxiu was really badly betrayed by Gu Jinyun. She lost her supplies and got injured, so she took the risk and was beaten up by Gu Jinke, ending up in this situation today.
Xin Shuang thought for a moment and frowned: "Your Highness, the Fifth Princess has not returned since being sent out by His Majesty to suppress the bandits."
Gu Jinge thought for a moment: "Where is she now?"
It took Gu Jinyun too long to suppress the bandits!
Gu Jinke unfolded the map for Xin Shuang to see. Xin Shuang's finger slid down along the capital city: "The Fifth Princess was ordered to suppress bandits at that time, and the main target was the bandit group that attacked the Third Princess."
Gu Jinke looked along the direction of her finger. At that time, she had dealt with the bandits she had encountered, so Gu Jinyun's focus was indeed on the Third Princess. As for Gu Jinxiu's route and the time when she was attacked, Gu Jinke looked over and saw that Xin Shuang's finger had landed on a place: "It's here, around Xingling Mansion halfway between the capital and Qingcheng Mansion."
Gu Jinke frowned when he heard this: "Then she should be back!"
Xingling Mansion is closer to the capital. Although the many mountains and forests nearby do make it easy to conceal one's tracks, Gu Jinyun is not inexperienced. As a young general who has just started out, he should have returned long ago.
Speaking of this, Xin Shuang shook his head: "Her Highness the Fifth Princess is no longer in Xingling Mansion. The last message she sent said that the bandits who were pursuing us had entered Cangyang Mansion."
Gu Jinke looked at the map and saw that from Xingling Prefecture to Qingcheng Prefecture, the next prefecture next to it was Cangyang Prefecture. Most of the mountains in Xingling Prefecture also originated from this prefecture, which was famous for its steepness and ruggedness.
This would explain why the fifth princess has not yet come back.
Gu Jinke nodded: "Let those who follow her continue to follow. I want her information."
Although everything made sense, Gu Jinke was still a little reassured. It was just an intuition now, and she needed something to support it.
Gu Jinyun's actions were a bit simple in other aspects, but he should not be so slow when leading troops to suppress bandits, as he even allowed the bandits to slip into the territory of Cangyang Prefecture.
The key point is that these bandits were contacted by Gu Jinyun himself.
Xun Ji responded with a yes and went down to make arrangements.
Gu Jinke was sitting in his study, fingering the map and thinking slowly, when he suddenly heard a knock on the study door.
She raised her eyes and glanced lazily: "Come in."
Sang Yi came in with a food box, and Gu Jinke was a little confused: "Why did you bring food here?"
She eats regularly, but because she was sick when she was a child, she can't eat randomly. Over the years, it has become a habit, so she usually doesn't add snacks.
Sang Yi smiled gently: "This was not prepared in the mansion, it was sent by Master Xue."
People probably don't need to be mentioned often. Gu Jinke had just mentioned Xue Cang and Xue Luan before, and the next moment, people had delivered things to their doorsteps. Gu Jinke was still a little curious: "Why did you suddenly send something here?"
Sang Yi put the food box on the table at the side, and smiled more sincerely when she heard this: "Master Xue said that he went out to play today and ate a lot of delicious food. He wanted to share it with Your Highness, so he packed a small portion of everything he thought was delicious and brought it over for Your Highness to try."
Gu Jinke raised his eyebrows.
Sang Yi had already opened the lunch box, and the hot air wrapped in the aroma of food wafted towards her, adding a bit of warmth to the gradually colder weather.
The food box was neatly divided into small compartments, and indeed, different foods were placed in them. The portions were very small, and indeed only enough for a taste. However, although the food was small, it was all exquisite and beautiful in color, which made people's appetite grow at the sight of it.
In addition, a carbon cage was placed under the grid to keep the food warm. The food was still hot, the aroma kept fluttering towards his nose, and the white mist was surrounding him warmly. Gu Jinke actually felt a little itchy.
When Sang Yi saw her appearance, his eyes were filled with more smiles: "Your Highness, please try some."
He had been serving in the Princess's Mansion for a long time, so he naturally knew that Gu Jinke didn't have a big appetite and his meals were very regular. He would only enjoy himself by eating some fruits and snacks occasionally, but compared to the total amount, he still ate too little, which caused everyone in the mansion to worry about Gu Jinke's health. After all, everyone now believes that "being able to eat is a blessing."
Gu Jinke's appetite is really not that great, so Sang Yi is always worried about this and often makes snacks or changes the dishes to "tonic" Gu Jinke.
What's more, Gu Jinke is still recovering from his injuries during this period, so he needs to double his "tonics".
Seeing the interest in Gu Jinke's eyes, he immediately put out the dishes and chopsticks that he had prepared in advance, and looked at Gu Jinke impatiently, his voice softened: "Your Highness, have a taste."
Gu Jinke nodded, then asked, "What about Master Xue?"
Sang Yi said, "He has already left. He knocked on the door and came directly to me. When he saw the waiter coming, he handed me the food box, explained the reason, turned around and got on the carriage and was about to leave."
"Originally, the servant wanted to keep him, but for some reason, the young master's cheeks turned red, and he hurriedly waved his hand to refuse, and then ran away."
"She looks like she's shy." said Sang Yi.
Gu Jinke looked up suddenly.
The author has something to say:
Go to bed early today and update more tomorrow. Good night, my babies.
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