Chapter 124 Eldest Brother (First Update)
The next morning, she found Xiao Liulang and asked him where Xiangyun Inn was.
Xiao Liulang asked in confusion, "Where did you hear about Xiangyun Inn?"
Gu Jiao said without changing her expression, "I heard it when I went to the market to buy things yesterday. Is the food at that inn very delicious?"
Xiao Liulang said solemnly, "That's a shady business."
"Huh?" Gu Jiao was taken aback.
Xiao Liulang explained, "It looks like an inn, but it's actually a gambling den. Many people have been fooled there, so don't fall for it."
Xiao Liulang firmly believed that Gu Jiao had been fooled by someone with ulterior motives, and refused to tell her where Xiangyun Restaurant was. Gu Jiao scratched her head and had to think of another way.
After breakfast, Xiao Liulang went to find a suitable private school for Gu Yan and Gu Xiaoshun. Gu Jiao went to the market under the pretext of buying groceries and hired a carriage there: "To Xiangyun Inn."
The driver said, "Xiangyun Inn is quite far. Are you in a hurry, young lady? If you're not, please wait a moment while I pick up another passenger."
"I'm in a hurry," Gu Jiao said.
"That will cost two hundred copper coins," the coachman said.
The Xiangyun Inn is on the other side of the capital, and his horse isn't a thoroughbred. A round trip would take up most of the day, and he probably wouldn't be able to make a second business deal.
"Okay," Gu Jiao agreed.
The coachman was quite familiar with the city's layout and chose the shortest route. However, he didn't know what day it was today, but he encountered two important figures traveling on the road, and all the common people had to give way.
By the time Gu Jiao arrived near Xiangyun Inn, the assassination attempt had already begun.
Hearing the commotion in the alley, Gu Jiao jumped off the carriage without a word and went around to the other end of the alley.
The two sides were locked in fierce combat and did not notice a small, thin figure sneaking into their rear.
Gu Jiao found the burlap sack hidden in the corner, took out the unconscious child from inside, and then put a large rock inside.
The assassins were no match for the man. They exchanged glances and decided to resort to underhanded tactics.
One of them used his sword to lift the sack and hurled it at the man. The powerful sword energy cleaved the sack open, and the contents inside flew out.
The assassins were dumbfounded.
Wasn't it a child's? How did it turn into a stone?
The man was also puzzled. What kind of trick was this? Was it some new and trendy way to confuse people?
With stones?
The man split the stone in two without breaking a sweat.
The best opportunity for assassination had passed, and the assassins realized they had no chance to kill their opponent today. So they didn't linger and, after a few feints, fled one after another.
The man did not press his advantage. He sheathed his sword and prepared to mount his horse, but suddenly his ears twitched, and he looked warily into the alley: "Who's there?"
How could he detect that? His senses are incredibly sharp.
Gu Jiao emerged from behind the pillar, carrying the unconscious child: "It's me."
The man recognized Gu Jiao: "What are you doing here?"
Gu Jiao shrugged.
The man's gaze fell on the child in her arms. At first glance, the child looked like the little guy from that day, but upon closer inspection, it was not. The little guy had a buzz cut, while this child had long hair that was tied up.
Moreover, this child's appearance is not as lovely as that little guy from that day.
The man pondered for a moment, recalling the stone that had flown out of the sack. He seemed to remember the assassins' surprised expressions at the time. Could it be—
The man looked at Gu Jiao suspiciously and asked, "Did you switch the children?"
"Yes." Gu Jiao did not deny it. "I happened to be passing by and saw them grab a child, so I followed them. Just then, they started fighting with you, so I took the child out."
She spoke casually, but the man understood that the group was no ordinary assassin, and it would be very difficult to follow them without being discovered.
His gaze toward Gu Jiao grew increasingly puzzled: "If I remember correctly, you live near the Imperial College. This place is to the east and the Imperial College is to the west, so why are you passing through here? What are you doing here?"
Gu Jiao paused, then looked at the Xiangyun Inn not far away and said, "Hmm... gambling?"
man:"……"
If you don't want to talk about it, then forget it.
The man had no idea that Gu Jiao had come specifically to rescue him.
While the two were talking, the child's parents caught up with them.
"My son—my son—"
The woman wept uncontrollably.
Gu Jiao returned the child to her and said, "He inhaled a little bit of sleeping pills, but the dose wasn't large, it's nothing serious, he'll wake up when it gets dark."
"Thank you, young lady! Thank you, young lady!" The woman kowtowed to Gu Jiao while holding her child, and her husband also knelt down and kowtowed heavily.
Gu Jiao looked at the man and said, "No need to thank me, thank him. He's the one who chased the assassin away."
The two then kowtowed to the man.
After the two left, the man also planned to leave. He grabbed the reins of his horse with one hand and held onto the saddle with the other, about to mount the horse, when Gu Jiao called out to him.
"Why don't you treat your injury?"
A flicker of wariness flashed in the man's eyes. He drew his sword with a whoosh and pressed it against Gu Jiao's neck: "Who exactly are you? How do you know I'm injured?"
Even the servants in the manor didn't know he was injured!
With the sword pressed against her own neck, Gu Jiao didn't even lift her eyelids, only calmly glancing at his waist and abdomen: "You're bleeding."
The man looked down and saw that his clothes around his waist and abdomen were indeed soaked in blood, a large red patch.
Gu Jiao said, "Be careful not to lose too much blood."
With that amount of bleeding, an ordinary person would probably have fainted long ago, yet he fought with someone for so long.
Gu Jiao looked around and saw that there was no one in the alley. She put down her small basket, took out a small medicine box from it, and said to him, "Lift up your clothes so I can see."
The man asked, "What do you want to do?"
Gu Jiao said calmly, "I'll stop the bleeding for you!"
The man frowned slightly. Gu Jiao didn't want to open the medicine box in front of him, so she gave him a wink: "Turn around and lift up your clothes."
"Are you a doctor?" the man asked.
"Yes, that's me. Stop talking nonsense. You're so quick at fighting, why are you so hesitant to see a doctor?" Gu Jiao realized that many people here were reluctant to seek medical help, which could also be because he didn't trust her enough.
The man hesitated, not because he didn't trust Gu Jiao, but because... Gu Jiao was a woman.
How could he lift his clothes in front of a woman?
Gu Jiao sighed. If he wouldn't do it, then she would.
She walked up behind the man, ripped off his armor, and lifted up his shirt.
The man, who hadn't even had a chance to react, was speechless.
"You just got stitches, didn't you?" Gu Jiao looked at his wound. "It's torn, it needs to be stitched up again."
The man's wound was stitched up by a military medical officer; few doctors in the civilian population are skilled in this type of surgery.
The man still harbored some doubts about Gu Jiao's medical skills, but seeing Gu Jiao's earnest expression, he ultimately couldn't bring himself to refuse.
Gu Jiao: "Turn around."
The wound extended from the man's back to his right waist, and turning it around would indeed make it easier to suture.
The man frowned and turned away.
"The anesthetic has run out." It hasn't been replenished yet, and Gu Jiao doesn't understand why.
Gu Jiao closed the box and waited for a while, silently chanting "anesthesia, anesthetic, anesthetic" in her mind, but when she opened it, there was still no anesthetic.
Gu Jiao said to him, "I can only sew it up for you, just bear with it."
The man paused for a moment, then said to Gu Jiao, "Anesthesia? I don't need that, you sew it up."
Gu Jiao didn't explain the difference between local anesthesia and anesthetic; she carefully stitched him up.
He didn't utter a sound throughout the entire process; he's a tough guy.
What neither of them expected was that when they were sewing the last stitch, an assassin returned with a bow and arrow in his hand, and he fired five arrows in quick succession.
The man didn't have time to react. He turned around, shielding Gu Jiao with his arms, intending to take the arrows with his own body.
He saw Gu Jiao's eyes, calm and indifferent, yet filled with a fleeting murderous intent.
Gu Jiao drew the dagger from his waist, swung it sharply, and threw it at the assassin's chest.
The assassin groaned and fell off the roof, his bow and arrows also falling to the ground.
The man turned around in disbelief!
Gu Jiao calmly squatted down and continued stitching up the man's wound.
"Okay," Gu Jiao said.
The man stared blankly at Gu Jiao, still clearly in a state of great shock.
Gu Jiao blinked at him, then suddenly realized, "Oh right, I almost forgot about that!"
As she spoke, she handed him a bottle of her own homemade wound medicine: "It works better than yours!"
Gu Jiao wasn't making a blind comparison; rather, she smelled the wound medicine while stitching his wound, carefully examined its ingredients, and determined that it wasn't as good as her own wound medicine.
The man still looked incredulous.
Isn't this over yet? Gu Jiao glanced at the assassin not far away: "He's not dead, so we can take him back for interrogation. Or are you going to arrest me?"
"No." The man finally came to his senses. "You acted in self-defense. If anyone should be arrested, it should be them."
"Oh, I'm off then." Gu Jiao clapped her hands, slung her small basket over her shoulder, and calmly walked out of the alley.
Gu Jiao shocked the man so much that even the group of assassins couldn't stir any emotion in him.
He hesitated for a moment, then spurred his horse and chased after him: "I'll see you off."
"Hmm?" Gu Jiao tilted her head and looked at him.
The man paused for a moment: "I also live in the direction of the Imperial College, so it's on my way."
"Whatever you want." Gu Jiao arrived at Xiangyun Inn and got into the carriage she had hired from the market.
The man was actually worried that the group of assassins hadn't gone far and were targeting Gu Jiao, which is why he offered to take her home.
Fortunately, no assassins were detected all the way to Gu Jiao's doorstep, so they must not have caught up.
That's good.
He didn't want to drag her down with him.
Gu Jiao paid the fare, the driver drove the carriage away, and the man also left: "Farewell."
Gu Jiao nodded: "Farewell."
"Huh? Jiaojiao! Big brother!"
Xiao Jingkong saw the two of them through the crack in the door, and ran over, hiding her little hands tightly behind her back so that Gu Jiao wouldn't see her.
He tilted his head and asked, "Jiaojiao, why did you come back with big brother? Is big brother visiting our house?"
This little girl reminded the man of Gu Jiao, who had looked just now. They really were a family, even their words and actions were so similar.
Gu Jiao moved his little head and said, "Big brother was just passing by."
"Oh!" Xiao Jingkong thought for a moment, took a step towards the door, and said, "Then I'll talk to my big brother for a while!"
"Okay." Gu Jiao pretended not to notice that he was hiding something in his hand.
After Gu Jiao entered the room, the man asked Xiao Jingkong, "What are you hiding in your hand?"
Xiao Jingkong pulled his little hand out from behind his back, revealing a small box, and whispered, "Jiaojiao's birthday is coming up, and I'm preparing a gift for her! This is the first birthday I've spent with Jiaojiao, and I want to give her a surprise!"
She probably already saw through your surprise, little one.
Xiao Jingkong has a lot to say to people he likes, and he once again transforms into a little megaphone spirit, constantly chattering away.
The man didn't find it annoying at all; he just thought the child was very cute.
He was puzzled: how could a woman who would kill without blinking an eye raise such an innocent and naive little guy?
She must have protected him very well.
He thought.
The man could hear Xiao Jingkong's chattering voice and smelled the aroma of food wafting from the courtyard. For the first time in his life, he felt a sense of home in this unfamiliar house.
The man bid farewell to Xiaojingkong and returned home.
As soon as he stepped through the gate, a clever and handsome servant rushed over, looking flustered: "Young Master! Why are you only just returning? A terrible thing happened in our manor while you were away!"
"What happened?" the man asked.
"Sigh." The servant scratched his head and cheeks, having held back for several days, but now that the moment had come, he suddenly didn't know where to begin.
The man ignored him and coldly entered the mansion.
The servant caught up: "It's about the stepmother! She lost the child back then! The young lady in our household isn't the master's biological child! The real young lady is outside and refuses to come back! I heard... she grew up in the countryside, is timid, has never seen the world, and doesn't dare to come to the Marquis's mansion!"
The fact that Gu Jiao and Gu Yan had come to the capital could no longer be kept secret, and since neither of them wanted to return to the mansion, many speculations arose within the household.
The servant sighed, "Oh dear, after all this time, it turns out Your Highness has been favoring the wrong person; she's not your biological sister!"
Gu Changqing said coldly, "I don't have a younger sister, I only have two younger brothers."
Gu Changqing will not acknowledge Yao Shi, nor will he acknowledge the two children Yao Shi had with his father.
Wow, that's a huge goal!
(End of this chapter)
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