Chapter 162 Overwhelming Strength (First Update)
On the other side, Gu Changqing led the horse and escorted Gu Jiao back to Bishui Hutong.
He couldn't understand why Fei Shuang, the number one thief in the capital, would know Gu Jiao. Perhaps Gu Jiao was overthinking it.
Feishuang stole things of great value, such as treasures or imperial secrets. The most valuable thing in her little basket was just her small medicine box.
Even a box of the finest medicinal herbs wouldn't catch Feishuang's eye.
Could it really be because of her?
However, Gu Changqing did not think there was anything wrong with Gu Jiao herself.
Or perhaps... Feishuang has her eye on the Marquis of Ding'an's residence?
"arrive."
Gu Jiao's voice pulled Gu Changqing back to reality.
Gu Changqing looked at the house behind Gu Jiao. It was a house smaller than his own courtyard, but it had a different kind of atmosphere. He couldn't quite put his finger on what it was, but it was somehow alluring.
"Would you like to come in and sit for a while?" Gu Jiao asked.
"No, I have to go back to my residence," Gu Changqing said.
He should have returned to the manor long ago. After dropping Gu Yan off, he encountered a fight and only took a quick look before returning her the way he came.
It was already quite late.
Gu Jiao looked at him with her clear eyes: "Thank you."
"I didn't do anything." When he arrived, Fei Shuang had already left. He thought that even if he hadn't shown up, nothing would have happened to the girl.
Gu Jiao will certainly be fine, but she won't be able to get the first-aid kit back so easily.
Of course, that's not what Gu Jiao wanted to thank.
Gu Jiao smiled and said, "Thank you for taking Gu Yan out. He was very happy."
She had just been making house calls on Zhuque Street when she saw Gu Yan sitting on Gu Changqing's horse, holding several strings of crystal-clear candied hawthorns, his little expression incredibly smug.
Gu Yan lacked a father figure during his childhood; what Lord Gu failed to give him, Gu Changqing provided.
Gu Jiao had never seen Gu Yan so smug.
Gu Jiao could provide some stability, but only her father and brothers could give her some courage.
That sickly little girl who couldn't even lift a bucket of water is gradually starting to grow her own wings.
"Ah, you saw it." Gu Changqing cleared his throat. "I didn't expect to go to so many places when I left. I forgot to tell your family. I don't know if they're worried."
Gu Jiao smiled and said, "Auntie knows what she's doing."
Don't be fooled by the fact that the old lady seems to be doing nothing all day; her eyes are always on the children.
Gu Yan waited for someone at the alley entrance. Xiao Jingkong's seven chubby little chickens, one fledgling eagle, and Gu Yan's little dog were all lying motionless on the threshold.
If he really leaves with a stranger, they will make noise.
"That's good." Gu Changqing was relieved.
"I'm going in," Gu Jiao said.
"Hmm." Gu Changqing nodded, then, as if remembering something, suddenly called out to her, "By the way, do you still have any of the wound medicine you gave me last time?"
...
"What? Wound medicine?"
The next day, the second owner of the clinic was so shocked by Gu Jiao's words that his eyes widened. "How many did you say they wanted?"
"More than a thousand bottles, I suppose," Gu Jiao said casually.
The second boss plopped down in his chair, pinching his philtrum repeatedly!
I finally managed to wake myself up this time.
That's a thousand bottles of wound medicine! How much silver would we make if we sold them all?
The second landlord rubbed his hands together: "Did you manage to get the price down?"
Gu Jiao said "Oh": "I didn't try to lower the price. I'll sell it to them for the same price they would have sold it to."
The two owners were bewildered: "Wait, we sell to others at retail price, and they want a thousand bottles for the same price? Who's so extravagant?"
Gu Jiao: "The military camp."
The second landlord finally fainted again after pinching his philtrum.
How could their small clinic possibly do business with a military camp? What kind of incredible stroke of luck is this?
The military camps had imperial physicians, and all medical supplies were allocated by the court. They truly never did business with the common people. If there was something the court couldn't obtain, they would go to one of the top medical clinics in the capital.
For example, the Hu family's Huichuntang.
This deal isn't urgent; the delivery will be made after the New Year. Right now, Gu Jiao is having her second employer gather medicinal herbs so that they can be mass-produced.
With business booming, the clinic was short-staffed again. After the second owner woke up, he immediately sent someone to contact doctors in the capital to see if any were willing to practice at their Miaoshoutang clinic.
Gu Jiao and the second boss were both busy with their own tasks. As noon approached, a familiar face came to the clinic—Du Xiaoyun, whom they hadn't seen for many days.
Du Xiaoyun was no longer dressed as a scholar; she had changed into a light blue dress for girls. While others looked elegant and charming in it, she exuded a heroic and spirited air.
She strode into the clinic, stood before Gu Jiao, pointed to herself, and said, "Miss Gu, do you remember me?"
That's right, she already knew that the other party's surname was Gu.
Gu Jiao was sorting the medicine she had bought and putting it into the medicine cabinet. Upon hearing this, she didn't stop her work and replied calmly, "Today's clinic is Dr. Song."
"I'm not here to see a doctor! I'm here to see you!" Du Xiaoyun said. "I've wanted to come for a while, but I've been too busy with my studies lately!"
The girls' schoolwork wasn't usually this busy, but recently, for some reason, the students in the class have made a lot of progress. They're getting almost all their homework right, and they're almost catching up with Zhuang Yuexi and Gu Jinyu.
Some of them copied, but others genuinely understood the questions. When the teacher asked them to explain, they explained them perfectly!
The teacher then thought he was really good and increased the difficulty level for the whole class.
Du Xiaoyun's studies are not bad, but they are not outstanding either.
She's the type who'd rather leave her homework blank and get scolded than copy someone else's, so lately she's been doing her homework until really late.
She hadn't been out and about in a long time. If her sister hadn't told her to come to the clinic, she would still be doing her homework in the classroom right now.
“My sister said you have scar removal medicine here, but she’s too busy to come over, so she asked me to get the medicine for her.”
Gu Jiao only mentioned the scar-removing medicine to one person: the Third Prince's Consort.
Yes, the Third Prince's wife said her surname is Du.
The first-aid kit already contained medicine. Gu Jiao took out the scar cream and scar patch. She squeezed out the scar cream and put it into a well-sealed porcelain bottle, and removed the outer packaging from the scar patch.
Gu Jiao explained how to use it and took three taels of silver from her.
Du Xiaoyun gasped, "So expensive? Are you running a rip-off?"
This is the most effective scar cream in the research institute, costing over two thousand yuan a tube, which is more than two taels of silver. Scar patches are also very expensive, so she hasn't made much money.
"If you don't want to buy it, then forget it." Gu Jiao reached out to take the medicine back.
The medicine in her little medicine box is so precious, she can't bear to sell it.
Du Xiaoyun protected the medicine with one hand and placed the silver on the table with the other: "Buy, buy, buy! If I don't buy it, my sister will chop me up! There are so many imperial physicians in the palace, I don't know why my sister has taken a liking to your family's medicine!"
The news of the Third Prince's wife's surgery was kept secret, and even Du Xiaoyun was unaware of it. Du Xiaoyun assumed that the Third Prince's wife had simply bumped or hurt herself somewhere.
Today is the last day of classes for elementary students at the Imperial College, and also the last day of classes for girls.
After a series of exams, the girls' school only had one left: the art of playing the zither.
In the music hall, Zhuang Yuexi finished playing the piece she had learned this month, and cheers erupted from all around.
That was absolutely brilliant playing.
Zhuang Yuexi ranked first in poetry and prose, tied for first place with Gu Jinyu in arithmetic, and her musical skills were her weakness. Everyone thought her performance would be unsatisfactory, but unexpectedly, she made such rapid progress in just half a month.
For this assessment, the Crown Princess invited court musicians and tutors to supervise the examination.
The musician's surname was Xie.
Musician Xie nodded in satisfaction: "Miss Zhuang's piano skills have improved greatly."
The teachers all gave it the highest grade.
Xie, the music teacher, was quite strict and gave him a B.
But this result is already quite outstanding.
Next up is Gu Jinyu.
Gu Jinyu, holding the Moon Shadow Fuxi Qin, bowed to Musician Xie and the other teachers.
The teachers also rose and returned the greeting.
She is a county princess; proper etiquette cannot be disregarded.
As a court musician, Xie also held an official rank, which was higher than Gu Jinyu's. He accepted Gu Jinyu's bow without hesitation.
Gu Jinyu's Moon Shadow Fuxi Qin is more beautiful than Zhuang Yuexi's Guqin in terms of tone. In addition, she has put in more effort in practicing the guqin than Zhuang Yuexi. It's not that she hasn't practiced for a long time as she said. She practices every day.
In the end, Xie Leshi gave her a first-class grade.
"Actually, I gave you a first-class grade not only because you played well, but also because your revision of the second half of the piece was wonderful."
That's right, Gu Jinyu did change the score.
The piece they were learning was called "Autumn Melody," a fragmentary piece passed down from the previous dynasty. Only the first half existed; the second half was composed by later generations. There are several different versions on the market, with the version composed by Master Yueying being the most highly regarded.
This is the version taught in girls' schools.
However, Gu Jinyu made some minor modifications to this version, adding a touch of gentle and poignant beauty, making it more suitable for female players.
Lord Moonshadow is, after all, a man, and his musical scores seem more like they were made for male musicians; it would be difficult for a woman to play them with that bold and unrestrained feeling.
Gu Jinyu was very happy and proud.
With Gu Jinyu setting such a high bar, it was useless for the subsequent students to perform well; their performance declined all the way down.
Finally, there was a little girl with a round face, about fourteen years old. The girls' school clothes were uniformly distributed, but the jewelry was her own. She only had a red string tied in her hair, without even the most ordinary beaded flower.
“He was admitted through an examination,” a teacher said to Xie Leshi.
She was from a poor family. Her father had become a scholar, and she learned some of his lessons by listening in on his classes while he taught his brothers.
She works very hard and is passable in other aspects, but her piano skills are lacking.
Because of his low self-esteem, he usually didn't dare to practice the piano in the music hall. He would hide in the quiet pavilion every day, and his face would get frostbite in the freezing cold.
The zither she used was the cheapest one; its tone couldn't compare to a good zither, but its pitch was acceptable.
She began to play.
To be honest, she has made great progress. If it weren't for Zhuang Yuexi and Gu Jinyu, the teachers might have paid more attention to her.
The first half was unremarkable.
Xie Leshi covered his face and yawned.
The last student picked up the sign that read "D".
The other teachers were also drowsy.
But at that moment, she suddenly plucked a string, and the melody soared to a high pitch!
This was originally a song expressing deep feelings. On their wedding night, her lover was captured and sent to the battlefield, and he never returned for ten years. The melody perfectly conveyed the young woman's sorrow for her lover.
The first half of the song is about a young girl's memories and sorrows, but the style of the song suddenly changes in the second half.
She seemed to know the truth behind her lover's ten-year absence.
She looked out over the entire battlefield.
The melody is no longer a lament for a lover, but a mournful cry for the battlefield, a grief for the countless withered bones, a handful of yellow sand that has buried thousands of heroic souls under the clash of swords and the thunder of horses!
Finally, everyone seemed to see the setting sun, the vast desert sands, a long sword standing tall, its hilt wrapped with a girl's veil fluttering in the wind.
Everyone's eyes were red, and they were so shocked that they couldn't come to their senses for a long time.
Xie Leshi was the first to come to his senses; he found himself in tears.
How long has it been since he heard such a moving piece of music?
To be honest, the little girl's piano skills are not very good; in some aspects, they can even be described as immature.
However, it is precisely because of this naivety that the latter half of the story is filled with near collapse, despair, and madness.
This piece of music seems tailor-made for her characteristics.
Unlike Gu Jinyu's minor alterations, this girl completely overturned the second half. In comparison, Gu Jinyu's piece seemed rather petty.
Musician Xie sighed inwardly, fearing that even the greatest musician of the six kingdoms, Lord Yueying, could not compose such a magnificent piece.
Suppressing his excitement, Xie Leshi looked at her and asked, "What's your name?"
She bowed slightly and said, "Li Wanwan."
Musician Xie nodded in satisfaction: "The revised piece is very well done."
Li Wanwan opened her mouth.
song……
She didn't change it.
Who changed it? Who changed it? o(*￣︶￣*)o
(End of this chapter)
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