Chapter 345 Taking Action (Tenth Update)
Gu Jiao returned to Bishui Hutong.
Xiao Jingkong got out of school early and was looking around at the gate.
Upon seeing Gu Jiao, he ran over, calling out, "Jiao Jiao!"
"Mmm." Gu Jiao took his chubby little hand and led him inside, but he turned around and looked behind Gu Jiao.
Gu Jiao paused, then asked, "Are you waiting for your brother-in-law?"
Xiao Liulang has gone to the countryside. He said he could be back by the end of the month if things went smoothly, but it would be next month if things went slowly.
Xiao Jingkong opened her eyes wide and stubbornly said, "I...I...I didn't!"
Gu Jiao smiled and said, "Soon, my brother-in-law will be back soon."
"Sigh." Little Jingkong sighed like a little adult, "I'm worried that he won't do a good job. This is his first official business trip, and I didn't have time to explain things to him."
Gu Jiao laughed out loud.
Are all kids' talking so interesting?
What do you want to tell your brother-in-law?
Xiao Jingkong said seriously, "Tell him to get along with his colleagues, not to anger his superiors, and not to think he's superior just because he's the top scholar! He has to be able to endure hardship, and not treat things the same way he does at home!"
That makes a lot of sense. Who did you learn that from?
Gu Jiao was both amused and exasperated, and pinched his little cheek.
Kids are so much fun.
The two, one big and one small, entered the house.
Gu Yan and Gu Xiaoshun went to learn their craft, while Yao Shi was in the courtyard making a wedding dress for Gu Jinyu.
Gu Jinyu's wedding date was set for the end of the year, which was a bit rushed. For ordinary families, it takes more than half a year to go through the formalities of marriage, and then another half a year to prepare for the wedding and notify relatives.
However, Gu Jinyu's situation was special; the emperor had set the wedding date for the end of the year.
"What beautiful clothes!" Xiao Jingkong said, touching the fabric on Yao's legs. "Who were they made for?"
"It was made for Sister Jinyu," Yao said.
Little Jingkong tilted his head and said, "Why make such beautiful clothes for her? Jiaojiao doesn't even have any."
The child meant no harm; she was simply curious why, even though they were all Madam Yao's daughters, Sister Jinyu had one but Jiaojiao didn't.
Jiaojiao is the older sister, shouldn't she be given the food first?
These words stunned Yao.
Yes, her beloved daughter got married in the countryside. She didn't even have a decent wedding dress, nor did she have dragon and phoenix incense candles or loving parents. She got married all alone.
To be precise, he was kicked out of the house as a little jinx.
Both of them were forced into this relationship, so they are only husband and wife in name only and have not consummated their marriage to this day.
Thinking of this, Yao felt a pang of guilt, and even felt a little reluctant to finish making her wedding dress.
"Come and eat some grapes."
Beside the ancient well, Gu Jiao washed a bunch of glistening purple grapes.
Little Jingkong's attention was quickly drawn, and he ran over, squatted down, picked the biggest and brightest grape, and fed it to Gu Jiao's mouth: "Jiao Jiao, eat!"
"Okay." Gu Jiao ate the grapes he fed her.
Afterwards, Xiao Jingkong picked another one and handed it to Yao Shi. He also didn't forget Fang Mama, Yu Ya'er, and the great-uncle next door.
Overall, this is a child who can drive you crazy when he's being naughty, but who can also melt your heart when he's being sensible.
The old priest had no appetite for the grapes that Xiao Jingkong had offered him as a tribute.
He's been having trouble figuring out what to write for his storybooks lately.
At the beginning of the month, he submitted the manuscript for the third volume. The plot of the third volume describes how the hostage prince Yun Ting overthrew the imperial power of the enemy dynasty, and the sixth princess did not hesitate to submit to Yun Ting and become his concubine in order to save her own dynasty.
When General Fu returned from suppressing the bandits, he discovered that his beloved had been kidnapped by Yun Ting. Enraged, he volunteered to go north.
He made a solemn pledge before the emperor, vowing not to return to court until he rescued the sixth princess!
He led an army of 100,000 to the banks of the Cangshui River to fight Yun Ting to the death.
When Yun Ting was a hostage in the Xia Kingdom, he received a favor from General Fu, and General Fu also received help from Yun Ting when he went on a campaign.
The two should have become good brothers, but they turned against each other because of national and personal hatred and because of a woman.
The third volume ends here.
The fourth volume is the last one. In this volume, General Fu will die by Yun Ting's sword, and the entire army of 100,000 will be annihilated. However, the deaths of General Fu and the soldiers of Xia Kingdom arouse the hatred in the heart of the Sixth Princess.
Despite her deep love for Yun Ting, she ultimately killed him with the dagger he had given her on their wedding night.
The ending is a torrential downpour, with the sixth princess holding a blood-stained dagger, walking barefoot out of the palace step by step.
She laughed wildly, the rain soaking her clothes, which clung tightly to her body, outlining her two-month pregnant belly that even Yun Ting hadn't noticed.
She looked up at the torrential rain.
My stomach suddenly hurt.
The story ends abruptly here.
Because this volume didn't contain much content, the old master submitted the manuscript early on. The first three volumes sold so well that the manuscript was printed overnight in the study as soon as it was submitted.
This book is appreciated by both the refined and the common people, and its collection of classical essays, poems, and songs is in no way inferior to the literary talent of the top three scholars.
Some people have speculated that "Yun Ting Ji" was written by a newly appointed top scholar in the imperial examination, because the two scholars were quite talented and their writing styles were somewhat similar, but neither was as sharp as Xiao Zhuangyuan's eight-legged essay.
Of course, some people suspected that "Yun Ting Ji" was actually written by Scholar Xiao, so they went to the Hanlin Academy to inquire about it, but it turned out not to be true.
In short, because of its wide audience and large readership, the ending immediately triggered a wave of reactions from book fans.
What happened to the promised "Yun Ting Ji"? Why did they kill off Yun Ting? And the valiant General Fu also died.
General Fu fought for the Sixth Princess his whole life, and died without even letting her know his feelings. That's so tragic!
And the Sixth Princess, she's actually pregnant with Yun Ting's child? She had a stomachache, did she manage to keep the baby or not?
Public outrage was terrifying; the study was bombarded repeatedly.
Finally, a young man appeared out of nowhere and wrote a book called "Yun Ting Hou Ji" (Postscript to Yun Ting). It was short, only a few pages long, but it perfectly reversed the tragedy.
It says that all of this was Yun Ting's dream. After waking up, Yun Ting realized that the Sixth Princess was just an ungrateful and vicious woman who would stab him in the back at the crucial moment. He decisively gave up the opportunity to save the Sixth Princess when they first met, kicked her down, and then went to find General Fu to enjoy the world with him!
Screw the hostage life!
To hell with that heartless, hypocritical woman!
I'm going to travel the world with Xiao Fu!
Then this postscript went viral.
Initially, it was only circulated in a small circle at poetry gatherings and tea parties. Later, the bookstore that sold "Yun Ting Ji" printed it out and sold it to the talented men and women in the capital.
The old chief priest was dumbfounded. What kind of nonsense was this? The writing was immature, the sentences were incoherent, the vocabulary was obscure, and it was all jumbled up. Was this even meant for human reading?!
The old libationer felt that this postscript was a complete insult to his work, so he decided to go to the study and ask them to remove the postscript from the shelves.
He couldn't let others benefit from his fame for nothing.
Unexpectedly, the owner of the bookstore told him, "Hey, now you're the one benefiting from their success."
The epilogue sold so well that many people who hadn't read the preface rushed to buy "The Tale of Yun Ting" just to find out how dramatic the three of them had been.
The Sixth Princess was originally a pitiful and endearing character, but now she is being cursed to the heavens by the talented men and women of the capital who have read both the epilogue and the preface, and he, the author, is also being cursed to the heavens.
The old libationer's lips twitched.
Who wrote the afterword?
That's so unethical!
The old master didn't force the study to remove the postscript in the end, because the silver notes were really tempting.
Having made a fortune, the old chief priest immediately bought a new carriage, which would be used by Jiao Jiao and the others in the future. Gu Yan had secret guards, so there was no need to worry about a coachman.
He'll make do with the old carriage; he's not picky about it anyway. He earned the money to buy one for his children.
At the end of June, another light rainstorm washed away an official road, leaving the Ministry of Revenue officials and Hanlin Academy officials, who had originally planned to return to the capital, stranded in the village.
Lord Gu had just finished repairing the sewers in the capital when he was transferred by the Ministry of Works to repair roads.
Recently, Consort Jing has been quiet, perhaps because she guessed that she was about to be exposed, so she simply stopped making trouble for the time being.
As the saying goes, "If you don't court death, you won't die."
How could she not act up!
We have to let her do it!
"Jiaojiao".
The old priest, who was chopping vegetables in the kitchen, called Gu Jiao over. Today, Granny Fang had gone back to her son's house, so he would be cooking dinner.
Gu Jiao put down the half-chopped firewood in her hand and walked into the kitchen: "Grandpa, did you call me?"
Although the relationship has been clarified, family members and neighbors have not changed their tune.
The old priest had no objection. Whether or not he would be Zhuang Jinse's husband was not important; what mattered was not to let down the children's filial piety.
The old chief priest whispered, "You'll come with me to the palace in a little while. I'll go see His Majesty, and you'll go see the Empress Dowager. Just say that..."
My claws are almost worn out, do you have any monthly passes?
(End of this chapter)
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