Chapter 406 Mother-in-law and Daughter-in-law Meet (Two Updates)
Long Yi's actions successfully shocked everyone.
No one expected Long Yi to act so strangely. Princess Xinyang asked him to deliver the box to the Crown Princess, but instead of delivering it to the Crown Princess, he actually gave it to a passerby.
Their impatient manner suggested they disliked the Crown Princess quite a bit.
Long Yi didn't think that way, but others couldn't help but think so. Although the Crown Princess's background wasn't high enough, through so many years of unremitting efforts, she had already reached a position that commanded the respect of thousands.
She was not only the Crown Prince's virtuous wife, but also a strategist in the Eastern Palace. Her position was extremely important, and she hadn't been treated like this for many years.
Her face was burning hot; embarrassment was an understatement.
Gu Jiao, who was stopped by Long Yi, was no less surprised than the Crown Princess.
Why did she run into this Dragon Shadow Guard even in the palace?
What a tragic love story!
Gu Jiao felt a deep sense of bitterness and resentment as the box was forcibly stuffed into her arms. She wondered if this guy had brought her a whole box of charcoal pencils to break.
Can she refuse?
Gu Jiao decisively took a big step back!
She doesn't want to!
The Crown Princess almost fainted!
This girl doesn't want something she would never even consider!
It wasn't that the Crown Princess coveted a thousand-year-old Ganoderma lucidum; what she cherished was Princess Xinyang's sentiment. But some people just didn't take it seriously!
The Crown Princess was even more embarrassed.
Princess Xinyang glanced in the direction of Long Yi and Gu Jiao, pondered for a moment, and said to Yu Jin, "It's been a few years since I've returned to the capital, and there are quite a few new faces in the palace. Yu Jin, go and invite them here."
"Yes." Yu Jin bowed slightly and stepped down the stairs.
Gu Jiao spotted her at a glance.
Unlike most of the female officials in the palace, Yu Jin's temperament was ingrained in her very being. Today, she was not wearing a veil, which diminished her mysterious beauty but added to her air of authority as a female official in the palace.
She stopped in front of Gu Jiao, smiled slightly, and said politely and gracefully, "Miss, my princess invites you."
My home?
If this lady said she was Princess Gu Jiao, Gu Jiao wouldn't believe it. How could someone with such an extraordinary temperament just be a lady-in-waiting to a princess?
To be honest, Gu Jiao hadn't seen many of the royal princesses; they were all married and no longer lived in the palace.
It's unclear which princess this lady was referring to.
Gu Jiao and she walked towards the pavilion.
Long Yi shoved the box into her hands again and grabbed her hand, forcing her to hug it.
Yu Jin looked at the two of them.
Gu Jiao looked completely innocent. "I really didn't mean to."
Yu Jin smiled, seemingly unconcerned, and pointed to the steps, saying, "Miss, please."
Gu Jiao climbed the steps and arrived at the pavilion.
The Crown Princess was also there.
But Gu Jiao didn't notice her at all. The moment she entered the pavilion, her gaze was drawn to Princess Xinyang in the pavilion.
She wore a plain white, fitted silk dress with a semi-transparent gold gauze over it, exuding elegance, nobility, and unparalleled grace.
Her attire was not particularly flamboyant, yet it possessed an air of imperial nobility, as if a phoenix had descended to earth.
No wonder even a lady like that would willingly kneel before a subject.
She certainly deserves it.
Gu Jiao was absolutely stunned.
But at the same time, she was also a little confused, feeling as if she had seen this face somewhere before.
It's no wonder Gu Jiao couldn't remember for a moment; in the house on Zhuque Street, she only saw half a pale face and only glanced at it briefly.
Today, Princess Xinyang is dressed in gorgeous clothes and has exquisite makeup, showing no signs of illness whatsoever.
The Crown Princess introduced, "Miss Gu, this is Princess Xinyang."
Faith, Yang, Gong, Zhu?
Gu Jiao turned to look at the other person!
The Crown Princess continued, "Princess Xinyang, this is Miss Gu, the daughter of the Marquis of Ding'an."
"You've changed quite a bit in the years I haven't seen you." Princess Xinyang had seen Gu Jinyu before, but they weren't familiar with each other.
The Crown Princess carefully explained, "This is the eldest daughter of the Marquis of Ding'an's family. She was raised among commoners since childhood and only recently returned to the capital. Gu Jinyu is the second daughter of the Marquis of Ding'an's family."
Princess Xinyang wasn't interested in other people's private affairs; she just wanted to see who had piqued Long Yi's interest so much.
She looked at Gu Jiao and asked, "Has Long Yi seen you before?"
Long Yi?
Is that Dragon Shadow Guard named Long Yi?
She couldn't even be named Long Batian in the underground martial arts arena because it was considered an offense to the emperor, but this guy could just be called Long Yi.
Having powerful connections, how impressive!
"Never seen it before," Gu Jiao said without changing her expression. She couldn't reveal that she went to the underground martial arts arena; she was still waiting to fleece the Crown Prince.
Since the Dragon Shadow Guards weren't saying anything, they couldn't possibly expose her on the spot.
Princess Xinyang's gaze remained fixed on Long Yi's face. Naturally, she wouldn't believe everything Gu Jiao said; she wanted to hear Long Yi's answer.
But she also understood that Long Yi wouldn't communicate with her.
The Dragon Shadow Guards are the master's most trusted secret guards. They know everything about the master's secrets. If they fall into the hands of someone with ulterior motives, the consequences are unimaginable.
To prevent any potential problems, the late emperor trained the Dragon Shadow Guards into cold, impersonal tools that could not speak or communicate.
However, Princess Xinyang did not believe that Long Yi had ever met the daughter of the Marquis of Ding'an. Long Yi had always stayed by her side, and the only time he went out was to escort Yu Jin to the underground martial arts arena to buy medicine.
A daughter of a distinguished family would never go to a place like that.
So Long Yi simply didn't want to give it to the Crown Princess, but he couldn't not send the thank-you gift, so he just randomly handed it to a passerby.
Princess Xinyang was completely baffled. She wasn't bold enough to even consider the possibility that Long Yi would allow a stranger into her house to treat her illness and change her medicine.
Gu Jiao put the box back on the table.
Princess Xinyang stopped her and said, "Since Long Yi wants to give it to you, then you should accept it."
But she didn't want to accept it. What if he forced her to break all the charcoal pencils out of the box afterward?
"Well... thank you."
Take it for now, throw it away later, and there's no way she'll break the pen again!
"Then I'll take my leave now. You two can continue your conversation." Gu Jiao wanted to make a quick getaway to prevent this guy named Long Yi from catching up with her and giving her a piece of her mind!
Gu Jiao had come to the palace to retrieve something, but now she didn't take it anymore and turned around to walk out of the palace!
She quickly boarded the carriage, intending to see just how many charcoal pencils that guy had prepared for her. But when she opened the box, she found instead a top-grade, thousand-year-old Ganoderma lucidum—
She had never seen such a fine Ganoderma lucidum in her two lifetimes.
Gu Jiao was stunned.
Back at the clinic, Gu Jiao handed the thousand-year-old Ganoderma lucidum to Manager Wang: "Sell this."
A thousand-year-old Ganoderma lucidum is certainly a good thing, but unfortunately no one in my family needs to eat it, so I might as well sell it for a good price.
Gu Jiao would occasionally bring some strange and unusual medicines for Manager Wang to sell, and Manager Wang was used to it.
"What is it this time?" He opened it and was so shocked he almost knocked the box over. "This...this huge Ganoderma lucidum? Where did it come from? This must be a thousand-year-old Ganoderma lucidum!"
To be honest, Ganoderma lucidum doesn't grow for more than a thousand years. Even ten-year-old Ganoderma lucidum is rare. The thousand-year-old Ganoderma lucidum mentioned on the market is usually over a hundred years old, which is extremely rare.
Gu Jiao said, "If someone gives it to you, remember to sell it for a good price."
"Hey!"
Can't you sell it for a good price? Don't you even know how old this Ganoderma lucidum is!
Hehe, once the news of obtaining the thousand-year-old Ganoderma lucidum spreads, Miaoshoutang will once again be in the limelight in the capital!
Gu Jiao didn't need to worry about business matters; she planned to change her clothes and head to the underground martial arts arena.
She was supposed to go yesterday afternoon, but something came up and she changed it to today.
Just as she turned to walk towards her courtyard, a frantic male voice suddenly came from behind her: "Dr. Gu! Dr. Gu!"
Gu Jiao stopped and turned around.
It was the patient whose stitches were removed yesterday, the scholar surnamed Xu.
"Is there any discomfort in your wound?" Gu Jiao asked him.
The scholar, panting heavily from running, finally managed to say after a long while, "Doctor Gu... how... how could you break your promise?"
Gu Jiao pointed strangely at herself: "I... broke my promise?"
The scholar said in a huff, "Yeah...didn't you promise me...you'd go treat my classmate's mother's lungs...disease? Why didn't you go?"
Gu Jiao said, "I went there, and she doesn't have tuberculosis."
The scholar said dejectedly, "You're talking nonsense... I asked my classmate today... no doctor came to his house..."
Gu Jiao shrugged: "But I did go."
Seeing that she didn't seem to be lying, the scholar was slightly taken aback: "Which house did you go to?"
Gu Jiao recalled: "Just as you said, keep walking straight ahead, and it's the first house behind the orange tree."
"When did I say orange tree? I clearly said peach..." The scholar's expression froze. "I was talking about orange tree..."
He slapped himself on the head!
He gave me the wrong directions!
"I'm so sorry, Miss Gu! I'll pay you for the consultation again. Please come with me again! Aunt Sun is really very ill..."
Gu Jiao glanced at the sky; there was still time. She went with him to Zhuque Street, found the family, and examined their illness.
It is indeed tuberculosis.
In her hands, tuberculosis was not an incurable disease, but it required a long period of treatment, a large amount of medication, and the medicine was not cheap.
The scholar said he would take full responsibility, only asking that Gu Jiao cure the other party.
Gu Jiao took out four kinds of medicine for treating tuberculosis from her small medicine box, put them in small porcelain bottles she carried, and wrote down the usage and dosage: "I will come to visit you in seven days."
Aunt Sun was moved to tears: "Thank you so much, young lady."
"Don't thank me, thank Scholar Xu instead." As Gu Jiao said this, she clearly sensed a curious little figure at the door.
However, as soon as Gu Jiao walked out, the small figure disappeared again.
Gu Jiao raised an eyebrow.
Classmate?
It must be for your classmate's younger sister, right?
After leaving the Sun family's house, Gu Jiao took off her mask and put it into her special cloth bag. As she walked, she wondered, if she had gone to the wrong place yesterday, then who was the lady she had treated?
Meanwhile, Princess Xinyang and Yu Jin's entourage returned to Zhuque Street.
Princess Xinyang has her own princess residence in the capital, but everyone knows she will never live in that place of sorrow again.
Because Long Yi had given away the thousand-year-old Ganoderma lucidum, Princess Xinyang had no choice but to instruct Yu Jin to choose another gift to send to the Crown Princess.
Princess Xinyang called a maidservant to serve her.
The maidservant poured tea for Princess Xinyang. As soon as she opened the cup lid, Princess Xinyang exclaimed in surprise, "Huh? Why is there something in the cup?"
"What?" Princess Xinyang asked.
The maidservant brought over a teacup, and a rich floral fragrance wafted over. In no time, the entire room was filled with the scent of a hundred flowers.
Princess Xinyang looked at the brown pill in the teacup with a thoughtful expression.
"Yu Jin".
"Princess."
"Go to the East Palace..."
An hour later, Yu Jin appeared in the warm pavilion of the East Palace.
The Crown Princess personally greeted her: "What brings you here, Lady Yu Jin?"
Yu Jin said politely, "The princess asked me to send some special products from Fengdu Mountain to the Crown Princess."
The Crown Princess smiled gently: "You're so kind, Aunt."
Yu Jin said, "In addition, I have another matter I would like to ask the Crown Princess for."
The Crown Princess hurriedly said, "Please speak, Lord Yu Jin."
Yu Jin smiled apologetically and said, "When I was tidying up the house just now, I accidentally mixed up the Hundred Flower Pill given by the Crown Princess and the Beauty Pill given by the Empress. I don't know which one is the Hundred Flower Pill and which one is the Beauty Pill."
The Crown Princess smiled: "I recognize you. Did you bring the medicine?"
Yu Jin handed a porcelain bottle to the Crown Princess.
The Crown Princess had someone bring clean bowls and plates, and poured the medicine from the porcelain bottle into them. There were three kinds of medicine in total: one was white pills, and the other two were brown pills of the same size.
The Crown Princess didn't even glance at the white pills; she simply picked out the Hundred Flower Pills one by one.
"Alright!" The Crown Princess smiled as she filled the Hundred Flowers Pill into a porcelain bottle and handed it to Yu Jin.
Yu Jin took the porcelain bottle and calmly took out a strip of cloth: "By the way, has the Crown Princess seen the words on this note?"
"Never seen it before, who wrote it?"
"So ugly," she thought to herself.
Yu Jin returned to her residence on Zhuque Street to report back to Princess Xinyang.
Princess Xinyang looked at the note and white pills on the table, then at the Hundred Flowers Pills in the porcelain bottle. It would be a miracle if she still couldn't guess that the medicine had been tampered with.
Furthermore, judging from Long Yi's reaction in the Imperial Garden, the person who did the tampering was the daughter of the Marquis of Ding'an.
Long Yi did not disobey her orders; he simply gave the thank-you gift to the person who truly deserved it.
However, there are quite a few suspicious points about this matter.
Long Yi couldn't possibly have missed her, yet not only did he not stop her from entering the house, he also allowed her to change his medicine.
That's one point.
Secondly, why would the other party secretly switch her medication? Were they trying to harm her? But those white pills clearly had medicinal effects.
Should I help her? We're not related, why should I help her?
She clearly helped, yet today in the pavilion she pretended not to know her?
What is this? Is it a way to get her attention?
Not many people knew that she lived on Zhuque Street. The Crown Princess came because she sent Yu Jin to the palace to report that she was safe and sound, which led to the Crown Princess meeting her.
How did the daughter of the Marquis of Ding'an, a mere household, acquire such extraordinary abilities to find her way here?
Princess Xinyang was not like Ning'an, a delicate princess protected under the wings of the Empress Dowager and the Emperor. She had experienced countless storms and undercurrents, and she had lost her only child.
She would not easily trust anyone, nor would she underestimate any ulterior motives in this world.
She gazed at the bright moon outside the window, her fingertips tapping lightly on the table. With each tap, the night seemed to grow quieter.
Suddenly, her fingertips stopped, and she said in a cold voice, "Bring that girl to me."
Jiaojiao: You better not bully me! Otherwise, I'm afraid you won't be able to spoil me enough in the future! ╭(╯^╰)╮
(End of this chapter)
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