Chapter 57 Parents
After leaving the clinic, Gu Jinyu went directly to a teahouse in town, where Madam Hou had been waiting for a long time.
Gu Jinyu entered the tea room and nestled into Madam Hou's arms like a fledgling, softly calling out "Mother."
Lady Hou held her daughter, whom she hadn't seen for many days, and said, "How big is your child now? Still trying to snuggle into your mother's arms? Shameless!"
Gu Jinyu hugged her even tighter and said coquettishly, "No matter how old I am, I am still your and Father's daughter. How can you be shameless?"
Lady Hou pinched her little nose: "You, you've really been spoiled rotten by your father!"
Gu Jinyu snorted, "Who told Father to only have me as his precious daughter?"
Lady Hou was both amused and exasperated, and asked her, "Did it go smoothly when you went to Huichuntang to pay the consultation fee?"
When this was mentioned, Gu Jinyu's eyes darted away.
Lady Hou keenly noticed her daughter's unusual behavior: "What's wrong? Is Huichuntang dissatisfied with the consultation fee?"
The matter of the consultation fee was quite a misunderstanding; the Lady Hou thought the servants had given it, and the servants thought the Lady Hou had given it.
If Lady Hou hadn't casually asked, no one would have known that they had been in arrears on medical fees to Huichuntang.
For this reason, Madam Hou planned to go to Huichuntang herself, but unexpectedly, she ran into her daughter who had come from the capital as soon as she left the manor. After hearing the whole story, Gu Jinyu took on the responsibility of paying the consultation fee without hesitation, but Madam Hou was not idle either, but went up the mountain to offer incense to the Bodhisattva.
“It’s not that Huichuntang is dissatisfied with the consultation fee, but rather…” Gu Jinyu recounted everything that happened at Huichuntang without embellishment or concealing anything. However, since her mother had taught her not to judge people by their appearance, she did not emphasize that the village girl was ugly and had a prominent red birthmark on her left cheek.
"My daughter was wrong; she shouldn't have been so arbitrary." She lowered her head and admitted her mistake.
Lady Hou said earnestly, "There will always be people in this world who are of higher status than us. You are of higher status than her, so you can look down on her. But if you meet someone of higher status than you in the future, will they also look down on you?"
Although Lady Hou loved her daughter dearly, she was not without principles.
Gu Jinyu playfully took the arm of the Lady of the Marquis: "I am the daughter of the Marquis's family, who would look down on me?"
"You!" Lady Hou gave her a helpless, reproachful look.
"But what about my brother's jade thumb ring?" Gu Jinyu asked.
Lady Hou said, "Your brother said she took it by accident. You know your brother wouldn't lie."
Gu Jinyu still didn't understand: "What do you mean by 'took it by accident'? How does he know it was by accident? Did he see it?"
"This... I don't know either." Lady Hou doted on her daughter with principles, but when it came to her son, none of those principles applied. After all, her son was someone whose days were numbered, and she couldn't bear to use rules to restrain him.
Her son didn't want to talk much about what happened that day, so she didn't ask any further questions.
It was just a jade thumb ring; it's gone, so be it. As long as my son is happy.
Gu Jinyu snorted jealously, "I also took it by accident last time, but he ignored me for a whole month! Am I not his real sister anymore?"
"You," the Lady Hou said, tapping her forehead with a mixture of amusement and exasperation, "if you're not, then who is? Perhaps that little girl with the jade thumb ring is?"
Because of this completely impossible joke, Gu Jinyu's mood improved. She leaned against her mother's chest and stretched out her little hand, saying, "Mother, my hands are cold."
Lady Hou touched the back of her daughter's hand and found it was indeed a little cold. She immediately put down the candy in her hand and took a delicate hand warmer to warm her daughter's hand.
Gu Jinyu looked at the sesame candy on the plate with a strange expression: "Mother, where did you get this stuff? It doesn't look clean at all. Be careful not to get an upset stomach."
Lady Hou thought of the little maid, a hint of tenderness appearing in her eyes: "A kind girl gave it to me, so I'll accept it."
On the other side, Gu Jiao received her consultation fee, a total of twenty taels, which, combined with the silver she had, was enough to buy that mountain.
The second boss was a little worried that today's events might upset Gu Jiao, so he asked awkwardly, "Um... about next month's appointment..."
Gu Jiao said calmly, "I promised to see patients once a month, and I won't go back on my word."
After saying that, she took the silver and went to the academy.
The dean didn't return to the academy; he left first.
When Gu Jiao arrived at the academy, school had already ended, and students dressed in white academy uniforms came out one after another. Gu Jiao waited at the alley entrance in the usual place, but Xiao Liulang and Gu Xiaoshun were nowhere to be seen.
Just as Gu Jiao was wondering if the two had been kept behind by the teacher, Xiao Liulang and Gu Xiaoshun came from another direction.
Xiao Liulang and Gu Xiaoshun were carrying a bunch of things, and Gu Jiao only realized that they were incense sticks and thick stacks of paper money when they got closer.
Gu Jiao asked, "What are you buying these things for?"
Gu Xiaoshun stared in disbelief: "Sis, you forgot? Today is the anniversary of Uncle and Aunt's death!"
Gu Jiao was speechless.
She...she really forgot.
The original owner did have such an important day in her memory, but unfortunately Gu Jiao is not the original owner, so she forgot about this day.
"Thank goodness you remembered," Gu Jiao said to Gu Xiaoshun.
Gu Xiaoshun scratched his head embarrassedly: "Actually, I don't remember either. It was my brother-in-law."
Gu Jiao raised an eyebrow and glanced at Xiao Liulang. She didn't remember ever mentioning her parents' death anniversaries to him; he must have heard it from the villagers. Given their current fake marriage, it was surprising that he remembered.
Gu Jiao: "Thank you."
Xiao Liulang leaned on his cane and boarded the oxcart expressionlessly. He was still angry about Gu Jiao's "secret affair" with Dean Li and planned not to speak to her for a day!
Gu Jiao had no idea why he was acting so strangely, but he had already remembered her parents' death anniversaries, so it couldn't be because of her that he was acting strangely!
Gu Jiao got on the oxcart without a care in the world.
Gu Jiao, who thought they had an extremely good relationship, even specially chose a seat closest to him.
Xiao Liulang was furious, but the person who angered him showed no remorse whatsoever, which made Xiao Liulang even angrier.
After the three returned to the village, Liu called Gu Xiaoshun away, while Gu Jiao and Xiao Liulang went to the cemetery at the other end of the field.
The graves of Gu Sanlang and his wife Xu were next to each other, and because no one had taken care of them for a long time, the grass on the grave mounds was already half a person tall.
Despite his sullen anger, Xiao Liulang still rolled up his sleeves and pulled out the grass from the grave one by one.
He was so focused on pulling the grave that he didn't notice Gu Jiao staring blankly at the grave behind him.
In the original owner's memory, Gu Sanlang was swept away by a flood, and the villagers searched along the riverbank for half a month before finally finding his body. By then, the body was so mushy that it was unrecognizable, and Xu Shi collapsed on the spot after just one glance, never to recover again.
She only managed to hold on for a year before passing away on the anniversary of Gu Jiao's father's death, leaving behind her five-year-old daughter.
They were both excellent parents, far better than Gu Jiao's parents in her previous life. It's a pity they passed away so young.
It seems that, regardless of her past or present life, she is destined to be without a father's love or a mother's affection.
(End of this chapter)
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