Chapter 708 Two Little Babies (Second Update)
Gu Chengfeng came over that night.
He would come here whenever he had free time. He came three times during the five days that Gu Jiao and Gu Yan stayed at the Imperial Preceptor's Palace, but he always came up empty-handed.
Thankfully, nothing happened tonight.
The family had all gone to bed and the door was bolted. He climbed over the wall and almost got stabbed to death by Gu Jiao.
Gu Chengfeng looked at the red-tasseled spear that was half an inch across his heart, swallowed hard, and said, "Seriously? Aren't you sleeping in the middle of the night?"
Gu Jiao put away her gun, walked back to the main room, and said calmly, "Why did you come here so late?"
"Do you think I wanted to come over?" Gu Chengfeng snorted, rubbing his heart which had almost burst from fright, and walked into the house as if nothing had happened.
He glanced at the rooms with their doors half-open and said in a low voice, "Are you all asleep? Why so early? The theater's business is just starting."
Gu Jiao sat down in a chair next to the octagonal table: "Then why did you come over?"
"I don't go on stage every day." If I went on stage every day, the plot would progress too quickly, and he would run out of things to sing.
Sigh, I really regret not reading more of the old master's novels back then.
He finally understood the saying, "You only realize how little you know when you need it."
"Was Gu Yan's surgery successful?" Gu Chengfeng asked, sitting down in the chair opposite Gu Jiao. He added seriously, "Let me clarify, this isn't me asking out of concern; I'm asking on behalf of Xiao Heng."
"Successfully," Gu Jiao said.
"Really?" Gu Chengfeng's eyes lit up.
Gu Jiao: You said you wouldn't care?
"Okay." Gu Jiao nodded. "You can go and see for yourself, but he's probably asleep right now."
Gu Chengfeng's eyes flashed, he picked up the teapot, poured himself a cup of tea, and drank it, saying, "What's so interesting about this?"
Despite saying that, her eyes kept glancing towards Gu Yan and Gu Xiaoshun's room.
Gu Jiao asked, "Is there any news from my husband?"
Gu Chengfeng snorted, "What news could there be? He's being watched by the Han family, of course. He's very cautious and has hardly left the house lately."
Fortunately, an eagle was able to deliver messages to them.
Gu Chengfeng asked, "Then Gu Yan won't have a relapse, right? Is he really cured?"
Gu Jiao said, "It shouldn't relapse."
Gu Chengfeng was taken aback: "What do you mean by 'should'?"
Gu Jiao said seriously, "As a doctor, I must be careful with my words."
Gu Chengfeng: "..."
"Last time Gu Xiaoshun said he wanted to eat some snacks from our theater, so I brought some. I'll take them in for him!"
After saying this, he stood up and calmly entered Gu Yan and Gu Xiaoshun's room.
The weather was hot and humid, and the windows and doors were all open. They had mosquito coils at home, but Gu Yan couldn't sleep because of the smell, so they could only use mosquito nets.
The moment Gu Chengfeng entered the room, his aura changed. He tiptoed to the bedside, holding a snack box in one hand and quietly removing the clips from the mosquito net with the other, squeezing his head through the gap in the net.
Then he saw a face, face to face with him, with a small tuft of hair sticking up on its head, and a pair of eyes that were calm and stern.
Gu Chengfeng let out a cry and fell to the ground with a thud.
It's really scary, okay?
I pushed open the mosquito net and saw a head; it was like seeing a ghost!
"Weren't you asleep?!" Gu Chengfeng got up and brushed the dust off his pants.
Now it was Gu Yan's turn to stick his head out from the gap in the mosquito net. He gripped the net tightly to prevent mosquitoes from flying in.
This makes it even more terrifying.
It looked like a head had grown out of a mosquito net; the moonlight was so white, it made people feel eerie.
If Gu Yan hadn't been so adorable, Gu Chengfeng would have followed his survival instinct and kicked him.
Gu Yan said innocently, "I was asleep, but I didn't fall asleep."
Gu Chengfeng: "..."
Gu Yan noticed the box in his hand. He hadn't let it fall to the ground when he dropped it, and had been holding it carefully the whole time. Gu Yan couldn't help but ask, "What's in the box?"
"Snacks! I bought them for Gu Xiaoshun!" Gu Chengfeng said casually, handing over the box.
Gu Yan didn't take it, but said, "There are too many mosquitoes. Open it and let me see."
Gu Chengfeng opened the box, revealing a full layer of exquisite and tempting crab roe pastries.
“Gu Xiaoshun doesn’t like to eat this,” Gu Yan said.
Gu Chengfeng cleared his throat and said calmly, "If he doesn't want to eat it, you can take it and eat it."
Gu Yan said, "But I don't like eating this either."
Gu Chengfeng instantly exploded: "Didn't you say last time that you loved crab roe pastries! Do you know that the opera house hasn't made them for eight hundred years! I had to go to great lengths to invite the master chef back!"
"Oh." Gu Yan tilted his head and said, "So it's for me."
He emphasized the word "is".
Gu Chengfeng nearly choked to death.
You brat... how can you test your own brother like that?
What happened to the claim that he was ignorant and uneducated?
You're so cunning, you're practically asking for trouble!
"Then let me try it."
Don't you have hands?
"Mosquitoes will fly in."
"I'm not feeding you! Eat by yourself! I'm leaving!"
...
"Hey, you said you'd only try one bite, and you've already taken your third!"
"Shh, don't shout, my sister won't let me eat if she hears."
Gu Chengfeng: "..."
...
Prince Han received a secret summons from the Crown Prince's residence that night.
The Han family is the Crown Prince's maternal clan, so there's no need for Han Shizi to hide his visit to the Crown Prince's residence.
Unless it's something important.
Or to put it more bluntly, it's something shameful.
Crown Prince Han met the Crown Prince in the Crown Prince's study. The Crown Prince was sitting behind his desk, the doors and windows were slightly closed, and incense that could repel mosquitoes was burning in the room, made by the people of the Imperial Preceptor's Palace.
This incense is divided into three grades, and only royalty is qualified to use the top-grade incense.
It doesn't fumigate people, it only fumes mosquitoes.
Han Shizi bowed and said, "Han Ye greets Your Highness the Crown Prince."
The crown prince raised his hand heavily.
Han Ye then noticed the Crown Prince's weary expression: "Your Highness, is something troubling you lately?"
It must have been something incredibly troublesome for him to be summoned to the Crown Prince's residence in the middle of the night.
The Crown Prince sighed and said, "I called you here so late because I wanted to talk to you about Nangong Li. Please sit down."
"Han Ye wouldn't dare," Han Ye said, bowing respectfully.
"Enough." The Crown Prince did not force Han Ye. He said with a complicated expression, "I know how Nangong Li died."
Han Ye was astonished: "Your Highness knows? Then why—"
The Crown Prince asked, "Why don't you tell the Court of Judicial Review and the Ministry of Justice?" The Crown Prince replied, "I have a reason that I cannot express."
Han Ye solemnly said, "Han Ye is willing to share the Crown Prince's burdens!"
The Crown Prince sighed deeply: "You must have heard that Nangong Li visited Zhao a few months ago."
Han Ye didn't say anything.
The Crown Prince said, "That's right, it was I who sent him. This matter was too dangerous, and I didn't want to involve the Han family, so I approached the Nangong family."
This statement was an explanation that he didn't trust the Nangong family more, but rather that the mission was too dangerous.
Whether Han Ye believes it or not is up to him.
The Crown Prince continued, "Nangong Li went to assassinate someone, but unfortunately the mission failed and he lost an arm."
How could someone go to a lower country to assassinate someone and still fail?
Han Ye asked in confusion, "Who was the person he went to assassinate—"
"Xiao Liulang".
Han Ye was taken aback.
After a moment, he asked, "Why did Your Highness kill Xiao Liulang?"
“Because he is—” The prince picked up his pen and wrote three words on the paper.
Han Ye felt something explode inside him: "How could this be... how could he..."
The crown prince said, "So now you understand why I had to kill him."
A storm raged in Han Ye's heart; this was even more shocking than learning that he had lost the Black Wind King.
He then thought of something else: on the day Nangong Li was murdered, the polo players from Tianqiong Academy happened to be in the palace to meet the emperor.
He asked, "Did Nangong Li infiltrate the palace to prevent Xiao Liulang from seeing the emperor?"
The Crown Prince said, "It should be. I only heard later that people from the Heavenly Vault Academy had entered the palace, including Xiao Liulang."
The night before the incident, Nangong Li told the Crown Prince that he had seen Xiao Liulang on the street. The Crown Prince ordered him to find the man. Nangong Li found him the next day, but before he could report to the Crown Prince, he went to the palace to assassinate Xiao Liulang.
He ended up dying in the palace.
Han Ye then asked, "So he was also killed by Xiao Liulang?"
The Crown Prince shook his head: "Xiao Liulang doesn't know martial arts. I suspect that it was a master hidden by the Crown Princess who killed Nangong Li."
The Crown Prince made this conjecture because all the Imperial Guards he sent to assassinate the Crown Princess had died. He didn't believe that the Crown Princess didn't have a powerful expert by her side.
Han Ye said solemnly, "Xiao Liulang knows martial arts. I just fought with him today."
The Crown Prince said thoughtfully, "That's not right. Nangong Li told me that Xiao Liulang was a weak scholar who couldn't even kill a chicken. He captured Xiao Liulang easily back then."
Han Ye frowned: "Is Nangong Li mistaken? Xiao Liulang's martial arts are not weak. My master Qi Xuan has also fought with him and praised him, saying that if he were to live a few more years, his martial arts might catch up with mine."
The crown prince was not stupid after all; he quickly realized that something was amiss and asked, "What does Xiao Liulang, the man you fought, look like?"
Han Ye said, "Your Highness, may I borrow paper and pen?"
The crown prince gestured for him to use it as he pleased.
Han Ye's painting skills were quite good, and he quickly painted a portrait of Xiao Liulang.
Xiao Liulang's birthmark on his left cheek was so distinctive that the Crown Prince recognized him almost immediately: "It's him?"
Han Ye said, "It's him, he's Xiao Liulang."
The Crown Prince said, "What I mean is that he is that polo player. I have seen him before. I didn't pay much attention to which academy he was from. I only remember that they were playing against Che'er's academy and the Han family's Black Wind Cavalry."
Han Ye said, "That's the Sky Dome Academy!"
The crown prince's expression changed: "What?"
The prince was not particularly interested in a polo player at the time, so he did not ask the player's name.
If he had asked, Nangong Li might not have died.
Nangong Li believed that the person from Tianqiong Academy was the real Xiao Liulang, which is why he tried to stop him from meeting the king. But since he was an imposter, it wouldn't matter even if the king met him.
The crown prince slammed his fist on the table: "Damn it!"
Xiao Liulang's identity has been stolen, so where is the real Xiao Liulang?
Han Ye wasn't stupid; he figured out the key point and hurriedly asked, "Your Highness, is Xiao Liulang of Tianqiong Academy an imposter? Then who exactly are you trying to assassinate?"
The prince took a portrait from the bookshelf and pointed to the handsome man in the portrait: "That's him."
Han Ye was a man, so he naturally wouldn't care too much about whether a man was good-looking or not, but he was still amazed by his appearance.
Her demeanor and appearance are in no way inferior to Mu Qingchen's.
The Crown Prince said coldly, "I thought we had found out where he was, but now the matter has come full circle. He is hiding in the shadows, and we have no idea what identity he is using to hide in the inner city."
Han Ye carefully memorized the man in the portrait: "Han Ye knows what to do."
The crown prince said coldly, "No matter the cost, we must ensure he never sees the king!"
Han Ye bowed respectfully and said, "Han Ye accepts the order!"
...
As Han Ye left the Crown Prince's residence, a hint of disdain appeared between his brows.
"Nangong Li, you actually lost to two brats! Now it seems your death wasn't unjust; you died because you were stupid. Our Han family doesn't act as stupidly as you! What you couldn't do for the Crown Prince, I will do. Go and see for yourself in the underworld just how big the gap is between your Nangong family and the Han family!"
...
As dawn broke, Xiao Jingkong was pulled out of bed by Xiao Heng.
Xiao Jingkong tried to escape to find Gu Jiao again last night, but was caught by Xiao Heng. He refused to sleep in a huff, though he didn't last more than three seconds.
However, without Jiaojiao, he is just a soulless wooden puppet.
He brushed his little teeth expressionlessly, washed his little face expressionlessly, changed into his little courtyard clothes expressionlessly, ate something, and was led to Lingbo Academy by his bad brother-in-law.
He was the youngest student in the class, and he sat alone in the first row in the middle.
But when he entered the classroom, he found that there was an extra child in the seat next to him.
She looks even younger than him.
She was wearing the uniform of the Lingbo Academy's prodigy class and had her hair tied in a pretty little bun.
The soulless Jingkong was startled, his eyes widening in surprise.
After studying for so long, this is the first time I've seen a student younger than me!
It's all pink and looks like it's easy to bully.
I want to scratch his little pigtails!
"Who are you?" Xiao Jingkong asked.
"Yes, I am, I am..." She fiddled with her fingers and said in a childish voice, "I am Xiaoxue."
Xiao Jingkong said, "Xiaoxue? That's a girl's name."
The young princess said, "I...I am a young lady."
Having grown accustomed to being an elder, the young princess possessed an abundance of experience interacting with adults, but she had almost never played with children her own age, leaving her feeling somewhat lost and nervous.
Having learned from Gu Jiao's example, Xiao Jingkong was very accepting of girls dressing up as boys to attend class. He introduced himself frankly, saying, "My name is Jingkong. Is this your first day of school?"
The little princess shook her head sweetly: "No, the teachers at home aren't very good, so my uncle sent me here to learn."
Xiao Jingkong put the book bag on the table, sat down in the seat next to her, and said, "Your uncle has a good eye."
"It's alright," the little princess said. "But the teacher he chose for his home isn't very good; I can't understand what he's saying. My uncle will be picking me up later."
Xiao Jingkong said, "My brother-in-law... my sister will come to pick me up later."
(End of this chapter)
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