Chapter 93 Door-to-Door Visit (Second Update)
When Xiao Liulang returned after fetching water, Gu Jiao was sitting in the main room waiting for him.
Gu Jiao said, "Dean Li came by just now."
Xiao Liulang carried the water to the backyard and poured it into the water vat: "Hmm, I ran into him at the village entrance."
Gu Jiao arrived at the back door of the main room, leaned against the door indifferently, and said, "Aren't you going to ask him what he said to me?"
"What did he say?" Xiao Liulang asked casually.
Gu Jiao said casually, "He said you kept a concubine in the capital."
"Cough!" Xiao Liulang nearly choked to death!
"No?"
"No."
"there is nothing?"
"No concubines!"
It's not that he's never been to the capital, but that he doesn't have a concubine.
Gu Jiao raised an eyebrow: "Oh, when most people hear that, their first reaction should be, 'I've never been to the capital, how could I keep a concubine there?' You only denied the second point, so you've been to the capital?"
Xiao Liulang calmly replied, "So what if I've been there?"
Gu Jiao asked, "How did you get the travel permit to the capital?"
The capital city of Zhao is where all the most important people in the entire kingdom live. Its defenses are extremely tight, and ordinary people simply cannot obtain a travel permit.
Unless a commoner like Xiao Liulang passed the provincial examination, he would have absolutely no chance of entering the capital.
"And what about you?" Xiao Liulang didn't answer Gu Jiao's question directly, but instead changed the subject, turning his attention to her, "And what's the deal with your suitcase?"
Gu Jiao's pupils contracted.
Goodness.
So you've learned to use her secrets to shut her up, huh?
Xiao Liulang, leaning on his cane, walked towards her step by step, stopping less than half a step in front of her: "Tell me where you got that box, and I'll tell you... how I got the travel permit to the capital."
This was the first time he had been so close to Gu Jiao, his breath almost touching the top of her head.
Gu Jiao then realized that he had grown more than just a little taller.
Gu Jiao could feel the youthful energy emanating from him, clean and refreshing, yet more than that; he was slowly growing up and was about to become a real man.
His aura was cold and dangerous, like a ferocious beast baring its fangs!
Gu Jiao blinked, then suddenly stretched out her little index finger and poked his pectoral muscles.
Xiao Liulang: "..."
"Ah—I didn't mean to!"
Xue Ningxiang, who had just arrived at the door, covered her face to show that she hadn't seen anything!
Xiao Liulang and Gu Jiao's standing posture was indeed too intimate. At first glance, it looked as if Xiao Liulang had pinned her against the wall and was about to do something bad to her.
It feels good.
Gu Jiao poked it again.
Xiao Liulang: "...!!"
His chest was covered in the soft touch of her fingertips, and Xiao Liulang's ferocious aura vanished. His ears turned red as he went back into the house.
Xue Ningxiang exclaimed in a daze, "Ah... this is the first time I've ever seen Xiao Liulang like this."
"Is there anything I can help you with?" Gu Jiao walked over casually.
Xue Ningxiang's gaze immediately fell on her face. They were clearly doing something intimate and were caught by outsiders, so why was it Xiao Liulang blushing instead of this girl? Was there some mistake?
"Uh...that."
However, Xue Ningxiang did not forget the important matter. She handed a piece of iron plaque she was holding to Gu Jiao: "This is for you."
"For me?" Gu Jiao took it and found it was a bronze plaque with no words on it, only a strange emblem.
"Yes!" Xue Ningxiang nodded, somewhat embarrassed, and said, "I found this where Xiao Liulang first fainted. You were so focused on taking him back that you didn't notice it was left in the grass. I secretly hid it, intending to sell it at the market, but my mother-in-law said it wasn't gold or silver and wouldn't fetch much, so I just left it aside. If it weren't for today..."
Xue Ningxiang awkwardly skipped over the part about how Gouwa recognized her father and made her shake the pillow in anger, saying, "It suddenly fell out of the pillow, and I had completely forgotten that I had ever seen such a thing before."
A year ago, Xiao Liulang collapsed at the village entrance, and was discovered by Xue Ningxiang and Gu Jiao.
Xue Ningxiang went to the village to call for help, but Gu Jiao carried him back on her back. By the time Xue Ningxiang and her men arrived, Xiao Liulang was nowhere to be seen. However, Xue Ningxiang noticed a heavy sign left in the bushes.
Xue Ningxiang said, "I'm not sure if it's Xiao Liulang's. Why don't you ask him?"
Gu Jiao suddenly remembered something.
On the first day after she transmigrated, Xiao Liulang was sneaking around her room, rummaging through drawers and cabinets. Could he actually be looking for this?
Hehehe, young man, let's see who uncovers whose secret first?
Gu Jiao took the bronze plaque back to her house.
She was absolutely certain that Xiao Liulang had touched her medicine box.
No one can open her medicine box, but it's also possible that she was delirious from the fever last night and forgot to lock it.
Did those strange tonics and family planning products only appear after Xiao Liulang touched the medicine box?
Gu Jiao glared fiercely at the small medicine box: "If you dare show me this junk again, I'll burn you to the ground!"
A cold wind blew by, and the small medicine box remained as quiet as a chicken.
——
After breakfast, Gu Jinyu packed her things and prepared to leave. She had promised Yao that she would offer incense to Gu Sanlang and his wife.
Before leaving, she went to see Madam Yao and Lord Gu: "I think I'll run into my sister when I go to the village? I want to go see her."
Yao did not object.
Lord Gu was worried that Gu Jiao's fiery temper might bully Gu Jinyu, since the two children had had some disagreements before.
Lord Gu sent Huang Zhong with an experienced nanny.
Gu Yan was so excited all night that she didn't fall asleep until breakfast time. She was now fast asleep on her bed, completely unaware that she had missed the chance to go to the countryside.
Gu Jinyu sat in the carriage, while the maid and nanny sat in another carriage. Huang Zhong led several guards on horseback to protect Gu Jinyu on both sides.
Halfway there, Gu Jinyu lifted the curtain of the carriage window, looked at Huang Zhong riding alongside her, and said in a friendly tone, "Lord Huang, have you met my sister? What kind of person is she?"
"Ah...this..." Huang Zhong was at a loss for words.
A hot-tempered, unfilial daughter who even pinned the Marquis to the ground.
Huang Zhong coughed a few times, clenching his fist: "Although I have met the young lady, I have never spoken to her."
Gu Jinyu smiled regretfully: "Me too. I've never really spoken to her properly. If I had known she was my sister, I wouldn't have treated her like that. I'm so stupid, I didn't even recognize my own sister."
Huang Zhong thought to himself, "They're not even related by blood, of course you wouldn't recognize them. Look at the young master, he got close to the young lady in just one time! Being related or not, it's all the same!"
He didn't dare say these words aloud.
The matter concerning the two young ladies has not yet spread within the manor; only he and a few masters know the truth. However, secrets cannot be kept forever, and it remains to be seen how the Marquis and his wife will explain it to the outside world.
Huang Zhong had come here several times and had thoroughly inquired about the village's affairs, including the graves of Gu Sanlang and his wife.
Gu Sanlang died a violent death, and according to the customs of the countryside, he could not be buried in the ancestral graveyard. His grave was far away from the Gu family's auspicious burial site, so Xu Shi was buried next to him, which was said to be her request before she died.
The carriage was parked at the village entrance, making quite a spectacle. With the arrival of the ethereal-looking Gu Jinyu, the villagers couldn't help but eagerly await the arrival.
Gu Jinyu wore a staff uniform, accompanied by respectable maids and nannies.
The villagers had never seen a city girl before, and their eyes were wide with astonishment.
"Miss, watch your step!" The country roads are difficult to walk on, and Huang Zhong was afraid that this delicate young lady would fall.
Gu Jinyu held tightly to the maid's arm; this bumpy dirt road was truly a disservice to her pampered feet.
After the group had walked away, the villagers started talking about it.
"Huh? Who are they?"
"I don't know him. That man seems to have come to our village a few times and inquired about a lot of information about the Gu family."
"Hey! Look, they're heading towards Gu Sanlang's grave!"
"Could it be someone from the Xu family?"
Since the Gu family didn't have such respectable relatives, the villagers could only guess that it was the Xu family.
The Xu family was not from this village, and their family was better off than the Gu family, so they were considered half city dwellers. However, after the Xu family passed away, the Xu family cut off all ties with the Gu family.
When Gu Jinyu arrived at the cemetery, she found a person standing on the grave mound. He was dressed in coarse linen clothes, had a slender figure, wore a bamboo hat, and carried a small basket on his back.
"elder sister?"
Gu Jinyu tentatively spoke.
Gu Jiao paused in her weeding motion, straightened up calmly, and turned to look at Gu Jinyu.
Gu Jinyu immediately smiled with joy: "Sister, it really is you!"
Gu Jiao gave her a strange look, ignored her, and continued to bend down and hoe the weeds.
Ever since Gu Jiao noticed that there was an unusually large amount of grass on the graves of Gu Sanlang and his wife on the anniversary of their deaths, she has been coming over regularly to hoe the grass.
Despite being ignored, Gu Jinyu didn't give up. She let go of the maid's hand and walked towards Gu Jiao.
Unfortunately, her delicate embroidered shoes were completely unsuitable for walking on the path to the grave, and she almost twisted her ankle.
"Miss! Be careful!" The maid and the nanny helped her up.
"I'm fine." Gu Jinyu glanced at Gu Jiao awkwardly, signaling the two of them to let go, and then she became more careful.
She lifted her clean skirt and came to Gu Jiao's side, extending her hand to Gu Jiao: "Sister, let me do it."
“I’m not your sister,” Gu Jiao said. “And you can’t come.”
This kind of dirty work is not something a pampered young lady can do.
Gu Jiao only uses a shovel when necessary; otherwise, she uses her hands.
Gu Jinyu tried to pull weeds like she did, and the result was predictable.
The maid and the old nanny were unaware of the truth, but the servants of the Marquis's mansion always knew the rules and would never inquire about things they shouldn't ask.
He didn't ask, but he was very curious.
This country girl has such a big attitude. Her young mistress lowered herself to call her "sister," and not only did she not appreciate it, she even gave her mistress a hard time.
"You may all leave now," Gu Jinyu instructed.
The maid and the old woman retreated three zhang away.
"You may also step down," Gu Jinyu said to Huang Zhong.
Huang Zhong, who was weeding, clapped his hands and retreated far away.
Only Gu Jiao and Gu Jinyu remained on the grave.
Gu Jiao continued weeding as if no one else was around.
Gu Jinyu placed the straw mat and paper money she had brought on the ground, burned the paper money with a tinderbox, and knelt on the straw mat to kowtow three times to Gu Sanlang and Xu Shi.
Then, Gu Jinyu remained kneeling, burning paper money as she murmured, "I heard that they were good people when they were alive, and they were very kind to my sister."
Gu Jiao finally reacted, saying calmly, "Does calling me 'father' or 'mother' burn your tongue?"
Gu Jinyu choked.
Gu Sanlang and Xu Shi were truly wonderful parents. If they knew that the child had been switched at birth, they would be heartbroken and would long to hear their own daughter call them "father" and "mother."
Gu Jiao glanced at her: "Those who are just here to burn paper money don't need to. I can afford to burn this much paper money."
Gu Jinyu lowered her head and whispered, "Sister, do you hate me? I know it's my fault. I stole your identity, I stole our parents, I stole everything that should have been yours. It's understandable that you hate me. I don't blame you..."
Gu Jiao ignored her.
The person who was robbed of everything is already dead. Besides, it's not appropriate to say that they robbed them. Gu Jinyu is innocent; she was also the one who was switched at birth.
She felt neither resentment nor affection.
This person has nothing to do with her.
Gu Jinyu didn't understand Gu Jiao's thoughts. She only felt that Gu Jiao was blaming herself, which was understandable since she had benefited from the situation.
She said sincerely, "Sister, don't worry, I won't compete with you. You are the eldest daughter of the Marquis's mansion. When you return to the Marquis's mansion, I will give the courtyard back to you. But after all, Father and Mother raised me for so many years. Please allow me to stay by their side and fulfill my filial duties."
Gu Jiao was a little annoyed: "Are you done talking? If you are, hurry up and leave."
Gu Jinyu pleaded, "Sister, please come back to the Marquis's mansion with me!"
"I won't reply."
"Sister! What do you want from me to come back with me? Tell me, and I'll agree to anything!"
Gu Jiao looked at her and smiled faintly: "Including leaving with nothing and never appearing in the Marquis's mansion again?"
Gu Jinyu's expression froze!
(End of this chapter)
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