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Eunuch Qin didn’t seem to feel the least bit embarrassed to suddenly change his tune after treating Gu Jiao harshly before. Face wasn’t worth much for someone like him in this place anyway.
Eunuch Qin handed the medicine to Empress Dowager Zhuang and then retired with the palace maids.
How could he not know that the Empress Dowager was also capable of loving someone dearly? However, the Empress Dowager didn’t want this unknown side of herself to be known.
At this moment, there were only Gu Jiao and Empress Dowager Zhuang left in the room.
Gu Jiao thought for a moment and handed her hand to Empress Dowager Zhuang, "Apply the medicine, quick."
Otherwise, we wouldn’t make any progress!
Empress Dowager Zhuang:“…”
The back of Gu Jiao's hand was actually really fine, but Empress Dowager Zhuang still put some cooling ointment on it then said, "Turn around."
"Hm?" Gu Jiao was slightly bewildered.
Empress Dowager Zhuang’s voice sank, "Aijia said to turn around."
"Oh." Gu Jiao obediently turned around on the bed.
Empress Dowager Zhuang gently lifted her bedclothes, making Gu Jiao's body stiffened for a moment. She was about to turn around again when she heard Empress Dowager Zhuang say in a stern voice, "Don't move!"
Gu Jiao didn't move.
Gu Jiao's back was covered with wounds and bruises. Even though the swelling had all gone, there were still large patches of blue and purple on her back. The wounds had formed some thick scabs, and the skin around the scabs was slightly red.
If she didn’t scratch it, it would feel itchy. If she scratched it, it would hurt. Everyday, Gu Jiao had to endure such stress.
She didn’t say a word about how the wounds came about, and continued to move about in front of Empress Dowager Zhuang as though nothing had happened to her.
Recalling how she went to cook for her and hung herself upside down on the roof, laughing heartily in front of her, Empress Dowager Zhuang felt an inexplicable suffocation in her heart.
She dipped her fingertips into the medicine and gently applied it to her wounds.
"Ow." Gu Jiao's body trembled and subconsciously dodged to the side.
"Does it hurt?" Empress Dowager Zhuang asked nervously.
"It itches." Gu Jiao answered.
Scabs were the most itchy when they fell off. This wasn’t something Empress Dowager Zhuang could help her with, except for applying more ointment so that she could feel a bit cool.
Gu Jiao sat cross-legged on the phoenix bed, letting Grandaunt apply medicine to her wounds.
Suddenly, she thought of something and asked, "Grandaunt, do you remember everything now?"
Empress Dowager Zhuang’s hand came to a halt and she said seriously, "No."
"Oh." Gu Jiao was disappointed.
After applying the medicine, Empress Dowager Zhuang had people bring in the meal.
Gu Jiao was indeed hungry. She seldom took an afternoon nap. Unexpectedly, she even slept until night.
She looked at the exquisite and delicious dishes on the table, including a plate of jerky sprinkled with sesame seeds. When it came to loving sesame seeds, she and Grandaunt were on the same page.
Obviously, this was the same jerky that Xiao Liulang had requested from a classmate in the Imperial Academy as they had the same taste.
"Grandaunt, are you sure you still don’t remember anything?" Gu Jiao ate a piece of jerky and looked at Empress Dowager Zhuang suspiciously.
This was clearly something she loved to eat.
Empress Dowager Zhuang said blandly, "Just keep eating, why are you talking so much?"
Gu Jiao continued to bury herself in food.
The dishes in the palace were all very sumptuous; Gu Jiao even ate some sea crabs.
The crab meat was scraped out and was put back into the crab shell along with crab paste, while all the organs that should be removed were removed. As soon as she moved her chopsticks down, she picked up a big clump of crab meat with crab paste.
"Why isn’t Grandaunt eating?" Gu Jiao asked.
"Aijia has eaten." Empress Dowager Zhuang replied.
It was true that she had already eaten, and it was even Xiao Liulang's dark cuisine. Remembering it made Empress Dowager Zhuang feel so disgusted that she didn’t want to eat for the next three days!
Gu Jiao thought for a moment before taking out a small paper wrap from her pouch. She opened it to reveal three candied fruits inside, "How about Grandaunt eat these? Eating them a bit after dinner won't make you feel too full."
Empress Dowager Zhuang cleared her throat and took it with a look of disgust, never allowing Gu Jiao to see her drool.
It was the taste in her memory, sweet and sour with a faint plum fragrance.
Unlike the preserves in the palace, they weren’t very sweet, but they were unexpectedly delicious.
After eating the three candied fruits, Empress Dowager Zhuang still wanted more.
Gu Jiao blinked her eyes and asked, "Does it taste familiar?"
Empress Dowager Zhuang said solemnly, "How can Aijia know if you give Aijia only three?"
"That’s also true." Gu Jiao hesitantly took out another paper wrap from her pouch, which also contained three candied fruits.
Empress Dowager Zhuang silently looked at the candied fruits and then at Gu Jiao's pouch.
That pouch was embroidered by Empress Dowager Zhuang herself. It was her gift to Gu Jiao during her fifteenth birthday. There were two ducks and some duck eggs embroidered on it. Actually, she wanted to embroider mandarin ducks, but her needlework wasn’t satisfactory, and it ended up looking just like ordinary ducks.
What was she thinking giving away such a silly-looking thing?
Empress Dowager Zhuang felt very repulsed.
Sure enough, people would do stupid things when their brains were damaged. This was surely a dark history in Empress Dowager Zhuang's life.
Empress Dowager Zhuang ate up the extra three candied fruits as well.
Back then, when she was still the elderly woman, Gu Jiao only allowed Empress Dowager Zhuang to eat three candied fruits a day, and five candied fruits during the New Year. If she wanted to eat more, she had to find a way to keep some secretly.
But she couldn’t stash too much either, because Little Jing Kong especially loved to keep an eye on her, and whenever he found anything, he would tell on her without delay!
Empress Dowager Zhuang was still unsatisfied after eating six candied fruits and said with a snort, "How can Aijia possibly tell if it tastes familiar or not? Aijia simply didn’t manage to taste anything at all. Let Aijia try a few more!"
Gu Jiao cast a suspicious look at her, "Grandaunt, you're not doing this on purpose just to eat a few extra candied fruits, are you?"
Empress Dowager Zhuang felt choked, "How, how is that possible!"
In the end, Empress Dowager Zhuang failed to eat the seventh candied fruit. Not only that, but Gu Jiao also gave Eunuch Qin a reminder before she left, forbidding Empress Dowager Zhuang to eat any more sweets. She especially had to avoid eating several fruit snacks with high sugar content.
Eunuch Qin complied with a smile.
Empress Dowager Zhuang's whole face turned dark!
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