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Gu Jiao returned to Bishui Alley.
Little Jing Kong had already finished school and was anxiously waiting at the entrance. When he saw Gu Jiao coming, he ran over to her and exclaimed, "JiaoJiao!"
Gu Jiao took his little hand and led him inside, but he kept looking back. Gu Jiao paused and asked, "Are you waiting for your brother-in-law?"
Xiao Liulang had gone to the countryside for his official duty and was expected to return by the end of the month if fast, or next month if slow.
Little Jing Kong widened his eyes and earnestly replied, "No, no, no! I'm not waiting for him!"
Gu Jiao smiled and said, "He'll be back soon. Don't worry."
Little Jing Kong let out an ‘oh’ and said like a little adult, "I'm just worried he won't do a good job. This is his first official duty far away, and I didn't have a chance to tell him what to do."
Gu Jiao chuckled.
Do all kids talk amusingly like this?
Gu Jiao asked with a hint of laughter, "What do you want to tell your brother-in-law?"
Little Jing Kong replied seriously, "I want to tell him to work together with his colleagues, not to make his superiors angry, not to think he's better than everyone else just because he's the top scholar, and to work hard unlike when he's at home."
Gu Jiao couldn't help but laugh and pinched his little cheeks. Kids were really so entertaining.
One big and one small entered the house.
Gu Yan and Gu Xiaoshun were in their craftsmanship class. Yao Shi was in the yard, rushing to make Gu Jinyu's wedding dress.
Gu Jinyu's wedding was scheduled for the end of the year, which was quite rushed. In a normal household, it would take about half a year to complete the wedding customs and formalities, and another half a year to prepare for the wedding and send invitations to all relatives.
However, Gu Jinyu's situation was special. The Emperor had already set the wedding date for the end of the year.
“What a beautiful dress.” Little Jing Kong admiringly touched the fabric on Yao shi’s lap and asked, "Who are you making it for?"
"It’s for Sister Jinyu." Yao Shi answered.
Little Jing Kong tilted his head and asked innocently, "Why are you making such a beautiful dress for her? JiaoJiao doesn't even have one."
The child’s statement was without malice, he was just purely curious. He wondered why Gu Jinyu had a beautiful dress while JiaoJiao didn’t when they were both Madame Yao’s daughters.
JiaoJiao was the older sister. Shouldn't she make it for the older sister first?
This remark stunned Yao Shi.
That’s right. JiaoJiao got married in the countryside, and she didn’t even have a decent wedding dress, without any dragon and phoenix incense sticks and candles, nor parents to support her. She got married all alone.
To be precise, she was driven out of the house, viewed as an evil portent.
Both JiaoJiao and her husband were forced into the marriage, so they only had a nominal husband-wife relationship, and they hadn’t even consummated their marriage till now.
Thinking of this, Yao Shi felt a pang of guilt in her heart, and even found it difficult to continue making the wedding dress.
"Come and eat some grapes."
Beside the ancient well, Gu Jiao washed a bunch of bright purple grapes.
Little Jing Kong was quickly attracted by them and ran over. He squatted down and picked the biggest and brightest grape, feeding it to Gu Jiao, "JiaoJiao, eat!"
"Okay." Gu Jiao ate the grape that he fed her.
After that, Little Jing Kong picked another piece of grape and gave it to Yao Shi. He did not forget to give some to Grannie Fang, Yuya'er, and Granduncle next door.
Overall, he was a child who could drive people crazy when he was mischievous, but also warm one’s heart when he was sensible.
Only, Old Chief wasn’t in the mood to eat the grapes that Little Jing Kong offered him.
He had been worrying about his novel recently.
At the beginning of the sixth month, he submitted the third volume of his manuscript. In the third volume, the storyline was about the hostage prince of the cloud courtyard, Li Wang, overthrowing the enemy country's imperial power, and the sixth princess sacrificing herself and becoming Li Wang’s concubine in order to save their imperial dynasty.
General Fu, who returned from suppressing bandits, found that his beloved was taken away by Li Wang. He was so enraged that he requested to go north.
He made a military declaration in front of the Emperor that he would not return to the imperial court until he rescued the sixth princess.
He led an army of one hundred thousand soldiers to the banks of the Cangshui River and fought a fierce battle with Li Wang.
When Li Wang was staying in Great Xia as a hostage prince, he received General Fu's favor. When General Fu was fighting outside, he also received help from Li Wang.
Two men were supposed to become good brothers, but they became enemies because of national hatred, personal grudges, and a woman.
The third volume ended here.
The fourth volume was the final book. In this volume, General Fu would die by the sword of Li Wang, and his army of 100,000 would be completely wiped out. However, the deaths of General Fu and the soldiers of the Great Xia Dynasty ignited a deep hatred in the heart of the sixth princess.
Despite her deep love for Li Wang, she ultimately killed him with the dagger he gave her on their wedding night.
The story ended with a heavy rain and the sixth princess stepping out of the palace barefooted with the bloodstained dagger in her hand.
She laughed crazily, her clothes drenched by the rain, tightly clinging to her body which outlined the two-month pregnant belly that even Li Wang had never discovered.
As she looked up at the rain, she suddenly felt a pain in her stomach.
The story ended here abruptly because this volume had fewer contents. Old Chief submitted the manuscript early, and the bookstore rushed to print it overnight as the first three volumes sold very well.
The book was widely popular and enjoyed by both the highbrow and lowbrow readers, with a wide audience. The poetry and prose in the book were all exceptional; any one of them was no less impressive than the literary works of the top three scholars.
Some people once speculated that "Cloud Court Memoir" was written by the newly appointed Zhuangyuan, as his literary style was quite similar to the author, except that it wasn’t as sharp as Zhuangyuan Xiao’s eight-part essays.
Of course, they discovered in the end that he wasn’t the author. It was because some people who suspected that "Cloud Court Memoir" was written by Zhuangyuan Xiao had gone to the Hanlin Academy to inquire about the news, only to get a negative answer.
In any case, because the audience was too wide and too many people read it, when the ending came out, it immediately caused a wave of book followers bombarding the author with feedback.
What about the promised "Cloud Court Memoir"? Why did they have to kill Li Wang off? Even the skilled and valiant General Fu died.
General Fu died without even letting the sixth princess know his feelings for her, which was too tragic! And the sixth princess, did she actually conceive Li Wang’s child? Did she manage to keep the child after the stomach pain?
The public indignation was too terrible, and the bookstore was bombarded in turn.
Finally, a young scholar who appeared out of nowhere wrote a "Epilogue to Cloud Court Memoir". Although the word count wasn’t high, and it was only a few pages long, it perfectly reversed the tragedy.
It wrote that all of this was just Li Wang’s dream. After waking up, Li Wang realized that the sixth princess was just an ungrateful, vicious woman who stabbed him at the critical moment. He decisively gave up the opportunity to save the sixth princess when they first met, trample the sixth princess, and went to find General Fu to roam the world with him.
To hell with the life of a hostage prince!
To hell with the black-hearted white lotus!
I'm going to travel the world with Little Fu!
Then this epilogue became popular.
At first, it was only circulated in small poetry gatherings and tea parties. Later, the bookstore that sold "Cloud Court Memoir" printed it and sold it to the talents and beauties of the capital.
Old Chief was confused. What messy writing was this? The writing was immature, the sentences were incoherent, the wording was obscure, and it wasn’t even suitable for reading!
Old Chief thought that this epilogue was a complete insult to his work. He decided to go to the bookstore and have them take down the epilogue.
He couldn't let others bask in his limelight for nothing.
Unexpectedly, the bookstore owner told him, "Ah, now you are the one basking in another's limelight."
The epilogue sold so well that many people who hadn’t read the original novel rushed to buy "Cloud Court Memoir", wanting to know how much drama there was between the three characters.
The sixth princess was originally a pitiful and sympathetic character, but now she was being cursed by the talents and beauties of the capital who had read the epilogue first before the original novel. Even the author himself was cursed.
Old Chief felt the corner of his mouth twitching badly.
Who wrote this epilogue?
It was too disrespectful!
In the end, Old Chief didn't force the bookstore to take down the epilogue because the smell of money was so good.
Having earned a lot of money, Old Chief immediately bought a new carriage, which would be used by JiaoJiao and the others in the future. Gu Yan had dark guards, so he didn't have to worry about the carriage driver.
He could make do with his old carriage, as he wasn't picky. He made money to buy things for the children.
At the end of the sixth month, a small rainstorm washed away an official road, and the officials from the Ministry of Revenue and Hanlin Academy who had planned to return to the capital were stranded in a village.
Marquis Gu had just finished repairing the sewage system in the capital when he was called by the Ministry of Works to repair the roads.
Recently, Imperial Concubine Dowager Jing hadn't made any moves. It was unclear whether she suspected that she was about to be exposed, so she had temporarily stopped her actions.
As the saying went, if you don't court death, death won't come for you.
But how could they just let her stay silent!
She must be made to take action!
"JiaoJiao."
Old Chief, who was cutting vegetables in the kitchen, called Gu Jiao over. Today, Grannie Fang went to her son's house, so it was up to him to cook dinner.
Gu Jiao put down the firewood she had been chopping in half and walked into the kitchen. "Granduncle, did you call me?"
Although their relationship had been clarified, neither the family members nor the neighbors changed their way of addressing him.
Old Chief didn't mind. Whether or not Zhuang Jinse was his real spouse wasn't important. What was important was not to disappoint the children's filial piety.
Old Chief said in a low voice, "Later, come with me to the imperial palace. I'll go see the Emperor, while you go see the Empress Dowager. Tell her this..."
Raz P.'s Thoughts
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