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"Is he really Little Marquis though? Could it just be a mistake?" Steward Liu asked anxiously. He paused for a moment before saying in a low voice, "Even if it's just a mistake, he’s still Lord Marquis’s blood..."
Marquis Xuanping glared at him.
Steward Liu awkwardly smiled, "I was just kidding, just kidding..."
Since ancient times, there was a clear distinction between the concubine-born children and children of the first wife, let alone a bastard child. How could they let a bastard child confuse the legitimate bloodline of the Marquis Estate?
Marquis Xuanping touched his chin thoughtfully, "Could it be that only his mother can control him?"
"Chen Yunniang is already dead." Steward Liu kindly reminded him.
Marquis Xuanping gave him a deathly stare, "Do you not want your salary this month?"
Steward Liu shuddered and said, "Ah, Lord Marquis, you were referring to Her Highness the Princess. But what if even the princess can't do anything about him..."
Marquis Xuanping watched the figure disappear at the end of the courtyard, his eyes deep and profound. "Then I’ll believe that he really isn't Xiao Heng."
Xiao Liulang rode Marquis Xuanping Estate's carriage back to Bishui Alley, and by the time he arrived home, it was already dark.
The family didn't know he would return home today and had gone to do their own things, except for Yao Shi, who was taking a walk in the courtyard to help her digestion.
"Mother." He greeted her as he approached.
Yao Shi exclaimed in surprise, "Liulang is back? You haven't eaten yet, have you? Yuya'er!"
"Yes!" Yuya'er put down her work and came over. "Oh, it's guye!"
Yao Shi ordered, "Go make something for guye."
"Okay!" Yuya'er went to the kitchen.
This time he went to the countryside to help with disaster relief and didn't bring back any gifts except for a basket of medicinal herbs and some dried fish that the villagers had dried themselves.
Xiao Liulang took out the dried fish.
"What's this?" A package of strange-smelling powder fell out from under the fish.
"It's a powder made by grinding dried flowers. It was given by an aunt of the village, saying it can be used as rouge."
The aunt was the wife of Uncle Zhang. She had Uncle Zhang give it to him when she found out he was married.
Of course, it wasn’t as good as the rouge from the cosmetics store, but it was a small token of kindness from the villagers, so he accepted it.
Yao Shi said, "JiaoJiao doesn't need it now."
What Yao Shi meant was that Gu Jiao had gecko cinnabar on her face at the moment and didn't care about putting on makeup whatsoever. Perhaps, in the future when the gecko cinnabar disappeared, she would start to pay attention to such things.
But Xiao Liulang misunderstood and thought Yao Shi was saying that Gu Jiao was ugly. He said, "She looks good even without this."
Yao Shi was taken aback.
Was her son-in-law praising her daughter's appearance?
Although she also thought her daughter was beautiful, as JiaoJiao's mother, of course, she would think her daughter was beautiful no matter what.
Xiao Liulang's serious expression made Yao Shi laugh.
Although the couple had been living in separate rooms, they had never denied having consummated their marriage.
In upper-class families, husbands and wives lived in separate courtyards. In scholarly families, married couples also often lived separately to avoid disturbing the husband's studies. If it weren't for the "birthmark" on Gu Jiao’s face, no one would have suspected anything between the young couple.
Yao Shi had intended to continue pretending not to know, but now that it was brought up, she felt it was okay to tell her son-in-law.
At least, his serious defense of JiaoJiao's appearance showed that he didn't mind her “flawed” looks.
He treated JiaoJiao sincerely, so what was wrong with telling him the truth?
"Actually..." Yao Shi cleared her throat and, suppressing her embarrassment, said, "That thing on JiaoJiao’s face isn’t a birthmark... It's gecko cinnabar."
Bang!
A figure fell from the courtyard wall!
Thump!
Someone stumbled at the door and hit it with a thud.
The former was Gu Chengfeng, and the latter was Gu Changqing.
And that wasn’t the end.
There was a click at the door, followed by a clanging sound... Empress Dowager Zhuang's copper candy fruit jar slipped out of her hand and fell to the ground.
Old Chief, who was standing by the newly opened small entrance between the two families' courtyards, was caught in a dilemma—— he had come to give Zhuang Jinse some brown sugar rice cakes. How did he end up hearing all this?
Yao Shi was so startled by the sudden commotion that she stood up from her chair.
There was clearly no one else around just now. How could so many people appear out of nowhere after she said that sentence?
They didn't come before, but now they were coming all at once. Was this agreed upon?
Furthermore, while Gu Changqing and the elderly lady showing up here made sense, with one coming to see the twins and the other to play cards, what was Gu Chengfeng doing climbing over their wall?
Yao Shi was so shocked that she couldn't even utter a word.
It was unknown who was the most embarrassed among the five people on the scene. Was it the four people who accidentally heard this huge secret, or was it Xiao Liulang, who was caught up in the vortex of secret? Anyway, the five people had different expressions and didn't speak for a long time.
The atmosphere became increasingly awkward.
Finally, Gu Chengfeng couldn't hold back a sneeze, which broke the eerie silence in the courtyard.
"Um... Gu..." Empress Dowager Zhuang wanted to call Gu Changqing but couldn't remember his name for a moment. Her mind was filled with the fact that this guy had won her money before and that made her angry!
Gu Changqing came back to his senses, turned around, and saluted Empress Dowager Zhuang who was dressed as the elderly lady. He didn't call her Empress Dowager, as she was traveling incognito and her identity might be overheard by others.
"Hmm?" Empress Dowager Zhuang made a gesture towards the candied fruit jar on the ground.
Gu Changqing understood and picked up the jar from the ground. Luckily, it was made of copper and didn't break when it fell.
Empress Dowager Zhuang hugged her beloved candied fruit jar and entered the courtyard with a complex expression.
How could she not feel complex?
She had been waiting for her great-grandchild for so long, but it turned out there wasn't even a shadow of them!
Was it true that she wouldn’t be able to see her great-grandchild in this life? Her mental state collapsed!
Her complex and sorrowful gaze fell on Xiao Liulang... moving from his head down to a certain unspeakable place.
It wasn’t like they hadn't slept together before. Could it be they couldn’t…?
Raz P.'s Thoughts
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