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In the east room, with Gu Yan and Gu Xiaoshun's vivid explanations and gestures—Gu Yan mainly explained while Gu Xiaoshun mainly gestured—Gu Jiao finally understood the whole story of the incident.
Regarding Xiao Liulang's background, Gu Jiao knew a bit about it, but from the conversation between mother and son, it seemed that there was more to Xiao Liulang's background than met the eye, as well as the fire four years ago.
Gu Jiao felt that the arsonist probably wasn’t Ning Wang, at least not in the case of the fire that killed "Xiao Heng."
Princess Xinyang and Ning Wang both seemed to have considered setting a fire, but neither succeeded. The former had a change of heart and stopped in time, while the latter had been nipped in the bud by Princess Xinyang even before it happened.
So, who could it be?
Why would someone do this?
Xiao Heng was just a youth who kept to himself, and if ever he had drawn anyone's enmity, it was probably those who were jealous of his knowledge and talents or some individuals from the Zhuang Family. However, with the strength of Marquis Xuanping and Princess Xinyang, it was unlikely that anyone had the courage or capability to harm their son.
Imperial Academy, in particular, was the domain of Old Chief and Xiao Heng. Otherwise, how could Ning Wang's arson attempt have been discovered so promptly by Princess Xinyang?
Imperial Concubine Dowager Jing managed to poison Xiao Heng before, but that was because the palace was her domain. Furthermore, since then, Princess Xinyang and Marquis Xuanping had taken great measures to protect Xiao Heng, and ordinary enemies couldn't possibly touch him.
Therefore, this fire wasn't the work of ordinary enemies.
As for whether it was revenge against Marquis Xuanping or Princess Xinyang, Gu Jiao believed it was neither.
Based on Princess Xinyang's behavior in sending away Xiao Heng, the target of the attack was likely Xiao Heng himself.
The person or force in question posed a serious threat to Xiao Heng's safety, forcing Princess Xinyang to resort to this measure to ensure his survival.
And from Marquis Xuanping's repeated attempts to test Xiao Liulang, it was clear that Princess Xinyang had even kept this hidden from him.
Although there wasn't much trust between husband and wife, Xiao Heng was his biological son, and Marquis Xuanping's feelings for him were genuine. There was only one explanation for Princess Xinyang's actions—— the other party was a force that even the Marquis Xuanping Estate might find difficult to deal with.
Could it be a force from the neighboring country?
This continent was divided into six regions: the State of Yan, the State of Jin, and the State of Liang were considered upper nations, while the State of Qing, the State of Zhao, and the State of Chen were lower nations. Additionally, there were the Turkic people who weren’t recognized by the six nations.
Since Gu Jiao had only recently arrived here, the farthest place she had been to was the imperial capital, and she knew very little about the other nations. At the moment, she couldn't guess which nation was more likely to be the culprit.
However, Xiao Liulang had mentioned that his birth mother was a slave from the State of Yan.
Without any tokens or even a single word, Xiao Liulang's birth mother didn't leave behind anything that could trace her identity.
……
That evening, Princess Xinyang stayed for dinner.
"Actually, I can cook as well. I've had plenty of free time in Mount Fengdu these past years, so I learned a few signature vegetarian dishes from the chefs in the mansion."
She was a vegetarian, so she learned only vegetarian dishes.
She wanted to showcase her skills to her son and prepared a three-type cold salad with dressing, a steamed dish of sticky rice with jujubes, and a stir-fried dish of wild mushrooms.
The presentation was much better than what Xiao Liulang could make, and the colors were enticing, with an aroma that made mouths water.
Everyone couldn't wait to taste it, but as soon as they did, they all felt a shiver down their spines coming from their souls!
The heck!
This was just too terrible!
They finally knew where Xiao Liulang's terrible cooking skills came from!
Little Jing Kong and Long Yi couldn’t stand the taste that they rolled their eyes backwards and stuck out their tongues!
It was worth mentioning that Gu Jiao had given Long Yi a new mask, covering the upper half of his face, leaving his mouth and chin exposed, so he could eat anytime, anywhere.
Yu Jin also showed her cooking skills, and fortunately, her cooking was decent. They savored her delicious dishes, which helped ease the fear brought on by Princess Xinyang's culinary skills.
After the meal, Old Chief called Xiao Liulang... or rather, they should now call him Xiao Heng, into the adjacent room.
He returned late and was still unaware of how the mother and son had recognized each other so unexpectedly.
Princess Xinyang was led by Little Jing Kong to tour his small vegetable garden and introduce his little falcon and seven little chickens.
"This one is Little Five, this one is Little Six, this one is Little Seven, and this one is Little Nine." Little Jing Kong introduced each one, and Little Eight walked proudly over. He said, "This is Big Brother Yan’s Little Eight."
And then he bent down and stuck a bright red flower onto Little Eight.
Princess Xinyang thought of the peacock feather on Gu Jiao's mask and felt her eyelids twitch. What kind of aesthetics did these siblings have?
"Princess! This is for you!"
Little Jing Kong suddenly performed a magic trick and produced a flower, presenting it in a very gentlemanly manner to Princess Xinyang. "Only such a beautiful flower can match your beauty."
This little guy's mouth was really dripping with honey.
But why did this flower look somewhat familiar?
Did Long Yi sneak into her greenhouse again?
Picking flowers from Princess Xinyang's own garden to give to Princess Xinyang, it was really an unparalleled move.
Later, Little Jing Kong invited Princess Xinyang to his west room and showed off his schoolwork with an air of arrogance. Apart from his handwriting being not neat enough, there were hardly any mistakes.
The primary reason his handwriting wasn't neat was that he was still too young, lacking strength in his wrist and hand. Additionally, Gu Jiao didn't let him write too much to avoid affecting his growth.
He was truly a very intelligent child.
Xiao Heng came over from the neighboring room and saw Little Jing Kong showing off to Princess Xinyang in various ways.
He only acted like this towards people he liked. For those he didn't like, he remained aloof.
For example, whenever Gu Jinyu visited, he never paid any attention to her.
Of course, while Little Jing Kong was showing off, he didn't miss the opportunity to poke fun at his brother-in-law. Princess Xinyang couldn't help but stifle her laughter as she listened.
Then he heard Little Jing Kong say with a helpless tone, "Princess, believe it or not, my brother-in-law is already eighteen years old and still wets the bed! And he even blames it on me afterward! How can a grown-up be so irresponsible?"
It made Princess Xinyang almost burst into tears with laughter.
Xiao Heng's handsome face turned completely dark.
Little monk, you can't go a day without speaking ill of me, can you?
"Have you finished practicing the calligraphy of the State of Chen?"
"Have you memorized the ancient poems of the State of Liang?"
"Have you finished reading the State of Yan's Three-Character Classic?"
Little Jing Kong hummed and pursed his lips, "JiaoJiao said I can do them tomorrow."
Xiao Heng raised an eyebrow, "Oh, did you tell JiaoJiao what homework you have for tomorrow?"
In order to steal some leisure time today, Little Jing Kong cunningly concealed his tutorial tasks for tomorrow.
The little guy blinked guiltily.
In the end, the fear of being discovered by Gu Jiao and disappointing her took precedence.
Reluctantly, he bounced off his chair, tiptoed to pick up a book from the table, and went to his Granduncle's side to do his homework.
A smile lingered at the corner of Princess Xinyang's lips.
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