Chapter 113.1: Recognizing Each Other
Chapter 113.1: Recognizing Each Other
Gu Jiao exited the room and looked at the jar tightly held in the elderly woman’s arms, “Grandaunt, I told you you can only eat three pieces a day.”
“I only ate three pieces!” Said the elderly woman, who was reluctant to admit her wrongs.
Gu Jiao pointed to the jar and stated, “But there are obviously six pieces missing in this jar.”
“He ate it!” The elderly woman dragged Gu Xiaoshun into the muddy water without a second thought.
Gu Xiaoshun, who was chopping firewood at present, had a dumbfounded look on his face. What on earth? What did he eat now?
Gu Jiao brutally confiscated the elderly woman’s candied fruits and searched her room for her long-stashed preserves.
The elderly woman’s face went green.
Hearing the very familiar voice, An Junwang’s heart couldn’t help but tighten.
….Was it really the Empress Dowager?
A pity that he couldn’t see right now.
But it didn’t matter. At dawn, his eyes would be able to see again.
When Gu Jiao was done confiscating the elderly woman’s candied fruits, she turned her head and saw An Junwang fumbling out of the room before standing at the door, looking this way.
What are you looking at? You can’t see right now, okay.
Gu Jiao walked over and said faintly, “Where does An Junwang stay at present? I’ll have someone take you back in a while.”
Gu Yan’s dark guards were hiding in the dark, she could let them do that for her.
An Junwang, who had made up his mind to stay, said in a low voice, “I feel a little dizzy. Can I spend the night at Young Miss Gu’s house?”
Gu Jiao suddenly narrowed her eyes slightly. Was this guy pulling an act?
“I’m afraid there’s no spare room in my house.”
An Junwang was about to say “It doesn’t matter, I can squeeze with others”, but before he could speak, he was interrupted by another familiar voice.
“An Junwang?”
It was none other than Marquis Gu, whom he hadn’t seen for a couple of days.
Marquis Gu was here to find Gu Jiao. He thought hard about the last time. The domineering Young Miss Zhuang indeed deserved a beating, but what did Jinyu do wrong? Why did that girl slap Jinyu too?
He hesitated for several days, and finally decided to come to the village and talk to her about not bullying Jinyu in the future!
Whether she returned to the Marquis Estate or not, she shouldn’t take her anger out on Jinyu just because she didn’t like Jinyu!
The door was open, so he just invited himself in directly.
Unexpectedly, he had just walked into the main room when he saw An Junwang, who he hadn’t seen all day. Didn’t they say he was taking a stroll around the town? Buying some osmanthus cakes from Li Ji for Young Miss Zhuang by the way?
How did he end up in his daughter’s house?
Was he here to question the girl too?
Marquis Gu took three steps forward and found that An Junwang seemed to be injured. There was a bandage wrapped around his head and his eyes were also covered with cloth.
A terrible thought immediately flashed through his mind: Did that girl beat An Junwang as well?
Oh, Heavens, what kind of devil incarnate did he bring about to this world?
Marquis Gu cupped his hands in salute, bowing so much that he almost broke his waist, “Junwang… My daughter is ill-mannered. I hope Junwang can forgive her!”
An Junwang gave him a puzzled look, “Marquis doesn’t think that my injury was caused by your precious daughter, does he?”
“Hm?” Marquis Gu was stunned, wasn’t that the case?
An Junwang gently raised the corners of his lips and said, “It was my own carelessness… In fact, I should be thanking your precious daughter for treating my injury.”
“Ah?” Marquis Gu was dumbfounded.
An Junwang said probingly, “I didn’t expect your precious daughter to be proficient in the art of medicine.”
Marquis Gu, however, didn’t take it seriously. He said awkwardly, “An Junwang has praised too much. She worked as a medicine girl in the medical hall in town for a few days. She isn’t proficient or anything in the art of medicine, she just knew some of the basics! In my opinion, it’d be better for An Junwang to go back to the villa quickly, so the physicians of the villa can treat you more thoroughly!”
Marquis Gu’s reason for saying this was that, on the one hand, he was really worried about An Junwang’s injury; on the other hand, he still thought that An Junwang was here to mete out punishment to Gu Jiao.
Even if he didn’t like Gu Jiao, Gu Jiao was still his flesh and blood with Yao shi. He couldn’t really let her get punished by An Junwang.
He had to coax An Junwang away quickly.
An Junwang tried to repeat the same trick just now, saying that he was too dizzy and couldn’t afford to travel with this condition. But Marquis Gu said that he brought the best carriage of the Marquis Estate and he could ensure that he wouldn’t feel the slightest jolt on the way!
Marquis Gu was so determined that An Junwang failed to outspeak him in the end. An Junwang got into the carriage and traveled back to the villa with a look of unwillingness.
Marquis Gu heaved a sigh of relief!
However, because of this, An Junwang couldn’t help but harbor some questions in his heart.
Why did Marquis Gu insist on taking him back to the villa? Was he worried that he would find something in his daughter’s house?
Why was his daughter living in the countryside? Was it to hide the Empress Dowager?
Marquis Gu didn’t know that his momentary actions had filled An Junwang’s head with so much suspicion. After returning to the villa, in order to calm An Junwang’s anger, Marquis Gu sent him a lot of precious antique calligraphy and painting, which truly made his flesh hurt a lot!
But this only made An Junwang more and more suspicious of Marquis Gu.
Marquis Gu was Imperial Concubine Shu’s elder brother, and Imperial Concubine Shu was one of His Majesty’s people.
Marquis Gu had never stayed in the villa for so long in previous years. Could it be that his trip here this year had something to do with the Empress Dowager’s matter?
More and more clues had been pieced together to spell out a “reasonable” truth.
An Junwang summoned the man in black to the room.
After listening to An Junwang’s inference, the man in black asked inexplicably, “But if she is really the Empress Dowager, why did she not recognize Junwang? According to Junwang, she didn’t see who you were when she knocked you out, but she should have seen you clearly after you fainted.”
An Junwang said thoughtfully, “This prince also knows this, so we have to confirm again. I’ve already been there, and it’ll be suspicious if I pay a visit once more. You go there tomorrow instead, and say… You’re there to apologize for the two misunderstandings and I hope that both families will put aside their differences. I also hope that she will not mention my sister’s act of bullying to anyone when she arrives in the capital, so as not to ruin my sister’s reputation.”
Man in black: “Understood.”
An Junwang: “You must meet the Empress Dowager and tell her about the situation in the capital no matter what.”
The man in black cupped his fist and replied, “This subordinate obeys!”
“But…” The man in black frowned and said, “What will Junwang do if the other party is really the Empress Dowager?”
The look on An Junwang’s face grew cold as he said, “What else? Of course, I’m going to bring her back to the capital. We can’t let her fall into anyone’s hands. Whether it’s His Majesty or someone else.”
The man in black hesitated for a moment before speaking again, “I’m afraid it’s not safe in the capital right now. How the Empress Dowager contracted leprosy in the first place is still a mystery. His Majesty concealed the illness of the Empress Dowager and declared that she was recovering from a sudden and severe illness in the palace. By taking the Empress Dowager back, aren’t we telling His Majesty that we know everything? And also, we were to bring the Empress Dowager back in secret! Wouldn’t His Majesty think that we are disloyal to the Monarch?”