Chapter 129.2: Brothers
Chapter 129.2: Brothers
Gu Yan, who was almost out of strength, was easily carried down. Gu Yan was so light that Gu Changqing could hardly feel the weight of the person in his arm.
Gu Yan felt his head spinning, completely had no clue what just happened. When he returned to his senses, his feet were already touching the ground.
“Hm?” He blinked oddly and looked at the tall and mighty man in front of him. He was momentarily stunned. “You, you are?”
Little Jing Kong explained, “He’s big brother! Big brother saved me last time, and then gave me a bird!”
“Oh.” That ferocious little falcon was from this big guy!
“Big brother Yan, what happened to your face?” Little Jing Kong asked.
“What?” Gu Yan subconsciously touched his face and quickly felt something wrong upon touching it.
Little Jing Kong took out a small mahogany bronze mirror from his pocket and put it in front of Gu Yan, saying, “See for yourself!”
Gu Yan looked at the red and swollen face covered with rash in the mirror and almost fainted on the spot!
“My, my, my face, how could it be like this!?”
He was doomed! He was doomed ah! His extreme good looks were no more!
“It may have been bitten by a bug in the tree. You have to see a physician quickly.” Gu Changqing said, then remembering that the little girl was a physician, he urged, “You should hurry back home.”
Gu Yan looked down at his swollen ankle and exclaimed, “My, my feet!”
Gu Changqing paused for a moment before saying, “I’ll take you back.”
“Ah?” Gu Yan froze.
Little Jing Kong nodded in agreement, saying, “Then many thanks, big brother! You send big brother Yan back first, and I’ll wait for big brother Xiaoshun here! Just in case he can’t find anyone after returning in a while!”
Gu Changqing looked at Little Jing Kong and asked, “Will you be fine by yourself?”
Little Jing Kong patted his chest and replied, “Of course! I’m very familiar with this place! I won’t get lost!”
“That’s good then.” Gu Changqing turned and mounted his horse, reaching out to Gu Yan.
Gu Yan stood still.
Gu Changqing simply grabbed Gu Yan up and seated him directly on the saddle in front of him, then he grabbed the reins with his hands as his arms confined Gu Yan.
Apart from Gu Jiao, Gu Yan hadn’t been in such close proximity to anyone else since he could remember.
But Gu Jiao was his sister. They were twins and were together even before they were born.
Gu Yan felt uncomfortable and wanted to go down, but he couldn’t utter the words in his mouth.
He didn’t know whether he was intimidated by the other party’s aura, or he was just really scared by the condition of his feet and face.
In any case, Gu Yan sat obediently on the saddle like a frightened little quail, trying to distance himself from Gu Changqing as much as possible. However, the saddle was only so big that Gu Yan’s back would hit Gu Changqing’s chest from time to time.
Gu Yan gasped in pain and muttered, “Is it made of iron or what? Why is it so hard?”
The journey wasn’t long and soon they arrived at home. Gu Changqing first dismounted, then he looked at Gu Yan, who had a bitter look on his face, and asked, “Can you get down on your own?”
Gu Yan quickly covered his pig face with his sleeve.
Looking so ugly like this, he truly lost a lot of face!
“Turn around and I’ll get down myself!” He said.
Gu Changqing didn’t move and merely remained looking at Gu Yan coldly.
Gu Yan blew his top from his gaze, poking out half of his head from behind the sleeve and saying, “I told you to turn around!”
Gu Changqing directly extended his hands and picked him down from the horse.
Gu Changqing: If this silly boy can get down on his own, then he could write his name upside down!
Gu Yan growled inside: Ah! Even my own brothers have never held me like this! Put me down!
Gu Changqing carried him into the yard and put him on the rattan chair.
Gu Yan was so incensed that one could almost see a smoke coming out of his head.
If it was before, no matter how angry he was, he still looked good. Today, however, his face was swollen into a pig’s head; now adding the imaginary smoke on his head, he simply looked like a roasted pig’s head.
And it also came with a death gaze!
Even the unsmiling Gu Changqing couldn’t help smiling.
Gu Yan, who could neither beat him up nor scold him, simply cast him a sharp glare!
Gu Changqing suddenly narrowed his eyes, and with a hint of teasing, flicked his finger across Gu Yan’s forehead.
Gu Yan, who resembled a fidgety baby, was flicked on the forehead out of nowhere!
Baby Gu was stupefied!
Gu Changqing laughed directly this time.
If people in the military camp saw this scene, they would instantly pee their pants in fright. Gu Changqing, who was known as the Iron-faced Yama, also knew how to tease children? And also make himself laugh?
There was this saying circulating in the military camp: When Yama smiles, his palace in hell opens up.
Gu Changqing would only smile when he was killing people, and those who had seen him smile had long ceased to exist in this world.
Gu Yan walked away with a humph, leaving behind Gu Changqing!
Gu Changqing went back to the orchard and saw Little Jing Kong with another 13-or 14-year-old boy, who must be his big brother Xiaoshun.
Gu Changqing didn’t show himself to them and simply galloped to the military camp.
……
In the blink of an eye, it was the day of the entrance exam of the Imperial Academy’s elementary division.
In fact, the entrance exam for the elementary division was supposed to be on the same day as the Imperial Academy’s exam, but for various reasons, the entrance exam of the private elementary school was moved ahead by two days, that was, on the 25th day.
There were a total of two exams, one for arithmetic and one for poetry. It sounded simple, but the questions, apart from having a high difficulty, were also huge in number.
Xiao Liulang and Gu Jiao sent Little Jing Kong to the examination room.
“Don’t be nervous.” Xiao Liulang said to the little guy.
Little Jing Kong raised his chin and said, “I’m not you, I won’t be nervous!”
Gu Jiao crouched down and checked his small book bag again. She advised, “Just like how you did your homework at home these days, make sure you write neatly. Also, you don’t have to be in a hurry.”
The reason why she deliberately emphasized this was due to Little Jing Kong’s only shortcoming, which was he wrote too slow. Gu Jiao was worried that once he saw the huge number of questions, he would grow anxious.
Little Jing Kong patted his chest and said, “Don’t worry, JiaoJiao! My handwriting is very nice and very quick now!”
Xiao Liulang looked at his little cocky appearance and said with a chuckle, “You’re so confident, then what rank do you think you will get in this exam?”
Little Jing Kong answered firmly, “I’ll definitely get the first place in the exam!”
Most of the children who came to take the exam were six to eight years old. Little Jing Kong was the youngest one amongst them. If it hadn’t been for the high exam fee which was one tael of silver, Gu Jiao suspected that they would never allow such a young child to take the exam.
Little Jing Kong took his examinee number and found his seat.
He was the youngest examinee, yes, but also the most calm and leisurely one.
The exam of the private elementary school wasn’t done in examination cells, but in a large classroom where dozens of children sat with a large distance from each other.
As soon as the bell rang, the exam supervisors in each examination room began to distribute the exam papers.
Little Jing Kong felt no pressure filling in the first few pages, but when he reached the last three pages, he was stumped.
What were these bizarre undecipherable characters?
Written on the paper were instructions to write down one ballad song of the State of Qing, two five-character eight-line poems of the State of Chen, and three seven-character quatrains of the State of Zhao. All these instructions were written in the respective languages of each state.
Gu Jiao and Xiao Liulang, who were outside the examination room, felt guilty upon hearing that the exam this year actually included a foreign language test!
They made a mistake. They forgot to give Little Jing Kong lessons in foreign language!