Chapter 94.2: Slap in the Face
Chapter 94.2: Slap in the Face
The emperor, who didn’t know the truth, really thought that the FIfth Prince was smarter than the other princes.
The emperor’s doting on Imperial Concubine Shu wasn’t unrelated to how he attached importance to the Fifth Prince. And this was the reason why Imperial Concubine Shu especially valued Gu Jinyu.
The question this time was written by His Majesty himself, which said to stump all the princes.
Everyone in the State of Zhao knew that his Majesty didn’t like poetry, songs and eight-part essays. Instead, he loved to study arithmetic and astronomy.
In the letter, Imperial Concubine Shu repeatedly told Gu Jinyu that she must help the Fifth Prince solve the question, and she must give her the answer as soon as possible.
Whoever could work out this problem ahead of others would certainly please His Majesty.
Gu Jinyu carried the letter with the question with her every day, and tried answering it as long as she was free.
But His Majesty’s question was simply too difficult. She racked her brains for many days now but only managed to solve half of it.
Even so, just that half already took a huge amount of calculation to get. And yet today, she lost the results that she worked so hard for so long.
Gu Jinyu’s heart felt stifled.
Answering it all over again from the start would probably drive her crazy.
Gu Jinyu pressed her chest and said, “Could I have dropped it in the village? I was kneeling there just now to burn paper money. Maybe that’s when it fell out of my sleeve pocket.”
……
Little Jing Kong, holding JiaoJiao’s hand, hopped all the way home.
When they got home, Gu Jiao went to cook while Little Jing Kong went out the yard, intending to feed the baby chicks, shovel their manure while he was at it, and tidy up the cages.
But just before he started, he found something.
“Yi?” He looked down at something stuck on his heel, blinked strangely, and bent over to pick it up.
It turned out to be a small folded envelope.
There was no name on the envelope.
He opened the envelope and took out the letter inside.
There was still no name or signature on the letter, just a large white piece of paper filled with numbers.
“This seems to be a question.” Little Jing Kong showed a little blank expression.
This was a part he hadn’t studied yet, so he didn’t know what to do.
More importantly, why did it appear at his feet?
He was absolutely sure that his shoes were clean before going out.
“Did… our parents gave it to me?”
The more Little Jing Kong thought about it, the more he felt that it was likely it. Their parents must have heard his prayer and then responded to him!
After pondering on the same spot for a moment, he put the letter in his pocket, ran into the kitchen, crouched down and looked around the soles of Gu Jiao’s shoes.
Gu Jiao, who was confused by his actions, asked, “What are you looking for?”
Little Jing Kong shook his head like a rattle and replied, “Nothing! Nothing!”
Their parents didn’t leave a message for JiaoJiao, only for him.
Because JiaoJiao didn’t talk to their parents just now, it was just him who did.
This thought flashed in his head, and Little Jing Kong became more and more convinced that this letter was written to him by their parents from heaven!
However, because he didn’t explain his learning level to their parents, their parents overestimated the scope of his abilities.
In order not to disappoint their parents, Little Jing Kong decided to ask for foreign aid.
Little Jing Kong returned to the kitchen again with a pen and paper, asking, “JiaoJiao, JiaoJiao, I can’t do this problem!”
When Little Jing Kong went down the mountain, he brought a lot of Buddhist scriptures and some strange questions with him that were said to have been given by his master, some of which were half done by his master, and some of which his master didn’t touch at all.
So Gu Jiao didn’t think much about the current question that Jing Kong showed her, and only thought it was another question left by his master.
The crispy meat was being fried in the pan. The oil temperature was just right, so that it wouldn’t become neither too tender nor too fried.
Gu Jiao took the time to solve the question for Jing Kong while also frying some crispy meat in the pan until it was golden. The whole process took less than a minute.
Little Jing Kong then went back alone to the grave of Gu Sanlang and Xu shi with the solved question.
Little Jing Kong was an honest child, and he didn’t hide that he asked Gu Jiao for help.
At the same time, he also recited the Buddhist scriptures he had learned to Gu Sanlang and Xu shi, hoping that they would get questions from these Buddhist scriptures when they give him a problem next time.
“Dear parents, have a good rest, I will go home first! I’ll come and see you again another day!”
Little Jing Kong put the piece of paper containing the solved question in front of the grave. In order to prevent it from being blown away by the wind, he specially found a small stone to press on top of it!
On the other hand, Gu Jinyu and her party came to the village again.
“Young miss, wait in the carriage, let us servants look for it.” Said the wet nurse to Gu Jinyu.
Gu Jinyu was a precious Marquis Estate’s daughter, so it was best not to appear frequently in this kind of lowly place.
Gu Jinyu gazed at her and thought for a while, but didn’t refuse.
The wet nurse, servant girl and Huang Zhong searched along the road.
“You guys searched this way. Liu’er and I will go to the grave and have a look.” After the wet nurse said that, she took the servant girl to the grave of Gu Sanlang and Xu shi.
The servant girl suddenly pointed to a stone on the ground and said, “Wet nurse! Look! There is something under the stone!”
The wet nurse’s eyes lit up, she stepped forward to remove the small stone, only to find that there was only a pile of burnt ashes and a piece of paper that hadn’t burned up completely.
——Right, on the way back, Little Jing Kong suddenly remembered one thing, that was, the paper money had to be burned first before their parents in heaven could receive it, so the same should go for the paper with the answer to the question!
Hence, he turned back and got a fire to burn the paper with the answered question!
That way, their parents in heaven could receive it!
“I’m such a smart boy!”
******
Little Jing Kong: Praise me, praise me, praise me!