The Grand Secretary’s Pampered Wife

Chapter 99.2: Truth

Suddenly, an idea flashed in Marquis Gu’s head. He grabbed the portrait on the table and said to Yao shi, “Well, it took her years of suffering for us to show up. It mustn’t be so easy for her to accept us in her heart. Going like this will likely scare her! Let Yan’er persuade her for a few days first! If you really miss her, you can just look at her portrait in the meantime!”

“What you say also has some truths.” Yao shi really missed her daughter. The very reason why her portrait was on the table was that she couldn’t get enough of looking at it day and night.

As Yao shi’s eyes rested on her daughter’s portrait, her face softened.

“Lord Marquis.” Yao shi suddenly asked, “What do you think the red mark on JiaoJiao’s face is? Is it from a disease?”

She wanted to ask this a long time ago, but she and Gu Jiao were just strangers before, so it wasn’t convenient to ask. Later, although they got to know each other a bit, she never got to ask either.

Marquis Gu replied, “It’s not from a disease. The family said she was born with it. She has had it since coming back from the temple. When she was still a baby, it wasn’t so obvious, but the birthmark gets bigger and longer as she grows up.”

“No.” Yao shi frowned and shook her head, saying, “I took a look at my daughter right after she was born. Her appearance was no different from ordinary babies. If there is a birthmark, I wouldn’t forget it.”

Marquis Gu widened his eyes as he said, “Did I make a mistake again somehow!?”

Could it be that girl wasn’t actually his flesh and blood with Yao shi?

“JiaoJiao is my daughter, I’m sure of it, but I don’t understand why her face is like this now.”

The midwife had already passed away, and people around her that time had long retired to their hometown, and she really had no idea where exactly to find them.

Yao shi pondered for a moment, and a flash of hope came to her mind, “No, there’s another person who has seen JiaoJiao.”

“Who?”

“The abbot.”  

Thus, the two immediately set off for the temple.

After listening to the reason for their visit, the abbot didn’t feel well, “What did the two benefactors say? Mixed-up? The girl with the birthmark on her face is the real daughter of the Marquis Estate?”

There was a hint of urgency in Yao shi’s warm voice as she said, “Yes, the abbot should have seen her. She came to see you in the temple twice.”

If the abbot couldn’t guess who that person was, it wouldn’t make sense.

So that vague memory was really not just his drunken dream? He really put a big mark of gecko cinnabar on a baby’s face with his trembling hands that night?

“Amitabha … I’ve sin, I’ve sin!”

The abbot shamefully explained the incident.

In the State of Zhao, when the daughters of big families were born, the midwife was the one to mark the baby with gecko cinnabar. The servants around Yao shi at that time told the midwife the same.

However, that kind of practice wasn’t done in the countryside. The midwife from the countryside simply didn’t have that skill, but she also couldn’t say that she didn’t know how to do it. Afraid of not getting the money, she went to look for the abbot.

If the abbot had been sober back then, he wouldn’t have agreed, but he was tricked into drinking a sip of pear blossom wine by his misfit of a junior brother disciple.

A single sip was enough to get him very drunk.

He told the midwife that he had never marked a baby with gecko cinnabar.

The midwife replied, “But don’t you give the monks in the temple a ring scar[1]? Aren’t they almost the same?”

The drunk abbot felt that what the midwife said made sense!

So off he went.

And his hand shook.

After that, he seemed to want to look for his junior brother, but he fell to the ground halfway and fell asleep.

He slept for three days and three nights. When he woke up, the first thing he did was go to find Yao shi to make amends. As a result, he saw Yao shi holding a baby girl whose face was flawless and clean. Just where was the slightest trace of gecko cinnabar?

As for the midwife, she had already descended the mountain when he woke up, and then he never met her again.

“… This humble monk always thought that it was just a dream.”

Marquis Gu asked, “What about Xu shi? Didn’t she find the mark on the child’s face suspicious?”

The abbot said, “Benefactor Xu was in a coma after giving birth and didn’t wake up until the next day. This humble monk dared to guess that when she first saw her child, the children had been switched already.”

Because Xu shi was unconscious and unable to take care of her baby, the midwife put the two children in the same room. Gu Jiao was born first, and Gu Jinyu was born next.

Gu Yan was born a bit later.

The two baby girls both used the swaddling clothes from Yao shi’s side, so at first glance, it was really confusing.

The midwife was keeping an eye on them, but because of a sudden abdominal pain, she went to the latrine. By the time she came back, the gecko cinnabar had been painted wrongly.

Although it was no longer possible to get any confirmation from the midwife, it wasn’t difficult for Yao shi and Marquis Gu to guess the situation at that time.

Seeing that the gecko cinnabar was on the child’s face, the midwife knew that some big mistake had occurred, so she made excuses and went down the mountain overnight.

When the servants of the Marquis Estate came to get the baby, they saw a red birthmark on Gu Jiao’s face, and knowing that there was nothing on their young miss’ face, they naturally took Xu shi’s child instead.

Afterwards, Yao shi noticed that her little baby girl didn’t have a gecko cinnabar mark on her arm, but she just thought that they didn’t ask the midwife to put it on her. After returning to the capital, she then asked someone to put a gecko cinnabar mark on Gu Jinyu.

This should be the whole story.

After the couple left, the abbot couldn’t calm down for a long time.

He went to his junior brother’s living quarters with a cold face and found a monk who was lying under the tree, basking in the sun, without a care for his image. He said indignantly, “…Do you know that you caused me to commit a big mistake?!”

The monk took down the Buddhist scriptures in his face, revealing a handsome and bewitching face.

His pair of peach blossom eyes sparkle in the sun like a pool of spring water.

He had himself propped up on the stone bench and on his upper face was a silver mask.

Not many people had seen his true appearance. His senior brother abbot counted as one, and so did the little girl in the forest that day.

He spread out his other hand innocently, and said with a smile, “How can you blame this on me? How could I have known that the first wine I brewed would be so strong?”

The abbot was furious, “You’re still denying it! You lied to me and said that it wasn’t wine!”

The monk sighed and said, “How old was I back then? I’m still a little child, senior brother. Isn’t it because you aren’t smart enough that you were fooled by a child? What’s more, I didn’t mean that to happen. I really wasn’t sure if I’ve succeeded in brewing wine, but as a child, I can’t drink alcohol, so I can only ask my senior brother to try it.”

The abbot completely blew his top, “Honestly, were you asking me to try a wine or a poison?!”

The monk said innocently, “Hey, senior brother, even if you see through it, you shouldn’t say anything and save people some face.”

The abbot was extremely furious with him, “Also, which twelve-year-old still calls themselves a little child? It’s indeed because of you that Jing Kong can torment people so much!”

When Jing Kong was mentioned, the monk fell silent for a few seconds, as though he couldn’t refute the fact that Little Jing Kong was particularly troublesome.

As a matter of fact, this junior brother disciple was a genius when he was young. He always liked to tinker with some strange gadgets. No one had ever taught him. He would always go down the mountain to look for something, and then came back to tinker with it alone.

That wine wasn’t the most terrible thing. Once, he experimented on some insect repellent powder, and made it into an arsenic, which poisoned the monks in the whole temple.

He almost died himself.

The abbot asked him this more than once: How exactly did you grow up?

The monk hooked up his lips and smiled, “Well, I might have tricked the abbot once, but you also sold my disciple. We’re even!”

The abbot said, “Aren’t you the happiest one that Jing Kong is no longer here? How can this make us even?”

He spread out his hand and sighed faintly, “Senior brother, I already told you about giving people face. Besides, how can I really be that happy? I’m just a bit happy, the rest are sad.”

The abbot gave him a cold look, saying, “Oh, is that so? Then this old man is going to get Jing Kong back!”

The monk hurriedly stood up and said, “No, please don’t!”

……

After Yao shi and Marquis Gu went down the mountain, Yao shi asked the coachman to drive the carriage to Qingquan Village and sent things to her two children, including Gu Yan’s clothes and dresses for Gu Jiao which Yao shi selected herself.

Gu Yan thought they were here to take him back to the villa, and nothing they said persuaded him to come out of his room.

Yao shi had no choice but to hand over all his clothes to Gu Jiao.

Little Jing Kong went to school so no one was here to stop Marquis Gu. But who knew he would be blocked by some little chicks at the door!

Chirping, several little chicks jumped towards the threshold and lined up in a row, unexpectedly setting up a blockage!

Several little chicks kept their eyes on him and pecked him as soon as he approached!

Marquis Gu wanted to kick them away, but as soon as he lifted his foot, several little chicks began to chirp noisily!

Yao shi looked at him.

He retracted his foot, straightened his back and smiled at her!

Marquis Gu: Who knew this Marquis would lose to several little chicks one day!