The Prime Minister's Darling
Chapter 1105 - 1105 532 Slap in the Face (First Update)_3

Chapter 1105: 532 Slap in the Face (First Update)_3 Chapter 1105: 532 Slap in the Face (First Update)_3 She didn’t go on New Year’s Eve, but when she went on the first day of the Lunar New Year, Liu Yisheng was not there, nor were Anu and the elderly nanny.

Gu Jiao knocked on the door of the Liu family mansion once again.

To her surprise, there was still no response.

“No one again? Did they go out, or has it been empty these days?”

Gu Jiao listened quietly for any movement inside. With Liu Yisheng’s special identity, too many in Capital City wanted to bully him. Gu Jiao wasn’t sure if something had happened to him. She grabbed a tree trunk with her left hand and pulled herself over the wall with a strong tug.

The courtyard was covered with snow, with no strange footprints.

The courtyard door was bolted from the inside, not locked from the outside, but if one passed through the hall to the back door, they would find that the back door was locked from the outside.

So they really had gone out.

A layer of dust had settled inside the house, yet there were no signs of a struggle.

Gu Jiao ruled out the possibility that Liu Yisheng had been abducted.

After some consideration, Gu Jiao still took out her notebook and left a note for him, asking him to find her at the Medical Hall when he returned, as she had something for him.

After leaving Liu Yisheng’s mansion, Gu Jiao made another visit to the Qinghuan Chess Club.

She wasn’t there to play chess; rather, she wanted to see if she could encounter the figure of the old beggar nearby.

She had left in a hurry and had not bid farewell to the old beggar, wondering how he had been recently.

She searched the streets where the old beggar used to frequent, but didn’t come across him.

Suddenly, a scholar came out from the opposite Qinghuan Chess Club, and she stopped him, “Excuse me, brother, have you seen the old beggar who sets up chess games across the street?”

Gu Jiao was accustomed to dressing as a man while living near the frontier, and she had dressed that way today as well.

Having spent three months with Gu Chengfeng, she had learned some techniques to disguise her voice. It wasn’t particularly melodious, but her youthful voice was just about good enough to fool the uninitiated.

The scholar, being educated and reasonable, was not frightened by the youthful face and spoke kindly, “Oh, you’re talking about that person, he left!”

“Left?” Gu Jiao was slightly startled.

“Yes, I haven’t seen him in over two months! If he didn’t leave, then what? Ah, maybe…” The scholar covered his mouth, probably realizing it was unlucky to speak of such things during the Lunar New Year, and skipped the next few words, simply saying, “He’s old, and this year Capital City had such heavy snow, you understand.”

“Hmm.”

Gu Jiao understood.

In the freezing cold, an old beggar with no one to rely on could very well freeze to death on the streets during a bitterly cold night.

This was the scholar’s speculation.

Not Gu Jiao’s.

The old beggar knew how to make silver, he wouldn’t starve nor freeze to death.

Of course, she didn’t rule out the possibility of foul play or an accident.

“Surely he hasn’t been that unlucky?”

Gu Jiao murmured.

“What did you say?” the scholar asked.

Gu Jiao replied, “Nothing, thank you, I’ll take my leave.”

“Hey—” The scholar couldn’t stop Gu Jiao and scratched his head in confusion. “Really strange, to inquire about a beggar’s whereabouts during the Lunar New Year? Come to think of it, that beggar seemed really good at chess, even beating Mao Shan, a devotee from the Qinghuan Chess Club.”

“Tch, what’s that to me?”

The scholar shook his head, wrapped himself tighter in his cotton coat, and crossed the street, sealed by the heavy snow.

…

Coincidences in this world are so peculiar; when they occur, they happen together, as if by some arrangement.

Gu Jiao walked unhurriedly on the quiet streets. Capital City was the most bustling and busy place in the whole of Zhan Country, yet the streets during New Year were still deserted.

Only every now and then would a carriage or two pass by Gu Jiao.

Gu Jiao didn’t pay much attention and kept her head down as she walked on.

However, when passing a small alley, noises came from the other end, quite raucous ones.

Gu Jiao looked more closely and saw it was coming from the direction of the Xianle Inn.

Gu Jiao was not very familiar with Xianle Inn, having only gone there a few times to investigate some matters.

It was very likely that the late Empress Dowager Jing was the owner of Xianle Inn, and since her death, Gu Jiao had stopped keeping an eye on it.

But what could have possibly happened at Xianle Inn?

Gu Jiao paused, then decided to head towards Xianle Inn after all.