The Prime Minister's Darling
Chapter 747 - 747 345 Made a Move (Ten more updates)

Chapter 747: 345 Made a Move (Ten more updates) Chapter 747: 345 Made a Move (Ten more updates) Gu Jiao returned to Bishui Alley.

Xiao Jingkong finished school early that day, waiting at the door, looking out anxiously.

Upon seeing Gu Jiao, he dashing over excitedly: “Jiaojiao!”

“Mmm.” Gu Jiao took his chubby little hand and walked inside. He looked back over Gu Jiao’s shoulder with an expectant glance.

Gu Jiao paused a bit, and asked: “Are you waiting for your brother-in-law?”

Xiao Liulang was in the countryside. If things went quickly, he would return at the end of the month; if slower, it would be next month.

Xiao Jingkong, with his big eyes wide open, earnestly responded, “I… I… I’m not!”

Gu Jiao raised the corner of her lips, “Soon, your brother-in-law will be back.”

“Ah.” Xiao Jingkong sighed in a grown-up fashion. “I am worried he might not handle things well. It is his first time on an official mission, and I didn’t get a chance to give him advice.”

Gu Jiao chuckled.

Are all children’s conversations interesting like this?

Gu Jiao curiously asked, “What would you like to advise your brother-in-law about?”

Xiao Jingkong responded earnestly: “I need to remind him to cooperate with his colleagues, not to anger his superiors, and not to feel superior just because he’s a newly appointed scholar. He needs to endure hard work and can’t be as leisurely as he was at home!”

His advice was rather reasonable – who had he learnt this from?

Gu Jiao was amused and pinched his chubby cheek.

Kids are really amusing.

The two of them entered the house.

Gu Yan and Gu Xiaoshun had gone out to pursue their studies, and Yao Family’s lady was in the courtyard, sewing Gu Jinyu’s wedding dress.

Gu Jinyu’s wedding was scheduled for the end of the year, an unexpectedly rushed timeline. For an ordinary family, a standard wedding complete with proper rites could take half a year, and then another half to prepare for the big day and inform relatives.

But Gu Jinyu’s situation was unique—the Emperor had set her wedding date at the end of the year.

“Such a beautiful dress.” Xiao Jingkong touched the fabric lying on Prefect Yao’s lap. “Who is it for?”

“It’s for your elder sister Jinyu.” Prefect Yao replied.

Xiao Jingkong tilted his head in confusion, “Why are you making such a beautiful dress for her? Jiaojiao doesn’t have one.”

There was no malice in the child’s words, just innocent curiosity. He simply wondered why, when both were daughters of Prefect Yao, Jinyu would have such lavish clothing and Jiaojiao would not.

Shouldn’t Jiaojiao, being the elder sister, get one first?

His words left Prefect Yao speechless.

Indeed, when her Jiaojiao got married in the countryside, she didn’t have a proper wedding dress, no dragon and phoenix candles, no loving parents to see her off. She was married off, all on her lonesome.

More accurately, she was treated as an ill omen and chased out the door.

Both of them were forced into the situation and only became husband and wife in name, never consummating their marriage.

Thinking of this, Prefect Yao’s heart filled with remorse, and she had trouble continuing to sew the wedding dress.

“Come eat grapes.”

By the old well, Gu Jiao washed and offered a bunch of gleaming purple grapes.

Xiao Jingkong’s attention was quickly captured, and he rushed over. Crouching down, he picked the biggest, most lustrous grape and offered it to Gu Jiao: “Eat, Jiaojiao!”

“Alright.” Gu Jiao ate the grape he offered.

Afterwards, Xiao Jingkong plucked another for Prefect Yao, then he didn’t forget to offer a grape to Housemistress Fang, Yu Yaya and the elderly in the neighboring room.

In general, he was a child who could drive one mad with his antics, but when sensible, his actions melted hearts.

The venerable Elder, shaken from his reflections, did not have the mood to eat the grape that Xiao Jingkong enthusiastically offered him.

He was currently troubled over his script.

At the beginning of the month, he had submitted the manuscript for the third volume, chronicling the overthrow of the enemy dynasty by Yunting, the prince hostage, with the sixth princess sacrificing herself to save her own dynasty by becoming Yunting’s concubine.

General Fu returning from a mission found that his beloved was taken by Yunting. In fury, he requested to lead a northern expedition.

He pledged in front of the emperor to not return without rescuing the princess!

He led a hundred thousand soldiers to the Cangshui River for a life-and-death battle with Yunting.

When Yunting was held hostage in Xia Country, he had been graced by kindness from General Fu. Additionally, while General Fu was on his mission, he had received help from Yunting as well.

They should have become good brothers, but instead became adversaries all because of a feud over their countries and a woman.

The third volume ended here.

The fourth volume will be the final one. In this volume, General Fu will die under Yunting’s sword. His hundred thousand soldiers will be completely annihilated, but the deaths of General Fu and the Xia Country soldiers will awaken the sixth princess’s deep hatred towards Yunting.

Despite her deep love for Yunting, she eventually stabbed him to death with the dagger he personally gave her on their wedding night.

The tale ends in a downpour. The sixth princess walks barefoot out of the palace, clutching a blood-stained dagger.

She cackles insanely. Rain soaks her clothes, tightly outlining a two-month pregnant belly that even Yunting had not discovered.

She tilts her head back, looking up at the heavy rain.

Then her belly suddenly aches.

The story ends abruptly there.

Because the content of this volume was not long, the old Priest handed his manuscript early. The first three volumes sold exceedingly well. Once the manuscript was submitted, the Bookstore began printing overnight.

This book was appreciated both by the literati and the common folk. The formal expository essays, poems, song lyrics could easily match the prowess of the foremost writers. Any piece from it was equivalent to top-grade literary work.

Speculation had once risen that “Yunting Records” was ghostwritten by the newly crowned champion of the imperial examination, for their writing prowess and style were alike, only that the latter’s essays were more incisive.

Of course, some suspected that “Yunting Records” was written by the champion himself, but it was confirmed otherwise by inquiries at Hanlin Academy.

Anyway, the widespread audience and popularity of the book led to an explosion of requests for more content once the ending was released.

They had been promised “Yunting Records”; why did Yunting have to be killed off? The valiant and skilled General Fu also died.

General Fu spent his life in military service out of his love for the sixth princess, dying without ever expressing his feelings. This was tragic!

And the Sixth Princess was carrying Yunting’s child? Her belly ached — was the child saved or not?

The strong public reaction was terrifying — the bookstore was bombarded incessantly.

In the end, a youngster from somewhere published a follow-up book called “Yunting Postscriptum”. The short book merely a few pages long, managed to perfectly reverse the tragic ending.

It wrote that everything was just a dream of Yunting’s. Waking up, Yunting realized that the Sixth Princess was an ungrateful, evil woman who stabbed him in the back at a critical time. He decisively gave up the opportunity to save the Sixth Princess when they first met, kicked her away, and went off to enjoy life in the Jianghu with General Fu!

To hell with the life of a prince!

To hell with the evil-hearted white lotus!

I just want to wander the world with Little Fu!

After that, this postscript became popular.

Initially, it only circulated in small circles at poetry gatherings and tea meetings. Later, the bookstore that sold “Yunting Records” also started printing it, selling it to the talented men and women of Capital City.

The old priest was dumbfounded. What on earth was this? The penmanship was immature, sentence structure incoherent, vocabulary abstruse, and the narrative was all over the place. Is this even readable?!

The old Priest felt that this postscript was a complete insult to his work, and he decided to visit the bookstore to have the postscript removed.

He would not let others take advantage of his fame for free.

However, to his surprise, the bookstore owner told him, “Ah, it is you who are basking in their glory now.”

The postscript sold so well that many people who had not read the preface ran to buy “Yunting Records”, curious about the past melodrama involving the three characters.

The sixth princess was originally a pitiful and sympathable character. However, now she was being heavily criticized by those who read the postscript and then the preface, and even he, an author, was also heavily criticized together with her.

The old Priest frowned in annoyance.

Who wrote that postscript?

It’s too despicable!

In the end, the old Priest didn’t force the bookstore to put down the postscript, because the silver coins were tempting.

Making a fortune, the old Priest immediately bought a new carriage. The new carriage would be used by Jiaojiao and the others in the future. Gu Yan had his guards, so a coachman was not required.

He would make do with the old carriage himself. Anyway, he wasn’t picky. He earned the money in the first place to buy something for the children.

A small torrential rain at the end of June damaged an official road, trapping the government officials who were originally planned to return to Capital City in the village.

Marquis Gu had just fixed the drainage system in the capital and was then assigned by the Ministry of Works to repair the roads.

Recently, the quiet imperial concubine made no movement. She didn’t know whether she guessed that her exposure was imminent, so she temporarily stopped all actions.

As the saying goes, no trouble if no action is taken.

How could she stop causing trouble?

She must continue stirring things up!

“Jiaojiao.”

Old Priest, who was cutting vegetables in the kitchen, called Gu Jiao over. Today, the housemaid went back to her son’s home, so he was in charge of making dinner.

Gu Jiao put down the half-chopped firewood in her hand and entered the kitchen: “Grand Uncle, you called me?”

Although the matter had been clarified, the folks at home and the neighbors did not change their way of addressing each other.

The old Priest had no objections. Whether he was Zhuang Jinse’s partner was unimportant. What mattered was to reciprocate the children’s filial piety.

The old Priest whispered: “In a while, you and I will go to the palace. I will see His Majesty, and you will see the Empress Dowager. Just tell her this…”

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