The Prime Minister's Darling
Chapter 854 - 854 391 Origin of Life (Second Update)

Chapter 854: 391 Origin of Life (Second Update) Chapter 854: 391 Origin of Life (Second Update) “What’s wrong?” Gu Jiao detected something unusual about her.

“Oh, nothing, nothing at all,” she said, but her gaze couldn’t help but glance at the box in front of Gu Jiao. Eventually, under Gu Jiao’s puzzled scrutiny, she conceded defeat and whispered, “We always pay extra attention to this box when cleaning the Duobao Pavilion. Eunuch Qin said not to touch it, let alone look at it. However, Her Majesty favors you, Miss Gu, so it should be fine for you to take a look.”

The box wasn’t anything precious; probably the pair of shoes inside was valuable.

Gu Jiao asked, “Has the box always been here?”

“Yes, it was here when I came to the Renshou Palace,” Jade hesitated, then added, “I entered the Renshou Palace three years ago.”

Three years ago, her auntie hadn’t arrived at their house yet, didn’t know the Yao family, and certainly couldn’t have anticipated that the Yao family was expecting a child.

So the shoes weren’t prepared for the child in Madam Yao’s womb.

The military intelligence from the border pass must have been more urgent than expected, for her auntie didn’t return even by noon. Gu Jiao decided she would visit again another time.

She went to the underground Martial Arts Arena.

She was there to see if Prince Ning had come to find her. She wasn’t in a hurry to agree to his proposal, but that didn’t hinder her from ‘shearing his leeks.’

Fifty taels for a single stick of incense.

Old He was quite astute, sensing the potential of this business, he had clearly labelled the price—”Fifty taels for a chat with Xiong Bataian through the time it takes an incense stick to burn.”

It even rhymed.

However, her fame wasn’t that big, and besides, fifty taels for a mere chat was inconceivably expensive. Wouldn’t it be better to visit a brothel and find a courtesan with that kind of money?

Therefore, aside from Prince Ning, probably no one would take the bait.

But Gu Jiao was mistaken; there were still plenty of big fish in the Capital’s pond.

“A Young Master with the surname Xiao wants to meet you,” said Old He.

“Did you tell him the price?” Gu Jiao wrote down.

“Of course, I told him. He frowned as if he thought it was a bit too much, but he didn’t say anything and paid me,” Old He said, handing a fifty-tael banknote to Gu Jiao.

“Charge him sixty next time,” Gu Jiao pocketed the banknote, then wrote, “Ten taels are for you.”

Old He shouldn’t play intermediary for nothing.

Old He’s eyes shone with greediness, and he nodded vehemently, “Eh! Sure!”

Gu Jiao had already fought five bouts, with not a single loss. Winning five more would allow her to move up a level.

Today, as always, she fought three bouts. In one of them, she faced an opponent more formidable than the Daoist from Mount Knife—a swordsman who needed only one more victory to advance three levels.

Unfortunately for him, he encountered Gu Jiao.

His martial arts were indeed excellent, forcing Gu Jiao to use her weapon—the Red-Tasseled Spear.

Her Red-Tasseled Spear was vandalized by Little Clean Void; he stabbed a big Safflower on its head and drew Safflowers all over the shaft—exceptionally garish to the eye.

Such an ugly weapon, as soon as it appeared, dazzled everyone blind.

Perhaps the swordsman was dazzled too, for he paused on the spot. Then Gu Jiao thrust her spear at him, poking it into his belt, and swirled him around before throwing him out of the arena.

The swordsman sat on the ground in a complete daze…

What on earth had poked him?

After the fight, Gu Jiao went to meet the Young Master Xiao.

This man had even more style than Prince Ning, having partitioned the room with a screen where he sat behind it speaking with Gu Jiao.

What a shame, with just one sentence, Gu Jiao recognized his voice.

If it wasn’t the Crown Prince of the East Palace, then who?

She and Xiao Liulang had once encountered the Crown Princess and the Crown Prince while eating at Zhou’s Restaurant. She couldn’t say her impression of them was either good or bad. Since they weren’t people she cared about, their quality was irrelevant to her.

However, his use of the surname Xiao today reminded Gu Jiao that the Crown Prince’s mother, Empress Xiao, was the blood sister of the Marquis of Xuanping.

In other words, this guy was Xiao Liulang’s cousin.

“Xiong Xiaoxia’s martial arts are commendable, you are youthful and promising—truly admirable. I wonder from whom Xiong Xiaoxia has learned,” the Crown Prince asked indifferently from behind the screen.

Though his words were complimentary, his tone carried a certain condescension.

The Crown Prince didn’t usually behave this way when conducting affairs in the civilian world with his identity known; he was very mindful of his image among the common people, not easily showing arrogance. But now, concealing his identity, he no longer needed to hide his true temperament.

Gu Jiao lightly curled her lips, took out a charcoal pencil, and without much care, finished writing a sentence in her notebook. She passed it to the Crown Prince’s subordinate.

The Crown Prince had heard that this Xiong Bataian was mute.

He took so long to write, the Crown Prince thought he’d penned a heap of flattered gratitude, only to see two words—Guess who.

The Crown Prince: “…”

Afterward, the Crown Prince made some more banal conversation with Gu Jiao, mostly soulless flattery to which Gu Jiao’s responses were practically limited to “Hmm,” “Right,” “Not bad,”… never exceeding two words.

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