The Prime Minister's Darling
Chapter 890 - 890 410 Mother and Child Reunion (Second Update)

Chapter 890: 410 Mother and Child Reunion (Second Update) Chapter 890: 410 Mother and Child Reunion (Second Update) The place where the woman’s cry of alarm came from still had a hint of an expert’s aura. Gu Jiao covered the Consort of the Prince of Rui’s mouth and signaled to her with her eyes.

The Consort of the Prince of Rui’s eyes widened as she nodded.

The path they were on was between Renshou Palace and Kunning Palace, with beautiful scenery all around, plenty of covers, and good for concealing one’s presence, which is exactly why the other party chose this spot.

Gu Jiao was not sure what the other party wanted to do; she only knew that if she took the Consort of the Prince of Rui and left now, no matter which way they went, they would be seen by the person behind the rockery.

Gu Jiao simply pulled the Consort of the Prince of Rui gently to the back of a large tree.

The Consort of the Prince of Rui picked up Gu Jiao’s hand and wrote in her palm with her fingertips, “Aren’t we going to see what happened?”

Gu Jiao shook her head and wrote in her palm, “There’s an expert.” She paused, then added, “He has no killing intent.”

In other words, he wasn’t trying to kill the woman.

The Consort of the Prince of Rui nodded thoughtfully.

The rockery was right in front of the big tree, about less than twenty steps away, and both of them held their breath.

With Gu Jiao’s skills, she could conceal her own aura very well. The Consort of the Prince of Rui couldn’t do that yet, and could only slow her breathing as much as possible. But it was probably because the breathing of the woman was too nervous and rapid, it overshadowed the Consort’s, preventing the expert from noticing.

Voices behind the rockery reached them faintly.

“Is that you? You… What are you doing here? What have you done to Chun Yin?”

Hearing this name, the Consort of the Prince of Rui’s temples throbbed violently several times.

Gu Jiao looked at her, puzzled.

She picked up Gu Jiao’s hand, wrote in her palm, “Chun Yin is the maid of honor to the Crown Princess.”

Gu Jiao raised her eyebrows, so the woman who was speaking was—

The woman and the expert both lowered their voices, sounding different from their usual speaking voices, making it difficult to recognize from the tone alone whether the voice matched the person Gu Jiao was guessing.

But there was no hurry; after all, the two of them were going to come out from behind the rockery soon.

The conversation continued.

“I only touched her sleep acupoint, it will release itself half an hour later.”

Gu Jiao thought, hmm, she wanted to learn this.

Knock her husband out, and then do this or that.

The expert had a man’s voice.

The woman: “You must be mad, this is the Imperial Palace! Broad daylight… Aren’t you afraid of being discovered?”

This voice sounded somewhat angry.

The expert sneered: “Who told you to keep hiding from me, I had no choice but to take this measure.”

“Don’t come any closer!”

The woman shouted fiercely.

Several rapid footsteps came from behind the rockery, likely the woman stumbling backwards while trying to avoid the expert.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t go far; Gu Jiao heard her back hit the rockery.

The expert seemed to compromise: “Alright, I won’t come closer, just don’t hurt yourself.”

The woman coldly asked, “What exactly do you want to do?”

The expert smiled playfully: “Don’t you know what I want to do?”

“You…”

“Look how scared you are, rest assured, I don’t want to do anything today, I just came to tell you…”

Gu Jiao and the Consort of the Prince of Rui didn’t hear the rest; the expert seemed to be whispering in the woman’s ear.

Then there was a crisp slap from behind the rockery.

The Consort of the Prince of Rui stared blankly, blinking. Was that a slap across the face?

Gu Jiao nodded; it sounded like it.

After that slap, there was no more conversation behind the rockery, presumably the expert had left, and the woman’s gasping continued.

Neither Gu Jiao nor the Consort of the Prince of Rui left; both wanted to see who the woman behind the rockery was.

The two of them waited eagerly, not sure how long it was before the woman from behind the rockery finally came out.

The Consort of the Prince of Rui stared intently, then quickly covered her mouth!

Why was it her?

Gu Jiao had guessed early on, so she didn’t react much.

Just at this moment, the little maid left by the Consort of the Prince of Rui in the Imperial Garden for too long without seeing the consort return, could not help but come looking this way.

“Consort! Consort, you’re here!”

Now the Consort of the Prince of Rui couldn’t hide even if she wanted to, and she had to come out from behind the tree, her face stiff.

Gu Jiao also stepped out.

“Consort,” the little maid bowed to the Consort of the Prince of Rui. She had not seen Gu Jiao before, so she did not greet her, but on seeing the woman who came out from behind the rockery, she quickly bent down to bow, “Crown Princess!”

The Consort of the Prince of Rui’s mouth twitched, this was truly awkward…

Naturally, the Consort of the Prince of Rui would not admit that she had been eavesdropping on the Crown Princess’s private business. She cleared her throat and with a forced smile, said to Wo Linlang, “Is the Crown Princess also going to pay respect to the Empress Dowager? I just came out from the Empress Dowager’s palace. On the way, I ran into Dr. Gu and was about to invite her to sit in the Imperial Garden and check my pulse subtly to see if the child I am carrying is a boy or a girl.”

This remark directly stabbed the Crown Princess in the heart.

It had been nearly two years since the Crown Princess had married the Crown Prince, and although he had only doted on her alone, her womb remained barren, to the point where the Empress Dowager was almost driven to desperation.

The Crown Princess gave the Consort Prince Rui and Gu Jiao a deep look, and whether she had been stung by Consort Prince Rui’s words or not, she did not enquire further but simply said indifferently, “I was just about to pay my respects to the Empress Dowager, since Consort Prince Rui has already been, I won’t invite you to join me.”

As she spoke, she suddenly turned her gaze to Gu Jiao, “Doctor Gu seems to fit in more at the Imperial Palace than Consort Prince Rui.”

Consort Prince Rui was a daughter-in-law of the royal family, but alas, Prince Rui had come of age and married, establishing his own residence separately, so it was natural that Consort Prince Rui could no longer live in the palace.

Gu Jiao, on the other hand, was free to come and go as she pleased, staying whenever she wanted.

Gu Jiao said nonchalantly, “Nothing I can do about it, I’m just pampered by someone.”

Crown Princess: “…”

Gu Jiao did not engage in “pleasantries” with Consort Prince Rui for too long, and they both headed in the direction of the Imperial Garden together.

Consort Prince Rui looked back at the servants trailing far behind and whispered, “Do you think… who that man could be?”

Gu Jiao gave her an odd look, “Shouldn’t I be asking you that?”

Which one of us is the royal daughter-in-law? Does she really think a few extra trips to the Imperial Palace have made her more knowledgeable about the palace’s inhabitants than me?

After some thought, Consort Prince Rui said, “Now the only princes still residing in the palace are the fourth prince who is Man Zhaoyi’s child, and the fifth prince, the son of Noble Consort Shu. Xiaoliu and Xiaoqi are still young; for sure it can’t be either of them.”

Gu Jiao asked, “Why does it have to be a prince?”

“Could it be His Majesty!!!” Consort Prince Rui was terrified!

Gu Jiao: “…”

What are you thinking about… It can’t be His Majesty; he doesn’t practice martial arts. Furthermore, there seems to be an indistinct and unspoken relationship between the Crown Princess and that man.

The two parted ways in the Imperial Garden, with Consort Prince Rui returning to Prince Rui’s mansion, and Gu Jiao going to Renshou Palace to give her grandfather’s handmade preserves to her grandmother, and she made a particularly grand announcement that she could eat an extra one every day.

Meanwhile, Xiao Liulang had spent the day lecturing to officials who were retaking their examinations, focusing mainly on the law today.

As officials directly under the Six Ministries, not being able to recite all of Zhan Country’s statutes was indeed a pitiful matter.

It was not only the officials’ tragedy but also the tragedy of the imperial court.

The carriage from the Imperial College took Xiao Liulang back to the Hanlin Academy.

Passing by that cookie shop, Xiao Liulang thought of the Plum Dried Vegetable Cake that had become soft and lost its taste the previous night, and also the disappointed expression on Gu Jiao’s face. He felt a sudden urge and asked the carriage to stop here.

Xiao Liulang said, “You go back to the Imperial College; Hanlin Academy is just up ahead.”

“Yes.”

The coachman drove off.

The cookie stall was set up at the entrance.

Xiao Liulang approached and said to the busy shopkeeper, “I would like ten Plum Dried Vegetable Cakes.”

The shopkeeper replied, “There’s only the last one left.”

“Then…”

“I want a Plum Dried Vegetable Cake.”

Xiao Liulang’s words were almost simultaneous with another voice.

It was a female customer who had appeared suddenly beside Xiao Liulang. The shopkeeper looked at Xiao Liulang and then at the woman, asking, “This is the last one, who will buy it?”

“I will,” Xiao Liulang said firmly.

He didn’t look at the female customer, but she curiously took a glance at him.

That look was inadvertent, but as soon as she saw him, her purse fell to the ground with a thud!

Xiao Liulang finally gave her a look, but it was this very look that caused his arm, which was handing over the money to the shopkeeper, to freeze.

“You are…” Yujin grabbed Xiao Liulang’s arm in a flash!

“I’m not, you’ve mistaken me for someone else,” Xiao Liulang averted his gaze, placed the copper plate on the table, took the cookies, and left.

Yujin’s face changed, “Wait a moment!”

“Hey! Sir! You’ve given too much!” the shopkeeper called out to Xiao Liulang, holding up two copper plates.

Xiao Liulang, leaning on his crutch, quickly walked into an adjacent alley.

By the time Yujin gave chase, he had already ducked into another shop.

Yujin searched the vicinity for a long time but couldn’t find Xiao Liulang, and eventually left with disappointment and desolation.

Xiao Liulang let out a long sigh of relief.

Thank goodness, he hadn’t been found out.

He came out from the back of the Ready-Made Clothes Shop; whether it was from the quick escape from Yujin or not, his good left foot twisted a bit, and he stumbled forward.

Just then, a customer who had finished selecting fabric turned around and headed his way.

Xiao Liulang, caught off-guard, bumped into her shoulder and fell to the ground in a sorry state, his crutch flying out of his hand.

The maid cried out in alarm, “Princess! Are you alright?”

Princess Xinyang waved her hand dismissively, “It’s nothing.”

She looked toward the Hanlin official who seemed to have been tripped by her and fell. Her gaze landed on the back of his head as she asked, “Sir, are you alright?”

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