Chapter 86.1

The elderly woman took a look at Gu Jiao, and then at Xiao Liulang. Her eyes were full of meaning.

She felt like she was going to have her great grandnephew soon!

Gu Jiao smoothly changed the topic of conversation by asking about Feng Lin.

Xiao Liulang also answered her solemnly, "He went back to the academy. Since he was in the prefectural city for a month, he missed a lot of his classes."

This time, Feng Lin was really a great help, and Gu Jiao noted down his kindness.

While the two people were talking, a few bright yellow chicks could be seen swaggering outside.

Xiao Liulang then discovered that while he had been away from home for more than a month, his family had actually started raising chickens.

Gu Jiao didn’t have any interest in raising chickens whatsoever. It was Little Jing Kong who occasionally saw the chicks next door and liked them so much that he asked Gu Jiao if he could also keep a few of them.

In response, Gu Jiao told him that he could raise them, but on one condition; he must take care of the chicks by himself, including feeding them and cleaning up chicken manure with his own hands.

In order to make Little Jing Kong understand the difficulty of raising chickens, Gu Jiao asked him to go to Xue Ningxiang's house to feed chickens for two days. There were not only cute chicks in Xue Ningxiang's house, but also mature old hens and roosters which no longer looked adorable.

And Gu Jiao told him that all chicks that look cute now would grow into old hens and roosters one day.

As a result, this still failed to dissuade him, and Gu Jiao could only let him raise some.

He kept seven of them, and each one was plump.

He also gave each one of them a name, from one to seven, and only God knew how he could tell them apart.

Xiao Liulang brought the elderly woman some specialty from Pingcheng—— candied dried bayberries. At this time of the year, bayberries had just started growing and still had a strong sour taste. But this kind of bayberry was the most suitable for making candied bayberries as the sweet and sour taste would not make one tired of eating it.

Xiao Liulang brought two jars of it, one was seedless and the other with seeds preserved.

Don't look at the fact that there were just two jars of it. This one was actually the most popular candied dried bayberry in Pingcheng, and it also happened that there was a large number of examinees during that time, so it was almost always sold out as soon as it came out every day.

Xiao Liulang stood in line in the middle of the night and shrank in the cold wind for a long time before he could buy them.

The elderly woman picked up a seedless candied bayberry and gave it to Goudan.

Goudan slurped on it while drooling.

Xiao Liulang also brought something for Gu Xiaoshun, who had yet to return from the academy. It was a complete set of tools for woodcarving, not a single one missing.

The State of Zhao's control over iron was extremely strict, and it was difficult for ordinary people to buy such fine and complete iron tools. Xiao Liulang was only able to buy it after taking advantage of Prefect Luo.

Xiao Liulang's bundle shrank down.

Little Jing Kong, who was now walking the little chicks, had a ‘don’t care’ expression on his face. However, he would glance at the bundle that Xiao Liulang was carrying from time to time.

Gu Jiao noticed his little abnormality and asked, "Is Jing Kong also looking forward to his present?"

"No, I‘m not!" Little Jing Kong turned away his head proudly.

Bad brother-in-law would never buy him a present!

Xiao Liulang took in the whole scene of the little guy’s awkwardness. The relationship between the two people was already a bit terrible originally, and after being separated for more than a month, now they even seemed like strangers.

Xiao Liulang took out a burr puzzle from the bundle and said, "Forget it then. I’ll just give these to Goudan." [T/N: See Burr Puzzle]

"No!" Little Jing Kong jumped over and grabbed the burr puzzle into his arms. He then said, "He, he’s too young! He can't play with this thing at all!"

Goudan looked blankly at his small big brother, completely unable to understand what was going on.

Finally, it was Gu Jiao’s present.

It was a very exquisite brocade box. Just looking at the box made one feel that it was very valuable.

Gu Jiao secretly measured the length of the brocade box.

Was it a hairpin?

Such an expensive-looking brocade box should at least be housing a silver hairpin.

Silver hairpins were a rare sight in the countryside. People here usually used wooden hairpins, and the more elegant ones were copper hairpins. Silver hairpins could only be afforded by families with good conditions, and they would only wear them on very important occasions.

Of course, the most important thing was the fact that a man giving a woman a hairpin represented some kind of unspoken meaning!

It was written all over Gu Jiao's face that she liked the present very much! She really liked it a lot!

Click.

Xiao Liulang opened the brocade box.

However, what was inside wasn’t a hairpin, but a writing brush!

Gu Jiao was dumbfounded on the spot.

Xiao Liulang said, "You always have a hard time practicing your handwriting. In addition to holding the pen in the wrong position, it also has something to do with the writing brush. This is a wolf-fur brush made by a famous craftsman in Pingcheng, which is very suitable for your strength."

He solemnly introduced the object to Gu Jiao but it didn’t make her feel happy at all.

Would a hairpin scald your hand or something?

Why did it have to be a writing brush, seriously?

This was like sending a set of real test questions to a student who only wanted to play a game. Could she refuse it?!

The elderly woman laughed till her belly ached seeing the little look of Gu Jiao trying to hold back her madness!

——Yeah, it had to be this, Liulang believed you needed it.

Gu Jiao held the wolf-fur brush in her hand, and her face turned from black to charcoal.

After that, Xiao Liulang handed her a piece of copper plate engraved with the mark of a private bank.

"This is a bank account for family expenses, you can withdraw money yourself if you need it."

Xiao Liulang didn't say the exact amount it contained, and Gu Jiao didn't ask either. She was still immersed in the sour mood from being given a writing brush.

What Gu Jiao didn’t know was that this stupid writing brush was even more expensive than the other people's gifts combined, and it wasn’t something that could be bought simply by money.

Gu Jiao didn't sulk for too long either. She still hadn’t forgotten about important matters.

Before they left for the prefectural city, Gu Jiao told Feng Lin to keep an eye on Xiao Liulang and made sure that he practiced walking every day. Now she wanted to check the results!

Gu Jiao went to the west room with Xiao Liulang to check on his ankle.

The incision was already so faint that it could hardly be seen. Gu Jiao reached out and pinched it then asked, "Does it still hurt?"

Xiao Liulang shook his head and replied, "It doesn't hurt anymore."

"It doesn't hurt at all?" Gu Jiao looked up at him and asked again.

He nodded, "En."

Gu Jiao pinched his calf again, and it had a pretty good feel to it. It seemed that Feng Lin hadn’t been lazy at all.

The once weakened skin texture had basically recovered after nearly four months of rehabilitation, in other words, Xiao Liulang’s legs should no longer be lacking in strength.

And yet, he still couldn’t get rid of his crutch till now. The biggest problem might come from his psychology.

Gu Jiao had seen many similar cases in her previous lives, some of which were due to fear of secondary injuries and excessive self-protection, but most of it had gradually faded away and they got better with the passage of time.

The other situation was more complicated.

The patient had a knot in their heart.

If they couldn’t untie this knot, they would always live in a state of being injured in order to either punish themselves or run away from something.

While Gu Jiao was thinking, Xiao Liulang put down his trouser leg and went out of the room on his crutch.

Gu Jiao looked at his cold and lonely figure and wondered what had happened to him in the past.

Xiao Liulang becoming a Xiucai soon spread throughout the whole countryside. As a big family in the village, the Gu Family also heard the news.

They never dreamed that Xiao Liulang could become a top scorer twice in a row, and ultimately become a Linsheng.

After all, how could a mediocre student, who almost failed to pass the entrance exam of the Tianxiang Academy, manage to become a Linsheng like Dashun?

Moreover, even though both of them were in the Linsheng class, Xiao Liulang’s achievements were obviously much higher, otherwise, the grain sent to him wouldn’t be much better than the one sent to Gu Dashun, would it?

"Two-time top scorer, only short of one to win the Three Lower Top Seats." At the dinner table, Gu Changlu said with envy.

Was he unwilling to study from the beginning?

Of course not.

He just knew he couldn't get to study. Later, he had two sons and expected them to attend school, but the one who was willing to study couldn’t afford it, and Gu Xiaoshun, who was admitted to school for free, did not live up to expectations.

Little did the Gu Family people know that it wasn’t that Xiao Liulang couldn’t win the Three Lower Top Seats, but that he voluntarily gave it up.

Everyone at the table had an ugly look on their faces.

And the ugliest expression belonged to Gu Dashun.

Xiao Liulang, whom he had always looked down upon, suddenly took a favorable turn and rode on his head. This put Gu Dashun in a really bad mood. He said, "With Dean Li personally teaching him, he certainly made great progress. The month before the county exam, I saw Dean Li calling him to go to Zhongzheng Hall every day."

He didn’t believe that Xiao Liulang had soared high by his own ability. Obviously, Xiao Liulang wasn’t as good as himself in terms of qualification. If the person who was personally taught by Dean Li was himself, he would surely get better grades than Xiao Liulang.

To put it bluntly, he lost on resources. [T/N: In denial sore loser...]

In the past, the Gu Family people would also add a few sour remarks about Xiao Liulang, but they didn't utter a word tonight.

This made Gu Dashun frown slightly.

He felt that the atmosphere at home recently seemed to be different from before. Everyone, except Gu Xiaoshun, had a lot in their minds.

It wasn’t surprising for him to think so. After the Gu Family’s plan to substitute the Marquis Estate's daughter with someone else had failed, Gu Jiao’s life story was completely uncovered.

Even without using Marquis Gu's interrogation method and just letting Huang Zhong walk around the village, they were able to get a clear picture of Gu Jiao's life experience from childhood to present.