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The woman known as Lady Ling smiled and said, “I am here to bring ginseng soup to mother.”

Did she need to dress like this just to deliver ginseng soup to the old lady? Gu Jinyu could tell she was waiting here for Marquis Gu.

Madame Gu’s maiden name is Ling, the first marquis’s wife was Madame Gu’s niece, and Lady Ling was the half-sister of the first marquis’s wife, also regarded as Madame Gu’s niece.

When little Ling passed away due to sickness, Marquis Gu married a lady from Yao Family. Madame Gu was worried Marquis Gu would neglect his three sons with his first wife once he found new love, so she took in Lady Ling as a distinguished concubine.

Marquis Gu wasn’t particularly fond of Lady Ling, but with Madame Gu backing Lady Ling, her living conditions in the mansion were quite good.

Especially after Yao moved with Gu Yan to the villa, Lady Ling almost took over as the official wife of the Marquis Residence.

Plus, she was the aunt of the three young masters, and they got along better with her than with Yao.

“You should go deliver the soup then.” Marquis Gu casually remarked, and then he and Yao left.

The next day, Yao came up with an excuse of being sick and did not go to greet Madame Gu.

Madame Hong reminded Yao, “Why trouble yourself like this, madam? It is better to observe normal etiquette and not give others reasons to criticize.”

Yao gave a bitter smile, “No matter how much I attend to proper etiquette, there will always be someone finding fault with me. If I don’t go, the old lady would be less annoyed out of sight.”

Marquis Gu and Gu Jinyu went to Songhe Court.

Upon hearing that Yao was sick, Madame Gu coldly sneered, “She just doesn’t want to see me!”

Marquis Gu hurriedly said, “Don’t talk like that. How could Yaoyao be reluctant to see you? Look, these gifts were personally prepared by her! She respects you the most!”

The gifts were indeed chosen by Yao, and she put thought into them. But Yao didn’t do it for her own sake but to prevent Madame Gu from taking out her anger on Gu Jinyu.

Madame Gu scoffed, she was not fond of Yao. She was actually relieved Yao didn’t come, at least she didn’t have to be annoyed by her sight.

“Where is Yanyan?” Madame Gu finally asked about Gu Yan, “Why didn’t he come with you?”

Marquis Gu did not dare to reveal that Gu Yan was already in Capital City. He just smiled and said, “Yanyan isn’t in good health. I had him come later and arranged for a doctor to accompany him.”

“Hmm.” Madame Gu didn’t ask further.

Marquis Gu said, “In a while, I will take Jinyu to the palace to pay our respects.”

Mentioning Her Highness, Madame Gu looked at Gu Jinyu with a gentler gaze, “That’s good, your aunt has been thinking about you for a long time, she has sent people to inquire about you several times.”

Gu Jinyu laughed in relief, “Jinyu has also missed aunt very much.”

While they were talking, a servant came to report that the second and third sons had arrived.

A fondness was instantly visible on Madame Gu’s face that she could not conceal.

If it was a question of whom Madame Gu treasured the most, it would undeniably be her three legitimate grandsons. Even Marquis Gu, her own son, was less important than the grandsons in her eyes.

Gu Chengfeng and Gu Chenglin entered through the curtain.

“Grandmother.”

“Father.”

The two bowed in salute.

Gu Jinyu stood up and greeted her elder brothers, “Second Brother, Third Brother.”

Gu Chenglin gave her an indifferent glance.

Gu Chengfeng said, “No need to stand on ceremony.”

He used polite words, but his tone was very distant.

Gu Jinyu was used to it. Her brothers weren’t against her, they were against her mother. They wouldn’t like any child of hers.

“Where’s your eldest brother? Why don’t I see him?” Madame Gu asked.

Gu Chengfeng replied, “Eldest Brother returned very late last night and left early this morning for the military camp.”

Being the eldest legitimate grandson of Marquis Residence wasn’t an easy task. He was the heir of the Marquis Residence and bore the rise and fall of the Residence. He had a harder life than other children.

Madame Gu felt sorry for her grandson but could not really pull him out of the military camp.

Marquis Gu figured it was about time to broach the main topic. Clearing his throat, he said to the old lady Gu, “Mother, there is something I need to talk to you about.”

“What is it?” Old Madame Gu looked at him inquisitively.

Marquis Gu glanced at Gu Jinyu next to him, took a deep breath, and said gravely, “It’s about the true origins of the two children.”

…

Gu Jiao had been busily preparing the house for several days and finally, both courtyards were tidied up. She planted spring onions, rapeseed, and lettuce in the vegetable garden and, at Xiao Jingkong’s request, some peas too.

The vegetable garden only covered the left half of the courtyard. As for the right half, Gu Jiao intended to build a grape rack and plant some gourds. Next spring, she planned to add grapes and sponge gourds.

Xiao Liulang had now acquired the identification hanger for the Guozijian. At the same time, he also registered Xiao Jingkong.

The Guozijian’s learning system was also divided into classes, according to the grades and age of students, the four classes being known as Heaven, Earth, Black, and Yellow. However, apart from these four classes, there was another special class dedicated to exceptionally talented children, somewhat similar to the Genius Class in Gu Jiao’s previous life.

Such a class had only been set up in recent years, and Xiao Liulang hadn’t been part of it in his childhood.

Gu Jiao paused cutting vegetables and asked, “Hmm? Wasn’t Guozijian closed for several years? Was the elementary school not shut down?”

Xiao Liulang added some firewood to the stove and said, “The elementary school of the Guozijian, in the strict sense, doesn’t entirely belong to the Guozijian. It was separated from the Guozijian by an alleyway. When His Majesty closed down the Guozijian, he didn’t mention the elementary school. So, the school exploited this loophole and continued operating.”

Given that it had been operating for several years, it should have been quite experienced in teaching gifted children.

Gu Jiao asked, “What do they test in the entrance exam?”

Xiao Liulang said, “Based on the exams from previous years, they primarily test character recognition, writing scriptures, and arithmetic.”

Gu Jiao murmured, “Xiao Jingkong won’t have any problems with these.”

“Hmm.” Xiao Liulang nodded.

For safety’s sake, the pair spent a fair amount of silver to buy previous exam questions for Xiao Jingkong to practice. Xiao Jingkong answered most of them correctly, but his handwriting was slow and awkward—it was extraordinarily ugly!

Thus, a new item was added to Xiao Jingkong’s daily schedule: practicing calligraphy.

Xiao Jingkong wasn’t pleased, thinking his sister’s wicked husband was depriving him of his joy as a child!

Xiao Liulang said to him, “Jiaojiao practices writing every day too. You two can do it together.”

Considering the chance to be alone with Jiaojiao, Xiao Jingkong happily agreed!

Gu Jiao hadn’t dreamt in a long while.

The last time she dreamt was before Xiao Liulang went to the provincial city for the rural examinations, four months ago.

She had almost forgotten that she could have dreams.

But this night, after she and Xiao Jingkong had finished practising writing and returned to their room, she soon fell into an unfamiliar dream.

It was unfamiliar because the ones in her dream were neither Xiao Liulang nor herself.

It was the man who had saved Xiao Jingkong, whom she had almost forgotten.

The man was dressed in azure armor, covered with a cloak as red as blood, and mounted on a majestic warhorse.

When he passed a secluded alleyway, he was ambushed. The assassins were all first-class masters. Still, they were no match for him.

Just as the man was about to win, one of the assassins suddenly threw a child and stabbed at the child with a sword.

The man was cut on the right arm by the assassin while trying to save the child.

The assassin’s sword was poisoned. Although the man survived, his right arm was futile from then on.

This assassination was somewhat related to Xiao Jingkong.

The gang of assassins had been covertly spying on the man for a long time. As they witnessed the man saving a defenseless child, they decided to replicate the scenario, giving rise to the ensuing assassination.

When Gu Jiao woke up, her expression was somewhat bewildered.

She was becoming increasingly confused about her dreams. Could she now dream about any irrelevant person?

But no matter what, he had saved Xiao Jingkong’s life. Besides, the inspiration for the assassination came from his rescue of Xiao Jingkong.

She could not sit idly by.

The assassination was planned for tomorrow evening. As for the location, she remembered that near the place where the man was ambushed, there was a Xiangyun Inn