The Pampered Concubine Gu Jiao Niang

Chapter 50: Mother and Child

After having lunch at the Dean's house, the group left when it was already late. The Second young master had the carriage take Gu Jiaojie and her brother back to the village.

Madam Li was very satisfied with the "Buddha statue" that Gu Xiaoshou gave her as a gift. Before leaving, she even asked the Dean to give Gu Xiaoshou her treasured jade Buddha beads.

The jade Buddha beads were blessed in front of the Buddha, and both in value and significance, they were not ordinary jade.

But Gu Xiaoshou didn't want it and gave the Buddha beads to Gu Jiao.

Gu Jiao, of course, wouldn't take his things, but if he brought them back to the Gu family, they would only be confiscated by the Gu family members. So she accepted them, planning to return them to him when he started his own family in the future.

"Sister, I'm going in," Gu Xiaoshou said.

Gu Xiaoshou entered the old Gu family mansion, and Gu Jiao continued to walk forward with her backpack. Soon, she entered the house.

Xiao Liulang and the old lady were eating dinner in the hall. The old lady's complexion wasn't very good, but when she saw Gu Jiao come back, she showed an extremely affectionate expression for the first time: "Jiaojiao is back!"

Accustomed to the old lady always frowning and ignoring her, the sudden warmth made Gu Jiao a little uncomfortable.

"What's wrong?" Gu Jiao looked at the food on the table. Although it was already cold, the two of them barely touched their chopsticks.

The old lady pouted her mouth and bitterly said, "Liulang's cooking is so terrible!"

He looks decent, but his cooking skills are worse than that idiot Gu Xiaoshou!!!

"Ah..." Gu Jiao didn't know how to respond for a moment. She looked at the old lady and then at Xiao Liulang. She had never tasted Xiao Liulang's cooking, so she didn't know if it was good or bad.

But the old lady's criticism was understandable. Why was Xiao Liulang also complaining?

Didn't he used to cook for himself before?

Gu Jiao sighed and remade the dishes, making a few egg pancakes as well.

The old lady's eyes were shining!

Xiao Liulang was still quite serious, but Gu Jiao felt that maybe she had seen the old lady too many times, so when she looked at Xiao Liulang again, she felt that his eyes also had a hint of green light.

The old lady asked about the visit to the dean: "Did you see the dean?"

"Well, I did. He has an elderly mother and a young servant in his home, and their life is simpler than I imagined." Given the status of the Tianxiang Academy's dean, Gu Jiao had thought that his home would be much more luxurious, with many servants. As a result, there were none.

His house was large, but also elegant, quiet, and simple.

The old lady asked, "Just two people?"

"Three people, including the servant," replied Gu Jiao, who carried with her the thoughts of her past life, knowing that even servants were people.

"No wife or children?" the old lady asked.

"His wife passed away," Xiao Liulang suddenly spoke up. He paused and continued, "She died when she was young, and he never remarried."

"How pitiful," the old lady said, no longer speaking.

After the meal, Gu Jiao brought out the gift that the dean had given her: a large box of layered pastries with osmanthus flavor and two fish that the dean had caught himself.

The old lady loved the layered pastries, but Xiao Liulang did not like the two fish, his eyes filled with a strange disgust.

Gu Jiao killed and marinated the fish, then boiled water for washing up. As she undressed, something fell out of her clothes.

She picked it up and found it to be a white jade hairpin.

The quality of the jade hairpin was excellent, with a warm and smooth texture like solidified fat. It was not an ordinary item.

"How strange, how did this thing end up on me?" She did not remember the dean or Mrs. Li giving her such a valuable treasure.

She brought the jade hairpin to her nose and smelled a faint medicinal scent.

"Could it be his?"

......

Madame Hou finished her daily prayer on the mountain and returned to the estate. Upon hearing that her son had awakened, she was overjoyed and immediately asked about the details of what had happened.

The stewardess told her, "The young master's condition was not good, but thanks to the skilled physician from Hui ChunTang, he was successfully revived."

The stewardess did not dare to say that her son had really stopped breathing since she had not seen it with her own eyes. She also left out the part about the little medicine girl climbing onto the bed and instead explained that he had taken excellent care of the young master.

As they were talking, they arrived at Gu Yan's courtyard. Gu Yan had awoken from his coma and angrily tore several antique paintings before collapsing in exhaustion, gasping for breath and looking utterly miserable.

Madame Hou was just grateful that her son was awake and excitedly went over to sit on the edge of his bed, holding his hand. "Yan'er, you're awake!" she exclaimed.

Gu Yan replied, "I'm not awake. I'm still unconscious."

Madame Hou chuckled, not angry at her son's response. "Yan'er, you have the strength to talk to me now! Do you know how worried I was while you were unconscious? Thank goodness for Buddha's blessings..."

"What does Buddha have to do with it?" Gu Yan snorted.

Madame Hou smiled, "Yes, yes, you're right! It's your own good fortune that you woke up!"

Gu Yan then said seriously, "She cured me. I know it was her. She also left medicine for me."

When Gu Jiao was trying to save him, he did not wake up. And even when she left medicine for him, he was still unconscious. But he had a feeling that it was all her doing.

Madame Hou thought Gu Yan was referring to the head physician from Hui Chun Tang and nodded, "Yan'er said it was the doctor from Rechuntang who saved you. I will definitely thank them properly. Oh, by the way, Yan'er, where is your jade finger ring?"

The jade finger ring was Gu Yan's personal belonging that he always wore and never let anyone touch. One time, he lost it in his bed and got so angry that he fainted.

"She took it," Gu Yan replied calmly.

"Who?" Madame Hou asked, not guessing that it was the head physician.

Gu Yan did not answer her question but said instead, "She took it by accident."

Although they had only met once, Gu Yan felt like he understood her very well. He could not explain this strange intuition, but he just knew that it was her who took his ring.