Chapter 1418: Passing Yongtai Prefecture Again
Chapter 1418: Chapter 1418: Passing Yongtai Prefecture Again
"What, there’s an official’s daughter among those kids?" Aunt Feng rolled her eyes, muttered "it’s over, it’s over," and completely passed out.
Squad Leader Wei saw Aunt Feng faint and ignored her.
The case was already closed; Aunt Feng was a death-row prisoner. If she died, she died.
There were still Ms. Lin Su and her daughter and the other Lin Family concubines locked up in this cell. Many of them had been schemed against by Aunt Feng. Seeing her faint, everyone rushed over and either slapped or kicked her a few times.
Lin Yueyun, however, didn’t go kick her. She hid in the corner of the cell and cried, calling out to Gu Jin’an, "Good Brother An, Good Brother An, why aren’t you coming to save me? I was only caught and thrown in jail because of you."
???
That was simply baffling. If Gu Jin’an heard it, he’d definitely strangle her on the spot.
But in the Lin Family and Su Family affair, the ones who benefited the most, aside from the Shang Family, were the Gu Family.
Now many people were saying the Gu Family was deeply blessed, protected by God; whoever dared set their sights on the Gu Family could just wait for God to wipe out their whole clan.
And the story of how Gu Jin’an and Brother Cheng escorted Manager Feng to Tong’an Prefecture to file charges and pulled down a fifth-rank magistrate was being brought up by everyone again.
"Don’t be fooled by Gu Family Big Brother Gu being a scholar; he’s bold and resourceful. No matter how Assistant Judge Jia schemed, he still got taken down by him all the same."
"Gu Family Big Brother Gu is impressive, but the most impressive one has to be Gu Family’s second son. That young man could speak as soon as he was born, recognize characters at one, write essays at three, and now at five could single-handedly fly across the Huai River, catch Hu Dawen, drag him straight into the courtroom, and make Lord Hu testify against Assistant Judge Jia and Manager Feng, turning his family’s defeat into victory!"
Everyone who heard this was dumbfounded. They looked at the speaker like he was a madman. "Ah peh, what nonsense are you spouting? What child can talk right after being born? And that Gu Family’s second son isn’t five, he’s already nine, practically half an adult. He can’t fly either. It was the Gu Family’s servants who caught Hu Dawen; he just sat in the carriage waiting for them to bring the man over, comfy as anything."
"But for Gu Family’s second son to be able, at that age, to talk Hu Dawen around and get him to go to court to testify against Assistant Judge Jia and Manager Feng is pretty impressive too."
In any case, after this whole string of events, and with storytellers deliberately fanning the flames, the Gu Family Brothers’ reputation for being hard to mess with spread far and wide.
In the future, when Good Brother An went up to the capital for the imperial exams and Brother Cheng stayed home to guard the family, no one would dare eye the Gu Family’s Business again.
After listening to Qiu Lang’s report, Gu Jin’an let out a breath of relief. It was finally done.
He sat down, spread paper, took up his brush, and wrote a letter to Gu Jinli, telling her what had happened at home.
After writing about the serious matters, he added some funny bits about Brother Cheng clowning around at home, as well as little anecdotes about Little Qin Ning, Jiahui, Uncle Han Liu, and Aunt Hong’s son.
When he finished, he sealed the letter and handed it to Zezi. "Take this to San Lang’s men, have them send it to Xiao Yu."
Then he asked, "Has San Lang or Xiao Yu sent any letters?"
Zezi smiled. "Young Master, the day Eldest Young Lady got married, the letters from the Young Master and Second Young Master had only just arrived. How could there be new ones so soon? Just wait a bit; we’ll definitely get some around New Year."
Second Young Master still had men secretly placed along the way, sending letters back as they traveled so the family wouldn’t worry.
Hearing this, Gu Jin’an nodded regretfully. "Go send the letter then."
After Zezi left, he didn’t rest. Instead, he began writing essays on the Great Chu Criminal Law... A few months ago, Ming’er had given him a copy of Mr. Feng’s Criminal Law. At the time, he’d told Master Ouyang that once he finished reading it, he would write an essay for Master Ouyang to look over.
But things kept happening at home, and he simply hadn’t had the time. Now he wanted to finish it as fast as possible and send it to Master Ouyang.
Ming’er was still around, staying in town to spend the New Year with Master Ouyang. If he handed the essays to Master Ouyang, she would definitely see them too.
He wondered what she would think when she read them?
Would it be the same as his own thoughts?
Gu Jin’an was very much looking forward to it. Words flowed from his brush as if guided by the gods, and he quickly filled half a sheet of paper.
...
The official road leading to the Northwest was bustling, as soldiers from all the southern prefectures converged and galloped along it.
But the soldiers were used to staying in the south and couldn’t stand the brutal northern cold. Ice clung to their armor, their legs and feet went numb from the cold and slowed down, and the hands exposed outside were cracked from the freezing wind. Blood seeped from the splits on the backs of their hands, really both painful and itchy.
However, the troops Qin San Lang led didn’t suffer like that. They used the Gu Family’s hand cream, so while their hands were red, the skin hadn’t cracked.
The soldiers from the other Military Offices were very envious. "You guys from the Tianfu County Soldier Station really are blessed. Your Company Commanders’ Wife might be ugly, and she reeks like rotten eggs, but she’s a real bringer of fortune, able to help her man. Not like that one from Yujiang County, who does nothing but cry all day long. She hasn’t stopped this whole journey—it feels like she’s wailing at our funeral, seriously bad luck!"
With a bang, Mrs. Ji slapped her hand on the low table, glared at Gu Jinli, and vented her anger. "It’s all your fault! If you hadn’t thrown yourself at Qin Ruofan and given him so many benefits, I wouldn’t look so useless by comparison."
Gu Jinli chuckled. "Ji Zhenniang, are you sick in the head? You can even blame that on me?"
As she spoke, she took out a long silver needle and waved it in front of Ji Zhenniang. "What, you want to get poked again?"
"Ah, don’t come over, I was wrong!" Ji Zhenniang was scared out of her wits and hurriedly hid behind Qing Hui.
Qing Hui looked at her with great disdain and dragged her back out. "What are you hiding for? If it weren’t for our lady using the needle on you, how would your poison have cleared so fast? Our lady treats you so well and you don’t know how to be grateful. You ungrateful wretch."
When she cursed Company Commander Xie, Ji Zhenniang’s tongue was sharp enough, but she couldn’t win against Gu Jinli and Qing Hui, so she could only cry silently.
Seeing that no one came to comfort her, she started explaining herself. "I’m just mad that those soldiers praise you while cursing me."
Gu Jinli smiled and, quite unceremoniously, said, "You also want to be praised? Look at yourself. Other than being spoiled and willful, what merits do you have from head to toe? It’s only because Company Commander Xie dotes on you. If you’d married someone else, you’d have been beaten to death long ago."
All day long you don’t do anything proper, you only know how to make trouble.
"You!" Ji Zhenniang was scolded yet again and started crying angrily.
Gu Jinli was sick of her and warned, "Quit crying and hurry up with the work. If you don’t get these quilts sewn up soon, you’re going to freeze to death tonight."
The further north they went, the colder it got. The quilts they’d brought weren’t warm enough, so they’d bought more along the way. But with soldiers from all the prefectures gathering, it was hard to find finished quilts to buy. They could only buy fabric and cotton and make them themselves.
Ji Zhenniang had become a bit more sensible recently. Hearing this, she stopped crying and worked quietly.
By dusk, they reached the post station outside Ming’an County, and everyone stopped to rest.
But this time they couldn’t stay in the post station, because it had been taken by Yongtai Prefecture’s garrison commander Fang Tian and the Company Commanders he brought with him. The soldiers and families from the other prefectures could only pitch tents outside the station for the night.
As soon as the carriages stopped, Mrs. Kuang came over to them and said, "Yongtai Prefecture’s General Fan’s old mother came along too and is staying in the post station. General Fan’s rank is high, and we have to go pay our respects to his mother and say a few nice words, so the old lady doesn’t get offended and General Fan doesn’t make things difficult for our men."