The man’s injuries were fatal, and he died.The woman was left a widow.Xuanping Marquis pitied her and gave her some silver.As it happened, the medical practitioner’s relatives were victims of a flood, had brought their family and sought refuge with the practitioner.The practitioner’s home was now without room, and the Marquis, needing treatment for his injuries, couldn’t travel far.“If you do not mind, sir, you may stay in my home,” the woman proposed.From then on, Gu Jiao could piece together what happened without needing the steward Liu to elaborate.“The Marquis stayed for half a year, until his injuries were fully healed. He asked her if she wanted to go with him to the capital, but she was hesitant. The Marquis, never a man to force others, gave her a token and told her she could come to the capital and find him whenever she was ready.”Steward Liu sighed, “Oh, the Marquis… He really doesn’t understand women.”Gu Jiao wasn’t involved, so she didn’t comment.Steward Liu cont

Xiao Liulang pretended not to notice her little eye movements.Upon entering the outer hall of Minghui Hall, Li Siye instructed, “You guys stay down there and keep watch. Make sure no one intrudes; I’ll wait here for Zheng Siye.”Li Siye had a stellar reputation at Guozijian for his integrity and honesty. The two men did not suspect anything, so they hurried away to guard the entrance.At first, Xiao Liulang and Gu Jiao really thought that Li Siye was there to see Zheng Siye. Little did they know that as soon as the two attendants left, Li Siye started rummaging through Minghui Hall.The outer hall was not particularly large or small.While he searched sneakily, he was rather quick.Gu Jiao was puzzled.Xiao Liulang, however, had somewhat guessed what was happening.Li Siye continued searching until he came to the third row of bookshelves, which were right beside the column where Xiao Liulang and Gu Jiao were hiding.The two held their breath and desperately tried to squeeze further b

After reprimanding Zheng Siye, the Grand Tutor headed back to the Imperial Study Room to appease His Majesty.His chosen strategy was to never deny Zheng Siye’s faults, however, as the saying goes, clear waters are devoid of fish. Visible deceptions were always stronger than those unseen, and besides, these were old scores from years ago. Zheng Siye had not displayed such behavior recently, proof of his, repentance.He earnestly asked His Majesty to give him a chance to reform.Furthermore, the Guozijian was in an awkward transition phase lacking capable candidates. No one was more suitable than Zheng Siye for the position of Libationer.Li Siye, after all, was a bit young and lacked experience, his tactics were immature, ineffective against the older hardheads.Sometimes, it took someone as cunning and capable as Zheng Siye to be a sharper and more effective tool for His MajestyIt was precisely why the Grand Tutor was so competent. This perspective of dissecting problems was somethi

“Are you here to play cards?” the old lady asked.The old man was startled.Play cards?The old lady said while cracking melon seeds, “We won’t play the leaf game today, we’ll play Pai Gow, starting at fifty copper plates.”What was the Empress Dowager talking about? What leaf game? What Pai Gow?The old man looked at the Empress Dowager intently, slowly standing up from the ground, he realized that the woman was a spitting image of the Empress Dowager, but her attire and demeanor were not so.“What are you looking at?” the old lady asked impatiently.“You… don’t recognize me anymore?” the old man asked, pointing to himself.Upon his saying this, the old lady began to look at him closely.He was not a bad looking man.Somewhat familiar, too.Where had she seen him before?The old lady no longer remembered things from the past, and occasionally, fragments of memories came to her, but they were all quite disjointed.But this old man gave her a slightly unusual feeling.And wasn’t that u

Early in the morning, Gu Jiao headed to the Medical Hall.There were a few patients in the morning, but business was slow in the afternoon, so Gu Jiao took a break in her small courtyard.Separated from her by only a single wall was the small garden of the girls’ school.In the garden, there was a pavilion.Normally, no one came here, but at this moment a girl was there, plucking on an instrument.Her playing was less than satisfactory, erratic, to say the least, and the notes were wrong.Gu Jiao lay on a wicker chair to rest and regenerate, only to be tormented by the life-draining music of the girl.She swung open the door and walked out, looking in the direction of the courtyard wall and said, “You’re playing it wrong.”The girl was understandably startled, not expecting anyone to hear her plucking the guqin, her fingers slipped, releasing another grating note.Gu Jiao felt her hair stand on end!“Who’s there?” the girl questioned.She looked around but found no one nearby.“Your m