The Grand Secretary’s Pampered Wife

Chapter 14

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S T E L L A R C L O U D

[Celeste S.] [Azurixa] [Robert K.]

O R A N G E S T A R

[Talia R.]

Y E L L O W S T A R

[Camille] [Linds] [Esther D.]

Gu Jiao finally understood why the original soul and Gu Xiaoshun could get along so well. It turned out that these two people had the same level of IQ.

Gu Jiao cooked pheasant stew with mushrooms. Although the pheasant meat tasted delicious, it was firmer than that of a poultry. She had to boil it in a large iron pot for two hours before it softened.

She also made a tasty and refreshing wood ear salad and shredded white radish with sauce. Of course, the staple food was white rice and cornmeal pancakes baked on an iron pan.

Although Xiao Liulang only got the second spot to last, Gu Jiao still attached great importance to it. Hence, she killed the remaining pheasant to celebrate Xiao Liulang’s passing the exam. It was just that she didn’t talk about it.

"Call your brother-in-law for dinner." She told Gu Xiaoshun as she picked up the baked pancake.

"Aye!" Gu Xiaoshun went with jolting buttocks.

Xiao Liulang had just finished copying a book.

After some outstanding examinees passed the imperial exams and became a Juren[1] or a Jinshi[2], their books and notes with their own annotations would be borrowed by book shops to copy it and sell it to other examinees. These kinds of books were more expensive than ordinary books, but there were still quite a few examinees who scrambled for them.

Xiao Liulang's handwriting was very pleasing to the eye and the books he copied were best sellers.

"Brother-in-law! Dinner!" Gu Xiaoshun poked his small head through the gap in the door.

Being thick-skinned was good. Clearly just a few days ago, he was still bullying people half to death, now he was so affectionate as such.

Xiao Liulang looked as cold as ever and didn't show any surprise because of Gu Xiaoshun's change of attitude. Of course, he also didn't give Gu Xiaoshun a slap in the face for being ignorant in the past.

Gu Xiaoshun suddenly felt comfortable getting along with his brother-in-law.

The three sat down to eat.

Gu Xiaoshun started with a piece of mushroom. As far as he could remember, his sister wasn’t someone who cooked, so this was his first time tasting his sister's craftsmanship, and he didn’t expect it would be so delicious!

Next he picked up a piece of pheasant meat.

Heavens!

It was so delicious he could cry!

Gu Jiao scooped up two big drumsticks, one for Xiao Liulang and one for Gu Xiaoshun.

The braised drumsticks were full of flavor and very juicy. After taking one bite, Gu Xiaoshun felt like he was going to ascend to heaven.

On the other hand, Gu Jiao saw that Xiao Liulang was calm.

But if Gu Jiao knew how much he used to eat before, she might not think so.

The two young men quickly finished a bowl of rice, and Gu Xiaoshun went to get seconds. He caught sight of Xiao Liulang's empty bowl and said, "Brother-in-law, I'll fill your bowl too!"

"En." Xiao Liulang didn't refuse.

Whether it was his kindness or his call of brother-in-law that he didn’t refuse, no one knew.

Gu Xiaoshun hurriedly went to fill another bowl of rice.

It was the most comfortable meal Gu Xiaoshun had ever had. The food was delicious and the atmosphere at the table was good. Although neither his sister nor his brother-in-law spoke, he did! Thus, all three of them had a good time!

After dinner, Xiao Liulang helped Gu Jiao wash the dishes and Gu Xiaoshun went to the back yard to chop wood.

After entering the kitchen, Xiao Liulang suddenly put a purse in Gu Jiao's hand.

Gu Jiao looked at him oddly.

"For household expenses." He said.

Xiao Liulang gave Gu Jiao two taels of silver, which he had earned by copying books for more than a month. He only had about ten coppers left on him. However, he was almost finished copying the book at hand, and he should be able to take it to the town in two days to exchange for money.

Gu Jiao raised her eyebrow, looked at the purse in her hand and accepted it.

After cleaning the kitchen, Gu Jiao intended to go to the well at the entrance of the village to fetch water. But Gu Xiaoshun grabbed her shoulder and said, "Big sis, take a rest. I’ll do this rough work!"

Thereupon, he picked up the shoulder pole and left. Gu Jiao did not stop him either.

At this time of the day, everyone in the village was eating in their houses, and no one else would come out to fetch water, so Gu Xiaoshun occupied the ancient well by himself. While Gu Xiaoshun was drawing water, two mighty and majestic men galloped their horses to his direction and stopped beside him without saying a word.

The two men dismounted their horses.

Gu Xiaoshun felt a cold and murderous atmosphere from them.

He was the small bully of the village. At the moment, he could tell that the other party had been trained in martial arts. All the bullies in the surrounding villages were simply no match for either of them.

“Are you from this village?" Asked one of the strong-looking men.

"Er... Yes, what do you want?" "Gu Xiaoshun asked blankly.

"We're looking for someone!" The strong-looking man showed a broken umbrella and asked fiercely, "Have you ever seen this umbrella?"

How could he have not seen it? That was his sister's umbrella!

Gu Xiaoshun felt alarmed.

"You've seen it, haven't you?” The strong-looking man narrowed his eyes dangerously.

"I... I, I, I..." Gu Xiaoshun stammered badly. What did his sister do? Why did such terrifying people come to look for her?

"Boy." The strong-looking man reached out his large and coarse hand and gently pressed Gu Xiaoshun's shoulder, "I advise you to tell the truth, or I will ask someone else..."

The man was so strong that he couldn’t move half of his body!

Gu Xiaoshun clenched his teeth and said, "It's mine!"

The strong-looking man was stunned. Then he exchanged a look with his companion.

The strong-looking man withdrew his hand and asked suspiciously, "This is your umbrella? Are you sure?"

In fact, Gu Xiaoshun's legs already began to feel weak, but his mouth remained stubborn, "Of course! I'm sure about my own umbrella! There’s the character Xiao[3] engraved on the handle of the umbrella. I carved it myself!"

The last part was true. Out of boredom, he carved his name into the handle of his sister's umbrella, but all he could write was the ‘Xiao’ part of his name.

Naturally, the strong-looking men knew that there was a character carved on the handle of the umbrella, so they believed most of his words.

"So it was you who went to the back mountain that day?"

"It's me!”

"You were the one who stepped on our Lord's face?"

"...It’s me!"

"Did you fix our Lord's arm?"

"... It’s me!!! It’s all me!"

"You pricked his bottom with a needle too?"

Gu Xiaoshun almost stumbled and fell down. Big sis, my dear big sister, what were you doing stabbing someone's ass in your spare time?

Gu Xiaoshun took a deep breath and closed his eyes, "Yes, yes, yes! I did it all! If you don't believe me, just go and ask people, who else in this countryside besides Gu Xiaoshun could do such things?"

Gu Xiaoshun thought that he was going to be beaten to death here today, but the imagined pain did not come. When he opened his eyes carefully, he saw the two strong-looking men stepping back and bowing deeply to him.

"Benefactor! We've found you at last!"

Gu Xiaoshun, "..."

…….

"Big sis! Big sis!" Gu Xiaoshun ran into the kitchen like the reincarnation of the wind, "I think I’m in trouble!"

"Keep your voice down. Your brother-in-law is studying." Gu Jiao gave him a shush gesture.

With a gloomy face, Gu Xiaoshun told Gu Jiao exactly what happened at the entrance of the village, "...What do we do now, big sis? What benefactor? Did they mistake me for someone?”

"So it’s like that." Remembering what happened on the mountain that day, Gu Jiao nodded thoughtfully, "Did you ask who they were?"

Gu Xiaoshun hung down his small head and answered, "I forgot to ask."

"Have they gone yet?" Gu Jiao asked.

"Not yet." Gu Xiaoshun wept.

Gu Jiao put down the broom in her hand and said, "Alright, wait for me here."

"Don't go!" Gu Xiaoshun held her back.

"It’s all right." Gu Jiao smiled and went to the entrance of the village.

Gu Xiaoshun did not know what his sister said to the two men, in any case, they obediently left.

At dawn of the following day, a carriage entered the village and stopped outside the gate of the Gu Family.

A refined-looking, middle-aged man stepped out of the carriage.

Zhou shi and Gu Yue'e got up early.

Gu Yue'e carried a basket on her back and headed for the field to gather some pigweeds. When she opened the gate, she saw a middle-aged man who was about to knock at their gate and a big carriage behind him.

Gu Yue'e had never seen someone of such stature before and was shocked.

The middle-aged man said in an amicable manner, "Excuse me, is this the home of Village Chief Gu?"

Gu Yue'e quickly turned around and ran into the house, "...Mom, Mom! Somebody wants to see Grandfather!"

The one who came out was Gu Changhai.

Gu Changhai, as the eldest son of Old Mister Gu, occasionally followed Old Mister Gu to work at the Yamen, so he was more knowledgeable than most people in the village.

At a glance, he could tell that the other party had a great background.

Gu Changhai politely said, "My father is cleaning himself up. You are..."

The middle-aged man cupped his hands together and smilingly said, "I’m a steward of Tianxiang Academy. I’ve come here today to deliver the admission documents to Young Gentleman Gu."

Weren’t the students supposed to go to the town and get their admission documents by themselves? Moreover, it was still possible to trouble someone from the academy to deliver it in person?

Was it because Dashun did too well in the exam?

Gu Changhai felt his back straightened even more. He proudly rushed into Gu Dashun’s room and said, "Dashun, the academy has delivered your admission documents!"

1. ↑ — 举人| jǔrén: Successful examinees in the provincial-level imperial exam; a title/degree obtained after passing the provincial-level imperial exam. 2. ↑ — 进士| jìnshì: Successful examinees in the highest level imperial exam(palace examinations); highest academic title/degree in Imperial China. 3. ↑ — Not the word ‘Xiao’ but the character for it. Xiao in simplified chinese is ‘小’ meaning small/little. But apparently, the characters of this world are different from normal Chinese characters(according to future chapters).

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Also, please also have a look at our other translations!

Everyone But Me Is Reborn

Her father is a coward and senselessly filial. Her mother is weak and gullible. Her elder brother is a wastrel.

When she married into the Wangfu, she suffered and was coldly treated. And by the time she was in labour, she was fated to die with the unborn child in her belly.

This was supposed to be Ning Nuan's life.

However this time, everyone but her is reborn.

Ning Nuan is at a loss. She felt that her dad has suddenly become the pillar of the family, her mother’s temper became fierce, and even her elder brother, who would only walk the dogs and play with birds all day, has begun picking up books and reading them carefully.

There is also that juvenile that shows up at the wall of her courtyard everyday, calling her “Ah Nuan, Ah Nuan” with an honest face.