Chapter 89.2
However, when Yao shi opened the portrait scroll with excitement, her smile froze at once, "What kind of drawing is this?"
Was this an abstract painting or something?
Was this shape that wasn’t either round or square a face?
Were these two asymmetrical mung beans the eyes?
Why were the nostrils so high?
And the mouth was crooked!
Marquis Gu coughed awkwardly and solemnly said, "She’s ugly."
He would never admit that his drawing was ugly!
The talented Marquis Gu had always had an unknown secret, that was, his calligraphy and painting sucked. Outsiders only said that Marquis Gu's treasured scrolls of calligraphy and painting were impossible to find, but they didn't know that he didn't dare to let people see it at all.
"You are ugly!" Yao shi threw the scroll back into his arms, opened the quilt and got out of bed.
Marquis Gu guessed what she wanted to do at a glance, and said lightly, "Are you going to ask Yan'er for a portrait? Hehe, his drawing skills aren’t even as good as mine."
Yao Shi who really wanted to kill him at the moment: "..."
Ultimately, Yao shi got the portrait of her daughter.
It was painted by Gu Jinyu.
Marquis Gu didn't tell Gu Jinyu the truth, and only asked her to draw a picture of the little medicine girl. Gu Jinyu's drawing skill was so good that she could rank at least in the top three among the noble young misses in the capital.
Marquis Gu brought the portrait to Yao shi.
When Yao shi saw the little girl in the portrait clearly, she was stunned.
…....
The sky turned dark a bit late today. When Gu Jiao returned to the village, the sun hadn't set yet. Wisps of smoke could be seen around the village, and the aroma of delicious food overflowed. It was exactly the atmosphere of smoke and fire in the countryside.
The Gu Family had been very quiet lately.
It was said that Old Mister Gu lost his position as the Village Chief, and dozens of acres of fields that the Gu Family had rented were also taken away. Those fields were originally rented by the Gu Family for farming. But to say they were rented, the annual rent was actually just no more than a hundred catty, which was no different from giving them away for free.
The Gu Family not only basked in Old Mister Gu’s light, but also in Gu Dashun’s light.
However, it was all gone now.
These days, the Gu Family was in straitened circumstances.
It was said that Gu Dashun no longer had enough money to continue paying the tuition fee.
But all this had nothing to do with Gu Jiao. Gu Jiao was too lazy to bother with them.
Gu Jiao felt a burning pain in her back, but she didn't pay it too much attention and simply went to the kitchen to cook dinner.
Little Jing Kong crouched in the backyard to feed his baby chicks. Halfway through the feeding, he grabbed a little yellow chick and came over, "JiaoJiao, JiaoJiao, Little Seven doesn't eat! Is it sick?"
"I told you you’re not capable of raising chickens. See, you're going to raise it to death."
It was Xiao Liulang's teasing voice.
Little Jing Kong turned around angrily, rested his hand on his hip and stamped his feet, "That’s not true! Little Seven won't die! I’m taking good care of it!"
"Let me see it." Gu Jiao held out her hand.
Little Jing Kong reluctantly put Little Seven in Gu Jiao’s palms.
He spoke confidently just now, but his eyes were a little red.
They could see that the little guy was really worried that Little Seven would be raised to death by himself.
Gu Jiao touched the chicken's belly and smiled, "It's full and can't eat any more."
"Ah?" Little Jing Kong’s big black eyes stared at the little chick. He scratched his head, and asked bitterly, "Little Seven, did you steal food again?"
Little Seven: "Chirp!"
Little Jing Kong brought the little chick outside and put it into the chicken coop, but before that, he first made an angry face at his bad brother-in-law.
Xiao Liulang gave him an amused look before his gaze shifted to Gu Jiao's face, and found that her complexion was paler than usual.
"Dinner is ready, let's eat." Gu Jiao said.
Xiao Liulang paused and said, "Alright."
At dinner, Gu Jiao had a bad appetite.
Little Jing Kong asked her, "JiaoJiao, are you full too?"
Xiao Liulang gave her a complicated look.
The elderly woman also looked at her.
Gu Xiaoshun also looked up and was startled, he said, "Big sis, why does your complexion look so bad? Are you sick?"
Little Jing Kong put down the bowl and chopsticks in his hands, got up and stood on the stool, "Nonsense! JiaoJiao won't get sick!"
"I'm not sick."
She really wasn’t sick. She must have been injured a little though.
It was painful, but she was already used to this kind of pain in her previous life, so she didn't take it to heart at all. But she forgot it was her previous body itself that had a tough foundation, as for her current body, how could it completely stand the lash from a military man?
At night, Gu Jiao's condition worsened.
Lightning flashed and thunder rolled in the dark night sky, illuminating the room’s interior intermittently.
On the bed, Little Jing Kong was lying on his little pillow with a drool on his mouth.
Xiao Liulang opened his eyes and looked at the direction of the door. He hesitated for a moment before he sat up. First, he pulled the quilt kicked by Little Jing Kong, then put on a coat and went to Gu Jiao's room.
Gu Jiao used to lock the door before. However, Little Jing Kong was once awakened by a nightmare in the middle of the night. He came looking for her with a pillow in his arms but couldn't open the door to her room and ended up crying for a long time.
After that, Gu Jiao never locked the door of her room again.
Xiao Liulang pushed open the door, which was left unlocked, and caught the faint smell of blood.
Xiao Liulang wrinkled his eyebrows. He paused for a bit, then stepped into the room.
"Gu... Gu Jiao."
He called but there was no response, so he came up to the bed.
He reached out and touched Gu Jiao's forehead. It was burning hot!
Another flash of lightning illuminated the whole room as bright as the daylight, allowing Xiao Liulang to see the bloodstained garment on the chair.
His expression immediately changed. He picked up the bloodstained garment, and then found that it was an undergarment.
It wasn’t exactly a soft material but a cheap one rather, however it had been refined on her delicate skin, and it gave off a faint fragrance of a young lady which was covered by the smell of blood.
Xiao Liulang’s ears went red as he looked at the location of the blood clearly. He determined that Gu Jiao was injured in the back. He took a deep breath and planned to turn Gu Jiao over, and then went to ask a physician to come over.
But as soon as his hand approached Gu Jiao, it was caught by Gu Jiao's cold little hand.
She tugged at it and said, "Instead of sleeping in the middle of the night, you’re here trying to take advantage of me."
In a moment of embarrassment, Xiao Liulang explained, "No, I’m..."
“Just a bit is fine." Gu Jiao mumbled and fell asleep in a daze.
So... She was just talking in her sleep?
Xiao Liulang breathed out slightly as a cold sweat seeped out.
However, this wasn’t the most terrible thing.
He inadvertently turned his head, and another flash of lightning gave him a jolt of surprise, especially after seeing the eerie figure of the elderly woman at the door.
His hairs stood on end!
The elderly woman entered the room with an expressionless face and put a bottle of Jinchuang medicine on Gu Jiao's desk.
Xiao Liulang's back shirt was drenched in sweat.
He couldn't tell whether he was more afraid or more guilty.
After all, his hand was still on Gu Jiao’s chest. Although it was her who pulled it over, it did seem that he took the initiative.
"Grandaunt, don't misunderstand..."
"Aren’t you a married couple? What misunderstanding can there be?"
After putting down the jinchuang medicine, the elderly woman walked out of the room with a snort.
Seriously!
On such a windy and moonless night!?
Well, whatever, just give her a whole bunch of great-grandnephews or nieces already!