The Grand Secretary's Pampered wife

Yao shi wanted to pay Gu Jiao medical fee, but Gu Jiao just shook the basket of mulberries on the table.

Yao shi smiled.

Still, Gu Jiao did ask Yao shi for an extra fee, though it wasn’t money, but the pastries made by her own hands instead.

Yao shi felt very happy.

She hadn't been this happy in a long time.

Every time she saw Gu Jiao, she always seemed to have good luck. She was either saved by her or cured by her.

Was this little girl her lucky star or something?

Perhaps because they were the same age, Yao shi suddenly thought of Gu Jinyu.

Although they were mother and daughter, her relationship with Jinyu wasn’t really as close as her relationship with Gu Yan.

Even though Gu Yan might have a foul attitude all day long, she could still feel his need for her.

If she were to send Gu Yan to the capital while she stayed behind at the villa, Gu Yan wouldn't go. On the other hand, Jinyu could leave easily. She seemed to yearn for the prosperity of the capital and the bustle of the Marquis Estate.

This wasn’t to say that Jinyu didn’t love her mother, it was just that there wasn’t only her mother in Jinyu's world.

Without her, Jinyu could live pretty much well.

And she thought it might be a good thing.

After all, if one day Gu Yan was gone, she didn’t want to live anymore either.

At least she didn’t have to worry about Jinyu suffering so much grief.

On the way back, Gu Jiao inquired more about the Marquis Estate from Second Owner.

"What do you mean?" Second Owner asked.

“The Marchioness.” Gu Jiao said.

It wasn’t surprising that she asked about the Marchioness. After all, amongst the owners of the Hot Spring Villa, they had already met three of them, only the Madame had yet to show herself to them.

Second Owner didn't think that Gu Jiao had any special purpose for asking. He thought for a while before saying, "The Marchioness seems to be surnamed Yao, and she has a bit of a story. She is Marquis Ding'an's second wife, and her family has been in a decline. Her father took a sinecure job in the Ministry of Revenue. They said that he had offended some people, and in the end, was stripped even of that sinecure position. She has a deep friendship with the former Marchioness. Before the first Marchioness died of illness, she visited her several times, and according to rumors in the capital, she hooked up with Marquis Ding'an while the first Marchioness was seriously ill."

Gu Jiao had a slight frown between her brows. She wasn’t that kind of person.

Second Owner went on, "The truth is that she had never even met Marquis Ding'an in the Marquis Estate."

"How did you know?" Gu Jiao asked.

Second Owner smiled faintly and replied, "Our Rejuvenation Hall still has some reputation in the capital. The imperial physician who treated the former Marchioness had some contacts with my family. Actually, the former Marchioness asked Yao shi to take care of her children.”

Gu Jiao asked, "The former Marchioness have children?"

Second Owner answered, "Yes, she has three sons. It was the former Marchioness who came up with the idea of Yao shi marrying Marquis Ding'an as the second wife, but Yao shi herself didn’t agree. When Yao shi personally refused, the physician was just behind boiling the medicine, and he heard their entire conversation.”

"But one day when she was going for a walk, Marquis Ding'an finally met Yao shi and fell in love with her at a glance. Marquis Ding'an proposed to the Yao Family directly, and the Yao family agreed without demur. After that, you should be able to imagine all kinds of rumors slandering Yao shi in the capital.”

The Marchioness stayed in the Hot Spring Villa all these years, first, to accompany Gu Yan for his recuperation, and second, because she herself wasn’t comfortable in the capital.

"There really wasn’t much affection between Marquis Ding'an and the original Marchioness. On the contrary, he loves Yao shi very much. In fact, with her background, Yao shi wasn’t qualified to be his second wife, but the Marquis himself insisted on marrying Yao shi. But the more he loves Yao shi, the more people feel that Yao shi is a seductress."

As a matter of fact, Second Owner had once met Yao shi. He could tell that she wasn’t a scheming sort of woman; her eyes were simply as clean as the bottom of a clear lake.

If she was a seductress, no one else in the world was pure and innocent.

……

Ten days after the end of the prefectural exam, the prefectural yamen finally released the list of successful examinees.

At the first light of the day, examinees headed to the prefectural yamen one after another to see if they had passed the exam.

The number of successful examinees to pass the prefectural exam was very limited. Amongst hundreds of examinees, only the top fifty people would be accepted, and they were further divided into two classes: Class A and Class B, with the top ten people in the first class while the rest were in Class B.

Feng Lin was awakened by Du Ruohan, who had slipped out of the Prefect Residence before dawn, "Feng Lin Feng Lin! Get up! Get ready to lose some money!"

Du Ruohan made an unilateral bet with Feng Lin a few days ago. He bet ten taels of silver that Xiao Liulang couldn't pass the exam.

Feng Lin opened the door with a yawn, "...I haven't had breakfast yet."

Du Ruohan immediately stuffed a big steamed bun into his mouth, dragged him and walked downstairs.

Feng Lin took the steamed bun off his mouth and said, "Liulang hasn't eaten yet..."

Du Ruohan said, "All right, all right! He has hands and feet, he won’t starve to death!"

Du Ruohan dragged Feng Lin all the way to the entrance of the prefectural yamen.

There had been a lot of examinees standing there, and the front of the bulletin board was crowded. Du Ruohan took great pains to pull Feng Lin into the innermost spot.

In Du Ruohan's opinion, there was really little chance for an idiot like Xiao Liulang to pass the exam.

"Hey, hey, wait for me, Fattie Feng!"

"I'm not Fattie Feng! I... I’m not with you either... " In the middle of their quibble, Feng Lin's eyes landed on that one striking name that was impossible to ignore. He suddenly choked and pointed to the list," You, look at that!"

Du Ruohan followed the direction of his finger.

Then, he saw a particular name in the most conspicuous position in the list—— Prefectural Exam’s Top Scorer, Xiao Liulang!

Du Ruohan's jaw was about to drop in disbelief, saying, "For real? That guy really passed? And he’s even the top scorer? How is this possible?"

What about that little idiot back then?

The guy who couldn’t even recite the three-character classic had suddenly become the prefectural exam’s top scorer?

Compared to the county exam, it was much more difficult to become the top scorer in the prefectural exam. It wasn’t a simple single level difference.

Furthermore, the examination questions this time were given by his outrageous uncle, so it raised the difficulty even more, okay?

Feng Lin held out his hand in front of him.

Du Ruohan: "What?"

Feng Lin: "Since you’re willing to bet, you should also be willing to admit your loss."

Hey, you didn't agree to bet with me, remember?

You were led astray by that guy!

Feng Lin took almost Du Ruohan’s entire fortune and headed back to the inn joyfully. He gave half of the money to Xiao Liulang, and he didn't have to say anything about the results as the man reporting the good news had already gone to the inn to congratulate him.