noveldrama
Chapter 268: 153 Recognizing Relatives (second update)_2
Chapter 268: 153 Recognizing Relatives (second update)_2
Chapter 268: 153 Recognizing Relatives (second update)_2
Either way, I wound up “cucking” the late emperor. It’s terrifying!
“My nephew.” Gu Jiao introduced.
Xiao Liulang: “…..”
You disappeared for a bit and now you’ve picked up a new nephew at home?
Gu Jiao cried foul: It wasn’t me who picked this one up.
Xiao Liulang gave the old man a complex look.
The old man was now blank, he didn’t even remember he was here to recognize Xiao Liulang. He just was crazily apologizing to the late emperor in his heart — His relationship with the Empress Dowager was definitely pure!
The old lady’s anger had calmed down now, she asked indifferently: “Alright, just lay it out, do we have a child?”
The old man almost slipped off the chair.
He barely managed to sit up from the chair, his face pale: “No, we don’t.”
The old lady nodded: “I thought so, otherwise I wouldn’t have traveled such a long distance to seek refuge with Liulang.”
Xiao Liulang looked at the old man, who was busy wiping his sweat.
Having fought with the Empress Dowager his whole life, this round was the hardest to handle. He was completely defenseless!
The Empress Dowager casually said: “You abandoned me when we were young, now that you’re old, you want my nephew to take care of you. There’s no door for you here, scram!”
The old man sighed in relief, this was the first time he found the word ‘scram’ so comforting.
After leaving the courtyard, he still had a sense of unreality.
He needed to figure it out, so he didn’t leave, he waited by the door.
And Xiao Liulang did not disappoint him, he came out soon after.
The two saw each other without surprise, as if each had calculated one wouldn’t leave, one wasn’t going to stay in.
Xiao Liulang was no longer as flustered as last time at the alley entrance.
The old man’s heart was mixed: “The woman inside is the Empress Dowager, right? How are you related to the empress dowager? You can deny that you are Ahen, but you can’t deny her identity, the Empress Dowager is not dead.”
Xiao Liulang was silent.
The old man asked in distress: “What happened? What happened between you and the Empress Dowager? The Empress Dowager may have lost her memories, but you haven’t. Tell me!”
Xiao Liulang stayed silent.
The old man closed his eyes in pain: “Fine, if you don’t want to talk, I won’t pester you. I’ll come to see you another day. Today’s incident… I will keep your secret.”
Xiao Liulang slightly bowed and turned to go back to the courtyard.
“Your leg…” The old man’s worried gaze fell on his right leg.
Xiao Liulang paused, “It’s no big deal.”
That was the only sentence he said to himself.
The old man felt that maybe, he came out just to say these three words to him.
He didn’t want him to worry about him.
The old man’s heart was filled with sorrow.
Xiao Liulang went back into the courtyard, and the old man got back on the carriage.
Today’s “harvest” was not just seeing the Empress Dowager, but also his young benefactor.
He never expected that she and Ahen… no, now called Liulang would be husband and wife.
What destiny is this?
In the courtyard, everyone was watching the old lady intently.
“Grandma, grandpa really left, aren’t you sad?” Xiao Jingkong asked.
In this family, there weren’t many who knew that the old lady wasn’t Xiao Liulang’s real aunt. Gu Xiaoshun was one of them. He was present when the old lady had fainted at Gu Jiao and Xiao Liulang’s doorstep.
Those who came after, like Gu Yan, Xiao Jingkong, Yao’s family etc. all believed that the old lady really was Xiao Liulang’s aunt and she had traveled a long distance to find refuge with him.
So when grandpa appeared, people like Xiao Jingkong hardly had any doubt.
Gu Xiaoshun also believed it because over time he had forgotten that granny was a foundling.
Old lady nibbled a melon seed: “Why should I be sad? It’s peaceful when he’s not around!”
Who wants to spend their latter half of life with a grumpy old man?
Isn’t it better to play cards all day?
Xiao Jingkong, “Oh.”
When Gu Jiao was cooking in the kitchen, Xiao Jingkong jauntily walked in, tugged at Gu Jiao’s clothes and said: “Jiaojiao, I want to tell you something.”
“What is it?” Gu Jiao asked.
Xiao Jingkong skewed his little head, looking at her: “Brother-in-law has a nickname, Ahuang, like the character in hegemony.”
Even though his brother-in-law wouldn’t admit it, he had already decided in his heart that the bully was Ahuang!
Gu Jiao laughingly looked at him: “Really? How do you know?”
Xiao Jingkong said: “I heard the old man calling him. I saw him that day.”
Gu Jiao: “Oh?”
Xiao Jingkong sighed: “My brother-in-law and I were returning from school, we were at the alley entrance when the old man called out to my brother-in-law ‘Ahuang’. My brother-in-law ignored him, he just grabbed me and ran. I asked my brother-in-law, but he forcefully argued that the old man recognized the wrong person. My brother-in-law is so unfilial. Even if he doesn’t want to acknowledge the old man, he shouldn’t treat him like this. Master Jiang taught us to respect the elderly and love the young…”
Xiao Jingkong had felt something was wrong that day, and today, the old man’s visit further confirmed his suspicions.
His wicked brother-in-law was definitely hiding something that day!
The wicked brother-in-law is truly unfilial.
He couldn’t continue behaving this way in the future.
After delivering his complaint, Xiao Jingkong felt a great responsibility resting on his shoulders.
He went to the study, and picked up his much-despised foreign language books.
The wicked brother-in-law was unreliable, how exhausting.
From today onwards, he had to work twice as hard, so he could support the family properly in the future.
In the fireplace, Gu Jiao pondered over Xiao Jingkong’s words.
They met?
He even called him by his nickname?
In other words, that man knew Xiao Liulang.
Judging by Xiao Liulang’s reaction, it’s highly possible that Xiao Liulang knew him too.
According to Gu Jiao’s observation of that man, it was clear he knew the old lady as well. Whether they were actually a couple was still hard to say.
It’s possible that the old lady mixed up her memories and identified the wrong person.
That’s not the point.
The point is that if that man knew both Xiao Liulang and the old lady, and Xiao Liulang knew him too, then wasn’t it possible that Xiao Liulang also knew the old lady?
Was the reason he rescued the old lady and continued to shelter her without any complaints not due to his sudden kindness, but because they already knew each other?
The Duke of An also recognized the old lady…
Gu Jiao wrote several names with a firewood stick on the wood ash.
The old lady, the Duke of An, Xiao Liulang, Marquis Xuanping Residence, Ahuang.
…
After returning to his carriage, the old man’s mood couldn’t calm down for quite some time.
Empress Dowager Zhuang and the Marquis Xuanping Residence weren’t on good terms, and neither was he. Xiao Liulang was both connected to the Marquis Xuanping Residence and his student.
Letting Xiao Liulang stay near that cursed empress dowager made him uneasy.
“No, I must keep an eye on her!”
The old man’s return to the capital this time was actually due to a long-term friend of his being seriously ill and nearing the end. He came to say his final goodbye.
After the visit, he planned to continue his seclusion in the mountains.
But now, he changed his mind.
He quietly used his connections that had been dormant for many years to rent a small house in Bishui Alley. Coincidentally, it was right next door to Xiao Liulang and Gu Jiao.
The old man quickly moved in.
He didn’t have many servants, only Liao Quan and a temporarily hired coachman.
On the first day of moving in, he propped up a ladder and stood on the wall, peeking at the comings and goings of the cursed empress dowager.
The old lady noticed him long ago.
This pestering old coot, who didn’t want her when he was young but wants her back now that he’s old?
Dream on!
Barely restraining her urge to stab him to death, the old lady went back to her room to sleep.
But as she lay in bed, tossing and turning, she felt increasingly upset!
She went to the kitchen, grabbed a kitchen knife, and furiously went next door.
The old man had watched for a while before he grew sleepy and also returned to his room to sleep.
The difference was, he fell asleep.
But halfway through his sleep, he felt a chill on his neck. The instant he woke up, he saw the old lady pointing a kitchen knife at him.
He jumped in fright: “What are you doing?”
The old lady placed the kitchen knife on his neck, and with her imposing aura, she said: “Hand over your stash of money!”
The old scribe who was inexplicably being robbed: “…?!”