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He must indeed go to school, but to make up for the loss of not seeing Gu Jiao the whole day, Xiao Jing Kong demanded two little goodbye kisses for himself.

Enrollment isn’t cheap, the monthly tuition fee was two taels of silver, which included one daily meal. If you quit halfway, there’s no refund.

Gu Jiao placed the two taels of silver into Xiao Jing Kong’s pocket, he insisted on paying the tuition himself, refusing to depend on his brother-in-law.

The pair, young and old, rode an ox cart to school.

Gu Jiao was left at the home pondering over how to repair the roof.

She climbed onto the roof for a look, only to find quite a number of broken tiles. She estimated if there were a few more heavy downpours, all three rooms would leak.

She decided to entirely re-thatch the roof, and furthermore, to construct two small rooms on either side of the backyard. That way, there would be no issues with accommodating Gu Xiaoshun upon her return to the village.

She did have some silver on hand, but it would not be sufficient to do all that was needed. She made a trip to Zhou Ji Bank in town and withdrew twenty taels of silver, meanwhile, she also asked how much was left in her account.

The bank shopkeeper told her, “One thousand and one hundred taels.”

Gu Jiao stood stunned for three seconds.

“Did you make a mistake? Is it not one hundred and ten taels, but one thousand and one hundred taels?”

The shopkeeper laughed: “Our Zhou Ji Bank is always honest. The silver belongs to you, it’s not the bank’s business to swindle you!”

When Xiao Liulang gave her the banknote, she didn’t overthink it, assuming it was one hundred and eighty taels. She never expected it to be this much.

The original amount was actually even more, but buying a calligraphy brush for Gu Jiao took up a whole hundred taels. It was a one-of-a-kind masterpiece straight from good country, yet poor Gu Jiao had complained about his taste for a good long while.

The remaining twenty taels had been put into Xiao Liulang’s bundle by Gu Jiao for his travels. Xiao Liulang didn’t spend it all and had deposited it into the bank.

Gu Jiao started to doubt the situation, “Did he really go to take an exam?”

Are we sure he didn’t go to the prefecture city to start a business copying books?

Gu Jiao suddenly remembered the cheating incident in the college examination that Dean Li mentioned to her, as well as how Xiao Liulang did not retake the exam for unknown reasons. Gu Jiao thought she understood why now.

—

After receiving the silver, Gu Jiao returned to the village to arrange for the house renovation. She hired a few local artisans, explained her requirements, and urged them to complete the work in the shortest possible time.

If you paid enough, the workers would not mind working faster. And, this was Xiao Xiucai’s house, they hoped that after Xiao Liulang’s success in the future, they could get a few acres of rent-free land under his name.

While Gu Jiao was vigorously renovating her house, Gu Jinyu unexpectedly fell ill.

The evening she returned from Qingquan Village, she felt something was amiss but dismissed it as fatigue. In the middle of the night, however, she had a high fever.

The old servant in the villa said it was due to encountering something unholy during the grave visit.

The royal doctor prescribed medicine, but it had little effect.

Lord Gu was distressed, “If I had known this, I wouldn’t have let Jin Yu visit the grave!”

“Cough, cough…” Gu Jinyu covered her mouth with a handkerchief and coughed weakly. “I’m okay, how is my little brother?”

Gu Yan hadn’t been feeling well either for the past two days. Because of his naturally weak constitution and over-exciting himself, he had drained his energy.

To stop him from moving around, Lady Yao had to stay at his bedside constantly.

“He’s fine.” Mentioning this, Lord Gu was still gratified, his son was much stronger than before. If he had overworked himself in the past, he would have been in mortal danger. Now, after lying on the bed for a few days, he was already full of energy again.

For the sake of caution, both he and Lady Yao felt that their son should rest quietly in the room for a few more days.

“If my little brother is fine, then that’s all that matters,” Gu Jinyu said as she coughed.

Lord Gu felt sorry for her, “Aiya, you’re so sick, yet you still worry about your little brother.”

Gu Jinyu smiled, “After all, he’s my only little brother.”

Lord Gu thought of his ungrateful daughter, Gu Jiao, and gritted his teeth, “If that girl could be half as sensible as you are, that would be good enough. I heard from Huang Zhong what happened that day, she gave you the cold shoulder, didn’t she? I tell you, your illness isn’t due to encountering something unclean, you were sick from her irritation!”

Gu Jinyu hurriedly said, “Father, please don’t talk like this about sister. She grew up in the countryside and her adoptive family did not treat her well. She has suffered a lot and doesn’t know how to interact with others. If I were her, I wouldn’t be doing any better.”

Lord Gu said, “You’re just too kind-hearted!”

Gu Jinyu shook her head, “My illness really isn’t because of sister. It’s my own fault.”

She paused, then told Lord Gu about how she lost the test paper.

“My aunt had high expectations for me and I lost the test paper I had half solved. The worry caught up to me and I fell ill.”

Lord Gu patted her on the back of her hand, “Silly girl, what’s there to worry about? Even if you can’t solve it, your aunt won’t blame you.”

“Really?” Gu Jinyu looked skeptical.

Lord Gu smiled mysteriously, “Your aunt wrote another letter, guess what she said?”

Gu Jinyu thought seriously, “To urge father to bring me back to Beijing soon?”

Lord Gu said, “Naturally, and what else?”

Gu Jinyu’s brows slightly knitted, “I can’t guess.”

Lord Gu looked at her fondly, and said proudly: “Your aunt has prepared a big gift for you. She originally planned to surprise you when you returned to Beijing, but telling you now won’t hurt. She asked the emperor for a favor, on the day of your hairpin ceremony, the emperor will personally issue an edict to confer you a county princess!”