The Prime Minister's Darling

You could see a few words in the freshly burnt paper ash, but barely, just enough for Gu Jinyu to recognize it was her question, but not nearly enough to reconstruct the complete problem-solving process.

Of course, Gu Jinyu wouldn’t have guessed it was Xiao Jingkong who reduced it to ashes. She assumed that she had carelessly left her test paper in the pile of spiritual money and it was consequently burnt to nothingness alongside it.

At that thought, she got a dreadful pain in her chest, feeling as if she was going to spit blood and faint on the spot!

—

It was still early after their meal, so Gu Jiao decided to take a walk on her newly purchased mountainside.

Lately, she would trek up to the mountain during her spare time. Apart from collecting medicine and picking mushrooms, she had also mapped out the entire landscape of the mountain. She could now almost create a topographic map of the whole mountain with just one more trip.

Xiao Jingkong, hearing that she was planning to climb the mountain, turned his head and asked her, “Can I come with Jiaojiao?”

Gu Jiao thought for a while, then asked, “Do you want to visit your master and brothers?”

Though, he was primarily eager to spend more time with her, he agreed.

Xiao Jingkong hopped down from his stool and said to Gu Jiao, “Then let’s go visit them.”

The place they were heading to was quite close to the temple, actually en route.

Gu Jiao packed a small backpack. Seeing Xiao Jingkong’s look of envy, she gave him a mini backpack as well.

The mini backpack was filled with gifts for his friends.

There were vegetarian meatballs, fried by Gu Jiao.

There were Osmanthus cakes, bought by Gu Jiao.

And wild fruits, picked by Gu Jiao.

Xiao Jingkong, wearing the same backpack as Gu Jiao, was brimming with excitement. He ran to an elderly woman’s house to show off, then dashed to Xue Ningxiang’s and Doggie’s place to display it some more.

Following that, the duo set off for the mountain.

Despite Xiao Jingkong’s young age and small stature, he was tougher than most children. He managed to persist and make it round the far side of the mountain.

On the way up, he jogged ahead, with Gu Jiao leisurely following behind him. By the time they reached halfway up the mountain, his energy had dissipated and he slouched on the steps, turning into a little salty fish.

Gu Jiao hoisted the little salty fish · Jingkong onto her back and carried him up the mountain.

At the temple gates, rejuvenated Xiao Jingkong waved at Gu Jiao, “Jiaojiao, you can go on with your stuff, I will go look for Jing Fan, Jingxin, and Jingshan myself!”

“Okay,” replied Gu Jiao. She watched as Xiao Jingkong entered the temple and enthusiastically greeted a monk, even calling him Brother Jingchen. Only then did she set off to measure her mountainside with peace of mind.

The acquisition of this mountaintop had cost quite a few silvers, but the more she explored it, the more worth it Gu Jiao felt it was. The mountain was teeming with a wealth of wild medicinal herbs and beasts, all now hers.

Perhaps it was a lucky day for her, halfway she dug up two ginseng roots. They were not large, but they were sufficient to make chicken soup.

For some reason, Gu Jiao was suddenly reminded of the trap she had set up in the woods, but she assured herself that this time nobody could be that unlucky.

Who would have thought the moment this notion crossed her, she heard a rustle from the woods. It seemed something had indeed fallen in.

It was exactly where her trap was.

“No way, can it be such a coincidence…”

Gu Jiao raised an eyebrow.

Could it be a giant beast?

Or a wolf might do too.

Gu Jiao excitedly went to check her catch, only to find that…

Uh…it was another person.

Gu Jiao was a bit flabbergasted.

She had set it up as a trap for beasts, why did it keep capturing humans?

But unlike the previous time, it seemed to be a monk this time.

He was wearing grey and white robes, tall and lean, carrying something in his arms. The bit of his wrist poking out of the sleeve was as white as jade.

Perhaps he heard the noise above, he looked up and his other-worldly face appeared in Gu Jiao’s line of sight.

This monk had a pair of narrow, peach blossom eyes and a teardrop mole under his right eye. He looked very young, nonetheless.

Gu Jiao quietly marveled, in this world…even the monks were now so good-looking? Was he some supernatural creature from the forest, here to bewitch all the innocent young women?

Gu Jiao watched him warily.

He curled his thin, red lips into a faint smile, “Could this young donor lend me a hand?”

His voice was exceptionally pleasant to listen to!

It had a divine, ethereal quality to it.

Gu Jiao gave it some thought, eventually grabbed a rope from her backpack, and hoisted him up.

Only then did she notice the soft, white bunny cradled in his arms. In the pit where he had been trapped, there was the carcass of a venomous snake.

Gu Jiao looked at the snake, then at the bunny in his arms, and asked, “Did you fall into the trap while trying to save this bunny?”