The Prime Minister's Darling

He hated his own mouth with a passion. How could he speak the truth at such a critical moment!

As expected, by the time Governor Luo arrived to mediate, Du Ruohan had already been “taken care of” by Zhuang Xianzhi using family punishment until he was unrecognizable to his own parents.

Governor Luo, awkward yet respectful, asked, “Sir, should we investigate the two individuals?”

Zhuang Xianzhi vetoed it outright, “Does that kid ever speak the truth?”

A twitch appeared at the corner of Governor Luo’s mouth: The young master Du indeed spoke the truth when he criticized your test questions as very perverse…

Gu Jiao was oblivious to what was happening in Pingcheng. She was currently on her way to the hot springs villa.

This morning, the second shopkeeper personally came to her, telling her about the clinic schedule for the month, “….I understand that we have previously discussed outpatient visits, but you know Gu Yan’s situation. It is really not convenient for him to come out.”

The second shopkeeper did not know that Gu Yan had come to her not long ago, and she had given him a follow-up consultation.

Gu Jiao hesitated, then said, “Alright.”

“Eh?” The second shopkeeper was taken aback, She is so easy-going?

All my killer arguments prepared for the way here, never got a chance to use?

The weather was clear and the coach moved quickly. They reached the villa in less than two hours.

The attitude of the people in the villa had changed dramatically from their previous visit. The guards were still maintaining their stern faces, but their manners were highly polite.

The maid who came to meet them was the same as last time. Supposedly, her name was Yu Yaya.

Yu Yaya led Gu Jiao, the second shopkeeper, and the old doctor to a pavilion near the garden, “The young master is soaking in the hot springs, please wait a moment here. I will go and inform the young master of your arrival.”

The hot springs were close to the pavilion, Yu Yaya wasn’t sure where the young master would prefer to have the consultation, if it was at the hot springs, there would be no need to guide them to the main compound.

Yu Yaya went ahead to ask for the young master’s instructions, while she ordered another young maid to bring refreshments and tea from the kitchen to entertain Gu Jiao and the others.

Their treatment had greatly improved from the last time.

The second shopkeeper tasted a rose pastry and could not contain his grin.

“Is it that delicious?” Gu Jiao asked.

The second shopkeeper laughed, “Things from the Marquis Residence are precious not because they are delicious, but because they are hard to come by.”

What he was tasting wasn’t just a pastry, but honor itself!

“Woo! Woo!”

As they waited, a cry from a tiny creature sounded from the garden.

All of them heard, the old doctor looked in the direction of the sound and wondered brusquely, “What is that noise?”

The second shopkeeper paused his pastry-eating, he listened carefully but didn’t recognize the sound.

“I’ll go check.” Gu Jiao said.

“Eh… perhaps you shouldn’t…” The second shopkeeper tried to dissuade her, but was Gu Jiao the kind of person to be easily stopped?

After she spoke, she got up and walked down the stairs towards the garden.

Following the sound, she quickly found the small creature trapped under the fence.

It was a small puppy, recently born, somehow stuck in the fence. There were brambles under the fence, the result being that the more it struggled, the deeper the thorns penetrated its skin.

The puppy was in terrible pain, its eyes welled up. Seeing someone approaching, it extended its little tongue, whether from fear or excitement, unknowingly, it licked a thorn, which caused it to whimper in pain.

“What a silly little pup.” Gu Jiao squatted down, petting its fluffy head, “Stop moving.”

The puppy didn’t understand and continued writhing in pain.

To rescue it, she would have to move the fence and then carefully pull out the thorns embedded in the puppy’s skin, one by one.

Gu Jiao chose the best position and started to pull at the fence.

At that moment, a maid clad in apricot-colored armor approached, “Who are you? Stop what you are doing!”

Gu Jiao did not stop.

Gu Jiao was dressed in a simple peasant outfit, carrying a small basket on her back.

The maid found the outfit somewhat familiar, but didn’t pay it any mind. She stormed over, grabbed Gu Jiao’s basket and said, “Didn’t you hear me telling you to stop?”

Gu Jiao averted her gaze. Her icy stare was so sharp, it frightened the maid into loosening her grip.

Then, the maid recognized her, “Is it you?”

Gu Jiao also recognized her: the maid from Huichun Hall who had turned her wallet inside out and slandered her as a thief. She was Gu Jinyu’s confidante, named Yu Ru.

“What are you doing here?” Yu Ru frowned upon seeing her, recalling that someone had mentioned that the doctor from Huichun Hall had come to examine the young master. Her face darkened, “You’re just a medicine boy, there’s no need for you to follow every time!”

Gu Jiao didn’t bother to pay her any attention and started to pull at the fence.

Yu Ru barked, “What do you think you’re doing? All the flowers here belong to the young mistress! Can you afford to pay if you damage them?”

“Woof! Woof!” the puppy whimpered in pain.

Yu Ru glanced at it and sneered, “Just for a mutt? Is it your dog? It’s true, like master, like dog! Do you know how much each peony inside costs in silver? Even if I sold you and your dog…”

She was being so noisy.

Disturbed, Gu Jiao furrowed her brows and abruptly pulled up the fence.

“You–” Yu Ru’s face changed as she lunged at her.

Actually, when Gu Jiao pulled up the fence, she intentionally avoided the peonies, but Yu Ru, lunging forward, crashed into the fence, causing it to swing, knocking down a peony plant in the process.

It was the most vibrant one.

Yu Ru’s face turned pale.

She hastily backed away several paces, covered her mouth with one hand and pointed at Gu Jiao with the other, “You… you ruined the Young Mistress’s flowers!”

“You did it yourself! Why blame others?”

The voice belonged to Yu Yaya.

After reporting that Gu Yan had returned, Gu Yan had asked her to lead the people to the hot springs. She just happened to witness this scene.

“Shameless!” Yu Yaya said.

Yu Ru was Gu Jinyu’s personal maid, few servants in the villa dared to speak to her this way.

Yu Ru’s face turned dark: “It was her who ruined it! She was the one who uprooted the fence! If you don’t believe me, ask… ask them! They all saw it!”

Sometime during the arguing, some curious servants had gathered.

Yu Ru asked for their testimony.

Yu Yaya put her hands on her hips: “Okay then, say it! Who was the one who ruined it?”

The crowd lowered their heads.

Yu Ru’s backing was Gu Jinyu – it was obviously not worthwhile to offend her for a mere medicine boy.

It wasn’t that they weren’t afraid of Gu Yan, but Yu Yaya’s confrontational attitude was not clearly backed by Gu Yan. Who didn’t know that the young master detested such disputes between servants?

Yu Ru sneered, “See? It was her who ruined it!”

Being pointed at by Yu Ru, Gu Jiao ignored the surrounding commotion completely. She removed all the thorns from the puppy’s body and wrapped it with a clean cloth.

The cloth quickly became soaked with its blood.

“Whimper… whimper…” the puppy whimpered in pain.

The second boss and the housekeeper arrived at the same time.

The housekeeper remembered clearly Gu Jiao’s all too fresh misbehavior of climbing into bed and did not have a good impression of her; even less so seeing the bloody puppy in her hands: “Don’t you dare throw it away?”

This remark was aimed at both Gu Jiao and the second boss.

The second boss knew that Gu Jiao would not throw it away.

The young girl would not bow to hardness, couldn’t they just ask nicely, instead of being rude? They were hopelessly worsening the situation.

“Give it to me. I’ll put it in the carriage.” The second boss reached out to take the puppy.

But Gu Jiao didn’t give it to him.

The Housekeeper said coldly, “I’ll say it again, throw this beast out! If not, she can get out too!”

“Who are you telling to get out?”

Accompanied by a calm voice, Gu Yan’s sedan was carried over by his servants.