The Prime Minister's Darling

She could feel herself holding her great-grandchild soon!

Gu Jiao smoothly switched the topic to Fen Lin.

Xiao Liulang answered earnestly: “He returned to the Academy, he was in Prefecture City for a month and missed quite a lot of lessons.”

They were much indebted to Fen Lin this time, Gu Jiao made a note of his kindness.

While they were talking, some cute little yellow chicks strutted out confidently.

Only then, Xiao Liulang came to notice that his home began raising chickens during the month he was away.

Gu Jiao wasn’t fond of raising chickens. It was Xiaoshun who, after seeing the chicklings of their neighboring house and falling in love with them, asked Gu Jiao if they could raise a few.

Gu Jiao agreed to raise them, with the condition that Xiaoshun himself takes care of the chicks, including feeding and cleaning up their droppings, he’s not allowed to delegate the task to others.

To underscore the hard work behind chicken rearing, Gu Jiao let Xiaoshun feed the chickens at Xue Ningxiang’s house for two days and see not only the cute chicks but also the fully-grown, less adorable hens and roosters.

Moreover, Gu Jiao told him that all the adorable chicks he sees now will one day grow into hens and roosters.

Even this didn’t dissuade him, so Gu Jiao had to let him raise them.

He raised seven of them, each one fat and plump.

He even named them all, from one to seven; who knows how he distinguishes between them.

Xiao Liulang brought the old lady candied dried bayberries, a specialty of Pingcheng—the bayberries have just borne fruit during this time, the berries are tiny with a strong sour taste, but this makes them perfect for candying; the sweet and sour taste is not at all greasy.

Xiao Liulang brought two cans, one with kernels removed and one with kernels intact.

It may seem like just two cans of food, but this is Pingcheng’s most famous candied dried bayberries, and it being the peak examination season meant that the goods were sold out almost as soon as they were released each day.

Xiao Liulang had to queue up at midnight, shivering in the cold for a long time.

The old lady held up a pitted dried bayberry for Goudan (the dog).

Goudan started drooling profusely.

Gu Xiaoshun hadn’t been let out of school yet. Xiao Liulang also brought something for him—it was a complete set of woodworking tools, exceptionally comprehensive.

Zhan Country had strict control over iron, making it difficult for ordinary people to buy such detailed and complete iron tools. Xiao Liulang had to coax the Prefect Luo to buy them.

His package visibly shrunk after this.

Xiaoshun nonchalantly paraded the chickens around, but frequently cast glances at Xiao Liulang’s package.

Picking up on his small odd behavior, Gu Jiao asked, “Xiaoshun, are you also looking forward to your gift?”

“I am not!” Xiaoshun turned his head away proudly.

His horrible brother-in-law wouldn’t buy him a gift!

Xiao Liulang observed Xiaoshun’s displeasure, their relationship was already tense, and having been separated for over a month, now it feels like they are not even familiar with each other.

Xiao Liulang took out a Kong Ming Lock from the package: “If you don’t want it, I’ll give it to Goudan.”

“No way!” Xiaoshun hopped down from the chair, snatched the Kong Ming Lock into his arms, “He’s, he’s little! He can’t play with it!”

Goudan looked dazedly at his brother, not at all understanding what was happening.

Finally, it was Gu Jiao’s turn.

It was a very exquisite brocade box, the sight of it alone suggested its value.

Gu Jiao surreptitiously measured the length of the brocade box.

Was it a hairpin?

With such a pricey box, it must at least be a silver hairpin, right?

Silver hairpins aren’t commonly seen in the countryside, usually it’s wooden ones, and the extravagant ones are made of brass. Silver hairpins are only bought by well-off families and are only worn on important days.

Most importantly, if a man gifts a woman a hairpin, it signifies an unspoken meaning!

The words “I like it, I like it, I like it” were all over Gu Jiao’s face!

Click.

Xiao Liulang opened the brocade box.

But it was not a hairpin—it was a brush!

Gu Jiao was stunned on the spot.

Xiao Liulang said, “Your handwriting always seems poor. Besides your gripping posture, it also has something to do with the brush. This is a wolf hair brush made by a famous craftsman in Pingcheng, it suits your strength very well.”

He introduced it seriously, but Gu Jiao felt completely dejected.

Was the hairpin too hot to handle?

Why did he have to give her a brush?

This was like giving a whole set of test papers to a student whose mind was only on microtransactions in games, could she refuse it?!

Watching Gu Jiao’s struggle to hold back her freak-out, the old lady laughed so hard her belly hurt!

—There’s a certain need, called the need that Xiao Liulang thinks you have.

Gu Jiao, clutching the wolf hair brush, wore a face as black as charcoal.