The Prime Minister's Darling

“Lord Gu…”

Lord Gu’s eyes blazed: “I will not let anything happen to her again!”

Nanny Fang did not refute anymore, she bowed to Lord Gu: “I take my leave.”

Lord Gu blocked the news about the Yao Family’s Courtyard, and did not let Gu Yan and Gu Jinyu know.

An hour later, Lady Yao stirred weakly to consciousness.

Lord Gu sat on the edge of the bed, held her hand, and asked softly, “Are you awake? Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?”

Yao Family’s lady shook her head weakly, staring fixedly at him: “Where is my child? Where is my child?”

At this point, Lord Gu had nothing to conceal anymore. He tightened his grip on her hand, took a deep breath and said, “She came earlier, right here.”

Yao’s lady was agitated again.

Lord Gu, fearing that she might faint again, hurriedly supported her shoulders and said, “Don’t get excited, listen to me. She is fine, I have found her. Once you have fully recovered, I will take you to see her.”

Lady Yao unhesitatingly responded, “I am fine!”

Lord Gu said, “I know, I know, but it’s too late today, and visiting her would only disturb her rest. In the morning, I promise you.”

Only then did Yao’s lady lie back down.

She looked at him perplexly, “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

Lord Gu remained silent.

Lady Yao’s brow furrowed, “Did you not want to acknowledge that child?”

Lord Gu was startled, a wave of dread making his heart pound. His strong will to survive led him to make a firm decision between honesty and deceit – “No such thing! Don’t overthink it! She’s my own flesh and blood. How could I not want to acknowledge her? It’s just … I’ve made a mistake once. I don’t want to be wrong a second time.”

Lord Gu told Lady Yao about the issue with blood fusion.

“…I was considering waiting until her blood was integrated with Yanyan’s and then telling you. However, Yanyan got along extremely well with her. I think, if they were not connected by blood, Yanyan would not like her so much.”

Lady Yao appeared startled, “Yanyan has seen her too?”

Lord Gu nodded slowly, “…Yes, she is the young medicine girl from Huichun Hall.”

“Do you have a portrait of her?” Lady Yao after all was eager to see her daughter.

Lord Gu hesitated, “This ……”

“I implore you, Lord Gu,” Lady Yao pleaded with him for the first time.

Heart filled with bitterness over a mere portrait of a nasty girl, Lord Gu took up the brush and painstakingly sketched out an image.

However, Lord Gu always seemed unable to deny a woman’s request, even more so with Lady Yao.

But, the moment Lady Yao scrolled open the painting and looked at it, her smile stiffened, “What exactly have you drawn?”

Randomly drawn circles and crosses?

Is this round, geometric shape supposed to be a face?

Are these two asymmetrical green beans supposed to be eyes?

Is the nostril crookedly drawn up towards the sky?

And the mouth is crooked too!

Lord Gu embarrassedly coughed, earnestly saying, “It’s because she’s ugly.”

He would never admit that his drawing was ugly!

The talented and brilliant Lord Gu always had an unknown secret- his calligraphy and painting was terribly poor. Outsiders, who assumed he refrained from gifting his ink treasures, did not know it was because he flatly refused to let anyone see his work.

“You are the ugly one!” Lady Yao tossed the drawing back into his arms, threw off her blanket and was about to get out of bed.

Lord Gu instantly guessed what she wanted to do and calmly said, “Are you going to ask Yanyan for a portrait? Heh, his drawing’s even worse than mine.”

Lady Yao, who wanted to kill him with her glare, “…”

In the end, Lady Yao received a portrait of her daughter.

It was drawn by Gu Jinyu.

Lord Gu did not reveal the truth to Gu Jinyu, he only asked her to draw the physical appearance of the Huichun Hall’s little medicine girl. Gu Jinyu’s drawing abilities were indeed extraordinary, and among the noble maids in the capital, she could at least rank in the top three.

Lord Gu showed the portrait to Lady Yao.

Looking at the girl in the portrait, Lady Yao was suddenly transfixed.

Nowadays, nightfall was late. When Gu Jiao returned to the village, the sun had not set yet. The village was filled with the smell of home-cooked food and the atmosphere of rural life.

The Gu Family was quiet recently.

Rumours abounded that Old Master Gu had lost his position as Lizheng, and the Gu Family’s dozens of acres of tenant’s land were confiscated. These lands were originally allocated to the Gu Family for cultivation. The term ‘tenants’ was misleading, as the annual rental fee was not more than a few hundred catties, which was virtually free.

This was due to the influence of both Old Master Gu and Gu Dashun.

However, now everything was gone.

The Gu Family’s life started to be fraught.

It was even said that Gu Dashun was on the verge of not being able to pay the upkeep.