Chapter 260 - 150: Defending in a Domineering Way (Part 1)

Gu Jiao didn’t know, she was only guessing.

The token was picked up by Xue Ningxiang from the spot where Xiao Liulang had fainted. Both the handsome monk and the princess claimed it to be the token of the Marquis Residency of Xuanping, they mustn’t have been mistaken.

This man was also referred to as young master Xiao Liulang.

All the pieces of information together led to the question she had posed to steward Liu earlier.

Steward Liu had come to her this time with the intention of using her to coax their young master back to their mansion, he had no intention to hide his own identity, so he confirmed,” That’s correct, the young master is from the Marquis Residence of Xuanping.”

Gu Jiao took a moment to digest this information: “Oh.”

Oh?

Steward Liu was a bit confused, this wasn’t her first time hearing it, was it? Her reaction was awfully nonchalant!

Gu Jiao was not someone who cared about status. Whether Xiao Liulang was the master or a servant of the Marquis’ Residence held no difference to her.

However, there was one thing she did not understand.

“If he is the young master of the Marquis Residence of Xuanping, why is he unwilling to return with you?”

This was not her trying to pry into each other’s secrets, but the other party had approached her, she couldn’t just blindly give up her husband, could she?

Steward Liu sighed: “It’s a long story to tell at this time, if young madam has time, may we have a seat in the tea house.”

There was a tea house nearby. Gu Jiao didn’t refuse and went with steward Liu.

Steward Liu muttered to himself, the young madam isn’t too sensible, is she? She simply follows a stranger without even checking his token or anything?

If steward Liu knew about Gu Jiao’s abilities, he would be the one who needed to worry.

Steward Liu felt indifferent to Gu Jiao, harboring not a hint of ill-intent, nor had he considered coming between the young couple.

He believed the Marquis wouldn’t either.

The Marquis was already powerful enough on his own, he didn’t need to rely on a son to secure the relationship between the Marquis Residence of Xuanping and various significant families through marriage alliances.

As for whether their statuses were equal…

Although brought up in the countryside, she was a legitimate daughter from the Marquis household after all, matched to the young master… it was probably just barely acceptable!

Steward Liu reserved a private room on the second floor.

Facing the avenue, one could see the bustling Xuanwu Avenue from an open window.

As the two sat facing each other, steward Liu asked: “Does young madam prefer Biluochun or Longjing tea?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Gu Jiao said.

Steward Liu smiled and brewed a pot of Longjing tea: “This is this year’s new tea.”

Gu Jiao wasn’t particularly fond of tea. She diluted it with some cold water and drank it all in one go.

She was genuinely thirsty.

Steward Liu watched in shock.

The young master was a character, and his young madam didn’t lag behind either.

“Get on with it, the matter at hand,” Gu Jiao said lightly.

“Ah!” Steward Liu came back to his senses, sighed, and revealed Xiao Liulang’s origins, “Actually… the young master is the secret son of the Marquis.”

This matter goes back to some eighteen or nineteen years ago when the Marquis traveled to Jiangnan to manage flood control.

That year, a major flood struck Jiangnan, leading to the destruction of thousands of acres of good farmland and the displacement of civilians. Upon investigation, it was found to be not only a natural disaster but also a man-made one.

“The silver allocated by the court for dam constructions was embezzled by local officials, shoddy work was done on the dam construction, leading to it being unable to hold the flood, causing irreparable damage.”

The status of the Marquis at that time was not as it is today, commanding rivers and mountains. The emperor had dispatched him to investigate the truth about the dam in Jiangnan, local bigwigs tried to bribe the Marquis to keep the truth under wraps.

The Marquis didn’t collude with them, as a result, he faced their revenge. He was stabbed seven or eight times by assassins on his way back to the capital.

“I remember it was near Song County,” Steward Liu recalled.

Steward Liu had been with the Marquis of Xuanping since he was a young man and was one of the few men by his side when he guarded half of his landscape. However, there were more than ten years during which he was sent to other posts by the Marquis before being called back by him last year.

“There were no medical halls in that place, after the Marquis was injured, he found a local medical practitioner nearby, the injury was so serious that he had to stay in the practitioner’s home.”

The medical skills of that practitioner weren’t too sophisticated, although he managed to save his life, the Marquis of Xuanping was left with residual medical problems, of course, this is a story for later.

While the Marquis was recuperating in the medical practitioner’s house, there was a family of three living next door. The man was a gambler and a drunkard, and the son was only a few years old.

Almost every day, the Marquis could hear the man beating his wife and child, but this was a domestic matter that he did not have the place to interfere.

Unexpectedly, one day, the man gambled away the child. The woman clung to the man’s legs, pleading him to not send their child away. The man responded by beating the woman, nearly killing her.

Unable to bear the scene anymore, the Marquis, young and impulsive at the time, took a sword and rushed over to the man, cutting him down.

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