The Prime Minister's Darling

As the provincial test approached, the atmosphere in the academy became unusually intense, even the masters started focusing less on lecturing and more on providing mock tests for the students to solve.

Xiao Liulang would also pose questions for Lin Chengye. His questions were even more profound and tricky than those given by the masters, leading Lin Chengye to suspect that Xiao Liulang stayed up all night flipping through the classics to pick out sentences no one had ever memorized!

One noon, Gu Yan and a monk named Xiao Jingkong went to take a nap in the side house while Gu Xiaoshun was busy carving wood in the courtyard.

Lin Chengye was utterly overwhelmed by Xiao Liulang’s exam questions.

The manager, Zhou, was on guard duty at the entrance when a young servant suddenly approached him.

Zhou stepped aside and spoke in a low voice, “What happened?”

“The post station was flooded, and Brother Zheng was swept away by the flood. He only managed to return to the Lin Residence a few days ago and is still recovering there.”

Brother Zheng was the young man who came to propose marriage to Gu Jiao earlier. He was the son of a vice-manager in the Lin Family.

After Xiao Liulang refused to visit the Lin Family the previous time, the young Zheng left to return home, only to be caught up in a flood halfway through his journey.

“When did this happen?”

“Half a month ago.”

The trip to the provincial city was via a mountain road, making the journey relatively slow. However, coming back from the provincial city was faster as it was downhill, which allowed Lin Chengye to perfectly avoid the flood.

But if Xiao Liulang had accompanied Zhou to the provincial city at that time, he would have likely encountered the flood at the post station, just like young Zheng did.

Upon finishing tutoring Lin Chengye, Xiao Liulang noticed that Zhou had the look of someone who’d had a near-death experience. He couldn’t help but ask, “What happened?”

“Ah, it’s like this.” Zhou then told Xiao Liulang about the flooding that occurred at the post station half a month ago.

Xiao Liulang was familiar with that particular post station as it was the only one on that official road. In other words, they would have had to stay at that station if they ever visited the provincial city.

If calculated by timing, they would have reached right when the flood was happening.

Lin Chengye couldn’t have been there as he would have passed the post station long before the flood happened due to the quicker trip back from the provincial city.

Xiao Liulang then recalled the incident when Gu Jiao had stopped him from going to the provincial city.

Such coincidences had not been the first——

Because she asked him to buy Osmanthus Cake, he avoided a dispute at the Medical Hall.

Because she came looking for him to have lunch, he escaped a dorm collapse.

And because she wanted to spend the night in town, he avoided a snowstorm in the middle of the journey.

One or two coincidences could be a fluke, but three or four such occurrences merited deeper consideration.

In the evening, when Xiao Liulang returned home, he went to the kitchen to assist Gu Jiao.

Gu Jiao cooked while he stoked the fire and added firewood.

Both pots on the stove were in use, one steaming sweet potatoes with cornmeal buns, and the other simmering fungus and mushroom soup. The delicious aroma filled the entire kitchen.

Xiao Liulang broke a dry twig to stoke the fire with and casually mentioned, “Today, Zhou told me that the post station at Qishan flooded half a month ago. Fortunately, I didn’t go to the provincial city, or I would have been swept away by the flood too.”

Gu Jiao responded nonchalantly, “Oh.”

Xiao Liulang lifted his eyes to look at her, “Aren’t you surprised?”

Gu Jiao paused and then belatedly responded with an exaggerated, “Oh!”

Xiao Liulang: “…”

Xiao Liulang then asked her, “Did you know there would be a flood?”

Gu Jiao replied with a calm look on her face, “No.”

Xiao Liulang looked at her deeply before lowering his head to break another twig, “For this trip to the provincial city, I plan to stay at the Lin Residence.”

Gu Jiao’s hand, which was holding a spatula, halted, “Didn’t you say we wouldn’t stay there?”

Xiao Liulang responded seriously, “It would be convenient to stay at the Lin’s. Besides, I’ve already asked Zhou. He told me that although the daughters of the Lin Family are beautiful, they’re all married off and none are waiting in the boudoir, so you don’t need to worry about anything.”

Was she worried about the daughters of the Lin Family? She was worried about the cousins of the Lin family!

Did he still intend to have that so-called blessing in his future!

Gu Jiao couldn’t breathe but was unable to express her anger, causing her face to turn incredulously dark!

Xiao Liulang was on the verge of laughing at her comically frustrated expression.

The conversation was about to continue when suddenly, young monk Xiao Jingkong came running in carrying a chick, “Jiaojiao! Brother Gu Yan’s puppy bit my chicken!”

Ever since Gu Yan’s puppy moved into the house, the family actually started to experience the literal meaning of the phrase ‘when the cat is away, the mice will play’.

Any time the puppy and the chicks were out of their cages simultaneously, fur and feathers flew everywhere.

The puppy was larger, but there were more chicks, and they would form formations. Both sides fought without fear.

Gu Jiao asked Xiao Jingkong, “Did your chickens peck Brother Yan’s puppy?”

Xiao Jingkong immediately fell silent.

Looking up, Xiao Jingkong said innocently, “The food smells so good! I just remembered that I didn’t finish my homework, I should go do that now!”

The guilty party who complains first, or in this case the young monk, hopped out, ensuring he did so adorably so that Jiaojiao would forget to be mad at him.

As he hopped along, he put the chicken back into its cage, and then took off running—completely out of sight!