HLnovel Chapter 128 Gardenia
Chapter 128 Gardenia
Gu Qingyun wiped his mouth and told the little kids, "Drink some ginger tea after you finish eating."
An Qiao looked at his frowning brows that had been furrowed for nearly the entire morning and said, "Even if you break your eyebrows, it's just a small thing. You should finish eating quickly and get back to work."
Originally, these words were meant to comfort her, but for some reason, they changed their meaning when they came out of An Qiao's mouth.
"I'm afraid I won't have time to wait for their parents to pick them up. I have to go to the palace and I don't know when I can come out. Can I leave the children with you first?" Gu Qingyun thought about it but couldn't come up with any good ideas.
Another question mark popped up in An Qiao's head, "Me? Me?"
"Since it's not convenient for you here, I will take you back to the Dali Temple. If it's convenient for you here, I will give it to you together with breakfast in the morning. A total of 50 taels of silver, and you can help me watch it for a day." Gu Qingyun's eyes were sincere.
Although 50 taels of silver may not seem like much, it is still a good income. These children eat and drink well here, and they don't need to spend five taels of silver in a whole day.
"Okay, I'm not doing this for money. I'm a man of integrity." An Qiao took the silver with a smile and nodded to the little rascals.
An Quanze laughed out loud instantly. He was even more childish than him.
Seeing that An Qiao agreed, Gu Qingyun quickly left the restaurant. If it was really as the hostage and the emperor had planned, once they became ill, the children would probably never be found. If they were left in their hands, there was no telling when they would be killed.
It would not be realistic for him to steal in the middle of the night.
It is not right to invest, and it is not right not to invest.
Gu Qingyun scratched his head in annoyance.
As soon as he entered the palace, he asked to see the emperor. The emperor probably knew why he came, so he was leisurely and not in a hurry. He waited until he had finished the things at hand before asking him to come in.
After the ceremony, Gu Qingyun recounted what he had learned in the morning.
The emperor pondered for a long time before saying, "I just learned what you said. But if we don't wait until they mutiny, there is no reason or evidence to arrest them now. The people will not care what you saw or found out, because almost everyone knows that your Dali Temple is my organization. The image of the Zheng family army's diligence has been engraved in the hearts of the people, and many of the old people were saved by General Zheng. If we kill them all at once, we may be able to convince the ministers in the court, but we cannot convince the public."
Gu Qingyun also thought about this on the way. Could it be that he really wanted to steal the lives of those children? What if he alerted the enemy...
"My dear minister, please step back first. Let me think about it. There is still some time left," the emperor said again.
In fact, Zheng’s army has not yet broken in, so they probably haven’t noticed that the children are missing.
Zhou Laizi was responsible for raising the children, and even after picking out the child who most resembled the Southern Emperor of the previous dynasty, the rest of the children were left to him to do with as he pleased.
Therefore, it is highly likely that no one in Zheng’s army has noticed that the children are missing, and they have not alerted the enemy.
But now they have other children in their hands, who are not as good as those children locked up in the back mountain. The children in their hands are either raised with wealth and luxury, or receive different treatment and education.
It's not the same thing to steal rashly.
Gu Qingyun thought of Proton again. Judging from his attitude several times, he should be on their side. He is also the person who knows Zheng's army best. If he can help them again, it is not impossible.
Thinking of this, Gu Qingyun stuffed some silver into Eunuch Wei's pocket again, "Sorry for bothering you, Eunuch. Now that I'm here, I want to see His Highness the Hostage again."
Eunuch Wei stood at the door and quietly glanced at the emperor's face. Seeing that he looked normal and did not seem to be in a bad mood, he nodded to Gu Qingyun and turned to go inside. "Your Majesty, the Shaoqing said that since he has come to the palace, he wants to chat with His Majesty before leaving. Your Majesty, what do you think..."
The emperor knew what Gu Qingyun was going to do, but he did not object and finally nodded.
Gu Qingyun was delighted and was led to the hostage's bedroom by another eunuch.
It was afternoon, and Proton was lazily lying on the rocking chair in front of the door. The sunlight shone on him, making him look clean and bright.
Seeing the young eunuch bringing Gu Qingyun, he just smiled softly, "Si Yu has another doubt that cannot be solved."
Gu Qingyun walked up and bowed, "Greetings, His Majesty the Proton."
Proton asked the eunuch beside him to bring two cups of osmanthus tea. He fiddled with the tea bowls, quietly waiting for Gu Qingyun to speak.
"Your Highness the Hostage, why did you choose to help us?" Knowing how offensive this question was, Gu Qingyun quickly lowered his head after asking it.
But Proton was not angry, he just smiled faintly and said, "I'll help whoever I want to help."
Knowing that His Highness the Hostage was practicing Tai Chi, Gu Qingyun did not hold on to it and continued, "There are probably many children in several sects and General Zheng's house..."
Gu Qingyun told the whole story again and looked at Proton again.
"They really are good at using this method...it has remained the same for so many years." Proton sighed and took a sip of osmanthus tea.
"Didn't you ask me why I chose to help you?
I am not a member of the Zheng family at all.
My grandfather was a lieutenant general who made great military achievements under General Zheng. My original name was Shen Ran, but my grandfather died unexpectedly on the battlefield and entrusted General Zheng to take care of his only son, who was my grandfather's son, my father.
So my father was brought into the Zheng Mansion and lived there for nearly 10 years. During this period, he followed General Zheng to the battlefield, made great military achievements, and continued the majesty of the Zheng family army.
As for the cowards in the Zheng family, they only know how to fight in the backyard and have numerous concubines.
But when he reached the age of marriage, General Zheng was unwilling to let my father go and forced him to marry a cousin of the Zheng family.
This is how I was born. In the same year, my current nominal father, Zheng Da, also gave birth to a son.
When selecting hostages, General Zheng sent my father to the frontier again and sent me to the palace. When my father came back, I had become a hostage, and he was also the nominal adopted son of the old general. If he resisted... I was afraid that our family would be cut off, so he had to accept the defeat.
I shouldn't have known all this. It was my father, who is now a famous general on the frontier. He asked someone to send me a letter. After several exchanges, I finally confirmed that it was true.
My second and third uncles, in cooperation with my nominal father, threatened me time and again. They wanted me to help them restore the previous dynasty. While I was dealing with them, I tried to report the matter to the Dali Temple. Finally... you found out."
Proton also lowered his eyes this time. He didn't want others to notice his ambitions and ideas. He originally just wanted to spend his whole life guarding the books in the yard, but now he had no choice.
"Siyu, I took advantage of you. I'm sorry."
Proton's words were like a breeze in autumn, light and gentle, but they blew away all the haze in Gu Qingyun's heart, and all that happened had a reasonable explanation.