Chapter 163.1

Chapter 163.1

Li Wanwan, whose guqin skills were undoubtedly inferior to Gu Jinyu and Zhuang Yuexi’s, ultimately got the same grade as Zhuang Yuexi and ranked second in the exam.
Gu Jinyu ranked first, but she wasn’t the least bit happy.
That piece of music that Li Wanwan played was so exceptional that even she could feel that she had been completely crushed.
Prior to the exam, she had heard from Imperial Concubine Shu that the Crown Princess had invited a court musician to evaluate this examination, and it was precisely to impress this court musician that she had made slight modifications to the music. Otherwise, in such a small exam, she could easily take the first rank even just by playing the guqin casually.
Actually, maybe it would have been better if she didn’t make any changes to the music at all.
With her skillful guqin skills, at least she wouldn’t receive any mockery upon taking the first place.
But now, with Li Wanwan’s music as a comparison, her music had become a joke.
Even if you beat her to death, Gu Jinyu would never expect her limelight to be robbed by such an inconspicuous Li Wanwan.
After the exam was over, Musician Xie stayed behind to give Li Wanwan some advice on her guqin skills, tell her what needed to be improved, and also gave Li Wanwan a guqin.
Of course, the guqin couldn’t be compared with Yue Ying Fuxi guqin, but it was definitely much better than the one Li Wanwan had.
Dejected, Gu Jinyu went out of the music hall holding the Yue Ying Fuxi guqin.
As soon as she went downstairs, she met Zhuang Mengdie.
Zhuang Mengdie was so upset at the fact that she was at the bottom of the list, but after seeing Gu Jinyu’s situation, she wasn’t so angry anymore.
Glancing at the Yue Ying Fuxi guqin in Gu Jinyu's arms, she mockingly said, "Oh, what's the use of having such a nice guqin? In the end, you still let others steal your limelight? To think you still dare to change the music when you’re only that capable. What a joke!"
Were the changes Gu Jinyu made really that bad?
Not at all.
Without Li Wanwan's music, she would have been the one who impressed Musician Xie and others today.
Gu Jinyu wasn’t like Gu Jiao who was unbothered by others’ opinions. She said, exasperated, "At least I got the first place in the exam. What about Young Miss Zhuang? What rank did you get?"
Zhuang Mengdie’s sore spot was trampled on. She was unable to utter any retort to Gu Jinyu’s remark and could only argue irrationally, "Hey, how dare you talk back to me?"
Gu Jinyu snorted coldly and said, "Speaking of which, I'm a county princess, and Young Miss Zhuang should give me the appropriate salute when she sees me. But this is a school, and we are all classmates here, so I won't argue with Young Miss Zhuang about etiquette."
Zhuang Mengdie was infuriated by her, saying. "You’re great, Gu Jinyu. It must be amazing to be a county princess, right? Don't think I don't know who you really are! You’d better not mess with me! Otherwise, I'll spread your secret; we’ll see who would still think highly of you then!"
Gu Jinyu's face turned green.
Of course, she knew what Zhuang Mengdie meant. Back in the Hot Spring Villa, her father told An Junwang that she was triplets with Gu Jiao and Gu Yan, but Zhuang Mengdie knew the truth long ago.
How did she know exactly?
And did An Junwang know too?
When he came to see her last time, did he not know her real background or did he not mind it upon knowing?
Gu Jinyu suddenly became confused.
Gu Jinyu’s panic-stricken expression made Zhuang Mengdie think that she really scared her. Zhuang Mengdie rolled her eyes with satisfaction, walked away and took a carriage home.
On the other hand, Musician Xie ended his guidance to Li Wanwan.
Li Wanwan didn't hurry back home, but took the new guqin to the pavilion where she usually practiced. It was so far away that even the old female servant who did the sweeping wouldn’t come here.
"Miss, miss, are you there?" She looked at the wall and asked.
There was no response from behind the wall.
The other party used to be there at this time.
She thought for a moment, continued to look at the wall and said, "Miss, I passed the exam. It’s all thanks to the music you composed!"
After that, she waited for a while, and then turned to leave with her new guqin in arms until it snowed heavily.
On the other side of the wall, Second Owner moved the chair that Gu Jiao asked him to buy into her yard. He asked curiously, "Who’s talking on the other side of the wall? What ‘music you composed’?"
Gu Jiao lowered her eyes and flipped through the books in her hand, saying, "Who knows?"
Second Owner didn’t understand. It couldn’t be that his Little Gu composed a piece of music, could it? Little Gu was an expert at treating people's diseases, but as for composing music… Even though there was a guqin in her room, it was just for decoration.
She hadn’t even touched it!
……
It stopped snowing for a while, but looking at the sky, it seemed it would start snowing again any time soon. Afraid that Gu Jiao might have difficulty traveling the road if she were to go home late, Second Owner asked Gu Jiao to go back early.
She also agreed. Today was the last day of classes at the private elementary division of Imperial Academy, and she promised to pick up Little Jing Kong.
By the time she got to the Imperial Academy, Little Jing Kong was already looking around at the gates, wearing the clothes of the Imperial Academy’s private elementary division, which made him look particularly eye-catching.
Another attention-grabbing one was Xiao Liulang who stood behind him.
Gu Jiao wondered how this guy was growing. Day by day, he was becoming more and more stunning.
“JiaoJiao!” As soon as Little Jing Kong spotted Gu Jiao, he immediately left his bad brother-in-law behind, and darted towards Gu Jiao.
Gu Jiao stroked his little head and looked at Xiao Liulang, asking, "No self-study tonight?"
"No." Xiao Liulang answered lightly.
Gu Jiao could see that he wasn’t affected by the frighteningly intense atmosphere of the Imperial Academy these days. In fact, the tribute students of the Imperial Academy were already going insane because of the approaching metropolitan exam.
Even Lin Chengye and Feng Lin would go to bed very late at night and get up earlier than usual.
It was true that the teachers didn't ask for self-study tonight, but Xiao Liulang was the only one who really dared not do self-study.
A family of three walked back home.
Sure enough, it started to snow heavily.
Gu Jiao took the oil-paper umbrella out of her back basket, but Little Jing Kong said he wanted to play in the snow!
Fortunately, Gu Jiao brought him a small cloak. She put it on him, like a little wizard.
The little wizard jumped excitedly in the heavy snow, "Whoa, whoa, whoa—"
Xiao Liulang took the oil-paper umbrella and propped it over their heads, leaning towards Gu Jiao more.
The two of them walked side by side on the road.
The most comfortable relationship in the world was one where you didn’t feel awkward despite not talking at all.
Both of them enjoyed this moment’s tranquility, as well as the little noises coming from Little Jing Kong from time to time.
"That's right." Thinking of something, Gu Jiao suddenly asked, "What month is your birthday?"
His birthday was written in his household register.
It was also on their marriage documents.
The fact that she still asked this question proved that she thought the birth date on the household register was not his real birth date.
She had always been like this. She wouldn’t pierce the window paper all at once, but rather inadvertently tear down his defense line bit by bit with a gentle tone that he couldn’t refuse.
"The twelfth lunar month." Xiao Liulang answered.
"Oh." It was the twelfth lunar month right now. Gu Jiao turned to look at him, wearing a little clever expression, she asked again. "What's the date?"
Xiao Liulang paused before saying lightly, "New Year's Eve."
Gu Jiao smiled.
So it hadn’t happened yet.
That's great.