The Grand Secretary's Pampered Wife

Chapter 39

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S T E L L A R C L O U D

[Celeste S.] [Azurixa] [Robert K.]

O R A N G E S T A R

[K.Rom]

Y E L L O W S T A R

[Camille] [Linds] [Esther D.]

Perhaps her eyes were too penetrating; through the boundless crowd, that pair of eyes seemed like a knife stabbing the little thief.

The thief, who instinctively sensed the danger, quickly got up and ran!

Thieves that had managed to escape from Gu Jiao’s hands, en... There was none!

Gu Jiao chased him until they got into a side alley.

The little thief used all his strength to shake her off, but Gu Jiao behind him was still getting closer and closer, and in a moment of panic, the thief seemed to have chosen a dead end, without a single way out ahead!

The little thief panicked. Under the surge of blood, he pulled out the dagger hidden in his sleeve.

"Don't come over! Or I'll kill you!" He snarled with glaring eyes.

Without a lift of her eyelids, Gu Jiao kicked at the wall with one foot, borrowing the counterforce to leap midair and kick the thief's dagger in a flash. The violent kick sent the dagger flying away.

The little thief widened his eyes in shock, but the next second, Gu Jiao skillfully landed on the ground and kicked him in the chest. He couldn't even scream and immediately fell heavily on the ground.

Gu Jiao walked over coldly, pushed his body away with his foot, and then picked up the embroidered pouch that had fallen out of his sleeve.

Xiao Liulang was still waiting in the oxcart. Gu Jiao didn’t have the spare time to spend here with him, and she had no plans on reporting to the authorities either, thus she prepared to leave at once. Unexpectedly, as soon as she turned around, the little thief quietly grabbed the dagger on the ground.

However, before he could take any action, Gu Jiao stepped on his wrist and immediately broke the bone of his hand.

"Ah——" The little thief let out another mournful scream. He couldn’t understand how the other party did it. She obviously did not look back. Did she have eyes on the back of her head or something?

"Catch him!"

Suddenly, several men dressed as family guards arrived in front of the alley. They swept a glance at Gu Jiao in a hurry but didn't pay her attention and just ran straight to the thief.

"Did you find it?"

Just then, a young gentleman came breathlessly.

Perhaps too exhausted from having run too fast, he stopped, unable to run any longer, and held on to the wall to catch his breath.

Gu Jiao brushed past him.

The young gentleman spoke suddenly, "Miss Gu?"

Gu Jiao halted her footsteps and looked at him, "Young Gentleman Qin?"

Was the town that small? Catching a thief could also lead to meeting him?

On the other side, the group of guards who had restrained the little thief came back. One of them held a scroll painting in his hand and presented it to Young Gentleman Qin, saying, "Young Master, I found it!"

"So fast? Aren’t thieves supposedly not easy to catch?" Young Gentleman Qin took over the scroll painting.

The guard looked at Gu Jiao and said, "It was this girl who caught him."

After the last incident, Young Gentleman Qin's impression of Gu Jiao had changed somewhat. Although Gu Jiao extorted one hundred taels of silver from him, he was more receptive to her greed for money than being pestered by her.

"Thank you again this time." Young Gentleman Qin said politely.

Gu Jiao glanced at him and said, "Why do you always get your stuff stolen?"

Young Gentleman Qin replied awkwardly, "It should be that the news has leaked out and thus was targeted by other families."

He didn't say anything specific about the news, and Gu Jiao didn't ask either.

Gu Jiao only wanted to get her pouch back, as for the other matters, it had nothing to do with her. She stopped talking to Young Gentleman Qin and left with a straight face.

Looking at her departing back that displayed not even the slightest hesitation, Young Gentleman Qin frowned subconsciously. Was she… really not interested in him anymore?

"Young Master." Another guard ran over and said, "This humble one found a handkerchief on the ground. I wonder if it belonged to the girl just now?"

Young Gentleman Qin quickly grabbed the handkerchief and ran in the direction of Gu Jiao's departure.

By the time he caught up to Gu Jiao, Gu Jiao had already bought scallion pancakes and returned to the oxcart.

"Miss Gu! Miss Gu!" Young Gentleman Qin was a pampered scholar. After chasing the little thief just now, he had already used up his physical strength. He only managed to make this trip by relying on willpower alone.

He held onto the cart and gasped for air, unable to speak again for a long time.

Xiao Liulang’s eyes became a little cold.

Gu Jiao spread her hands with a look of ‘it has nothing to do with me, I don't know him’.

"Is something the matter?" Xiao Liulang asked lightly.

Hearing his voice, Young Gentleman Qin was stupefied for a moment then looked closely at Xiao Liulang. A trace of embarrassment appeared on his face as he said, "Ah... Young Gentleman Xiao is actually here too..."

Xiao Liulang: So you took advantage of my absence to chase her?!

Young Gentleman Qin handed over the handkerchief in his hand and said, "Miss Gu, you dropped your handkerchief."

Gu Jiao looked at it and said, "It's not mine."

"Ah..." Young Gentleman Qin was even more embarrassed. After chasing her all the way here, the result was that it wasn’t hers. Why did he feel somewhat losing face?

In his anxiousness, Young Gentleman Qin’s body inclined a bit forward, causing the scroll painting to fall off his bosom, which then happened to land on the oxcart and spread out at Xiao Liulang's feet.

It was a painting of a misty rain in the south of the Yangtze River, illustrating mountains and waters, as well as a dark-awninged boat in the midst of the rain. Even though Gu Jiao didn’t know a thing about painting, she also felt that this painting was well drawn and had profound artistic conception.

This painting was hard to come by, so Young Gentleman Qin’s father told him to keep it properly after obtaining it, and not let others see it.

At this moment, the painting was suddenly exposed. Young Gentleman Qin was very nervous. But seeing Gu Jiao staring at the painting, seemingly very curious, he was suddenly in no hurry to put the painting away.

He said with some pride, "This is a precious painting of the Little Marquis of Zhao[1]! It's called "Misty Rain in Spring Mountain", which was painted by the Little Marquis when he was twelve years old. Little Marquis' paintings are hard to obtain, but I managed to buy it from an acquaintance at a high price!"

Gu Jiao picked up the painting and opened her eyes wide, saying, "He’s already this good at painting at the age of twelve?"

Her amazed expression looked so adorable that even the red birthmark on her face wasn’t ugly in Young Gentleman Qin’s eyes.

Young Gentleman Qin said even more proudly, "This one is just his random painting. It is said that he wasn’t satisfied with this painting and threw it away. It was secretly preserved by a servant. If you like it... I'll let you look more!"

Gu Jiao: “…”

Xiao Liulang's eyes glanced faintly over the painting, and then said lightly and indifferent, "Fake."

Young Gentleman Qin was momentarily stunned before he realized that he was talking about the painting. He immediately jumped to his feet and said, "Don’t speak nonsense! This painting in my hands is clearly authentic, how can it be fake?"

Xiao Liulang replied, "It's a fake."

Young Gentleman Qin raised his voice, "Where did it look like a fake?"

Xiao Liulang cast him a seemingly superfluous look, "Where did it not look like a fake?"

This remark was too arrogant. It was simply saying that this painting was so miserably fake that there were flaws everywhere.

Young Gentleman Qin finally blew his top, "What do you know? How can a poor scholar like you understand painting? I found someone to appraise it! This is the original work of the Little Marquis!"

"He has never painted this picture." Xiao Liulang said calmly.

"How did you know that? Do you know him?"

After he said this, Young Gentleman Qin laughed at himself.

How could a cripple from the countryside know the famous Little Marquis of Zhao?

There were many Marquises in the capital of the State of Zhao, and so were the Marquis’ sons. Technically, all of them were little marquises, but only that one was known as the Little Marquis of Zhao.

The Little Marquis of Zhao was the eldest di son of Marquis Xuanping[2], and her birth mother was Princess Xinyang[3], who was deeply favoured by the current Majesty.

At the age of three, he stepped into the emperor’s audience hall, battled with a group of scholars with all his might, and gained fame after a single feat! At the age of four, he entered the Imperial Academy, and at the age of five, he read through the palace hall full of dynastic history books and was proficient in six languages.

Dean Li of Tianxiang Academy ranked first among the big four gifted scholars in the capital, which was because one couldn’t be in the list until they were eighteen years old. No one had surpassed Dean Li's achievements in the imperial examination so far, also because this Little Marquis had never taken the imperial examination!

When he was twelve years old, he was appointed Chief of the Imperial Academy by His Majesty. The envoys of the other five states all came to congratulate this young Chief, which was truly a magnificent sight and honor, first time ever in the capital of Zhao!

Unfortunately, Little Marquis, despite his unparalleled background and talent, died unexpectedly in a sudden fire in the Imperial Academy. It was said that he was burned alive.

He died on New Year's Eve only at the age of fourteen.

1. ↑ — The complete translation for this one is actually the little marquis of the capital of zhao, which I find quite a mouthful for a title, so I just omitted the capital part. I also tried to change the word order, but it’s either another mouthful one or doesn’t sound so good in my ears. (≧?≦) 2. ↑ — This is not the Marquis’ name but his titular name meaning, “proclaims peace”. His whole titular name is “The Marquis who Proclaims Peace”. 3. ↑ — Also a titular name. Xinyang is the name of a prefecture, but can also mean “trustworthy and positive”.

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Also, please also have a look at our other translations!

Everyone But Me Is Reborn

Her father is a coward and senselessly filial. Her mother is weak and gullible. Her elder brother is a wastrel.

When she married into the Wangfu, she suffered and was coldly treated. And by the time she was in labour, she was fated to die with the unborn child in her belly.

This was supposed to be Ning Nuan's life.

However this time, everyone but her is reborn.

Ning Nuan is at a loss. She felt that her dad has suddenly become the pillar of the family, her mother’s temper became fierce, and even her elder brother, who would only walk the dogs and play with birds all day, has begun picking up books and reading them carefully.

There is also that juvenile that shows up at the wall of her courtyard everyday, calling her “Ah Nuan, Ah Nuan” with an honest face.