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The Empress Dowager hesitated while picking up the silver notes.The rain was heavy, and the wind was strong. If the Empress Dowager lifted her head, she wouldn’t be able to open her eyes.
She squatted stiffly on the rain-drenched ground, resembling an old countryside lady trying to pick vegetables from the field embankments.
She hesitated for a moment and then continued picking up the silver notes.
She must have missed Jiaojiao too much and misheard.
How could Jiaojiao appear in such heavy rain?
"Aunt?"
The familiar voice came again, this time right above her head.
A boy wearing a raincoat and a straw hat kneeled on one knee beside her.
The Empress Dowager still couldn’t lift her eyes, but she caught sight of the familiar, unattractive Red-Tasseled Spear, the little braid, and the big safflower.
However, the Empress Dowager’s gaze did not continue upward.
She lowered her head, trying to smooth the hair clinging messily to her cheeks in the rain, attempting to make herself look less disheveled.
She also shifted her numbed toes, seemingly trying to adopt a less awkward squatting posture.
"Aunt, is it really you? Why are you here?" Gu Jiao tilted her head and asked.
This time, the "aunt" was no longer in a questioning tone. She was genuinely confirming that she had met the person she least expected to see in Dayan Country, and the one she had been constantly missing.
The old lady suddenly felt aggrieved. She hadn’t felt a bit of grievance when she was robbed in the street, stifled in a carriage, battered by wind and rain, and falling repeatedly.
But with Gu Jiao’s one word "aunt," all her strength melted away.
Her eyes reddened.
Like a child who had been bullied and was finally found by a parent.
Her small mouth trembled, her nose turned sour, and with a sobbing voice, she said, "Why did you come so late? I’ve been waiting for you all day—"
Gu Jiao suddenly felt flustered and said in a daze, "I, I... I just walked a bit slow on the way. I’ll be careful next time. I won’t take a carriage; I’ll ride the Black Wind King."
The old lady didn’t understand what the Black Wind King was. Holding the silver notes, she squatted on the ground, feeling aggrieved, and sobbed.
"I’m not crying," she said stubbornly.
"Uh, right, aunt isn’t crying," Gu Jiao quickly took off her raincoat and draped it over the Empress Dowager.
"I don’t need it. You wear it," the Empress Dowager said, not only refusing Gu Jiao’s raincoat but also trying to take off the straw hat on her head.
Gu Jiao stopped her.
With Gu Jiao’s strength, stopping an old lady was effortless.
She tied the straw hat and raincoat tightly, making it impossible for the Empress Dowager to take them off.
Realizing the futility of her struggle, the Empress Dowager sniffed and pointed to a silver note in front of her, saying, "This is the last one. My legs are numb."
Gu Jiao picked up the silver note and handed it to the Empress Dowager.
The Empress Dowager took the silver note but did not immediately put it away. Instead, she handed all the silver notes to Gu Jiao, saying, "Here, they’re for you."
Years later, when Gu Jiao rode across the battlefield, she always remembered this scene—a rainy day, after traveling thousands of miles, an old lady squatting on the ground, picking up scattered silver notes one by one, just to hand them over intact.
During her school days, she had never understood why a roommate’s mother would travel through several towns from a distant village, suffering from motion sickness, just to deliver a jar of pickled vegetables to her boarding daughter.
She thought she understood that kind of emotion.
Gu Jiao carried her aunt to a nearby restaurant and then returned to carry the old sacrificial wine over as well.
"Two private rooms," Gu Jiao requested.
The old sacrificial wine had been wandering around the entrance of Lingbo Academy for a long time, catching the attention of the nearby shops. The inn’s shopkeeper originally wanted to check their identities, but Gu Jiao directly showed the token of the National Master Hall.
The shopkeeper instantly stiffened, saying, "Please, Old Sir, please, Madam, please, Young Master!"
"Bring two buckets of hot water," Gu Jiao ordered.
The shopkeeper quickly agreed, "Yes! Yes! Right away!"
The Empress Dowager glanced at the shopkeeper, whose attitude had changed drastically, and asked, "What token did you show that worked so well?"
She had been worried that the kids might lead a hard-pressed life due to various reasons, but it seemed different from what she had imagined.
"The token of the National Master Hall," Gu Jiao replied truthfully.
The Empress Dowager calmly acknowledged, "I see."
At this moment, she was immersed in the excitement of reuniting with Gu Jiao and didn’t realize what the National Master Hall was.
Although the old man and old lady had brought luggage, it was all soaked by the heavy rain.
After settling the old man and old lady in their respective rooms, Gu Jiao went to a nearby ready-made clothes shop to buy some dry clothes. She had spare clothes in the carriage.