Chapter 1009: 478 Second Watch Chapter 1009: 478 Second Watch Upon entering the Imperial Palace, Marquis Xuanping received an imperial edict to head south immediately. The Emperor appointed him as the special minister for the southern inspection tour, temporarily taking over the role of Naval Commander of Nanhai City, with orders to exterminate bandits with the greatest speed and least cost and to recapture the southern islands.

Marquis Xuanping led five hundred cavalry and left the Capital City overnight, with Chang Jing also among those accompanying him.

After leaving the Mansion of Princess Xinyang, Gu Jiao took the carriage arranged by Yujin back to Bishui Alley.

The house was bustling with neighbors who came to see the newborn, a truly well-behaved and beautiful baby.

Eunuchs Qin and Wei also paid a visit.

Gu Jiao’s trip to the palace was to bring joyous news to her aunt and the Emperor. Due to the urgent matter of bandits at sea, the two influential figures convened an overnight meeting with key ministers and couldn’t personally visit the little one in Bishui Alley, so they sent Eunuchs Qin and Wei in their stead.

“You’ve held him for half a ‘shichen’ now, let me hold him too!”

Inside the west room, Eunuch Qin said resentfully to Eunuch Wei.

Eunuch Wei turned his back, dodging Eunuch Qin’s looming claws, and stubbornly said, “No!”

He had grabbed the baby first!

And he had snatched the baby from Aunt Liu’s arms, heaven knows at what cost!

“You can hold him the next time you come!” Eunuch Wei resolutely refused to hand over the baby!

Eunuch Qin was grinding his teeth in frustration.

Kid, just because you spent time with the Emperor, you’ve forgotten who’s the top eunuch in the Imperial Harem, huh?

Eunuch Wei didn’t care.

If he said no, it was no!

Eunuch Qin couldn’t exactly snatch the baby away; what if he hurt the child? Wouldn’t the Empress Dowager screw his head off?

Eunuch Qin said enticingly, “Let me hold him, and I’ll let you play with Dequan for a couple of days.”

Dequan was Eunuch Qin’s pet turtle, his most treasured one, which Eunuch Wei had coveted for a long time.

Without a second thought, Eunuch Wei dismissed him, “Go away, go away!”

With the little baby here, who would still fancy your turtle?

Mainly because Eunuch Wei craved Eunuch Qin’s turtle not for the sake of playing, but for making turtle soup!

In the end, Eunuch Qin could not snatch the baby from Eunuch Wei, which allowed the always overshadowed Eunuch Wei by the Longevity Palace to puff up his feathers triumphantly.

The battle for the baby continued until Xiaobao returned from the Guozijian, and once Xiaobao appeared, the two stood no chance.

Who could outdo him?

Xiaobao still wasn’t quite adept at holding the little baby, so he placed the baby in a cradle. Worth mentioning, he wasn’t as tall as the cradle yet, so he had to fetch a small stool to stand on it and watch his little brother.

“Brother’s nose looks like mine, his mouth looks like mine, his eyes look like mine, even his eyebrows look like mine!” Xiaobao puffed out his little chest, shook his small head proudly, and said with immense satisfaction, “He’s truly a handsome little man!”

Everyone: “…”

After all this time, you just wanted to compliment yourself, didn’t you?

The baby, being in his confinement period, couldn’t do much besides eating and sleeping and wasn’t able to respond well to Xiaobao’s amusement. Xiaobao lost interest in his brother after playing for a while and continued to roam around the alleyway with chickens.

The Yao Family temporarily stayed in the east room, as she didn’t have enough breast milk. Aunt Liu introduced her to a nanny, an honest woman, a few years younger than the Yao Family, who had given birth around the same time as the nanny’s sister-in-law. Her child was passed to her sister-in-law’s care.

Thus, the nanny moved in, taking over the room previously occupied by the Yao Family. She mainly fed the child at night, and if the baby wasn’t full during the day, she would feed him one or two more times.

Upon learning that Gu Jiao intended to sleep in the west room, the happiest one was Xiaobao.

“I can sleep with Jiaojiao now!”

He washed himself until he smelled nice and combed his buzz cut until it shone; he went to the west room, brimming with pride.

“Jiaojiao! I’m here!”

He kicked off his shoes and clambered onto the bed.

But before he could even get his little leg onto the bed, he was lifted away by his wicked brother-in-law.

Xiao Hen: “You go sleep with Uncle instead.”

Xiaobao flailed, “I don’t want to! I don’t want to! I want to sleep with Jiaojiao!”

Even if he didn’t want to, he had to.

Xiaobao was mercilessly carried off to the next room by the wicked brother-in-law.

When Gu Jiao came back to the west room after her bath, the bed had been made with just one blanket; Xiaobao wasn’t there, and Xiao Hen… was there but was tidying up his sleeping garments.

“Aren’t you sleeping?” Gu Jiao asked.

She had just bathed, and her hair wasn’t dried yet. Wrapped around her head in a dry cotton cloth, she inadvertently left a wet strand hanging beside her ear, glistening droplets falling onto her fair neck.

It was somewhat tempting.

Xiao Hen cleared his throat and averted his gaze, looking instead at the clothes in his hand, and said, “I’ll go sleep with Xiaobao.”

Gu Jiao glanced at the bedchamber in the west room, alright, it did seem a bit small for three people to sleep in.

But it wasn’t really a matter of the size of the bed; rather–
Xiao Hen looked at her figure, becoming more exquisite by the day, and found it exceptionally hard to keep calm in the stillness of the night. He deeply inhaled, casting aside the bewitching thoughts swirling in his mind, and seriously said, “It’s getting late. You should rest early, remember to dry your hair.”

“Mmm.” Gu Jiao nodded, and casually took the cotton towel from her head.

Jet-black long hair cascaded down, spreading across her shoulders, setting off her delicate skin, pale and luminous as snow.

Xiao Hen took only one glance before feeling his blood surge. He worried that if he did not leave at once, he’d do something irreversible.

“I’m leaving.”

Having said that, he swiftly exited the room, almost as if he were fleeing in panic.

Gu Jiao uttered a curious sound, “He left in such a hurry. I wanted to ask him about the princess.”

Princess Xinyang’s reaction in the attic was decidedly abnormal. Her first thought was claustrophobia, but if she had claustrophobia, why would she go to the attic? And why was she fine riding in a carriage?

Gu Jiao couldn’t figure it out.

“Jiaojiao, are you asleep?”

It was the voice of the Yao Family.

Gu Jiao put down the cotton cloth she was holding, walked over, and pulled open the door, “I’m not asleep. Why did you get out of bed?”

“It’s nothing. I’m feeling well. I even walked around during the day.” This delivery had taken longer than the last for Yao Family, but it hadn’t been as excruciating.

“Come in, it’s cold outside,” Gu Jiao said to Yao Family.

Yao Family entered the room and sat on the bed. Taking her daughter’s hand, she said softly, “Your second brother came by.”

Gu Jiao responded with an “oh” and said, “He came to buy the hair growth potion.” Had Gu Chenglin run out of hair growth potion again? Was he using it too fast?

“He also brought a gift for you.” As Yao Family spoke, she handed over a brocade box that she held in her hand.

Gu Jiao received the brocade box, “This, it’s from him?”

“Hmm.” Yao Family nodded with a smile, “I don’t know what it is; open it and see.”

Gu Jiao opened the box to find a pack of dried meat inside.

It was of a flavor that Gu Jiao enjoyed.

Ordinarily, Gu Jiao did not make much display of her personal preferences. It was only Xiao Hen, who was attentive and had noticed her fondness for dried meat. Had she eaten it in front of Gu Chengfeng? She had no recollection of it.

“Your three brothers…” Yao Family started to speak but hesitated. She did not know what to say; indeed, there had been considerable strife with her three stepsons left by her former husband, but all of that was in the past now. After all, they had been bewitched by Aunt Lin.

What could a child understand? They simply did as the adults taught them.

Admittedly, there were some things she was unable to forgive to this day, but sometimes she had to learn to accept and embrace them.

They had hurt Gu Yan. They had also saved Gu Yan.

If one had to single out whose fault amongst the three brothers was the greatest or who had the most merit, it actually served no purpose.

No matter what, they were her daughter’s kin in this world.

Someday, when all of them as elders were gone, at least the daughter would still have brothers who cared for her.

Gu Jiao arched an eyebrow and said, “Alright, in consideration of his gift, I’ll sell him the hair growth potion at a lower price next time.”

Yao Family could not help but laugh.

…

In the following days, Gu Jiao frequently visited the Imperial Palace.

She had considered whether or not to remind her aunt, the Empress Dowager, that the border might be stockpiling a substantial force from Chen Country.

The facts proved that the many years Empress Dowager Zhuang presided over the Court were not due to a shred of luck. The moment trouble arose in Nanhai City, she had immediately sent a carrier pigeon to Tang Yueshan, instructing him to check on movements of the Chen Country army.

Tang Yueshan’s carrier pigeon message arrived at Renshou Palace five days later.

The message said that upon receiving word from Empress Dowager Zhuang, Tang Yueshan immediately led his men to infiltrate the Chen Country border, only to discover that they had quietly amassed an eighty-thousand-strong army.

With unrest at the Chen Country border, one would expect ten thousand troops to suffice, so why bring eighty thousand?

Empress Dowager Zhuang immediately guessed that they were planning to wage war against Zhan Country again, and this time, they chose to do it near the border, most likely in collusion with remnants from Zhan Country’s former dynasty.

Within Renshou Palace, the Emperor, after listening to Empress Dowager Zhuang’s analysis, furrowed his brows, “Yuan Tang is still in Zhan Country. Has the Chen Country’s monarch gone mad? He doesn’t care for his own son’s life anymore! Someone! Capture Yuan Tang for me!”

Shortly after, Eunuch He reported, “Your Majesty! Yuan Tang has escaped!”

The Emperor exclaimed in anger, “Escaped? Seal the city gates for me! I want to see where he can run to!”

Empress Dowager Zhuang, however, wasn’t too concerned about Yuan Tang. Since Chen Country dared to deploy troops at such a critical juncture, it meant they had forsaken Yuan Tang; capturing him or not was of little significance.

She massaged her aching brow, stood up, and paced the room, “Chen Country’s eighty thousand troops, the former dynasty’s fifty thousand soldiers…”

She closed her eyes, the border was in grave danger.

The events that followed confirmed Empress Dowager Zhuang’s suspicions.

“Urgent report from the border, Princess Ning An has been captured!”

“To save Princess Ning An, Old Marquis too was taken by the remnants of the previous dynasty!”

“Chen Country’s army has invaded, Tang Yueshan suffered defeat, the border has lost three cities!”

Having lost three cities!

Zhan Country had only twenty-one cities in total!

Empress Dowager Zhuang’s eyes grew cold, her phoenix robes whipped about in the evening breeze, “Convey my decree, summon Gu Changqing back to the Capital immediately! Reorganize the Gu Family army, march north to counter the enemy!”