The Prime Minister’s Darling-Chapter 1543 - 749 Pure Happiness (Second Update)

Gu Jiao crossed her arms and said to Liao Chen, "I don’t believe you only stole a book. You must’ve done something else to make even a face-blind person remember you and come all the way to hunt you down!"

With his palms pressed together, Liao Chen replied, "Amitabha, a monk does not speak lies."

Gu Jiao glanced at his empty bowl, not a single dumpling with cabbage and pork filling left, even the dumpling soup was all gone.

Gu Jiao thought to herself, are you really a monk?

"Master! Where do you live?" Little Jie Kong asked.

"Master..." Liao Chen paused, then smiled, "Master has a place to stay, you don’t need to worry about Master."

"Oh," said Little Jie Kong, "that’s not it. I was just wondering where you live, so I can find you if I want to see you!"

Liao Chen smiled, "No need, Master will come to find you."

Little Jie Kong tilted his head and said, "So, Master, does this mean you will stay in Shengdu for a very long time? I’m studying in Shengdu, and I don’t know how long it will be."

It was then that Xiao Hen remembered their school admission documents were brought over by Liao Chen asking the temple’s abbott to do so.

Who exactly is he?

How did he manage to get so many Yan Country school admission documents?

Is he from Yan Country? If so, why did he become a monk in Zhan Country?

With Little Jie Kong present, the adults all spoke very cautiously, not asking an extra word that shouldn’t be asked and only silently criticizing in their minds what shouldn’t be criticized.

After gobbling his fill, Little Jie Kong picked up his small bowl and gulped down the remaining soup until not a drop was left.

"No way, you ate it all clean?" Liao Chen was astonished.

He looked chubbier than when in the temple, and it didn’t seem like he wasn’t being well-fed on a regular basis.

Putting down his bowl, Little Jie Kong seriously said to Liao Chen, "Every grain comes with hard work, Jiaojiao said we can’t waste food!"

Liao Chen curled his lip.

After all, he had grown two years older and was no longer like a little sieve.

Previously at the temple, he used to spill food all over the table while he ate.

Little Jie Kong, all sweaty from eating, had Gu Jiao take out a handkerchief to wipe his brow while asking, "Did you eat enough?"

Little Jie Kong craftily spun his eyes and counted on his small fingers, "Jiaojiao, can I still have a box of Layered Pastry?"

"No," Gu Jiao refused outright, "Eating too much at night will cause indigestion."

She even considered allowing him to have the dumpling skins only because he had expended energy frolicking with the Little Princess.

Liao Chen watched his little disciple with great interest.

My little disciple, hurry up and chant scriptures, hurry up and make your arguments, hurry up and use your three-inch invincible tongue to confuse your opponent. Aren’t you capable of talking from dawn till dusk?

Little Jie Kong adorably nodded his head, "Alright, Jiaojiao! Then I’ll eat it tomorrow!"

Liao Chen: "...!!"

Why can’t you be this obedient under your master’s tutelage!

Gu Jiao touched his plump little belly, pondering whether he could eat a small piece, but then decided against it.

He already had a little watermelon belly.

The group sat at the stall for a while, then got up and took a stroll down the Avenue to help Little Jie Kong digest his meal.

Gu Jiao walked ahead, holding Little Jie Kong’s hand, while Xiao Hen and Liao Chen followed behind.

Little Jie Kong was still most clingy to Gu Jiao, but Liao Chen’s arrival made it evident how happy he was.

Suddenly, Liao Chen spoke up, "It’s getting late. You all should head back."

Little Jie Kong stopped in his tracks and looked back at him, "But Master, you haven’t asked where I live yet?"

Liao Chen smiled warmly, "Ah, is that so? Where do you live?"

Little Jie Kong said, "I’m currently staying at the National Master Hall! In a few days, I might go back to the Academy! I’m studying in the Genius Class at Lingbo Academy, and for accommodations, I’m staying next door at the women’s Academy in Linglong Pavilion!"

He was extremely detailed in his explanation, as if worried that his Master would have trouble finding him.

Liao Chen said with a smile, "Okay, Master will remember."

After bidding farewell to the three, Liao Chen turned and walked into the alley across the street.

Xiao Hen suggested, "Let’s also head back."

"Okay," Gu Jiao nodded, looked at Little Jie Kong who was yawning, "Can you still walk? I’ll carry you."

Little Jie Kong touched his round little belly, a glint of hesitation in his eyes.

Eventually, he turned around and stretched out his little arms towards Xiao Hen, "Brother-in-law, carry me!"

He had eaten a lot and was now a little chubbier, he couldn’t tire Jiaojiao out!

Xiao Hen picked him up, feeling both annoyed and amused, holding him in one arm while taking Gu Jiao’s hand with the other, and started walking back to the National Master Hall.

"You’re so heavy; you should be called Little Weights," he teased.

"No way! You are just weak! You blame me because you can’t carry me! Are you even an adult?"

"I am an adult, does that mean you’re admitting you’re a child?"

"...No, I am an adult, and you are an old man!"

"Then it should be you carrying me."

"..."

In the alley, Liao Chen had not gone far, standing silently in the darkness, watching the receding figures of the three people, listening to the bantering voices of the "father and son."

Do you see that?

Jingkong is very happy.

He now has a complete family.

...

The moon is uniquely beautiful tonight.

A half moon hangs high above the Milky Way.

Liao Chen left the noisy market and arrived at a desolate avenue.

In stark contrast to the bustling liveliness everywhere in Shengdu, this place was particularly desolate.

It was a place even the night watchmen were reluctant to visit, resembling a path in the Underworld, filled with the spirits of fierce ghosts.

Liao Chen came to a sealed residence and looked up at it intently for a long time before ascending the steps to the front door.

The seal was already broken, the iron lock corroded and speckled with rust.

There were still traces of blood on the door.

Liao Chen furrowed his brows.

He looked up at the plaque above, covered in cracks and spider webs, his fingertips twitching as if he wanted to take it down and clean it, but in the end, he refrained.

He went around to the side of the residence and, using his lightness skill, easily leaped over the courtyard walls where weeds grew from the crevices.

He landed on a patch of slippery moss.

But he didn’t fall.

He walked across the moss with composure.

The courtyard was overgrown with weeds as tall as a person, even the crevices between the floor tiles splitting with the push of the weeds; the colonnades on all three sides were completely blocked by them too.

The only spot not invaded by weeds was the large round platform of white marble under Liao Chen’s feet.

But it too was covered with a thick layer of dust, and with each step, Liao Chen left footprints in the dirt.

The surroundings were too quiet.

So quiet that it made one’s heart ache.

Liao Chen took a few steps and stopped in the very center of the round platform.

He gazed ahead, his eyes unfocused, his expression vacant.

"Come out," he said.

A small figure leaped down from the eastern wall.

"When did you notice me?" Gu Jiao came up behind him. "I was very careful."

"Heh." Liao Chen did not turn around, looking at the vast river of stars, and said lightly, "You have something to ask me?"

Gu Jiao patted the dust off her body, spat out the grass in her mouth, and asked, "Did you know who I was all along?"

Liao Chen replied, "How early are you talking about?"

After pondering for a moment, Gu Jiao said, "That time in Guanshan, you must have recognized me right from the start; I’m just not sure if the first time in the countryside, you deliberately fell into the trap to wait for me to come to your rescue."

With a nonchalance akin to a gentle breeze or soft clouds, Liao Chen said, "Falling into the trap was an accident, pretending not to know you was on purpose. My disciple was taken in by you, and I had to see what kind of family was taking him in. I visited your village and saw your family, nothing more."

Gu Jiao walked up beside him, turned her head, and gave him a thorough look-over—his mood seemed a bit different from before.

The playful flirtatiousness in his peach-blossom eyes was gone, and the mischievous smile at the corner of his lips had disappeared.

His entire being was enveloped in an intangible aura.

Gu Jiao shifted her gaze away, looking in the same direction as him—at the vast expanse of stars.

"Alright, I’ll take your word for it for now. But why did you pretend not to know me?" Gu Jiao asked.

Wasn’t it because I was afraid you might bring some mischievous little imp to show me your gratitude?

Liao Chen spoke seriously, "I’m not used to dealing with people. It’s more comfortable with strangers. Otherwise, if laypeople like yourselves keep interacting with me, I find it bothersome."

"That excuse is just barely passable." The main reason Gu Jiao thought the question wasn’t very important was that it didn’t matter to her if he was lying or not.

But for the next question, Gu Jiao needed an honest answer.

Gu Jiao turned to face him, "Do you know what this place is?"

"A martial arts arena," Liao Chen said.

After he spoke, he realized that Gu Jiao was not asking about the open space beneath their feet but the whole residence.

Gu Jiao turned to face him, staring intently at his profile, "You even know that this is the Xuanyuan family’s martial arts arena. What exactly is your relationship with the Xuanyuan family? Don’t say there’s none—the spear technique you taught me is the Xuanyuan Seven Forms, and I already know that."

Liao Chen gazed at the half moon, his fingers tightening, but he did not speak.

Gu Jiao continued, "It’s alright if you don’t want to answer that question. After all, you’re not related to me; you don’t have to tell me about your affairs. So I’ll ask you another question."

Her expression became serious, her question allowing no refusal, "Does Jingkong have anything to do with the Xuanyuan family?"