Chapter 216: 153.1

"Are you here to play cards?" The elderly woman asked.

The old man was stupefied.

Play, play cards?

The elderly woman continued crushing the melon seeds as she said, "Today, instead of playing leaf cards, we’re playing pai gow, starting at 50 copper coins."

What was the Empress Dowager talking about? What leaf cards? What pai gow?

The old man looked at the Empress Dowager and slowly stood up from the ground. He found that although the person in front of him looked very similar to the Empress Dowager, her clothing and bearing were not like that of the Empress Dowager at all.

"What are you staring at?" The elderly woman asked impatiently.

"You... don't recognize me?" The old man asked, pointing to himself.

After what he said, the elderly woman really gave him a careful look this time.

He looked like a decent person.

And also looked a little familiar.

Had she seen him somewhere before?

The elderly woman had no recollection of the past. Even though she occasionally recalled some memories, they were all very scattered fragments.

But the old man gave her a little unusual feeling.

Why was that so?

In the past, when the Old Chief was still an official, he did not oppose Empress Dowager Zhuang any less.

He belonged to the conservative faction, and was firmly against the harem meddling in politics, especially women governing from behind the curtain.

As early as when the late emperor was still alive, the Old Chief had submitted a lot of memorandum persuading the previous emperor to depose her, who was still an Empress at the time. In the memorandum, he called Empress Xiande(virtuous) a demon empress, and accused her of bringing disorder to the harem, involving foreign relatives in politics, and being vicious and merciless without any regard for human life.

Empress Xiande was once banished into the cold palace by the late emperor for a time, thanks to the Old Chief.

Although she got out of the cold palace with her excellent palace struggle skills in less than half a year, she also earned less than half a year of silver and had to make use of most of her former savings.

Taking away her money was no different from killing her parents!

After that, Empress Xiande regarded the Old Chief as a thorn in her side.

The Old Chief was exiled to the border area for five years. There, he suffered terribly, worked under the scorching sun, and aged more than ten years in a short time. No need to say that this was Empress Xiande’s doing.

Their fight continued until the death of the late emperor. Then, when Empress Xiande defeated the Crown Prince, she assisted the son of the then Imperial Concubine Jing to ascend to the throne, becoming the Empress Dowager who was in power.

For the time being, there was a winner between them.

Why was it only for the time being though? It was because the Old Chief still had control over the Imperial Academy, and the Imperial Academy gathered the most talented scholars in the whole State of Zhao.

To put it in an exaggerated way, the Old Chief controlled the future of the State of Zhao.

Empress Dowager Zhuang was determined to take over the Imperial Academy. At that time, An Junwang was about to return to the State of Zhao. Empress Dowager Zhuang proposed to His Majesty to set up the position of Junior Chief in the Imperial Academy.

His Majesty agreed, but the one canonized as Junior Chief was the Little Marquis of Zhao, not the grandnephew of Empress Dowager Zhuang.

Little Marquis was Old Chief’s disciple.

Empress Dowager Zhuang felt as though thousands of horses galloped past her heart.

Old Chief smiled a crooked smile.

It looked like the Old Chief won this round.

But not long after, on New Year's Eve, the Imperial Academy suddenly caught on fire, and the Little Marquis of Zhao was burned alive by the raging flames.

……

Ever since the old man retired from being an official, he hadn't recalled the past for a long time. As soon as he saw the Empress Dowager, his thoughts were pulled back to those bloody court days.

The elderly woman looked puzzled and said, "Why aren’t you talking? Why do you have such a complicated look in your eyes? And the moment I saw you, my mood seems to have become somewhat complicated too!"

It was a feeling of complexity she couldn’t fully explain. It was as though the two of them were old enemies, so much so that she couldn't wait to find a blade to cut him down!

Wait a moment.

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Why would she want to cut him down with a blade?

The elderly woman gave the old man a suspicious look.

They must know each other, which could be determined from both his eyes and his words.

He seemed afraid of her.

He dared not look her in the eye, seemingly a little guilty.

He also knelt down in front of her just now. Was he that apologetic to her?

"I know who you are!" The elderly woman had a flash of inspiration in her mind and threw the melon seeds on the table. She asked, "Are you the one who abandoned me… the unfaithful man who now comes back to find me again?"

Old man: "...!!!”

Gu Jiao and Gu Xiaoshun came back first. As soon as they walked through the main hall, they found that there was an extra person in the backyard.

Gu Jiao found the other party familiar.

She didn’t recognize him for now mainly because he didn't have that big shoe imprint on his face.

“Grandaunt?” Gu Jiao asked with a look of inquiry in her eyes.

The elderly woman glared at the trembling unfaithful man with hatred and sighed, "It’s your Granduncle."

Gu Jiao：“…”

Gu Xiaoshun：“…”

Xiao Liulang, Gu Yan and Little Jing Kong also entered the house shortly after, carrying large and small bags of things in their hands. Behind them was a carriage loaded with New Year's goods.

Several people together with the coachman unloaded the New Year's goods from the carriage.

Xiao Liulang walked inside with a pot of sesame oil in his arms. Like Gu Jiao and Gu Xiaoshun, he froze upon walking through the main hall.

He saw the elderly woman, Gu Jiao, Gu Xiaoshun and the old man, who was no longer trembling badly but still with a pale face, sitting in the backyard.

Out of nowhere, the old man was made to make the late emperor wear a green hat! He was frightened to death!

"It’s Granduncle." Gu Jiao introduced.

Xiao Liulang：“…”

I didn't see you only for a while, and you picked up another granduncle back home?

The wronged Gu Jiao: It’s not me who picked up people this time.

Xiao Liulang gave the old man a complicated look.

The old man's mind was blank at the moment, so much so that he even forgot that he came here to meet Xiao Liulang. All he did was frantically swear to the late emperor in his heart—— the relationship between this official and the Empress Dowager is absolutely clean, ah!

Having suppressed her anger, the elderly woman asked faintly, "All right, let's be honest. Do we have any children?"

The old man slipped from his chair and nearly fell to the ground.

He sat up straight back and replied with a pale face, "No, no."

The elderly woman nodded, "I don't think so either. Otherwise I wouldn't have traveled all the way to find Liulang."

Xiao Liulang looked at the old man, who wiped away a cold sweat from his forehead.

He had been fighting Empress Dowager Zhuang all his life and today’s round was the most overwhelming of all. It could be said that he didn’t even have the strength to fight back!

Empress Dowager Zhuang said indifferently, "When you were young, you abandoned me. Now that you’re old, you come to our door and want to ask my grandnephew to raise you. There’s no way. Get lost!"

The old man was relieved. For the first time, he felt that her last two words were pleasing to the ears!

The old man still had an unreal feeling when he left the backyard.

He had to figure out what was going on, so he didn't leave and waited by the gate.

Xiao Liulang didn't let him down. Soon, he came out.

Both of them were not surprised to see each other, as if they had expected that one of them would not leave and the other would not come out quickly.

Xiao Liulang had lost the panic he had in the alley entrance last time.

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