Chapter 270: 197.1

Gu Jiao wasn't interested in that flower hairpin list, much less in gossip about Gu Jinyu. She simply turned around and left.

In the Brisk Wind Tower, Gu Jinyu felt bad all over. Because of Zhuang Mengdie’s remarks, several young misses in the private room with her had a complete change in expressions when looking at her.

Today, the women’s academy was closed for the every-tenth-day holiday, and everyone was idle, so they invited each other to the Brisk Wind Tower. First was to bet on the imperial exam results, and second was to bet on the flower hairpin list.

Gu Jinyu was a strong contender in the flower hairpin list. She was from a Marquis Estate, the apple of Marquis Gu's eye, and she was deeply adored by Imperial Concubine Shu. At the age of fifteen, she was conferred the title of County Princess Hui by His Majesty.

Her reputation for being talented wasn’t just well known in the estate, but also in the whole capital. After she entered the women's academy, she was like a fish released in the water, winning a lot of first place, on par with Zhuang Yuexi.

Who was Zhuang Yuexi? She was Grand Preceptor Zhuang's direct granddaughter, the Great Scholar, Zhuang Xianzhi’s niece, and An Junwang's blood sister. It wasn’t surprising for her to be so outstanding.

What was surprising was the fact that Gu Jinyu could be on par with her.

However, imperial capital was a place where people paid great attention to their origins. It was the same for men and women.

"Jinyu, is what she said true?" Asked Young Miss Xu, who had always been friends with Gu Jinyu.

On one side, Young Miss Yang also asked, "Right, right, Jinyu, Young Miss Zhuang is just talking nonsense, isn’t she? How can you not be born to Marquis Ding'an? Marquis Ding'an clearly loves you so much!"

Having said that, several other young misses in the room obviously showed a hint of suspicion in their eyes.

Gu Jinyu squeezed the handkerchief in her hand.

She felt her cheek burning, as if she had been slapped in the face, as if she had been stripped of her clothes, and all the shame was pouring out in that instant.

If it was someone else who said so, she would immediately deny it. After all, no one would specially go to the Marquis Estate to verify it. Even if someone did, Marquis Gu would definitely say that she was born to him in order to protect her.

But it happened to be Zhuang Mengdie!

Zhuang Mengdie had already confirmed her background, so denying it would be useless. It would only make things worse and worse.

It was no use even if Marquis Gu were to come forward. People like Zhuang Mengdie would just go in front of His Majesty or the Empress Dowager and force Marquis Gu to swear to the Heavens that Gu Jinyu was his own flesh and blood, otherwise it would be a crime of deceiving the monarch!

It might sound ridiculous, but it was really what Zhuang Mengdie would do.

Zhuang Mengdie took her sister's arm and smiled smugly at the opposite private room, "Hah, you’ve got nothing to say, right? The fake daughter shows off under the name of the genuine daughter all day long. If I were her, I would have gone back to the countryside where I am from! Those who curry favor with people should keep their eyes open. Not all pheasants can fly up the branches and turn into a phoenix!"

"You talk less. Let's go." Zhuang Yuexi coldly took away her good-for-nothing sister.

"I think I still have something to do at home, Young Miss Gu. Let's get together again next time." Young Miss Xu got up to leave.

"Me too. I promised to accompany my mother to light an incense. Young Miss Gu, I'll take my leave first." Young Miss Yang exchanged a look with her companions and stood up and left the private room.

The rest of the young misses had also left one after another. They all left feeling ashamed, and also didn't continue to bet on Gu Jinyu.

Gu Jinyu felt as though she was sitting on pins and needles, and for the first time, she felt so humiliated.

What embarrassed her even more was that the girls who had already bet on her went downstairs and bet on Zhuang Yuexi.

The tie situation on the flower hairpin list had changed at once. Zhuang Yuexi was now on the lead, pushing Gu Jinyu’s name down.

Gu Jinyu left the Brisk Wind Tower in humiliation.

"Young miss, shall we go back to the estate?" Ask the coachman.

"Go to the office of the Ministry of Works." She ordered.

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"Yes!"

The coachman drove the carriage to the office of the Ministry of Works.

Marquis Gu, who just came back from the Ministry of War to learn the bellows technology, saw a familiar carriage at the gate of the office. He went over and lifted the curtain to take a look inside, "Jinyu?"

Gu Jinyu's eyes were red and tears welled up in her eyes.

Seeing her like this, Marquis Gu was so distressed that he got into the carriage and asked, "What's the matter? What happened? Did someone bully you?"

Gu Jinyu burst into tears, and the servant girl on the side spoke for her, "Lord Marquis, please make the decision for young miss! Young miss was humiliated today!"

Marquis Gu's face sank, "Who dares to humiliate the daughter of the Marquis Ding'an Estate?”

The servant girl said, "It's Young Miss Zhuang. She said our young miss is a pheasant* from the countryside!"

[T/N: *in slang, this chinese character can also mean prostitute.]

This servant girl was also a powerful one. She was able to sum up Zhuang Mengdie’s string of sentences into one, but also increased the lethality ten fold.

Marquis Gu's expression turned ugly almost instantly, "How could she do such a thing?"

Gu Jinyu choked with sobs as she said, "Actually, I don't blame Young Miss Zhuang. What she said is true. I'm really not my father's biological child. My own father and mother are from the countryside. That's my origin..."

Marquis Gu said sadly, "Dad doesn't allow you to say that about yourself! In dad's heart, you are dad's own daughter!"

The servant girl glanced at Marquis Gu and muttered, "Young miss is really miserable. After Fifth Young Miss Zhuang said this, everyone stopped betting on young miss! This is only the first day, who knows how those people will bully the young miss upon going back to the academy?"

Bully his daughter? How could he let that happen?

Marquis Gu didn't know much about these gambling games or what not, it was only after asking the pair of master and servant did he learn that the Brisk Wind Tower opened a betting game about the results of the imperial exam, among which was a flower hairpin list, which was a bet on who could get the flower hairpins of the first-class Jinshi.

There were three flower hairpins in total, and the one in An Junwang's hand was mostly for Zhuang Yuexi. How about the two left?

Marquis Gu felt that with Jinyu's qualification, she could win one of these two.

He couldn’t let Jinyu suffer this injustice.

In the afternoon of that day, he drew 5,000 tales of silver from the estate’s coffers, and took them all to the Brisk Wind Tower for betting.

"Which Young Miss Gu do you want to bet on?" The shopkeeper asked.

"Are there many Young Miss Gu there?" Marquis Gu asked.

The shopkeeper didn't know Marquis Gu and introduced the two Young Misses Gu in the list with a smile, "There are two Young Miss Gu from the Marquis Ding'an Estate, one is Second Young Miss Gu and the other is Eldest Young Miss Gu.”

That girl could also be on the list? Marquis Gu rolled his eyes. Soon, he remembered that the servant girl had mentioned that Zhuang Mengdie had deliberately bet a copper coin on Gu Jiao to humiliate Gu Jinyu. That must be when the Brisk Wind Tower included that girl’s name on the list.

She also wanted to compete with Jinyu just based on herself?

Whatever!

Marquis Gu bet on Gu Jinyu without saying another word.

The bet on Gu Jinyu suddenly equaled that of Zhuang Yuexi.

Gu Jiao’s name was still hanging alone at the bottom.

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