Chapter 113– Mrs. Wu’s Stupid Idea (1)

“Grandpa, you have seen the emperor?” There were admiration blinking in Gu Ming’s eyes – his grandpa must be very important in the military; how else could he have seen the emperor?

Gu Ye, too, looked at her grandpa full of interest. The emperor! That’s something that only existed in novels and TV shows. She wondered if the emperor of Dongling was a muddleheaded emperor like King Zhou of Shang or a benevolent one like Emperor Taizong of Tang?

“Mmm, I was lucky enough to have seen him a few times!” As a trusted general of the old Duke, he was always there when rewards were behind handed out. Had he not quite his official position he’d be a second-grade official by now. But, for the sake of repaying the old general’s favor, he never regretted his own decision!

The word “emperor” in the eyes of a peasant was almost holy. Gu Ming’s look was filled with envy and yearning.

Seeing that, Gu Xiao continued to reel in his grandson, “No. 1 from the imperial provincial examination will be ordained by the emperor at the Hall of Supreme Harmony and might even had the opportunity to drink the wine awarded by the emperor himself!”

“Grandpa, I have decided. I will sit for the imperial provincial examination!!” said Gu Ming decisively. His look full of determination.

Gu Ye casted her grandpa a look nonchalantly and thought to herself: Yup, he was good. Barely a few words and had her brother hooked. But going down the imperial provincial examination path would be the best option for her brother.

Night came like a curtain that covered up the entire Qingshan Village. A few calls from night birds came occasionally from the otherwise quiet forest. The sound made by horse hooves on the path were very clear. The three of them passed through the village and returned to their “home” half way up the mountain.

The next morning, all grandpa and grandson woke up early. Gu Ming excitedly started to practice the basics of martial art under his grandpa’s instructions – the horse stance. The horse stance was a “post” form of martial art. The intention is to train one’s leg’s strength, stability, endurance, static, and it was very good practice.

It had crossed Gu Ye’s mind to join her brother in his practice, but one has to assume the horse stance for at least an hour. That was just too monotonous and boring, she gave up after barely thinking about it. Yet, having experienced dystopia, she knew how important a strong and healthy body was. She took medicine daily to improve her body. Yes, she has cheats in hand, and she was not above using them!

Gu Ming, with his incredulous stamina, somehow was able to make it. Seeing how her brother’s legs were shaking like noodles, Gu Ye couldn’t help but handed him a cup of hot tea. She had also sneakily added couple drops of potion that would assist him in getting rid of the weariness and quicken recovery.

Wu Dongguai, who was also at the herb market, witnessed for himself how the little girl from the Gu’s sold three baskets of herbs for 50 or so taels. That made him felt jealous and unjust. He thought that old man only knew how to treat people and nothing about making medicinal herbs. Yet his disciple for less than a month was able to well exceed him in her herbal medicinal preparation skills.

Wu Donggaui, after he had gone home, locked himself inside his house for half a day and finally made a big decision. He pulled out his most precious piece of treasure from the bottom of his box – a 100-year old gingseng and asked his wife to wrap it up in a piece of cloth before he started walked out.

Mrs. Wu was hurting so much from that the flesh on her cheeks were trembling, “Husband, are you sure you want to take the ginseng as the gift to ask to be the old man’s disciple? This was worth several hundreds of taels!”