The Grand Secretary’s Pampered Wife - Chapter 200-2

Upon coming back from the palace, Gu Jinyu’s personal servant girl told her that the instructors from the women’s academy had been here, asking her how her recovery was going and when she would go back to class.

There was also the Crown Princess’s female courtier. Gu Jinyu had been recuperating at home for so long, but she didn’t come to visit early nor late, but at this time. Who wouldn’t know that she wasn’t instructed by the Crown Princess?

Did the Crown Princess also hear about the bellows?

It wasn’t surprising when she thought about it. Imperial Concubine Shu and Imperial Consort Zhuang had both heard about it, so how could the Crown Princess not?

After that, several young misses, who befriended her but then alienated her afterwards due to her origins, came back flocking around her. They came to visit her at the estate, chatting and laughing, as if the previous unhappy events had never happened.

Why was that?

It must have been their father, who were court officials, sending them to her to find out the truth.

If she really was the inventor of the bellows, no one could look down on her no matter how humble her background was. She had done such an extraordinary thing that benefited the country and the people, so much so that even His Majesty had to praise her.

However, what if the real inventor came out one day?

Gu Jinyu was caught in a tangle.

When Marquis Gu returned to the Marquis Estate, Gu Jinyu was sorting out her trunk.

This trunk was filled with her own writings and paintings, as well as little stuff made by her own hands. Yao shi didn’t throw them away, but kept them for her.

She moved back to her courtyard and took out all the papers with her drawings. She wanted to see if she truly ever had some creative inspiration for bellows.

“Jinyu, what are you doing?” Marquis Gu entered the room, looked at the papers with drawings all over the floor, and asked in wonder.

Gu Jinyu raised her slightly embarrassed face and said, “I’m looking for something.”

“Looking for what?” Marquis Gu walked in. “Dad will help you find it.”

“A sketch.” Gu Jinyu said, “A sketch similar to bellows.”

“You mean this?” Marquis Gu bent over and picked up a piece of drawing between the pages, on which a crooked box was drawn with a very immature technique. There was something that somehow looked like a handle or a lever, with three or two layers below. At first glance, it really looked somewhat similar to the shape of the piston bellows.

Gu Jinyu herself didn’t even know what she drew.

But it definitely wasn’t bellows.

But… stretched it a bit, and it was really like the prototype of bellows.

“Jinyu, did you really invent the bellows?” Marquis Gu asked.

Gu Jinyu didn’t hurry to answer Marquis Gu’s words, but said, “Dad, what did the people in the six ministries say? What clues did they find?”

Marquis Gu replied, “They say it’s a girl surnamed Gu, who has something to do with Marquis Ding’an Estate and should be a Marquis Estate’s daughter. Ah, by the way, her age is fourteen or fifteen.”

That’s right. The Ministry of War took the lead in investigating the matter, and the girl’s age was one of the very useful clues they had gathered.

This basically matched Gu Jinyu’s age.

Gu Jinyu had a bold guess in her heart, but she didn’t dare to say it. She went to Yao shi’s courtyard.

Yao shi was making clothes for Gu Jiao.

“Mom.” Gu Jinyu walked over, and the excitement in her heart made her ignore the clothes Yao shi had in hand. She sat down, grabbed Yao shi’s hand and asked, “Has my sister been here recently?”

“What’s the matter? What are you looking for her for?” Yao shi asked.

Gu Jinyu shook her head, “Nothing much. I haven’t been to the women’s academy for several days and also haven’t seen my sister for some time. I just want to ask her how she is doing.”

The women’s academy was just next door to the medical hall. When Gu Jinyu went to school, she would occasionally meet Gu Jiao. However, there was basically no communication between the two. No one in the medical hall knew that she was sisters with a medicine girl of a medical hall, except the Zhuang Family sisters.

At the mention of her eldest daughter, Yao shi’s eyes were filled with pampering, “Your eldest sister is fine, except that your brother-in-law has just finished the metropolitan exam recently, and she’s a little busy.”

Gu Jinyu didn’t care. What achievement could come out from a poor boy from the countryside? Unlike An Junwang, who was sure to get the first place in the exam.

And when An Junwang became the Zhuangyuan, he would give her his flower hairpin.

“Are you feeling better now? I heard that you entered the palace today.” Yao shi asked.

“I’m all right. I should have come to greet Mom first, but Wet Nurse Qi urged me, so I had to see my aunt first. Don’t be angry with me.”

“It’s nothing.” Yao shi said.

“By the way, Mom, you didn’t throw away any of my previous drawings, did you?” Gu Jinyu took out a few pieces of paper which had her drawings when she was a child from her purse. “It’s the same as these.”

Yao shi asked, “Haven’t you taken everything?”

Gu Jinyu replied, “I mean those in the Hot Spring Villa.”

Yao shi explained, “These are brought from the villa.”

Gu Jinyu drooped her eyes, “So… Has my sister seen these things?”

Yao shi shook his head, “I never show these to her.”

Gu Jinyu looked up at Yao shi, “Did she look through them herself?”

Yao shi responded oddly, “What would she go through your stuff for?”

She wasn’t a child anymore.

Even children didn’t do this either. Gu Yan never went through Gu Jinyu’s things when they were still children.

Gu Jinyu said with a smile, “That’s not what I meant. She’s my sister, she has a cold face but a warm heart. I know she actually cares about me.”

Yao shi said, “If she cares about you, that’s all the more reason she won’t go through your things.” JiaoJiao was a good girl who understood manners.

Gu Jinyu stopped arguing with her mother, changed the subject and said something else. Yao shi felt sleepy in a short time.

Yao shi was always sleepy these days.

Gu Jinyu let her mother have a good rest.

After walking out of the courtyard, Gu Jinyu suddenly murmured, “Whoever it is, they must have been inspired after seeing my drawings!”

Servant girl: “Young miss, what are you talking about?”

Gu Jinyu ignored her. She was convinced of her conclusion, and she was no longer worried about admitting to inventing the bellows.

Yes, she was a talented young lady of the State of Zhao. Others just stole her inspiration!

She was the real owner!

The next day, Gu Jinyu went to school.

As expected, all the young misses who alienated her rushed to curry favor with her once again.

“Young Miss Gu, I heard that you invented the bellows of the imperial court. Is this true?”

“Yeah, yeah, is it true?”

“Quickly tell us, ah!”

At the school gate, Gu Jinyu was blocked by several young misses. Although everyone was asking questions, certainty could already be seen within their eyes.

Otherwise, why else would Gu Jinyu suddenly return back to school after pretending to be sick at home for so long. Wasn’t it because the tides had been turned around?

Gu Jinyu smiled modestly and said, “His Majesty hasn’t announced it yet, so don’t make it public for now.”