Chapter 244: 143 Cleaning Up After Her (Second Update)

After getting the admission ticket, Lord Gu had Huang Zhong send it directly to Gu Jiao.

He had already decided that on his daughter’s first day of school, he and his wife would go to the school and give his wife a huge surprise!

Seeing the efforts he has made for their daughter up close, his wife will surely realize his heartfelt love for their girl!

Of course, he had considered that his daughter might not appreciate his efforts. Being a clever man, he had already devised a plan!

“Miss, Lord Gu said that as long as you agree to go to school, he will give you 500 taels of silver.” In the Medical Hall, Huang Zhong relayed Lord Gu’s words.

Gu Jiao was working and paused when she heard these words, “Are you sure?”

Huang Zhong replied, “Absolutely! I even brought the silver note!”

Gu Jiao replied, “Money in one hand, note in the other.”

Huang Zhong: Why does that sound a bit off?

Huang Zhong seriously said: “Miss, you need to make a promise.”

Gu Jiao made a swearing gesture, “Alright, I swear I will go to school.”

Huang Zhong nodded in satisfaction and handed the note and silver note to Gu Jiao simultaneously.

What Huang Zhong didn’t realize was that as soon as he left, Gu Jiao immediately stuck the note on the front door of the Medical Hall: Admission tickets for sale, one for 100 taels!

The shopkeeper was stunned, “You… want to sell this too?”

The meaning of ‘too’ was that before Huang Zhong’s arrival, someone had already delivered an admission ticket.

This person was none other than Prince An, who had encountered Gu Jiao twice before in the county.

The admission ticket brought by Prince An was given by Concubine Zhuang. He didn’t even offer it to Zhuang Mengdie but directly had it delivered to Gu Jiao.

Without uttering a word, Gu Jiao put it up for sale.

And it had already been sold!

Gu Jiao casually replied, “Yes, sell it, why not?”

“Then what was that conversation you just had?” The shopkeeper knows well that Gu Jiao wouldn’t be going to school.

Gu Jiao replied, “He asked for my promise, I gave it, what’s wrong with that?”

The shopkeeper dropped his jaw in disbelief.

So the key point was the ‘promising’ part, not the subsequent ‘going to school’ part?

How… is that possible?!

Knowing a bit about Lord Gu’s situation with his daughter, the shopkeeper now really felt sorry for him. He wondered how many times Lord Gu could be fooled by his daughter before he learned a lesson.

The person who came to buy the second admission ticket soon appeared, and shockingly, he was also someone they knew.

“Do you really have admission tickets for the school next door?”

A well-dressed young lady walked in with her head held high.

Xiaoliu knew he couldn’t deal with this client, so he quickly called the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper hadn’t met her before, and considering her well-to-do appearance, he treated her with respect, saying, “Yes we do, Miss. Are you interested in purchasing one?”

The young woman arrogantly asked, “How do I know your admission tickets are genuine?”

The shopkeeper replied with a laugh, “Miss, one look at you, and it’s clear you are someone of status. Our large Medical Hall here is a place of business, not a temple for runaway monks. If our tickets were fake, you could come and close us down!”

The young woman looked up to see the brand new plaque above her head and found the shopkeeper’s point to be reasonable.

Her family’s power was enormous. If anyone dared to deceive her, she would demolish this shop and arrest everyone involved!

The young woman took out a 100-tael silver note.

The shopkeeper was just about to accept it when Xiaoliu hurriedly walked over and whispered something into his ear.

The shopkeeper frowned, his hand frozen in mid-air as he was about to receive the silver note.

“What’s wrong?” the young woman asked.

The shopkeeper sheepishly replied: “The admission ticket… it’s now 200 taels.”

“Didn’t the notice say it’s 100 taels?”

“Ah…uh… that was the old price.”

“So, you’re raising your price as you please?”

“Hey, you wanna buy or not? If you’re not buying, I’ll buy it!”

Another customer craving for an admission ticket had arrived behind the young woman.

This was not a hired plant of Medical Hall, it was an actual interested buyer.

The young woman glared at her fiercely, “Who said I’m not buying? How much is it?”

The shopkeeper laughed awkwardly and held up two fingers. The young girl gasped, about to say that you’ve doubled the price, when the shopkeeper unfurled the rest of his fingers.

“500 taels.” The shopkeeper felt like crying.

Miss Gu, oh, Miss Gu, why are you doing me like this?

Don’t you fear that this rich lady will smash up our medical hall in a rage?

The young girl really got angry: “Believe it or not, I’ll smash your shop!”

“If you can’t afford it, get out of the way! I’m buying!” the aggressive woman behind her said.

500 taels can buy a ticket to a girl’s school, to gather with all the talented women of the Capital City. Although very painful to part with, it is simply the only way out for those of us who can’t pass the exams!

“Who said I can’t afford it?” The girl gritted her teeth, pulled out four more notes from her purse, and paid the sky-high price of 500 taels for the admission ticket that Gu Jiao had discarded.

The shopkeeper looked at the 500-tael notes that suddenly appeared in his hand, with a somewhat unreal feeling.

He took the notes to the consulting room behind the medicine counter and asked Gu Jiao, “Who is that young lady? Do you know her?”

Gu Jiao said calmly, “I know her, she’s Miss Zhuang, Zhuang Mengdie.”

The shopkeeper gasped, “Which Zhuang family? Don’t tell me it’s the Zhuang family of the Dowager Empress?”

Gu Jiao thought seriously, “Hmm, I think so.”

“What do you mean by ‘I think’?” The shopkeeper’s legs went weak.

My dear, do you know who you’re messing with? That’s the granddaughter of the Grand Tutor, the great-niece of the Empress Dowager! She could crush our medical hall with a flick of her finger!

We didn’t just refuse to hand over the ticket, we also hoodwinked her for 500 taels —

The shopkeeper once again pressed his fingers against his forehead and fell dramatically to the ground…

The news of the ticket sale quickly spread to the women’s college. It was mainly because Zhuang Mengdie, this goof, kept telling everyone she had an admission ticket. Although she didn’t say she bought it, given her infamous lack of knowledge, everyone guessed there was something fishy.

Incidentally, the princess went out incognito today. On her way back, she passed by the women’s college and heard the commotion. She instructed her lady-in-waiting to investigate.

The lady-in-waiting reported back in the carriage, “Princess, people are selling admission tickets to the women’s college in public!”

“Really?”

Although the princess did not set up the women’s college, she is indeed responsible for many things. For example, she personally designed the admission tickets and had them made by the Shanggong Bureau.

She had a clear idea of how many she had issued.

She also had a rough idea of who they were given to, apart from those that the prince had distributed to curry favor.

“How many were sold?” she asked.

The lady-in-waiting answered, “Two! The medical hall did it! I don’t know where they got their tickets, but they’ve really been selling them!”

The princess furrowed her eyebrows slightly, “Who bought them?”

The lady-in-waiting reported, “The first buyer, I did not see for myself, but from the description of the waiters, it seems like Miss Fifth of the Du Family, the second buyer I saw, was Miss Zhuang Mengdie.”

Zhuang Mengdie is known in the Capital City as a complete scatterbrain.

The Zhuang family is known for their scholarly tradition, it is very unusual for them to have such a scatterbrain in the family.

Her sister, Zhuang Yuexi, for example, is indeed a highly talented woman.

However, when the princess initially gave Zhuang Yuexi an admission ticket, there were some speculation that Zhuang Yuexi would give the ticket to her sister and enter the school herself through examination.

It appears that Zhuang Yuexi did not do that.

A palace maid suddenly said, “It’s strange, Princess. Didn’t Concubine Zhuang ask you for an admission ticket? Wasn’t it for Zhuang Mengdie?”

The princess shook her head slightly, “I’m not sure.”

The palace maid sighed, “And Miss Fifth Du, she’s probably going to upset the Third Prince’s wife again.”

The wife of the Third Prince is a Du, and Miss Fifth Du is her own biological sister. The Third Prince is of the First Prince’s line and does not get along with the Crown Prince, and so the Third Prince’s wife and the princess also often clash.

Actually, the Third Prince’s wife is also a talented woman in the Capital City, her qin playing is renowned in the city. However, she does not quite measure up to the princess.

It is said that when the princess was young, she accompanied a diplomatic mission to Liang Country and saw a genuine Fo Xi qin. Just this alone has made the Third Prince’s wife envious for a long time.

The Third Prince’s wife’s own sister is a big fan of the princess.

Everyone inside knew that the women’s college idea was the emperor’s, but to the outside, they borrowed the princess’s name. The Third Prince’s wife would naturally not allow her own sister to campaign for the princess.

It’s impossible for Du Xiaoyun to take the exam, and it’s impossible for the ticket to get into her hands.

Because of her concern, Du Xiaoyun bought the admission ticket as soon as she bumped into Gu Jiao selling it!

The lady-in-waiting asked, “Should we…reclaim the tickets?” Given that the women’s college is just beginning and everything is not yet standardized. Otherwise, if this were Guozijian, who would dare to sell admission documents? That would result in a beating and a lifetime ban from the imperial examination!

The princess sighed deeply, “Let it be, if they want to sell, let them sell, the women’s college is for women who truly want to learn.”

Zhuang Mengdie is not much of an issue, but the lady-in-waiting feels very regretful for Miss Fifth Du, “She’s going to get beaten up again.”

Yes, when the wife of the Third Prince found out that her own sister had actually bought an admission ticket to the women’s college, she was so furious that she disregarded her status as a prince’s wife, dashed home in the middle of the night and gave Du Xiaoyun a good thrashing!