The Prime Minister's Darling novel Chapter 320

Chapter 320: 174 Winning till hands are soft (Second update)

The candlelight flickered in Gu Changqing’s study.

An undercover guard swiftly entered, bowed to him, and greeted, “Your Highness.”

Gu Changqing’s face was concealed in the shadows, lending him an icy demeanor.

He looked at the undercover guard, “What’s the progress on the investigation I asked for?”

The Undercover guard bowed and replied, “Your Highness, we haven’t found anything.”

Gu Changqing’s eyebrows knitted together, “None? Surely there were at least seven or eight maids and four or five wet nurses in my mother’s chambers back then. How could all of them have disappeared?”

It was indeed peculiar.

Just like the servants who were around during the birth of Yao family’s child, all of them had vanished without a trace.

Back then, the Yao Family household did not have many maids serving during childbirth. Two young maids, one old wet nurse. The old nurse passed away, and the young maids are married and beyond our reach.

Yao family being of low birth, their selection of servants lacked strict scrutiny. But this cannot be the case for the Ling Family, as every member of their staff went through stringent checks, with pasts traceable back to three generations. It’s impossible for all of them to just vanish without a trace.

The undercover guard said, “Those were servants brought over from the old Madam’s maternal home. If we are to properly investigate, we will have to start from her maternal family, the Ling Family.”

But the Ling Family was Gu Changqing’s maternal family. He had always trusted them implicitly.

If he could investigate, he would first have to overcome his internal resistance to suspecting them.

“Investigate,” he ordered.

The undercover guard looked somewhat surprised, “Your Highness?”

Gu Changqing said in a serious tone, “I need the truth.”

The undercover guard looked deeply at his master and bowed in acknowledgment, “… Yes!”

After the undercover guard left, Gu Changqing took out the evidence from back then—a letter Yao had written to Marquis Gu.

The letter said little lady Ling’s illness couldn’t wait, when would Marquis Gu come to marry her? Her background very humble, if they don’t settle the marriage soon, it might lead to uncertainties, and so on so forth.

The implications were that both parties had already engaged in illicit affairs and were taking advantage of little lady Ling’s critical illness, and Yao’s opportunity to care for her.

If someone really did this, what kind of a deeply manipulative and cruel woman would she have to be?

Yet, what if she were not, then who forged this letter and what kind of terrifying existence could they be?

Moreover, there was not only the letter. Someone saw Yao enter Marquis Gu’s study with their own eyes.

Was that witness mistaken, or was he following someone’s instructions?

Who has the power to control the servants around Ling?

Gu Changqing’s mind was in chaos. He got up, put the letter back in the box, and walked out of the study room.

Snow was falling outside.

He mounted his horse and headed out of the Marquis Residence, galloping through the snow.

He didn’t consciously think about where he was going, yet his horse stopped in front of a mansion in Bishui Alley.

The large doors of the mansion were open, and lanterns were lit in the passageway and courtyard.

From his angle, he could see several children playing what seemed to be card games fearlessly in the snowy grounds.

Gu Yan’s face was covered in blackened doodles and covered with many stickers.

Little Monk’s face was clean, without any marks.

Another boy aged thirteen or fourteen was present as well.

Though Gu Changqing had visited this place and taken care of Gu Yan for a night, Gu Xiaoshun had chickenpox at the time and was recuperating in his room, so the two had not met.

But this didn’t prevent Gu Changqing from guessing his identity.

Gu Xiaoshun had lost several rounds of the card game, his face also painted with doodles.

The elderly lady held a jar of preserved fruit, eating as she walked over, checking if the three boys were cold by touching their heads, before continuing to munch on her preserves.

As Gu Changqing watched this scene, he felt somewhat confused.

Gu Xiaoshun was the adopted son of Gu Jiao’s foster parents, whilst Little Monk was adopted from a monastery, neither of them had any blood relation to Gu Jiao.

Yet, their status within the household was the same as that of Gu Jiao and Gu Yan.

Could one genuinely treat children who were not their own so well?

“Ah, Brother Yan, you’re cheating again!”

Gu Yan had hidden a card and was caught red-handed by Little Monk.

“I didn’t!” Gu Yan denied with a straight face.

“Then what is this?” Little Monk decisively found the card that Gu Yan had buried in the snow.

Gu Yan was unyielding: “How would I know? I didn’t hide it.”

“It was you! It was you! I saw it!” Little Monk got so fired up, he climbed onto the stool and started stomping his feet.

The two bickered endlessly.

Their pets also started to squabble, causing a riot in the courtyard.

Suddenly, Gu Xiaoshun looked towards the entrance, “Is someone there?”

The argument between the two boys came to a halt, and they both looked towards the entrance in unison.

Gu Changqing had been quietly watching from the side, lost in thought, before he found he was blatantly standing at the entrance.

There was no time to hide now.

Both boys had seen him.

“Wow! Big Brother!” Little Monk instantaneously forgot about the argument, hopped down from the stool, and ran towards Gu Changqing.

Gu Yan also wanted to move, but suddenly remembered something, dropped the cards from his hand, and hastily removed the stickers from his face.

After removing the stickers, he remembered he had turtle scribbles on his face.

Desperately, he put the stickers back on!

“Big Brother! Wishing you wealth and prosperity!” Little Monk made a small gesture with his hands, courteously wishing him a happy Lunar New Year.

He himself was even taken aback by his subconscious action. _{freёwebnovel.com}