Wu House, evening.

Wu Shu's wife Liu has been suffering from morning sickness these days, afraid of affecting his rest at night, and in order to raise the fetus with peace of mind, she lived in a separate room with Wu Shu, but she was always worried that a little fox spirit would take the opportunity to hook up with her father-in-law, so she sent her eldest maid Chaolu to bring food to Wu Shu every evening, and observed the situation in his study by the way.

In order to make Liu's family feel at ease, Chaolu carried food to Wu Shu's study every evening, and today, as usual, Chaolu calmly walked outside Wu Shu's study, but found that under the candle flame in the study, there were two people floating. It is not difficult to guess that one of them is Wu Shu, and the other is a woman.

Chaolu sighed, walked softly outside the study, and heard the laughter of the woman inside, the two seemed to be talking about something interesting, and they couldn't stop laughing. After hearing this voice, Chaolu's face changed, and it was not difficult to hear that the owner of this voice was Jiang Er's maid A Tao.

Chaolu waited patiently outside the study, a little hesitant to knock on the door.

Wu Shu was touching Ah Tao's hand at this time, he seemed to be very interested in her little hands, and sighed while touching: "Your pair of delicate hands are really good at embroidery." ”

On the table is an embroidered purse, on which is embroidered a pair of mandarin ducks, which looks very small and cute.

Ah Tao was touched and trembled all over, thinking in her heart, she thought of so many ways, but she didn't expect to find a way to please Wu Shu today. She slowly touched Wu Shu's arms with a pair of small hands, and began to throw flattering eyes on her face unscrupulously, and said to him coquettishly: "Master." ”

Ah Tao calculated in his heart that this Wu Shu was fat, short, and a little older, but he was also an official, and there was only Liu in his backyard. That Liu looks like yesterday's yellow flower at a glance, not to mention his age, his personality is still irritable, and he is very jealous.

She believes that as long as she makes a slight move, this Wu Shu will immediately become a minister under her skirt, whether it is in terms of age or appearance, she doesn't know how many times better Liu's is good. There are fewer women in the backyard, and there will naturally be more when they come out.

Although Li Gongzi of the Li Mansion dotes on her, his backyard has long been beautiful, not only has he already married his wife, but also has three or four concubines and four or five intercourse. This Wu Shu looks like a flower on the surface, but in fact, he has a lot of flowers. His official is now getting bigger and bigger, and Ah Tao feels that such a man is worthy of entrustment, and he doesn't know how many times better than those young masters who have a lot of flowers and intestines.

Of course, she also wanted to find a young, handsome and noble-born man who would be good to her alone. But Ah Tao also knows that this kind of beautiful thing can only wait for her to be reincarnated in the next life.

Just when Wu Shu and Ah Tao were talking to each other, Chao Lu's slight cough sounded outside the study, Wu Shu immediately pushed Ah Tao up after hearing it, he stood up in a little panic and coughed twice, his expression became a little serious and said: "Ah Tao, thank you for this purse, you go back quickly, Jiang Er will drink medicine later." ”

Ah Tao had no choice but to reply: "Yes, master." After speaking, he didn't forget to give Wu Shu a few winks.

Seeing her like this, Wu Shu suddenly waved his hand a little impatiently, signaling her to go out quickly.

Ah Tao mistakenly thought that Wu Shu was worried about being discovered by the Liu family, so he hurriedly tidied up his clothes and walked towards the door. Chao Lu stood outside with a dignified face, holding a food box in one hand, and looked at Ah Tao calmly.

Ah Tao pouted at her, walked away with a smug face, and whispered before leaving: "You are the life of a maid for the rest of your life." ”

After seeing Ah Tao walk away, Wu Shu walked out with a somewhat anxious expression, and said softly to Chaolu: "You're here!" Just ......"

Chao Lu replied with a straight face: "What happened just now has nothing to do with me, Mrs. is raising a baby now, I hope the master will not go too far and anger Madame." ”

Wu Shu's expression became a little subtle, and his face was embarrassed and a little helpless, so he had to say, "Chaolu." ”

Chao Lu walked in, put the food box on the table, and said indifferently: "Madame's side has something, I'll go first." ”

Who knew that Wu Shu was a little angry after hearing this: "Madam, madam, everything is Madame, I Wu Shu wants to marry from beginning to end The lady is only you, that day my greeting team entered the inn, it was the matchmaker who made a mistake and married Liu, how could I fall in love with this market shrew!" ”

After speaking, he became even more angry: "In order to repay the Liu family, you will be wrong in this matter, but have you considered my feelings?" I fell in love with you at first sight, and my mind has not changed at this moment, don't you understand? Liu said that he wanted to marry you, you know, my heart is dripping blood. ”

"Master, don't say it, since you married Liu, you should treat her well, don't have so many hearty, Liu's is about to give birth." Chaolu said with a slightly angry face.

"No, I'm going to make it clear today." Obviously, Wu Shu was a little excited, he approached and looked at Chaolu with sincere eyes: "Chaolu, you marry me, although you are not a wife, but I will regard you as more important than anything else, I will treat you as the stars in the sky, the moonlight in the sky, you are the eternal white moonlight in my heart, I Wu Shu will want you in this life." ”

Seeing that Chaolu was still unmoved, and even wanted to leave, Wu Shu suddenly became ruthless in his heart, pulled Chaolu into the study fiercely, and locked the door. He said fiercely: "I'm going to ask you tonight, so that you can understand that as long as you are my Wu Shu's person, you have to marry if you don't marry." ”

Chaolu desperately resisted: "If you force me, I will die for you." ”

"Don't talk about those who don't die, as long as you taste the taste of this man and woman, you will fall in love with me." After saying that, he slammed Chaolu onto the bed in the study and began to strip Chaolu's clothes.

Chaolu resisted desperately, but she didn't dare to scream, for fear of alarming the subordinates of the Wu Mansion, she had the grace of an adoptive mother to the Liu family, and would never do anything to be sorry for the Liu family.

When she saw a large vase beside the bed, she struggled out of the bed and slammed into the vase so fast that it fell to the ground. Chaolu quickly picked up one of the porcelain pieces, put it on his neck, raised his chin and stubbornly said to Wu Shu: "If you dare to touch me, I will kill myself in front of you." ”

Wu Shu's expression slowly changed from shock to loss, and he looked at Chaolu in a daze: "Why didn't I marry you?" It's not you," his eyes seemed to be dripping blood, and the two faced each other fiercely in the room.

Chaolu still replied calmly: "People have their own fate, you have shown your heart to me, but I have never been moved by you, but Madame, when you were most forced and looked down upon, it was she who always encouraged you and supported you, she guarded the inn alone, she did the hardest, most tiring and dirtiest work, in order to let you study quietly, she gave you the best house, isn't this enough?" Why is your heart never satisfied, always feeling that others are good? ”

"Liu is good to me, I am grateful to her, I use silver to give back to her, I use a hundred times a thousand times to repay her, but I can't marry her, I love you, Chaolu! When I was studying, I knew that only you understood me, and when I was at my worst, you never looked down on me in your eyes, and I worked so hard to make the list, just hoping that you would look up to me. Wu Shu even burst into tears after speaking.

Seeing that Chaolu still didn't put down the porcelain piece, he said fiercely: "If you don't give me an answer tonight, we will die together." After saying that, he threw himself at Chaolu, Chaolu leaned back desperately, she was pressed to a bookshelf, Wu Shu's face came over, he pressed Chaolu's hand with both hands, and was ready to kiss Chaolu's face.

Chaolu resisted desperately, kicked Wu Shu with his foot, the reaction was very intense, the bookshelf was constantly shaken, and suddenly a wooden box on the top of the bookshelf smashed down, which was full of letters, and instantly spilled all over the ground.

Wu Shu's expression was a little panicked when he saw it, and when Chao Lu saw that he was diverting his attention, he hurriedly dropped the porcelain piece and ran out of the door.

Wu Shu immediately bent down to put away the letters, and found another hidden place to hide. After tidying up, he sat alone at his desk and sat until dawn.

He thought of many things in his mind, thinking of the child that Liu was about to be born, thinking of the surprise he was at when he saw Chaolu for the first time, thinking of the joy of discussing poetry with Chaolu at the inn that evening, and thinking of the loss in his eyes when the matchmaker brought Liu back.

He has been very mediocre since he was a child, short, very chubby, and not good-looking. The family is very poor and often does not have enough to eat. He had several elder sisters, the eldest of whom was sent to marry early because of the poverty of the family. In order to make a little more money, her mother married them all into a big family as concubines.

The family's only hope fell on him, and the family hoped that he could become an official and change the fate of their Wu family, and all the good food and clothing were invested in him.

The family is frugal in order to send him a good school and find a good husband.

But Wu Shu knew from a young age that he was born mediocre. Even Mr. Teaching said that the most he would do in the future would be to write letters and read poems, and if he wanted to be admitted to the Jinshi, it would be difficult to get into the sky.

But his parents are different, they have always believed that Wu Shu is their smartest child, and he will definitely fight for them. Even in order to spur Wu Shu, they often whispered in his ear how hard the eldest sister and the second sister lived in a big family, how difficult it was, and how much their children were bullied, but as long as he was admitted to the official school, their fate would change with him.

Sometimes he would have nightmares in which he would dream that he had entered the examination room, but his hands were shaky and he couldn't write a word.

After taking the exam a few times, his parents gradually lost hope in him, and the family was impoverished day by day, he could hardly do anything except recognize a few words, and he could not bring any income to the family, and his elderly parents gradually grew old.

He moved out of his home and lived in an inn in Jingshi, which kept changing, and the conditions were getting worse and worse, and when he got to the back, it was difficult for him to even support himself. In order to survive, he went to write to people, and sometimes went to help others cry and mourn, and get a little money, but life was still very difficult, but fortunately, he lived in a small inn opened by the Liu family behind him.

Seeing that he was an elegant scholar, Liu not only gave him a room for free, but also gave him some food from time to time.

He thought that life was like this, and passed on without hope, until that day, he met Chaolu. Chaolu was originally a young lady from an official family, because her father committed an accident and was raided, she had nowhere to be found, and finally stumbled to Liu's inn, where she helped Liu do some accounting chores on weekdays.

When Wu Shu saw her for the first time, he knew that he was in love with Chaolu.

It was the first time in his life that he rekindled his fighting spirit, he wanted to read hard for Chaolu, write articles desperately, he sometimes deliberately read aloud, just hoping that Chaolu could look at him more, but fate is so helpless, he is still the mediocre, untalented Wu Shu.

He even went to a lot of Jingshi's mansion and handed over a lot of stickers, he wanted to get the favor of an adult through a recommendation, but all the letters were lost in the sea, and there was no response.

At this time, he also received the news of the death of his grandmother, they didn't see the moment of his gold list nomination after all, and he didn't even have the money to go back to their funeral.

Until one time, he received a reply from Changsun Mansion, a man named Changsun Ming wanted to see him, and they made an appointment in a hidden teahouse. Changsun Ming chuckled at him and said, "I know you really want to be an official, and you have sent letters to almost every mansion in the capital division today. ”

Seeing that the person sitting opposite looked so elegant, behaved so generously, and wore extravagant clothes, Wu Shu grabbed his sleeve with some restraint, and there were already a lot of patches on it.

"It's rare to live in this life, I don't believe in any afterlife, the big husband stands between heaven and earth, if you can't do a career, what is the difference between it and ants?" Changsun Ming put down the teapot and said loudly.

After Wu Shu heard this, he drank the cup of tea on the table, isn't his current life just an ant?

"I can make you an official." Changsun Ming suddenly said, "But I have one condition. ”

"I don't have anything left to show for it, I'm a stupid person by nature, and I don't have much use value." Wu Shu replied frankly.

"Whether there is any use value, I will judge, I only ask you whether you want to or not?" Changsun Ming's face was determined, what he liked was that Wu Shu was a good conductor and was very good at imitating handwriting.

"What are the conditions?" Wu Shu took a sip of tea, as if he had made a decision in his heart.

Changsun Ming's expression was very serious and said: "Wailang, a member of the household department, after you become a member, you must obey my command and do things in the past three years, and you must not have any disobedience." ”

"The position of Wailang holds the population information of the whole country, what do you want to do?" Wu Shu looked up and asked, as if he wanted to find something.

"You don't need to know this, you just need to know that my eldest grandson Ming doesn't like anything in my life, the only thing I only like money, as long as I can make money, I am willing to do anything." Changsun Ming seemed to be very happy when he mentioned money.

The memories came to an abrupt end, and Wu Shu fell asleep leaning on the desk.

(//)

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