The man looked a lot like the monster he had beaten before, but he was shorter and thinner than the monster, and he looked much better. And the man didn't beat him, but didn't dislike him for being dirty, and carefully picked him up from the ground.

That person's voice was also very good, clean and pleasant, like a crisp wind chime: "Little guy, my name is Xu Shiyan, and I will be your master in the future." ”

As he spoke, the man carried him into a box and gave him a lot of good food.

Later, he learned that the square box was called a carriage, and the place where he was was in the mortal world.

Xu Shiyan gave him a name, called Arnold. She said: There are a thousand words in the world, and only promises are the heaviest. So they named him Arnold.

The Xu family was a famous merchant family at that time, and the family had always traveled south and north to do business, and when it came to Xu Shiyan's father's generation, he was directly valued by the powerful people of the dynasty and became an imperial businessman.

Because Xu Shiyan still has two brothers-in-law, and several of her uncles are also males, so Xu Shiyan, as the only female baby in the four generations of the Xu family, has been favored by the Xu family since she was a child, and Mrs. Xu is even more happy with this only granddaughter, who was taken care of by her side when she was six years old.

Xu Shiyan loves poetry, calligraphy and painting, piano, chess, and tea, and the Xu family hired a very prestigious gentleman for her to teach her these.

And Mrs. Xu was originally a young lady from a famous family, and she was very dedicated to raising Xu Shiyan, so although Xu Shiyan was born in a merchant family, she had a demeanor that even many official ladies in Kyoto did not have.

In addition, Xu Shiyan's appearance is also very good, her food and clothing should be the best, and her uncles and cousins love her to the extent that they are not inferior to her own father and brother, but whenever there is any strange thing, the first thing that comes to mind is to send it to her.

In addition to status, Xu Shiyan's other places are better than those princesses who are pampered in the deep palace, and now the back garden in the He Mansion was built by Xu Shiyan for Xu Shiyan before he left Kyoto and came here, which lasted more than three years.

Xu Shiyan was only six years old when she came to Qindu, and she was only eight years old when she picked up Arnold.

After Arnold was picked up by Xu Shiyan, he kept Xu Shiyan's baby pet by his side. Although the Xu family couldn't understand why Xu Shiyan suddenly wanted to raise such an ordinary little white cat, they all felt that this cat was not worthy of Xu Shiyan.

So in an overseas trading house, one of Xu Shiyan's cousins brought a rare cat with white eyes, one amber yellow and one sapphire blue, and wanted to give it to Xu Shiyan.

At that time, Arnold was deeply uneasy when he heard the news. I heard that the cat was born noble and beautiful, with a lazy but inexplicably likable personality, and it won the love of many people just after being brought by Xu Shiyan's cousin, and it was not at all comparable to him, a cat of unknown origin who was picked up halfway and was only close to Xu Shiyan.

But when Xu Shiyan appeared with him in his arms, he didn't even look at the cat surrounded by a bunch of people and stars, and when he entered the house, he ran directly to her grandmother and cousin, pursing his lips and looking very unhappy.

Seeing Xu Shiyan's appearance, Mrs. Xu hurriedly asked, "Xiao Yan, who made you unhappy?" ”

Xu Shiyan pouted when he heard this, as if he was coquettish and angry: "Grandmother, cousin, Xiaoyan was just reading a book, and then he read the poem 'Red dust and flashiness mess my heart, and there is no infatuated lover in the world', and I felt very unconvinced for a while. ”

Xu Shiyan's cousin couldn't help but feel a little funny when he heard this, and bent down slightly to look at Xu Shiyan, and his words were full of ridicule: "It turned out that the nerd in the book bullied the little girl in our family, so tell me, how can I be angry for you?" ”

"Well, didn't he say, 'There are no more infatuated lovers in the world'?" Xu Shiyan grinned softly, and his eyes were crooked like the moon, "Then I will be an infatuated lover, compare with him, and let him know that in addition to him, there is also me, an infatuated lover who is not disturbed by the prosperity of the red dust." ”

Mrs. Xu couldn't help but smile: "You kid, how do you plan to prove that you are infatuated?" ”

"Isn't there a brilliant verification right now?" Xu Shiyan's eyes rolled around in a row, he winked at his cousin, smiled slyly, and said, "Cousin, the baby cat you brought back, please forgive Xiaoyan for not accepting it!" ”

Xu Shiyan's cousin couldn't help laughing after Xu Shiyan's words, nodded Xu Shiyan's head, and doted: "You girl is eccentric, so I won't be the sinner who spoils your infatuation." ”

At this time, a room full of talents reacted one after another, and they couldn't help laughing. And Arnold was also in this laughter, and finally settled down.

And much later, when he finally chose Xu Shiyan instead of the precious and good-looking cat, he was only more sad.

When Xu Shiyan was fourteen years old, Qin Du suddenly began to spread a ballad. The song was so long that Arnold could only remember the first sixteen words when he remembered it now.

And it was these sixteen words that led to Xu Shiyan's later tragedy.

"Xu's Youshu, his name is world-famous; Beautiful and natural, a peerless beauty. ”

This ballad first circulated in the Qin capital, and then spread to the surrounding cities, but it spread all over the country in two months, and finally even heard this ballad on the pilgrimage, and Xu Shiyan also won the title of "the first beauty in the world".

When this song first began to be sung, the Xu family made great efforts to stop it, but it was useless. This incident is not accidental, but someone with a heart is working in it to guide the fermentation of this matter.

When today's son is only forty years old, it is the prime of life, although he didn't say anything at the moment after hearing this song, but when he met Xu's father afterwards, he mentioned this incident casually, and the extraneous voice was actually to enshrine Xu Shiyan as a concubine and summon him to the palace.

Father Xu was shocked into a cold sweat when he heard this, but his face was quietly sloppy with the emperor, and the matter was temporarily revealed.

After Xu's father left the palace, he immediately sent someone to Qindu to deliver a letter, asking Xu Lao Taijun to quickly set a marriage for Xu Shiyan, and first broke the emperor's idea of letting Xu Shiyan enter the palace.

Mrs. Xu was also reluctant to let her granddaughter, who had been raised by her baby for so long, go into the tiger's den to accompany a man as big as her father, and immediately took private action after receiving the secret letter to find a marriage for Xu Shiyan.

It's just that how easy is the marriage to decide? At least in the Qin capital, there is no young man who can match Xu Shiyan. In desperation, Mrs. Xu had no choice but to send the abacus to the surrounding cities, and at the same time secretly screened and compared among her mother's family, and finally found a person who was superior in appearance and knowledge.

That person's surname is Li Mingnan, the word Yungui, and in the year of the crown, he is the grandson of Xu Lao Taijun's cousin, and his father holds the position of Zhizhou in Yangzhou.

Although the Li family and the Xu family are distant relatives, fortunately, Mrs. Xu and her cousin have always had a good relationship, so they still have some contacts with each other occasionally, and the two families know each other well.

Father Xu also knew a little about Li Yungui, and he was quite satisfied after meeting people, so he proposed to set the marriage between the two first, and as for whether they really want to get married, it depends on how the two get along.

In this way, Li Yungui lived in the Xu family.

In fact, strictly speaking, Li Yungui is indeed a good person. He was not only born with a dignified appearance, but also had excellent talent and learning, and his temperament was also gentle and bright.

At that time, Xu Shiyan was raised like a lady, although he was smart, his mind was extremely simple. In addition, the marriage between the two has been nominally decided, and Mrs. Xu specially instructed her that Li Yungui is already her fiancé.

Although Xu Shiyan was a little annoyed when he heard this, he couldn't treat Li Yungui with a normal heart after all.

Although Li Yungui didn't like the marriage forcibly arranged by his family, he did feel a little curious when he remembered that the other party was the "first beautiful and talented woman" who was famous in the whole country, so he followed what his family said, and temporarily entered the Xu Mansion to talk about it after contacting him personally.

It's just that the two of them gradually get along, and they unexpectedly feel that each other is indeed in line with each other's temperament, and even some of their views are very similar, and they can often talk together, and sometimes it is difficult to stop chatting.

And Xu Shiyan's initial resistance to Li Yungui slowly turned into a liking, and Li Yungui also had a good impression of the eccentric Xu Shiyan.

If there is no mistake, the Xu family and the Li family are ready to wait for Xu Shiyan and Lu to let the two get married, make a good couple, and avoid having too many dreams at night. However, how could the emperor, who was far away in Kyoto, just watch the beauty he fancied marry another woman's wife with great fanfare?

What's more, what this beauty means behind her is a wealthy royal merchant family.

So when the Xu Li family was preparing for their wedding, a holy decree was directly issued to the Li family.

The holy decree said that Li Zhizhou was an official, but he was not kind to the people, used power for personal gain, and also listed a bunch of "mistakes" in Li Zhizhou. As a result of the combined punishment for several crimes, the house of Loei was raided, and all the family members were sent to prison.

Fortunately, the emperor did not have a very clear understanding of how many people there were in the Li family when he did this, which also led to the old lady Li who happened to be a guest of the Xu family with Li Yungui, and the two escaped together.

After hearing the news that the house of Li Fu was raided, Mrs. Li fainted on the spot, and Li Yungui was also worried and wanted to go back, but was stopped by Xu's father, who rushed to hear the news.

Father Xu knew that the root cause of this incident was still in his daughter, and he also knew that the emperor did not intend to deal with the Li family. chose to do it at this time, just to force the Xu family and the Li family to withdraw from the marriage.

At that time, Xu Shiyan will also be reconciled, and it is impossible to re-establish a marriage immediately after withdrawing from the marriage. At that time, the emperor took the opportunity to summon Xu Shiyan into the palace, and he could no longer find any rebuttals.