diskusbooks Chapter 221 The Righteous Way (10)
Chapter 221 The Righteous Way (10)
On the way back to the house, Yuan Liu asked curiously, "Miss, did you and my wife have a quarrel just now?"
Lu Changqing said expressionlessly: "No."
"You answered so straightforwardly, so it must be true." Yuan Liu looked as if he understood everything.
Lu Changqing: …
Yuan Liu continued to persuade her, "Miss, forgive me for being presumptuous. There is a saying that goes 'Parents who love their children will plan for them in the long run'. No matter what the young lady says to you, it is for your own good. You must not get angry with her."
Lu Changqing stopped and put his index finger to his lips and made a hushing gesture.
Yuan Liu asked in confusion: "What's wrong?"
"Don't ever say 'Parents love their children and plan for them' in front of me again. If you do it again, I'll deduct your wages."
When she heard that her wages were going to be deducted, Yuan Liu pulled Lu Changqing's sleeve and begged, "Then girl, just beat me with the stick."
Lu Changqing knew that Yuan Liu said this on purpose to tease him, so he reached out and poked her forehead, saying, "You want money over life? You're really obsessed with money."
Lu Changqing kept her word. The next evening, after Bai Shiyuan returned home from the yamen, she immediately went to the study to find him.
"What? You want to enter the palace?" Bai Shiyuan was so shocked that he almost spit out the tea in his mouth. "Why do you suddenly want to enter the palace?"
Lu Changqing's eyes were determined as if he wanted to join the party. "I want to serve the court like my father did and benefit the people of the world."
Bai Shiyuan felt a little embarrassed by the praise. His original intention of becoming an official was not that lofty. He just wanted his family to live a good life. The lives of the people of the world were none of his business.
"Do you mean you want to be a lady-in-waiting in the palace?"
"Yes, the late emperor once said, 'Books contain a golden house' and 'Books contain a beautiful woman'. Under your teachings, I have been well-read since I was a child. I do not ask for a golden house or a beautiful woman. I only hope to live up to your cultivation and expectations for me and repay your kindness in raising me."
Bai Shiyuan was very moved and rejected Lu Changqing's request.
"It's not like the palace can't afford your dowry, so forget about entering the palace. Besides, you'll be thirteen soon, and you're a bit old, so it's too late for you to enter the palace now."
What he meant was that if I send you to jail, I would then owe you a favor, which is not worth it. You'd better just get married and marry a "good" family who can still help me.
Lu Changqing returned to the room and started punching and kicking the air.
What kind of weird setting is this? In these people's eyes, having their daughter enter the palace and become an official is not as good as getting married?
Even if you are serving someone, the one you are serving is the feudal leader of this world!
Besides, even if you get married, don’t you still have to serve others?
In this crazy plane, evil mothers-in-law are in power, useless fathers-in-law are invisible, and husbands are philandering and irresponsible. These are the basic conditions. Once you marry into this world, you will be a slave to the man and his family.
It is better to choose the lesser of two evils and serve the feudal leader in the palace. If you do well one day, you may be awarded the title of concubine or lady. [Note: In ancient times, concubine and lady do not only refer to the emperor's concubines, such as Shangguan Wan'er who was once a concubine. For example, during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Song, in order to reward a female official, he awarded her the title of "lady". He was afraid that the ministers would misunderstand him, so he specially explained that she was not a concubine.]
One is a civil servant and the other is a marriage officer. Lu Changqing is not crazy. Even if Bai Fuying did not have a task requirement of not getting married, she would still choose to be a civil servant.
Bai Shiyuan is so confident now, probably because he is counting on his two sons to bring honor to him. In the plot, the eldest son Bai Mingzhou did pass the imperial examination and later became a high-ranking official in the court. As for Bai Yuanhan, he is just a coward, so it is better not to mention him.
If both of his sons are not capable of becoming officials in the court, I wonder which one he would choose between his blood-related daughter and his non-blood-related son-in-law, or will he, as an adult, choose both?
Bai Mingzhou got up early in the morning and sat in front of the window, looking at himself in the bronze mirror. Was it his illusion? The face in the mirror seemed a little swollen.
Not quite sure, he turned around and asked He Guiyi who was getting dressed: "Madam, do you think I have gained weight?"
He Guiyi looked at Bai Mingzhou's face with red lips and white teeth. Under the light of the dim candlelight, it looked delicate, smooth, and so tender that it seemed as if water could be squeezed out of it.
He Guiyi lied with his eyes open, "How can I be fat? My dear, you are not fat at all. Not only that, but you look better too."
Bai Mingzhou held his face in his hands. It felt smooth and soft, like a block of tofu.
Unfortunately, Bai Mingzhou was a person from ancient times. He didn’t know the word “Q-ball”, let alone the word “steamed bun”.
But Lu Changqing knew.
In the past, she could only see steamed buns made with leavened dough on the Internet or on TV. She never expected that one day she would be able to see the process of making steamed buns with her own eyes.
The change in Bai Mingzhou was visible to the naked eye. Not only he and his partner, but everyone else in the family noticed it.
"Brother, why do I feel like you've become whiter and fatter?"
Bai Mingzhou was stunned. "Is it obvious?"
Bai Xingke said: "It's okay, just my face feels a little fatter. What have you eaten recently? I feel my skin has improved a lot."
"Nothing, just like usual."
Bai Mingzhou was telling the truth, his diet had not changed much recently, three meals a day, light wine and simple tea. If there was any difference from before, it was that he had some difficulty in sex recently.
He had privately consulted a doctor, who said there was nothing seriously wrong with him and that he didn't need to worry.
Lu Changqing was not afraid of Bai Mingzhou calling a doctor, nor was he afraid that he would not be able to find out that he had been drugged. There were only a few ways to test for poison in ancient times. As long as Wu Xiang was not stupid enough to shake out half the bottle at a time and thicken the soup directly with tea, even if Hua Tuo were alive, he would not be able to find the good stuff inside.
As the days passed, Bai Mingzhou felt more and more strange about his body. His skin became smoother, his beard grew slower, his chest became swollen, his pectoral muscles bulged, and there were other abnormalities, especially in terms of sex. Compared to before, it felt like it was over before it even began.
He Guiyi comforted him by saying that it might be because the imperial examination was approaching and he was exhausted from studying too hard, so he should rest for a while.
Bai Mingzhou thought that what He Guiyi said made sense, so he took a vacation and didn't really study. Every day he asked Du Hezhi for money so that he could go out and make friends.
Du Hezhi was very generous. She gave Bai Mingzhou whatever he asked for. Money was not something the Bai family considered at all.
The reason why the Bai family is so wealthy is that in addition to the booming water transport business of the Bai family, there are also several money-making experts in the family, such as Bai Shiyuan and Du Hezhi.
Not to mention Bai Shiyuan, few officials have clean hands. As for Du Hezhi, he is really awesome. As a positive character in the plot, he broke the law knowingly and relied on his family's power to lend money at high interest rates.
In the plot, a tenant farmer borrowed money and couldn't pay it back. He was forced to hang himself and even killed someone because of debt collection. When Du Hezhi was found out, she actually felt wronged and cried, "Paying back debts is a matter of course. How can hanging oneself and slitting one's neck be regarded as a fault of our family?"
What a loan shark version of "He only lost his life, I lost my money."
The most amazing thing is that Du Hezhi did not receive any punishment or retribution afterwards. One reason is that the creators felt that there was nothing wrong with loan sharking, but only those who could not pay back the money were wrong, so a civilian died and that was it.
Second, this is the hero's highlight scene, using the death of an ant in the plot to reflect the noble celestial dragon's calm and composed mentality and iron-blooded and tough tactics in the face of difficulties.
It is said that the lives of ordinary people in feudal society are almost like going to hell. By comparison, if the real feudal society is in the tenth level of hell, then ordinary people in this world live in the eighteenth level.