On a cold winter night, the wind is as cold as a knife.
An old plum tree with strong branches in the courtyard reveals its fragrance despite the ice and snow.
Dots of red plum blossoms bloomed in the snow, as red as blood, gorgeous but ominous.
A pair of fighting figures are reflected in the window lattice engraved with the auspicious pattern of "Five Blessings and Longevity".
Both sides have scruples, so they dare not speak loudly.
But the tools that were pushed down from time to time, the torn clothes, and the resentful words that seemed to be squeezed out from between the teeth could still be heard clearly by the boy in the corridor -
"What do you think I am?! What am I?!"
"presumptuous!"
"Who is presumptuous?! You or me?! I studied hard for ten years, and once I was named on the gold medal list, did I ever use your Gu family at all?! Since ancient times, everything has been inferior, but reading is good! Even though I am a child from a poor family, now that I am on the gold medal list, Tianzitang is no longer the country boy you used to be! You...you actually humiliated me like this!"
"Is this humiliating to you? Without me, the Gu family, how could you, a mere Jinshi, be where you are today?! It would be great for you to have passed the Emperor's Hall?! This may be true for the ignorant common people in the countryside! But for me, the Gu family, ha! Don't forget The emperor who is sitting in the Emperor’s Hall still has to listen to my great aunt!”
"Not even the emperors of the past dynasties would dare to despise scholars like this, you!!!"
"So what if I despise you? People named Deng, don't be ignorant - how many of the civil and military officials in this dynasty and the world are not named on the gold list?! How noble do you think you are!? Tell you, if it weren't for God's gift Given your good looks, out of so many Jinshis, would I choose you to promote you?”
"Shameless!!! Who wants you to promote me?! Since I can win the election with dignity, I can be an official with dignity!"
"Upright? Haha! Do you believe that I sent someone to the Taishi Palace to say hello and ruin your reputation?!"
"you… !!!"
"Be smart! Although you are quite talented, the world is so big that even if you are allowed in, you will not be considered an extraordinary person. Without my help, you will disappear from everyone sooner or later! If you are obedient, then all the nobles and nobles in the court will be able to do it." , there will be a place for you sooner or later!”
“…!!!”
"Although my aunt is only a concubine, she was raised by my grandma herself. She cherishes her like a bright pearl and is no different from a concubine! Based on her appearance, do you know how many people in the capital want something but cannot get it, but I Convince grandma to betroth her to you - haven't I treated you well enough?"
"So, you still remember that you should call me uncle?!"
"If you don't become my uncle, I have frequent contacts with you, and it is inevitable that it will be known... I have my own title to inherit, and I have my aunt to protect me in the palace, so what should I be afraid of?! What about you? It shows that I do this. I care about you, don’t you? Otherwise, what can you do to me if you go to another hospital? If you go out, your reputation will be ruined. After all, you won’t be able to be an official, right? , what’s the difference from now?”
"What do you mean... Hey! Don't say such disgusting words to me again! I was not careful last time, and I didn't notice that you, the high-sounding prince of Guangyang, my nephew, look like a human being, but you are like this With a dirty heart, I drank the tea you handed me unpreparedly - now that I am awake, do you think that for the sake of my future, I will follow the example of my concubine and prostitute and suffer humiliation? Are you dreaming! !”
"My uncle is so heartless, doesn't he think about my aunt at all?!"
"Why should a man worry about not having a wife?! Besides, your aunt always looks down on me, a small family member of the Deng family, and you think I can't tell it?!"
"Really?" The laughter gradually became colder, "So... where is cousin Yi? My uncle doesn't care about the relationship between husband and wife, but he doesn't know the meaning of father and son. Has he ever taken it to heart?"
"You-are you still not human?! Yi'er is your cousin!!!"
"Uncle is still my elder. Cousin Yi is my same generation after all, isn't he? Speaking of which, God really loves me so much. Cousin Yi is a bit more refined than you, uncle! Although he is small now, when his eyebrows and eyebrows grow, he will become more beautiful. I'm afraid he's even better than my uncle!"
Following the words, the closed window next to the boy suddenly opened. A pair of hands covered his mouth before he could scream, and carried him into the house through the window. The young boy Gu Yan smiled and pinched the boy's pink lips. With a smile on his face, he looked at his disheveled uncle not far away who looked angry and said, "You are better than someone who is good at what you do. Is this probably my cousin Yi?"
"... Let Yi'er go!" Although the man was disheveled, he was still very handsome. He stared at his frightened and confused son for a moment, and said word by word, "Let him go, everything will be easy to talk about!"
Gu Yan looked at him teasingly for a while, then leaned over and put the boy on the ground.
The boy instinctively ran to his father: "Father!"
And then he's picked up again—and next... what's next
I can't remember anything.
In his daze, he heard someone sobbing beside his bed, and several people expressed their condolences: "Mrs. Gu, please express your condolences. Your honorable husband has recently lost his life, and your young master is ill on the bed. This family is all pointing to you." Oh! You must not mourn too much. What if you hurt yourself and call me young master?"
"Yes, yes! The young master is just a little old and has lost his father. If you also have some shortcomings, then even if the young master recovers, how pitiful will he be in the future?"
"It's a pity that Deng Hanlin is so young..."
"Sh-Stop talking, Mrs. Gu will be sad to hear this!"
Sometimes when the sobs are no longer present, people who come to see him think that he is in a coma and unaware of the outside world, and say something else:
"Haha, you deserve it! When I saw how charming she was, I knew she was not a good thing! Sure enough, even though she was raised by the concubine, this person's fate is whatever it is. The more he is promoted, the more responsible he will be. I'm sorry! Otherwise, why would Deng Hanlin just say no and die? It's obvious that he got the wrong wife and was killed!"
"Hey, hey, just say this when you go back. Say it here, and be careful to be heard!"
"So what if I hear it? Didn't the person serving here get sent away just now? It's not like you didn't see it. The servant himself is not willing to stay longer! Otherwise, she wouldn't have disappeared as soon as we mentioned her! It's no wonder that when she was with the concubine, even though she didn't have the title of princess, she was so delicate and a serious princess that she didn't have to be so pretentious! What do you know about this? Yes, when Deng Hanlin was there, the servants didn't dare to do anything. Now that Deng Hanlin is gone, isn't this person's background exposed? Any maid can fool her. Poor little thing lying inside, look back. I still don’t know how to live my life!”
"As for the one lying inside, I don't know who is dragging whom down! Although that one is now a widow, she has only been married for a few years? She is still young, and she has given birth to a woman who confuses men. Looks like this. If it weren’t for this troll, I might be able to marry someone who doesn’t dislike her! Now that I have this troll, it’s not that easy to get married again!”
"Isn't that right? If it's a daughter, if word spreads that her parents are pretty, and if she takes good care of her, she will be just a dowry in the future, she might be able to help the family! She is a son! At such a young age He was born like a disaster. If Deng Hanlin's reading skills were passed down to him, he would be talented and good-looking in the future, but he would be compared with all the male heirs in his family. This would make people in the family happy. It's not worth it to alienate one's own family for an outsider! What's more, the Deng family is not happy, no matter how small the family is, it is impossible for him to change his surname - after he is cultivated in this way, who will be the lintel of the Deng family? You must have lost your mind to do such a loss-making business!”
"Anyway, the mother and son are going to have a hard time in the future! The mother knows nothing but romance! The son is young and is still sick - whether he can survive this illness is still a question!"
"If you can't make it through, it's the one who's cheaper. Let's cry and clean it up before finding someone to take advantage of! It's best for this little guy. He won't die even if he's dead, and he won't be cured of his illness. No one will dare to marry that person if he's dragged on for life. , It makes me happy to live in such a miserable state!"
"Haha... That's right. She is just a concubine. The concubine has no biological daughter. She is raised and played by herself because she is pitiful. What do you really think of yourself! We looked at the concubine's face in those years and it was hard for us to take advantage of her. How about it, now it seems that God is watching what this person does, and a despicable thing is a despicable thing. If you are proud for a while, you will inevitably return to your original shape in the end!"
"Don't tell me, the concubine is still here. That one really can't hold it in any longer and might beg the concubine for mercy again!"
"So what? She's already out of the cabinet, why should the concubine care about her?"
"After all, she was raised by the concubine. Maybe the concubine asked her to beg for help, so she still asked her to go back to the palace to live - this way she would find a supporter again! Besides, marrying from the Deng family and remarrying from the palace, this status is not the same!"
"Based on that person's temperament, there is a high probability that she will do this! Alas, I thought it was finally time to wait until her downfall. Who thought that this excitement could only be watched for a while?"
"Not necessarily! It seems that you don't know, let alone that one who returns to the palace alone. She brings back such a son who looks like a golden boy. It's hard to say whether she can remarry!"
"Eh? Why?"
"It is said..."
"Wait! That one is here!"
Then the words changed to: "Oh, look at how pitiful this child is..."
The boy in the tent, who had always been confused, couldn't tell how many days a similar scene had changed.
All he knew was that when he finally woke up, his mother Gu Shi's tears fell one after another on his face: "Yi'er! Yi'er! Why are we so miserable?! Your father abandoned us and left, so he stayed behind With such a small family fortune, the servants have the heart to cheat us - we are poor and raised in front of the concubine, how can we care about these things! Now the shop and the farm are complaining about losses. According to them, we two will soon be together. Selling your land will make your life easier! You are so young, how long can you sell this land? Besides, they will definitely not sell it to us at the market price... in the future... "
In the end, she decided, "We can only count on your grandmother to love us now!"