The maid's road to success

When An Zizhong was in the Marquis' Mansion, he was unwilling to spend more time on his studies. He would try to sneak out to hang out with friends, or guess lantern riddles and draw fans with a few maids in the yard. Now in the remote Lin County, although he can successfully pass the examination to become a scholar with his previous foundation, there are still many excellent people in Gongzhou. It is not easy to stand out among the scholars and pass the examination with a good ranking. Moreover, if he wants to enter Beijing in the future, he must pass the examination to become a Jinshi in the Spring Examination. He must calm down and study hard to shorten the time to pass the examination as much as possible. He also has to consider how to avoid being recognized as Chen Luoxi, the fourth young master of the former Huaiyuan Marquis' Mansion, when he returns to Beijing.

Fortunately, the longer they spent together, the better his relationship with Hua Yesheng and Li Changan became. With the help of these two people's identities, he made friends with many young talents in the academy and met a man whose family had been practicing medicine for generations. From him, he learned that in the southwest, medical skills are different from normal medical skills. They always like to study some strange drugs that control people, such as poisonous insects, drugs that change voice and appearance, drugs that make people lose their memory, and even drugs that can confuse others for a short time.

An Zizhong learned from him that he was from Wuliang County in the southwest, so he decided to take some time to go and take a look. In the past, he loved to go out and hang out too much, and everyone who was important in the capital knew what he looked like. Without anyone telling on him, his face would have betrayed him.

My eldest brother once said that there is a kind of disguise technique, where a piece of human skin soaked in special materials is attached to the face, and the person will look like another person, but he didn't dare to try it. First, that kind of thing must be removed and soaked in that kind of medicine again after 20 hours at most, otherwise it will dry up and fall off. Second, that kind of thing must be made of human skin, which he finds disgusting. Third, the soaking potion contains a lot of insidious medicinal materials, and long-term contact with the skin will turn a man into a eunuch.

An Zizhong was sitting in the study, looking at An Wenniang who was walking towards him with sweet tea, and he lowered his head and smiled.

A man like him actually resolutely denied it when he knew that the medicinal herb would make people impotent. He should avenge the destruction of his family at all costs, but he was unwilling to do so. He finally had someone he cared about, and he wanted to live, live healthily, and hold up an umbrella for her.

"Fourth Young Master, An Huang said you might be going on a long journey?"

An Wen's mother helped him clean up the table and put the teacup into the lunch box.

"Well, I went to the southwest with Hua Yesheng and the teacher of the academy to investigate the customs of the people. The students of the academy go out to study every year, get to know different customs and folkways, meet all kinds of people, eat all kinds of food, and learn all kinds of things. The teacher said that my articles are too sharp, and I need to calm down and see how more people survive. It may be helpful to me."

An Wenniang nodded. An Zizhong would take part in the provincial examination next year so that he could catch up with the spring examination three years later. By then he would be nineteen years old, not young anymore. His ancestors were still suffering in the bitter cold land of the northwest. It was unknown whether they could live to see the young master parading with red flowers.

Although she was worried that it would be unsafe for the young master to go to the remote southwest, she was just a woman and could only pack his things for him. The southwest was also a very poor place. The court would first exile criminals to the northwest, and then the southwest. However, with the protection of the academy's teachers and the escort agency, and the nephew of the prefect, he should be safe.

An Zizhong and his family were from Anjia Village. Compared with the county magistrate's brother-in-law, the son of a pharmacy, or the young master of a restaurant, they were the poorest family in the academy, so they could only rent a two-story courtyard in Gongzhou. Therefore, An Zizhong usually wore a blue cloth longshan and a blue cotton coat. He had no other accessories except the purse and belt made by An Wenniang.

Considering that there were many people traveling with her, An Wenniang packed the luggage as simply as possible, including two sets of inner clothes, two sets of outer clothes, a sheepskin coat, a bag of dried meat, medicine for colds, detoxifying powder, and a bag of silver beads.

In addition to these, three gold leaves were sewn on each set of clothes, and the wooden hairpin was soaked three times with detoxifying potion. This was always prepared at home, and it was the best detoxifying powder available on the market. Just one bag cost two taels of silver.

An Zizhong felt sad watching An Wenniang busying around. If only the Marquis' Mansion was still there, he would definitely cherish the person in front of him. But he never thought that if the Marquis' Mansion was still there, they would always be the noble master and the lowly maid.

On the day when the academy notified them of their departure, An Lan accompanied An Zizhong to the academy. He originally thought that the young master was too simple, with only a bag and himself as a servant. The servant Sanxi was also given a day off to go home and rest. Other people had several boxes of belongings and were followed by four or five servants.

In less than half an hour, he changed his mind. This was too wise, said the dean of the academy.

"We are going to study, not to go for an outing. Two people share one carriage. Can you fit all the stuff you have? It will be a shame to take so many people to the southwest. Each person can only bring a bag and a servant. Each person can bring at most 30 taels of silver. Gentlemen, check your students. If they don't want to go, send them home. Don't go out and embarrass Gongzhou Academy."

An Lan looked at his master standing calmly aside, and found it funny to see the scholars around him wailing as they searched for the most important things and quickly packed up a bag. Among An Zizhong's belongings, the only ones were the 100 taels of silver notes that An Wenniang had stuffed in and the bag of silver beads that contained more than 30 taels.

He took it out, packed it in a box and handed it to the teacher. Master Lu looked at the luggage of other people piled on the ground, and was proud of his disciple An Zizhong, except that his sister was worried about the luggage so he stuffed some extra silver, everything else was very simple. He nodded with satisfaction. Since ancient times, if you want to be an official, you must understand the suffering of the people and truly understand the lives and difficulties of the people.

Studying abroad is to let these pampered students see the outside world and see the people's customs. It's not good for the students to eat bird's nest and ginseng, wear silk and satin, and be served by servants to understand the people's situation? This is not studying abroad, but to stimulate the poor people who are struggling to eat and wear.

After packing up some things, a group of people set off in ten carriages. Studying abroad is not something that anyone can do. Only students who the academy thinks may pass the imperial examination next year and have some academic problems will go on a study tour with the consent of the teacher. In previous years, they went north or to the coast. This year, the dean took the initiative to suggest going to the difficult southwest to better understand the local customs and people. Three teachers took seventeen students and filled ten gray cloth carriages and a small carriage.

Li Changan looked at An Zizhong opposite him with mixed feelings. He admired this man very much. With his help, his academic progress was great. Moreover, An Zizhong was very capable and quickly established himself in Qingshan Academy and Gongzhou Academy. His uncle always praised him whenever he mentioned him.

But after getting along for a long time, he always couldn't help but follow his advice. He wanted to contact him, but was afraid of him. He was obviously an ordinary citizen, his family had no money and no power, but he and Hua Er couldn't help but believe that with him around, anything could be solved. This time, it was he and the dean who suggested going to the southwest to study, and for some reason, the dean agreed.

Looking at the increasingly desolate road, Li Changan became more and more curious about what kind of person An Zizhong was.

An Wenniang didn't know that An Zizhong had his own purpose in going to the southwest. She only knew that she wanted to leave a way out for An Zizhong, a way to hide and escape if he failed.

It all started when An Wenniang and An Huang went out to buy some things and were attracted by a group of people. They heard them talking about Gongzhou Huijia. Gongzhou Huijia was a famous wine-making family in the local area. There was only one daughter in the family, and she found a live-in son-in-law when she was seventeen years old.

This son-in-law came from a poor family but was handsome, sweet-spoken and hardworking. He helped to run the wine shop and organize the family property. It was a pity that the daughter of this man never got pregnant with a child.

Until the year before last, the daughter suddenly fell ill, and the parents died in a carriage fall off a cliff on the way home. The family was then taken over by the son-in-law. At first, everyone praised this man for being a good man, taking care of his daughter-in-law even when she was seriously ill, and managing the family well.

Until last year, the young lady who had returned home suddenly took the opportunity to sneak out on the Dragon Boat Festival and shouted "You dog thief" to the people passing by.

On the day of the wedding, she was fed with sterilization drugs for fear that she would give birth to a child and inherit the family property. Over the years, the women he kept outside gave birth to three or four children. She discovered that there was a problem in the account book and found out that Yu Gouzei had two mistresses.

The plan that this dog thief had planned from the beginning was to trick him into going home to hand over the wine-making recipe, and then die quietly so that he could inherit the business.

Ever since Hui knew about it, she had been drugged and kept under house arrest by him. It was only because she was forced by her mistress to spend the Duanwu Festival with him that he had the opportunity to escape.

The matter was later left unresolved. The clan member who returned home was not in the local area, and Yu Gouzei had already established contact with the prefect's younger brother. In the end, because he treated Yuan's wife harshly and secretly raised a concubine and gave birth to a child, he was fined 500 taels of silver and beaten with ten boards.

Everyone knew that this was the result of the people above Yu Gouzei making a big deal out of a small matter. Poor Hui girl did not get any justice, and ended up falling off a cliff with her body mutilated.

Although this incident was different from the situation in Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion, it gave An Wen Niang inspiration. An Wen Zhong wanted to start with the imperial examination and return to Kyoto. However, this was like a mayfly trying to shake a tree or a mantis trying to stop a chariot. It was too difficult.

If he is not careful, he will die. If the Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion never bullies him again and proves his innocence, Chen Luoxi will also die.

She felt that she should leave a way out for An Zizhong in everything. She knew that An Zizhong was doing business outside now, and it was not a serious business, so she could not live there. However, An Wenniang really needed an industry that was completely independent of the An brothers and sisters, an industry that she would not be afraid of being discovered even if someone came to investigate.

You also need someone who can be used at the critical moment, just like your ancestors, set up charity halls, win over people in the market, and send Chen Luoxi out at the last moment.

An Wenniang didn't have such great ability, but she still remembered the instructions of her ancestors. After returning, she sorted out her memories bit by bit, and finally took the money and jewelry she had saved when she was a maid in Fushou Hall and went to Hechun Lane. Most people were reluctant to come to this lane, just because there were many old and ugly women who were driven out of brothels living here.

No matter whether they were doing business or selling handkerchiefs, decent families would not accept them, so they could only rely on the brothels in Shuiyun Street and make a living by learning some skills through their past relationships.

An Wenniang had been away from Anjia Village for too long and only recognized a few people. What's more, she had never been to Gongzhou since she was a child, so there was no one she could use.

She screened the people she could use in Gongzhou. The people in the slave market were all slaves with marks on their faces. The people in Zhongqi were too mixed. Firstly, there were deeds records in the government, and secondly, the buyers would also have records in Zhongqi.

The charity hall was too small, and most of the beggars were not loyal. She felt that with her ability, the best choice was an old courtesan named Simian in Hechun Lane.

When Simian was young, she was a well-known figure in Shuiyue Street. She was not the most beautiful, but she was the best at speaking, doing things and entertaining people.

Any patron who had come to her had never given up. When she was young, many people wanted to redeem her, but she herself was unwilling. When she was older, she redeemed herself and lived in Hechun Lane. Even today, her former patrons still visit her from time to time.

It's a pity that she has rarely appeared in recent years. An Wen's mother came to visit her with gifts, but was rejected at first. Later, she heard that she could help her find a child to raise her in her old age.

To be honest, Simian was moved, but she didn't know what the girl wanted her to do. If it was to do something evil, she would not agree even if she would be alone until old age.

Although she redeemed herself, all women who had been to a brothel were considered to be of low status. In this world, women of low status were treated worse than slaves. The best fate among her sisters was to be taken as concubines by a wealthy businessman, and to be drugged with red wine by the mistress on the day she entered the house.

"I have a request. I heard that you have a Jingdu accent. I want you to help me find a man named Li Sanjiao. He should have been the son of a minister twenty years ago. I wonder if you have any connections to help me find out how this person is doing now?"