The maid's road to success

After that night, An Zizhong took An Hongzhi back to the academy. He had thought too much in recent days.

He thought that he couldn't bully An Wen Niang just because she was his family's former maid, and he should respect her ideas.

Give her time to slowly discover her own good points, but this girl has always been a quail, and she hates to get close to other masters. Now she is even a bigger quail, and once he shows the slightest sign of getting close to her, she will retreat little by little.

By the time she takes the initiative to figure out the idea of ​​spending her life with me, I'm afraid it will never be possible in this lifetime.

He also thought about finding a husband for his sister who would treat her well like Hua Yesheng, and keep her away from these complicated and dangerous things. However, he became jealous when he thought that she would wear a wedding dress and walk into the bridal chamber holding the hand of another man, and make clothes and embroider purses for other men. He felt breathless when he saw her smiling at other men and moaning under other men. He felt as if the blood in his body was about to gush out, and there was a faint taste of rust in his throat.

An Zizhong knew that unless he died, he would never watch An Wen Niang become someone else's woman. He would definitely try his best to kill that man and get An Wen Niang back.

So, after thinking about it for so many days, the result is that An Wenniang can only be his. Her body, her heart, her lips, her eyes, and her tenderness can only belong to him.

But now the two of them are nominally brother and sister, and An Wen Niang is still young. He wants An Wen Niang to accompany him for the rest of his life, but he can't be too radical and scare An Wen Niang, otherwise this little girl will really ignore him if she gets angry.

An Wenniang was still somewhat at a loss as to what to do after hearing An Zizhong's words that day. She began to avoid An Zizhong. When An Zizhong went to the academy, she would do whatever she wanted. When An Zizhong came back from vacation, she would take An Huang out for a stroll, sometimes to buy things, sometimes to stroll around, sometimes to the temple fair, and even more so, she would go back to Anjia Village. If An Zizhong hadn't handed her a letter and told her that she would chase him if he didn't come back, she would have planned to live in the village forever.

She came back reluctantly and saw An Zizhong waiting at the door. She wanted to go in through the back door, but An Zizhong was very sharp-eyed and walked to the front to stop her idea.

"When you've hidden enough, come with me to Beiyue Mountain."

An Wenniang didn't want to talk to this person. He was too insidious and shameless.

"Well, today is Qingming Festival."

An Zizhong pulled her arm and got into the carriage. Then An Wenniang remembered that she had been so busy with An Zizhong recently that she had forgotten that today was Qingming Festival. An Zizhong must be feeling very uncomfortable.

Carefully peeking at An Zizhong outside the carriage, he looked normal, but his hands tightly gripping the reins revealed that he was not calm. An Wenniang looked at the wine, food and chrysanthemums that had been prepared in the carriage, and felt a little guilty.

She was told by the ancestor to take good care of the Fourth Young Master, but she didn't expect that she had been avoiding him, leaving him alone in Gongzhou, and even for this sad festival, the Fourth Young Master had to prepare things by himself.

The carriage wobbled to Beiyue Mountain. An Zizhong asked An Qing and the others to find a place to worship at the foot of the mountain, while he took An Wenniang up the mountain.

"Come on, let me carry you up."

After all, An Wenniang was a girl who seldom went out and her physical condition was not good. Halfway through the training, her face turned pale and she was out of breath.

An Zizhong bent down and squatted in front of her as if he wanted to carry her on his back. However, An Wenniang was a maid who had been trained in a feudal family for many years. How could she let her master carry her on his back? She shook her head and refused to get on.

An Zizhong stood up and held out his hand for her to hold. An Wenniang was also unwilling to have any physical contact with him.

"If you waste any more time, we won't be able to go back before the city gates close today."

Once the city gates were closed, no one could enter or leave, so they would have to spend the night in the wilderness outside the city, with only one carriage and An Zizhong? The four An Qing siblings would definitely not get on the carriage. No, she had to get back before the city gates were locked.

She stopped being pretentious and put her hand in An Zizhong's palm. An Zizhong carefully held it and pulled her up the mountain.

With An Zizhong's help, they went much faster. When they got to the top of the mountain, An Zizhong did not take the opportunity to hold her hand, but let it go directly.

He came to a pavilion and said while touching a pillar.

"There was once a student here who wanted to take the imperial examination to become a Jinshi in Kyoto. Unfortunately, for many reasons, he failed to pass the examination until he was in his forties, so he gave up. He wrote this poem of watching over the people of Kyoto in the pavilion on this mountain."

"Dad and his friends were privately executed by the Queen Mother. They didn't even have their bodies intact. I was transferred to another cell and watched as Dad, my eldest brother, and my second uncle were given poisoned wine and strangled to death. Their heads and shoulders were covered with skin, their eyeballs had popped out, and there was not a single part of their bodies that was intact from the torture."

"Mother Wen, I know that our ancestors wanted me to live in peace, marry and have children, but I couldn't. Six bodies were thrown on a cart without even a mat. My grandmother, my mother, and my sister, who were all raised with luxury and wealth, were shackled and chained and exiled to the northwest."

"I can't just ignore it. I want to pass the imperial examination, I want to go to Kyoto, and I want to make those evil people pay with their blood. Wen Niang, can you stay with me, stay with me forever?"

An Wenniang's eyes turned red as she looked at the Fourth Young Master who was in so much pain and loss of composure. She was in great pain, but could she really stay with the Fourth Young Master forever?

An Wenniang didn't say anything. An Zizhong laughed and cried, wiped his tears, took out the wine cup and poured a glass of wine.

"To Father!"

Then fell to the ground

"Cheers, big brother!"

He poured another cup on the ground and repeated the names of all the male members of the Huaiyuan Marquis's Mansion. He then poured two more cups and pushed one cup to An Wen's mother.

"Luo Xi will remember the hatred and will not let the enemy rest in peace on our flesh and blood. Respectfully presented!"

He raised his head and drank it. An Wenniang looked at him, then lowered her head, picked up the wine glass, and slowly drank the wine.

"Cough cough cough~"

An Wenniang had drunk alcohol before, but that was fruit wine that she drank secretly with the sisters from Fu Shou Tang. She had never drunk such a strong liquor. She coughed until tears were coming out and her chest felt burning.

An Zizhong had heard that many maids would secretly drink, but he didn't expect this girl to not drink. Seeing her eyes filled with tears, coughing violently, holding her chest, and her face flushed, he secretly thought that he was not careful enough.

He walked over and patted her back to make her vomit. An Wen's mother shook her head and felt less uncomfortable after a while. She held An Zizhong's hand and sat on the stone outside the pavilion, listening to him talk about things in the academy and feeling the cool breeze. She felt much more comfortable, but her vision was becoming increasingly blurry.

An Zizhong wanted to let An Wenniang know his daily schedule at the academy, but his shoulders sank. The little girl next to him had already fallen asleep with very red cheeks. Was she drunk?

An Zizhong helplessly carried the person on his back, the person on his back was limp. Seeing that the sky was getting dark, he had just threatened the girl that he would spend the night outside the city, but he was just trying to scare her, he couldn't really bear to do that.

He walked slowly down the mountain carrying his beloved on his back. Looking at the four brothers and sisters waiting in front of the car with red and swollen eyes, he thought that they must have just paid homage to the Yuan family. He carefully carried An Wen's mother into the car and held her in his arms.

Because of the bumps in the carriage, the petite person would bump into his chest from time to time. An Zizhong, who had been feeling uncomfortable for the past two days because of the festival, felt a lot less pain thanks to this drunken girl.

Finally, they entered the city before the city gates closed. All the way back to the courtyard, An Zizhong carried An Wenniang back to the backyard.

An Huang and An Yun wanted to take over the service, but he refused. They had too many secrets and could not let the drunk An Wenniang come into contact with others, even those who lived in the same courtyard.

An Zizhong asked An Huang to fetch some hot water, and asked An Wenniang to gently wipe her face and hands, slowly took off her shoes and socks, and helped her change a piece of cloth to wipe her.

At this moment, An Zizhong felt somewhat happy. For the first time, he understood why his brothers who used to play together spent so much time and effort to make the women they loved happy, and even helped them wash and dress.

In the past, he would just laugh at what he heard. No matter how indulgent he was to the maids in his own courtyard, he would never roll up his sleeves to serve any of the women.

But now he understood that when you really like someone, serving him and helping him wash can be a happy thing.

An Zizhong carefully covered her with a brocade quilt and held her little hand in his own, which was so tender and soft. He looked at An Wenniang's rosy cheeks, leaned against the bed rail and closed his eyes.

The next day, Wen Niang woke up and saw this scene when she opened her eyes. She was lying on the bed with her clothes on, and An Zizhong was holding her hand and sleeping on the bed rails. Since the incident in the Marquis' Mansion, she had not seen An Zizhong sleeping so soundly.

An Zizhong opened his eyes, looked at her and smiled, then gave her instructions.

"Don't drink in front of outsiders anymore."

An Wenniang thought she was drunk and crazy, her face flushed with shame. One time, Bihe drank too much fruit wine and in the middle of the night she started clamoring for pork elbow and started eating it while hugging her.

An Zizhong did not stay here after she woke up. He stood up, stretched his muscles, went out to call An Yun to come in and serve An Wenniang, and then went back to the front yard.

Afterwards, An Zizhong did not say anything to embarrass An Wenniang as he did before. Instead, he was the same as before and even came to the backyard less often.

An Wenniang finally felt relieved and decided to give it a try in August this year.

Although it was just a try, all students at Gongzhou Academy knew that An Zizhong would definitely be on the list, and some even made private bets that he would be the top scorer this year.

An Zizhong asked An Huang to go to an underground casino and bet three thousand taels that An Zizhong would not win the first prize.

With a chance of 7 to 1, if An Zizhong can control his performance well, he can earn 21,000 taels.

An Zizhong himself was not worried about failing the exam. He was recently busy supervising Hua Yesheng and Zhou Chunsheng's studies. The scholar-farmer, merchant-seller classes were clearly divided. Merchants would have a lot of wealth, but would never gain respect from others. The scholar-gentry class would always criticize them for being vulgar and crude.

After making money, most businessmen would devote themselves to having their children study for the imperial examinations, so that they could stand out and change their social class. Even though only a few people could pass the imperial examinations, even if they were only juren, outsiders would respectfully address them as juren sir, and outsiders would also refer to those who did business as Confucian merchants.

Hua Yesheng was very talented in business, but he did not like studying. He could only barely pass the level of a scholar, and his hope for the autumn examination was slim. However, An Zizhong found Hua Yesheng's father and made an agreement with him that he would teach Hua Yesheng the skills of studying and writing, and when Hua Yesheng passed the exam, the Hua family would give him the two hilltops on the west mountain of Lin County.

The two hills were all forests. When they were bought, they planned to build a farm and plant fruit trees. However, the new order issued by the court did not allow large-scale deforestation. So the plan was shelved. Now they can only send people in every year to collect medicinal herbs. It is not a loss, but the Hua family has a lot of land in Lin County. The two hills are not in good locations, so they just give it to them.

Zhou Chunsheng also joined An Zizhong's group later. At first, he was attracted by the pharmacy that the Zhou family had run in Gongzhou for many years, which he thought would be useful in the future. But when he met An Qing, Zhou Chunsheng became useless.

But Hua Yesheng said that in the whole Gongzhou, the Zhou family had the largest collection of medical books and pharmacist classics. Even though An Qing was taught by Doctor Yuan himself, he was still young after all. He could only memorize the Yuan family's medical books and could prepare the medicine he needed now according to the prescriptions. However, when he faced numerous crises in the future, An Qing's level would not be enough.

After all, Zhou Chunsheng's level was higher than Hua Yesheng's. Zhou Chunsheng couldn't stop pestering him and asked him to tell him about his experience and skills. An Zizhong went with the flow and asked him to bring An Qing to their library to look up medical books, and also let An Qing work as an apprentice in their largest pharmacy.

With these two people, An Zizhong spent every day in the academy and Wen'en Pavilion and didn't even go home.

Hua Yesheng and Li Changan sat in the room that had been reserved for them in Wen'en Pavilion and looked through An Zizhong's experience records with Zhou Chunsheng. Li Changan's eyes lit up, and he threw down the paper in his hand and looked at the fool opposite him with envy.