The maid's road to success

After An Qing and the others had finished dealing with the problem, An Zizhong lay back on the bed in dishevel, and first gave the two maids some heart-clearing medicine to smell. The two maids woke up first, and when they saw their own appearance, they knew that they must have been affected by the drug in the princess's incense burner, and something happened to them and An Zizhong in the chaos.

"Stop crying, put on your clothes and comb your hair. If the county lord finds out, we will be dead."

The tall and thin girl quickly stood up and tidied her clothes. The princess had specially taken medicine to preserve the pregnancy tonight and called the Fourth Prince to meet her, saying that it would be more exciting to do that kind of thing with other men in the bridal chamber. As soon as the Fourth Prince left, the princess asked them to pull An Zizhong to the bed so that it would be convenient for the princess to do that thing with the prince again. She didn't expect that the drug was so powerful that it could still have an effect for so long.

The fat girl couldn't help but think of a sister who had flirted with the princess's lover, and was dug out her eyes by the princess and thrown into the most despicable brothel, where she died before she could last a day. The princess couldn't let others covet something she didn't like, and it was not their wish for An Zizhong to get her hands on them, but the princess wouldn't let An Zizhong get into trouble, but they might not.

After the two of them had packed up, they hurried out to call the waiter to come in and help the princess and An Zizhong wash up. After changing to a clean bed, Princess Baozhu's medicine had not yet worn off, and An Zizhong would not let her wake up at this time, so he went to rest on the soft couch with the quilt in his arms.

It was not until the morning when he heard the servants at the door that he returned to bed with the quilt in his arms and took out the heart-clearing medicine for Princess Baozhu to take.

After taking the medicine, Princess Baozhu was immersed in a dream of having sex with a man. When she woke up, her body was very weak. She hadn't felt so comfortable and refreshed in a long time. The magic of Yunmeng Township is that people will have corresponding hallucinations about what happened. Princess Baozhu thought that the victim she had found was a man with extraordinary talent, and she felt more satisfied.

An Zizhong had no parents, and his only relatives were those from Anjia Village. Princess Baozhu had no chance to meet them, so there was no one from his in-laws who needed to be met the next day. The only one, An Wenniang, had to pay her respects to Princess Baozhu and present her with a round fan she had made. Princess Baozhu rewarded her with a pair of jade bracelets with very good water color. They were very valuable, but it was obvious that they were not carefully selected. An Wenniang was less than sixteen years old, and she could not carry such emeralds at all.

The nanny behind her frowned as she looked at the jewelry that Princess Baozhu gave to An Wenniang. After all, she had married An Zizhong, and her only relative was her sister. The princess was unwilling to spend time choosing a gift for her. There were so many bright jewelry in the storeroom, and any one of them was more suitable than this one. An Wenniang was very happy to accept it. She had only seen such things at the hands of her ancestors. An Wenniang thought of the day when the quarrel occurred in the Huaiyuan Marquis' Mansion. The quarreling officers and soldiers carried out boxes of antiques, calligraphy and jewelry from the Huaiyuan Marquis' Mansion like bandits. An Wenniang put the bracelet away and planned to give it to her ancestors when she saw them in the future. This kind of thing was most suitable for her ancestors to wear.

Princess Baozhu looked at An Wenniang and thought that she had never seen such a good thing, so she curled her lips in disdain. Without waiting for An Zizhong to say anything, she took the maids away, saying that she wanted to rest.

An Zizhong couldn't help but clench his fists when he saw An Wen Niang being neglected. Unfortunately, there were too many servants sent by Princess Fu'an in the mansion, so he couldn't go up and hug An Wen Niang to comfort her.

When Princess Baozhu returned to her room, she wanted to ask someone to send over the young men who usually served her, but was persuaded by the nanny behind her.

"The princess has already said that since you are married, you should have less contact with those people. Even if you want to see them, you have to go to your own residence. You must not bring them to your and your uncle's home. If your uncle finds out, the princess will deal with them personally."

Princess Baozhu looked at the housekeeper sent by her mother and glared at her fiercely, but she didn't dare to tell her to bring people over. Although her mother doted on her and her brother, she was also very cruel. The boys she raised were all stunningly beautiful, and it took a lot of effort to get them. How could she bear to see them killed by her mother?

An Zizhong naturally knew about those young men. It was true that the bloodline of the Gong family was the same. The late emperor was a wise ruler in the first half of his life, but he became much more foolish in the last few years before his death. The current emperor was only absurd. Princess Fu'an insisted on marrying her husband because she was attracted by his appearance. Princess Baozhu and the Fourth Prince had been together for a long time, and Princess Baozhu had kept many male lovers. The Sixth Prince was not much better, and he kept a concubine outside. It was said that her status was very low, and the Empress Dowager refused to let her enter the Sixth Prince's Mansion, let alone become a slave. So the Sixth Prince kept her secretly outside, and sent countless gold, silver and jewelry every month.

I heard that the scene she went out with was no less pompous than that of the young ladies in the Marquis's Mansion, with hundreds of servants surrounding her. The Sixth Prince even thought that this girl had injured a noble lady.

After knowing these things, An Zizhong had already started to arrange people to contact these people. So far, he has only contacted a lover kept by Princess Baozhu. The other party was forced to become Princess Baozhu's man because of the pressure from Princess Baozhu's family. He is the only one who is determined to make Princess Baozhu lose her support.

The Sixth Prince's mistress has only two maids sent to her now.

An Zizhong did not want to have much contact with Princess Baozhu under the same roof. Their passing list had come out, and the Ministry of Personnel would soon issue the court's arrangements for their positions. He also had to contact Li Changan to win over the successful students as soon as possible. Including him and Li Changan, there were six students who passed the exam in Gongzhou, which was still too few. Students from other places could also be contacted. After all, too many of them came from prefectures without roots. If he and Li Changan helped everyone get a place to live and servants in Kyoto at this time, they would leave a good impression on everyone.

Although Princess Baozhu was not satisfied with the busy An Zizhong, Princess Fu'an was very satisfied. She felt that she was lucky to have chosen such an excellent son-in-law. Although his status was a little shabby, he was capable, good at making friends, had good literary talent and strong ability. Maybe she wouldn't have to worry about Baozhu's future all the time?

She and several aides decided to send An Zizhong to the Imperial Academy. Although the Imperial Academy did not have more actual power than the six ministries, it brought together the most talented students in the country. Every year, the Imperial Academy had the largest number of places for those who passed the imperial examinations. Moreover, every great scholar in the Imperial Academy was highly respected by literati all over the world. Although these literati did not have military power like military officers, most of the officials were selected through the imperial examinations. The civil servants were very determined to protect the Imperial Academy.

She felt that her son-in-law was the most suitable person for the Imperial College. If he could establish his prestige in the Imperial College as soon as possible, it would help her win over more officials from the Imperial College and select her own people for the future spring examinations.

When An Zizhong learned that he had become the chancellor of the Imperial College, he and Li Changan chatted about interesting stories with a dozen other students who had passed the exam. Everyone originally looked down on this man who became Princess Baozhu's husband, but the more they got to know him, the more they felt that it was a pity that such a talented man was treated badly by Princess Fu'an.

Yes, An Zizhong and Li Changan deliberately created the story that they were coerced and bribed by Princess Fu'an into getting married, and that they were not treated well after marriage but were humiliated by Princess Baozhu. Their purpose was not to keep these students away from Princess Fu'an and not be used by her, but to let the Sixth Prince know his grievances and actively win them over.

Only by being the husband of a frustrated princess who is in Cao's camp but whose heart is with Han can the Sixth Prince take the initiative to start with him. Then he will be able to get in touch with the two princes. Wouldn't that be more fun?

According to Princess Baozhu's personality, once I go to report to the Imperial College, she will definitely be "ignored", and she will inevitably look for other men at that time. As long as Princess Fu'an restricts Princess Baozhu's contact with those young men, Princess Baozhu will definitely think of the Fourth Prince. After all, no matter how noble she is, she is still a female member of the family. There are limited places she can go. There is also a housekeeper sent by Princess Fu'an around her, so she doesn't have many choices.

The Sixth Prince would be very interested in taking care of this matter, right?

An Zizhong reported to the Imperial College with a document from the Ministry of Personnel. Many students and teachers had a bad impression of him, thinking that he was able to get such a good position thanks to Princess Fu'an. An Zizhong liked this kind of thing. Scholars value talent, and as long as he is good enough, everyone will cherish his talent and ability even more, and make everyone more dissatisfied with Princess Fu'an's Mansion.

But he had never thought of asking the Fourth Prince for more help. An Zizhong seemed very busy every day and would deliberately talk about the kindness of Princess Fu'an's Mansion towards scholars.

Privately, he asked the servants to spread the news that he was being monitored by the people in the Princess's Mansion and had no freedom. Just a simple hint would be enough, and he could show his strength in poetry, calligraphy and painting appropriately, so that everyone would think that the Princess restricted such an excellent person and matched her with such a vulgar and dissolute daughter, and they would gradually keep their distance from the Princess's faction.

"Brother Zizhong, your talent is really wasted. Your painting skills are comparable to those of contemporary masters, but you are being played around by those in power."

A colleague watched the servant beside An Zizhong leave and whispered this to him. An Zizhong could only smile bitterly and signaled him not to say more. His eyes showed that he was worried that the servant would come and hear it.

"You are the second place in the imperial examination and the chancellor of the Imperial College. Do you still have to look at the eyes of a servant?"

When that person saw such an outstanding person like An Zizhong showing fear on his face, he immediately felt sorry for him.

"Lord Liu, I have a younger sister who saved my life. Our parents are gone, and we are the only ones who depend on each other. I have to consider my younger sister. She is now...ah..."

An Zizhong did not continue talking. His hesitant look reminded his colleagues of many scenes of Princess Baozhu bullying An Zizhong's sister. An Wenniang often came to bring clothes to An Zizhong. Everyone had seen her. She was a very kind and gentle girl. Such a polite and caring girl was bullied by Princess Baozhu. Everyone could not bear it and immediately had a bad impression of Princess Baozhu.

"Go ask the princess how she's doing lately. Didn't she say she wanted to eat sour plums a while ago? I'll bring some back when I'm on leave. Ask her if she needs anything else."

When An Qing heard what An Zizhong said, he immediately looked like he was standing up for his master.

"Master, you still have to ask. The things I bought before were lost by the princess's maid. Moreover, the princess has not been at home recently. The people in the mansion also said that they don't know where the princess is."

How could the servants not know where the mistress of a mansion had gone? It was just because they saw that An Zizhong was not from a high-class family that they deliberately helped Princess Baozhu to conceal it. Besides, what was there to hide? Going out to buy jewelry or listen to music, attending a flower show or burning incense were all things that did not need to be concealed, unless what she did when she went out was not a good thing.

Besides, they also have wives and concubines, and they would be happy for a long time if they could bring a flower home for their wives. Princess Baozhu directly gave away the things that An Zizhong bought. What could it be? She just looked down on her husband from the bottom of her heart. She was already a notorious woman, and no one in Kyoto dared to marry her. She chose An Zizhong, a sucker who happened to be a talented man, but she didn't cherish him and stepped on her husband under her feet.

While everyone was discussing in a low voice, the servant who had just left returned to the corridor. Master An Zizhong and his servant stopped talking immediately. In everyone's eyes, they were a pair of poor boys being oppressed and bullied by their wives' powerful families. When similar incidents happened a few more times, Princess Baozhu's reputation of disrespecting her husband and bullying him spread, and was successfully discovered by Princess Fu'an.

"This idiot, she got pregnant and asked me to help her solve the problem. She finally picked An Zizhong as a good person, but she didn't pretend to be good. Now she starts to bully Zizhong and so many people know about it. Go call Madam Hu over. I want to see what Baozhu has done."

When the princess heard the rumors outside, she smashed her favorite teacup when she returned home and asked someone in the study what was going on.

"The princess sent Li Er to serve the son-in-law and asked him to report the son-in-law's whereabouts at any time. Starting with the maids beside the princess, most people in the mansion do not listen to the son-in-law's orders. The son-in-law will use the people we sent, but they are all the people he brought before his marriage. The princess went to Xiaoyu Lane three times today, and once called the imperial physician to come, it seems that the fetus is unstable."

The eldest princess's face grew darker as she listened. She had asked herself to let Nanny Hu follow her daughter as a dowry nanny so that she could look after Baozhu. Now Nanny Hu came with her face still red and swollen. Only Baozhu could have scolded her. She hadn't expected that she was so stupid now that she even dared to beat her own people. She allowed the servants in the mansion to be negligent in monitoring her husband. No wonder those words were spread outside.

"She called the imperial physician, why didn't you come and tell me? Can the imperial physician know about her condition?"

Aunt Hu knelt on the ground and explained while crying.

"How could I not know that the imperial physician could tell from taking the princess' pulse that the princess was not pregnant with my son-in-law's child? But because the princess had just gotten married and went to Xiaoyu Lane to look for those men, I kept trying to persuade her but the princess hated me and kept asking someone to watch me. The last time the princess went to Xiaoyu Lane, she was not feeling well and summoned the imperial physician. She was playing with a few men in Xiaoyu Lane and got pregnant. I immediately took people to settle the imperial physician and was about to report to the Princess's Mansion, but was abducted by the princess's people and taken back. If the princess hadn't sent someone to summon me, I wouldn't have been able to let her go."

Princess Fu'an felt a headache after hearing this, and asked someone to pull up Nanny Hu.

"You did a great job, and comforted the imperial physician in time. Since Baozhu is so naughty now, you don't have to serve her. I'll ask Nanny Yan to teach her. Let her go back to her own house and not have any contact with Zi Zhong recently, so as not to be discovered. Find someone to keep an eye on her and don't allow her to leave the house. Take the people and tie up all the servants who bully their masters and sell them. I sent them to serve the princess and Zi Zhong, not to let them ride on their masters' heads and bully others."

The older you get, the wiser you are. Princess Fu'an made arrangements quickly, and the people from the Princess's Mansion immediately went to An Zizhong's house with their weapons to pick up Princess Baozhu. They pulled out many servants and tied them up and took them away, and also sent in many new servants, who looked respectful and honest.