Traveling through an ancient military camp: Bao'er's survival song

The four maids lowered their heads and smiled faintly again. Peony, who spoke the most, even teased Li Bao'er, saying, "Young Master Li, you're so young, yet you already know about fleeting romances!"

Li Bao'er wasn't embarrassed at all. Instead, she puffed out her chest and said like a proud little boy, "Ladies, I'm sixteen now! I'm an adult!"

The maids laughed again. Du Juan, who was in charge of all the young maids in the mansion, even exaggeratedly praised him in a tone of coaxing a child, saying, "Oh my, Young Master Li is actually the same age as me! You're really a grown-up! Boys grow up late. If you stay with us for a while longer, I'll have the cook prepare some good food for you. I guarantee that in less than three months you'll be taller than me!"

Li Bao'er glanced at her small frame, then thought of her modern self, who was not only slender and curvaceous but also 1.7 meters tall, and couldn't help but sigh at the difference between the two versions of herself. But then she thought again, this Li Bao'er was a woman disguised as a man. If she really looked like the modern Li Bao'er, there probably wouldn't be any generals, soldiers, princes, or emperors in the world. After thinking about this, Li Bao'er abruptly steered the conversation back to Wu Peng'en's residence: "Sisters, it's not that I don't believe in Wu Taifu's character, it's just that I've heard he's exceptionally handsome, like Pan An. With that kind of looks, even if he didn't actively seek out women, there would be a bunch of girls throwing themselves at him."

The four maids all shook their heads, indicating that they had never heard of any romantic affairs involving Wu Peng'en over the years.

"Hey, I just remembered something..." Shancha, a casual employee who had been told by Liu Shu to do something, suddenly spoke up. Seeing that the other four pairs of eyes were all looking at her, she quickly declared, "I just heard it secondhand, it may not be true!" Then, urged by the others, she finally spoke.

Although Grand Tutor Wu was exceptionally talented and handsome, he came from a humble background and lived with his widowed mother in a village outside the city before his marriage. Grand Tutor Wu and his current wife were betrothed as children, but Grand Tutor Wu's family had fallen on hard times, and he didn't want to delay his wife's marriage, who came from an official family. Therefore, he didn't go to the city to propose marriage until he reached adulthood. His wife's family also didn't actively pursue the matter with Wu Peng'en, adopting a "wait and see" approach. In this area, it was rare for a man to be unmarried by twenty, so there were rumors that Wu Peng'en and his neighbor's daughter had long been in love and secretly engaged. However, when the girl reached marriageable age, her family sold her to the palace as a maid, and she could only be released when she turned twenty-six. Therefore, Wu Peng'en's refusal to marry was to wait for his childhood sweetheart to reach that age and leave the palace.

The other three maids sighed upon hearing the story, all remarking that it seemed Grand Tutor Wu was indeed a devoted lover.

Li Bao'er pressed for details, asking, "Then why did Grand Tutor Wu eventually marry the current Madam Wu? What happened to his childhood sweetheart?"

Camellia continued, "It is said that the little green plum died in the palace. When the current Lady Wu was still unmarried, she saw Grand Tutor Wu once and from then on she insisted on marrying him. Lady Wu's parents saw that their daughter was getting older and could not persuade her otherwise, so they took the initiative to go to Grand Tutor Wu's widowed mother to propose marriage again."

Li Bao'er frowned. She knew that all those who could enter the palace as maids had to pass a physical examination, so it was impossible for this childhood sweetheart to have secretly conceived a child with Wu Peng'en before entering the palace. Besides, the child's age didn't match her own. Li Bao'er's body was sixteen years old, and according to the story of Camellia, Wu Peng'en's childhood sweetheart from sixteen years ago would have had her grave overgrown with weeds several times over.

Therefore, Wu Peng'en, who is known for his chastity, has almost no romantic affairs, and the possibility that she is his illegitimate child is extremely slim. Thinking of this, Li Bao'er then asked the four maids, "Sisters, you are more knowledgeable than I am. Have you ever heard of two people who are not related by blood but look almost identical?"