After the divorce, I pursued the Ninth Prince 100 times.

At that time, the young eunuch was already the chief eunuch in charge of the Sima Jian, and was not as busy as when he was a young eunuch.

Xie Heng was a prince, and besides his daily studies, he had plenty of free time, so he often went to talk to the eunuchs.

The young eunuch said that it was not his original intention to enter the palace to be a eunuch.

Xie Heng naturally believed this. Although he grew up in the cold palace, he also knew that eunuchs were incomplete people. If it weren't for the absolute last resort, no one would be willing to become a eunuch...

The young eunuch also said that he was not originally from Northern Yue, but came to Northern Yue with his mother when he was four years old.

His mother rented a small house in the city with him, and they embroidered things to sell at the market.

My mother is quite good at embroidery; the patterns she embroiders always sell very quickly.

Besides covering the family's daily expenses, the money earned could not be used to send him to school, but it was enough to buy him a lot of books and paper so that he could study on his own.

He couldn't remember anything before he came to North Vietnam, but he knew many characters and could even recite some common books.

It seems that the family used to be quite well-off, but later their fortunes declined, leading to this situation...

Although those years were poor, we were still able to get by, until we encountered a year of famine.

There was a severe drought for three years, and the crops in the fields were completely gone. The people could not even get enough to eat, so where would they get the extra money to buy embroidery?

So his mother took him to the capital to find a way to make a living, thinking that things might be better under the emperor's nose.

However, along the way, there were countless corpses of the starving, and countless refugees poured into the capital, hoping to find a way to survive.

The mother and son were relatively lucky and followed the crowd into the city.

Not many people in the city bought embroidery, but a few kind-hearted wealthy families set up porridge stalls in front of their doors and provided porridge to the hungry people in the city on a regular basis every day.

The mother and son tried every household, and compared to the others, the porridge provided by the Nanyang Marquisate was the thickest. Although it wasn't enough to fill them up, at least they could survive. So the mother and son found a place next to the outer wall of the Nanyang Marquisate and settled down.

He would queue up every day to receive porridge, and spend the rest of his time begging. Sometimes, if he was lucky, he could get a steamed bun, which he would share with his mother.

His mother would let him eat, and he would let his mother eat. They couldn't agree to each other, so they had to share the food, and they had to divide it evenly, otherwise they would both try to grab the smaller piece.

Even though he had a bowl of porridge every day, he was a boy after all, and he was growing up day by day. He did not eat enough for a long time, so he became pale and thin, and one day he fainted.

That day, his mother didn't eat a single grain of rice, but fed him the two bowls of porridge she had gotten. Only then did he slowly wake up, but he was extremely weak.

He said, "Mother, don't worry about me. After I die, you must live on..."

His mother wept bitterly, holding him tightly and refusing to let go. She said that as long as she had a breath left, she would never let him starve to death! With that, she got up and prepared to leave to find food.

The little girl appeared at this time.

She was wearing a pretty little red dress and had two little buns on her head with red shiny things tied on them. She had a chubby little face and smiled at them with her lips pursed.

She said, "Big brother, there are plenty of food at home."

In Fu Jiuli's eyes, the little girl was an angel that descended from the sky, injecting a ray of light into his dark world.

That day, the little girl asked the servant to take them to a corner gate of the Nanyang Marquis Mansion. Not long after she ran in, she took out a big cloth bag and gave it to them.

She also told them to wait for her at the corner gate at this time every day, and she would bring them food.

He and his mother dared to open the cloth bag when no one was around. There were four white steamed buns and a whole roast chicken inside. He burst into tears on the spot and hugged his mother and cried bitterly.

From then on, the little girl came to bring them food every day as promised, sometimes it was braised beef, sometimes it was pickled pig's trotters, and once she brought him a candied haws.

Her eyes sparkled: "Big brother, come and eat it! This is what Brother Yu bought for me. I couldn't bear to eat it, so I saved it for you."

Although he didn't know who the "Brother Yu" she mentioned was, he was sure he was someone very important to her.

Because every time she mentioned the three words "Brother Yu", her eyes were full of smiles, her eyebrows were flying with joy, and she even talked a lot more.

He liked to listen to her talk and say that he also liked it when she said "Brother Yu" because she would be very happy. When she was happy, he couldn't help but smile.

One day she came to him and brought them two bags of food.

The little girl cradled her chubby cheeks in her hands and squatted down in front of him: "Big brother, I'm going to Huashan Temple with my mother tomorrow! I won't be able to come see you then! Mother said she's going to pray for rain. She said only when it rains will Grandpa stop looking so worried every day."

"I've heard that the Bodhisattva at Huashan Temple is very efficacious! I'm going to make two wishes."

"First, I pray that the Northern Yue Kingdom will have favorable weather and abundant harvests, so that you and Auntie can live a good life! Big brother, you are so smart, I can ask my grandfather to recommend you to study at the Imperial Academy, and you can even become a top scholar and a high-ranking official in the future!"

"Second request..." The little girl's chubby cheeks were red, so cute.

"Secondly, I beg you to marry Brother Yu smoothly after I reach the age of marriage, and to be with Brother Yu forever!"

"I don't know if the Bodhisattva will agree..."

The little girl pouted, and her eyes, which always sparkled with stars, suddenly dimmed a lot: "But today I asked Brother Yu if he wanted to see me every day, and Brother Yu didn't answer me..."

The little girl lowered her head, her head was fuzzy.

Fu Jiuli really wanted to pat the little girl's head, but he secretly withdrew his hand after only extending it a little over an inch.

I'm just a beggar, how could I possibly be worthy of that title?

He could only smile and say, "You are so kind, he must be willing."

"Really?" The little girl's eyes, which had been dull just now, suddenly regained their brightness.

"Really." He nodded firmly.

But in his heart, he secretly swore that as long as he had the opportunity to take the imperial examination, he would work very hard and get the top score to show her, and then, as she said, he would become a high-ranking official.

If in the future...

If her brother Yu is unwilling to marry her, he wants to marry her if she is willing.

He will cherish her for the rest of his life, giving her whatever she wants and making her happy every day.

He would never marry a bunch of wives and concubines like those men who hold official positions.

He only needs her, if he marries someone else, she will cry!

Fu Jiuli shook his head. He couldn't bear to see her cry.