I'm not a fortune teller.

Chapter 37 Going Home
"The master is back!!"

The county government, which was shrouded in dark clouds, was in a state of excitement after receiving the news that their master was safe and sound.

No one would want their county magistrate's master to die. Slaves have no control over their own destiny. When their master is still alive, everyone lives a decent life. Once the master is gone, the Zhang family will inevitably decline even if the lady has a generous dowry. Once they are sold, who knows where they will be sold to?

Such a decent official family with a simple population is very rare.
"Where is my son?"

The old lady was so excited that she ran out without even putting on her shoes. Old Master Zhang chased after her with the old lady's shoes in his hand. The two siblings of the Zhang family also ran out quickly after hearing the news. The only one in the family who looked pale was the mistress of the house, Mrs. Luo.

How could she never have thought that the damned guy could come back alive?
Although she did that to protect her family, it would be a lie to say that she had no selfish motives. If Zhang Rui could not come back, her mother-in-law would not drive her out for the sake of the Zhang family's dignity. Besides, the whole family depended on her, so they would be much more polite to her at that time.

But now it's different. My husband is back alive. I locked him out of the house to save my life. It's only right for me to divorce him for such a cruel act.
When she thought of this, she bit her lips tightly, and blood dripped down her red lips.

"Mom, are you okay?"

When Zhang Rui walked to the gate of the county government office, he saw his mother running out without wearing shoes. He was immediately at a loss whether to laugh or cry. He quickly stepped forward to support her, and took the shoes from his father's hand and helped his mother put them on.

"It's so cold, and your mother doesn't even care about her own health. You're old, what will you do if you catch a cold?"

"Son, are you okay?" The old woman was relieved after seeing her son alive and well. She burst into tears and said, "You scared me to death."

When the governor came in person before, their family almost prepared for the funeral.

Fortunately, my son was lucky enough not to be killed by that evil woman. By the way, where is that evil woman?
After reacting, the old woman looked back fiercely, wanting to find the evil daughter-in-law who threatened her. Before, for the sake of the Zhang family's overall interests, she had to endure it even if she killed her own son. But now, I'll skin you alive if you don't watch!
"It's okay, it's okay." Zhang Rui looked at his mother, who was concerned about him for a while, and then turned around like a hungry wolf to look for something. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The world's background had changed, but his mother's personality had not changed at all.

"Son, what's going on?"

An old man in a fancy red robe also sat down and looked at his wife with amusement, then looked at his most promising son with concern: "The governor clearly said you..."

"My son is lucky." Zhang Rui looked up and smiled, "I met His Royal Highness the Third Prince in that dangerous place. With the protection of the guards, I managed to get out with him."

"Oh, we met the prince?" Dad was suddenly surprised.

The old lady suddenly thought of something and her face changed. "Oh my God, on the day of the incident, someone was knocking at the door outside, saying that it was the prince of the current dynasty, but he was stopped outside by your evil daughter-in-law. Is that the real prince? What should I do? I said that Luo was a jinx."

Before Luo, who had rushed over, got close, she heard people calling her a wicked daughter-in-law and a jinx, and her face turned even paler immediately.

"That's right, a jinx!" A girl who looked to be about fourteen or fifteen years old who came running over glared at Luo fiercely, her eyes full of disgust.

"Shut up!" Zhang Rui stood up and said, "Who told you to talk to your sister-in-law like that? Do you have any manners?"

"Brother," the girl who looked very similar to Luo Shi stomped her feet, "She locked you out and almost killed you!"

"If your sister-in-law doesn't close the door, the whole family will be in trouble!" Zhang Rui glared at her, stepped forward and held the pale-faced Luo's hands, and said gently: "Thank you for your hard work, madam. If you hadn't acted decisively, our family might have been the same as those other people who were killed."

Luo was stunned, her pale face slightly warmed up, but there was disbelief in her eyes. After three years of marriage, this was the first time she heard this man defending her.

"Son." The old lady frowned when she saw her son defending the other party so much, "But she also locked His Royal Highness the Prince out of the door."

"Mother," Zhang Rui sighed, "The painting market is full of demons and ghosts. The one I met was the real prince, but the one knocking on the door might not be the real one. Thousands of people died in Fuchuan County this time, and they were all killed in this way. Those evil spirits, as long as they can get into the house, will disguise themselves as the emperor. If Luo hadn't acted decisively, our family would have been in trouble."

"This..." The old lady was a little scared when she heard this. Come to think of it, they had seen with their own eyes the tragic conditions in many people's homes in Fuchuan County in the past few days. When the incident in Jiangnan happened, they were far away and only heard that many people had died. It was not as scary as what they saw with their own eyes this time. It is said that none of the dead had an intact body, whether they were children or women, they all died in such a miserable way.

Zhang Rui was slightly relieved to see that his mother still listened to his advice. His mother's surname was Huang, and she was naturally strong, otherwise she would not be able to control her lazy father. But she was not a bad person. Although she favored her own son, which mother in the world was not like this?

"Oh, right." Zhang Rui remembered something important and didn't say it: "Mom, have someone pack up. Maybe we have to go to Beijing after the New Year."

"Go to the capital?" The old lady was stunned at first, then nodded repeatedly: "Oh, oh, oh, by the way, my son has been in this hellhole for three years. According to what the teacher said before, he can go back to the capital to report on his work." Then she looked at Luo: "Luo, you go with your husband this time, take good care of it, and let him move to a good place. How can my son have hope in this poor and remote place?"

Luo immediately reacted and pursed his lips.
In the end, it was because I wanted to use my dowry money to make things happen, so I didn't blame myself. I was like, how could this person suddenly become so nice?
I had the chance to refuse before, but now, after doing what I did, if I am still unwilling to pay, I am afraid I will have no place in the Zhang family.

Just as she was about to agree, she heard her husband suddenly say, "Mother, you all have to follow your son to the capital this time."

"Why is that?" The old lady was stunned. "The magistrate of the neighboring county only returned to Beijing to report on his work for a month or two, and was assigned to the north. Son, our family is not well-off, and even if we make some arrangements, we probably won't be assigned to a good place. The most likely place will still be in the north. It will cost a lot for our family to go back and forth, so we should save money wherever we can."

"Mom, I want to go to the capital with my eldest brother to take a look." The speaker was Zhang Rui's sister.

"Go away, go away, why are you joining in the fun? What is an unmarried girl doing running around?" The little girl looked unwilling
"Ahem." Zhang Rui coughed lightly, "Mother, you misunderstood. This time, my son met the prince by chance and helped him a little. It has been confirmed that my son will be transferred to the capital to take up a post after the new year."

"What did you say?"

The whole family looked over in surprise.

"Brother, is this true?" The little girl's face was full of surprise.

"Really." Zhang Rui looked at the little girl with some doting. His sister's name was Zhang Meng. The name sounded petite and cute, but she was not as pretty as she is now. He remembered that before he changed her name with a pen, the little girl was pale and thin, like a bean sprout. Now she is fair and tender. Although her hands and feet are a little rough from working in the fields, she looks like a rich lady now after dressing up.

"We are going to the capital, Mom!" The little girl cheered and hugged her mother's arm.

"Slow down, don't be so impatient." Huang, the old lady, was also very surprised at this time: "Son, is this news reliable?"

"It should be reliable." Zhang Rui said with a smile. He thought the news from the Yuchi family couldn't be false.

"Oh, may our ancestors bless us!" Father Zhang Hong was so excited that he began to worship his ancestors.

The whole family was in high spirits, but Luo's face was a little stiff. She had just thought that her husband wanted to ask her for a favor, but now it seemed that was not the case. However, her husband was an official in Beijing, and she had done such a thing before. Based on her understanding of the old lady, she was likely to persuade her husband to divorce his wife!

Sure enough, the next moment, the old lady said, "Hey, Mrs. Luo, tell the servants to make a delicious meal. Our family must celebrate."

"It's mother." Luo's face turned pale again, knowing that the other party was trying to get rid of her.

"Don't be too ostentatious, just do it as usual." Zhang Rui turned around and said gently, "A lot of people died in Fuchuan County this time, and we are celebrating it, which will cause criticism."

"Yes, yes, my son is worried about that," Old Madam Huang said quickly, "Then do as my son says and just have a simple meal. Go ahead."

Luo sighed inwardly when she heard this. Why would she need to give any instructions for a simple meal? It seemed that the old woman was determined to divorce her.

Anyway, my father valued the potential of the Zhang family and thought that marrying a woman was like investing in a business, buying when prices rise and not buying when prices fall. But people’s hearts are complicated, and how can they be as fair as the market price of commodities? The Zhang family is now on the rise, so how could they look down on me, a daughter of a merchant?
My father thought too simply, and I also thought too simply at the beginning. If I had known this would happen, I would have accepted my cousin's proposal.

"Mother, what do you want to say after you send Madam away?"

After Luo left, Zhang Rui looked helpless, knowing that his mother must have another idea.

"Why do you say that?" The old lady glared at him. "This is a rare opportunity. You are going to the capital to be an official. This is a blessing that you have earned with your ancestors' graves. You can't let a merchant's daughter ruin it. In the social circles of the capital, won't she be looked down upon when she goes out for social events? Which of the wives of officials in the capital doesn't come from a scholarly family? Don't underestimate this. It will have a great impact on your future."

"That's right, brother!" Zhang Meng also echoed from the side.

"Shut up!" Zhang Rui turned around and glared at him. "How has your sister-in-law treated you in the past few years? Don't you know what's going on? Our family's food, clothing and daily expenses are all thanks to her dowry, but now that you have a little bit of success, you immediately kick her out? Don't you feel guilty? You're going to get married soon, how would you feel if your husband treated you like this?"

"I" Zhang Meng immediately curled his lips, lowered his head and said nothing.

"Son." Huang couldn't hold her temper anymore and whispered, "Luo has worked hard in the past two years, but she also made a lot of money in Fuchuan County by taking advantage of your position as county magistrate. We are even, and this time she locked you out and didn't care whether you lived or died."

"That's for the safety of the whole family."

"Bullshit, that's just for herself!" Huang couldn't help but poke her silly son's head: "You, have you been bewitched?"

"Mother" Zhang Rui didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Divorcing your wife right after you got promoted, with this reputation, which good family do you think would marry their daughter to you? Do you think those good families are stupid? Those who are willing to marry their daughters in this situation are either opportunists or they don't value their daughters. What's the point of marrying them? And if you marry a noble lady, you can't afford to offend her. Would your life be better than now?"

"I you." Huang was immediately angry and said, "Just side with her!"

"I'm not on her side. What I said is the truth. Luo is pretty good. This is my first time in Beijing and I'm unfamiliar with the place. Instead of trying to curry favor with some powerful Yue family, I'd rather do my job honestly. As long as the harem is peaceful and there's no trouble, I'll be satisfied. Mother also said that our family is poor, and the poorer our family is, the less greedy we should be. What do you think?"

"Old lady, what we said actually makes sense," the old man next to her quickly chimed in.

"Okay, okay, just think of me as a bad person, okay?" Huang glared at him immediately, and the father quickly shrank his neck and turned away.

Zhang Rui immediately covered his face. His father, even though he was the county magistrate, was still so cowardly.

However, he really had no intention of divorcing his wife and remarrying. It was not because he was particularly on Luo's side, but because he was envied by the prince. If his mother arranged a wedding there, it would be easy for others to plot against him. Yuchi Hong had said that the officials in the Dali Temple were extremely dangerous, so he had to keep a low profile there. If he divorced his wife and remarried in a high-profile manner, he might think that disaster was not coming fast enough.
At this time, Luo was quietly listening to the dispute inside in the corner of the door. When he saw that the dispute had a result, his complexion suddenly recovered a lot, but his eyes were full of surprise.

This man seems to be different from before
(End of this chapter)