A thousand enlightenments in one night, starting from being a menial apprentice.

Chapter 445 Chapter 4AA Ruyi
Duan Rong sat in front of the desk and just glanced through the stack of documents that Zhu Cheng had sorted out.

He got up before dawn today, and then stayed in the teahouse all day. He was still busy at night until now. Duan Rong estimated that it was already past midnight.

Even though he had practiced hard for many years, he still felt quite sleepy at this moment. In addition, reading under the candlelight was hypnotic, so Duan Rong started yawning not long after he turned the page.

He had no choice but to close the document, prepare to take a nap and look at it tomorrow.

Duan Rong turned off the light and turned behind the screen.

Behind the screen was a rather large bed with a gauze curtain hanging down. On a pillar not far from the bed, there was a standing copper lamp with a candle stuck in it.

The candlelight shone on the gauze curtain, with a hint of ambiguous dimness.

Duan Rong shook his head slightly, smiled dumbly, and said to himself: "How come this layout is like a brothel?"

He didn't know that this was exactly the atmosphere Zhu Zhengfu had taken great pains to create for him.

Duan Rong immediately took off his outer shirt, shoes and socks, placed them beside the bed, lifted the gauze curtain, and got into bed.

On the bed, there was a bright red quilt embroidered with mandarin ducks playing in the water. The satin embroidery was obviously of top quality.

Duan Rong lifted a corner of the quilt and crawled in.

As soon as he got into the quilt, his face froze and his breathing stagnated slightly. His arm clearly touched something smooth, fragrant and soft.

Duan Rong immediately sat up and lifted the quilt.

"what!"

Following a delicate scream, a fair-skinned woman wearing only a bellyband and underpants was seen lying there, huddled up, staring at Duan Rong with a pair of charming eyes.

A feeling of heat suddenly surged in Duan Rong's lower abdomen.

This woman was indeed seductive. The faint whiteness of her bulging bellyband was enough to make Duan Rong unable to control himself.

Just thinking of Xiao Yu who was still guarding in Tallin, Duan Rong circulated the energy in his dantian and suppressed the restlessness in his heart.

Duan Rong's face was as gloomy as water, and he asked coldly: "Did Zhu Zhengfu ask you to come?"

The woman seemed to sense Duan Rong's anger. She twitched like a small animal and hummed in a sound as thin as a mosquito.

Duan Rong sighed slightly and said, "You can go out. I will sleep alone tonight."

When the woman heard this, she was immediately panicked, with a strong fear flashing in her eyes. She kowtowed on the bed and said, "Sir, I beg you! Don't drive me away. If you don't want me, my mother will beat me to death when I go back."

"That's enough!" Duan Rong shouted, obviously getting a little impatient.

The woman raised her head upon hearing this. Her fair face was already covered with tears. She said sadly, "My lord, I am a clean servant. I was raised by my mother and no one has ever touched me. It was Master Zhu who bought me to serve you."

Duan Rong's eyes jumped, and he immediately understood what the woman was talking about.

It turns out that she is a skinny horse.

The business of Shouma in Shenyun Mansion has a history of hundreds of years.

Those matchmakers would buy some good-looking girls from poor families, train and raise them, and then sell them to dignitaries and wealthy businessmen at high prices, making a large sum of money from just one transaction.

Generally, only during disaster years, families who can no longer survive will sell their children.

When the matchmakers bought them, these women were as skinny as sticks, so over time they were called skinny horses.

This business was indeed profitable and gradually it became a profession.

Duan Rong looked at the woman's sad face with tears in her eyes, and a trace of pity flashed through his heart. He said, "I'm not in the mood today. You can sleep on the other side of the pillar with the quilt."

The woman seemed to calm down a little after hearing Duan Rong's words. She kowtowed on the bed again and then replied obediently, "Yes, sir!"

She slid off the bed barefoot, took another quilt from the cabinet not far away, and spread the quilt directly on the floor next to the pillar.

The floor was very clean, having already been scrubbed clean by the servants, and the quilt on the bed was very large, half used as a bed sheet and half as a cover, which was completely enough for her use.

She put the quilt in place, then moved a round stool over and placed it next to the pillar, preparing to step on the stool and blow out the red candle on the copper lamp stand on the pillar.

Duan Rong sat on the bed and looked at her, then said, "Lie down! I'll put out the candle!"

The woman hesitated when she heard that. She felt that this was a servant's job and it was inappropriate to let a master do it. However, there was a certain sense of refusability in Duan Rong's tone.

"Yes!"

The woman hesitated for a moment and then chose to obey Duan Rong's order. Since the master told her to lie down, she couldn't disobey. This was what her mother taught her in the yard.

Seeing that she was already lying down, Duan Rong sat there, lifted a corner of the gauze, stretched out his hand, and with the vital energy in his palm surging, he gently pulled it, and a gust of wind blew up, causing the gauze to flutter and the candlelight to go out.

The woman burrowed into the quilt and let out a slight cry of surprise.

When Duan Rong lifted a corner of the veil and stretched out one hand, she noticed that Duan Rong made a claw with one hand. What did she wonder what Duan Rong was doing?

When the wind suddenly blew, she felt like a magic trick, and the candlelight went out the next moment.

Although the woman was surprised and curious, she did not dare to ask Duan Rong any questions.

After the candle went out, the room became pitch black.

Duan Rong's faint voice suddenly rang out from the other side of the bed. "What's your name?"

"My lord, my name is Ruyi." The woman's voice was timid.

"Ruyi?" Duan Rong asked, "Did the mother you mentioned give it to you?"

"Ah."

"What's your real name?"

The woman said, "I have forgotten your original name."

In the darkness, there is a long silence.

After a while, Duan Rong sighed and fell asleep with the quilt.

The woman waited for a long time in the dark. Seeing that Duan Rong seemed to have fallen asleep, she wrapped herself in the quilt and fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning, Duan Rong woke up slowly to the sound of birds chirping.

He lay on the pillow, tilted his head, and glanced at the floor of the pillar through the gauze curtain. He saw that it was empty and the quilt had been put away long ago.

Duan Rong lifted the gauze curtain and got out of bed.

He was slightly stunned. The coat, shoes and socks he had placed on the other side of the bed last night were gone.

Duan Rong was wondering when he saw a figure walking in. It was Ruyi who was already dressed neatly. She was wearing a green dress with a moon-white lining, which made her bright eyes, white teeth and skin whiter than snow stand out.

Ruyi came in, holding Duan Rong's clothes, shoes and socks in her hands. She lowered her head, put down the shoes and socks, and without saying a word, she changed Duan Rong's clothes and put on his shoes. She had been trained in the courtyard, and her technique was skillful, and not a single detail was messy.

Ruyi straightened Duan Rong's clothes, then stood up and said with a smile: "Sir, I have already got some hot water, you can wash up first." "Okay." Duan Rong walked out.

He walked to the wash basin stand and saw that the copper basin was already half full of water. Duan Rong was about to wash his face when Ruyi stopped him. "Sir, wait a moment."

Ruyi came over with a thermos, poured some steaming hot water into the basin, tested the water temperature with her white and tender hands, then folded a cotton white towel and soaked it in the hot water, then said respectfully, "My lord, please have some!"

Duan Rong tried the water and found it was slightly warm, just right. He then began to wash slowly. Because the water temperature was comfortable, he washed for a while longer.

After washing his face, he found a cup of tea on the table and took a few sips.

Duan Rong had just put down his teacup when Ruyi came in with a food box and said with a smile, "I just brought this breakfast from the kitchen. My Lord, please try it and see if it suits your taste."

As Ruyi spoke, she placed two buns, a pancake, some side dishes and a bowl of bacon porridge on the table.

Duan Rong took a look and asked, "Why is there only one bowl of porridge? Where's yours?"

Ruyi said, "Master, please eat first. I will go to the kitchen to eat later."

Duan Rong sat down in front of the table and said in a deep voice, "Bring two servings next time and you can eat with me."

"Yes." Ruyi squatted and bowed, responding in a voice as soft as a mosquito.

After Duan Rong finished his breakfast, he began to look at the stack of documents from last night. While Duan Rong was looking at them, Ruyi calmly placed a cup of fresh tea not far from him, at a distance that would not disturb him while he was reading the documents, yet still allow him to reach out and grab it.

As soon as Duan Rong looked in, he entered a calm state. He sat there motionless, staring at the information in his hands with godly eyes.

Duan Rong never touched the cup of tea that Ruyi had placed there, but every half an hour, Ruyi would replace it with a new cup of tea.

In this way, several hours passed like flowing water.

Ruyi suddenly came over with a lunch box and whispered from a distance, "Master, it's time for lunch!"

Upon hearing this, Duan Rong looked up in a daze. After a while, he gradually regained his composure from the flow of information.

He glanced at the sky outside and asked, "Is it noon already?"

Ruyi said, "Well, sir, you have been watching without moving for several hours."

Duan Rong felt his legs were a little stiff. He stretched his legs, picked up the teacup not far away, took a sip, looked at Ruyi, and asked, "Did anyone come to see me this morning?"

Ruyi said, "Master Zhu came once, and seeing that you were concentrating on reading the information, he did not disturb you and left on his own."

Duan Rong asked, "Which Lord Zhu?"

Ruyi replied, "It's Master Zhu Zhengfu."

"He was the only one here?"

"Ah."

Duan Rong's eyes flickered slightly. Zhu Cheng said last night that he would be able to submit Li Shensi's recent itinerary information early this morning. But he hasn't come yet. It seems that he was delayed by something.

Ruo saw that Duan Rong seemed to be thinking about something, so he asked, "Sir, is there something wrong?"

Duan Rong said: "It's okay, let's eat first."

Ruyi then placed the food in the lunch box on the table. The dishes were quite rich.

Ruyi only had a porcelain bowl with all the food in it. She held the bowl and went to the corner to eat.

Duan Rong glanced at Ruyi and knew that this was a rule engraved in her bones. The sense of hierarchy that she had cultivated since childhood was not something he could change in a short time.

He sighed and started eating.

Duan Rong had just taken two bites when he suddenly saw Qiu Luan still drinking on the large bluestone in the sunlight outside, and he was still half-lying, as if he had not moved since last night.

Duan Rong suddenly shouted: "Ruyi!"

Ruyi heard this, swallowed a mouthful of rice, and walked over quickly. Duan Rong noticed that there was a grain of rice stuck in the corner of her mouth, but Duan Rong did not mention it. He just pointed at a dish in front of him and said, "I haven't touched this braised pork yet. You can give it to Qiu Luan. Let him have it as a snack."

Ruyi heard this, glanced at Qiu Luan in the yard outside, then looked at Duan Rong and said, "Sir, he never eats! He only drinks."

Duan Rong frowned slightly. "Only drinking?"

"Yes!" Ruyi replied, "I heard from the servants that he got drunk two years ago and accidentally killed his beloved wife. Since then, he has become like this. He is neither human nor ghost."

Ruyi seemed a little puzzled, her eyebrows furrowed, as if she was talking to herself: "He killed his beloved wife because of drinking, and he can't forgive himself. Shouldn't he give up drinking? Why did he drink even more?"

Duan Rong heard this and laughed dumbly: "When he was sober, he couldn't forgive himself. When he was drunk, he forgot it!"

Ruyi looked at Duan Rong and said seriously, "Isn't that escaping?"

"It's an escape." Duan Rong said, "But people have to live."

Duan Rong's words startled Ruyi and her eyes turned slightly red.

Because when she was humiliated in the hospital, she often used this sentence to comfort herself.

Isn't it? People have to live...

Duan Rong and his friends had just finished lunch when a figure came hurriedly. As soon as he entered the courtyard, Duan Rong had already spotted him: it was Zhu Cheng.

As soon as Zhu Cheng stepped into the door, he saw Duan Rong sitting in front of the desk. He immediately knelt down and shouted, "Your humble servant greets you, sir!"

Duan Rong said, "Zhu Cheng, you and I are old acquaintances, there is no need to be so polite."

Zhu Cheng stood up respectfully and took out a stack of documents from his chest. The thickness was only about one-third of the stack last night.

Zhu Cheng placed the pile of documents on the table, clasped his fists and said respectfully, "There have been some major changes in a few places, and I have checked them again. I have delayed some time, please punish me, sir!"

Duan Rong said, "It's okay. I was just reading some materials this morning. I didn't waste any time. I came just in time! Zhu Cheng, you sit down and talk."

When Zhu Cheng saw Duan Rong asking him to sit down, he leaned over and sat on a chair diagonally opposite Duan Rong.

Although they hadn't seen each other for more than half a year, Duan Rong's status was different now. Although he was Zhu He's bloodline in the secular world, firstly, they had been separated for several generations, and secondly, Zhu He's bloodline was so numerous that it couldn't compare to Duan Rong's popular personal disciple. Therefore, Zhu Cheng looked at Duan Rong with awe.

As soon as Zhu Cheng sat down, Ruyi brought a cup of tea, placed it in front of Zhu Cheng, and then quietly left.

She knew that Duan Rong and Zhu Cheng wanted to talk about something, so they closed the door when they went out.

Duan Rong did have something he wanted to talk to Zhu Cheng about, so he discussed with Zhu Cheng several doubts he had about the materials he had read that morning. Zhu Cheng gave more detailed explanations on two of the questions, but Duan Rong was stumped by the rest of the questions.

Five days ago, Zhu Zhengfu received a secret letter from the ancestor, who gave him the task. He spent five days sorting out the pile of information last night, and he was confident that he had sorted it out perfectly. But after Duan Rong asked a few questions, Zhu Cheng was already sweating. He didn't expect Duan Rong to be so meticulous, and the questions he asked were also very in-depth and tricky.

Zhu Cheng had no choice but to remember Duan Rong's questions and agreed to go back to the Dali Temple to look up information, clarify these questions in depth, and then respond.

When Zhu Cheng walked out of the courtyard, he found that his back was soaked with sweat. Although the questions Duan Rong asked were tricky, they were all crucial if you think about them carefully. However, he followed his usual thinking and glossed over them all in a vague way when he sorted them out. To put it mildly, he was negligent, and to put it more seriously, he was misleading.

(End of this chapter)