Miss and farmhand

That very evening, Huang Chu saw those medicine bottles at his doorstep.

Aunt Han exclaimed, "What's going on here? Who put this row of doors together? What if we accidentally kick it and break it?"

She bent down to pick it up and looked at it. "Medicine? Who left medicine by the door? This is such a waste."

Huang Chu took it, his face tense, and said, "It was probably Rong Niang who put it there. I don't know what it is. She just put it up as a toy and left it standing to the side."

She put away all the medicine bottles. Han's mother wanted to ask her why she was collecting so many medicines, but seeing her stiff back, she knew she wouldn't get an answer, so she didn't ask.

Summer has arrived in the blink of an eye.

The man had finished painting the beam long ago, but he still didn't leave. Huang Xingtong moved a table under the magnolia tree to paint the scenery, and had him stand aside to watch. Sometimes the two of them could stand there for an entire afternoon. Huang Chu sat in her mother's room with her, and could see everything clearly through the window.

"Your father loves to teach others," Shen Xuying said. Now that she can get out of bed, she sits in her room reading. She doesn't care about any kind of book, and she reads ancient books like storybooks. In fact, even when she is not sick, she is a very quiet person.

"At least he managed to get a good student to listen to him talk about those few lousy strokes of his painting every day."

"Aren't all the students in the academy his students?" Actually, he was referring only to Zhu Xiaoxu, his most outstanding student.

"That's someone else's son. He wouldn't dare to hold someone else's son back. He's seen all the glory himself. If he just lets go and wants to be like Ji Kang and Ruan Ji, then that person's son still has a bright future ahead of him."

Shen Xuying rolled up the manuscript and tapped it on her knee. Huang Chu remained expressionless, but his heart tightened. It was a sixty-year-old handwritten copy, which his father had spent a lot of money to get from an old gentleman, without telling his mother. His mother thought it was something that was sold by weight at a used bookstore.

"Fine, let him have his fun. If he really manages to train a disciple..."

She didn't say the second half of the sentence, afraid of hurting Huang Chu's feelings. Her thoughts weren't something she could easily change; she still wanted to leave someone for Huang Xingtong, even someone without blood ties, so that her apprentice could carry the banner and break the basin in place of her eldest son.

"With Father being so lazy, the academy relies entirely on Uncle. Uncle won't resent Father, will he?"

Huang Chu couldn't help but say.

She always remembered being sold in her past life, and returned with hatred, looking around blankly but unable to find the person who was wronged and the debtor who was owed the debt.

At most, her uncle and aunt were troublesome relatives, but with Huang Chu's vigilance, their troublesome nature was far from being truly bad. As time went on, Huang Chu hesitated. Should she carry the sins of her past life into this one? She had already forgiven her past self, severing ties with the man. By the same token, since she hadn't done anything wrong, why couldn't she let her uncle's family go?

But in the end, he still knew that this was an untrustworthy family, so he had to be careful. He was always afraid that his father's temperament would anger someone sooner or later, and he didn't know that he would die a violent death.

Shen Xuying paused, "Your uncle wouldn't do that. Your aunt did say it a couple of times, though. Your father is too improper. The male students at the academy eat, drink, and live there; they're a bunch of immature boys and very difficult to manage. Your uncle set rules for them so they would focus on their studies, but your father, when he got excited, let them go out at night. The next morning, they all slept in late, and your uncle and your father were punished along with the other students. Your father came back saying he was too ashamed to go to the academy anymore; he'd lost all face. I think he deserves a lesson from your uncle."

Huang Chu was so surprised he couldn't close his mouth.

She was certain that nothing like this had happened in her past life. In her past life, her mother's health never improved, her father was always gloomy, and the academy was still handed over to her eldest uncle, but there was no incident of being scolded for going out at night.

Doesn't this sound like a harmonious and respectful brotherhood?

Then... her worries are probably unnecessary, right?

If one thing gets better, everything else will get better. Bad people aren't born bad; they're constantly pushed along by unavoidable circumstances until they have no choice but to become bad.

"So my aunt hasn't been coming lately either. She doesn't like my father causing trouble for my uncle..." she murmured.

"..."

Shen Xuying thought it wasn't because of that.

Shen Yurui was willing to come, but what she said recently was not suitable for Huang Chuting.

Unbeknownst to Huang Chu, after the start of summer, Shen Yurui began to spread more and more gossip about her marriage to Zhu Xiaoxu.

Shen Xuying also felt that Zhu Xiaoxu was a good boy. If Huang Chu was to marry, marrying him would be the best choice. The two of them were childhood sweethearts and were in love.

She also knew that once the test was over, Zhu Xiaoxu would definitely pass, and then it would be time for them to choose again.

She had mentioned this to Huang Xingtong once, but Huang Xingtong only said there was no rush and to wait a little longer. Huang Chu was not young this year. If she didn't know that Huang Xingtong truly loved his daughter, Shen Xuying would think that he must have a wicked concubine living inside him, causing his eldest daughter to be unable to get married.

She comforted herself, thinking that perhaps she really couldn't bear to part with her daughter. There were still two years until the imperial examination, and she thought that if she kept Huang Chu for another year, it would be fine to bring it up again next year.

Therefore, she dared not let Huang Chu know. It was always inappropriate for a young woman to bring up her marriage prospects, and she was afraid that if Shen Yurui brought it up too often, Huang Chu would develop feelings for her, which would not be good for her.

Therefore, she breathed a sigh of relief that Shen Yurui hadn't come to visit recently.

They didn't know that Shen Yurui wasn't coming because Miss Luo the Third had come again.

"It's only been a few months, Miss, you really need to learn how to be patient," Shen Yurui said sarcastically.

Luo San didn't seem to care. She looked much more haggard than when she left, her youthful spirit gone. Her clothes and appearance no longer had that girlish charm; instead, the decaying aura of the Luo family's decline clung to her, impossible to shake off.

"If I really had the patience, I probably wouldn't even know how I ruined it."

She went home in the dark, dressed in fine clothes. When her sisters saw her leave with her head held high, they assumed that when she returned, Shen Yurui would be with her, the matchmaker would follow, the groom's betrothal letter would be delivered, and one or two old women would be watching over her to show that she was a married girl, precious and different from the other sisters who ran around recklessly.

Unexpectedly, she returned alone, without even Shen Yurui. It's clear that the man didn't like her and rejected her.

Then a few of her sisters, who had a sharp tongue and had been bullied by her before, came to mock her.

Luo San was not the kind of person who was cultured enough to swallow his anger; otherwise, he wouldn't have dared to cling to Zhu Xiaoxu as a lifeline after his hopes of becoming Huang Xingtong's second wife were dashed.

So Jin Yi was brought out. She proudly announced, with her head held high, that a young scholar would soon come to propose marriage.

Those were scholars who passed the imperial examinations. In the Luo family, it was their uncles and aunts who passed the examinations; none of their nephews or cousins ​​were successful.

She was immediately frightened and dared not act rashly. But she didn't give up, staring at Luo Sanqiang's proud demeanor, waiting to see if what she said was true or false.

Luo San never doubted that Zhu Xiaoxu would come to her house to propose marriage.

How could Zhu Xiaoxu lie to her? They made it sound so convincing.

He was so kind; knowing that her cousin had brought her to be Huang Xingtong's second wife, he said, "Even a rat has skin, but a person without manners is no good. If a person has no manners, what is the point of living?" She didn't understand, so he explained it to her. He said the difference between a person and an animal lies in a person's understanding of etiquette; if one doesn't understand etiquette, living is worse than dying.

Bringing a young girl to a man old enough to be her father as a concubine, while the man's wife is still alive, is something no human being should do; it is utterly shameless.

Luo San felt that these words touched her heart; someone understood her grievances and someone pitied her fate.

So why would Zhu Xiaoxu lie to her? He would definitely come.

She gradually crumbled amidst such hopes.

From spring to summer.

The longer the marriage dragged on, the uglier the expressions on her sisters' and parents' faces became. Her sisters, of course, were just waiting to see her fail. Her parents couldn't understand why she'd been rejected; they assumed she must have said or done something wrong, offended someone, and that's why they didn't want her. So they discussed marrying that neighbor, the one they'd mentioned so many times.

If it weren't for Zhu Xiaoxu, Luo Sanxu would have actually agreed. She simply couldn't stand the way her sisters looked at her; getting married out of the house was better than being scrutinized and riddled with venomous glances at home.

But she also thought that this wasn't her only path. If she were to marry hastily, especially in the local area, and they were to run into each other all the time, it would still be a source of resentment for her for the rest of her life. Anyone could come to her and say: "You were so ambitious back then, wanting to fly to the sky, but in the end, you still came back like us, your feet treading on the mud. This is our final destination."

She couldn't sleep all night, feeling like she was being swallowed by the earth, sinking into it along with the bed. Only silently chanting Zhu Xiaoxu's name could save her.

The final straw that broke her came from Shen Yurui's letter.

For some inexplicable reason, Shen Yurui had never written a single word for her, and the two of them stopped speaking before she went home.

Luo San didn't know how Shen Yurui had discovered her secret. She didn't mention it openly, but deliberately reported some good news: Miss Huang was probably going to get engaged to the young master of the Zhu family.

Luo San heard a buzzing sound in his ears, and the world went silent.

She ran away from her arranged marriage. Her parents were forcing her to marry, but she packed a bundle of jewelry, boarded an oxcart, and escaped.

She didn't know if Shen Yurui was deliberately lying to her, but she wanted to see for herself. She didn't believe it.