King Lu's Mansion
Spring weather was humid and humid. However, within King Lu's Mansion, the flowers were all in full bloom. The trees were all filled with new leaves, and the entire place was bustling with life.
Within a small garden, there was a small pond. There were several goldfish swimming in the water, and frogs croaking could be heard from time to time.
Outside the garden, a servant from King Lu's Mansion rushed into the garden and went up to the third floor of the library.
On the third floor, Ren Wei was leaning against the window and writing furiously. When he was tired from writing, he put down his brush and rubbed his eyes. He stretched his back and looked out of the window. He could see all sorts of flowers and plants, and the raindrops were splashing on the surface of the pond. He seemed to have something on his mind.
All of a sudden, he heard a voice, "Good, Ren Wei. You're slacking off again. No wonder the housekeeper was angry and sent me to look for you. Indeed, the moment I arrived, I saw you slacking off."
When Ren Wei heard this, his face turned red. This servant of Housekeeper Qing always liked to point fingers at him and was difficult to deal with. He then explained, "I've just finished copying and was tired. That's why I'm taking a break."
"Hm, you're just a poor Elementary Scholar. Apart from having good handwriting, what else can you do? The housekeeper is angry now. Look at you, I'll tell him the truth." The servant then turned around and looked at Ren Wei with disdain.
Seeing this, Ren Wei's face turned red. He stood up and picked up a teacup before smashing it on the ground. Halfway through, he remembered that he still had to send back half of his salary. Hence, he stopped and placed the teacup on the table.
"What a disgrace, what a disgrace. How dare a mere servant look down on me. I entered King Lu's Mansion to fulfill my ambitions. But now, I haven't even seen King Lu." Ren Wei felt depressed as he exhaled deeply before heading downstairs.
When he arrived at a side room, he saw the butler. This man only had King Lu in his eyes. He was dressed in a dark silk robe, and his boots were on the ground. When he saw Ren Wei approaching, he didn't even look at him. He then raised his voice and scolded the people in front of him, "You bunch of good-for-nothings. Although that Xuande Burner isn't worth a thousand taels of gold, it's still used by the Madam to burn incense and burn incense every day. There's even a servant who doesn't know his place and steals it. The Madam is very unhappy. I'm telling you, before King Lu knows anything about it, hurry up and find it in the pawn shops, antique shops and ghost markets."
"If His Highness finds out, it won't be a matter of finding it or not. Someone will die. Do you understand?"
Ren Wei's heart tightened when he heard this. He stepped forward and bowed, "Butler, are you looking for me?"
The housekeeper didn't hesitate and reprimanded him loudly with an ashen face, "How did you handle this? How many mistakes have you made these days? Look at the book you've copied, it's a complete mess. Where did all this dirt come from? If you can't even copy a book properly, what use do you have? "
Hearing these words, Ren Wei looked at the book he had copied. Indeed, there was oil stains on it, and it looked completely different. His face turned red as he tried to explain himself, "This isn't my fault. I've copied it and handed it to you. This isn't what it looks like."
"If it's not you, then who is it? You're here to be a servant, not to be a lord. If you think that you're here to be a lord, then you should get lost. " The butler was scolding Ren Wei to his heart's content. A servant then hurriedly handed him a cup of tea. Butler Qing received it and took a sip. He then said, "Butler, you don't know how crafty this man is. When I went to the library to call him, he was slacking off and looking out the window. I don't know how long he's been fooling around for."
"Hm!" Hearing these words, Butler Qing glared at Ren Wei before smashing the teacup on the floor. He then snorted coldly at Ren Wei and left. This man followed Butler Qing out the door.
Ren Wei wanted to defend himself, but he had no words to say. His face turned red, then green, and finally white, like a chameleon. He stood in the room for a long time before stumbling out of the room with the book he had copied. Pei Zi Yun had bribed an informant.
He then walked out from the room next door with a proud look on his face. He kicked the broken pieces of the teacup on the floor and laughed, "Hehe, Ren Wei, no matter how virtuous you are, no matter how talented you are, so what? All you have to do is laugh at me, and you have no way to retaliate."
"Not only did I manage to defeat my opponent, I even got paid. That's great. It's just that Butler Qing's servant had to give me two taels of silver. That's so annoying. I wonder if I'll get any more money later on." The informant mumbled to himself.
After some time, the servant who had accompanied Butler Qing came back in. He looked at the informant and rubbed his hands, "I did a good job, didn't I? Here's the money."
The informant retrieved some silver from his robes and said, "This is two taels of silver. Follow me, and you'll get what you deserve."
Hearing these words, the servant held the silver in his hand and weighed it in his hand. He then smiled brightly, "I've long since found that person an eyesore. He thinks that he's virtuous and arrogant. He looks down on us servants. If I don't teach him a lesson, he'll learn his lesson."
"Who asked you to think that you're talented and virtuous?" The informant cursed under his breath, 'Even the servants aren't satisfied with you. Do you think you can still be promoted?'
Ren Wei walked out of the room and sighed, 'Looks like I can't stay in King Lu's Palace any longer.'
He walked back to the library in a daze. By the time he reached the second floor, his hair was wet and his face was pale. He didn't even open an umbrella.
There were a few frogs croaking in the pond. Initially, he thought that it was spring, but now it was extremely noisy. He shook his head and prepared to drink some tea. He had already finished the cup, and realized that he had no more tea leaves. At that moment, all his hopes were dashed. He staggered and sat down.
At first, he had hoped that King Lu would recognize him. But now he was in despair. He hadn't even seen King Lu's face a few times. How was he going to fulfill his ambitions?
Was he going to suffer like this? Was he going to be chased out of King Lu's Palace?
Thinking about his wife's hopeful eyes when she sent him out, Ren Wei felt as though his heart was being sliced by a knife. He couldn't speak. Big drops of tears rolled down his cheeks, dripping onto the book he had copied. The book's cover was wet, and the words he had written melted. For a moment, there was silence. The frogs outside the window were still croaking loudly. Raindrops fell from the roof tiles and splashed everywhere.
For the entire afternoon, Ren Wei was in a daze. He didn't even know how he got out of the library and out of King Lu's Palace. When he returned to the inn, the waiter welcomed him, "Old Ren, do you still have the same set meal today? What's wrong with you today? Why do you look so listless? You didn't fight for the job? "
When Ren Wei heard the words set meal, he replied, "Mm." He then regained his senses, "Give me two jugs of wine. I want to drink until I'm drunk. I won't leave until I'm drunk."
Hearing Ren Wei's words, the waiter looked at him suspiciously before replying, "Alright. Old Ren, please take a seat. The dishes will be served soon."
Ren Wei looked around in a daze as he saw an empty table and sat down. At this point, he heard a conversation from the table next to him, "Did you guys know that the Emperor gave the Longevity Locket to his grandson, and even berated King Lu for violating the rules? It seems like ever since the Crown Prince had a grandson, the Emperor's attitude towards him has changed."
"Hey, who said it wasn't. The Crown Prince is already twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old. He has a Crown Princess, as well as many women that the Emperor has bestowed upon him. However, he doesn't have any children, and only has two daughters."
"It's understandable that the Emperor is biased towards King Lu. You have to know that King Lu has three sons and one daughter. That's a lot of grandchildren!"
Hearing these words, Ren Wei's heart skipped a beat. He hurriedly looked over and saw a few officials drinking. As they drank, their faces were flushed red, and their voices were getting louder.
At this point, the person at the next table heard these words as well. The merchant turned his head and asked curiously, "That's nothing much, isn't it normal? Whenever we have a grandson in our family, we would give him a Longevity Locket! "
One of the officials looked over and saw that there were several merchants at the same table. At this point, he looked down on them and laughed mockingly, "You're a typical scumbag. You can only do business and don't understand the affairs of the adults."
"Think about it, is there such a small matter in the Emperor's family? The rewards and punishments are extremely profound. "As the official spoke, he let out a hiccup.
"Tsk, could it be that the Crown Prince has a grandson, and the Emperor's heart has changed?" The merchant and the surrounding customers all sucked in a breath of cold air as they exclaimed.
"Hm, what do you think? After all, the Crown Prince has a grandson. Since the Crown Prince doesn't have a son, King Lu can naturally fight for the throne. Now that the rules of the family are in place, the rules are in place." As the official spoke, one of the officials seemed to be sober. He hurriedly stretched out his hand and grabbed onto his colleague who was about to speak out. He then whispered, "Don't speak out when you're drunk. Don't speak out when you're drunk. If you were to lose your head in the future, it would be too much of a waste."
Hearing these words, the official who was speaking out came back to his senses as he hurriedly sat down, "... That's enough, that's enough. Everyone, let's drink."
When Ren Wei heard this, he sighed, "Who would've thought that the situation would turn out like this. The human heart is like this."
After drinking several mouthfuls of wine, he felt that something wasn't quite right. However, when he thought about it, it made sense. The Emperor had given the Longevity Locket to his grandson, and even berated King Lu for breaking the rules. This was all true, and not just a rumor.
"Looks like I have to think about whether or not I should leave King Lu's palace." As he spoke, Ren Wei shook his head, "Even if I were to thicken my skin and stay here, how long can I stay?"
Ren Wei was feeling extremely depressed. He saw that there was only a plate of salted vegetables in front of him. He subconsciously touched his sleeves and realized that there was a string of money inside. Just as he was thinking of spending some money, the boss came up and sat down at the table. Seeing that Ren Wei was staring at him in a daze, the boss laughed, "One look and I can tell that you're not doing well. But how can everything go according to plan? Just bear with it. Come, I'll treat you to some pig's head meat."
A plate of fat and oily pig's head meat was served. It was sliced into small pieces. Although it was the lowest grade of meat, Ren Wei felt a sting in his eyes, as tears welled up in his eyes.
"Eat up. You're an Elementary Scholar, you should be able to think of a way. I'll get back to work." As he spoke, the boss stood up and called out to the other customers. Ren Wei didn't speak anymore, and only cared about eating and drinking.
After drinking until he was full, Ren Wei stood up and staggered back to his room while leaning against the wall.
"Boss, why did you only give him a piece of pig's head meat? You can sell it for ten copper coins." The waiter asked, "This Elementary Scholar is usually so poor, and doesn't give us much business."
The boss didn't reply. After some time, he sighed, "This shop has been in my hands for three generations. I've seen many people, and can tell what's going on with just one look. I'm afraid this Elementary Scholar won't last long. He's been living here for half a year now. Even criminals on death row get to eat their last meal.
When the waiter heard this, he didn't say anything and continued with his work.
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