swear not to be concubine

Chapter 95

Jian Yan and Qin Yan are currently leaving for Zhou Yingying's appointment.

Two days ago, she and Qin Yan respectively received posts from Zhou Yingying, saying that they were invited to the Zhou mansion today, and Qin Yan was asked to write an article carefully, saying that they would invite him later Uncle took a look.

After Jian Yan heard this, she was naturally happy for Qin Yan.

A few days ago because of Bai Wei's marriage, she was very worried for a few days, but later the matter was resolved satisfactorily.And according to what Zhou Lin said later, it went very smoothly when checking whether Feng Yongcai and his old man used the restaurant in charge of the Xu family to enrich their own pockets. It seemed that the people in the restaurant knew that they would come to check. Yes, so I prepared all the account books early on, which listed in detail how much money Feng Yongcai and his father had made in the restaurant over the years, every penny was exactly one penny. Silver is listed.And there was no need for him to spend money to bribe those people. Instead, they presented all these ledgers to him with their own hands.And the two accountants and clerks who came out as witnesses also insisted on these facts in front of Mrs. Wu, no matter how much Feng Yongcai and his father denied it.

Wu Shi was naturally furious at the time.As Jian Yan had expected before, in Wu's heart, as slaves, Madam Zhu's family should do their best for her.She can reward them with money, but she absolutely cannot tolerate them doing such things to enrich themselves behind her back.

So the Wu family immediately sent someone to search all the properties of Madam Zhu's family.But where is the silver?These money have all filled the shortfall of Feng Yongcai's eating, drinking, whoring, gambling and clothing all these years.So in a rage, Mrs. Wu simply called Ren Yazi over and sold their entire family, at least they could get a few dozen taels of silver as compensation.

She originally wanted to report to the officials, and the officials had them all arrested and locked up, so that they would be tormented.But in the end, I was still afraid of losing face. After all, the Xu family now has a servant from the official department and a doctor from the household department. If it is spread that she is so harsh on servants, wouldn't it mean that she has no stomach at all?So even if Ren Yazi was called over to sell Nanny Zhu's family, he was called over quietly, and no one else knew about it at all.

And no matter what, since Madam Zhu's family has been sold by Wu Shifa, no one will mention the marriage between Bai Wei and Feng Yongcai.

After Jian Yan, Bai Wei, and Si Yue knew this, they were extremely happy.On that day, Jian Yan even asked Bai Wei to spend money to buy two bottles of wine with Xia's mother. When the three of them had dinner, they closed the screen door, sat around and drank the two bottles, and then Looking at each other's blushing faces, they looked at each other and smiled.

It's just that when Jian Yan woke up in the middle of the night, because she drank too much, her head hurt, she tossed and turned and couldn't fall back to sleep.

So she simply didn't sleep any more, but sat up hugging the quilt, leaning her head and upper body against the rail of the bed, thinking about her own thoughts silently.

In Bai Wei's case, she can be sure that someone silently contributed to it.Otherwise, when Zhou Lin checked whether Feng Yongcai and his old man enriched their own pockets by taking charge of Xu's restaurant, it would not have been so smooth.

And this person, she can be sure that it is Xu Zhongxuan.

Besides him, who else has the ability to make the people in the restaurant so obedient?Or, here, besides him, who else would care about her matters?

It's just that the two of them had already said that for that day, and he turned around and left very neatly, but why does he still help her secretly like this now?
Did he think she wouldn't know?So just silently and secretly watching everything about her, and then erasing all her troubles?

But why not teach her to know?Obviously he still cares about her so much, and she also misses him so much.

I don't know when the winter rain began to fall outside the window, beating the green and smooth broad leaves of the plantain in front of the window bit by bit.A biting chill slowly seeped in from the cracks in the window without a sound.

Jian Yan wrapped the quilt tightly around her body, hugged her knees, and sat quietly.

Time goes by so fast.When she first met Xu Zhongxuan, it was still a chilly early spring, but now it is a bitter and cold winter.

She hasn't seen Xu Zhongxuan for more than a month, right?Even on Wu's birthday last time, she had seen him from a distance, but at that time he was always stingy with giving her a look.

But since he was so stingy in giving her a look, why did he help her like this secretly?

Jian Yan hugged her knees and lowered her head deeply.

She doesn't understand.To this day, she still hasn't figured it out.

Bai Wei sat on the side seat of the carriage, seeing Jian Yan looking sideways at the window of the carriage, distracted.

The girl is very easy to distract herself recently.She also talked less than before, and she naturally knew the reason in her heart, but it was hard to say anything.

She knew that Jian Yan was the most stubborn character.Unless she figured it out and turned the corner, no matter how much others persuaded her, it would be useless for her to decide on her own.Therefore, the matter between her and the eldest son can only be discussed by the two of them, and it should be resolved. It is useless for her and Siyue to be anxious even if they are on the sidelines.

The carriage stopped, and the coachman's voice came in through the curtain of the carriage: "Biao girl, the Zhou residence is here."

Jian Yan came back to her senses and wanted to get up and get out of the car, but Bai Wei pressed her hand and said softly: "Girl, please wait in the car first. It's better for the servant to get out of the car first and take a look."

Jian Yan nodded, and Bai Wei immediately opened the curtain and got out of the car.

A young servant girl had reported all the way in to Zhou Yingying, and soon, Zhou Yingying had someone welcome Jian Yan and Qin Yan in.

Qin Yan's face was indifferent, without any expression.But Jian Yan knew that he must be very upset.

Perhaps in Qin Yan's mind, if he brought his own articles to others for advice, even if that person was the chief minister of the court, he would still feel ashamed.

In the past, it was only when others asked him for advice.

Jian Yan comforted him in a low voice: "It's nothing. Look at those great writers, Li Bai, Su Shi, Chen Ziang and others, which one of them didn't show their poems to others?"

Qin Yan twitched the corner of his mouth slightly, but still didn't speak.

At this moment, two people had already walked into the door of Zhou Mansion, and Zhou Yingying came forward to welcome them.

She wore a long jacket with dark red gold jacquard satin, a pleated skirt trimmed with maroon embroidery, and on her hair were two pearl flowers inlaid with gemstones, a red silk flower the size of a copper coin and a emerald hibiscus bud. The long pearl tassels sway gently back and forth.

The three greeted each other and chatted a few gossips about their farewell. Zhou Yingying wanted to take them to see Zhou Yuanzheng.Said that her uncle is free now, but he still has something to go out later.

When Jian Yan heard this, she smiled and said, "Miss Zhou, since Mr. Zhou is busy, you can take Brother Qin to visit him first. I have nothing to do with you. If Mr. Zhou is free later, I will visit him again. If you don’t have time, it’s the same if I come to see you another day.”

As soon as Zhou Yingying heard this, she hurriedly took Qin Yan to see Zhou Yuanzheng, but then ordered a second-class maid beside her to accompany Jian Yan to stroll around the back garden of Zhou Mansion.

Zhou Yuan was currently in the study of Shuyuzhai in the garden.

Zhou Yingying let the servant girl go in to inform first, and then she brought Qin Yan in.

Zhou Yuanzheng was wearing a glass mirror on the bridge of his nose. He sat behind the desk and was flipping through some book. After hearing the servant girl's announcement, he slowly shifted his gaze from the book to Qin Yan.

Qin Yan took two steps forward, leaning forward to salute neither humble nor overbearing, his voice was cold: "Learn from Qin Yan later, and pay homage to Mr. Zhou."

Zhou Yuan was sizing him up without any trace.

The young man is slender, elegant and handsome, and his gestures are polite.

It's just that this courteous fruit seems to be broken by ice, which is pleasing to the eye, but it is still covered with a layer of frost after all.

This Qin Yan may be respectful to him on the face at this moment, but in fact he is still arrogant on the inside, and does not think that he is worthy of bending over.

Such a young man is quite interesting, at least he is different from those who would bow their knees and try their best to please him.No wonder Yingying fell in love with him.

It's just that he has such a sharp arrogance, and a cool attitude that is always aloof, Yingying must be able to accommodate him when she is with him.So it is bound to have to beat and beat.

Zhou Yuanzheng withdrew his gaze from looking at Qin Yan, and smiled at Zhou Yingying gently, and said, "You can go out for now. I want to have a good chat with your friend about the current affairs. "

Zhou Yingying felt a little worried in her heart, and glanced at Qin Yan indistinctly.But seeing him lowering his brows and narrowing his eyes, his eyes were only looking at the water-polished blue bricks on the ground, but there was no fear on his face, and he looked very calm, so she was slightly relieved.

So she saluted Zhou Yuanzheng again, then turned around and left the study to find Jianyan.

Zhou Yuanzheng asked Qin Yan at this time: "Yingying said you wrote an article and wanted to bring it to me?"

Qin Yan took out the article he had written from his sleeve and presented it to Zhou Yuanzheng's desk.

He has never been a talkative person.When I was studying in the past, because of his status and his unmatched achievements, the teachers of various subjects would greet him kindly when they saw him. Jian was very concerned about him, so now he just submitted his own article, and didn't say anything such as asking Mr. Zhou for advice.

Zhou Yuanzheng didn't say anything, just stretched out his hand to take the article he handed over, and then didn't ask him to sit down, just let him stand there, while he slowly looked at the article in his hand.

He read extremely slowly, although there were only three pages, but it took him a whole stick of incense to read.So Qin Yan stood like this for a long time.

It was windy today, Qin Yan stood there with his hands down, and could hear the whining sound of the wind blowing through the branches outside the house.

He suddenly felt a very sad feeling in his heart.

It is obvious that he is good at mathematics, English, and comprehensive science, and he is also good at software programming.When he was in college, he had developed several game software with his classmates, which one didn't sell more than seven figures?He was supposed to have a bright future and a winner in life, but he suddenly and inexplicably traveled to this dynasty.

What can he do here?In this era, not to mention computers, even if there is no electricity, he can't do anything.But it is also said that everything is inferior, and only reading is high, so he can only continue to study.It's just that Chinese language was his shortcoming in his previous life, but the imperial examination only depends on the essay you wrote for the exam, and he can only use obscure tones like what the ancients said, and he doesn't allow himself to play freely, what else can he do?I just had to bite the bullet and read it all the way.But his father in this life was just a small state magistrate, and he would be called around by others on weekdays, and he was just a concubine born to a maid, and he met a powerful aunt like the Zhou family. , he has never been less blinded and ridiculed over the years.

Qin Yan sighed secretly, with a gloomy expression on his face.

But in my previous life, I was such a star-like existence, why was I trampled into the mud with such contempt?

It was the ancient man in front of him, did he think that he wouldn't be able to see it if he was given such a blow?But even if it is such a blow, he still has to bear it.All he could do was hang his head down and wait for someone to comment on this article he wrote.

At this time, Zhou Yuanzheng finally put down the article in his hand, looked up at Qin Yan, and asked slowly: "You don't like this article in your heart?"

Qin Yan's heart trembled.

He really doesn't like stereotyped essays.Such a rigid article, even the length of the sentence, and the pitch of the tone are stipulated. What's the point of doing it?In his opinion, it was meaningless at all, but just to cope with the imperial examination.

But how did Zhou Yuan see it?

He hurriedly replied: "Students don't have such thoughts in their hearts."

Zhou Yuanzheng was thinking in his heart, how could he not see the furious meaning in Qin Yan's article?
But he didn't say anything more about this matter, he just said: "Judging from your article, your current talent and learning are not bad, and you will pass the exam next year. .”

Qin Yan smiled wryly, thinking, it turned out that he was only the bottom of the top three.

But in fact, at his age, being a Jinshi is already a dragon and a phoenix among people.How many people with white beard and hair are still just a child after taking the exam for a lifetime.

But Qin Yan was such a dazzling existence in his previous life, so even if he could be on the list in next year's general examination, how could he be satisfied with just a mid-to-lower result in the top three?
Why can't he be like Xu Zhongxuan, the three-yuan winner, the champion in red, and parade around the street on horseback?
Zhou Yuanzheng saw the self-deprecating smile on Qin Yan's mouth with keen eyes, and immediately understood in his heart that this young man was not satisfied with the bottom of the top three.

Ambitious people are the easiest to manipulate.

So Zhou Yuanzheng went on to say: "The grades at the bottom of the top three, the official position conferred by you is a good man, a close minister of the emperor, and you have a great chance of entering the cabinet in the future, but you can also be sent far away to a poor place to be an official. A small official like a sesame mung bean will never make it to the top in his life."

Qin Yan looked up at him.His eyes were still calm, and he didn't have the slightest intention of seeking each other.

The arrogance of this young man is quite eye-catching.

It's just that if you are too arrogant, you will naturally be pretentious, and you will only feel that you are superior to everyone else.

His arrogance still needs to be suppressed.

So Zhou Yuan was smiling slightly, looked straight into his eyes, and said slowly: "Then, how do you choose? Will you be an extremely human minister in the future, so that others will look up to your existence, or You have been poor all your life, and in the end you are still just an insignificant official, let others call you around, and still look down on you in your heart?"

Qin Yan's eyes flickered slightly.

Zhou Yuan was instantly aware of it.

Zhou Yingying was his niece, and he felt guilty for her, so naturally he would not stop what she wanted.Over the years, he has also told her several times about her marriage. The younger brother of the rich and powerful family, as long as she likes it, he will naturally come forward to facilitate the matter.But every time she said the same thing, I despise those people, I would rather die than marry.Since she finally fell in love with Qin Yan now, why did he stop him?

As long as he is around for a day, he will definitely protect Zhou Yingying from being bullied by anyone.So this Qin Yan in front of him...

Zhou Yuanzheng snorted softly in his heart, the young man is talented and arrogant, but so what?How can arrogance be there when you go down into the dust and everyone can step on you?Back then he was full of arrogance, but he was still looked down upon by Meiniang's family.In the end, Mei Niang died, and she restrained her arrogance, and gradually rubbed away all the sharpness, and finally slowly climbed to the current position after all.

So what he hates the most now are people with arrogance.Because back then it was because of his arrogance that he lost Mei Niang.

Because he also made an appointment with Sun An, the eunuch with the handprint of the Supervisor of Ceremonies, to discuss important matters, Zhou Yuanzheng didn't have much leisure time to beat Qin Yan at the moment.And after being in a high position for a long time, I feel somewhat disdainful of a young man like Qin Yan who has not yet entered the official career.Moreover, he felt that with Qin Yan's upright and aloof personality, even if he really entered the official career, he would not be able to go far and achieve much.So he didn't beat around the bush, but just said directly: "Since Yingying is accommodating you in front of me, I will naturally remind you according to her words. But you have to remember one sentence, I can praise you It is so tall that everyone looks up, but it can also step you into the mud, and you will never turn over. You should weigh it yourself."

Qin Yan's hands hanging by his side were tightly clenched, and his hanging handsome face was full of livid color.

When had he ever received such humiliating words?At this moment, he almost wanted to turn around and leave, but in the end he held back abruptly.It's just that his body was still trembling uncontrollably due to anger.

Zhou Yuanzheng had already called his maid to come in at this time, put a squirrel-skin crane cloak on him, got up and was about to go out.

Qin Yan naturally couldn't stay any longer, so he followed him out of the gate of Shuyuzhai.

The sky outside was gloomy and cloudy, and it made me feel very bad just looking at it.But fortunately, a wintersweet plant was planted outside the corridor, and now there are goose yellow wintersweet blooming on the strong branches, and the fragrance comes with the cold winter wind.

There were several girls standing on the long corridor, the first two wore long coats with dark red gold jacquard satin, it was Zhou Yingying, and the girl next to her wore a pink floral satin cloak, orange yellow. wearing a pleated skirt, talking to Zhou Yingying with her head turned sideways.

When Zhou Yuan saw the girl's side profile, he had already stabilized his figure, unable to take a step forward, and just looked at her with a good eye.At this moment, Zhou Yingying looked up and saw him, so she said something to the girl beside her, so she also turned her head to look over.

A Jiao Lei sounded above his head, and his ears continued to bang loudly. Zhou Yuan was stunned in place, only feeling that the internal organs of his body were trembling with excitement and disbelief.

After a while, he turned around and strode towards the corridor.Because he was too impatient, he stepped on a big stone with his right foot, and he staggered a bit, but he still rushed forward without hesitation.

The closer you get, the more you can see the girl in front of you, Yuanshan Meidai, her eyes are like water, her face is beautiful and refined, gentle and tender.

He stood still in front of her, staring down, his Adam's apple rolled up and down a few times due to excitement, and finally hesitated, calling out in a hoarse voice.

"Mai Niang?"

But the voice was trembling, full of disbelief, afraid that after asking, the person who had been engraved into his bone marrow would be blown away by the wind.

(End of this chapter)