The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

Chapter 17 The miserable mandarin duck
Zuo Wenkang wished he could treat his wife, who was pregnant with his second child and had to go into exile with him, like a precious shrine.

Zuo Wenxuan, who was several rooms away, had a very gloomy expression.

Of the three generations of adult males in the direct line of the Zuo family, the patriarch only managed to save him.

This is because he was the person with the best chance of passing the imperial examination or even becoming a Jinshi within the three generations of the direct lineage.

I don't know what happened.

In recent decades, the descendants of the Zuo family have lacked talent in the imperial examinations.

No one in three generations passed the imperial examination, and no one served as an official in the imperial court.

By the time it came to Zuo Wenxuan's generation, the head of the family spent a lot of money to hire a teacher who had passed the imperial examination and was a successful candidate in the provincial examination to preside over the clan school.

Zuo Wenxuan lived up to expectations and became the top scholar in the prefectural examination at the age of sixteen.

After that, he went to Qingshan Academy in Daming Prefecture to continue his studies.

At the age of twenty, he took the provincial examination.

During the provincial examination that year, there was a torrential downpour.

Zuo Wenxuan's exam number leaked while he was asleep.

Not only did it soak his hard-written exam paper, but it also drenched him completely.

When they were carried out, they were already feverish and dizzy, and had lost consciousness.

They prepared for this for another three years.

He had hoped to make a name for himself in this year's provincial examination.

As a result, they encountered this so-called "crime of aiding the enemy".

Now, not only are they disqualified from taking the imperial examinations, but they have also become prisoners.

How could Zuo Wenxuan, who was always proud and arrogant, accept this?

Even now, he is still somewhat dazed.

Just when he was trying to accept his fate, God gave him another resounding slap in the face.

"Mrs. Lü, what did you just say?"

"Ha, haven't you already heard it? Anyway, these rumors will eventually reach your ears, so I might as well tell you myself!"

"I'm going to divorce you, you slut!" Zuo Wenxuan gritted his teeth, the veins on his neck throbbing.

"If I'm a slut, then you're a coward! Where were you when I was being humiliated? And who exactly caused this situation?"
Divorce me? Hahaha! Go ahead and divorce me!

"While we're still in Daming Prefecture, you should quickly find someone to ask Prefect Zhao if the divorce papers we've written now are valid."

After hearing what she said, Zuo Wenxuan became much more sober.

"You wish! Hmph, even if I let you go, your family severed ties with you this morning. Do you even have a home to go back to?"

"Being homeless is better than following you to the border town to build city walls and eat sand!"

"Then I will not let you have your way! You just wait, when we get to the border town, I will take another wife as a concubine."

"Hahaha, do you think anyone in the border town will still recognize you as the top scholar? With your useless physique, you can barely support yourself, let alone take a concubine?"

"you"

The couple has been married for seven years and has never had a serious argument.

That night, they both wished the other were dead.

Ms. Lü has a pair of six-year-old twins, a boy and a girl.

Her maternal family was in Daming Prefecture, and was one of the prominent families with a status comparable to the Zuo family.

In the past, her twins and her maternal family were her greatest source of confidence.

She is a well-known lucky person in Leyuan County.

A model of virtuous wife praised by the entire clan.

Now the two families have severed ties.

They've probably already been implicated.

Madam Lü stroked her daughter's soft hair on the kang (a heated brick bed) and silently swallowed her tears.

She didn't want to die; she wanted to live.

But she cannot live a humble life, she cannot admit her mistakes.

If she were to turn the humiliation of that night into a guilty conscience, she could forget about ever holding her head high in front of men again.

After lying in bed for the past few days, she's finally figured things out.

Fortunately, the personal nanny I bought for my daughter a year ago is a loyal one.

Even after all the servants left the Zuo family, she remained loyal and devoted.

She could manage without a man, but without her nanny's help, she didn't know how she would raise two children!
Shangdu.

A carrier pigeon flew into the Xihua Palace.

Upon seeing the carrier pigeon, the palace servants quickly scattered a handful of millet for it.

Seeing that it was eating happily, I carefully removed the bamboo tube tied to its leg. Holding it with both hands, I respectfully presented it to a chaise longue.

"Your Highness, a letter has arrived from Daming Prefecture!"

"Show me, has the Zuo family already set off?"

A captivatingly charming voice rang out.

On that chaise lounge, a beautiful woman was lounging lazily.

I noticed that she had slightly raised her peach blossom eyes.

She has a slender yet curvy figure and delicate skin.

Her face was like a peach blossom glistening with dew, her fingers like spring onions, and her lips like jade.

Thousands of strands of black hair were combed into an ornate and intricate bun.

Her hair was adorned only with hairpins made of red gold and rubies.

In the prime of their youth, they were breathtakingly beautiful.

Even the palace maids who served her every day, having seen her appearance so often, would occasionally lose their composure.

This is none other than Consort Yu, who has enjoyed undiminished favor in the imperial harem for ten years!
Consort Yu's real name was Yu Linglong, and she was one of the three beauties of Daming Prefecture.

The state of Bei has been passed down through fourteen generations, and its reign has lasted for 273 years.

At that time, imperial power had already declined.

Their power was almost entirely usurped by the civil service and powerful families.

The national treasury is empty.

Emperor Beiwen was constrained in his actions, no matter what he wanted to do.

For this reason, he was obsessed with celebrating his birthday, refining elixirs, building imperial tombs, and selecting concubines.

Celebrating one's birthday allows one to openly and legitimately receive gifts and amass wealth.

They practice alchemy and consume elixirs, all in pursuit of immortality.

His imperial mausoleum began construction the year he ascended the throne.

It has been more than 30 years since the project was completed.

The Ministry of Works allocates funds for this every year.

The talent show was, in fact, a provocation against the aristocratic families and the civil service.

Which noble family or powerful clan would send their beloved eldest daughter to serve an emperor who is nearly sixty years old?

Moreover, he was a crazy emperor who was infertile, took drugs every day, and enjoyed torturing his concubines in various ways!
Yu Linglong's maternal family was a weak, collateral branch that needed to rely on the main family for survival.

She was also the head of the main branch of the family and had long ago chosen a "replacement" for her daughter.

Since the goal is to enter the palace, the more famous one is, the better.

Yu Linglong was the leader of the three beauties of Daming Prefecture back then.

Her reputation attracted not only the Imperial Concubine, who came to Daming Prefecture to select concubines for the emperor.

It also attracted a handsome young man.

The handsome young man was as good-looking as Pan An, and possessed both talent and charm.

His ancestors were imperial merchants and had considerable wealth.

Given his background and circumstances, he and Yu Linglong were a match made in heaven.

They met by chance and fell in love at first sight.

Little did they know, the head of the Yu family received the news.

He was furious with the son of the businessman who had almost ruined his plans.

They used underhanded methods to destroy the other party's family and even poisoned them, rendering them incapable of sexual intercourse for life.

Yu Linglong waited in vain for her beloved to propose marriage, and was even taken to Shangdu by the Imperial Household Department.

Upon entering the palace, he indeed gained the old emperor's favor.

The more the old emperor liked her, the more he tormented her.

Such a beautiful woman almost didn't survive her first year in the palace.

And the son of the merchant who was left in Daming Prefecture.

After six months of seeking medical treatment without success, he had no choice but to give up.

After learning that her beloved had become a concubine of the old emperor.

So he made the difficult decision to have himself castrated and enter the palace.

His extraordinary appearance, coupled with his determination to make a name for himself.

It took less than ten years.

He rose from an unknown eunuch to become the Grand Eunuch in the Emperor's court.

Everyone who sees him must respectfully greet him, "May the old steward be well!"
(End of this chapter)