The Deepest Affection in Qin's Time

After Zihan came to his senses, he looked at Cao Yuan with the same eyes that a good brother who was worried about his brother's hardship would suddenly see his good brother driving a Land Rover.

"Oh my god... what a disaster!"

Zihan groaned, as if remembering something, and couldn't help but ask, "When did you get a wife and concubine?"

He had never heard Meng Jiang mention it.

"I just found it yesterday."

"So fast?!"

"There's nothing I can do, love comes too fast, like a tornado..."

Cao Yuan deliberately pointed at Li Wu, "It's buy one get one free, you get an extra concubine."

Li Wu almost lost her temper on the spot, but under Jing Ni's "You better behave yourself" look, she immediately shut up.

Zihan was incredulous and couldn't believe it; he still thought Cao Yuan would marry Meng Jiang.

"You're such a jerk!"

Zihan's tone was sour, like a resentful woman who had been abandoned in her boudoir.

"Love..."

Despite his heartache, Cao Yuan spoke with remarkable ease and comfort.

Zihan said with envy, "The blessing of having two wives is something many people dream of. You're really lucky!"

Cao Yuan's eye twitched slightly. What incredible luck!

He's still struggling to survive between Jingni and Liwu.

Let alone eating meat, we haven't even had a few sips of the broth.

Zihan took out a piece of silk from her sleeve and looked at Cao Yuan expectantly.

"Brother Cao, is there a sequel to this essay?"

When he set off for Linzi to teach, his senior brother Fu Nian, who was acting as the sect leader, gave him an essay question: Is human nature inherently good or inherently evil?

They said that once they achieved results, they could return to Xiaoshengxianzhuang to further their studies under Uncle Xun.

The tricky part is that Senior Brother Fu Nian knew that Uncle Xun believed in the inherent evil of human nature, yet he still insisted that Fu Nian solve the problem from the perspective of the inherent goodness of human nature.

Luckily, this period of time hasn't made him go bald.

Until he met Cao Yuan...

"Yes, the silk cloth was too small, so I didn't finish writing."

Receiving Cao Yuan's affirmative reply almost made Zihan die of joy.

"Great! Brother Cao, write quickly, I'll grind the ink for you!"

Cao Yuan glanced at Jing Ni, whose face remained calm, and said without changing his expression, "Brother Zihan, although I have already drafted this essay, there are still many parts that I need to consult with learned Confucian scholars for clarification."

"...I'm not qualified?" Zihan stared wide-eyed.

At Xiaoshengxianzhuang, his scholarship would at least rank in the top thirty!

Cao Yuan patted Zihan on the shoulder earnestly, "Brother Zihan, you still need to practice more. It will take at least another two and a half years."

Li Wu chuckled. She had to admit, Cao Yuan was quite amusing.

Zihan snorted and said, "Fine, let's go now."

Cao Yuan was slightly taken aback. "Where to?"

Zihan grabbed Cao Yuan's arm. "The Nameless Sword Saint's residence. My senior brother is there right now. Let's go visit Yan Lu."

Cao Yuan hadn't expected things to go so smoothly.

He thought it would take a few more days to figure things out, but he "inadvertently" learned through Confucianism that Yan Lu was in Wuming's mansion, and thus got to know Wuming.

Cao Yuan was "captured" by Zihan.

The two women who remained exchanged a glance, both seeing surprise in each other's eyes.

It's like searching high and low without finding it, only to have it come to you effortlessly.

It was as if Heaven was favoring Cao Yuan.

"This guy is really lucky."

Li Wu said sourly, "I didn't expect Cao Yuan to be right. We can get closer to Wuming more naturally through the Confucian path."

However, she was more surprised by Cao Yuan's scholarship; no wonder he could teach the Confucian classic, the Analects.

This kid looks like he's no ordinary person; he must have some kind of background!

"Sisters, do you know where Aman has gone?"

When Xiao Mengjiang arrived late, she saw the wide-open shop door and Jingni and Liwu inside, and asked timidly.

Jing Ni glanced at Xiao Meng Jiang indifferently, recognized her as Cao Yuan's maid, and then ignored her, turning to go to the backyard.

Xiao Mengjiang's large, bright eyes revealed confusion. The backyard was where Aman lived, so how did she get in?

Li Wu seemed to see through Xiao Mengjiang's confusion and suddenly revealed a mischievous smile.

"Is it strange? She is Cao Yuan's wife, do you understand?"

"what……"

Xiao Mengjiang cried out in surprise, an overwhelming sense of panic and fear welling up inside her...

Like an enraged little animal, she gritted her teeth and yelled at Li Wu, "You lied to me! You lied to me!"

Li Wu smiled, a bright and beautiful smile, but in Xiao Mengjiang's eyes, it was like a demon.

"Lie to you? Why would I lie to you? Hehe, to tell you the truth, I'm Cao Yuan's concubine. Hehe, now you know why he's been acting so strangely these past few days?"

She gently stabbed Xiao Mengjiang in the heart, just like a wicked woman.

Xiao Mengjiang froze instantly; everything that had happened in the past two days seemed to have an answer in an instant.

"This, this..."

Xiao Mengjiang didn't know what to say. "Ah, where is Aman? I want to see him."

Xiao Mengjiang's originally bright and intelligent eyes were gradually covered with mist, her eyes filled with tears.

Li Wu gently stroked the black cat in her arms and said in an almost ruthless and cruel voice, "This is my and Aman's home."

In Xiao Mengjiang's eyes.

The world seemed to suddenly turn black and white at that moment.

As Xiao Mengjiang watched Li Wu turn and enter the backyard, everything around her, once familiar, seemed so strange at this moment.

This is clearly her and Aman's home...

After her parents passed away at the beginning of the year, Aman became her closest relative.

She had thought that if she waited two more years, until she grew up, Aman would marry her, but now…

Did Cao Cao really only see her as a younger sister...?

Tears welled up in Xiao Mengjiang's eyes.

Xiao Mengjiang returned to the academy at some unknown time. Exhausted, she lay on the couch and fell into a deep sleep, with tear stains still visible at the corners of her eyes.

She didn't want to accept this reality and hoped it was just a dream, so that she could still be moved when she woke up.

……

Chapter 7 Neo-Confucianism of the Song and Ming Dynasties

Because of Qi's national policy of "being cautious in serving Qin and trustworthy with the other states" and not engaging in war, Linzi gradually became the most prosperous capital of the seven states.

As stated in the "Strategies of the States": "On the road to Linzi, the wheels of carriages bumped against each other, people's shoulders rubbed together, their robes formed a curtain, their sleeves formed a screen, and their sweat fell like rain."

Although the records contain artistic embellishments, they do indeed illustrate the prosperity of Linzi.

Merchants and travelers could be seen coming and going everywhere, with wine flags fluttering in the breeze.

There was also a music and dance hall where the sounds of zithers and lutes filled the air, and young ladies danced gracefully on the hall's pavilions...

"Hey, hey, hey... let me see it one more time!"

Zihan tugged at Cao Yuan's arm, looking like she had a toothache, and said, "You already have such beautiful wives and concubines, why are you looking at these vulgar women?! Let's go!"

"What's the use of being pretty?" Cao Yuan muttered.

He can only look but not eat, and at night he has to guard against Jing Ni and Li Wu poking his butt... Is it easy for him?

Soon, Cao Yuan and Zi Han arrived at a secluded alley in the east of the city. After walking more than a hundred steps, they finally saw a mansion.

Unlike the residences of princes and nobles, this mansion has no flying eaves or brackets, no stone lions or vermilion gates, only a plain earthen wall with simple lines and a clean surface. There are no plaques or any carvings, only a few clumps of weeds growing at the base of the wall.

"No wonder he's called Nameless..."

Cao Yuan thought to himself, "Such a large mansion, yet its decoration is just like that of an ordinary farmhouse."

However, in the original novel, Nameless's mansion was extremely luxurious, built against the mountain, heavily guarded, with a group of elite guards wearing golden masks. Even Jingni had to go through a lot of trouble to fight her way in, infiltrate, climb the nine-story building, and fly across the iron chain bridge to see Nameless in the small building on the cliff.

"I heard from my senior brother that back then, King Qi was slandered by the Prime Minister and ordered the nameless swordsman to move out of the palace. I didn't expect him to live in such a place. It seems he is being ostracized."

Zihan sighed softly and stepped forward to gently knock on the brass door knocker.

If it weren't for his senior brother's visit to the Nameless Sword Saint, he wouldn't have known that the Sword Saint's residence, which enjoyed such a high reputation in the martial arts world, would be in such a dilapidated state.

Cao Yuan's heart skipped a beat. Could it be that the mansion in the original story was not nameless?

In other words, was that mansion more like a place to imprison the nameless?

Otherwise, why would they have a large number of elite guards, build a nine-story building, and an extremely long iron chain bridge?

"Squeak...creak..."

A moment later, the door opened.

It was not a servant from the manor, but a refined man dressed in a wide robe with dark purple patterns.

The man was tall and slender, with a calm and gentle gaze, yet carrying a hint of indifference.