After the land was turned over, Li Xianjin gave everyone a few days off to rest. When Bai Ruozhen washed his hands, he looked at his rough and calloused hands and wanted to cry.

Zhu Guixia and Feng Qiujuan were not much better off. They had blisters on their hands which eventually turned into calluses. However, they didn't think it was a big deal. They even felt it was better. They were not afraid of getting calluses when working in the future.

However, Bai Ruozhen couldn't do that. She was a noble lady raised in the boudoir and had done all kinds of work. Not to mention calluses on her hands, even the slightest damage would attract the attention of her family. She had to keep her hands white and tender.

But now...

Bai Ruozhen wiped away the sad tears and felt that he was really pitiful.

It happened to be the weekend, and Gu Xiaoli came back. The first thing she did when she came back was to ask her mother to stew meat. Qiu Lanying smiled and said, "Why are you so close to Zhenzhen?"

Gu Xiaoli looked at her mother speechlessly, "Don't you like her too? This is called fate. I think Sister Zhenzhen and I must have known each other in our previous life, and we are continuing our relationship in this life."

"Tsk tsk, with that tone, if you were a man, wouldn't you marry her?" Qiu Lanying joked.

"That's right." Gu Xiaoli said proudly, "If I were a man, my fifth brother would have no chance."

When Qiu Lanying heard this, she cried out, "Does this mean you agree to let your fifth brother marry your sister Zhenzhen?"

Gu Xiaoli sighed helplessly, "There's nothing I can do. The countryside is so poor. Yesterday I went to my uncle's house on purpose, and my second cousin has a new girlfriend. After thinking about it, my fifth brother is the only one who can make do. But mom, you have to let my brother go to work and earn money, otherwise how can I support my sister Zhenzhen?"

"Okay, you're the one who worries too much." Qiu Lanying laughed angrily, "Go to the educated youth camp and call your sister Zhenzhen over. Tell her I need her help with something."

"Oh." Gu Xiaoli responded happily and went out happily.

Bai Ruozhen was sitting on the kang, looking at her hands and sighing, when she heard Gu Xiaoli calling her. Bai Ruozhen hurriedly hid her hands behind her back and said with a smile, "Xiaoli, why are you here?"

Gu Xiaoli went over and pulled her hand, "My mom is looking for you..." She paused, pulled her hand out and looked at it, and was about to cry, "Sister Zhenzhen..."

Seeing her like this, Bai Ruozhen wanted to cry too, and the two of them hugged each other and cried bitterly. Others didn't understand their sadness, and even doubted why they were crying at all. Wasn't it going to be like this sooner or later?

But Bai Ruozhen and Gu Xiaoli are different. What kind of life did they live before? Especially Bai Ruozhen, she was praised to the sky and was the most noble woman in the Great Zhou. But now she has fallen into this poor place and has become like this.

Bai Ruozhen cried for a while and felt embarrassed. She forced a smile and said to Li Aihong, "Sister Aihong, Auntie is looking for me. I'll go first."

Li Aihong glanced at them and said, "Go wash your face first."

Bai Ruozhen smiled sheepishly, then dragged Xiaoli to the backyard to fetch water to wash her face. Gu Xiaoli sobbed on the way, "Master, why don't you get married?"

"What?" Bai Ruozhen was shocked. In the Great Zhou Dynasty, it was very normal for her to get married at her age, but in this era, one had to be 18 or older to get married. People like Li Aihong and Wang Jun were 21 years old this year and still not married. She had only been here for a few days and was getting married.

Gu Xiaoli went to the well and drew some water for Bai Ruozhen to wash. "I think the only way now is to get married. Once you get married, you can enjoy a happy life at home."

Bai Ruozhen washed his face and poured out the water, "Hurry up and wash your face, people don't think much of it."

"Master!" Gu Xiaoli looked at her in surprise without even washing her face. "Why do I feel like you've changed?"

Bai Ruozhen was stunned, "Has it changed?"

Gu Xiaoli nodded quickly, "You used to be so lazy that you would rather starve to death than do anything. Now you can wash your face and clothes by yourself and work in the fields without complaining. Isn't that a change?" Then she thought that such changes were all caused by poverty, and she felt sad again.

Bai Ruozhen sighed when she said that. She'd been thinking about it for the past few days. It wouldn't work if she continued to act pitiful and cute like before to get others to do work for her. She hadn't thought it was wrong before, but now it was shameful. She wasn't any less capable than anyone else, so why couldn't she work? Even if her work wasn't as good as hers, she was still working. If she didn't compare herself to others, and only compared herself to her past self, she'd made great progress.

"Xiao Li, I've been thinking about this for the past few days. I'm not the Empress anymore. It's really inappropriate to keep crying like I used to. Not only will it make people laugh at me over time, but others will only sympathize with you and help you temporarily. They can't help me forever, so I've decided to learn some skills, work hard, and strive to be a jack of all trades."

Gu Xiaoli looked at her in surprise and suddenly hugged her, "Master, how can you bear such injustice?"

Bai Ruozhen chuckled, "It's okay, I can cry if others can. Now I think about how stupid I was before. I really thought I could kill everyone in the harem. Now it seems that it's not surprising that the dog emperor and the bitch can poison me to death."

"Ah?" Gu Xiaoli didn't expect her master to start doubting herself. Although the facts were indeed as her master said, her master always thought she was quite powerful...

"Hurry up and wash your face, auntie is waiting." Bai Ruozhen patted her and poured water for her personally.

Gu Xiaoli was extremely frightened. She washed and wiped her face, then went back to the house and applied some Gala oil. Then the two of them left hand in hand.

Zhu Guixia glanced at the still-shaking door and said to Li Aihong, "Why do I feel like the Gu family's kindness to Zhenzhen is so strange and overly enthusiastic?"

Li Aihong didn't even raise her head. "I think it's a good thing. Isn't it a good thing if more people are kind to Zhenzhen?"

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