[Isn't Lord Dong's mother over sixty? With a house full of children and grandchildren, why did she remarry? Heh heh, a twilight romance!]
Dong Zhen tripped over his own feet and fell face-first to the ground. The servants following behind him were so frightened that they rushed to help him up!
Hearing the noise, Chuanwen turned around and saw Dong Zhen's large, protruding buttocks. He clicked his tongue in amazement, thinking to himself, "What's wrong with Lord Dong's brain? To resolve the conflict between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, he actually came up with the idea of having his over sixty-year-old mother remarry. Amazing!"
After expressing his feelings, Chuanwen sighed again, "To be honest, Lord Dong is quite ruthless. He even prepared a dowry for his mother, and it's all good stuff! Enough for his mother to live comfortably for the rest of her life!"
Dong Zhen, helped up by the servant, had twitching lips and was on the verge of tears. He shouldn't have taken this road today. If he hadn't, he wouldn't have encountered the message. If he hadn't encountered the message, his mother's embarrassing remarriage wouldn't have been exposed. Waaah!
He thought in despair that, on the surface, Chuanwen only had Wenxue by his side, but in reality, the Emperor had planted countless secret guards around him. Now, not only did the Emperor know about his secret remarriage of his mother, but it might also reach the Emperor's ears!
With tears streaming down her face, Dong Zhen, supported by her servant's arm, hobbled home, her back view revealing vicissitudes and sorrow.
"Is he planning to go home and hang himself?"
Chuanwen asked Wenxue, who was standing beside him, with a puzzled look. Wenxue suppressed a laugh and replied, "It shouldn't be."
Chuanwen then ignored Dong Zhen and went to the Su family. When he arrived, he ran into Er Gou, who had just returned from court and had been summoned to the palace. Er Gou looked at him with resentment.
Su Heng rubbed Chuanwen's head to comfort him, while Chuanwen cursed the emperor in his heart, saying that even the donkeys in the production team were not treated like this!
Su Heng was also helpless, but he had just returned and was inevitably busy. Things should get better in a few days.
He sighed inwardly. He had rushed back after court to go to the west of the city and bring his father back, but now he had no choice but to go to the palace.
——
In the dilapidated temple west of the city, several beggars lived. One of them, disheveled and filthy, woke up early, awakened by hunger.
He hadn't eaten for three days in order to keep moving forward, and if he didn't get something to eat soon, he felt he wouldn't survive the day.
Once he was outside the temple, not a single person stopped to give him anything to eat. Finally, an old woman took pity on him and offered him a steamed bun, but her son stopped her.
"A grown man with hands and feet can do something good. They're hiring for road construction outside, providing food, lodging, and wages. Lots of beggars have gone, but these lazybones are still half-dead begging! Mother! Don't give them any! These lazybones are just trash; they'd be better off starving to death!"
The son spoke with righteous indignation, but the disheveled beggar was completely confused. Was the road the man was talking about the same kind of road he had seen when he entered the city yesterday? But that road was clearly a large-scale project, undoubtedly built by the imperial court. But when had the imperial court ever paid wages for road construction? They always conscripted laborers directly from each household.
The beggar grabbed the son and asked him, "Are you really going to pay me?"
"They really do give!" Seeing the beggar's interest, the old woman persuaded him, "My eldest son went there. Because it's all manual labor, the pay is high. He can bring half a tael of silver home every month! That's why I brought my youngest son here today to register!"
"Half a tael of silver! That's a lot!" The beggar's eyes lit up. "Can I go with you to register?"
"Of course! We're short-staffed for road construction right now, we need as many people as we can!"
When the son saw that the beggar was willing to work to support himself, his attitude towards him improved a lot. However, he frowned. Although he would accept almost everyone who went, some were rejected. He didn't want the elderly or those who were sick and unable to work.
Seeing that the beggar was as thin as a stick, he gave him the steamed bun he had just eaten so that he could have something to eat and not be too weak to be eliminated later!
The beggar took the steamed bun and wolfed it down. After finishing one, he licked his lips and said, "Hmm... I'm still not full!"
Seeing this, the old lady gave him another one, which the beggar ate in a few bites. He didn't let out a loud burp until he had finished the four or five steamed buns and two flatbreads in the woman's bundle.
"How many days has it been since you've eaten?!"
The old woman clicked her tongue in amazement, and the beggar smiled and said shyly, "It's edible!"
Well......
The old lady and her son were speechless.
However, perhaps because he hadn't eaten for three days and then ate too much, the beggar's stomach kept rumbling when he was registering. After passing several foul-smelling farts, he clutched his stomach and ran to the outhouse repeatedly.
The smell was so strong that everyone in the room could barely open their eyes. The person conducting the inspection noticed that he didn't look well, and considering he was quite old and incredibly thin with barely any flesh on his bones, his ribs clearly visible, he was rejected. Road construction is real physical labor, and someone like him would probably be worked to death in a couple of days!
After they came out, the old lady and her son expressed their deep regret that the beggar had not been selected. The son patted the beggar on the shoulder and comforted him, "Don't be discouraged. Go back and take good care of yourself. Maybe you'll be selected next time!"
The old lady kindly gave him two copper coins.
Watching the old woman and her son leave, the beggar, having missed out on a month and a half's worth of silver, was on the verge of tears. Was he destined to starve to death?
He was unwilling to accept it! He hadn't passed the imperial examination, and he hadn't even gone home to see his wife and children! What sins had he committed in his past life?
The capital city was bustling with activity, the streets were crowded with people, and the shops on both sides were lively, but all of this seemed to have nothing to do with him.
The beggar wandered aimlessly along the bustling streets. When he got tired, he would find a place to sit down and put out his broken bowl to beg for food.
Looking back on his life, he was filled with sorrow. His family had originally been a large clan, but it had gradually declined. By his father's generation, all that was left was a few dozen acres of land. Because they had to support his education, by his generation, even those few dozen acres of land were gone, and he had to rely on his wife's washing and sewing to make a living.
Fortunately, he did well in his studies and passed the imperial examination, becoming a scholar. Someone asked him to teach, which made his family's situation a little better, and he was able to support his children's education.
But who knew that on his way to the capital for the imperial examination, he caught a cold and almost died. When he woke up, he found himself in a mortuary, and his fellow villagers who had traveled with him were nowhere to be found. He had no choice but to continue his journey on his own, dragging his ailing body along.
Sigh! He's been gone since he left!
Looking up at the sky, two lines of tears streamed down the beggar's dirty face. He wondered how his wife and children were doing. Judging by their age, his two sons and daughter must have grown up by now!
The beggar wiped away his tears and saw that the sun was setting and the sky was full of red clouds. He got up and decided to go back to the dilapidated temple where he had spent the night. He dusted off the dust on his backside and headed east.
As he walked, he kept muttering, "I remember that dilapidated temple from yesterday was in the west of the city, so I should just head west."
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