Thick, inky blackness quickly gathered in the sky, forming vast expanses of dark clouds, and in an instant, a torrential downpour began. The few pedestrians on the road hurried along, searching for any available corner to shelter for a while.
It was already late at night, but the Drunken Fragrance Pavilion was still a scene of decadent revelry, with women's giggles and men's flirtatious banter filling the air. In contrast, the back courtyard was much quieter. The tall and burly gatekeeper grabbed the petite figure with one hand, opened the door with the other, and casually pushed her a long way, sending her crashing heavily to the ground.
Next was a memorial tablet, with a few tattered clothes scattered shabbily on the ground. "Mother Qin said, you can get out of here, get far away, so you don't get in our way. Don't come back, and don't ever appear in front of us again."
Jiang Wuyou's mother, Chunyan, was once the most popular courtesan at Zuixianglou. She had redeemed herself but was only temporarily residing at Zuixianglou. However, she was unwilling to entertain customers and had to do the lowest-level work at Zuixianglou to make a living and raise her daughter.
Qin's mother had repeatedly pressured them to leave without success, and had long wanted to get rid of the useless mother and daughter. After all, she wasn't running a charity business, and she felt she had already done more than enough by taking them in for over a decade. This time, she finally found an opportunity to get rid of them. People who can't make money are useless to keep.
The door slammed shut, and the rain relentlessly washed over everything, enveloping the petite figure and soaking his clothes, along with his already wounded heart.
"Mother... Mother... Mother..." Long-term malnutrition and excessive grief had left Jiang Wuyou's body extremely weak. The cold rain lashed against his face and body. When he recovered, he rushed forward and tightly embraced his mother's memorial tablet. His voice was hoarse and rough, filled with endless sorrow.
"How could I be so useless? I couldn't even protect my mother's memorial tablet," Jiang Wuyou thought with grief. She clasped her arms together, tightly protecting the tablet from the relentless rain.
Pitter-patter... As the rain intensified, Jiang Wuyou's frail body could no longer withstand it. He quickly packed his things, found shelter in front of a shop, and curled up to avoid the onslaught of the rain.
Wuyou had just arrived in this world when he felt icy cold all over, as if he had been thrown into a freezing abyss and instantly cooled down. It was unbearably cold. Occasionally, cold liquid would splash onto his face and body, and he felt as if he were holding a cold, hard object in his arms.
Her long eyelashes trembled slightly, and the woman, who was curled up in a ball, slowly opened her eyes, taking in the entire scene in an instant.
The object was cool and hard—it hurt like it was digging into someone's skin. Wuyou reached out and touched her face, only to feel her whole body stiff and cold as iron. If this continued, she was afraid she would get a fever.
After thinking for a moment, Wuyou stood up, leaning against the corner of the wall. In her previous life, Jiang Wuyou had endured the cold here all night and was driven away the next day, suffering a lot of hardship before finally finding shelter in a dilapidated temple. She was unwilling to suffer like that.
After quickly packing her belongings, Wuyou put the memorial tablet in her bag and found an inn to stay in. Over the years, Jiang Wuyou and her daughter had saved a small amount of silver, but unfortunately, it was all spent after Chunyan fell ill, leaving them penniless. Fortunately, she had many valuable items in her spatial storage, any of which could solve their immediate crisis.
Although her shabby appearance was quite distasteful, the gold melon seeds she took out were truly eye-catching. The waiter immediately and attentively invited her to a superior room and brought her hot water and food for a bath.
After taking a nice hot bath, the chill was dispelled, and while enjoying a delicious meal, Wuyou felt alive again.
"What is Jiang Wuyou's wish?" Wuyou sat upright at the table, his delicate features and fair skin reflected in the mirror. To protect Jiang Wuyou, Chunyan had specially applied something to his face, fearing he might be noticed by Qin Mama of Zuixianglou. Fortunately, over the past few years, Jiang Wuyou had kept his head down and remained meek, so no one had paid much attention to him, and the secret had been kept until now.
In this day and age, and for a beautiful woman like her, protecting herself is already difficult enough, so such actions are perfectly normal.
She aspired to be someone superior, no longer falling for unworthy people, and trampling those who looked down on her underfoot, forcing them to forever look up to her.
The system's voice remained cold and mechanical, yet a trace of emotion could be detected within it, subtle enough to prove that the system was constantly growing.
"I understand." Reaching out to stroke the slightly rough skin on her face, Wuyou's tone was ethereal. She slowly revealed a beautiful smile in front of the mirror; appearance is a woman's most powerful weapon.
The current emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Emperor Xuan, is a model of a wise ruler. He has supported this vast country with his own outstanding strength. Although there are constant factional struggles within the court, he has managed to maintain a good balance, demonstrating his mastery of imperial tactics.
The original owner, Jiang Wuyou, came from a lowly background. Her mother was just a minor courtesan at Zuixianglou. After being taken in by a mysterious man, she became pregnant after several months of blissful companionship. Before Chunyan could tell the man, he had already disappeared, leaving Chunyan pregnant and facing the wolves and tigers of Zuixianglou.
Courtesans in brothels are constantly coming and going, and Madam Qin certainly wouldn't allow any of her girls to become pregnant and affect her ability to entertain customers. At the time, Chunyan was quite well-known, and if she could recuperate, she could still be his cash cow, so he planned to force Chunyan to abort the child.
However, Chunyan had already fallen deeply in love with the man and was determined to give birth to his child, hoping to live happily ever after with him and wait for him to take her away from her misery.
He was sold into a brothel as a child and had witnessed the joys and sorrows of brothel women. He believed that leaving the brothel was the only right path.
Amidst the dispute, Chunyan used all her savings to redeem herself, hoping only to have a place to stay at Zuixianglou, where she could clean, do laundry, and raise her child. Having grown up in brothels, she had no other means of survival, and given her background, no respectable family would accept her work; she had no choice but to stay.
After giving birth to Jiang Wuyou, Chunyan struggled to survive in the backyard with her daughter. Qin's mother had tried to force her way out, but the strong-willed Chunyan saw through her plan and slashed her own face on the spot. Naturally, no one wanted a woman with a disfigured face, and Chunyan was able to find peace. Qin's mother had long disliked Chunyan and her daughter, so it was only natural that she was driven out today.
After Chunyan's death, Jiang Wuyou followed his mother's last wish and, after many trials and tribulations, finally found his biological father—Jiang Jing. Jiang Jing was the prefect of Jiangzhou, a fourth-rank official, neither too high nor too low, but practically the local tyrant of Jiangzhou. For Jiang Wuyou, if it weren't for this opportunity, he probably would never have met such a high-ranking official in his entire life.
Under his mother's guidance, he harbored a natural longing for his father, only to be slapped hard by reality. Madam Jiang was the daughter of the Prince of Nan'an, a woman of different surnames. She gave birth to a daughter, Jiang Changle, who was spoiled and pampered by her parents and grew up to be domineering.
When Jiang Wuyou found her father, Madam Jiang had just passed away. Jiang Changle was very hostile towards her younger sister and almost humiliated her. Jiang Jing outwardly showed great pity for Jiang Wuyou, but he always pretended to be deaf and dumb when Jiang Wuyou was humiliated, and then comforted her afterwards, saying that it was only because of Jiang Changle's maternal grandfather, the Prince of Nan'an.
Things only took a turn for the better when the two sisters came of age.
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