The Great Zhou Dynasty.
The first day of March in the thirty-second year of Jiasheng.
The capital.
"I've never seen anyone more unlucky than you!" In the chilly spring, Ah Chou sat by the well, rubbing clothes with his cracked hands. While mumbling to his own reflection in the big wooden basin, while looking at the pile of clothes like a small mountain beside the basin, Ah Chou couldn't help but sigh. "How long will it take to wash this?"
Achou was right, she was really unlucky.
You say she was a good daughter of an official family. Unfortunately, her father was a stubborn censor. She offended her superiors, and her parents died in a flash. The only four-year-old Ah Chou in the family survived, but she was sent to the laundry department as a slave. After washing clothes in the laundry department for ten years, when she was fourteen years old, Ah Chou finally had a good luck. Because of her good laundry skills, she was recommended to the Yanxi Palace of Concubine Zhao, who was the most favored by the emperor.
But Ah Chou was used to bad luck. This time, his good luck didn't last long. Within two years, Ah Chou accidentally offended Concubine Zhao. Concubine Zhao gave him the title of Duan Chenghong, a sixth-rank Hanlin Academy editor who was demoted six levels.
What kind of person is Duan Chenghong?
At the beginning of the 32nd year of Jiasheng, the Zhou Dynasty had just begun. Things changed. Zhong Mingwei, the eldest prince born to the late Empress Zhenxian, drank too much and behaved disrespectfully in front of the emperor at the New Year's Eve dinner. His Majesty was furious and locked him up in the clan house. A few days later, several important officials in the court jointly wrote a letter to report the evidence of the prince's many years of misconduct. His Majesty was furious and ordered a thorough investigation in court. As a result, before the end of the first month, the prince was deposed, demoted to a commoner, and directly exiled to Ningguta. His prospective father-in-law, the right prime minister Duan Chenghong, fell six levels in one day and became a mere sixth-rank Hanlin Academy editor.
The crown prince was deposed, and the Zhao family behind Concubine Zhao had made great efforts in this. Duan Chenghong naturally hated Concubine Zhao with a vengeance. But at this time, Concubine Zhao forced such a maid to be by his side. Duan Chenghong naturally thought that Achou was Concubine Zhao's eyes and ears, so how could Achou not be unlucky?
Poor Achou, she became a thorn in the eyes of Duan Chenghong's family. They did not dare to kill the people rewarded by Concubine Zhao, but they had many ways to torture her. Since Achou married into the Duan family, she has never had a rest. As a sixteen-year-old girl, she had to get up before dawn to chop wood, cook, clean and do laundry, especially washing clothes. Every day Achou had to wash for at least four or five hours in such a cold weather. She didn't know why the Duan family had so many clothes to wash, even more than the clothes she washed every day in the laundry department. Achou had complained before, but since she washed the same piece of clothes for several days in a row, she stopped complaining.
Well, people are waiting to treat her, so why would she come to them on her own initiative?
Finally, she finished washing the clothes. It was almost midnight. Ah Chou felt like her waist was about to break. She hung up the clothes with great effort and was about to go back to the woodshed. Yes, Ah Chou lived in the woodshed. This small courtyard was already cramped for Duan's family of more than a dozen people. It was good enough for a servant like her to be able to settle down in the woodshed.
Ah Chou was rubbing his waist and was about to push open the door of the woodshed when he heard a hysterical cry coming from the young lady's room.
"I don't want to marry that paralytic! I would rather die than go to Ningguta! Mother, if you...if you force me again, I will die in front of you!"
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