Chapter 1096 The loyal maid promoted to concubine (16)
Zhu Yanli liked Shi Chu's Hundred Flowers Wine very much and drank cup after cup without realizing it. By the time Shi Chu noticed him, his face had turned red and his eyes were blurry. It was obvious that he was very drunk.
His behavior after getting drunk was very similar to his usual self: quiet, with a smile on his face and a very good temper. He would never make a scene like other drunk people, or do anything bold that he would not dare to do normally.
"Zhu Yanli, are you drunk?" Shi Chu looked at the young scholar with a helpless look. This guy drank so much without saying a word and yet he was still sitting upright. If one didn't pay special attention to him, one would not have noticed that he was drunk.
"Du... Madam Du... good wine..." When the young scholar heard Shi Chu calling his name, he immediately gave her a silly smile and did not forget to hand the wine glass in his hand to Shi Chu.
Shi Chu took his wine glass and said, "I know that's good wine, but you shouldn't drink too much. Did you forget that you have to go to the academy tomorrow?"
"Going to the academy? Yes, I want to go to the academy..." He only heard the last two words of Shi Chu's words, then he stood up shakily, and then staggered out, as if he was really going to the academy.
Shi Chu was really sure at this time that he was drunk. Why was he going to the academy in the middle of the night?
There was no way out. The man got drunk because he drank his own wine. Shi Chu had no choice but to help the drunk cat back to his own house next door.
Shi Chu had been to Zhu Yanli's home many times and was familiar with his bedroom. He helped him back to the room, laid him on the bed, took off his shoes and coat, and brought a basin of water for him to wash his face and hands.
Zhu Yanli was like a puppet that could breathe, and he obediently let Shi Chu manipulate him. When Shi Chu asked him to raise his hand, he raised his hand; when Shi Chu asked him to close his eyes, he closed his eyes...
"Little scholar, you must have been a very well-behaved and sensible child when you were young." Shi Chu couldn't help but sigh. He just looked like a good baby. He must have been a very obedient and lovable child when he was young, right?
Unfortunately, he lost his father since birth and could only depend on his mother. Even if his mother wanted to love him more, she had no choice because she had to find a way to make a living and could only owe her child.
At first, it seemed as if he could see through time and space, and saw a well-behaved, fair and tender child of two or three years old, sitting quietly on a small stool, staring at his mother who was doing embroidery with her head down.
"Oh, what a poor little wretch." Shi Chu couldn't help but pinch his face.
"Mother?" Zhu Yanli suddenly blurted out this word, his hand still holding Shi Chu's hand that was pinching his. He looked at Shi Chu with wet eyes, as if an ignorant child was calling his mother, with such attachment.
Shi Chu's heart couldn't help but soften a little, and she didn't refute him that she was not his biological mother, so Zhu Yanli called her "mother" again, and grabbed Shi Chu's hand and gently pressed it against his face, "Mother, I miss you so much..."
It turned out that he was missing his mother. When I saw him like this, I felt more and more pitiful for him. He was not even twenty years old. In later generations, boys of this age, who had just entered college, were still treated like children by their parents and were cared for. But Zhu Yanli had lost both his parents and was left without anyone to rely on. He had experienced the ups and downs of life and could only rely on his own efforts to fight for a future.
"Go to sleep, mother is watching you here." Shi Chu pretended to be the poor little thing's mother. When the poor little thing heard her gentle voice, he quickly relaxed and fell into a deep sleep.
Shi Chu waited until he fell asleep, and stayed by his bedside for a while. After making sure that he would not get drunk and vomit, he left and went back home.
Zhu Yanli seemed unaware that he had mistaken Shi Chu for his own mother after getting drunk. When he sobered up the next day, he went out of his way to thank Shi Chu for her delicious wine and for her patience in taking care of him when he was drunk last night.
Shi Chu waved his hand indifferently and said it was just a piece of cake.
Time flies, and the Fourth Prince's private hoarding of gold mines was thoroughly investigated, and even other crimes committed by him and his men were implicated.
As the confidant of the Fourth Prince, Zhang Qiling was naturally in cahoots with the Fourth Prince. So it is no surprise that after the Fourth Prince was demoted to a commoner and imprisoned for life, Zhang Qiling's family was also confiscated, stripped of their titles, and exiled three thousand miles away. This was a light sentence considering that their ancestors of the Marquis of Anding had made contributions to the court. Otherwise, Zhang Qiling would have been beheaded just for daring to interfere in the struggle between the princes and plot against the Emperor's other sons.
However, the current emperor is not a bloodthirsty tyrant, and the incident involving the Fourth Prince and Zhang Qishan happened relatively early, and they had not yet had time to do too many or too serious things, so the emperor decided to spare the lives of the Zhang family.
The death penalty can be avoided, but it is difficult to escape the punishment of life imprisonment. The Zhang family wants to continue to enjoy wealth and splendor in the capital, but that is impossible. The emperor only wants them to go to the remote countryside to fend for themselves and use their last life to repent for the sins they have committed.
Gui Yunlai was dragged out of the prison by the jailer in a daze. She had been in prison for more than a month. Now, when she saw the bright light, her eyes hurt and she couldn't help but squint.
A month ago, she had never imagined that she, the wife of the prince of Anding, would be reduced to a miserable prisoner. Oh, she was no longer the prince's wife. She was now a criminal woman named Gui, and she would be exiled three thousand miles away with her husband and parents-in-law...
Gui Yunlai was not a woman without any knowledge. On the contrary, compared with the ladies of wealthy families who never left their houses, she understood the world very well. She knew what crime was involved in exile, how difficult and hard the journey would be, and how many nightmarish difficulties would be waiting for her when she arrived at the place of exile.
It was precisely because she knew this that she could not accept that she had fallen to this point. Over the past month, she had questioned Zhang Qishan in prison and knew that he was the culprit who caused her family to become prisoners. All of a sudden, all the tenderness and love between the couple seemed to have never existed. Gui Yunlai deeply resented Zhang Qishan and could not help but say many vicious and hateful words to him.
Gui Yunlai actually knew that she shouldn't have done that. She had maintained her old ways, sharing the joys and sorrows with her husband, waiting for him to make a comeback in the future...
However, her home was ransacked and she was exiled, turning from a high-ranking daughter of heaven into a despised criminal. Even though Gui Yunlai was very scheming, the blow was too great for her to bear, so she couldn't help but vent her anger on the culprit.
But Zhang Qishan still loved her. Although he was hated so much by his beloved wife, he did not blame her. Instead, he blamed himself for not doing well enough and bringing trouble to the whole family.
(End of this chapter)
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