Chapter 1099: The loyal maid promoted to concubine (19)
"And if her disfigurement was fake, then she used it to redeem herself and leave the Marquis of Anding's Mansion. Did she realize the inappropriateness of the Marquis of Anding's Mansion a long time ago and wanted to get away? After all, she was a top-class maidservant beside the Crown Prince's Consort at that time, and her life was more glorious and comfortable than that of ordinary people's daughters outside. Why didn't she just be a maid in a wealthy family, but had to come out to be a commoner who worked hard and sold buns in public?" Honeysuckle said to her daughter and husband with an unfathomable look.
When Ren Dong heard what her mother said, she was so shocked that she couldn't close her mouth. She couldn't imagine that the smart, clever and far-sighted person her mother was talking about was Du Xiang. She asked blankly: "Mom, are you overthinking it? Maybe Du Xiang is just lucky?"
Mother Honeysuckle rolled her eyes and said, "She was lucky, which means she had a good life. She was able to escape the destruction of the Anding Marquis' Mansion. If she was still in the Anding Marquis' Mansion, she would have been reduced to being picked and chosen by others like us and had to continue to be a slave. She was lucky to have redeemed herself before this. How timely she was..."
Honeysuckle's father couldn't help but say, "Luckily, my daughter, you have some friendship with her, so she bought us out."
Rendong was stunned by what she heard. The shock to her mind was so great that she didn't know whether she should believe her parents' words. She could only follow her parents home stupidly and seek a way to survive from her old friends and relatives.
Shi Chu had no idea that Rendong's family of three had said these words after she left. She had repaid Rendong's favor and felt more relaxed. All the grudges had been taken, and those people would not appear in her mind anymore.
She continued to be her own steamed bun beauty, and after saving enough money, she bought a small shop facing the street and converted it into a steamed bun shop. From then on, she no longer had to push a cart out to set up a stall every day and endure the wind and sun.
Because of its accumulated reputation, the bun shop's business is very good. Sometimes she is too busy to handle it, so she has to hire helpers. Occasionally, when Zhu Yanli is free, he will come and help.
Time flies, and Shi Chu's bun shop already has two regular helpers. Apart from mixing the bun fillings and maintaining the unique taste of the buns, she no longer has to do everything herself. Therefore, even though the business is more prosperous than before, she has more free time than before.
Zhu Yanli also passed the examination for a scholar and was promoted to a juren. He then had to prepare for the jinshi examination. Since the time between the autumn and spring examinations was not long, Zhu Yanli lived in the academy during this period and had no time to come out and see Shi Chu.
Although he had not directly expressed his admiration to Shi Chu, his actions had already shown that he had ill intentions towards Shi Chu. However, Shi Chu did not reject his clumsy approach because he was gentle, shy, and easy to bully with a blushing face.
Shi Chu knew that he was probably thinking of waiting until he passed the imperial examination before proposing to her. That way, he would be more sincere and would be qualified to show that he had the ability to start a family.
Shi Chu just wanted to let things take their course. After all, she was still so young. Was she going to live a life of purity and abstinence? Since she was going to find a man, she might as well find Zhu Yanli, who knew her well. He was chaste, handsome, and had a good temper. He would let her bully him. That would be good enough.
As expected, Zhu Yanli passed the imperial examination in the spring of the following year and became a Jinshi. In an instant, he became a young talent with a promising future in the capital. People wanted to make friends with him, and families who wanted to marry him as a son-in-law almost broke down the door of his house.
For those families who want to make a profit through marriage, isn't a young man without parents but with extraordinary talent an easy target to win over? In this way, he will wholeheartedly provide resources to his wife's family; and for those women who hope to marry a good man, Zhu Yanli is handsome and talented, has no parents, and does not need to serve his parents-in-law and sister-in-law. Isn't this a perfect candidate for husband?
As a result, Zhu Yanli became very popular and for a while he didn't even have time to see Shi Chu.
But Zhu Yanli himself was very troubled. He didn't want to marry the daughter of some rich and powerful family. He only wanted to marry the proprietress of Baozi Xishi next door. Unfortunately, too many people came to visit him recently. He had no time or opportunity to express his feelings to the person he liked.
After seeing everyone off in the evening, he went to his mother's former room and said to her tablet in distress, "Mom, I've already found your daughter-in-law, the lady next door named Du. But she moved in after you passed away. It's a pity that you didn't meet her during your lifetime..."
She is a very good woman, just like mother, very strong, independent, and capable. She is very efficient at work, even better than you. Of course, you are also very capable, but it's a pity that you left too early, otherwise you would definitely like her.
The buns she made were delicious. She was a person with a cold exterior but a warm heart. Whenever there were beggars begging outside her bun shop, she would generously give them buns.
Mother, if you are still alive, please bless Madam Du and let her like my son. I don’t have the right time to express my feelings to her. What if she misunderstands that I am engaged to another woman? Mother, you have to take good care of this daughter-in-law…”
Zhu Yanli said a lot of things in front of his mother's tablet, just asking his mother to bless Shi Chu to like him.
After that, Zhu Yanli's home was still very busy, but because he always rejected those who came to propose marriage, he offended many people. Many people also said that he was vain and greedy, and wanted to marry into a rich family through his own marriage.
Zhu Yanli didn't take other people's criticism to heart at all. After he had finally dealt with those uninvited guests, he finally found an opportunity to express his feelings to Shi Chu and told her that he wanted to marry her.
"Okay." Shi Chu agreed with a smile.
"What, what?" Zhu Yanli didn't expect Shi Chu to agree without hesitation. He didn't react at all for a moment and was still thinking of other reasons to convince her.
"I said, I think it's good to marry you." Shi Chu answered again patiently.
Zhu Yanli's eyes suddenly widened with joy. He smiled foolishly and stammered, "Madam Du! I will treat you well for the rest of my life!"
"Then I'll just watch." Shi Chu chuckled.
"Then, when should I ask a matchmaker to come?" Zhu Yanli asked nervously, "What's the nearest auspicious day?"
Shi Chu looked at Zhu Yanli, whose ears, face and neck were all red, with interest and said, "As long as we are happy, any day is an auspicious day. Why are you in such a hurry?"
"I want to marry you as soon as possible..." His eyes were wandering and his face was shy. He didn't dare to look at Shi Chu at all, but he answered without hesitation.
(End of this chapter)
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