The wick of the candle was very dim, and the room was dimly lit.
The shadow of the gauze curtain casts on the ceiling, like a big spider web.
Red Line lay there, not sleeping.
She just lay there upright, with her hands on her chest, motionless.
There was a smile on his face, one part proud and one part mocking.
When she is alone, she is very different from when she is in front of others, as if she has taken off a layer of mask and becomes a different person.
"Weakness is the foundation of a person's standing, and strength is the root of trouble."
This sentence was taught to her by her father since childhood.
Hongxian kept this sentence firmly in mind, no matter who he was dealing with, he always looked soft and weak.
She never speaks harshly, nor does she use harsh words.
But she never suffers, but she always makes others suffer.
This is all due to her principle of using retreat to advance and using softness to overcome strength.
Over time, I have mastered this ability of overcoming strength with softness.
Her father was the shopkeeper of a small bookstore and a talented scholar who had failed many times.
But in this capital city where there are so many officials, what does an old scholar mean?
No one even remembers that he has such a small fame on his back.
Her father was unsuccessful in his life, read poetry and books, lived in poverty for three years, but always failed in his reputation.
I wanted to have a son to teach myself and fulfill my wish of becoming famous all over the world, but I didn’t even have a son.
He often drank alone and wrote a few poems expressing his sorrow when he was drunk, but he never showed it to anyone.
He only had one daughter, Hongxian, probably because he had no sons, so he raised his daughter like a son.
However, the red thread is bright and clever, and it can be learned once taught, and it can also draw inferences from one case to another.
This made the old scholar extremely happy. He taught her to read more books and asked her to pick up a pen and write articles.
But there is always a kind of regret that cannot be made up for. He often looked at the red line and shook his head in distress: "It's a pity, you are not a man. Otherwise, you will definitely be named on the gold list and your ancestors will be honored."
When he was drunk, he would even ask angrily: "Why aren't you a man?! Why can't you be a man?!"
Even on his deathbed, he could not forget this incident.
Hongxian had long known Lu Yuzhi, the eldest son of Chengyi Hou Mansion, and would occasionally visit their library.
Hongxian had no idea about him at first, because she knew that her father would never allow her to be a concubine.
But at this moment, my father died, the bookstore was burned to ashes, and my mother, who depended on each other for life, also passed away.
The red line suddenly turned her into a helpless orphan.
She didn't even care about her sadness because she realized that her fate had reached a critical moment.
She remembered that her father taught her to read history books and once said that when Emperor Hui of the Han Dynasty died, Empress Lu, the biological mother, could not cry.
Later, the ministers granted all the Lu family members the title of marquis, and Cai Lu burst into tears.
At that time, she didn't understand. What was going on?
Her father told her that because Queen Lu was worried about the fate of herself and her family, she did not care about her son who cried to death.
Only when I felt relieved did I shed tears.
She understood Empress Lu's mood at that time, because she was more worried about her future life, and could not care about her mother who cried to death.
To be honest, she didn't have money to take care of her mother's funeral.
Although the bookstore burned down, I still have the savings accumulated over the years.
She could just finish her mother's funeral arrangements and then go to her uncle's house with all the money.
But her uncle was just a tofu vendor. She defected to him, and she could only marry a peddler and a lackey.
Even if you are shameless and want to be a concubine, I'm afraid it's a tall order to find a county magistrate.
She is a native of the capital, how could she be willing to fall to this level?
After much deliberation, she chose Lu Yuzhi.
Lu Yuzhi is handsome and kind-hearted.
The most important thing is that he is the eldest son of the Hou family.
Even if he fails to pass the Jinshi examination in the future, with the help of his ancestors, the emperor will grant him a similar background as a Jinshi.
The old Marquis is no longer here, he is the Marquis.
As long as she hugs his thigh and becomes a maid first, and then an aunt, she will be depended on for life.
So she deliberately said that she had no money to bury her mother, and asked Lu Yuzhi for help, and Lu Yuzhi generously helped her.
The simple-minded young master Lu would never have thought that this weak and helpless woman would actually use this incident as a bait to lead him into a trap step by step.
Hongxian pretended to be frightened that he would not be able to repay the favor, and thanked Lu Yuzhi profusely.
And after burying his mother, he came to the Lu family and said that he would become a slave to repay his great kindness.
Sure enough, neither Lu Yuzhi nor Mrs. Lu agreed with what she did.
Lu Yuzhi simply didn't want anything in return, but Mrs. Lu suspected that she had ulterior motives.
Hongxian was keenly aware of the differences between mother and son. She was frightened in front of Mrs. Lu and stirred up trouble in front of Lu Yuzhi.
However, her methods were very clever. She did not say anything bad about Mrs. Lu, and even praised Mrs. Lu repeatedly.
But it made Lu Yuzhi feel that his mother had misunderstood the red line and was a little too rough and arrogant towards her.
The red line has only one purpose, which is to enter the Lu family and stay with Lu Yuzhi.
Seeing that she was too weak, she had other thoughts.
Lu Yuzhi was coaxed into sending her away in person, but in fact she pretended to be sick outside the city.
Because she just wanted the Lu family or others to know that she and Lu Yuzhi were together.
In this case, the Lu family would naturally not be able to explain clearly.
And she is a little orphan girl and comes from a good family. It is hard for the Lu family to do too well. It is easy to make people laugh at her.
She knows that the more noble a person is, the more they care about face.
Otherwise, what can she do to compete with the Lu family?
Of course, she was not naive enough to think that she would definitely succeed. Maybe she really made the Lu family anxious and took her own life.
But to find wealth in danger, instead of wasting your life on firewood, rice, oil and salt, it is better to fight against the odds and become a benevolent person if you don't succeed.
But she didn't expect that the person who came to her was not the Lu family, but Xu Chunjun.
She had heard about Xu Chunjun before, but when she met her today, she realized that it was nothing more than that.
It's not that Xu Chunjun's methods are insufficient, but they all have scruples and don't dare to hurt Lu Yuzhi's heart.
"Unless you kill me, I will never let go!" Hongxian gritted his teeth and thought silently in his heart.
As long as Lu Yuzhi takes pity on her and protects her, there will be nothing others can do to her.
"Mom and Dad, your spirits in heaven must help me achieve my wish." Then she prayed silently in her heart, "It depends on this time whether I will be wearing silks and satins or rags for the rest of my life."
It was already late at night, and the sound of the watchman's banging music drifted into people's dreams.
Hongxian blew out the candle and buried her face in the brocade quilt. She was about to sleep.
