The capital of Chang'an is divided into two counties, East and West, which are divided into counties. The east city is Wannian County, and the west city is Chang'an County. The name means Wannian Chang'an.
In the capital city of Chang'an, the structure of the houses was regulated. The palace was located in the middle, facing north and south, and then centered on a north-south line, extending to the east and west sides.
Ying Guogong's Mansion is located on the south side of Chang'an County.
It was noon in June, the sun was shining high, and the southeast corner courtyard of the Duke's Mansion was filled with green trees and vibrant flowers and plants, creating a picturesque scene.
But the sun's scorching heat will not be restrained by this picturesque scenery.
Although the road paved with bluestone is clean and tidy, it is now turned into a hot fire slab.
A woman was kneeling on the hard and hot bluestone pavement.
The thin clothes on her body were blown close to her body by the wind, outlining her slender waist.
Her knife-like shoulders were as thin as a blade of grass swaying in the cold wind.
A head full of green hair gathered on top of her head and tied into a bun, but her temples were a little messy at the moment.
Her delicate, flower-like face turned pale with pain.
But she still pursed her bloodless lips tightly, and stubbornly raised her swan-like neck.
There was a look of determination on her pale face, but her beautiful eyes stared closely at a middle-aged woman in front of her.
"I told you, I didn't steal your aunt's jade hairpin!"
Her voice was crisp and clear, and it sounded really nice, but there was a slight tremor in it, whether it was fear or pain.
But that stubborn expression never flinched because of the hot ground.
"Wu Zhao, how dare you keep your mouth shut? You stole Madam's jade hairpin without admitting your guilt, but you still talk back. You bitch, do you know that the jade hairpin you stole is the Madam's favorite thing? You can just return it. I'm okay with that."
I have put in a good word for you, and now you deserve it even if you are burned to death."
A middle-aged woman with a tall figure and a male appearance looks powerful at first glance.
The more she spoke, the angrier she became, throwing out her right hand and slapping Wu Zhao hard on the face.
In an instant, a red mark appeared on the face that could be broken by blows, and bloodshot eyes oozed from the corners of her mouth. It could be seen that the middle-aged woman's slap did not retain any force.
Wu Zhao grunted in pain, but his eyes were fixed on the middle-aged woman, and he wiped the blood on the corner of his mouth with his sleeve. Tears filled his beautiful eyes, but she tried not to let them out, and said in a hateful voice:
"I didn't steal the jade hairpin. It was my brother who asked me to clean the eldest lady's room this morning. You are a bitch-like shrew and you are just a domestic slave. Remember today's humiliation. I will definitely repay you a hundredfold in the future."
The middle-aged woman was furious and stretched out her hand to slap her again. Suddenly she met Wu Zhao's eyes and felt a shiver in her heart for no reason. This slap could no longer be slapped.
She was frightened by the cold and stern eyes of the delicate girl in front of her, and thought to herself:
"This woman is so courageous. How could she have known that she would never have a successful career? If she is offended severely today, and one day she becomes more powerful, she will risk her own life."
What's more, she also knew full well that the eldest lady's jade hairpin was not lost.
When she went to the eldest lady's room in the morning, she was surprised to see the eldest lady secretly hiding the jade hairpin in the box.
It was said that Wu Zhao stole her jade hairpin just to find a reason to drive Wu Zhao, mother and daughter out of the Duke's mansion.
Since the death of the Duke of Guo, Wu Zhao, mother and daughter have no supporter.
At home, she was treated like servants and bullied by her two half-brothers. Mother and daughter were not even welcomed by the eldest lady.
Perhaps she was afraid that Wu Zhao and her daughter would divide the family property, so the eldest lady had been causing trouble for Wu Zhao and her daughter for various reasons since last year. The purpose was obvious.
As the lady's personal maid and the housekeeper of the Duke's mansion, of course she knows that.
This is also the reason why he dared to slap Wu Zhao unscrupulously just now.
However, the scruples were quickly abandoned because she was the eldest lady’s confidant and could be said to be under one person in the Duke’s Mansion.
Even the current prince has to call her wet nurse.
She is really becoming more and more timid. A person with no background and no future is actually afraid of her turning around in this three-acre area of the Duke's Mansion!
She was even more afraid of the look in the eyes of a little girl, and she was actually timid just now, so she became a little angry and said angrily:
"Little bitch, do you think you are still a young lady from the Duke's mansion? To tell you the truth, you stole something and the eldest lady asked me to discipline you. Even if I beat you to death, no one would dare to say a word, you little bitch,
You have a good face, keep this face to seduce men in the next life, if you don't admit it today, I will make you kneel and die here."
As he spoke, the middle-aged woman slapped her hard again.
Wu Zhao's head was buzzing from the slap, and his body that had been upright just a moment ago fell down...
No matter how strong her character is, she is still just a teenage girl.
Even if your ambitions are as high as the sky, you will have to completely collapse under the reality.
The determination to endure the humiliation and avenge the shame quickly disappeared like a drop of water in the desert at this moment.
The tears that I had been holding back just now flowed out involuntarily, and then I burst into tears.
She struggled hard to straighten her body on her knees, but she still didn't dare to stand up.
It’s not that I don’t want to but I don’t dare.
Because she knew that if she stood up, her mother and sister would be implicated.
They may even be kicked out of the Duke's Mansion immediately.
How would these weak women live on the streets?
Although he was often bullied in the house, there was always something to eat.
His doting father passed away last year.
The elder brother, who inherited his father's title and family property, regarded his mother and daughter as a thorn in his side, and the talkative person in the mansion became the eldest lady.
As a young lady in the mansion, she doesn't have enough to eat, doesn't have warm clothes, and doesn't even have any jewelry of her own.
Wearing the same clothes as the servants, doing more things than the servants, and even receiving more beatings and scoldings than the servants, she was fed up with this kind of life.
Two months ago, it was reported that the palace was going to choose a concubine, so she secretly signed up without telling her family.
She originally thought that because of her beauty, Ken would be chosen so that she could quickly escape from her miserable life.
But two months passed and there was still no news.
Now she has given up completely and feels that her future is like a bottomless black hole with no hope at all.
As the saying goes, there is no greater grief than death, and at this moment, her desire to die suddenly came to her.
In her little heart, she naively believed that at least her mother and sister would not be affected after her death.
The brothers would at least buy a straw mat or prepare a thin coffin after her death.
Instead of being driven out of the house, left to starve to death on the streets, and then have their bodies eaten by wild dogs.
Smiling sadly, he straightened his body and knelt numbly on the hot bluestone pavement.
Seeing that Wu Zhao still refused to admit it, the middle-aged woman raised her hand and wanted to slap him again.
At this time, Wu Zhao's beautiful face showed a sad smile, and he looked at the middle-aged woman without saying a word, with a strange light flashing in his eyes.
Looking at the lifeless eyes, the middle-aged woman was shocked, and her raised hand could no longer be lowered.
The next moment, Wu Zhao stood up, with a petite body like a brisk sika deer.
He ran straight towards the well entrance in the courtyard.
Just hearing a muffled sound of "porphyrin", her body disappeared in front of the middle-aged woman's eyes.
It is said that sunshine always comes after the storm, and there is a rainbow after the storm.
But how many people can survive the violent storm before the sun comes?
Wu Zhao didn't know if she could survive it, but she didn't want to.
So what if we get through it?
They come and go, except that their hair on the temples has turned white and they have aged, but they are still like the birds in the cage.
Even if you die, you will finally be freed from the misery you have suffered.
At this time, Wu Zhao didn't know that life is so unexpected and does not follow common sense.
Even the bird in the cage sometimes sings loudly and soars into the sky.
Also, if life is predicted in advance, what fun is there?
But the middle-aged woman was completely stunned. She didn't want Wu Zhao to die like this.
She just wanted to use abusive methods to force the mother and daughter to leave the Duke's Mansion.
After all, Wu Zhao is also a young lady from the Duke's mansion.
Wu Zhao died without admitting to the theft, even though it was suicide.
But this kind of following offense will be beheaded at this time.
"Help, the lady committed suicide by throwing herself into a well..."
A scream spread throughout the entire Guogong Mansion.
Then there was a splash and another sound of falling into the water.
The panicked middle-aged woman didn't have time to think about whether she knew how to swim, so she jumped in to save others!
In a daze, the middle-aged woman heard chaotic footsteps approaching, and was later rescued.
After spitting a few times, she finally breathed a sigh of relief when she saw with blurred eyes that Wu Zhao was still breathing next to her.
At this time, a man wearing the eunuch's uniform walked in under the leadership of Chen Guangfu, the foreign affairs director of the Duke's Mansion.
The eunuch frowned involuntarily as he looked at the two people lying on the ground and the somewhat panicked servant.
He looked at Chen Guangfu somewhat unhappily and asked in his voice like a broken duck.
"What's going on? Who is Wu Zhao?"
Chen Guangfu panicked when he heard the eunuch's question, so he had to bravely say that only middle-aged women know better.
The middle-aged woman didn't know why: "If I go back to my father-in-law, this is Wu Zhao. The young lady made a mistake and stole the eldest lady's jade hairpin. I followed the madam's instructions to educate her. Unexpectedly, the young lady had a strong temperament and suddenly committed suicide by jumping into the well..."
When the eunuch saw Wu Zhao lying dying on the ground, he didn't care what the middle-aged woman said and raised his voice and asked, "Did you just say she was Wu Zhao?"
Then his face suddenly changed and he scolded: "His Majesty just issued a decree to bestow this girl on meritorious ministers, but you were almost forced to death. You are really brave."
The eunuch is not stupid, on the contrary, he is very smart. There are more dark and dirty ways in the palace than this.
If you make a mistake and teach yourself a few words, then you commit suicide by jumping into a well, who are you kidding?
What's more, the eldest lady is also Wu Zhao's mother in name. As a daughter, it is necessary to make a fuss about taking a jade hairpin from her mother and ask a servant to teach the young lady? There is obviously something wrong with it.
When the middle-aged woman heard the words that Wu Zhao was bestowed upon a meritorious official by the Holy One, her liver and gallbladder burst into tears, her mind was lost, and she collapsed on the ground like a pile of mud.
In Wu Zhao, the pheasant flew up to the branch and became a phoenix.
Fortunately, she didn't die on the spot, otherwise he would have forced her to death as soon as the Holy Emperor issued the decree. This would be a major crime against the nine clans!
Wu Zhao is now on a high branch, and he will definitely not be in a good place in the future.
They all blame themselves for why they were obsessed with ghosts in the past and why they wanted to punish her to death.
It's a pity that there is no regret medicine in the world.