Priceless: A widow with a baby asks the prince to marry again

Chapter 144 The Same Cold Winter Night

"How did you spend those winter nights?" Liu Rusi asked softly.

Seeing her somewhat dazed look, Chu Shiyu's heart trembled slightly. He was lucky not to see it in reality, but in that dream he saw that she could be extremely cruel to him, which was often the way out found by refusing to give in in difficult situations...

"At first I used a stupid method, wearing all the clothes I had. Then I found that I got hot when I moved, so I started to practice. At first I was just practicing blindly, and later I found a martial arts manual of the Gentleman Sword in the book cabinet of Wenben Hall and practiced with a branch."

"However, there were still one or two months every year when it was too cold to bear. In the first two years, I would sneak into the room with a charcoal fire at night, crawl under the bed, and slip away before dawn. When I was nine years old, I went to sleep in the nanny's room one winter night. There was a mouse in the room. They looked everywhere for the mouse, but couldn't find it..."

Liu Rusi continued: "I found you?"

Chu Shiyu nodded and sighed, "I felt extremely humiliated at that time, and I began to feel resentful. Why do others call me a prince, but I live like a mouse?"

After planting the last pit of seeds, Liu Rusi recalled that equally cold winter night...

In the boarding school, other parents would send winter clothes and quilts to their children, but she didn't. Fortunately, she was older than Chu Shiyu at that time. At the age of ten, she already had some ideas...

She would deliberately make friends with the girls in the same dormitory, chat with them in private at night, and sleep in other people's beds... She would also praise other people's clothes and lend them to her for a few days on the condition that they help her with homework.

But there are times when you can’t borrow or get anything…

And a year later, her classmates discovered that she was a neglected child.

Moral values ​​need to be shaped through education, but children are often not yet fully nurtured by civilization. She always thinks that the idea that people are inherently good is false! People do not distinguish between good and evil at the beginning! There is only the primitive law of the jungle, and children are most likely to bully the weak...

People who used to be on good terms with her no longer dared to play with her.

Until she couldn't get into bed, and her only thin blanket was soaked in water...

After turning off the lights, she fetched a basin of cold water in the dark, poured it on the sleeping bully's head, and took the opportunity to beat her up.

Although she was beaten and punished by the teacher afterwards, the school gave her a thick quilt because they were afraid she would freeze to death. And for various reasons, she was not bullied behind her back for a long time.

"Can you... tell me your story?" Chu Shiyu couldn't help but ask.

Liu Rusi paused, recalled for a moment, then sighed softly: "Winter in the southwest is not that cold. Before my mother passed away, she would sleep with me..."

"After my mother passed away, my uncle gave me a quilt, but the next year he pawned it to pay off his gambling debts. I was too embarrassed to ask my uncle for help again, but he found out about it himself and let me stay at his house when it was cold."

Chu Shiyu felt a little disappointed. This was Liu Cui's story, not Liu Rusi's... She had talked to Qin Lie about Liu Rusi.

I don't know when I will be willing to tell him...

They each carried a kettle to water the plants. Liu Rusi smiled and said, "My story is quite plain. Let's talk about you. What happened later? How did you get by after you couldn't keep me warm?"

"Later, I suddenly realized that not only is a son's status based on his mother's, but his father's as well. No matter how I compare to other princes, I am at least a prince. Even if the servants are powerful, they are still servants and cannot be disrespectful to me in public."

"I just started to make a scene. When my father came to Wenben Hall to check the students' homework once a month, I told him all the harsh treatment and asked to leave Jinren Palace."

Chu Shiyu shook his head and smiled: "Then I realized that the previous dilemma could be solved so easily... I was really stupid before."

"People are limited by their vision and experience, and you can only see the emperor in Wenben Hall, so you must not be very close to him normally, right? You grew up in the deep palace, and you are so young and ignorant of the world, so it is understandable that you can rely on him... "

Liu Rusi analyzed and comforted him, then asked, "Have you left Jinren Palace?"

"No, Concubine Xian pushed the fault onto the servants, and my father only blamed her for failing to supervise and manage her subordinates, and still let me work under her name." Chu Shiyu said indifferently.

"Then...how do you say it's solved?" Liu Rusi was slightly stunned.

"Since I mentioned that, there will naturally be people watching over my food, clothing and other expenses. Even if there is no one, Concubine Xian will be afraid that I will make trouble in front of my father again. As long as my basic life is not in jeopardy, everything else is normal. I have the energy to do other things." Chu Shiyu suddenly realized that people don't need much to live...

"You said... that when you were nine years old, your biological mother was reported... Did you... find out about your biological mother at that time?" Liu Rusi asked hesitantly.

"No, I just started planning, just..."

Chu Shiyu suddenly paused, a confused look in his eyes, and murmured: "I only asked Xiao Jizi, if my biological mother's position is promoted, can I return to her side..."

"Heh..." He suddenly sneered and questioned, "A concubine cheating on someone is something that damages the dignity of the royal family... How could he do that?"

But in a moment he asked himself and answered, "Yes, this matter has never really been spread out, and a woman cannot bring down his dignity. And because of this, I have never suspected that he was the cause... He has all the information, and he may have known about the affair between my biological mother and the deputy commander a long time ago."

Liu Rusi couldn't help but feel a little scared, and said in a hollow voice: "Maybe in his eyes, this is a necessary process... Is the late queen really willing to die?"

Chu Shiyu's eyes flickered, and he said slowly and softly: "For me, I want to strengthen myself, not my biological mother. For my eldest brother, I can use my mother's family, but I can't rely on my mother's family..."

"Although he is devoted to the Great Xia Dynasty..." Liu Rusi didn't know how to comment. Perhaps from the perspective of an emperor, these were the correct things to do...

Chu Shiyu looked normal again: "As my father wished, after my biological mother was sentenced to death, even if the situation became more difficult, I gave up the idea of ​​seeking asylum."

"I turned around and began to explore those explicit or invisible rules, and began to learn to use the rules to protect myself and to strengthen myself... I soon realized that the greatest power in the entire palace and even in Daxia is my father."

"As a prince, I am allowed to borrow the power of the emperor. However, if I want to borrow more, I must get the approval of my father, or at least his consent. For this reason, I began to study my father's preferences."

"At that time, I didn't have many sources of information. I found that my father didn't seem to have any hobbies. Money was no longer meaningful to him. As for women, after Xiaojiu was born, my father rarely visited his concubines, and there were no new people in the harem..."

Liu Rusi suddenly realized that maybe she was born later and didn't have time to participate in the fight for the throne according to the emperor's wishes... In terms of her mindset alone, this emperor really went to the extreme. She seemed to be ruthless and desireless, and everything she did was for Daxia.

Chu Shiyu continued to talk: "But at that time, I also had my own guess. In fact, there is no rule that the emperor has to check the prince's homework, but my father must go to the Wenben Hall every month and spend almost a day to test the prince. And there is a vague news that civil officials are more valued in the court, so the prime minister's faction can be so prosperous."

"So you started to put more effort into your studies?" Liu Rusi asked.

"Well, it seems to be useful. Food, clothing, money and other things are provided to me. Various rewards have gradually made me more and more materially well-off... But it seems to be useless. I have become a thorn in the eyes of others and have encountered more oppression and difficulties."

As they chatted, the two washed their hands. Chu Shiyu pulled her to sit down on the quiet corridor, looking relaxed, as if he was talking about someone else's suffering.

But Liu Rusi still gave necessary praise: "A tree that stands out in the forest will be destroyed by the wind. You are too outstanding...so you start to lie dormant again until you can escape from the cage of the palace, right?"

"Cage fighting, this term is very appropriate. No matter how well you fight in a cage, as long as the owner of the cage changes, the fate of the fighting beast inside will be controlled by the new owner."

Holding the little hand, Chu Shiyu said calmly: "I forgot which book I was reading, but I suddenly realized that it is meaningless to win over a few eunuchs in the palace or befriend a concubine. As long as the person on the dragon throne is replaced, everything that the people in the harem have worked so hard to build will change."

Her eyes drooped slightly, then lifted up again in an instant, and she continued, "So studying hard is useful and it broadens your horizons."

"Yes, and only what you have learned yourself will not disappear with the changes in the situation."

Chu Shiyu nodded slightly and said, "In the years that followed in the palace, I only maintained basic living needs and focused almost exclusively on studying and practicing martial arts. I endured things that I could tolerate, and used the rules to fight back when I couldn't tolerate them. I didn't fight for anything else, and gradually, many people in the palace treated me as nothing."

"Keep a low profile and make a stunning debut after leaving the palace." Liu Rusi praised.

Rui Feng's eyes narrowed into a smile, and he couldn't help but pull the person into his arms, obviously enjoying it very much.

However, he still truthfully recounted his past experiences: "I didn't know what to do right after I came out. I put all my efforts into offering suggestions in the court. But I soon realized that even if they were adopted, it would be useless."

"As a prince, I cannot hold an official position. Some gold, silver and land are insignificant. It means I have no real power and it is difficult for me to realize my ambitions. I have no maternal family and no influence in the court. If I want to be in charge, I can only recommend myself."

"When I was sixteen, there was a three-year drought in the north and I won a chance to provide disaster relief. It was then that I truly realized the way to fame, wealth and power."

"Not all subordinates assigned to us will obey orders. If we don't have the means, the officials, soldiers, and even the common people in the disaster area will become obstacles to disaster relief. I have to subdue a group of people first before I can really do anything. At the beginning, I used my status as a prince and imperial envoy to pressure them, but most of them pretended to obey but actually disobeyed."

These were not areas Liu Rusi had ever touched upon, so she asked in confusion, "What should we do next?"

"kill."

Chu Shiyu said calmly: "Disaster relief is urgent, there is no time to discuss it slowly. I picked out some blatant ones to scare the monkeys, and the rest can be used almost immediately."

Liu Rusi paused. Her inherent thinking...limited her imagination. It was hard for her to think of killing people. She asked softly, "Didn't any minister blame you?"

"Of course there are, but I found some evidence of the murdered people and sent it back to the capital. Even if someone accuses me of going too far, what can they do to me with my public identity?"

As he recounted these past events, Chu Shiyu himself also came to a realization that the formation of his own style of doing things all had traces to follow.

"So how effective is the disaster relief?"

Liu Rusi is more concerned about the influence on the general public. It seems that everyone can find a crime that is worthy of death.

"Compared with the trip to Xingzhou, it's a little worse. Compared with the disaster relief cases in the history of Daxia, it's above average. Judging by the court, it's probably below average." Chu Shiyu also has his own judgment on his own achievements.

"Is it because there is no power in the court?" Liu Rusi also thought of the reason.

"That's about right, but my father would have known the specific results. It was then that I realized that meritorious service itself was useless. My father would not grant power to me. I had to fight for it myself."

Chu Shiyu treated all these secret things as topics of conversation and told them frankly: "And I also understand that borrowing the power of others, even if it is from my father, is ultimately borrowing and can be taken back at any time. I have to gain power myself before I can take power."

"But can winning the imperial examination help you become successful?" Liu Rusi was completely at a loss.

"There's a phrase called 'become famous'."

This was also a major turning point in his life. Chu Shiyu laughed happily and said, "They denied my achievements, so I will make sure they can no longer deny it! I will make sure my father can no longer turn a deaf ear to it! Let the people of the world see it for themselves!"

"Indeed, no one can ignore the top spot in the gold list."

Liu Rusi responded and then asked, "But the identity of the prince will not be included in the examination. How is the imperial examination done?"

"During the previous disaster relief work, although most of them were hypocritical, there were also a few people who were loyal to their duties. I interacted more with those people, and thus came into contact with Sun Zhizhao's family." Chu Shiyu said with a smile.

"Mr. Sun? Is this related to him?" Liu Rusi asked in surprise.

"Well, he is the only son of a seventh-rank county official. A seventh-rank official has a quota for "Yinsheng", which means he can directly skip the college and provincial examinations and take the metropolitan examination..."

Chu Shiyu laughed: "But he always wanted to have a brother when he was young, so he thought of leaving the quota for his younger brother, and he started from the college entrance examination. He actually passed all the exams, but until he passed the imperial examination, he still didn't get the brother he wanted."

"Who is older, you or Mr. Sun?" Liu Rusi asked a soul-searching question.

The smile on Jun's face suddenly disappeared. Sun Zhizhao was half a year older than him... Why was there always that little age difference? !

"Cough cough..."

Chu Shiyu coughed twice and continued his original words seriously: "In short, I used the quota of the Sun family's students, used the pseudonym Sun Yushi, and bribed a few officials in charge of data entry and invigilation, and was able to participate in the examination."

"The Palace Examination will be held three days after the results of the Imperial Examination are announced. I did not show up in public before the Palace Examination, so no one, including my father, had time to notice. Once I entered the Palace Examination Hall, it was impossible for them to kick me out."

"As for the final result, I have already won the title of first place, and the essay for the palace examination is also written there. Is it intentional ignorance or letting me win two first places in a row? Father will naturally make the right choice."

Chu Shiyu's face was full of undisguised pride.

"It's a pity that it's inconvenient for you to take part in the provincial examination, otherwise you would have been able to win three prizes in a row."

Liu Rusi suddenly understood her son's desire to pass the exam all the way. He probably wanted the sense of accomplishment of overcoming all the obstacles. She just didn't know if little Qin Hao would fall down unexpectedly...