Divine Doctor: Daughter of the First Wife (Yang Shi Liu) 801

949

The First Round of Enticement

There was a strange smell in the temple. There was mold and trash that had not been cleaned up, and there was the urine and feces of young beggars, as well as the smell of leftover food that had been obtained through begging. When A-Huan and A-Ruo entered, they nearly threw up. If it was not for Zhu Kongshan’s fierce gaze watching them, they would have already turned around and run away, never wanting to return to this place again. Aside from Zhu Kongshan’s threatening gaze, her words did not hold back in the slightest: “If you leave through that door right now, I guarantee you that the people in the Sheng Palace will beat you and drive you out tonight. Don’t forget your status. You’re just a servant. If you no longer have the Zhu family, you will quickly fall to this sort of place.”

The two maidservants had become quite infuriated by Zhu Kongshan, yet Zhu Kongshan had the eighth prince as a pillar of support. She also had a noble lady for an aunt in the Imperial Palace. Even if the two wanted to scurry off, they did not have the courage to do so. They just spent their day thinking about finding a chance to write a letter to the head wife and the eldest young miss in Peng Zhou when they had a chance. Unfortunately, the security in the Sheng Palace was very tight. No matter where they went, there were people watching them. Even secretly sneaking out of the palace was impossible. Even now when they had come out with Zhu Kongshan, the driver of the carriage was not a normal driver. Instead, it was one of the Sheng Palace’s guards, and he was there under the pretense of protecting the young miss. Under this sort of pressure, even if the two did not want to, they needed to listen to what Zhu Kongshan said to avoid being complained about to the eighth prince. That really would be a disaster. Now, they could only hope that the matter in the capital could be quickly resolved. As for what the eldest young miss had said to them about taking advantage of the situation to climb, the two were not even thinking about such a thing.

The temple suddenly saw three people who were different from the usual arrive. The beggars who had not gone out to beg were stunned for a while. They could not understand it. Why would such a fine young miss come to this sort of place? Even if they were looking for laborers, they should have gone to the labor market?

Zhu Kongshan had become accustomed to it. Looking at the confused and worried looks on the faces of the beggars, she took a few steps forward then looked around. In the end, she bent down and squatted in front of a young beggar, gently asking: “Little brother, do you still recognize me?”

The little beggar looked at her for a long time before his eyes suddenly lit up: “It’s you? You’re His Highness the eighth prince’s cousin?” He recognized her: “On the day that you entered the city, you helped me up and gave me some money.” This was none other than the young child that had been helped up by Zhu Kongshan near the embroidery shop. He looked at Zhu Kongshan in confusion, “Young Miss, why have you come here? This place is too dirty. It’s not a place that you should have come to.”

Zhu Kongshan did not say anything and only shook her head. She then took out her handkerchief and wiped the beggar’s lips. The young beggar was in the middle of eating half of a dirty pancake. Seeing Zhu Kongshan wipe his mouth, he dodged back in fear: “I can’t, I can’t. The handkerchief of a young miss is worth more than my life. It must not get dirty.”

Zhu Kongshan sighed: “What are you afraid of? I’m not a bad person. Regardless of how you viewed His Highness the eighth prince in the past, I have come from Peng Zhou. Although I am his cousin, I have never interacted with him much. I came into the capital to visit my aunts in the palace and did not know what sort of bad things my cousin has done. But I am me, and I never thought of myself as a young miss from a lofty family while in Peng Zhou. Now that I have come to the capital, it’s natural that I still won’t. There’s no need to be afraid of me. There’s no need for any of you to be afraid of me. Since I can help wipe your mouths, I have no intention of arguing with you over a handkerchief.” She was someone who already had an elegant appearance, and her voice was soft and moving. It made the distance between people feel so much smaller. All of the beggars in this temple suddenly felt as though a spring breeze had blown past, making things feel very comfortable.