Male supporting role is not a stepping stone

Time flies by, and a year has passed in the blink of an eye. With goals and motivation, the three brothers of the Su family showed talents that surprised their parents and wives.

From not knowing a single big word to being able to read and write by themselves, in a short period of time, several young people who have been doing hard labor have actually become scholars.

In comparison, the growth of the fifth brother Su is not so impressive. After all, he has been studying for five years, and he was often praised by the teacher for his intelligence. On the surface, it seems that there is not much change.

In fact, only Yang Yan knows that he is the one with the best qualifications among the brothers. Although he has no famous teacher to teach him before, his vision is limited, but he has a good foundation.

This year, I have learned from him and gained a lot of knowledge. The whole person has made a qualitative leap. With his current level, the title of scholar can be said to be within his reach, and even the title of juren is 70% to 80% certain.

However, Yang Yan was not in a hurry to let him go. Seeing that he had mastered the knowledge in the books, he sent him out to study. Reading thousands of books is not as good as traveling thousands of miles. Many things can only be understood more deeply after personal experience.

Besides, the people who are eyeing him have not been found yet. Yang Yan spread a white paper on the desk and picked up the pen with a smile. It is time to eliminate some unstable factors.

***

Compared with the peace and joy of the Su family and the unity of brothers, the days of Jinshouhou Mansion this year can be said to be chaotic. It should be said that since the real prince was replaced, there has been no day of peace in the mansion.

In the past, Zuo Yangyan showed extraordinary talent when he was young. He could speak eloquently and advance and retreat at a young age. He passed the examination of Xiucai and Juren without the grace of the family. He was just like a child from another family.

Almost every person of his age in the circle of the rich and powerful has been compared to him and scolded by his elders, which can be said to have attracted enough hatred. When they found out that he was not the real prince of the Marquis's Mansion, there were countless people who mocked him and took advantage of his misfortune.

The reason why they did not step on him in person was not because these people were unwilling, but because the original owner was alert enough to know that his changed status would easily lead to trouble. He never gave them a chance to stay in the mansion all day long under the pretext of studying.

Originally, he had planned very well. Although he was not the biological son of the Marquis and his wife, the hard work they had put in over the past ten years was real. In this world, many families would be willing to make friends with promising students even if they had no relationship with them.

They formed such a deep friendship by accident. As long as he was still useful, the Marquis's Mansion would not be willing to let him go. When he achieved fame, the Marquis's Mansion would definitely lend a hand, and he could use it to climb to a high position and give back.

It was a mutually beneficial matter for both parties. The original owner reached a tacit understanding with Marquis Jinshou. He felt at ease staying in the Marquis's mansion. The only thing he didn't expect was Zuo Yangyi.

It can be said that he was implicated by the original owner. In the past, those people envied Marquis Jinshou for having a good son. When the Marquis's mansion got back his own son who grew up in a farmhouse, they were ridiculed.

Zuo Yangyi had just come from a simple thatched house that could only shelter him from the wind and rain to an exquisite fairy-like garden. Before he had enjoyed a few days of rich life, he was covered in the malice of these "superior people".

They smiled, but they looked at him as if they were looking at something dirty. They ridiculed him from beginning to end in a plain tone with a special charm, but he didn't even understand what they said.

It was only later that he hid behind the scenes and learned from the maids and servants what those people meant. They thought his words and deeds were vulgar and unpresentable, and laughed at him for digging in the soil since he was a child and having a smell of soil on his body, and despised his rough face and hands covered with callous scars.

What he couldn't stand the most was that he was compared with Zuo Yangyan, who was taken away by mistake. Although the other person was fake and he was the real prince, in the eyes of these people, one was in the sky and the other was in the mud, and he was not even worthy of carrying shoes for others.

The young man's mind was sensitive and could not stand being provoked. He quarreled with others for the first time in the circle of power and wealth, and then started fighting. After being guided by someone with ulterior motives, he took the resentment on the original owner.

After that, the Marquis's Mansion had a small quarrel every two days and a big quarrel every three days. The Marquis's wife felt sorry for her son who had suffered so many years outside, so she naturally sided with him. The Marquis of Jinshou was also troubled by the quarrel, and the original owner was sent away.

When his legs were crippled and lost their value, the mansion never mentioned taking him back again, but the mansion did not return to peace because of his departure.

Marquis Jinshou was eager to cultivate his own son into a talent, and hired a famous teacher to arrange heavy academic work for him. Zuo Yangyi suddenly came to a completely different environment. He was sensitive and inferior, and someone often provoked him in his ears. He was stubborn and believed that his father looked down on him.

The young man's means of expressing anger were immature and ridiculous. He refused to do anything he was asked to do, and he insisted on trying things that he was not allowed to touch. He also had a mother who was spoiled by her for many years because of her heartache, and he was seen to be more and more unruly.

Now when people in the capital mentioned the real prince of the Marquis Jinshou Mansion, they all shook their heads and lamented that people were greatly affected by the environment. Meng Mu's mother moved three times for her son was really wise.

The Marquis's wife occasionally heard about her son's reputation outside, and she was very angry, but she had no way to deal with him. Beating, giving up, scolding, listening, he would not listen.

Originally, she had planned to teach him slowly, hoping that he would eventually understand things over time. However, a piece of news she received that day made her unable to sit still any longer.

Zuo Yangyi skipped class again and drank and had fun with others until it was almost curfew before returning home drunk. As soon as he entered his yard, he was stunned. The hall was brightly lit, and Mrs. Hou sat in the middle with a sullen face, looking at him with a bright look in her eyes. With anger.

He had sobered up a little, but he didn't pay much attention to it. He walked in with a smile and said, "Why are you here in person? If you have something to do, please send someone to ask me to come over to you."

"I did send someone to call you, but unfortunately I couldn't find anyone despite repeated calls." Mrs. Hou said coldly, "Where have you been fooling around again?"

"How can you say it's fooling around?" Zuo Yangyi staggered two steps, fell into the chair opposite her, picked up the tea cup in front of her and drank it all in one gulp, saying, "I'm going to drink as a host for my friend's birthday. Had two drinks.”

"Can those people you have made friends be called friends?" Madam Hou raised her eyebrows, "Some of the sons of petty officials and businessmen are all followers of others. They just take a fancy to your identity."

"I don't like hearing what my mother said anymore," Zuo Yangyi said unhappily, "What about those from petty officials and merchants? Don't you think you can't make friends if you don't have a high status?"

"Make friends?" Mrs. Hou was angry when she saw his unsparing look, and said coldly, "You treat others as friends, but others may not be sincere to you. If you are not the prince of the Hou family, do you think those people still treat you?" Are you just trying to please you?"

"It turns out that in my mother's heart, she looks at me just like everyone else," Zuo Yangyi sneered and said, "I, Zuo Yangyi, am just a farmer who forages for food in the soil. I got lucky and became the heir apparent of the Hou Mansion. How can I be worthy of being truly friends with others?”

"Yi'er!" Mrs. Hou said angrily, "Why did you ever have such intention?"

"It doesn't matter if you have it or not," Zuo Yangyi covered his eyes with his big hand and said a little tiredly, "I'm very dizzy now. If mother wants to scold me, why don't you wait until I wake up and come back tomorrow, otherwise I won't be able to remember it. It’s time to make you angry again.”

Mrs. Hou was so angry that her chest was tight, she took a deep breath to calm down, and said to him as calmly as possible: "Yi'er, mother knows that you have suffered a lot of grievances, so I have always tried my best to follow you. "

"Mom, I just want you to live a happy life. Anyway, you are the heir apparent, and you will inherit this great palace in the future, so you can always guarantee that you will have enough food and clothing throughout your life."

As she spoke, her expression became serious: "But the situation is different now. Do you know that your father recommended your eldest brother to study in the Imperial College today?"

"Study, just study. If he likes to read, just read!" Zuo Yangyi said nonchalantly.

"That's the Imperial College, not just any academy!" Madam Hou was almost pissed off by his attitude. "Do you understand what this means?"

"What?" Zuo Yangyi really didn't understand.

"What, what, you've been back for so long, why are you still unclear about the situation?" Madam Hou couldn't help lowering her voice and roared, "The Imperial College is the most advanced school in the entire dynasty. In addition to those with outstanding talent and learning, all noble families also have There’s only one spot available.”

"We can only have one person in the Marquis Mansion. It used to be A Yan. When he leaves, you should be the one to take over. It's just because you don't know a single Chinese character that the Imperial College has not let go. Now the Marquis has put this The quota is given to Zuo Yangan, do you understand what your father means? "

"He is dissatisfied with you. He feels that you can't hold up the wall, so he gave the precious position to your concubine. He wants to support his concubine's eldest son. Do you think you can still hold the position of heir apparent? Is it stable?”

"You have only been back for a short time, so you may not understand the meaning. Let me tell you this. As the crown prince, you will not only inherit the title of Marquis of Jin Shou in the future, but you will also receive 70% of all the property when the family is divided."

"The remaining 30% needs to be divided among all your brothers. The Marquis has five heirs, which means that except for the crown prince, each of your brothers only gets a quarter of the 30%."

After hearing her mother's hoarse words, Zuo Yangyi roughly understood the seriousness of the matter, but he didn't turn pale or show regret as she imagined. He just stayed quiet for a long time and said calmly: "Oh - —" made a sound.

Mrs. Hou: "..."

She stood up, and the figure reflected on the wall by the candlelight stooped a bit: "Forget it, you are not in a hurry yourself, what's the use of me worrying about you?"

But even though he was talking about this, when he glanced sideways, the young man still looked that lazy, as if he didn't care about anything.

Mrs. Hou was completely desperate for her son, and she waved her sleeves angrily and left the place. But Zuo Yangyi still kept one hand covering his face and did not move. People who didn't know thought he was Was asleep.

Angrily returning to her apartment, Mrs. Hou swept away the tea sets on the table with a wave of her hand. She sat down on the stool and punched the table angrily: "I have no sense of crisis, and I can't hear good words." , How did I give birth to such a thing?"

"Sometimes I wonder if I really made the mistake of hugging him in the first place. The Marquis is very brave, and I don't think I'm stupid. His appearance doesn't look like the blood of either of us."

"Madam," the old woman next to her was shocked, "this is not something to be said lightly. If the prince finds out, wouldn't it alienate the relationship between mother and son?"

"I understand Nanny Yang," Mrs. Hou took a deep breath and exhaled, "Isn't it just the two of us that I would say this?"

She pressed her temples, only to feel a splitting headache, and said: "I really don't know what evil I did in my previous life. God wants to punish me like this. I have raised a son for sixteen years, but in the end he is not my biological child. What if If I didn’t discover this, why would I be in such a difficult situation with Yan’er’s intelligence?”

"Madam, you must never say such words again in the future," Nanny Yang stepped forward to rub her head and advised, "Mr. Yan is dead. No matter how unwilling Madam is, it has become a fact. Can you do it in the future?" The only one I can rely on is Prince Yi.”

"Why don't I understand?" Mrs. Hou leaned on her helplessly and said feebly, "But you have seen Yi'er's attitude today with your own eyes. He is so muddy and has no sense of crisis. How can he Can you expect it?”

"The prince is just too young to understand Madam's good intentions." Madam Yang rolled her eyes and thought of a way, "Madam might as well discuss with the Marquis to advance the prince's wedding date."

"It is said that men start a family and start a career. This is still before starting a family. Maybe when the prince gets married and has children, he will understand the responsibility when he has concerns in his heart."

"This..." Mrs. Hou hesitated, "Will it be useful?"

"I don't dare to say whether I have any slaves, but I heard that the eldest daughter of the Marquis of Nanxiang is a virtuous person, and she might be able to make the prince's prodigal son turn around?" Aunt Yang said in a low voice without stopping her hand, "Besides, the two of them already have a good relationship. The engagement is just an early marriage, no matter what the outcome, there will be no loss, what do you think, madam?"

As the old woman continued to press, Mrs. Hou's headache was relieved a lot. She closed her eyes and murmured: "Mama is right, maybe this is also a way."

The next day she mentioned the matter to Jin Shouhou. After all, he was the legitimate son. Although he was very dissatisfied, he still had some thoughts and agreed without much hesitation.

After finding a suitable time, Marquis Jin Shou paid a special visit to Marquis Nanxiang. No one knows what the two discussed exactly. However, when he left the house, the wedding date of the two families was set for more than three months, in advance. It's been almost a year.

As for what the two parties involved, Zuo Yangyi and Qin Yunxin, are thinking, these days, they are very particular about their parents' orders and the matchmaker's words. Even if it is their marriage, as juniors, they have no room to interfere.

The wedding came as promised three months later. Logically speaking, the marriage between the two princes was a grand event. However, the generation of the Nanxiang Houfu was no longer as famous as its predecessors, and the real and fake heir apparent of the Jinshou Houfu years ago caused a lot of uproar. .

The newly recognized crown prince Zuo Yangyi has caused troubles from time to time this year, and he can be said to be "outstanding". On the surface, this wedding looks very beautiful, but many people secretly laugh at it.

Some people lamented that Qin Yun's bad luck meant that she married high and married low. Even though the Nanxiang Marquis Mansion had declined in recent years, with her family background and talents, she would have been able to marry her if she had not happened to be discussing marriage with the Jinshou Marquis Mansion at this juncture. Find a better man.

There are also people who feel pity for the Marquis of Jin Shou. The good legitimate son was taken to a farmer's home to be raised. After a hundred years, Zuo Yangyi will not be able to support the lintel of the Marquis' mansion.

All said and done, everyone looked down upon the real prince of the Hou family, and felt that anyone who had anything to do with him was more or less unlucky.

As expected, these rumors reached Zuo Yangyi's ears, and the young man's self-esteem was greatly hit, so much so that on the day of his wedding, he had a straight face without a smile.

And this has once again become the reason for him to be criticized. Many people think that he is a little ignorant of praise. A peasant boy is lucky enough to marry a noble girl who is famous in the capital for her talent, beauty and moral character. It's okay not to be grateful. Still showing off at the wedding, I really don’t know what to say.

The people who said these words never thought that Zuo Yangyi was originally the legitimate son of the Hou family, but unfortunately fell into a poor family, which gave them the opportunity to attack the south.

Fortunately, this bit of talk did not exist in the capital for long, and was soon overwhelmed by another extremely sensational news.

The story started three months ago. Xianyun Jushi has released a new storybook. The release of Fangjing caused a rush to buy it. Some people even arrived in front of the bookstore as soon as the curfew was over, just to buy their favorite book as soon as possible. book.

Although Xianyun layman has only appeared in the public eye for a year, he has already occupied half of the world of Chinese fiction. Except for some old and young scholars who regard "extracurricular books" as a scourge, almost all literati They all became his fans.

The world of martial arts he describes is satisfying and exciting, and the stories he tells about immortals seem to really show the world of immortals before people's eyes. The demons and ghosts he writes are different from people's impressions but are reasonable and well-founded. Those monsters of flesh and blood seem to really exist in the human world.

This time, Master Xianyun writes about ordinary officialdom matters. Those who come here for the wonderful stories will be a little disappointed, but for those who are currently serving as officials, have served as officials, and have some understanding of officialdom, after reading this But very shocked.

Otherwise, the main reason is that what he said is too real.

It can be seen that the layman Xianyun actually avoids taboos, and he points out many unspoken rules and dark places, but it is precisely this that makes people understand that he knows a lot about officialdom.

Because he has always been very mysterious and hid himself well, countless people had speculated on his identity but could not confirm it. As soon as this novel came out, most people were convinced that he must have retired from officialdom. And most of them have held high positions.

This storybook is not very impressive at first glance, and is far less exciting than his previous works, but the more you read it, the more fascinating it becomes. After all, most scholars still aim to become officials, and they can't help but think: If I encounter the situation in the storybook, what will I do?

After putting yourself into it, you can't help but become more addicted to it. There was such a small county magistrate who was sent out with the storybook. After encountering the same thing above, he couldn't help but try the irrigation method described in it, and this attempt was successful!

If this method was offered by his subordinates, he might even take the credit for himself, but it was written openly in the best-selling storybook.

The small county magistrate knew that he couldn't cover it up anyway, so he simply reported the matter directly to his superiors. Although he couldn't monopolize all the credit, he was brave enough to try, and maybe he could get a good impression.

And what he expected was not wrong. The prefect who was above him had been transferred out for two years and was in need of political achievements. After receiving his report, he quickly used his own manpower and material resources to try to do other cases in the storybook.

Then he found that most of them were feasible, and only a few were not done because they did not understand. He was ecstatic and immediately reported the matter, and mentioned the name of the young county magistrate in the memorial.

The memorial went straight to the emperor, and then someone came to investigate. After confirming that it was correct, the emperor was shocked and ordered his subordinates to find this Xianyun hermit and bring him to the palace to meet the emperor. Once the news came out, it caused a sensation.

Compared with the legends of rivers and lakes where people are happy to take revenge, the stories of gods and immortals that are longed for, and the secrets of strange and bizarre monsters and ghosts, although the affairs of the officialdom are also exciting, they are relatively not so attractive.

Many people who read Xianyun hermit's new storybook before were very disappointed, and some even asserted that he had run out of ideas. Unexpectedly, things took a turn for the better. A storybook even shocked the emperor?

Those who had quit being fans and stepped back were inevitably stunned. Some of them had been so arrogant in front of everyone that they didn't dare to go out for a while. The book, which had been a little sluggish in sales, also caused a wave of buying again, even crazier than when it first came out.

This is a book that even the emperor was shocked. Although there is already a copy at home, who doesn't have a relative or friend? There must be a copy for those far away!

Unfortunately, the bookstore only has so much stock, and it will take time to increase the printing. Those who didn't buy it had to turn their attention to the previous books of Xianyun Jushi and swept them all away.

The bookstore owner shed tears of joy, and was very glad that he had a keen eye and spent a lot of money to keep this noble man.

While the outside world was in a commotion and rushed to buy the book, the emperor's people also followed the clues and found the Su family in He'an Village.

"Mr. Su, His Majesty invites you." The leading guard looked at him with some surprise.

He thought that the person who could write such a book should be a great scholar, but he met a young man who was not even twenty years old, and he was one of the protagonists of the story of the true and false prince a year ago.

If they had not found the clues themselves and carefully checked that there was no ghostwriter behind him, he would not have believed it anyway.

"Thank you for leading the way." Yang Yan was not surprised by their appearance. He should have gone to the emperor. If the royal family could not find this place, he would be really surprised.