Li Shuyi is not so much Xiao Yi's concubine as Shen Zhuo's helper.
Li Shuyi entered Prince Duan's Mansion only three days after Shen Zhuo. She was the housekeeper specially hired by Princess Pingyang for Shen Zhuo.
Li Shuyi's father was Li Yuanxi, the magistrate of Yinzhou in Huaixi. Li Yuanxi has served in Yinzhou for more than ten years and has a good reputation and political achievements. When Li Shuyi was fifteen years old, Li Yuanxi was promoted to a doctor in the Ministry of Household Affairs and returned to Kyoto to serve.
Li Yuanxi was an upright and pedantic person, not good at flattering people, and the household department was in charge of money and food, so the water was very deep. Less than a year after he took office, he was sentenced to death row for embezzling disaster relief food funds.
Li Yuanxi was an incorruptible and unyielding man. He was imprisoned and tortured, but he refused to plead guilty and be imprisoned.
He has two sons and one daughter. Since he was imprisoned, his two sons have been running around to redress their father's injustice. But the family had just arrived, with no connections and no irrefutable evidence to overturn the case, so they ran into obstacles everywhere. In the end, the second son wanted to risk his life to beat the "Dengwen Drum" to redress his father's grievances. Who would have thought that before he even got to the drum, he would be plotted and beaten to half a disability.
Li Yuanxi's case was soon settled, and Qiu Houwen was sentenced to death.
On the eighth day of April, the Buddha's birthday, Li Shuyi wrote a huge petition of grievances and hung it on the only way to Huguo Temple. She knelt aside with a straw in her head.
It is common for poor families to sell their sons and daughters for money, but this is the first time that the legitimate daughter of a fifth-grade official sells her body to complain about injustice.
There was an endless stream of people who came to Huguo Temple to offer incense during the Buddha's Birthday. They surrounded Li Shuyi and watched the excitement on three floors, pointing and talking. But, it’s just a look.
Those who did not understand the grievances written in her petition were filled with indignation and cursed the traitors, but those who knew a little about it would avoid it as soon as they saw it. No one wanted to cause trouble.
Li Shuyi was dressed in plain clothes, and no one really came to help her from the early morning until she knelt in the moonlight. Just when she was filled with despair, a pair of gold-embroidered bush shoes stopped in front of her.
"Are you really willing to sell yourself?"
Li Shuyi heard a soft but cold female voice coming from above her head.
"Yes." Li Shuyi raised his head and said without hesitation, "As long as I can wash away the injustice of my father, I am willing to be a slave for the rest of my life."
"If I ask you to renounce love for the rest of your life, will you agree?"
"Yes!" Li Shuyi replied loudly.
As a result, Li Shuyi was brought back to Shen Mansion by Princess Pingyang.
At that time, Shen Zhuo was obsessed with Xiao Yi and wanted to marry him.
Princess Pingyang made Li Shuyi make a vow to help Shen Zhuo take care of the backyard for the rest of his life, to be loyal to her, to obey her, to love her, and to respect her. Although she will be given the title of concubine, she cannot touch Shen Zhuo's husband in the slightest. Otherwise, Li Yuanxi will get in no matter how he got out.
Without saying a word, Li Shuyi immediately twisted a strand of hair and cut off his will.
With Shen Yuan personally intervening, Li Yuanxi's case was quickly remanded for retrial. It didn't take long for the truth to come out. The real person who embezzled the disaster relief food funds was a foreign minister from the Ministry of Revenue. He colluded with the prefect of Jiangzuo, committed a major crime together, and then framed Li Yuanxi. .
On the day Li Yuanxi was released from prison, Li Shuyi moved into Shen's mansion.
So, while Shen Zhuo was chasing Xiao Yi every day, Li Shuyi was learning to be a housekeeper from Princess Pingyang, and while Shen Zhuo was going out shopping to create a chance encounter, Li Shuyi was learning to manage a shop from the shopkeepers.
Li Shuyi spent his whole life keeping his promise. In her previous life, she remained intact until her death.
In Shen Zhuo's mind, the best manager of Jishan Hall is Li Shuyi.
However, Li Shuyi is still far away in Huaixi.
In order to find a good place for Jishan Hall, Shen Zhuo and others skipped class.
Although Lu Waner's carriage was not the biggest and best, it was better because there were no elders in her family to care about her, so after everyone sneaked out from the back door of the academy, they all crowded into the Lu family's carriage. Then they asked their respective maids to hire a carriage to follow them.
Feng Er, who was driving, saw one noble lady after another squeezing into the carriage, and his usually expressionless face twitched.
"Where are we going?" Lu Waner asked.
Feng Er, who was sitting at the shaft of the car, felt his face twitching again.
"The east is rich and the west is expensive. Go to Dongcheng. There are many shops in Dongcheng and there are many people coming and going." Wen Mingyun said.
"Feng Er, go to Dongcheng." Lu Waner ordered in a loud voice.
"Miss, where are you going in Dongcheng?" Feng Er asked.
Dongcheng is very big, okay? The wind is full of slander.
"Go wherever there are the most people."
Feng Er sighed, why wasn't Feng Wu on duty today? With a whip in his hand, the carriage took a group of chirping ladies to the east city.
After Shen Zhuo and others wandered aimlessly for two or three times on several streets in Dongcheng, Feng Er couldn't bear it anymore, so he took them to Zhuangzhai Yaxing on his own initiative.
The shopkeeper of Yahang heard that they wanted to see a place where they could run a charity hall, so he recommended several suitable courtyards. They followed Yaren to take a look, and it turned out that it was better than what they had gone around asking about.
How can anyone buy a house without looking for a dental shop and wandering around the streets? Feng Er continued to sigh.
After a while, a few people took their fancy on a house at the end of Ci'en Lane in Dongcheng City. It had two entrances and two exits, with a total of about ten houses. The layout of the house is simple and there are no complicated decorations, so it is just right to use it as a charity hall.
The Zhaizi dental shop offered a price of one hundred taels of silver, and the girls slapped the banknotes in front of the shopkeeper without blinking an eye. Zhang Jui's face blossomed with joy, and he asked diligently:
"Misses, whose name is this house written in?"
This question made Shen Zhuo and others look at each other in confusion. They run charity halls and buy houses without telling the family. If their parents find out, they may be scolded, or they may have to ask for help from the family and kneel in the ancestral hall.
Tiansheng's law stipulates that when buying and selling a house, you must go to the government office to sign a deed. If you go there, you will definitely not be able to hide the matter.
You still have to find someone reliable and trustworthy to come forward.
But where can I find this person? The people they need around them are either maids who have signed a contract to sell themselves, or they are guards at home.
While everyone was thinking hard, Xiao Yushu suddenly slapped the table and said, "How about we go find Guo Haotian?"
"Isn't he the No. 1 tyrant in Kyoto? Why are you looking for him?" Lu Waner was shocked.
Wen Mingyun laughed: "Okay, this is a good idea!"
"Are you two crazy? That damn fat guy has never done anything good, and he has done a lot of bad things. What we run is a charity hall, not a bully hall." Meng Qinglian sneered coldly.
"Evil people have their own benefits." Shen Zhuo agreed with Xiao Yushu's proposal.
"His evil reputation can be used to protect the house." Shen Zhuo laughed, "If his name is hung in Jishan Hall, no one in the whole capital will dare to cause trouble."
"But will he be willing?" Zhang Jingyi said.
"Let's find someone to talk about it. Just ask him to sing "Strike the Golden Boughs" every day. I think it's possible." Xiao Yushu held her chin.
"I'm not going. If I have any dealings with him, if my elder brother finds out, he won't kill me." Lu Waner waved her hands repeatedly.
"I won't go either. The fat guy is so ugly, it hurts his eyes." Meng Qinglian shook her handkerchief with disgust on her face.
"Don't look at me, I'm not going. He and I have nothing to deal with." Zhang Jingyi shook her head.
Several people looked at each other, and then all looked at Shen Zhuo.
Shen Zhuo said with no expression on his face: "If my brother finds out about my dealings with him, I won't be beaten? Or will he hurt my eyes because he is ugly?"
"How could you be beaten? If your brother wants to be beaten, he will also beat Guo Haotian!" Lu Waner said loudly.
"Jiaojiao, don't worry, your bright eyes will not be blinded by his ugliness." Meng Qinglian covered her mouth and smiled.
Shen Zhuo laughed angrily.
