Ripe Town 繁城之下 Episode 4

In the seventeenth year of Wanli's reign, Luzhai was the wealthiest and most deserted house in the county. There were no women or children, and there were only a few servants who followed Lu Yuanbao as a well-known local member. Lu Yuanbao adopted a street boy and kept him at home. He named him Lu Zhi. In the past few years, he stayed with the old housekeeper Lu Zhong. As he grew up, he became more and more clever and clever. Lu Yuanbao liked him very much and kept him there. I became a book boy around me.

Chen Wang is in charge of Lu Zhai's purchases, but he is addicted to gambling. He often secretly builds a ladder to climb over the wall during the night, and loses nothing. Once, he used the money he spent to buy medicine for his mother to gamble, but he lost so much that he couldn't even afford the medicine. When Lu Zhi found out, he paid for Chen Wang's medicine himself, so Chen Wang liked Lu Zhi more.

Lu Zhi was very talented, so Lu Yuanbao sent him to Wu Lei Zhai to study with Master Wang. Lu Zhi was almost the smartest one, and he was highly valued by Master Wang. As time passed, Lu Zhi discovered a secret of Mrs. Wang.

One night, Lu Zhi left the inkstone at Wu Lei Zhai and went back to get it. When he was about to go in, he heard someone groaning in pain in the room. He secretly opened the window and looked in, only to see Mrs. Wang exposing her back. A book boy took a ruler and slapped it on his shoulder. After a while, after the book boy left, Mrs. Wang walked out of the room and worshiped a stone statue in a corner of the yard, asking the gods to raise their noble hands and stop giving him dreams.

After Mrs. Wang returned to the room, Lu Zhi ran to the stone statue and dug out a wooden box containing the skeleton of a monkey. Lu Zhi only found it interesting and kept this matter in mind.

Lu Yuanbao had a hobby. He often competed in calligraphy with Zhao Juren and two other members. The venue for each competition was Cuihua Building. When it came to regular script calligraphy, Zhao Juren was better. But the calligraphy competition in each competition is large characters in the list. It seemed that the landing was intended to be far away.

Lu Yuanbao often visited Cuihua Tower, so he kept Lin Siniang under his care. After being selected by Lu Yuanbao, others did not dare to interfere with her. Every time Lin Siniang went to Lu Zhai, she would be delivered by her attendant Xiao Baozi. Xiao Baozi and Lu Zhi were similar in age. The two of them often took advantage of Lin Siniang's time at Lu Zhai to sneak out to play.

The old butler Lu Zhong is mute. When communicating with Lu Yuanbao, the sign language used by ordinary people is different. Lu Zhong is thoughtful and scheming. He is Lu Yuanbao's confidant and has done many things for Lu Yuanbao.

Lu Zhi once heard Lu Yuanbao mention that the reason why Lu Zhong became mute was that his stepmother soaked his throat with salt and later became unable to speak. Lu Zhi confirmed this to Lu Zhong, but Lu Zhong laughed and said nothing.

Although Lin Siniang was violently protected by Lu Yuan, she secretly became friends with the head catcher Leng Wuji. Once Lin Siniang was sent to Lu's house, Xiao Baozi secretly sent a letter to Leng Wuji, and was discovered by Lu Zhi. In the evening, Lin Siniang came out of Lu Yuanbao's room and met Leng Wuji in the yard. She was bumped into by Lu Zhi again. Lu Zhi hid aside and listened to Leng Wuji asking whether Lin Siniang was beaten badly. Lu Zhi accidentally kicked over the lantern. , was caught by Leng Wuji.

In order to prevent more people from knowing about his affair with Lin Siniang, Leng Wuji prepared to kill Lu Zhi, but was discovered by the watchman Qu Tianming on the way. Lu Zhi was very eloquent and analyzed the pros and cons of Leng Wuji killing him, and repeatedly promised not to do so. He only escaped death by revealing the affair between Leng Wuji and Lin Siniang. In order to make Leng Wuji trust him, Lu Zhi simply told his secret. In fact, he also admired Lin Siniang.

It was also after this time that Leng Wuji was no longer wary of Lu Zhi. Every time Xiao Baozi sent Lin Siniang to Lu's house, he would secretly hide in the sedan. Lu Zhi and Xiao Baozi drove together without anyone. Reveal secrets.