Behind every beautiful but not good-looking beauty is usually not a simple experience, and Yulian is no exception.

If she had not been sold to Li Shouzhen's mansion since childhood, perhaps Yulian would have starved to death in a drought, locust plague, famine, or even used as food; or if she was lucky, she would have grown up and married into a poor family with a good family, and lived a life as poor and ignorant as before. In short, since she became a maid of the Li family, she had seen a life completely different from her background, where there was no longer hunger and cold, only luxury and food. Even being the most humble maid would be better than living in her hometown.

But no one is easy to satisfy, and no one is willing to be bullied at a low level and not envy those who are pampered and have a good time. Yulian gradually realized that her greatest capital and opportunity was her appearance. She was more beautiful than other girls who did miscellaneous work, and she was already a graceful girl.

The head of the family, Li Shouzhen, has the greatest power in that wealthy manor, but he is cunning and has long understood the worldly style. Even if he is attracted by Li Shouzhen, he can only be a plaything. Yulian aims at Li Shouzhen's son Li Chongxun, this young man who has just grown up and has not much experience.

Sure enough, Li Chongxun was easily fascinated by Yulian. After a vow, Yulian endured pain and disgust and stole the forbidden fruit with Mr. Li. She did not expect Mr. Li to fulfill his promises. Such a wealthy man only needed to fulfill part of his promises; and Yulian later found out that she was pregnant all of a sudden, and the situation became more optimistic.

However, she finally realized that she could not become the daughter-in-law of General Li Shouzhen, and the Li family would never give up the opportunity to marry another nobleman, Fu Yanqing's family. So Fu Yanqing's eldest daughter Fu Shi naturally became Li Chongxun's first partner. Yulian did not dare to easily reveal that she was pregnant with the Li family's bloodline. She planned to try to get along well with Fu Shi first, and then become a concubine with a higher status around Li Chongxun and his wife. If she had a son, she would have guaranteed it.

Unfortunately, things in the world are impermanent. Before Yulian could wait for that day, the Li family was killed for rebellion.

She and Fu are both women, Li Chongxun's women, but their ends are very different in the moment of turmoil. Fu was just a sinner's wife. After reporting her father's name and friendship with Guo Wei, she transformed into the adopted daughter of another powerful figure Guo Wei; and Yulian's ending was obviously not so polite. Once the Li family destroyed her, she was helpless and was stolen by a general in Guo Wei's army.

She was raped and defiled by the general, and was later captured and returned to her home. She could not resist, otherwise she would have a worse end. She was accused of being a prostitute and was raped by countless people. Yulian was aborted because of this, and because of the inability to heal, she was later told that she would not be able to have children in her life. She had no time to hate the general, and soon there was a war. The general died in battle, and the wife and concubines in the family were divided into birds and beasts. She also sold Yulian as goods for money. The person who bought her was the last husband named Chen. This man was ugly, alcoholic, irritable, poor, and a fairy-good man, and was simply a good person... What's more unfortunate is that when Guo Wei led his army back to Tokyo, there was almost no resistance, and the casualties were very small, but he was squeezed down from the city wall and broke his leg.

Life has passed like this, and Yulian has no hope for life. A surviving flower and willow that cannot be born, and has no one but a burdened husband. She has wanted to abandon her husband many times, but where can she run and what to do? She has speculated on countless dark nights that escaping may be sold to the kiln... Even if she is taken in by an ordinary family as a wife, when she finds that the woman cannot give birth and does not need to explain to her parents' family, it is very likely to sell her to get a sum of money to marry her again, because the common people marry her to have children.

Sometimes she is desperate and just wants to live one day, but just die when she can't stand it.

Sometimes she was very unwilling and felt very frustrated. Not to mention being rich and noble, she was not as good as the ugly and vulgar women in the market like Longjinfang, Tokyo. Instead, she was ridiculed by them and talked about gossip behind her back. Could it be that she ended her life with humiliation and then let those people sneer and make a few more sarcastic words?

She had no friends or relatives, and even the family was a broken family; she was not sad when her husband was killed. This situation made her feel that she was the most unfortunate person in the world. Although she was born in a low-class family, God gave her a better appearance than most people. Moreover, she was not the only one from the bottom. Where did she go the wrong way? Could it be that she shouldn't have provoked Li Shouzhen's son? How much better would it be if she didn't do this...

Yulian felt that she had no shame to meet people and just wanted to hide in a dark corner, so she came out and went almost to talk to people. It would be great if no one in this world knew her, and she also wanted those aunts and sisters not to use their misfortune as a laughing stock after dinner.

However, she remembered the wife of Wei, Fu, whom she met on Zhuque Street yesterday. She was also a woman in the shattered Li Shouzhen's mansion. With her family's power, she became the wife of the official family. Her noble identity made officials look up to him, let alone these women in the city. Who dares to laugh at her? They didn't even have the courage to be jealous... Yulian fantasized that if one day she could be so noble, the people who knew her should feel ashamed and should realize their own inferiority! With such imagination, she felt a little vague pleasure in her heart. But having experience in Li Shouzhen's mansion made her realize that it was impossible in reality, and she could only talk to herself in her heart.

...

At night, someone knocked on the door outside. Yulian opened the door and saw that it was Shao Ge'er who was back. Shao Ge'er was still wearing armor but didn't bring weapons. He hung his head and seemed to be in a low mood. He didn't even dare to look at Yu Lian at the right eye, and did not enter the door. He stood at the door and said, "Commander Wang ordered me to compensate the Chen family for the pension and funeral expenses, but..."

Yulian hurriedly looked around the alley and said, "When in and talk, don't stand at the door."

Brother Shao was stunned for a moment, walked into the kitchen, and found a stool to sit down.

"Have you eaten?" Yulian asked again. He treated Guo Shao not like a murderer at all. She knew that Brother Shao killed the man from the Chen family to stand up for him. Brother Shao didn't say anything, so she guessed that he had come back hungry, so she quickly uncovered the lid of the pot and took a thick bowl to fill a bowl of green soup.

Seeing the steaming hot on the wooden table, Guo Shao said awkwardly: "This is not good... By the way, in the room where I live in the backyard of the blacksmith shop, there is a can of money under the box, but it's not enough."

Yulian said, "They just told you to pay the money, but didn't hit you?"

Guo Shao shook his head, finally couldn't help but hunger. He picked it up and took a sip. He felt that the taste was very bad, as if there were crusts such as bran... In this era, some people were good to eat, but Yu Lian usually ate this? He quietly took her eyes and looked at her again. He really couldn't tell that such a fair woman was living by eating bran and vegetables.

Yulian's forehead is smooth and round, with an oval face, which is very appropriately matched with a pair of black and white almond eyes. It is naturally beautiful, and her eyebrows are not charming, but she looks more intimate. However, the dress on her body is really shabby, revealing her white face and neck, which makes people think of the glutinous rice dumplings that have been peeled a little.

Guo Shao took a big sip and did nothing, and had no appetite, so he ate slowly, saying, "Commander Wang thinks I have anything to do with Zhang Yongde, the commander in front of the palace. He wanted to sell his favors. But yesterday Yang Biao was demoted to others for gambling. If Commander Wang was dismissed from me, he would be unfair to reward and punish the public. Therefore, the order was to lower me from Dutou to Ten Generals and be responsible for compensation... But Yang Biao was more unlucky. He was only downgraded to Ten Generals yesterday, and today he was demoted to Deputy Generals again because I became the Ten Generals in the Fourth Team."

The military positions of the Five Dynasties were quite chaotic, but Yulian had grown up in Li Shouzhen's mansion and later met Guo Shao in Tokyo. She learned a lot of these things through her words. She understood the military positions below the commander. The military commander or the head is equivalent to the centurion, the ten generals are the captains, and the deputy generals are the deputy captains... Most of the people who joined the army simply wanted to be promoted and made a fortune. Although Guo Shao did not kill anyone to pay his life, he was demoted from the commander of a hundred people to the captain, and the losses were also huge.

When Yulian heard this, she said, "I still don't want the store land deed."

Guo Shao seemed to be a little misunderstood and nodded, "Now I have no choice but to count the shop as compensation for your family, and that can of money will be included."

Yulian shook her head and looked at him quietly: "You still keep the shop, I don't want it anymore. I'll sign and hand over the bill to you, just pretend that it has been compensated."

Guo Shao frowned and said, "I will go back to the military camp tomorrow morning. What are your plans for the future? I compensate you for that blacksmith shop, and with the help of Old Man Huang, you can barely make a living after the operation, so don't refuse..."

"I won't bother Guo Lang anymore." Yulian's tone suddenly felt a little cold. A woman's face changed faster than a sky.

Guo Shao's words were stuck in his throat and he fell silent. He thought for a while and he had always had a good impression of Yulian. He was very diligent and liked by anyone. But he couldn't ask her if he helped her a little better than that.

He stood up and was about to say goodbye, but with the light of the firewood in the stove, he suddenly saw Yulian's eyes shining with water, filled with tears. The flames in the stove were swaying, and the orange light alternated on her face, and the clouds and sunnyness were as if it shone out her wandering heart.

"You..." Guo Shao didn't know how to ask.

Yulian pursed her red lips, looking reluctant to speak, and her beautiful and clean face was particularly strange in the dilapidated and dirt-covered low and dirt-covered house, with a huge contrast. This kitchen was full of old smell, and everything was very old, because Yulian's existence was inconsistent no matter how she looked at it.
Chapter completed!