At night, Qin Que and Zhen Zhen had a candlelit conversation. The two girls got along very well. Zhen Zhen told many interesting stories about the palace, saying that Empress Zhou was surprisingly beautiful, even in her 40s, looking like a young girl. Standing next to her daughter, Princess Qing Le, they looked like two sisters.

  As they chatted, the night grew deeper without them realizing it. The needlework woman said with a bit of embarrassment: "Sister Que Er doesnt need to accompany me anymore, go back to your room and rest, or else...or else Brother-in-law will blame me next week."

  Qin Ques face turned red, and she said with her hand grasping the needle: "Sister, dont tease me. To be honest with you, I and this Zhou Xuan are actually in a fake marriage, just because we didnt want to go to the palace to become a showgirl."

  "Ah!" The spinning needle was shocked and opened its mouth: "Fake marriage, didnt that Mr. Zhou have any complaints? Oh, did you promise him money?"

  "No, Master Zhou doesnt want our money." Qin Que was telling the truth: "Master Zhou is very talented, proficient in music, chess, calligraphy and painting. Yesterday I played a game of chess with him and he defeated me badly. I estimate that he can at least teach me three moves. His character is also very good, having been to our mansion for three days, everyone upstairs and downstairs praises him."

  Xue Zhen looked at Qin Que with a skeptical expression: "Since Zhou Gongzi is so good, why do you want to have a fake marriage? Why not just marry him for real and avoid gossip?"

  "Big sister, you dont know that Ive been engaged to my cousin Lu Sheng since childhood. We were originally supposed to get married a few days ago, but he had something come up and the selection of the imperial concubine was urgent, so we couldnt do anything but ask Zhou Xuan Gongzi to take his place for now."

  "Oh, I see." The needle nodded and asked again: "But since its a fake marriage, why did you let Master Zhou move into the inner courtyard? Isnt that awkward?"

  Qin Que was speechless for a moment and didnt know how to explain it to the spinning needle.

  The needle-wielding girl looked at her with a discerning eye and asked in a probing tone, "Doesnt Sparrows sister have a bit of a liking for this Master Zhou?"

  Qin Que was taken aback and quickly denied it: "Sister, how can you say that? I dont like him at all. To be honest, I find him a bit annoying."

  Xian Zhen said: "Dislike? But you just praised Zhou Gongzi this and that, and called him good. Youre really strange, little sister."

  Qin Que was a bit anxious and said, "Actually, I dont dislike him. Hes really talented, has a good personality, is very loyal, and has many good qualities. Did you understand, Sister Zhen?"

  The needle shook its head: "I dont understand."

  Qin Que bitten her lip, thought for a moment and decided to speak directly: "Zhener sister, Que is not possible to marry Zhou Gongzi, but Zhou Gongzi is willing to help our Qin family so much, my father and mother are very grateful to him, really want to recruit him as a daughter-in-law. Fortunately, there is Zhener sister, mother asked Que to ask sister, are you willing to marry Zhou Xuan as his wife?"

  The needle stopped moving, slowly lowered its head, and tears flowed out.

  Previously, Mrs. Qin told Qiuge to let Xiezhen marry easily, but Qiuge felt that it was not very good. However, Mrs. Qin said all the advantages of Zhouxuan, and Xiezhen marrying Zhouxuan would be a blessing for Xiezhen, and would not wrong her in any way. Only then did Qiuge agree to talk to Xiezhen about it. At this time, seeing Xiezhen crying, Qiuge panicked and quickly said: "Sister, dont be sad, I didnt mean anything else, if youre not willing, then I wont mention this again, dont cry, sister."

  Wiping away her tears with a needle, she smiled and said: "My good sister, even if Im willing, you should ask that Master Zhou if hes willing or not."

  Qin Ques face lit up, and he said: "As long as sister is willing, its easy to arrange. Ill create opportunities for you to spend time together. Sister is so gentle and kind, and Girl Hong is so good, Master Zhou will definitely fall in love with sister."

  She smiled faintly, and after Qin Que left, she cried for a long time by herself, hugging her pillow. She thought to herself: "This Zhou guy is definitely not as good as what Qin Que said, if he were really that great, he wouldnt be helping out at the Qin estate with a substitute marriage. The Qin estate must have promised him wealth and a wife, but since they couldnt get Qin Ques sister to marry him, they had to find someone else to take her place - me! Alas, Im so unlucky, cant make my own decisions, being arranged this way and that... What can I do? Im just an orphan with no one to rely on. I have no choice but to go along with it. I wonder what his personality is like? If hes half as good as Qin Que said, Ill be satisfied. He seems to look okay, though..."

  …………

  Zhou Xuan was naturally unaware that his mother-in-law and wife had already sold him out, as if he were a slow-selling product being cleared out. He was still intoxicated by Qin Xiaos change in attitude towards him, tossing and turning at night, unable to sleep. When he finally fell asleep, he had a dream in which Miss Qin sneaked into his room to try on that pair of Lan Ya brand jeans. Wow, those two legs were so long, even longer than they appeared through a wide-angle lens, and so white and tender. His lust surged, and he violently pushed Miss Qin down from behind, without saying a word, and they began to make out...

  At dawn, the cry of "Little General Zhang Guo" in the ceramic basin on his bedside table startled Zhou Xuan awake. He remembered that today was the day of the 3,000 two-hao gamble and didnt dare to be slow. He got up first to feed "Little General Zhang Guo", trained with a mouse whisker for a while, then went to wash and brush, and changed into the brand new summer shirt he won yesterday.

  Tang Xiaosans good friend, Hu Tongtian, rushed from the mountain village before dawn and arrived at the east gate when the city gate had not yet opened. At six oclock, as soon as the city gate opened, he hurried to the Qin Mansion. This young man was also concerned about "Zhang Fei fighting Xu Huang".

  The Qin family had only one horse-drawn carriage, and Dr. Qin and Miss Qian wanted to ride it to work, so Zhou Xuan let Lai Fu hire a spacious double-horse carriage, "Little General Zhang Fei" set out, with great fanfare.

  Xiao Di insisted on going with them, and Madame Qin couldnt dissuade her, so she had to instruct Zhou Xuan to take care of her.

  Zhou Xuan, Qin Xiaodi, Lai Fu, Tang Xiaosan and Hu Tong, a total of five people, took a car to "Mufeng Building", but saw that the inside and outside of "Mufeng Building" were all crowded with people. These are all rumors that today there will be a 3,000 yuan insect fight, and they have come to watch the excitement.

  Wu Kuan arrived with Tou Huan and four other sturdy house servants who had martial arts skills.

  Zhou Xuan saw Tu Bangxiang and appeared extremely affectionate, asking: "Tu Bangxiang, how has Xu Huan been trained by you? Is he burning with desire and charging forward recklessly?"

  Tu Bang glanced at Zhou Xuan with disdain and said, "Just wait for Zhang Fei to vent his anger."

  Wu Kuan had a good memory, and he also recognized Tang Xiaosan and Hu Tong. With a cold smile, he said to Zhou Xuan: "I was wondering how you knew I got a new insect, it turns out youre here for these two kids, great, lets go upstairs."

  As they spoke, a yellow horse accompanied by an exquisite lacquer carriage arrived in front of the building. The rider on the yellow horse had a thick beard and a broad mouth, it was Lin Heishan. Lin Heishan agilely jumped off the horses back, stretched out his hand to lift the curtain, and from the exquisite lacquer carriage came a small servant in green clothes and a small hat.

  The onlookers let out a collective "hmm", thinking that this was someones family servant, and he was even more particular than the young lady!

  Zhou Xuan stepped forward and cupped his hands, saying: "Brother Lin has arrived just in time, also helping me to boost my prestige."

  Lin Heishan lowered his voice and asked, "Zhou brother, hows that insect of yours doing? Do you have any confidence?" Seeing Zhou Xuan didnt answer for a moment, he thought he wasnt confident, so he said sincerely, "Brother, even if you lose, theres no need to be too disappointed. I plan to buy your precious zither with 4,000 taels of silver. Youll lose 3,000 taels, but youll still have 1,000 taels left, not leaving empty-handed."

  Zhou Xuan was really moved, holding Lin Heishans hand and saying: "Old brother, you are too good to me, lets become sworn brothers?"

  Lin Heishan raised an eyebrow and said with a smile: "Good, Ive had this intention for a long time, but I was afraid youd think Im a rough person, haha."