After the husband went out, his family often became deserted, and two or three servants were not the ones who spoke.

In the past, there were still people from my parents' home, although there were not many people, but they could speak. There was no way to remember the personal words between women from any standpoint, but being able to speak was already a great comfort. I still remember that the younger generation of girls in the family often shed tears in the middle of the night and worried about their depressed future.

Zhou's family.

There is no future.

For the Zhou people today, a county is boundless and boundless. The ancestors were from Yixing County. They are still trapped in Yixing County and cannot escape, and they do not want to escape. After all, in such a huge country, the reputation of Yixing Zhou family has become bad. No matter where they go, they must carefully hide their names and live less than those refugees. Perhaps this is the reason. The desire to resist has long been dead. When the Xu family was sheltered, they rely on the Xu family. When the Zhang family was sheltered, they rely on the Zhang family.

Now in a dilapidated old house near the stream of Zhang.

The Zhou girl sat quietly in the courtyard, with no one else except the maid who silently served tea and water beside her.

The sunlight fell from the sky, passing through the overlapping branches and leaves, the light and shadows were mottled, and it hit people, but it was also warm, making her feel a little soft, so she lay lazily on the soft couch, occasionally taking a sip of tea and eating some pastries, but most of the time, she seemed to be lazy and not wanting to move, staring in a certain direction, her eyes were distracted, as if she was distracted.

Since the Taoist named Ding Lunian was caught, she has not gone out much.

Maybe I thought it through, maybe I just followed the arrangements of my husband.

In short, the Zhou girl narrowed her eyes and looked up. She saw the white clouds and the warm sun through the gaps between the leaves.

"Let me in, I'm going to find my sister."

There was a sudden noise outside the courtyard. The Zhou girl was awakened, looked at the maid next to her, and opened her mouth and said, "It seems to be Ping An. Go and see. If it is really him, tell him not to make a noise and just come in like this."

The maid left, and in a short while, the noise outside became much smaller, until it calmed down. Then, a pink-faced boy walked in, scolding the people behind him while walking, so that even the maid who had just been coaxed away by him. After confirming that there was no one, he ran in with a smile on his face and sat in the seat next to the girl of Zhou.

"Sister." Zhou Ping'an called out.

The Zhou girl was unmoved, but asked in surprise: "My husband secretly moved you away, why did you run over again? If someone finds out, follow your path and touch your Zhou family, you will be hurt by you."

"I... it's not what I want to come, but the head of the family asked me to come." Zhou Ping'an curled his lips, reached out to pick up a pastry in the plate, put it in his mouth, and said while chewing, "He asked me to stay with my sister, saying that even if my brother-in-law doesn't like it and my sister pleads with me, I can stay here. I thought about it and said that instead of suffering there, it's better to follow my sister to eat and drink here..."

"I won't let you stay." The woman of Zhou immediately refuted, with a stern face, "My husband is under such a great pressure to send you away. To do this for Zhou, you are still in trouble... Take a break, and I'll ask someone to send you back after the evening."

Zhou Ping'an's movements of eating pastries stopped, and the smile accumulated on his face gradually faded away, and even became a little pale. His eyes were staring at the Zhou girl, his nominal sister, seemed a little unbelievable.

The light and shadow hit his face, even though he was handsome, it seemed a little scary now.

After a while, he slowly asked: "Why?"

"No, it's hard for you to deal with me here." The Zhou girl seemed to be a little nervous when she was staring at her, and her eyes dodged.

"Tsk tsk... As the head of the family said, the woman married outside is not a member of the Zhou family, but so, sister, do you no longer regard yourself as a member of the Zhou family?"

"How is it possible? I am a member of the Zhou family."

"Really... Why should sister rush to send me back? Do you really don't know the real purpose of the head of the family asking me to come here?" The two were very close. Zhou Ping'an approached while talking, with an aggressive tone. "Since you pretend not to know, then I will tell you that there is only sister as a bridge between Zhang Jinjue and my Zhou family. If there is no sister, why should he protect my Zhou family's safety? So with sister here, my Zhou family should be fine, but it is bad. Wang Shuping discovered us, and judging from the destruction of the Yixing Xu family, it is very likely that he would get rid of us. In this way, the little Zhang Jinjue is naturally vulnerable. He has to make a choice. Is it important to be himself or the Zhou family? The one that makes it difficult for him to choose is naturally the sister--"

"Safety……"

"Sister is towards Zhou, so Zhang Jinjue really loves his sister and may fight to the death with Wang Shuping, but... If his sister is towards Zhang Jinjue, then I, Zhou, will naturally be dispensable. Now I transfer us out, it seems to be good to us and hide us, but in fact, isn't it equivalent to throwing us away!" Zhou Ping'an grabbed Zhou's woman's slender wrist with too much force, leaving a series of red blush on her white wrist, "So I want to come over and let Zhang Jinjue know that she wants to abandon Zhou, whatever, but I am also a member of Zhou, unless I abandon me, and take the initiative to tie me up and give it to Wang Shuping... But this is what happened in front of my sister - sister, can you bear to look at me, your brother, Zhou Ping'an, was caught by your husband and sent to the hands of an enemy, watching me being killed, and then you live a life of silence?"

"Enough, don't say it!" Although he was scolding, the voice of the Zhou girl weakened, as if she resisted weakly, and it was useless, and it was drowned in Zhou Ping'an's eyes again.

"Why don't you let me say it? It's because what I said is right. It's what you think in your heart and what you and Zhang Jinjue plan, so you dare not let me say it, right?"

"No, I never thought about it like this." Zhou's woman bit her lip and her body trembled weakly. "I never thought of living a life of silence, but the husband's life is not easy now. He is a child of the Zhang family, but now he is in a situation where he wants to live in such a dilapidated house. Just imagine, is it really qualified for me to let him sacrifice his life to guard Zhou family?"

"Oh? So, even if I'm not right, that's part of it?" Zhou Ping'an sneered.

The Zhou girl did not rush to answer this time, but lowered her head, as if she had lost all her strength. After a while, she nodded slowly: "You are not right, but there are also some people who are right. Langjun and I have no intention of abandoning Zhou. However, Wang Shuping is not just the prefect of Kuaiji County, but is promoted to Yangzhou Governor and commanding the military of Yangzhou state. Langjun is not an opponent at all, so naturally he can only think of other solutions."

"What is he doing now?"

"Look for his friend and discuss the future." The Zhou girl said lightly, looking at Zhou Ping'an beside her, sighed, and said, "Forget it, I don't rush to force you to go back. Since you are here, let's live here now."

Zhou Ping'an then smiled and picked up the pastry and ate it: "This is my real sister. When the head of the family gave you to Zhang Jinjue, wasn't it just to take advantage of the situation? You have to think clearly and don't get stuck in it."

"I know." Zhou's girl nodded blankly, "You go to your place to rest first, don't show up for now. I'll send you some food. When the husband comes back, I'll tell him, at least let you live here and accompany me."

"Okay." Zhou Ping'an didn't think much about it, and got up and walked out. There was a maid waiting outside. Before he could speak, he was hugged in his arms and teased him while leaving.

Only the Zhou woman was left in the courtyard.

She collapsed on the soft couch, leaving only a sad sigh.

...

As it was almost noon, Zhang Lu's frame slowly entered the old house, and the Zhou girl hurried up to greet her.

"Mr. is back..."

Zhang Lu, who got off the car, looked at her and smiled, his eyes seemed to be dodging, but his words were not slow: "Prepare more food, and my cousin Zixu will also have dinner here today."

As he was speaking, Zhang Xuanzhi got off the ox cart, glanced at Zhou's girl casually, then turned to the other side, and said, "Go to your study first, things must be discussed, and it's not too late to eat."

"Yes, it should be. Only after the solution is solved will you be in the mood to have a meal," Zhang Lu smiled, waved his hand to let the Zhou girl leave, and then took Zhang Xuanzhi to the study.

The Zhou girl stared at the figures of the two who were away, and didn't know what she thought, but the husband asked her to leave, so she had the intention of the husband. She speculated too much that it was not her intention, so she didn't care. She turned around and ordered the kitchen to cook more food.

After some arrangements were made, she repelled the people around her and slowly walked towards Zhang Lu's study.

Celebrities and scholars like to have a study that belongs to them alone, which is his private space. Not to mention a slave, even his wife and concubines cannot enter on weekdays.

But Zhang Lu is obviously different. He is not good at literature but martial arts. The study room does not have much effect on him. Moreover, he does not like being alone in his personality, so he naturally doesn't care about Zhou's daughter coming in. Even compared to the bedroom, this place is more like the love nest of two people, and it is even more common for them to get together in Wushan. In Zhang Lu's words, doing some elegant things in front of some famous calligraphy and paintings adds more flavor.

So, she is no stranger to this place.

The girl Zhou stopped outside the study room in the courtyard and did not rush to knock on the door. She even said that she was standing in front of the door and always felt a little nervous. After thinking about it, she quietly walked to the window and listened to the conversation inside.

"... The people of Zhou were transferred late at night the day before yesterday. It was the eve of the wedding of the noble daughter of Wang. Wang Shuping was busy with his marriage and had no intention of investigating here. That was why I transferred the people of Zhou into another more remote house, which was deep in the mountains and forests. There was no people on weekdays. I originally wanted to avoid Wang Shuping..."

This is Zhang Lu's voice.

After hearing this, the Zhou girl suddenly realized that no wonder she always felt a little strange when she saw Zhang Xuanzhi. Now it seems that she was indeed coming for the Zhou family.

Zhang Xuanzhi's voice also came out: "The Zhou family's affairs should not be known to the rest of the family. In this way, if we deal with Wang Shuping, there will be only you and me, but obviously, we are not his opponents. Whether it is strategy or ruthlessness, they are not as good as Wang Shuping. Then it is obviously impossible to fight the Zhou family's people head-on."

The girl Zhou bit her lip and didn't say anything for a long time.

"...It is not necessary to hand over the Zhou family. We try our best to deal with Wang Shuping, but we must always make good plans. Once Wang Shuping really wants to take action and decisively throw the Zhou family out, you and I can't understand you. Do you still have to learn from Xu Zhen and have to kill the entire clan for the sake of a mere Zhou family?" Zhang Xuanzhi continued.

"But what to do? Obviously, Zhou was protected by me. Even if he handed over the Zhou family, Wang Shuping was involved in me, I..."

"Aren't the Zhou family members expelled by you? So how does it have anything to do with you?"

“Add tolerate…”

Zhang Lu said a name. The Zhou girl was not sure about the situation inside, but the corners of her eyes suddenly became wet. She hurriedly wiped away her tears with a handkerchief. She smiled.

My husband, I really love me.

"It's your concubine? What's the worry about this? Since she is your concubine, how can I be considered a member of the Zhou family? Besides, you should have heard of Wang Shuping's sister-in-law and what happened to Wang He. Wang Shuping's actions obviously mean that Wang He is a member of the Wang family, not a member of the He family. Then it is the same principle to apply it to your concubine."

“…”

The two people in the study were still talking, but when they heard this, the Zhou girl could no longer listen. She left carefully, sat on the stone platform in the courtyard, and stared quietly at the kapok tree in the courtyard.

The bleak kapok tree is no longer beautiful, shaking weakly in the autumn sunshine. Occasionally, one or two leaves will fall down, swaying without roots, just like a small self.

However, if the leaves fall back to their roots, they will eventually find their destination again.

Her eyes stared at the fallen leaves, as if she had found other support besides the tree trunk.

Zhou, Ping'an, Langjun, Zhang Xuanzhi... figures appeared in her mind. For a moment, she seemed to be wandering outside the sky.

"Zhou must be connected with me to ensure safety."

"Even if the husband abandons Zhou, he will keep me safe."

"Zhou gave birth to me and raised me, but my husband supported me."

“I have no choice.”

...

The door of the study room was opened and two men walked out of it.

Zhang Lu was a little surprised to see the Zhou girl in the courtyard, but she looked much more relaxed. After Zhang Xuanzhi took the lead, he walked to his concubine: "Why are you sitting here?"

"The meal is ready, I want to call my husband to have a meal, but my husband and my cousin seem to have agreed, so I will sit here and wait." Zhou's girl said, looking at the husband in front of her with beautiful eyes, filled with tenderness.

"Yourong..." Zhang Lu frowned and hugged her in his arms, "Do you have something to do?"

The Zhou girl smiled slightly and nodded.

"Ping An came to me and said he was not used to the food over there, so I thought about preparing some good ingredients for him, and then I will accompany him tonight."

"Mr., is that OK?"
Chapter completed!