Chapter 34

After they had moved away from the crowd, Xu Jingqin suddenly raised his hand with a strange look on his face and gave Xu Hao a heavy pat on the shoulder, then left without a word.

"Brother, your talent is great, I admire you," Zhu Gaozhi laughed heartily. Two eunuchs came from behind, one on each side, supporting him. Zhu Gaozhi turned his head and smiled, "I will always be waiting for you at the Yan王府. When the time comes, we can enjoy the northern scenery and drink together."

Xu Hao stood there in a daze for a long time, until no one was around, then he laughed softly, "This Zhu Di is really hard to see. He's playing mind games with me, but I won't play along."

As the saying goes, once you enter the door of a noble, it's like entering a deep sea. Today, Xu Hao had a taste of it. He deliberately provoked Cao Gongzi in front of the impulsive Zhu Gaohu, let his sister and Zhu Gaozhi reminisce, and played war games with Li Jinglong.

All his efforts paid off, but Zhu Di and his son deliberately set up this situation to test his intelligence. Damn! At least I'm above average, right? They're underestimating me.

Not immediately meeting the legendary Zhu Di made Xu Hao a bit annoyed. He realized that in their eyes, he was just an ant. Although this was the reality, he had already planned to politely decline Zhu Di's recruitment when tested, to deepen their impression. He didn't intend to join them now, as the Jingnan Campaign was still years away. Besides, even if he offered his loyalty, they might not dare to accept it. What kind of person is Zhu Di?

Maintaining a good relationship with Zhu Gaozhi and his brother was enough. He would wait for the right moment. But after this incident, he realized that Zhu Di had already remembered him. If Zhu Di wanted to use him in the future, he would make silent arrangements, and then he would have no choice.

Judging by common sense, the most suitable job for him would be a spy, like in TV shows, gathering intelligence in the capital. Thinking of the omnipresent Jinyiwei, Xu Hao felt uneasy.

The risk was too high, and it didn't seem worth taking. The only way to avoid it was to leave Nanjing as soon as possible. Xu Hao's thoughts raced, and the beautiful face of that clear and graceful woman appeared in his mind. He sighed inwardly, realizing that even heroes find it hard to resist beauty. Without the support of Zhu Di and his son, he had no chance of marrying her.

The price of growing up and entering society is being caught in an invisible web of relationships. No matter how you struggle, you will find that it inevitably involves people and things related to you.

A famous saying from the future goes, "Since you can't avoid it, you might as well enjoy it with your eyes closed." Xu Hao decided to close his eyes. He had a feeling that Zhu Di would choose him, as history shows that a great hero would not let any useful person go.

Power is a double-edged sword, both attractive and repulsive. At this moment, the charming figure of Miss Mu gradually faded from his mind.

When he opened his eyes again, there was no trace of longing in Xu Hao's eyes.

However, when he returned to his residence, Xu Hao still proudly kept Miss Mu's handwriting, looking very pleased, and many maids and servants saw it.

Then Xu Hao racked his brains for a long time, wrote a doggerel, tore it up because it wasn't good enough, and shamelessly wrote some things, all of which he had used for his first love and couldn't forget. He had Qiuxiang deliver it as a return gift.

That night, Zhu Gaozhi and his father left Xu Hao's residence quietly, along with Princess Pucheng, Zhu Qiaoqiao.

In the slowly moving carriage, Mu Ningsnow gazed quietly at the dark window and the brilliant stars in the sky. A crescent moon hung high, and she wondered if the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl were still waiting for the seventh night of the seventh month, and where the magpies were now.

Unconsciously, Mu Ningsnow murmured, "One is a fairy flower in the celestial garden, pure as snow; the other is an ordinary mortal, in this life and the last. In the past, everyone said it was a golden match, but I only remember the snow-water vow. I regret that fate has played with us, and true lovers cannot be together. Every night, I face the pure snow of the mountain hermit, and I never forget the lonely forest outside the world.

Sigh, now I believe that even the best things in life have their flaws. The moon has its phases, and people have their joys and sorrows. I vow to be a devoted husband in the next life, and I will never regret it!

If there were no fated encounter, why did I meet her in this life? If there were a fated encounter, how could I get close to her?

Perhaps it's just a wasted effort, one is a moon in the water, the other a flower in the mirror. How many tears can one shed, flowing from autumn to winter, from spring to summer?"

Tears silently slid down her face, and she was lost in the memory of that beautiful yet hopeless love, questioning whether she had truly forgotten it.

Even with her talent, Mu Ningsnow could not resist the sorrow and questions stirred by Cao Dajia's "Wang Ning Mei" and the revised "Mistaken for Life." Not to mention the heart-wrenching novel written by a certain unscrupulous person, combining fantasy, tragedy, romance, and destiny.

With a heart full of sorrow and questions, the pitiful Mu Ningsnow left in melancholy. Undoubtedly, Xu Hao's name would occupy her heart for a long time.

Feeling that he had written too little, Xu Hao looked at the moon and regretted not making the story more dramatic and legendary, at least as mythical as the ending of Liang and Zhu. Why didn't he think of the butterflies flying together? He really wasted his years of experience with movies and TV.

Suddenly, Xu Hao opened his eyes and muttered, "What a coincidence, my first love's name also has a 'snow' character. Could it be that I have a special connection with snow?"

Determined to continue, since the girl was a literary youth, he would keep writing until he completely won her heart. Xu Hao spent the whole night thinking, and the next day, with red eyes, he learned that the beauty had already left.

Feeling lost, Xu Hao had no way to vent his emotions. Bored, he left the Xu family residence and went to his own farm, planning to live like Zhuge Liang, waiting for someone to visit him three times.

The area around Nanjing has always been a place of beautiful mountains and water, and the weather had been good in recent years. The mountains and water were picturesque, and the village was peaceful and harmonious. Xu Hao, feeling free, was reluctant to leave.

The autumn harvest was the busiest time of the year. The golden season of abundance, with rice, cotton, and other crops ripe, Xu Hao, ignoring his steward's advice, joined the villagers in the fields to harvest rice.

Farming was undoubtedly the hardest work. After harvesting rice, they had to plow the fields and plant wheat, cut black beans, and thresh all the grains. They stacked the straw and threshed the rice, working day and night without stopping. Fortunately, in such a peaceful and prosperous time, even the hardest work brought joy.

On the first day of the tenth month, Xu Hao was unanimously chosen by the villagers to be the village priest, a very honorable position in the countryside.

Xu Hao did not decline and led the whole village in worshiping heaven and earth, thanking the earth god. The entire ceremony was a complete summary of the year's farming.

Before he knew it, autumn was almost over.