Chapter 2: The Book Boy's Eternal Life

  In a short time, he had earned four taels of silver, equivalent to Shen Ao's wages for four months. Shen Ao held the four-tael silver in his hand and flipped it over, feeling very pleased and delighted.

  It seems ancient people were really simple-minded, this little trick can deceive people, it appears that time-traveling isn't a bad thing after all.

  Zhang Shao's lips turned white with anger, and he glared at Shen Ao with great discontent.

  "You don't accept it?"

  "Of course I don't agree."

  "Alright, I'll give you another chance, are you dare to bet again?"

  Zhang Shao hesitated in his heart, but seeing Shen Ao's confident appearance, he suddenly became furious: "What kind of bet?"

  Shen Ao smiled and took out the four taels of silver coins from his sleeve, placing them on the ground: "You take out another four taels."

  Zhang Shao thought for a moment, and then hesitated again. He did have some silver, as he always followed the young master on his outings. Usually, when buying small items, it was also him who went to settle the bill, and over time, he had secretly stashed away more than ten taels of silver. These silvers were kept on his person for emergencies. However, Shen Ao's mysterious behavior made him pay extra attention with a wary heart.

  "This little thief is too much, no matter what, I must gamble with him." Zhang Shao gritted his teeth and took out a piece of silver worth four taels and placed it on the ground.

  "Look, there are eight taels of silver on the ground. You and I will bid against each other, whoever bids higher, this eight taels of silver will belong to him, whoever wins." Shen Ao calmly gathered the scattered silver into a pile, and the other two house servants also gathered around.

  Zhang Shao nodded and thought to himself: "Whoever bids the highest will get the eight taels of silver, heh heh, this is easy, I won't lose to you this time."

  Shen Ao spoke up first: "Now, I bid four taels of silver."

  Zhang Shao hastily said: "I bid five guan."

  Shen Ao smiled: "Then I'll put in six guan."

  Zhang Shao hummed and said, "I'll bid seven guans." He thought to himself, "If I can get eight guans back after bidding seven, that's still a small profit. And besides, I can win this time. Next time he bids eight guans, there won't be any profit left. Haha, this time I definitely won't lose."

  Shen Ao shook his head in distress: "Can I afford 750 taels of silver?"

  Zhang Shao sneered: "There is no such rule, it must be added one by one."

  Shen Ao sighed and said: "It seems I lost. Alright, you take out seven taels of silver for me, and the remaining eight taels will be yours."

  Zhang Shao burst out laughing: "Look at you still daring to be arrogant!" After finishing, he took out a small piece of silver from the broken silver of eight taels and flipped it in his hand: "This is almost one tael, take away the remaining seven taels."

  Shen Ao smiled slightly and picked up the scattered silver coins worth seven guan, saying: "This time you win, today we are even, next time we'll gamble again."

  "Anytime!" Zhang Shao smiled complacently as he put away his money, but his expression suddenly changed.

  He just took out four strings of money and together with Shen Ao, they made a total of eight strings. Now he has won eight strings, but four strings were his own money. He then lost seven strings, in the end, he was short three strings.

  "Fooled by this guy again!" Zhang Shao couldn't laugh anymore, he was crying and laughing at the same time.

  Shen Ao walked to another willow tree, basking in the sun with a smile, and thought to himself: "In just a minute, seven taels of silver will be credited to my account. It seems that redeeming myself won't be too difficult after all."

  At the sight of Shao Ke's frightened appearance, Shen Ao couldn't help but want to burst out laughing.

  "After I make some money and redeem myself, I still want to be a young master, buy a painted barge on the Bian River to drink wine and enjoy the scenery. This life doesn't seem so bad."

  The sky has darkened, and the candle shadows flicker on the painted barge. The five-colored lanterns are hung from the bow to the stern of the boat, which is really beautiful.

  Zhou Heng was supported down the boat, stumbling and staggering, and Shen Ao took a lantern to meet him. They found the cart driver resting not far away, and together they lifted Zhou Heng onto the carriage. Shen Ao sat slantingly on the crossbar of the cart, driving back to the mansion.

  The official residence of the Duke of Guo occupies hundreds of acres, majestic and magnificent. The stone lions in front of the gate are ferocious and add a sense of solemnity.

  The maid inside the mansion helped Zhou Heng back to his bedroom to rest, and Shen Ao's work for today was also considered complete. The place where he lived was a corner of the Shen Mansion in the northeast, which looked shabby compared to the luxurious decorations elsewhere. It was an old gray small building, with two servants sharing a room, and the one who lived with Shen Ao was called Wu San Er. Seeing Shen Ao return, he said with a worried face: "Shen big brother, you finally came back, huh? Why do you smell of wine?"

  Shen Ao held the copper basin, poured some water to clean his hands, and said: "Nothing, look at you like this, didn't you sneak out of the house again to gamble with someone?"

  "Wu San'er huffed and puffed, saying: 'I've run into that Hu Liu again, and I lost all my monthly allowance to him. This month, I'm afraid I won't be able to send money back to my mother in the countryside.' He slapped himself on the face: 'It's all because of my own incompetence. I knew it was a gamble with a 90% chance of losing, but I just couldn't help myself. I kept thinking that I could win back the money I lost before... Ah...' "

  Shen Ao smiled and handed him a string of coins: "Take it and send it to your mother."

  Wu Saniu was stunned: "Shen Ge, you...you don't have any extra money either, how can I take your money? Besides, this month's salary hasn't been paid yet, where did this money come from?"

  Wu San'er is a great person in every way, except that he's a compulsive gambler and always loses everything before he'll stop.

  Wu Saniu and Shen Ao spent more than a month together. When Shen Ao first crossed over, his body was weak, but fortunately, Wu Saniu took care of him before and after, and this kindness Shen Ao always remembered in his heart.

  Shen Ao stuffed the money into his hand: "You take it, I have more here."

  Wu San'er took the money and hastily thanked him, excitedly saying: "Tomorrow I will entrust someone to send this money back to my hometown, and I will never gamble again."

  He had heard this sentence many times, and Shen Ao couldn't help but smile, sitting on the edge of the bed to take off his boots, and then took out the white cloth wrapped around his feet. After following that young master Zhou for a day, he was already feeling tired.

  Wu San'er said, "Today I heard the master of the outer house say that in a few days the young master will go to Taixue to study. According to the lady's intention, it is necessary to select a book boy from the mansion, preferably around the same age as the young master, and even better if he can recognize characters and read."

  Shen Ao said: "What's so good about being a book boy? Isn't it just a lowly servant?"

  Wu San'er said: "This is different, Shu Tong can enter the inner court to accompany Young Master to read books, and doesn't have to do miscellaneous chores. The monthly allowance is also three times that of an ordinary miscellaneous servant."

  "Is this a good thing?" Shen Ao suddenly sat up from the couch, his sleepiness instantly gone: "It seems that being a book boy is actually a very promising career."

  Wu Saniu said, "I advise Brother Shen not to have this idea, the mansion has already spread rumors, the masters of the inner and outer mansions are all eyeing this fat job, they all have relatives in the countryside, just right to recommend their own relatives, what chance do we have?"

  Shen Ao said: "This is not necessarily the case, it's up to people, easily getting three times the monthly salary and entering the inner court... Hmm... Let me think about it."

  Wu Sān ér exclaimed in surprise: "The Imperial Harem? Brother Shen, you can't be referring to those maids serving the imperial consorts?"

  Shen Ao smiled and said: "You've already seen through all this, you're really clever and prescient."

  When it comes to women, Wu San'er suddenly became spirited: "If I had to say, the few maidservants in front of the lady, Spring is the most lovely, haha, you said that, and now I want to be a book boy too, at least every now and then I can see her, hehe..."

  "But Xiaoxiang is also good, although she can't compare with Chun'er. That figure, that chest... Hey, Brother Shen, are you listening to me?"

  Shen Ao was half dreaming and half awake, with a figure emerging in his mind. He faintly heard Wu San'er calling out to him, but he didn't want to respond.

  Many thoughts floated in his mind "Born of the same parents, why was Miss Zhou born with a beautiful appearance, while Zhou Heng had a standard Pigsy look. It's really puzzling, could it be..."

  "One is a rich young lady, the other is a miscellaneous servant, I don't know if there's any chance. No, who am I, Shen Ao? A great art thief, how can I not be worthy of her? Alright, I'll go and become a book boy, first enter the inner court and then see."