In a small yard southwest of Chongyifang, a teenager was lying on the stone mill in the yard and writing hard. From time to time, he would look up at the sun in the west, and his face showed an anxious look, because the books he was copying were borrowed by someone else and would have to be returned tomorrow, but with his current copying speed, I am afraid that he would not be able to copy them all today.

The young man was named Zhou Xing, a native of Chang'an. This small courtyard was his home. However, his parents died two years ago, so he was the only one left in the family. In order to make a living, he rented out a house in his home, so the rent collected could barely support his life.

This small courtyard is not big and the house is a bit simple. In fact, when his parents were alive, they were just ordinary people in Chang'an City. They usually make a living by doing some small businesses, but their parents were very visionary, so Zhou Xing was sent to a private school since he was a child, so that he could change his destiny through studying in the future.

Unfortunately, since Zhou Xing's parents passed away, the situation in Zhou Xing's family was really unable to support him to continue reading, so in the past two years, he mainly relied on self-study. The biggest difficulty in self-study was that he could not find books to read, so he could only borrow everywhere with shamelessness. However, because books were too precious, most of the time he returned disappointed. When he could borrow books occasionally, he would copy the books as soon as possible so that he could recite them in the future.

The sunset slowly fell, and the light in the yard became darker and darker. Zhou Xing couldn't help but open his eyes wide and tried hard to see the handwriting on the books so as not to copy the wrong ones. At the same time, he was becoming more and more anxious. Because his family was poor, the rent he usually collected was only enough for him to eat and drink. He couldn't even light the oil lamp at night. It was too luxurious for him to copy the books, so he had to finish it before dark.

Unfortunately, as the sky became darker, it became more and more difficult for Zhou Xing to see the handwriting on the books. Sometimes he had to lie on the pages to barely see clearly. In this way, his copying speed was slower, and he still had not copied a small part of the whole book. It can be said that he could not finish copying anyway today.

"Forget it~" In the end, Zhou Xing could not see the words on the pages clearly, which made him sigh, and then he threw the pen in his hand on the stone mill in anger, but he didn't expect that the force he used was a little too much, and the brush rolled on the stone mill and fell to the ground.

Although the brush was not expensive, Zhou Xing saved money by saving money. Moreover, if the brush was not washed after use, he would have no way to use it next time, which made him hurried to pick it up. However, because it was too dark, he couldn't see where the brush fell for a while, which made him in a secret hurry and quickly searched around the stone mill.

Unfortunately, before Zhou Xing found it, he suddenly heard a crisp "click" sound under his feet, which made him stunned. Then he hurriedly bent down and picked up the brush that had fallen off his feet. Unfortunately, the brush tube had been stepped into two sections by him at this time.

"My pen!" Looking at the brush that was broken into two pieces, Zhou Xing couldn't help but screamed in grief. When he was unlucky, he would even put his teeth in a mess. He had finally borrowed books but he even cut off the brush he bought with frugality. If he wanted to buy another one, he would probably have lost his daily meal.

Zhou Xing is only fourteen years old this year. Even by the standards of the Tang Dynasty, he is not considered an adult. Moreover, he has suffered a lot since his parents passed away. Now, seeing the broken pen in his hand has caused his grievances over the years, he finally couldn't help but feel sad and sobbed in a low voice.

Now Zhou Xing is just a young man who cried bitterly because he lost a pen. However, decades later, this man became famous all over the world, but he was notorious because Zhou Xing was one of the most famous cruel officials during Wu Zetian's reign. Many tortures were invented by him personally, but the evil people were beaten by the evil people. Later, he was subdued by another cruel official, Lai Junchen, who used the strategy of asking the king to fall into the trap. The idiom "I want the king to fall into the trap" also came from him.

Although Zhou Xing was notorious in history, he was actually a very pitiful person. Although he was a civilian, he had studied books and was particularly good at studying the law, but because he failed to pass the Jinshi exam, he was excluded by some people in the officialdom. He was obviously very capable, but he was never promoted. It was this period that caused some distortions in his psychology. Later, after he gained power, he was particularly cruel to those officials who came from the imperial examination. He used his abilities astray and did not end up well, which was also a pity.

However, before Zhou Xing could cry for too long, he suddenly heard a familiar sound of footsteps outside the yard gate, which made him hurriedly stand up and wipe his tears. Then the yard gate was pushed open, and a tall figure walked in. Zhou Xing also hurriedly came up and said, "Brother He, you are back!"

"Yes, it's dark. Have you eaten?" The tall figure also walked over and said. Although the sky was dark at this time, with a little afterglow of the sunset, you can still see that this man was about thirty years old, with a square face and a wide mouth.

This person's name is He Chujun. It is worth mentioning that he was also one of the famous officials of the Tang Dynasty in the future. However, because he opposed Wu Zetian, he also asked Wu Zetian to open the coffin and poke the body after his death. Zhou Xing happened to be the one who carried out this matter, but few people know that they had a relationship before.

"No, Brother He, I copied the book that I borrowed for me for a whole day, but I still couldn't finish it." Zhou Xing shook his head in frustration at this time. He Chujun was not only his friend, but also a tenant in his family. When he learned that he was studying, he tried every means to help him. The book he copied today was borrowed by the other party, so he respected He Chujun very much at this time.

"Forget it before copying. I'll see if I can borrow it again after a few days. Then you can continue copying." He Chujun also heard the loss in Zhou Xing's words at this time, and immediately stepped forward and patted his shoulder and said.

He Chujun's background was much better than Zhou Xing. His father was once the governor of the Sui Dynasty and was granted the title of county duke. Unfortunately, when He Chujun was ten years old, his parents also died. However, his father had many disciples and old friends and gave him a lot of property, but he refused.

Later, when He Chujun became an adult, he went to the Imperial College with the help of his father's old friend. Because it was not far from the Imperial College and the rent was cheap, he rented it at Zhou Xing's house. However, now he would not have dreamed that Zhou Xing in front of him would not even let his body go after his death.
Chapter completed!