Before his final Imperial Examination, he had been penniless.
Ling'er had left home with him to help him make the final push for the Imperial Examination. She had said her family had extensive business connections and she could find a way to earn money, so he should focus on his studies and not worry about anything else.
He had never imagined that her way of earning money was to embroider handkerchiefs every night and sell them at a stall during the day for a few scraps of silver!
She was the pampered eldest daughter of the richest family, a girl who had never wanted for money, yet she had severed ties with her family for him.
For him, she had picked up an embroidery needle she had never been skilled with. While he studied hard by lamplight, she had embroidered by lamplight in the next room.
In the past, she would not even have spared such handkerchiefs a glance. Yet for him, she had willingly cast aside all her pride and stitched those once-disdained things, one needleful and one thread at a time.
How helpless and frightened she must have been when the stallholders humiliated her and she hid in a corner to secretly wipe away her tears.
Yet whenever she returned, she wore a gentle smile.
How much time had she spent on the road composing herself?
And what had she felt when she smiled at him after coming home?
It was love-her utterly unreserved love for him!
Qiao Zhishu could no longer hold back. He closed his eyes, and tears fell.
Their bitter days were finally behind them, yet his attachment to his blood ties with his parents had made his wife suffer.
He was utterly useless!
He slammed his fist into the doorframe, leaving his hand red.