Springtime Affairs in a Noble Family

"No need for that trouble," Steward Lin hurriedly said. "General Xie, you should just go and rest. There's no need for you to do that."

General Xie has quite a temper. If he discovers anything amiss, it could be the death of Jing'an Hall.

Xie Yunting glanced at Steward Lin, confirming that something was amiss. "Alright, then you can go."

Xie Yunting glanced at Prince Rong, then turned and left.

He pretended to go back to his room, then followed Manager Lin.

Manager Lin and his men searched the entire Jing'an Hall, inside and out, but couldn't find the person. Finally, someone from Prince Rong's side came to deliver a message saying that the person had been found near the outhouse.

Fearing repercussions from these important figures, Manager Lin sent out a scapegoat.

She returned to her room, where a young maid brought her hot water. "You've been up all night, it's almost dawn, why don't you get some more sleep?"

"sleep?"

Manager Lin snorted coldly, "How can we sleep if those big shots don't leave? It's such a hassle. I don't know why they're so fixated on us!"

"From what Cui said, it seems that Zhao did something extremely heinous." The young woman skillfully helped Steward Lin wash up.

"Zhao is clearly no good. He was tormented when he first arrived at Jing'an Hall. Anyway, I can't sleep. Are the new ones behaving themselves?" Manager Lin asked.

"Reporting to the steward, one of them has a family member who is an official, so he was arranged into a six-person room like the others. Of the other three, one is quite sensible and is already teaching him how to receive guests. The other two are crying and saying they are innocent, refusing to nod no matter what, and have been starving for two days," the young lady said.

Not everyone sent to Jing'an Hall was someone Jing'an Hall dared to have ulterior motives towards.

Jing'an Hall would only target women who were poor and powerless but had some good looks.

If they disobey and get hurt or killed, it doesn't matter, because they've already been sent to Jing'an Hall, so why would their family care?

"Alright, let's go take a look." Manager Lin had the young woman lead him to a courtyard on the back hill.

The young woman carried a lantern, and as soon as the door opened, the two women inside immediately shrank back.

"Manager, please let us go! We are all respectable women! After my husband died, my brother-in-law tried to take my body. I refused, so he forced me here!" a woman with a slightly fuller figure said.

Manager Lin remembered the other woman's name. "Zhang Hehua, you've already entered Jing'an Hall, what kind of respectable woman can you be? Let me tell you two, if you don't listen to our arrangements, you'll end up in the beds of those noblemen anyway. You might as well obey and suffer less."

"I don't want to take customers. I'd rather die than take customers! Aren't you afraid of being exposed for doing this?" Zhang Hehua was just an ordinary farmer's wife. Her family owned a few acres of land, and when her husband was alive, they lived a very happy life.

"Afraid? If I were afraid, would you still be here?" Seeing that he couldn't reason with them, Manager Lin turned and walked out. "Give them two steamed buns tomorrow. When the important person arrives, force-feed them an aphrodisiac. Once it's started, there's no turning back!"

In the darkness, the relentless cold wind blew into the room.

Zhang Hehua trembled with despair; she never imagined she would fall into such a hellish place.

Is there really such a thing in the world?

While Zhang Hehua was crying, Xie Yunting had already disappeared into the darkness. He followed Steward Lin all the way to a courtyard next to Jing'an Hall, where the decorations were much richer and more luxurious, clearly indicating that it was not ordinary.

"Keep a close watch and don't let anyone get close to this place," Manager Lin instructed as he walked.

Xie Yunting, having roughly grasped the situation, went to his subordinates and ordered, "Return to Bianjing as quickly as possible. Have Cui Zeyu go to my residence and bring a team of elites. Not a single one of these Jing'an Hall members can be let go!"

After explaining all this, Xie Yunting returned to the house.

As dawn broke, Xie Yunting thought about what had happened the night before, and he could almost smell the faint scent of a woman.

The effects of the drug hadn't worn off yet, and he was already feeling like he was about to explode.

Meanwhile, Cui Lingrong next door hadn't slept all night. Just thinking about Xie Yunting embracing her made her feel an unspeakable sense of shame.

Autumn's mother asked a few questions, but her master remained silent.

The two servants, seeing that it was almost dawn, thought that Qiu Mama wanted to fetch some hot water, but she was worried that the things in Jing'an Hall were not clean.

"Master, shall we go back first?" Without the letter from the Marquis of Jiangyuan's residence, Jing'an Hall dared not let them go.

Cui Lingrong nodded.

"Then this servant will go and call General Xie." Just as Mama Qiu was about to leave, she was stopped by her mistress.

"No." Cui Lingrong didn't know how to face Xie Yunting right now.

Their relationship is no longer what it used to be.

"Master, you and General Xie last night..." Madam Qiu didn't finish her sentence, but seeing her master's expression, she figured that was probably true. "Actually, it's alright. You and General Xie are both unmarried, so even if something happened between you, no one can say anything about it. General Xie has a lot of dealings with us, and it's not like he can just stop seeing us."

What Qiu's mother meant was that if the master was interested, it would be better to accept General Xie.

There was a knock at the door. Upon hearing that it was someone from Prince Rong's side, Cui Lingrong remembered that she had been drugged and immediately asked Aunt Qiu to open the door.

"Our Prince said that your master can have money or shops if he wants them. We should be lenient and stop pressing the issue. You might need our Prince's mansion in the future."

Before Qiu's mother could speak, Cui Lingrong stepped forward and said, "Go back and tell your Prince that they know perfectly well what dirty things he and Zhao Susu did. There's absolutely no way I'll let go now!"

"Why are you so stubborn? I've already said I'd compensate you, isn't that enough?" The servant was getting impatient.

"Who cares about the money of your Rongjun Prince's Mansion? Get out of here!" Cui Lingrong had just finished speaking when she saw Xie Yunting come out of the next room.

Their eyes met, and Cui Lingrong immediately looked away, her face flushed.

Xie Yunting, quite naturally, came over to greet them, then grabbed the servant and tossed him behind him, saying, "Go back and tell Prince Rong that we don't care about his paltry offer, or even the entire Prince's mansion!"

"You...you'll regret this!" The servant ran back and embellished the story for his master.

"Ungrateful wretch!" Zhao Zhongren gritted his teeth in anger. "Father, it seems we can't take my sister away today. Why don't we go back first and discuss this further later?"

Prince Rong was willing to give money, but couldn't think of any other way, so he could only go back for the time being.

As the father and son were leaving, they ran into Cui Lingrong and Xie Yunting.

Zhao Zhongren snorted and walked ahead. "Father, the carriage is ready. Please get in."

Prince Rong nodded, glancing one last time at Song Shulan.

Song Shulan immediately shrank his neck.

Just as Cui Lingrong was about to board the carriage, Xie Yunting's men, whom he had sent out the night before to follow Bai Shi, suddenly returned with a woman.

"General, something urgent has happened!"

Upon hearing this, Xie Yunting hurried over to ask what was wrong.

Upon hearing this, Prince Rong gestured for the coachman to wait, wanting to see what was going on.

Bai Shuang knelt down with Xie Yunting's attendants, pleading, "General, please save me! The Bai family wants me to take the place of Zhao from Jing'an Hall, but Zhao refused. Now the Bai family wants to kill me to silence me!"

"The Bai family wants to kill you? Why?" Xie Yunting asked.

"Because I overheard that Zhao is actually Bai's daughter, and learned that more than thirty years ago, Bai and Rongwangfu gave birth at the same time. In order to take revenge on Rongwangfei, Bai deliberately switched the daughters of the two families. So Bai wants to kill me to silence me!" Bai Shuang had been on tenterhooks all night and dared not sleep too soundly. When she closed her eyes, she noticed something was wrong and dodged Bai's servant's dagger.

However, she still suffered abrasions on her arm. If Xie Yunting's attendants hadn't arrived in time, she probably would have died last night!