“Master Jiang, what kind of work is it?” Zhao Lingxi stepped forward, squeezing away Liu Qianqian and looking at Jiang Zhen expectantly.

“Yes, Master Jiang, what kind of work is it?” Liu Qianqian then stood in front of Zhao Lingxi. If Jiang Zhen only needed one person, she could not let Zhao Lingxi take the job. God only knew how annoying Liu Qianqian found embroidery!

She used to occasionally embroider a purse according to her preferences, which was a nice pastime, so she was happy. But since then, she was always forced to embroider something very boring on very big things. She didn’t want to do it for a living!

Liu Qianqian thought like this, so did Zhao Lingxi who also squeezed ahead.

With such an open and secret struggle, there was no doubt that they were getting closer and closer to Jiang Zhen.

Zhao Jinge stepped forward and stopped in front of Jiang Zhen, halting their momentum. “You don’t have to argue. You all can do it as long as you want to.”

“That’s mean.” Liu Qianqian glared at Zhao Jinge. Zhao Lingxi also looked at him. They could not eat Jiang Zhen, so was it necessary to guard against them?

Jiang Zhen did not treat these people badly. Liu Qianqian and Zhao Lingxi have been residing in Hecheng County for more than half a year. They were not exposed to the wind and the sun, and they have the leisure to dress themselves up, so they looked even more beautiful. The way they looked at him was unexpectedly amorous . . .

Jiang Zhen immediately became a little unhappy. What did this people mean by looking at Zhao Jinge so seductively?

“Stand up straight and don’t look around,” Jiang Zhen said, “As for this job, it is like this.”

Jiang Zhen briefly introduced what he wanted them to do.

Liu Qianqian and Zhao Lingxi were silent. It was a good job, but it also meant using their beauty. If the guests forced them. . .

“Don’t worry. You don’t need to sign the deed of sale. You can quit if you don’t like it. Besides, Qingfeng House will protect your safety, and you won’t do what you don’t want to do,” Jiang Zhen said.

Liu Qianqian came from a flower house. At the beginning, she wanted to escape and tried her best to coax the rich merchant to redeem her. Because the madam held her deed of sale, she could not get a penny of money she earned. But if she said anything, she would be forced to accept even more customers. But this time the situation was different. According to Jiang Zhen, there was no need to sign a deed of sale; they would be paid, and the reward given to them by the guests would also be given to them.

“I will!” Liu Qianqian said without hesitation.

“I will too,” Zhao Lingxi also said.

Just then, the two were fighting openly and secretly, but at the moment, they were as good as their own sisters, singing in harmony. “Master Jiang, don’t worry. We will do a good job!”

“Yes, we will abide by the rules of Qingfeng House!”

“When the time comes, Master Jiang, if you want us to be dignified and virtuous, we will certainly not let you down.”

 

. . .

 

Those who were willing to do so were not only Liu Qianqian and Zhao Lingxi, but also some of the women who were with them. It can be said that the group of “concubines” of Jiang Zhen that Shen Anxin saw at the time were all there. Of course, there were also some who were not willing.

Before, Jiang Zhen had always put these people on this side of the county town because of Liu Qianqian’s boldness. He was worried that Zhao Jinge would be jealous if he took them to Hexi and would cause a storm of jealousy. Now that Liu Qianqian and others were willing to work in Qingfeng House, there was no need to worry about the rest of them.

Jiang Zhen planned to take all the remaining women to Hexi. When these people go there, those who did not want to marry could continue making clothes or working in the canteen to support themselves, and those who want to marry could also find someone to marry.

These days, boys were preferred over daughters, so some people were not willing to support their daughters while three wives and four concubines were still legal. Large families used a lot of servant girls . . . and the end result was there was a shortage of women in the countryside.

Because of this, the vast majority of men did not care whether their wives turned out to be big or dark-skinned women as long as they could have a wife. Of course, for the once-married women, men would certainly give fewer betrothal gifts. Not to mention that there were many men rescued from the pirates in Jiang Zhen’s hands.

These men who worked for him as sailors did not earn much as his specially trained men, and they were also outsiders, so they could not marry the local women of Hexi. It was estimated that as long as someone was willing to marry them, they would be willing to marry, and there might even be a fight.

Jiang Zhen started missing his daughter, so after letting Liu Qianqian, Zhao Lingxi, and the others think about it carefully he intended to leave.

Meanwhile, Shen Anxin was still in a trance. After seeing the interaction between Jiang Zhen, Liu Qianqian, and Zhao Lingxi, Shen Anxin naturally knew that these people could never be Jiang Zhen’s concubines, so they lied to him from the beginning.

When he thought Jiang Zhen was not a good man, Shen Anxin put down his feelings for Jiang Zhen. But at the moment, after knowing that it was a misunderstanding, the feelings that he had put down were surging back even more intensely than before.

Jiang Zhen had always been very good, and he was very sincere to Zhao Jinge . . . But seeing Jiang Zhen unexpectedly indifferent in the face of temptation . . . Shen Anxin became even more jealous of Zhao Jinge. However, the experience of the last half a year had taught him to hide his emotions.

No matter what he had in mind, on the surface, Shen Anxin was very calm and showed nothing. But he could still not help looking back when he left. Then he saw Zhao Lingxi and Liu Qianqian make a face at him.

There was no doubt that these two people recognized him and remembered what happened . . . At that time, these people probably said that to him on purpose. Shen Anxin finally lost his temper. However, it was only for a moment, and he soon regained his senses and reined in his emotions.

After seeing these people, it was already getting late, so Zheng Yi immediately proposed to invite Jiang Zhen to the restaurant for dinner, but Jiang Zhen refused. “I want to go back to see Mingzhu.”

He took Zhao Mingzhu with him, so he wanted to spend more time with his daughter, so he also took her out for a stroll.

“Then why don’t we eat at your place?” Zheng Yi said. “I will go with you.”

Jiang Zhen nodded and agreed. Fearing that the food prepared by Cook Li would not be enough, on his way back, he especially bought roast chicken and several kinds of cooked food and ordered a small jar of wine.

Jiang Zhen himself did not like wine much; when he was in the army, they were also not allowed to drink. When he came out, he would drink it occasionally, but even still, he mainly drank beer. He could drink a little of wine, but he did not like it much, so buying a wine was only according to Zheng Yi’s wishes, so he bought a jar of rice wine.

“There is no good wine in this shop. Only this rice wine can be drank . . . ,” Young Master Zheng said and mentioned a few better wines, saying that only those wines were worth drinking.

Feng Jingyuan knew a lot about wine and immediately talked to Zheng Yi about them. Shen Anxin could also say only a few words. However, Jiang Zhen and Zhao Jinge were confused.

“The sweet wine made by my mother is very delicious,” Zhao Jinge said. There was no shortage of food at home this summer, so Zhao Liu made sweet wine from leftover rice mixed with wine and medicine.

Jiang Zhen nodded, Zhao Liu’s wine was really good and was even better than the one he bought in the supermarket in modern times.

The atmosphere in which the two of them spoke did not allow anyone else to chime in . . . Shen Anxin’s heart was sore as he remembered some of the things that had happened in the capital before.

After despairing over Jiang Zhen, he agreed to his mother’s proposal to talk about marriage and also took a maid that his mother had prepared for him. But then he found that he did not like women and, even after trying, did not want to touch women at all. He left the capital just to escape, but to his surprise, he ran into Jiang Zhen again.

Several people soon arrived at Jiang Zhen’s residence in the county town.

Jiang Zhen’s requirements for the house were not high, so the house outside looked very ordinary. But the inside was clean and there was also some distinctive furniture. For example, in the eating room, in addition to the most common eight immortal table, a large wooden bed that could not be considered a normal one was built against the wall. It was made from wooden boards and included a half meter high railing. And inside . . .  Zhao Mingzhu sat inside, throwing a cotton-filled cloth ball.

She threw them while giggling. Seeing Jiang Zhen and Zhao Jinge come inside, she was obviously very happy. But she was so happy, she fell back with her legs and arms facing the ceiling. But because she was wearing a lot, she could not get up.

Jiang Zhen’s heart was about to melt for a moment as he hurriedly went up to help her then threw her ball up, catching it himself before throwing it back to her.

Zhao Mingzhu laughed even more happily.

“Master Jiang really dotes on Miss Jiang,” Feng Jingyuan said. “Miss Jiang is also very lively and lovely.”

“Yes, Master Jiang is very kind to Miss Jiang,” Shen Anxin also said.

As a matter of fact, Zhao Mingzhu’s surname was Zhao, but Zhao Jinge would not deliberately tell anyone about this, so he just smiled and nodded, but Zheng Yi said, “It’s not Miss Jiang but Miss Zhao.”

“Miss Zhao?” Shen Anxin asked in surprise.

“Yes. Jiang Zhen married into the Zhao family,” Zheng Yi said.

At the beginning, because he thought Jiang Zhen would not want people to know about it, Zheng Yi never talked about it with others, but later when they started to get along more, he found that he was thinking too much. Jiang Zhen did not care about this at all.

Jiang Zhen really didn’t care about this but he did not deliberately talk about it to others either so both Feng Jingyuan and Shen Anxin, who knew nothing about it before, were surprised to hear such a thing.

 

Edited by: Faro

Proofreader: XLB

 

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