He has always been quick to focus when doing things, so when he began to learn he had forgotten about everything around him until Jiang Zhen took away his brush. “It’s late.” 

“Oh.” Zhao Jinge put down his brush and planned to go to bed. However, Jiang Zhen took out a deck of cards. “Come on. Let’s play cards.”

Zhao Jinge suddenly blushed.

In the next few days, Jiang Zhen’s men went to visit the capital in batches and bought a lot of things. There were even several people who were cheated out of their money. But Jiang Zhen didn’t care about any of this. He hadn’t been going out and was either at home reading or teasing Zhao Jinge. Living leisurely but very fulfilling life.

Near his mansion, however, in the Shen family house, Shen Anxin had been having trouble sleeping and eating. He knew that he and Jiang Zhen wouldn’t end up together, but he couldn’t help thinking about Jiang Zhen all the time. 

Jiang Zhen was so good to Zhao Jinge. If he were the one who married him . . . He was better than Zhao Jinge in every way, so Jiang Zhen would definitely treat him even better.

In just a few days, Shen Anxin had become haggard.

“Young Master, what’s wrong with you?” Rumo asked curiously.

Shen Anxin looked at Rumo, feeling a little confused. His little servant also liked Jiang Zhen and even talked about it bluntly, but he was having a hard time. This person could not see anything at all.

“Nothing, Rumo. Let’s go out for a walk,” Shen Anxin said.

Shen Anxin didn’t allow them to prepare the carriage for him as he walked out of the house with Rumo and then headed to Jiang Zhen’s mansion.

When he arrived near Jiang Zhen mansion, his speed involuntarily slowed down, and it took him a long time to walk past the entrance of that mansion. But even then, he never saw Jiang Zhen. 

Somewhat lost, Shen Anxin continued to walk forward, and after a while, he turned into an alley and finally turned to the back street of the house.

“Master, why did you come here?” Rumo was a little puzzled. There are streets around the houses in the capital. The street in front of them was very spacious while the street behind was very narrow.  Sometimes, there could be even a weird smell if someone poured out the swill. 

“I’ve never been here before, so I’m just walking around,” Shen Anxin said.

After walking a few steps, he looked towards the back door of a mansion. It was Jiang Zhen’s mansion.

Shen Anxin couldn’t stay at the front gate of the house, but he could stay a little longer at the back door of a mansion.

Rumo was still a little confused, but seeing Shen Anxin’s behavior, he came back to his senses. “Young Master . . .”

His young master was going to get married and have children. How could he, how could he . . .

“I’m just taking a look,” Shen Anxin said. His mother was already talking with him about the marriage, so he was just looking.  

After standing for a while, Shen Anxin was about to leave. But at that moment, the backyard door of Jiang Zhen mansion opened and a number of people came out from inside.

 Among these people, the leaders were Liu Qianqian and Zhao Lingxi.

These two followed the leaders of pirates before and had a bit of status. Although they adored weakness, loved easy-going life and hated hard work, they were not vicious. They even took care of other women and gers. In addition, they could read and had some knowledge. Many of the women and gers who Jiang Zhen rescued listened to them. 

Of course, there are also those who didn’t like them. 

After Zhao Jinge locked all these people in the backyard and locked the door leading to the front yard, Liu Qianqian and Zhao Lingxi were a bit angry at first but later accepted the reality.

In fact, they also knew that Jiang Zhen would never come to see them . . .

After letting go of their initial thoughts no longer wanting to become concubines of Jiang Zhen, they started living peacefully in the backyard.

Although Zhao Jinge locked them up, he didn’t treat them badly. He would even bring them anything they wanted to eat if they asked.  Later, Liu Qianqian, after gaining an inch, began to ask Zhao Jinge for rouge powder. 

This time, Zhao Jinge didn’t give it to them but told them that they could go out and buy it for themselves.

There’s a reason why Zhao Jinge said that. 

After Jiang Zhen saved these women and gers, he didn’t take away their jewelry and silver, so they were actually pretty rich.

Before, he provided them with food because they worked for it. But now that they wanted rouge powder . . . they should pay for it themselves. Anyway he won’t give it. 

Liu Qianqian and Zhao Lingxi just wanted to see his reaction, so they weren’t surprised to get such a reply, so after complaining about Zhao Jinge’s stinginess, they really went out to buy it by themselves.

Today, it was the second time they went out.

These who wanted to go out and buy some rouge powder were naturally young. So when they went out this time, there were dozens or so beautiful women and gers led by Liu Qianqian and Zhao Lingxi.

Because they were going out shopping, they all put their best clothes and jewelry. They even dressed up by putting rouge on their lips, making them more beautiful than flowers. 

They came out chattering from the back door and met Shen Anxin.

Shen Anxin looked at the house and then looked at these people again. He became a little confused. How could there be so many women in Jiang Zhen’s house?

“Wait a minute.” Shen Anxin stopped those people. “You came out of this house . . . What is your relationship with Jiang Zhen?” Why are these people living in Jiang Zhen’s backyard?  That’s the backyard!

Zhao Jinge didn’t notice that Shen Anxin was actually a ger, but Liu Qianqian and Zhao Lingxi eyes were much better than his, especially after seeing a ger like Zhao Jinge.

They sized up Shen Anxin and could tell that he was a ger and could also see from his demeanor that he was interested in Jiang Zhen.

With a twinkle in her eyes, Liu Qianqian said, “What could our relationship be with Master Jiang when we come out of this backyard?”

“That’s right, you’re just asking, aren’t you?” Zhao Lingxi also said.

“You and Jiang Zhen . . .” Shen Anxin couldn’t continue halfway through his sentence, feeling uncomfortable.

“We are Jiang Zhen’s people.” Liu Qianqian smiled.

“How could . . . I haven’t heard of you . . . ,” Shen Anxin said.

Feeling that this person had contact with Jiang Zhen before . . . Zhao Lingxi immediately said, “Of course you haven’t heard of us. Who would talk about the nameless women in his family?”

“That’s right, our lord only takes Jinge with him when he goes out,” Liu Qianqian helped out.

Shen Anxin became even more reluctant to believe it: “No . . . Isn’t Jiang Zhen and Zhao Jinge’s relationship very good?”

“They are affectionate, but Madam is very jealous, making the Lord lock us in the backyard . . .” Zhao Lingxi showed a piteous look.

“Lord obeys Madam in everything . . . Fortunately, they didn’t throw us away,” Liu Qianqian said again. “He just does not come to see us much, always letting us stay alone.”

“In fact, although Madam likes to be jealous, he is very good to us, and there is no shortage of food and clothing. He even allows us to go out,” Zhao Lingxi added.

The two of them, Liu Qian and Zhao Linxi spoke until Shen Anxin’s face became white.

Shen Anxin initially had a crush on Jiang Zhen because he found out that Jiang Zhen  was good to Zhao Jinge, but it turned out that . . . this was all superficial? In fact, Jiang Zhen had many women and gers besides Zhao Jinge? 

In fact, Shen Anxin’s father was an infatuated one. He married his mother and gave birth to him. After that, his mother couldn’t have any more children, but he refused to take any concubines and instead began to raise him as a son.

Because of this, Shen Anxin’s living environment since childhood was extremely simple; he also envied his mother who was protected by his own father. Although he knew that many men had three wives and four concubines, he didn’t take it very seriously, until now.

Shen Anxin almost turned around and ran. 

Liu Qianqian and Zhao Lingxi looked at each other and said together, “We really made a bargain for Zhao Jinge.” They just helped Zhao Jinge kill a love rival.

However, this little young master who ran away was really confusing . . .

Looking at his clothes, you could tell that his home conditions must be pretty good. If it was like this, why did he still covet a man who already had a main wife? 

If they are clean and rich at home, they would definitely not find a married man like Jiang Zhen to get married to!

After Liu Qianqian and Zhao Lingxi scared away Shen Anxin, they went shopping. They didn’t take this seriously or even talked to Zhao Jinge about it. 

Well, they could speak to Zhao Jinge either. Zhao Jinge let others take care of them and observe. When they returned from shopping that day, they were assigned some work and had to work, so who would remember something like that? 

Unknowingly, it had been a month since Jiang Zhen and Zhao Jinge had arrived in the capital, and by this time, all the people in the capital basically knew about cards and the name of the Zheng family’s business.

Zheng Yi took Jiang Zhen’s advice and printed his firm’s name on the back of the ordinary cards.

After the cards became popular, Jiang Zhen was little worried if many people would be addicted to gambling, but he soon realized that he was overthinking it.

Those who wanted to gamble, even if they didn’t have cards, still had many ways to gamble. Those who didn’t want to . . . even if they bought cards, they would only play with their families.

Just like him, he never gambled with other people and only played with Zhao Jinge for taking off clothes. 

Especially the common folks . . . Many of them didn’t have time to live their own live so where would they find time to play this? 

Even if they had cards, they would live their life as they always had. However, the upper class of this Daqi was praising the gentleman cards. All the benefits brought by the cards belonged to the Zheng family. Jiang Zhen was not surprised about it, and he didn’t care. He was an ordinary citizen. Without the Zheng family, he wouldn’t have been able to introduce them. Also, the Zheng family had already given him a lot of things and helped him a lot, which could be called kindness.

That day, Zheng Yi even made a personal visit. Telling him that the empress dowager had already been informed about the matter of stitching the wounds and had asked people in the hospital to test it out. 

“My second uncle is going to talk about this method with some generals. Would you like to follow along to meet those generals?” After saying that, Zheng Yi asked again.

“No need. I don’t know how to heal. This method was just thought of by chance. It would be shameful to go there, so I won’t go.” Jiang Zhen directly refused. He didn’t intend to go to the army to develop his career, so there was no need for him to meet these people.

“Well . . . don’t worry. I’ll get you more rewards,” Zheng Yi said.

Jiang Zhen wasn’t suitable for the officialdom, and he also thought it was better for Jiang Zhen not to come forward.

For Jiang Zhen, all kinds of rewards were affordable, but it took time . . . to come out with a new medical method in the modern era, not to mention that this was ancient times.

“Master Zheng, when are you returning to the south of Yangze River?”  Jiang Zhen suddenly asked.

In fact, the capital was very comfortable to live in, but Zhao Fugui and his wife were still in Hexi, and Zhao Jinge was obviously a bit homesick.

Zhao Jinge was already four months pregnant, so if they didn’t go back by then, it would be more inconvenient to go back when his belly got bigger. Zhao Fugui and his wife would also definitely be worried after waiting for such a long time.

“Jiang Zhen, I’m not going to lie to you. I expected to stay in the capital for a year this time,” Zheng Yi said.

He originally wanted Jiang Zhen to stay in the capital for a longer time to help him organize a high-quality gambling house, but now it seemed . . . it was not possible. Jiang Zhen did not want to stay in the capital anymore. Knowing that, Zheng Yi couldn’t go back for the time being, Jiang Zhen proposed that he would go back first. 

Naturally, Zheng Yi couldn’t refuse. He sent two very experienced stewards of the Zheng family to help Jiang Zhen purchase goods and sent another thousand taels of silver to let Jiang Zhen go back first.

After staying in the capital for a month and a half, Jiang Zhen made all the preparations to go back and waited for the goods to be loaded onto the ship in a few days before he would go back. 

It was at this time that he discovered an important event. Zhao Jinge’s stomach had moved!

Jiang Zhen was making out with Zhao Jinge that day and, suddenly, felt Zhao Jinge’s stomach moving, making him confused.

 

Edited by: Faro

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