That night, Lu Bei did not return to the Wei Mansion, but went to the Zhu brothers' house for dinner.
There was no other reason. He calculated with his fingers that there was a war in the Wei Mansion tonight and cavalry were attacking the gate. He didn't know when the troops would be called back. He didn't want to go there and get himself into trouble.
Seeing their partner coming to pay New Year's greetings, the Zhu brothers welcomed them with red envelopes. The three of them went to Mingyue Tower for a small gathering, and Lu Bei ate the authentic roast goose that he had not tasted for a long time.
In the past, I had no experience and did not know the cooking steps of roast goose, so I could only eat it for fun. Now it is different. I have rich cooking experience and I am confident that I can reversely deduce the chef's production process based on the taste.
…
Yizhou, Nanyang County, Changming County.
Changming Prefecture.
Changming is the name of a county, and also the title of the eldest princess Zhu Qilan, who had a fief of 3,000 households.
According to the laws of Wu Zhou, unmarried princesses were not entitled to fiefs, not even the eldest princess. Zhu Qilan had only the title without any actual benefits.
But the emperor of the time was very tolerant of his sister. He knew that Zhu Qilan was far away in a foreign land and that the fiefdom he enjoyed was tantamount to exile. Therefore, after he ascended the throne, he secured many benefits for him, and a fief of 3,000 households was one of them.
Originally, according to the emperor's intention, he only had this one sister, and although three thousand households seemed like a lot in name only, the actual fiefdom was only three hundred, so ten thousand households was about right, barely worthy of the noble status of the eldest princess.
The clan rejected it because it was unreasonable and had no precedent.
The emperor expressed his understanding that it was indeed inappropriate to do so without precedent, but just because it had not happened before did not mean it would not happen in the future.
As the head of the Wu Zhou Dynasty, he did not want to act arbitrarily and was willing to give face to the clan elders. His fief of 3,000 households remained unchanged, and his actual fief of 300 households was doubled, for a total of 600 households.
Both sides took a step back, and Zhu Qilan's value was determined.
In this way, the taxes, corvée and dividends of the six hundred households did not go to the court, but were all handed over to Changming Prefecture. The impoverished princess instantly became a wealthy woman who had no worries about food and drink.
Although she had never had to worry about food and drink before, she received salary from the Grand Commander of the Huangji Sect, which made her unique among the civil servants of the Wu Zhou Dynasty.
At this moment, in front of the gate of Changming Mansion, a long dragon was lined up in an orderly manner. There were people of all ages, old, middle-aged and young, but all of them were wealthy and came from prominent families.
Probably at the registration office, a young man put down a visiting card. The scribe in charge of registration opened the card, looked at it, made some marks on it, and then asked someone to pass the card in.
The young man waited eagerly until his visiting card disappeared behind the wall, then he turned around and said goodbye to the others.
"Mr. Zhao, you are here too?"
"Happy New Year, General Wang!"
"My dear seniors, I'm new here. I want to ask, can I get a divine sword, ten pairs of jade disks, fifty pearls, a hundred pieces of brocade, and ten thousand taels of silver in exchange for a meeting with the princess?"
You are driving up the price!
The crowd was stunned when they heard this, and then shook their heads and sneered.
"Young man, are you from the country?"
"Hahaha, don't you see where you are? You want to see the princess for such a small amount of silver?"
"Forget about it, put the visiting card away quickly and don't embarrass yourself!"
"Ah, this..."
The young man's face turned red, he stammered and was unable to speak, he covered his face and ran away amid the laughter of the crowd.
┬┴┤=;)
In the corner, Lu Bei stopped to watch and swallowed his saliva.
Poverty limited his imagination, and he used to have certain misunderstandings about the term "rich woman".
Not again!
He felt in his pocket and took out a palm-sized ten-liang silver note, which he stuffed back into his sleeve after a struggle. He took a detour to the back door of the princess's mansion and saw a notice on the wall recruiting menial workers. He couldn't help but raise his hand and touch his chin.
Two possibilities.
The first one, considering that she is a princess of noble status, after he signs up and is led in, he will most likely be tied up, and then a beardless old man holding a knife will come up to him with a smile.
The second type is that low-level chores are managed in a fully militarized manner. Because she is a princess of noble status, she has four beautiful maids in the inner courtyard.
“There’s something going on!”
Lu Bei nodded and chose neither.
He sensed around and noticed that the guard in the backyard was moving towards the toilet with his belt in hand. He took advantage of the situation and jumped up, easily climbing over the wall into the yard.
Swish!
Thirty-six soldiers in helmets and armor stepped forward and drew out their long swords in unison. The cold light was so sharp that Lu Bei's face turned black.
I was careless.
Changming Mansion is guarded by an array formation that blocks perception and also confuses people. He did not check for a moment and directly fell into the illusion formation.
If the prediction is correct, the shrill alarm outside has spread throughout the city.
"He died before he could accomplish his mission, causing the late emperor to spend all his budget..."
Lu Bei complained, avoiding the dangerous murderous intent in the illusion array, and walked towards the life gate at a leisurely pace: "If I had known this would happen, I should have bribed the accountant with ten taels of silver. I was stingy this time, I won't do it next time."
Swish! x3
As soon as he stepped out of the illusion array, before he could follow up, Lu Bei saw a flash of swords and sabers in front of his eyes.
The difference is that this time the guards are three women with cold faces and serious expressions.
"It's better for girls to wield spears and sticks. Swords and knives can easily hurt you."
Lu Bei teased, and seeing that the three people's eyes were unmoved, he suddenly realized: "Everyone in the family has a assassin. My cousin is very insecure!"
"Who is coming?" the assassin asked.
"I am Ding Lei from Ningzhou and I have been invited to visit the princess. I would like to ask this sister to pass on the message."
"Ningzhou..."
The assassins frowned and pondered, one of them put away his sword and left, and the remaining two stayed to guard Lu Bei.
After a while, the assassin brought back a young woman and pointed at Lu Bei and said, "Butler, this is the person who claims to be from Ningzhou."
The housekeeper had beautiful eyes and dark eyebrows, and was very pretty. She was dressed in soft green satin, with tassels tightly tied around her slender waist, and a Ruyi sachet fastened to her neck. Her figure was soft and graceful.
A pair of beautiful eyes stared at Lu Bei for a while, and then said in a flowing voice: "Ningzhou Ding Lei has never heard of it, but Ningzhou Lu Bei has heard of it. May I ask who is he?"
"To be honest, I'm Ningzhou Lu Bei, nicknamed Ding Lei."
Lu Bei explained, and when his identity was discovered, he simply stopped hiding it and raised his hand to wipe his face, revealing his true appearance.
"That's you."
The housekeeper nodded and smiled, and said to the assassin beside her: "This man is your Highness's guest. The way to enter the door is exactly the same as your Highness' instructions. Put away your weapons and don't neglect the guest."
Lu Bei: (a`′a)
Let me make it clear, what does the way of entering the door mean and the explanation are exactly the same? What else did Zhu Qilan maliciously slander
"Mr. Lu, please follow me. His Highness is in the quiet room practicing, so I need to inform him."
The housekeeper raised her hand to invite him in, and after walking a few steps, she met a maid and whispered a few instructions in her ear.
Lu Bei had sharp ears and accidentally heard most of what was said. The general meaning was that the people queuing at the door should be dispersed. She was not feeling well today, so the dinner would be postponed to tomorrow and they would definitely meet again next time.
Why are you having dinner with them
Lu Bei didn't understand so he asked, "This is our first meeting, so I'd like to ask your name."
"Mr. Lu, you are too polite. I am just a humble person and I don't deserve to be called sister."
The housekeeper introduced herself, saying that her surname was Ruan and her given name was Bai Yu. When she was young, she entered the palace as a maid and followed Zhu Qilan. Later, she followed Zhu Qilan to settle here and was trusted by him. She was given the surname Zhu and managed all matters inside and outside Changming Mansion.
Entered the palace at a young age and followed Zhu Qilan for many years...
It’s Aunt Yu, what a treat!
Lu Bei captured the key words accurately and raised his hand to say, "It turns out to be Housekeeper Yu. Sister Yu is polite. I have another question. From what Sister Yu said just now, after those perverts outside sent their visiting cards, it was not my cousin who met them, but you, Sister Yu?"
"cousin?"
Now it was Housekeeper Yu's turn to be surprised, and he asked in confusion: "Excuse me, Mr. Lu, who is the cousin you are talking about?"
"It's your Highness!"
Lu Bei looked like an honest man. "Last time, I said goodbye to my cousin and lost my appetite. Then I suddenly felt my blood calling me. I took advantage of the New Year holidays to visit relatives and friends. Finally, I found out the reason among the relatives of the Zhu family. After rounding it off, we are all family."
Butler Yu: “…”
It’s confirmed, this is the person, exactly the same as what His Highness described.
"Sister Yu, it's your turn."
"Didn't Mr. Lu ask before coming?"
Housekeeper Yu chuckled, "A group of young talents wanted to see His Highness' beauty. She was too kind-hearted to refuse them, so I went to represent them. I am a weak woman, and I have to deal with other matters at home. I really don't have that much time. I had to make three rules with them. I will have lunch with the one with the highest visiting card every day. If there is someone with excellent character and talent, I will introduce him to His Highness."
"Has anyone seen it?"
"Every three to five months, when His Highness has nothing to do, he will pick someone who can fight to meet him." Butler Yu replied with a smile.
“Great!”
Lu Bei said admiringly: "My cousin has a good business and has made a lot of money over the years. I admire you."
Butler Yu: “…”
He looked at the shameless Lu Bei with curiosity, wondering why Zhu Qilan had told him separately that if this person came to visit, he could be brought in directly.
Could it be that...
Your Highness has finally figured it out and wants to choose a husband for himself
It shouldn’t happen. There are men in the world. Your Highness’s vision is not so bad.
After thinking about it, she felt that Zhu Qilan was itching to fight, so she asked a sandbag to come over to have a fight.
…
In Changming Mansion, Butler Yu led Lu Bei for a five-minute walk, first through the outer mansion, then through the garden and then into the inner mansion. Although he did not say anything, he proved with practical actions that the rich woman's property was not worth a billion.
"Sir, please wait a moment. I will go and invite His Highness over." In the long pavilion, Butler Yu ordered the servants to bring fruit tea, then bowed and took his leave.
"Bai Yu, I think the senior brother will like this name very much."
Speaking of the eldest senior brother, Lu Bei glanced outside the waterside pavilion and saw the koi fish poking its head out to look at him. It opened its mouth and shook its head in disappointment.
It's a pity that such a good pool of water cannot be swung with two poles.
After a while, Butler Yu came hurriedly and led Lu Bei towards the quiet room, his face slightly anxious.
"Your Highness has failed to break through the realm through internal energy, and there is a risk of evil thoughts invading. She said that Mr. Lu can help her overcome the difficulties..." Butler Yu spoke quickly. When Lu Bei arrived at the door of the quiet room, he removed the defensive formation and led him in directly.
In the darkness, a pair of bright eyes slowly opened, and a female voice sounded a little lazy and hoarse.
"Have you figured it out?"
"Um."