Zhao Huan returned to the inn, and one thing troubled him: the girls he had rescued from Mingcui Tower. He had a problem with how to accommodate them. Giving them money and letting them go home was the best option, but Zhao Huan was reluctant to do so.

Of course, Zhao Huan’s most evil thought was to send all these more than 80 little girls to the imperial palace in the capital, so that he could deal with them one by one when he had time.

Although our tyrant emperor is incompetent and shameless, fortunately he still has a conscience in his heart, so he can't do such a thing. In fact, the biggest reason is that Zhao Huan can't figure out Nangong Lian'er's background.

If he really sent these girls to the palace for his own pleasure, Nangong Lian'er would naturally not dare to say anything. But doing so would hurt her heart. Zhao Huan liked a woman to have her heart, not her body.

These days, doing good deeds and being a good person requires self-sacrifice. Zhao Huan had no choice but to ask Cao Dongsheng to go to the government office to ask for a few hundred taels of silver to send these girls back to their homes.

"Everyone listen to me, I have rescued you from the brothel. Now, you can go home. Each of you come and get ten taels of silver, and then go home." Zhao Huan said this reluctantly, because there were indeed many beautiful girls among them, in fact, all of them were beauties.

Zhao Huan didn't dare to look at these girls again, mainly because he was afraid of not being able to control himself. The worst thing was that they had all been changed into clothes by Nangong Lian'er. It was said that the cloth shop in Pizhou looked like it had been robbed.

Nangong Lian'er bought more than 80 sets of clothes in one go and gave the cloth shop owner two gold leaves. I guess the cloth shop owner would wake up laughing in his dreams.

These girls with ragged clothes and stained faces usually looked not very good, but now after being dressed up by Nangong Lian'er, they all looked gorgeous, graceful, and beautiful.

Zhao Huan had seen the concubines in the palace of his father, Zhao Ji. Zhao Ji was a great man. In addition to reciting poems and writing couplets, he also had children. In the past few years, Zhao Ji had given birth to thirteen brothers and sisters for Zhao Huan in Yanfu Palace, and he couldn't stop it.

In contrast, Zhao Huan only had one son, Zhao Xin, and one daughter, Zhao Rouer, so they looked awkward when they met.

However, Zhao Ji's concubines, as Zhao Huan said, were not particularly beautiful. This was because the emperor's selection of concubines was based on recommendations from the Ministry of Rites, and these officials would not send in beautiful women.

There are many reasons. Sending a beautiful woman to the palace as a concubine carries significant risks. First, she could easily become a source of trouble, leading the emperor to become addicted to women. Second, if favored, she could easily pose a threat to the empress, and giving birth to a son could destabilize the country. If, like Yang Guifei, she were to be blamed, then you, having offered her concubine to the emperor, would be in no way insulated.

Also, everyone has selfish motives. Why wouldn't I keep this beautiful woman myself? The emperor doesn't know anyway. Furthermore, even if the emperor knew, I would say this woman has flaws and doesn't meet the standards for entering the palace.

Concubines who were able to enter the palace were carefully selected. First, they had to have regular facial features and a voluptuous figure. They also had to be free of hidden diseases and no unpleasant body odor. They also had to have a palace maid sleep with them to see if they farted, snored, or gnashed their teeth and kicked the covers. If they did, they would be eliminated.

Anyway, the concubines Zhao Huan had seen of his father were only of average appearance, not as good-looking as the carefully selected girls in front of him.

These girls lined up, each took ten taels of silver, kowtowed to Zhao Huan and others, and then went back to find their parents.

Zhao Huan's heart was broken; he couldn't bear to part with these beautiful girls. Worse still, after being dressed up like this, it was even more dangerous. These girls were carefully selected from the disaster victims. The madam had a sharp eye, and each of them had their own unique characteristics and charm.

It was better to turn a blind eye to such things. Zhao Huan returned to the inn, unable to bear to watch any more. Cao Dongsheng followed him in and said, "Sir, what would you like to eat tonight? I'll ask the chef to prepare it."

Zhao Huan was so angry he had no place to vent: "Get out!"

Suddenly, Linghu Yunlong came in for some reason: "Master, outside..."

Zhao Huan turned around and asked, "What's going on outside?"

"There are still dozens of girls outside who refuse to leave."

Zhao Huan was delighted. Could it be that they have taken a fancy to me and don't want to go home?

Well, that dog emperor was being sentimental. Zhao Huan only found out the reason after he left. More than a dozen people had lost their families, all of them starved to death or died of disease in this famine, leaving only her an orphan.

The other twenty or so girls were even more interesting. They didn't want to go back because they were afraid of being criticized. Some neighbors knew they'd been sold into brothels, and they wouldn't be able to hold their heads up high if they returned home. These thirty-plus girls refused to go home, and they all knelt down, begging the young man to take them in, offering to work like slaves for the life-saving favor.

Zhao Huan knew that people's words were scary. Especially in this feudal society, these women might end up in an even worse situation if they returned home.

There was a precedent. Zhao Huan once read a file from the Ministry of Justice. It said that during the reign of Emperor Renzong, a girl was abducted and sold into a brothel, but was later redeemed by her family. After returning to her hometown, the girl, unable to bear the villagers' insults, poisoned a well, killing 17 people in the village. The case was solved by Bao Zheng.

Zhao Huan told Nangong Lian'er about this matter. In order to prevent history from repeating itself, Nangong Lian'er gritted her teeth and said to Cao Dongsheng beside her: "Go find a few guards and send these girls to the palace and let them enter."

"Well, these people have not received any training and don't know the rules of the palace." Zhao Huan was testing.

"Then Brother Zhao should take them as his concubines." Nangong Lian'er seemed to have made a great decision.

Zhao Huan's head buzzed. Is there such a good thing? Send it to the palace, hehehe.

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