Because of the Emperor's instructions last night, perhaps Prince Dulin had taken a liking to Zuoan Shanren and wanted to bring her into the palace, which could be considered a marriage alliance. Although the Empress Dowager was dissatisfied with Chu Nian because of the last time she was redeemed, she was very kind to Chu Nian and her two daughters both on the way to the hunting grounds and after arriving at the hunting grounds. This even made the people of Xiwan Kingdom suspect that the two girls were her adopted daughters.
At that time, Prince Dulin did not know that one of the two girls was the Left Bank Hermit he had mentioned to the emperor, until Zoya said to him with some surprise, "Brother, I didn't expect the Empress Dowager of Dongchu to be so good to the Left Bank Hermit!"
Du Lin was even more surprised than her: "Left Bank Mountain Man? Which one? I thought the Left Bank Mountain Man hadn't come!" As he spoke, he looked around at the crowd.
Zoya looked at her brother speechlessly for a while before pointing to a girl who was chatting with the Empress Dowager with a kind smile and said, "Look, isn't that her!"
Du Lin looked in the direction she pointed and noticed two girls standing behind the Empress Dowager, whom he thought were a group of palace maids. They were close to the Empress Dowager and listening to her speak with their heads bowed.
Zoya said, "The one to the left of the Empress Dowager!"
Du Lin's gaze fell on the face of the girl to the left of the Empress Dowager.
Unexpectedly, the moment Du Lin looked over, he was immediately captivated by that peerless and beautiful face. He couldn't look away, and his heart was filled with the roar of a thousand troops, the drums of war beating loudly. He had only one thought in his mind: How could there be such an extremely beautiful person in this world?!
"Big brother? Big brother! Big brother..." Zoya called him several times, and finally grabbed his arm and shook it hard a few times.
Dulin finally came to his senses, turned to look at Zoya, and said somewhat dumbfoundedly, "You...you said she...she is the Left Bank Mountain Man?"
Zoya: "Yes! I heard he's a famous calligrapher and painter throughout the entire Eastern Chu Kingdom, a figure highly respected by the Confucian Academy, right..."
Seeing that she suddenly stopped midway through her sentence, Du Lin pressed her for an answer: "What was it?"
Zoya: "I heard that she comes from a bad background and is the top courtesan of Cuihonglou, the most famous brothel in the capital."
"A...the top courtesan of a brothel?" Du Lin exclaimed in shock, "yet she's so...extremely highly regarded by the usually rigid and conventional Confucian Guild?"
Zoya nodded, then asked with a grin, "Impressive, right!"
Du Lin stared at her, blinking, and asked, "Since you recognize her, you must have seen her long ago, right? Why did you say you wanted to meet her today and asked me to tell the emperor to invite her to the hunt?"
His keen senses had already detected the scent of a conspiracy.
Zoya, with a mischievous grin, said, "Well... you can ask her!"
"I...I'm not going. I don't know her at all," Du Lin said. Strange, why does his heart pound with fear whenever he's told to go ask that hermit from the Left Bank?
Zoya said, "Big brother, I noticed you were looking at her strangely just now. Your eyes were practically glued to her. I called you several times and nudged you a few times before your wandering soul finally came back to you!" She emphasized the last part.
“I was…” Du Lin thought for a moment before continuing, “I thought Zuo An Shan Ren was a refined scholar, but I was surprised to find out that she was a woman.”
The brother and sister were joking around, unaware that a sinister figure was watching them from a dark corner not far away.
Although Yang Jie was shocked to see that the two women from Chu and Zhao had also come to participate in the hunt outside the city, they were ultimately just prostitutes. Even if they came along, their words would not carry much weight with the royal family and officials. However, it was different for Zoya, the princess of Xiwan Kingdom.
Therefore, he did not intend to change his plans, but little did he know that Chu Nian, who had been summoned to the Empress Dowager's side and had been patiently chatted with by her, was being asked by the Empress Dowager about redeeming herself.
"I was afraid that you would be redeemed by those sons of officials and enter the inner courtyards of those officials with many rules, where your talents would be buried. That's why I specially sent Jie'er to redeem you. Why do you disagree?"
The Empress Dowager originally didn't want to bring up the matter again; to be precise, she felt that Chu Nian was ungrateful and couldn't be bothered with her affairs anymore.
But after chatting with Chu Nian and Zhao Feiyan for a while, she discovered that although the two girls came from brothels, they were not at all shy when interacting with many noble ladies. Not only did they act appropriately, but their words were also very interesting. They could often make her laugh for half a day with just a few words. So, her mind started to wander again. She thought that if she could take the two girls into her palace and have them accompany her, her old age would probably be much more colorful.
Chu Nian laughed after hearing this, "It's wonderful that the Empress Dowager has redeemed me, but the old woman at Cuihonglou has always treated me very well. She hired a musician to teach me music and singing since I was a child, and she has spent a lot of money on me. Moreover, although I am in a brothel, I have always maintained my chastity, thanks to the old woman's many cares. She is so loyal to me, how can I let Lord Yang take me away for only one thousand taels? If the other young men who bid at the time hadn't offered seven thousand taels, it would have been fine..."
"One thousand taels?" The Empress Dowager interrupted her.
Chu Nian: "Yes, he said it was an imperial decree from the Empress Dowager, and he wanted to redeem me for one thousand taels of silver. I felt that this price was really unfair to the nanny who had taken care of me for so many years. I... I really felt bad, so I didn't agree."
The Empress Dowager's expression turned cold. She had given Yang Jie two thousand taels of silver to redeem Chu Nian from her servitude. She had also said that if it wasn't enough, Yang Jie would make up the difference, and she, as the Empress Dowager, would naturally find another way to make up the difference. She wouldn't shortchange him.
When Yang Jie returned, he said that he had driven the bid up to 8,500 taels, but Chu Nian still refused to redeem herself… So how much money was Yang Jie trying to squeeze out of his aunt?!
At this moment, a middle-aged woman, over forty years old, spoke up and called out, "Older sister..."
The group of noble ladies who had accompanied her, wanting to keep the Empress Dowager entertained, all gathered around her and chatted with her.
The woman speaking was Lady Wen, the wife of Grand Tutor Lan. She was the only one present who dared to address the Empress Dowager in such a manner, as she had grown up with her since childhood and their relationship was like that of sisters, and the Grand Tutor was also the Emperor's teacher.
She laughed and said, "You don't know yet, do you? A couple of days ago, my husband saw the painting Niannian painted for my unfilial grandson, so he went to Cuihong Tower to redeem her from her servitude. As a result, the wealthy and powerful people in the capital have already raised the price to 15,000 taels..."
"Fifteen thousand taels?" another noblewoman exclaimed in surprise.
Madam Wen said, “That’s right. You all know my husband. His monthly salary is only so much. Although the estate brings in a lot of income every year, this whole family depends on that income to make a living. We can’t come up with that much money in a short time, so we can only go back home disappointed.”
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