When he opened his eyes, Wu Lai felt a little dizzy. Soon, he found himself lying in an unfamiliar room. The furnishings in the room exuded a kind of vulgar luxury and were inharmonious everywhere.

I'm actually drunk? Wu Lai just frowned and thought, and suddenly he was startled, because he realized that there was a girl lying next to him, the one with big eyes and long eyelashes among the two girls who accompanied him last night.

Oh my god, have I fallen like this? Wu Lai couldn't help but roll his eyes at himself, and turned his head to look at the girl's face.

The girl was still sleeping soundly. She lay there quietly, as if she was having an interesting dream, with a lazy smile on her lips. Her long light brown hair was casually scattered, faintly covering her shoulders and chest exposed outside the quilt, yet more attractive than if it was not covered at all.

She actually looks four or five points like Helen. Could she be a distant relative of Helen? As soon as this thought came to Wu Lai's mind, he smiled bitterly and shook his head. Helen said that there was no one left in her family.

Wu Lai shifted his gaze from the girl's face to the window. Sunlight was shining through the gaps in the gauze curtains.

There must be something wrong with the wine. Wu Lai thought so while taking a slow, deep breath and leaning forward to pick up his clothes that had fallen on the ground. However, judging from the messy state of his clothes, they did not look like they had been "dropped".

As soon as Wu Lai "fished out" the first item, a warm arm quietly wrapped around his waist, and then a hot face slowly pressed against his back, followed by a large area of ​​smooth, warm fragrance.

"Are you leaving?" The girl's soft question, leaning against Wu Lai, sounded like a dream, or like the aggrieved groan of a poor little animal after being injured.

"Yes." Although Wu Lai answered like this, his hand stopped involuntarily. He was a little reluctant to give up this feeling, especially since this girl looked a bit like Helen, especially her eyebrows, eyes and eyelashes.

"Can you stay with me for a while?" The girl begged, kissing Wu Lai's back gently.

The girl's kiss made Wu Lai's heart tingle. After quickly adjusting his breathing, Wu Lai asked, "What's your name?"

"Iles." the girl replied.

"It's a nice name." Wu Lai nodded, but didn't know what to say. He naturally knew what he had done, because there were not only his clothes on the ground, but also Irene's clothes, and Irene's clothes were obviously no longer wearable.

I actually tore off the girl's clothes. Wu Lai sighed in his heart. Of course, he could still vaguely recall the crazy moments last night, such as Iris's painful groans and panic eyes.

"Can you... take me away?" Iris's voice was soft and hesitant.

"Why?" Wu Lai frowned, because Elise's request was undoubtedly bold.

"Because... I don't want to stay here anymore, and... you are my first..." Iris hugged Wu Lai's waist tightly with trembling arms and continued to beg, "Take me away, I will serve you well... I will only serve you and will never leave you."

Wu Lai understood that many prominent families in the Assyrian territory had the habit of keeping commoner girls like Iles, teaching them etiquette, how to dress themselves, and letting them learn singing and dancing, but keeping their virginity. Then, when the family had important guests to entertain, they would dress them in gorgeous clothes, have them accompany them at banquets, and do whatever the guests needed them to do.

In such a group of girls, a small number will enjoy wealth and glory because of being favored, but more girls will end up in a miserable end. Some will be beaten to death, some will be driven out of the house and die on the street after being sick, and some will end up becoming prostitutes. But even so, every year there will still be girls walking into prominent families waiting to be selected, because as long as they are chosen and kept, their families will immediately receive a reward of at least one hundred gold coins, and then they can receive some money, food and cloth rewards on a monthly basis. Some smart girls will know how to ask for rewards from guests, which will naturally be a huge income that will benefit the family.

But not all girls are willing to live such a life.

Not sure if it was because of the guilt for taking Iles' virginity, or because something Iles said when she begged him touched Wu Lai's heart, but he hesitated for only two breaths before turning around and hugging Iles.

"Okay." Wu Lai smiled and said, and Helen's face suddenly appeared in his mind...

When Wu Lai brought Iles into the Green Building, it only took Klee a moment to understand Iles' identity, but he was not surprised because it was normal. He even thought that it was abnormal for someone like Wu Lai to not have several maids around him.

"Arrange a room for Elise." Wu Lai ordered, "Have someone run hot water for me. I want to take a bath."

"Okay, sir." Klee nodded quickly.

…

In the afternoon, Wu Lai appeared in Wright's tavern. When he came in, Wright, who was chatting with the bartender, walked up to him with a smile and punched him, and asked, "You finally came here?"

Wu Lai pretended to rub his shoulders and said with a smile: "I really can't afford your gift. Let's change it to a bar."

"Mine is yours." Wright pointed at Wu Lai's nose seriously, "I told you last time, don't forget it."

After saying that, Wright waved to the bartender behind the bar. The bartender was quite observant and quickly ran over with a small jar of wine.

Holding the wine, Wright led Wu Lai to the back room of the tavern. After all, although there were not many people in the tavern at the moment, walls had ears, so it was a little inconvenient to say something. Although the furnishings in this room were simple, it was clean and quiet, very suitable for the two of them.

"Here, this wine is blended by me. I guarantee you'll like it." Wright said as he poured wine for Wu Lei. "By the way, I'll tell you something. My Gerald family just took over a batch of lead with good purity. It was paid as a debt by a certain family. It's 850,000 shekels. The market price is 20,000 gold coins, so I paid it as 16,000 gold coins. The family has said that whoever has the ability can sell it. Can you give me some advice so that I can make some money?"

What a coincidence? Wu Lai was startled. Although lead has good ductility and corrosion resistance, and can be easily made into alloys with other metals, it is really not very useful in this era. It is mostly used as a building auxiliary material, and the largest consumption is to make pipes. With the drastic reduction in demand and the property of lead being easy to reuse, there is less and less lead on the market, and the price is getting lower and lower.

Wu Lai felt it was a coincidence because he had just assigned himself a task to purchase lead. In addition to the need for the construction of Salt Marsh Town, he himself was also in urgent need of it.

"Give it all to me, you decide the price," said Wu Lai.

"No, just give me some advice." Wright shook his head quickly. He knew very well how lead was treated in the market. Otherwise, how could the Gerard family say such things to their children.

"I am really useful." Wu Lai said with a smile.

Wright frowned and examined Wu Lai, then nodded: "I don't see that you are lying. Okay, then I'll give you 16,000. I'll send someone back to inform them later."

"That won't work." Now it was Wu Lai's turn to shake his head. He really couldn't do such a thing as taking advantage of his friend.

Wright smiled and patted Wu Lai on the shoulder: "Anyway, the family only recognizes 16,000. I know what you think, Wu Lai. I have the same idea as you."

At this point, Wu Lai really didn't know what to say.

"Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, according to reliable information, Gosmondo is back." Wright suddenly became mysterious, "Don't mention this to anyone else for now."

"Gus...Gasmondo?" Wu Lai was stunned, then asked, "You mean, the dean of the Citizens' College?"

Light nodded: "That's him. He's a tough guy. Don't think he's just a dean. In fact, many people in the Supreme Council and the Senate listen to him. So only he can hold the title of dean of the Citizens' College for more than ten years, but he has never taken care of anything for a day..."

The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!

Wu Lai frowned slightly. In fact, even without Wright telling him, everyone knew that this Gosmondo was not simple. Although this powerful man in his sixties was known for his seclusion and had never held an important position in the Senate or the Supreme Council, no one dared to underestimate him, because he not only owned one of the two major private fiefdoms in Assyria, but also had unparalleled strength to compete for supremacy in this private fiefdom.

The private territory of Gosmondo was earned by his great-grandfather's generation. When it came to his grandfather, gold was mined in the private territory. Since then, the Mondo family has been unstoppable. After four generations of operation, this territory called the Mondo Fields now has a population of over 300,000, countless fertile fields and minerals, and the number of private armies has exceeded 30,000, and they are well-equipped and well-trained.

With money, soldiers, food, territory, and a growing population, although the Mundo family is not as famous as giants like the Duncan family, they are on par in strength. More importantly, the Mundo family has always been known for its generosity and has never lacked friends to support and encourage them, such as Saint Leon.

Even Qiyuan and Connor cannot match this.

Wu Lai could tell from Wright's words that this man who had not been seen for ten years seemed to be planning to make a public appearance, which easily reminded him of the saying "it takes ten years to sharpen a sword."

Why did he choose this time? Wu Lai couldn't help wondering as they drank and chatted.

Before evening, Wu Lai returned to the Green Building. As soon as he walked into the living room, Irene came up to him shyly. After calling him "Young Master", she didn't know what to say. She had to sit down on the big soft chair with Wu Lai with a blushing face.

"Why don't you take a rest for a while?" Wu Lai asked casually.

"The maids knocked on the door and said it was almost time for dinner," Iris replied.

"Have you eaten?" Wu Lai had already eaten and drunk his fill at Wright's place, so he was naturally not hungry at this moment.

Iris shook her head and whispered, "Butler Klee said that they usually have to wait for you to come back."

"Are you hungry?" Wu Lai asked with a smile.

Elise lowered her head in embarrassment.

"You don't have to wait for me in the future. Just eat when you're hungry." Wu Lai said with a smile, and gestured to the maid standing at the door, "Tell the restaurant that I'll be there right away."

After a while, Wu Lai was very surprised - he had never seen anyone eat more and more shyly like Yileisi. Basically, she would secretly look at him after taking a small bite. When their eyes met, Yileisi would quickly look away with a red face. After repeating this many times, Yileisi's ears were completely red...

As dinner was coming to an end, Wu Lai suddenly had an idea. After a little hesitation, he asked, "Elise, where do you live? Near Assyria?"

Elise nodded: "My family lives in Haitang Town in the western suburbs."

"Haitang Town? I heard that there are crabapple trees everywhere in your place. It's very beautiful, right?" Wu Lai asked with a smile.

"Yes." A trace of nostalgia flashed across Iris's eyes. "Now is the season when the crabapple blossoms are in full bloom."

"The crabapple blossoms are in full bloom?" Wu Lai smiled slightly. "Elise, come with me tomorrow. I'll see the flowers, and you can go home to see your family." He knew that a girl like Elise could not leave the house unless the owner allowed it.

"Master, is this true?" Iris asked happily. She could hardly believe her ears, because the predecessors who taught them etiquette told them that people like them must learn to forget their own existence like slaves, serve their masters or guests wholeheartedly, and strive for more rewards. Only in this way can they live a valuable life. They must not have any thoughts of homesickness or missing their loved ones, and even if they do, they must not show it.

But how could Elise, who was only fifteen years old, not miss home?

"Of course it's true. I just want to relax myself." Wu Lai replied with a smile.

Elise nodded quickly...