Chapter 36 Another Batch
Lin Wei, who rushed over, almost choked to death upon hearing this.
For whom should a concubine be taken?
He had just returned from the palace and reported the matter of Prince Cheng to His Majesty. He had intended to go and see the little girl from the Shen family, but he overheard the gatekeeper whispering that someone had impersonated her fiancée outside the gate.
He even said that if he didn't let her in, Lin Wei would regret it.
He sensed something was wrong and asked Shi Feng to investigate, only to find out that the overly loyal fool, the gatekeeper, had actually stopped Shen Shu as well.
Lin Wei, with a gloomy face, punished the gatekeeper by making him kneel, while he himself hurriedly went to the Shen family. After finding that Shen Shu was not there, he realized that she had probably gone to Yunyan Pavilion.
So he hurried toward Yunyan Pavilion without daring to stop for even a moment.
But I never expected to hear such explosive words from Hua Niang as soon as I arrived.
Chen Lian didn't notice Lin Wei behind him at all, but Fan Zimu, Hua Niang, Shen Shu, and the others did.
Lin Wei glanced at them, and no one dared to utter a sound, nor did anyone dare to remind Chen Lian.
Shen Lian's anger flared even more: "Do you think I'm a fool? You're not even married yet and you're already taking a concubine for the Marquis? Have you been doing something shady behind the scenes?!"
"You wouldn't be here learning some bedroom arts so you can seduce Lord Lin, would you?"
Chen Lian, thinking himself clever, pondered further: "Or are you pretending to look at girls, but actually you're here to find male prostitutes... Oh dear!"
Lin Wei kicked Chen Lian three meters away.
Just as Chen Lian was about to turn around to see which fool had kicked him, he saw Lin Wei standing there.
Lin Wei was dressed in a moon-white brocade robe, his black hair loosely tied up with a white jade hairpin, his face was incomparably handsome, but there was a hint of anger in his eyes.
He toyed with a folding fan in his hand, and when his gaze fell on Shen Lian, his expression became even more sinister: "Young Master Shen, could you repeat what you just said?"
Upon recognizing the newcomer, Chen Lian's face drained of all color, and his lips trembled as he exclaimed, "Ding... Marquis Dingyuan?!"
What's Lin Wei doing here?!
When Fan Zimu and the others saw Lin Wei get angry, they hurriedly bowed and saluted, not daring to even breathe loudly.
They usually acted arrogantly and domineeringly in the capital, but in front of Lin Wei, they weren't even worthy of carrying his shoes.
He was just laughing at Chen Lian for bumping into Lin Wei, but he never expected that he would end up following Chen Lian to cause trouble for his fiancée and get caught red-handed.
Shi Feng said coldly, "Such foul language, and you call yourself a young master from a prominent family? It's laughable!"
Chen Lian no longer dared to be arrogant. He had just boasted that he was Lin Wei's brother-in-law, but he was slapped in the face in the blink of an eye.
Chen Lian scrambled to his feet, but forgot about his injured leg. He tripped and fell flat on his back.
Fan Zimu and the others wanted to laugh but dared not.
Lin Wei's voice was filled with anger: "It seems that Young Master Shen has not learned his lesson from last time. Shi Feng, send him back. Make sure to carry out the fifty lashes from last time immediately."
Shen Lian was stunned when he heard this, and hurriedly stepped forward to beg for mercy: "My lord, my lord, I was drunk and talking nonsense, it doesn't count. My leg injury hasn't healed yet, if I get fifty lashes, I'll be crippled."
Lin Wei said expressionlessly, "Get out."
He then looked at Fan Zimu and the others who were watching the show from the sidelines: "And you! Everyone here, listen up, if even a whisper of what happened today gets out, your fate will not be much better than that of Young Master Shen."
Seeing this, Fan Zimu and the others dared not be presumptuous anymore, and carried the heavy chain out.
He thought to himself: It's understandable that someone as important as Lord Lin would choose a concubine in a place like Yunyan Pavilion and not want others to know.
These people had caught Lin Wei in his good deed, no wonder he was so angry!
We can't afford to mess with them!
Lin Wei stared intently at Shen Shu, his emotions inscrutable.
Shen Shu glared back at Lin Wei, thinking to herself, "Now that you've dealt with Chen Lian, it's time to deal with her too?"
After all, she told Hua Niang that she wanted to take a concubine for Lin Wei in the brothel, which tarnished his reputation and was known to so many people.
With a man as petty as Lin Wei, who knows what kind of threats he'll use to threaten her again.
Hua Niang noticed the awkwardness between the two and continued to smooth things over: "Since the Marquis has come in person, why don't we go in and pick some out together? After all, if it suits Miss Shen's taste, it has to suit yours too, right?"
Lin Wei thought to himself, "Is this madam stupid?"
With a grim face, he told everyone to get out.
Hua Niang then realized she had said the wrong thing and regretted that her eyesight was failing her.
The whole "taking a concubine" thing is probably just a little tiff between the engaged couple, which is why they're causing all this trouble.
So he hurriedly led a room full of girls out of the private room.
Shen Shu was still seething with anger about being stopped outside the Dingyuan Marquis's residence: "Is the Marquis here to interrogate me?"
Seeing Shen Shu's appearance, Lin Wei's anger subsided by eighty percent: "How dare you come to Yunyan Pavilion alone to find Fang Lanzhi under the guise of finding a concubine for me?"
Shen Shu felt somewhat aggrieved: "I didn't originally plan to come alone. It's just that the threshold of the Marquis of Dingyuan's mansion is too high for me to enter, so I had no choice but to come alone. If I didn't use the pretext of finding a concubine for the Marquis, how could this courtesan have called all the girls from Yunyan Pavilion over for me to see?"
Lin Wei laughed: "So you're saying that I'm in the wrong?"
Shen Shu dared not speak her anger: "I dare not, I dare not."
Lin Wei softened his tone: "It was my order not to receive any female guests. Although we are engaged, we haven't had time to instruct the servants. The gatekeeper was dutiful and naturally wouldn't let anyone in. Even so, I still punished the gatekeeper. From now on, if you come, no one will stop you."
Shen Shu felt that Lin Wei seemed to be trying to coax her, and she was somewhat taken aback: "Really?"
Lin Wei smiled and said, "Would I lie to you?"
Shen Shu then turned around, feeling less angry with him.
Lin Wei asked seriously, "Having seen a room full of girls, have you seen Fang Lanzhi?"
Seeing that he had finally gotten to the point, Shen Shu was somewhat disappointed: "No."
They thought this would be enough to find her, but after looking around and around, they still couldn't find Fang Lanzhi.
Shen Shu then said, "Do you think it might be someone sent by Prince Cheng, and the people at Yunyan Pavilion didn't dare to mistreat her, so they didn't let her come out to greet guests?"
Lin Wei's answer was irrelevant; he was genuinely curious: "Why do you insist on helping her?"
Shen Shu was stunned, recalling how Fang Lanzhi had pleaded with Prince Cheng for her sake in her previous life.
"She saved my life."
Although she couldn't save her, Shen Shu was extremely grateful, after all, Fang Lanzhi was the only person who had ever helped her.
Seeing Shen Shu's depressed expression, Lin Wei did not ask any further questions.
So he called in the flower maid and said that he hadn't liked any of the girls from before, and asked her to call in another batch.
Hua Niang was caught off guard: Could it be... that they really came to take a concubine?
She said with difficulty, "Those were all the girls from Yunyan Pavilion."
Lin Wei handed Hua Niang another silver note worth one thousand taels.
Hua Niang, seeing the money, quickly smiled and changed her tune: "It's not that we don't have any... but they're not properly trained yet, and we're afraid they might offend the Marquis. But never mind, since the Marquis is truly here to take a concubine, then I, Hua Niang, will take the Marquis and... Miss Shen together to see her."
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