Liang Zhe thought for a moment and shook his head: “I’ve never seen her.”

“I once heard Xu Shi let slip that even Lady Lianpin has never seen the Empress’s true appearance.”

“Now that you mention it, I do recall that very few people in the current palace have ever seen Her Majesty the Empress.”

Qin Shuying thought for a moment and asked: “Noble Consort De is only in her thirties this year, not much older than His Highness the Crown Prince. So before Noble Consort De, who was managing the harem affairs?”

Liang Zhe pondered for a moment. “I’ve heard that before the current three consorts, there were other consorts. But later, some must have passed away, and others… it’s unclear what happened to them.”

Thinking about Empress Wen’s questions, Qin Shuying said: “Her Majesty the Empress is truly quite mysterious.”

“Her Majesty the Empress was already Empress when His Majesty ascended the throne. All these years have passed, and no matter which consort gained favor, she has always remained the Empress. Her position has never been shaken. Speaking of it this way, perhaps the most favored one is actually herself. But then, as the mother of the nation, why exactly does she refuse to see outsiders?”

Qin Shuying smiled. “Could it be that she’s disfigured?”

Liang Zhe smiled, and Qin Shuying didn’t take her own words seriously either.

They both treated it as a joke.

It was simple logic – if she were truly disfigured, would Emperor Delong still favor her?

In this world, even poor men with three acres of land want to take a concubine, let alone an emperor.

When they returned to the Marquis of Pingxi’s residence, it was already mid-afternoon.

Nanny Fu was leading people in organizing Qin Shuying’s dowry and other belongings, while Lan Chou had brought several female assistants and was busily taking inventory in the small storeroom beside the main house.

Liang Zhe and Qin Shuying went to inspect.

The young maids were immediately stunned by Liang Zhe’s appearance. After paying their respects, once the master and mistress had left, they began pushing and shoving each other, giggling quietly.

There wasn’t a single person belonging to Liang Zhe in Songtao Residence now – everyone belonged to Qin Shuying.

During these ten years while Liang Zhe was at the frontier, there had originally been some servants left to watch the courtyard. Later, some left, some were dismissed, some were sent elsewhere, until finally only two elderly women remained to tend the courtyard.

After Liang Zhe returned to the capital, he sent those two women home to retire. Usually, Liang Yanjun and Shadow One, Shadow Two, and others served him here.

On the battlefield, Liang Zhe did everything himself – he wasn’t particular about such things. These few men just brought him meals or took his clothes to be washed; there wasn’t much else that needed attending to.

So for these eight or nine months, Songtao Residence had remained quite empty.

It wasn’t that Luo Meixiang hadn’t thought of placing people here. But whenever Liang Zhe returned and discovered them, he would first ask them to leave, and if anyone dared argue, he would immediately grab them by the collar and throw them out.

After this happened three times, Luo Meixiang gave up trying.

After finishing their inspection, Liang Zhe and Qin Shuying returned to the main house, where they saw Nanny Ye bringing in three women, each more beautiful than the last.

Though Qin Shuying was also elegantly beautiful, she couldn’t compete with them at all.

With these three great beauties before him, Liang Zhe glanced at them as if looking at wooden posts, without the slightest ripple in his eyes.

“Shuying, with you handling affairs in Songtao Residence, I can rest easy. I still have matters to attend to – don’t wait for me for dinner.”

“Mm, I understand. Go ahead.”

Liang Zhe lifted his foot to leave when Nanny Ye hurriedly said: “First Master, Concubine Miao and the others have all come. Since you’re here, why not meet them?”

Liang Zhe looked straight ahead without even lifting his eyelids as he passed by.

“Uh…”

Nanny Ye stood there stunned, but having grown accustomed to Liang Zhe’s manner of ignoring everyone, she quickly adjusted her mood and said to Miao Zhilan and the other two: “Quickly pay your respects to the First Madam!”

Miao Zhilan and the others knelt down. “We pay our respects to the First Madam!”

Qin Shuying didn’t even look at them, turning to enter the house. “Hui Yun, in this courtyard, without my permission, no unrelated persons are allowed to enter.”

Hui Yun appeared before everyone like a ghost. “Yes, First Madam.”

Then, with a flick of the staff in her hand, she forced Miao Zhilan and the others back several steps. Nanny Ye pointed at Hui Yun: “You, you, you… how rude! Don’t you know proper manners!”

Hui Yun said coldly: “The First Madam’s words are my rules. Get out!”

Nanny Ye straightened her body. “You wouldn’t dare!”

Hui Yun maintained her icy expression, but the staff in her hand turned, then she grabbed Nanny Ye by the collar, lifted her up, and walked out step by step.

“Put me down, put me down!”

Hui Yun remained unmoved, setting her down outside the main gate. She used her staff to draw a line on the ground and said emotionlessly: “Without the First Madam’s word, no one may enter!”

Then, pointing her staff at the three women Miao Zhilan and the others: “Get out!”

Miao Zhilan was as delicate as a little flower. “Miss, this concubine only wanted to see the First Madam and have a little chat…”

“Get out!”

The two purchased beauties beside her also quickly spoke up: “Yes, we just wanted to see the First Madam…”

Hui Yun acted as if she hadn’t heard, walking over and reaching out to grab Miao Zhilan’s collar. Miao Zhilan was terrified – if these two purchased beauties saw her in such a disheveled state, that would be terrible.

She shrieked: “I’ll leave, I’ll leave…”

With that, she hurriedly rushed outside.

The two purchased beauties were unwilling to give up, but when Hui Yun raised her hand, they immediately had no choice but to follow Miao Zhilan and run.

They swayed their hips as they walked out, and the main gate slammed shut with a “clang” behind them.

Earlier, when everyone was carrying things, the door had been opened and they’d forgotten to close it in the bustle, allowing these people to enter.

The two purchased beauties stood outside the door, looking at each other in amazement and delight.

Liang Zhe was actually that handsome?

Heavens!

Even without any official status, they would be willing to serve him!

They had been sent to Liang Zhe by Luo Meixiang for quite some time, but today was the first time they had actually seen his face.

Luo Meixiang had once instructed them to wait for Liang Zhe at the entrance to Songtao Residence, but they had never managed to wait for him – they didn’t know how he got inside.

On one or two occasions when Liang Zhe returned under cover of darkness, they had hurried to catch up with him, but he had already vanished without a trace, and the main gate had slammed shut from the inside with a “clang.”

They had been arranged to live with Miao Zhilan in Dongqing Courtyard, the three of them secretly competing with each other.

Miao Zhilan had status – she was a concubine. Though she was a concubine who hadn’t even touched the edge of Liang Zhe’s bed, she was a concubine nonetheless.

So she both looked down on Liu’er and Ping’er while being fully on guard against them. Moreover, she would put on airs and occasionally act superior.

Like now, seeing Nanny Ye leave, she swayed her hips, fluttered her handkerchief, and said to her maid: “The First Master is busy. We should know our place and not disturb him.”

Liu’er let out a quiet snort of derision. Though she didn’t say anything, Ping’er understood her meaning clearly – they had all been driven here by Nanny Ye, they were all puppets on strings in Luo Meixiang’s hands, so what was the point of putting on the airs of some other family’s concubine?