Free Web NovelChapter 417: Few People in the Mansion
"Come here, Pangtuan." Mrs. Zhan pulled Ye Qianning to her side.
Zhan Yi walked over and patted the little girl’s head. "Grandpa’s here, little one. Don’t be afraid."
With his hands behind his back, Zhan Chi glared at the Left General, his eyes dark. The message was clear: ’If you frighten her, I’ll make you pay.’
The Left General glanced over several times. ’She’s a Xiang family child, so why is the Zhan family getting so worked up?’
’Anyone who didn’t know any better would think this was the Zhan estate!’
Before long, all the servants and maids in the manor were summoned to the front courtyard.
"Are they going to let people sleep or not, dragging us out in the middle of the night?"
"Tsk. Keep your voice down. If they hear you, they might cause trouble."
"Cause trouble? This is the General’s Manor. So what if they search? Looking for trouble here? Do they have a death wish?"
"If they’re taking advantage of the General’s absence to harass his family, it’s the imperial family that will lose face when word gets out."
"Isn’t that the truth."
The concubines’ voices arrived before they did, making the Left General’s face twist in annoyance.
The Left General tightened his grip on his longsword. His master and Xiang Minghou had a history of bad blood. While he was under orders to conduct the search, he admittedly had his own selfish motives—to put the General’s Manor in its place and vent his master’s anger by proxy.
It was one thing for the Zhan family to meddle, but from the sound of it, the General’s concubines were no pushovers either.
As the voices trailed off, a gaggle of colorfully dressed concubines appeared in everyone’s line of sight.
"Left General, these are all the people from the East and West courtyards," one of the dozen or so guards reported, surrounding the small group.
The Left General glanced at them, his brow furrowing slightly. "This is everyone from a manor as large as the General’s?"
He remembered the General’s household having at least a hundred members. Why were there only thirty or forty now?
"The General’s Manor ran into some trouble recently, so they’ve been economizing and had to let a lot of people go," Zhan Yi explained, looking at the sparse crowd. His wife had long wanted to send more maids to the manor, but their granddaughter stubbornly refused to allow it.
’Don’t let the small number fool you,’ he thought. ’Most of them are masters.’
’There are eight concubines alone...’
When Ye Qianning saw everyone gathered together, she thought there were still too many of them.
After the Xiang family’s old matriarch and the second branch of the family were punished, she had dismissed all the maids and manservants in the manor and hired new ones.
Currently, the manor staff consisted of four in the kitchen, eight guards, seven manservants, and seven maids. Three of the maids were assigned to the concubines’ courtyards to take care of the daily cleaning.
Ye Qianning had originally planned to assign one maid to each concubine, but they complained it was too noisy, so only three were kept on.
The Left General knew about the Xiang family’s recent troubles, so he said no more. His gaze wandered over the crowd, lingering on the concubines for a few extra moments. He couldn’t help but sigh to himself. ’We’re both military commanders, yet his household is so much more vibrant.’
’Every one of them is more beautiful than the ladies in the brothels. Xiang Minghou really knows how to enjoy life.’
Mrs. Zhan was a discerning woman. The moment the concubines entered the front courtyard, she noticed there was an extra person. Her gaze rested on the unfamiliar woman for a long while.
"Ahem!" Zhan Yi coughed pointedly. freewebnøvel.coɱ
The Left General hastily withdrew his gaze and coughed lightly into his fist. "Is this everyone?"
"It appears so," said Zhan Yi.
The Left General walked past the small group of servants, looking them over, then moved on to the maids, and finally the guards.
The eight guards stood ramrod straight.
Ye Qianning’s eyes landed on an unfamiliar face. Though his expression was grim, he had completely suppressed any trace of his killing intent.
The man seemed to sense her gaze, and as he turned his head, a flash of killing intent erupted from him for an instant. freewebnøvel.coɱ
It was that exact instant that caught the Left General’s attention. He had already walked past the man, but now he backed up.
Ye Qianning’s eyes filled with mockery. ’Idiot.’
Zhan Chi’s face darkened. ’Useless,’ he fumed internally. ’More trouble than he’s worth. Don’t the guards from Xi Yan have even the most basic composure?’
