In a secluded courtyard on the east side of Yixiangtang, in an elegantly laid out bedroom, Hongluan sat in the bathtub and closed her eyes to recuperate, and a green-clothed maid with a double bun gently massaged her shoulders.

"Girl, who is that Zhao Gongzi, I heard that the little marquis is the second son of the Governor of Caoyun!" In silence, the green-clothed maid broke the peace in the room, smiled softly and asked with interest.

The green-clothed maid is Hongluan's personal maid Xing'er, and she is also a confidant and friend who grew up with her in the Inviting Moon Pavilion, but later due to Hongluan's outstanding qualifications and hard work, she finally stood out, and the two were like sisters and had a very good personal relationship.

"He's a hero who stands up to the sky!" Hearing this, Hongluan immediately opened his eyes, smiled slightly, and said softly.

"Heroes?" Xing'er never expected Hongluan to comment on Li Yuntian like this, and a puzzled look suddenly appeared on her face, not knowing why Hongluan said this.

"He saved my life back then, and made great achievements on the battlefield to keep my Ming side safe, what is not a hero?" Hongluan smiled and explained to Xing'er in a coquettish voice, a blush appeared on her face.

"It turns out that he is the noble of our Ming Dynasty, no wonder the little marquis is so polite to him." Xing'er suddenly realized when she heard this, and muttered to herself.

"He is not the noble of the Ming Dynasty, and the reason why the little marquis is polite to him is because he is the personal guard of the Marquis of Zhenwu." Hongluan shook her head slightly and corrected Xing'er's statement.

"Zhenwu Hou?" Xing'er's eyes suddenly lit up, and she couldn't help but stop what she was doing, got up and looked at her with interest in front of Hongluan, "Have you seen Zhenwuhou?" Tell me what Zhenwu Marquis looks like, I heard that he is the reincarnation of the martial arts star in the sky, does he have a golden light body? ”

"At that time, I was too far away to see Zhenwuhou, but Zhenwuhou was kind-hearted and cared for the people, not only let us pass the checkpoint, but also transferred a lot of food for relief, otherwise I don't know how many people would starve to death." Seeing this, Hongluan smiled and stretched out her fair and slender fingers to scrape the tip of Xing'er's nose, and quipped, "What, you fell in love with Zhenwuhou?" ”

"The girl said with a smile, the Marquis of Zhenwu is the famous Hou Ye of our Ming Dynasty, where can you look at me." Xiang'er's cheeks suddenly turned red, and she said with embarrassment, she knew that Zhenwu Hou was in Yangzhou City now, so it was logical for Zhenwu Hou's personal guards to appear in Yixiangtang, it seemed that his status in front of Zhenwu Hou was not low, otherwise Xue Er Gongzi would be so polite.

Don't talk about apricots, even how many of the ladies in the Ming Dynasty are not in love with Li Yuntian, who is brave and good at fighting, both civil and military?

"Girl, Miss Purple Juan came for you on purpose this time, and you two are the most likely people to win the Oiran at this Oiran Conference, so you can't take it lightly."

Subsequently, Xing'er remembered something, and couldn't help but remind Hongluan in a coquettish voice, anyone with a discerning eye could see that Zijuan deliberately took advantage of Hongluan's immaculate opportunity to take advantage of the opportunity, and preemptively got acquainted with Li Yuntian, who originally cheered for Hongluan, intending to get Li Yuntian's support, and then weaken Hongluan's chances of winning the Oiran.

"I don't care if the Oiran is not an Oiran, I'm afraid she has other plans for Zhao Gongzi!" Hongluan's face suddenly darkened when she heard this, and her expression became stern, and she didn't know why she always felt that Zijuan approached Li Yuntian as if she had other plans, otherwise how could she offend Xue Kui in vain?

However, since this is only Hongluan's speculation, Hongluan is not sure of Zijuan's real motive for giving up performing to Xue Kui, after all, Xue Kui likes women, and he has been lingering in Yangzhou's Qinglou for two years, and he has forced several Qingqi people to bud, so it is normal for Zijuan to avoid him.

The so-called Qingqi people refer to the Qinglou women who do not sell their bodies, not only have a beautiful and refined appearance, but also are proficient in piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, which can be called both color and art, and are specially cultivated in the Qinglou for the officials and nobles to have fun and pastime, and it is also a gimmick of the Qinglou.

Although the Qing people claim to be selling their art and not selling their bodies, they are the women of the Qinglou whose fate is at the mercy of others, and their talent is just a thin veil draped on top of desire.

In ancient times, the virgin woman in the Qinglou only combed her braids, and only combed her bun after receiving customers, so it was called "combing", and this money was usually a lot of money, after all, every man who came to the Qinglou liked to try it.

In addition to the Qingqi people, there is also the term "Red Qiang", which refers to those Qinglou women who sell both art and body, they are different from the ordinary ** women in the Qinglou, and they are usually very talented.

And once the Qingqi people are opened by the benefactor, then there are two solutions, one is to become a red man, and the other is to be ransomed by the benefactor and go back to be a concubine.

The relationship between a woman and a Qing person is as delicate as money and a silver ticket: money is not necessarily a silver ticket, but a silver ticket must be money.

**Female may not have been a Qingqi person, but Qingqi people will always become **females in the end, after all, there are very few Qingqi people who are redeemed by guests and go back as concubines, and guests usually treat Qingqi people and treat ** women no differently, but the reputation of Qingqi people is better.

After returning to the Yangzhou Division of Jiangwutang, Li Yuntian carefully sorted out what happened in Yixiangtang tonight, and felt that what happened was very interesting, he originally thought that there would be Hongluan in the evening, but he didn't expect to bring out Zijuan, and it seemed that the relationship between the two was not very good.

Thinking about it, Hongluan and Zijuan are both candidates who came to participate in the Jiangnan Oiran Conference, and they are competitors to each other, so the relationship will naturally not be so harmonious.

It's just that Li Yuntian didn't know whether Zijuan was instructed to appear this time or to compete with Hongluan for his favor, and a distinguished guest of his status was naturally the object of those Qingqi people, hoping that he could support him at the Oiran Conference.

"Xianggong, are you still thinking about tonight?" Lei Ting walked in with a copper basin and asked with a smile after placing it on the table next to her.

"Who do you say will be Chen Guangzong's people, Hongluan or Zijuan?" Li Yuntian smiled slightly when he heard this, got up and walked over and said while washing his face.

"In my opinion, it looks like Hongluan, and her behavior in Baihua Temple is very suspicious." Lei Ting pondered for a moment and came to a conclusion.

"Xiang Gong thinks the same way." Li Yuntian nodded when he heard this, wiped his face with a wet towel and said, "But Chen Guangzong's doing this is inevitably a little too obvious, is Xianggong so easy to deceive in his eyes?" ”

"Xianggong, do you mean that Zijuan is also Chen Guangzong's person?" Lei Ting's eyes couldn't help but show a look of surprise, tonight Hongluan and Zijuan can be said to be fighting to the death, would Chen Guangzong find two Qingqi people competing for Jiangnan Oiran to spy on Li Yuntian's intelligence? How to reconcile the entanglement of interests?

"Xianggong is just guessing, and I always feel that something is wrong." Li Yuntian shook his head, subconsciously telling him that something was wrong with the night, but because he had too little information now, he couldn't know what was wrong.

"Xianggong, think about it carefully, have you ever seen Hongluan girl before?"

Lei Ting saw that Li Yuntian didn't seem to have a clue about the things at night, and couldn't help but think of something, so she opened her mouth and asked, Hongluan's eyes when he looked at Li Yuntian in Baihua Temple today were extremely complicated, as if he had a thousand words to say to Li Yuntian but couldn't speak, which made Hongluan feel very strange.

"It is impossible for Xianggong to see her in Jiaozhi, if Xianggong once had a relationship with her, it can only be in Beijing, Yangzhou or Jiujiang, but at that time she should still be a child, and Xianggong can't recognize her even if he sees her." Li Yuntian groaned for a while, and shook his head at Lei Ting helplessly.

Hongluan's age should only be sixteen or seventeen years old, and at most no more than eighteen years old, and Li Yuntian has been in Jiaozhi for four years, four years ago, Hongluan was at most a thirteen or fourteen child, as the saying goes, how can Li Yuntian recognize Hongluan now.

"Xianggong, I think you should find a chance to test Hongluan." Lei Ting felt the same way, smiled and said, I can't make sure there is any hidden secret in it.

Li Yuntian nodded thoughtfully when he heard this, if he could figure out the reasons for this, it would be of great help to him in judging the current situation.

The next morning, when Li Yuntian was discussing the case of Zhao Wenju with Xie Heng and Han Liang at the Yangzhou Affairs Office of Wutang, a good news came to him that he was excited, Chen Ningning had ended his affairs in Guangdong ahead of schedule and came to Yangzhou, ready to accompany him through this year's Mid-Autumn Festival.

After learning the news, Li Yuntian didn't care about discussing the case of Zhao Wenju's case, got up and rushed to the Chen family's other courtyard in Yangzhou City, counting that the two had not seen each other for more than four years, Li Yuntian missed Chen Ningning very much in his heart.

Xie Heng and Han Liang could naturally understand Li Yuntian's mood, and after the two looked at each other and smiled, they methodically handled the case files of some accomplices in Zhao Wenju's case, and these trivial matters did not need to trouble Li Yuntian anymore.

The Chen family's courtyard in Yangzhou was taken care of by Chen Ningning's cousin Wang Yu, who was also in charge of the Chen family's business in Yangzhou, won the trust of the Chen family, and secretly competed with Zheng Boxin.

"Third sister!" In the hall of the back house of the Chen family's courtyard, Li Yuntian and Lei Ting saw Chen Ningning who was talking and laughing with Zheng Wanrou and Wang Yu's family.

In ancient times, the concubines paid great attention to seniority, that is to say, the advanced ones were the longest, so Lei Ting naturally wanted to meet Chen Ningning, the third sister.

"Sixth sister doesn't need to be polite." Chen Ningning got up and stepped forward to help Lei Ting, and then affectionately held her hand and said, "The third sister has long wanted to see the sixth sister, but she has never had the opportunity, and it is relieved to have the sixth sister by her side to take care of the third sister." ”

"Third sister, this is the duty of the little sister, the little sister will take care of the father-in-law." Lei Ting smiled slightly when she heard this, glanced at Li Yuntianhou and said in a coquettish voice.

"Good work." At this time, Li Yuntian walked over and said softly to Chen Ningning, who was in the dust, that Chen Ningning had been running around all these years, and like Zheng Wanrou, she had made great contributions to the Kyushu Chamber of Commerce, and had already become the mainstay of the Kyushu Chamber of Commerce.

"The princess has won the award, and the concubine likes business." In just three words, Li Yuntian already contained too many emotions, Chen Ningning smiled at Li Yuntian when she heard this, she knew that the Kyushu Chamber of Commerce was important to Li Yuntian, so she was willing to pay for it.

How could Li Yuntian not know Chen Ningning's thoughts, and his heart was suddenly moved, he felt that he owed Chen Ningning and Zheng Wanrou and others too much, not only failed to take good care of them, but also made them suffer for their own Zhongxing Daming plan, and even meeting them became a luxury, and he was really not a competent husband.