Old Duke Mei waited for the rest of the people to disperse before arching his hand and saying, "Congratulations, congratulations!" ”

Qin Xin Shili smiled: "Lord Duke, these are all the grace of Her Majesty the Queen, and thanks to your support." Of course--" Qin Xin turned his eyes and said to the fat man beside Duke Mei, "thanks to the Prime Minister." ”

Duke Mei laughed and said, "Where does the virtuous niece say, the Peimeng family and the Mei family should support each other!" ”

Ponger? Carlo, the fat man next to Duke May, also smiled: "This appearance has not contributed much. It was the old duchess who was talking just now. ”

"Anyway, thank you two people." Qin Xin said again.

"Okay, don't get in the way of you, madam. He is driven by the day, although he comes to the Prime Minister's Mansion to find the Prime Minister," Pang Ge arched his hand. Duke May also took his leave at the same time. However, before leaving, he glanced at Rick with some reproach and some love in his eyes.

When Rick returned to the Duke's Palace with Ginshin and Farley, it was nearly noon. The people in the house seemed to have received the news, and everyone's faces were beaming. As soon as he entered the hall and took his seat, a maid came over with a large stack of invitations, and Rick patted his head, he couldn't stand it anymore.

Fortunately, Qin Xin was also tired, so she asked the maid to put down the invitation and didn't ask. At this moment, she was most concerned about the news she had just heard in the court, so she asked about the attack on the way to the banquet last night, and Rick had to be honest. Qin thought for a moment, and didn't seem to know who these enemies were hiding in the dark, so she could only give up for the time being. Now what she desperately wants to do is to organize the guards in the palace as much as possible. She also knew that the Nymphs were all skilled, but they were only Rick's guards, not the Duke's palace. Naturally, it was impossible to patrol the ducal palace all night. In the Ducal Palace. Their status is supposed to be guests, and it is impossible for Kotoshin to treat them the same way she treats Rick; There was another reason she didn't want to think about, but it was something she had to face sooner or later—that Rick would eventually leave and live his own life, and that would leave the ducal palace defenseless against foreign enemies without a sufficient number of guards. She could only resist her fatigue and negotiate with Rick about how to recruit the guards. Rick saw that the tired look on her face was getting stronger and stronger, and he couldn't bear it. So he stood up and said, "You better go back to your room and rest!" I'll take care of the guards, and I'll do it. ”

"But--" Qin Xin said hesitantly, "there isn't much money in the house to pay the guards. At present, the salary of the average guard is about fifteen to twenty gold coins per month, and if you want to find a high one, you have to add five to ten gold coins per person, and the monthly cost of three hundred people is six thousand to nine thousand gold coins, regardless of other expenses, which is a huge expense. ”

Rick laughed, "You don't have to worry about that, I have my own ideas." You better have a good rest! Kotoshin nodded, before leaving. She suddenly whispered, "Thank you!" ”

Rick was shocked, then smiled brightly, "You're welcome. That's as it should be. ”

As soon as Ginshin and Farley left, Rick summoned the butler Fisherwoman to him and asked for her opinion on recruiting guards. The opinion of the fisherman's wife is that it is better to have a shortage than an abundance, and a hundred guards in the entire ducal palace is more than enough, and the more people there are, the more difficult it is to manage. Her opinion coincides with that of Rick. Rick originally thought that he only needed to recruit fifty or sixty people, and the number should not be large, but Su zhì must be excellent. Although he did not expect those recruited to have the same skills as his "tigresses", he at least had the expertise to protect the ducal palace.

Now that the basic principles have been established, the next step is the question of how and where to recruit. This is not clear to the fisherman's wife, because the recruitment of ordinary guards and guards in the private houses of ordinary officials is to post a recruitment notice, but if the requirements are relatively high, they have to go to some special occasions. He knew that this matter was not urgent, and that he would need to think carefully for a few days, so he no longer dwelled on this matter.

At the beginning of the lanterns, Rick led Chrissy, Gyokuro, and Ao Ling'er out of the Duke's Palace. All three girls wore men's clothes, Chrissy and Gyokuro dressed as Rick's bodyguards, and Ao Ling'er dressed as scholars, and they wore a little makeup, so that others would not generally recognize them if they did not approach. Rick wasn't worried about that, because there were very few people who knew them, and there was none of them in Boyent.

The place they are going to is Fanghua Lou - a very famous brothel, the address is in the east of the city, located on a bustling street in the east-west direction, because of the wide street, surrounded by Qin Lou Chu Pavilion, it is nicknamed "Fengyue Avenue", and has a fight with the Queen's Road. Fanghua Building is a special place of Fengyue, where everyone is a woman who picks up customers. In addition, they are also different from ordinary prostitutes, they do not sell themselves to Fang Hua Lou, that is to say, they are all free, therefore, whether they accept customers or not is completely up to them. Here, there are often strange sights that are not found in other places of Fengyue - the guest carries a large amount of gold coins in his arms, but no woman is willing to receive him.

Rick hired a carriage at the car dealership and carried a group of four to Fanghua Building. As soon as she got out of the carriage, a beautiful woman dressed in her thirties had already greeted her, and she smiled and said, "Young Master Xia Hua, you came so early. Is this time to see the play, or to look for a bonus? ”

Rick didn't think she recognized herself, and couldn't help but laugh: "I'm looking for a bonus." After speaking, let Yulu hand her a golden ticket for one hundred gold coins.

The woman didn't take it, but stared at Rick's face and said, "Young Master Xia Hua forgot?" We never take money from our guests until we enter the door. ”

Rick's heart was shocked, and he hurriedly said: "This is just a little bit of my gratitude, the bonus is more for you to take care of, and this money should be used to buy you rouge." ”

The woman was happy, everyone loved to hear good words, not to mention that Rick said it so beautifully, she hurriedly led Rick and the others to the building. Before he entered the main hall of Fanghua Building, he heard Qingman's singing voice coming from inside, and Rick was secretly strange, because this kind of singing voice clearly only appears in dramas, is there still a troupe in Fanghua Building. But he didn't dare to ask, because the few words he had just said at the door almost revealed a flaw. Now, he can only secretly tell himself to talk less and observe more, and never speak if he is not sure.

The building is divided into three floors, with a spacious hall on the first floor. The hall is not like the ordinary Fengyue place where the bead curtain hangs, and the guests are laughing at the woman in their arms. To Rick's surprise, there were rows and dozens of tables and chairs, both round and individually, facing a high stage. At this time, the seats under the stage were almost full, and a play on the stage had reached its climax. The actors are all beautiful women, they are neatly dressed and their movements are in place, and they are obviously formally trained to perform a play in a hot and beautiful way. Rick glanced at it, and already saw that there were many people in the audience, most of whom were not interested in playing, and the owner of Fanghua Mansion probably understood this, so the drama on the stage was just to show the talent and beauty of those women, and arouse the desire of the men in the audience, so that they not only bought high-priced tickets, but also did not necessarily become guests of the scene, and could only send gold coins to Fanghua Building day after day.

He was led by the bustard mother to a room on the west side of the second floor, the bustard mother didn't plan to go in, and stood in front of the door and said, "Young Master Xia Hua, you'd better wait, there are guests in the bonus room." ”

Rick felt that his heart hurt for no reason, he couldn't figure out whether it was for the "real Xia Hua" or for the peach blossom red, in short, his heart was very uncomfortable. However, it was also at this moment that he became extremely curious about the real Xia Hua. The man who had only lived in a hurry for twenty-four years would fall in love with such a woman, and allowed her to be in the place of wind and moon, rolling in the pile of men, while he was dead to her. Such a strange deed is even ashamed of Rick. Rick hadn't seen Peach Blossom Red, and he didn't know if she was in love with Xia Hua, if she was, then if she wasn't born lewd, she was a real strange girl, much more noble than those women who didn't sell their bodies.

After about a cup of tea, a door to the room opened, and a tall, disheveled man walked out with vague steps, and he walked downstairs without looking at Rick and the others waiting outside the door. Another door also opened, and a woman in a half-untied skirt stood against the door, her face still wearing the red of satisfaction after the clouds and rain.

The bustard mother threw an ambiguous wink at Rick, deduced that there were still guests to entertain, and immediately went downstairs. She had wanted the three daughters of Chrissy, dressed as men behind Rick, to go down with her, but Rick said that there was something for them to do, so that the bustard mother didn't have to say hello. Peach Blossom Red saw Rick for the first time, and her face was smiling, but as soon as the bustard mother left, the smile suddenly disappeared, and the blush on her face quickly faded, and in a blink of an eye, her eyes were full of sadness, and her body also stood still, removing Ye Yan's expression, the whole person seemed to change her temperament in an instant, and became a dignified and elegant little jasper, which made Rick secretly surprised.

Peach Blossom let the four of Rick into the room, then closed the door, then turned around and looked at Rick carefully, and then said, "It's like, it's really like." ”

Rick was startled and hurriedly asked, "What does it look like?" ”

Peach Blossom smiled bitterly and said, "You can hide it from anyone, but you can't hide it from me, you are not him." ”

Rick didn't intend to hide his true identity, but he was aroused by Peach Blossom's words, and he asked himself that he was already very similar to Xia Hua, although he had only been in Boyent for two days, but the people who had come into contact with him had never had the slightest suspicion of him. Why did Peach Blossom see through him at a glance? He asked curiously, "How do you know I'm not him?" ”

A layer of mist rose in Peach Blossom's red eyes, and she said, "You are eight points similar to him in shape and temperament, and even your voice is six points similar." But your eyes are not right, and when he sees me, he is like a lion seeing a hare, and he is furious. And yet you don't. I knew that he wouldn't come back, and I knew it when we parted half a year ago. (To be continued......)