After Shen Canghui had left, all the people in the room laughed out loud and said, "How come that the fourth young master is so naive? I hadn't realized that in the past."

Mrs. Huang said with a smile, "I think it's because when we were in the capital, we didn't live in the same area. We didn't interact with each other very often, so we didn't learn what the fourth young master is really like."

Wei Changying laughed for a moment, but then she couldn't laugh anymore. She sighed deeply, thinking, "No matter how naive Canghui is, as his sister-in-law, and as there are no elders directly from our family here, I must take responsibility for him." She then said, "Bring the girls here. I want to see what kind of beauties these compassionate uncles have chosen for Canghui!"

A while later, a group of gorgeously dressed girls were brought in. They curtsied to Wei Changying and greeted her with their sweet voices.

Wei Changying sat neatly in the hall and took a look at them. Although everyone said Western Liang was cold and rough and there were fewer people and it was less prosperous than the capital, the girls given by the seniors to Shen Canghui were really carefully selected. Even the worst one was pretty and had fair skin. A few outstanding ones would have still been considered as beauties if they had been in the capital.

The outstanding ones had lovely big eyes and were slender and delicate. There was no doubt that they must be the ones who were good at singing and dancing. Recalling that Shen Canghui hadn't forgotten to ask her to treat them well, Wei Changying squinted. She regretted that she had only criticized her brother-in-law but had forgotten to advise him not to indulge himself in women. Fortunately, Pei Meiniang had done that and Shen Canghui hadn't been in Western Liang for long, so he still thought of his wife. He hadn't been so moved by the girls who had told him that they had miserable lives that he decided to keep them.

Otherwise, since Pei Meiniang wasn't here, if Shen Canghui wanted to have some concubines to serve him, Wei Changying, as his sister-in-law, couldn't really say anything.

That must be why the seniors had been so eager to find these talented and beautiful girls to give to Shen Canghui. Wei Changying's husband was secretly on the way to East River Town. The seniors had no idea about that when looking for girls for Shen Canghui.

Shen Cangfeng wasn't satisfied with the result of the last battle against Muxiuer when he had used himself as the bait. Although he had been recovering from his wounds, he had been planning to go after the western tribes with his army. This was not a secret to the seniors. Since he wanted to go after them, he apparently wouldn't stay in Western Liang City. However, as a woman, Wei Changying couldn't go with the army, though it would have been great for those seniors if she had actually followed Shen Cangfeng in spite of everything.

Even if she didn't report Shen Canghui's incident to the capital, once Wei Changying left, the weak foundation she had built up in Western Liang City would immediately collapse. The seniors would regain their power in Mingpei Hall after all.

Of course, the seniors were not stupid. They knew that as a calm person, Shen Cangfeng would definitely turn down his wife even if she proposed to go with him. Since Wei Changying couldn't leave, Shen Cangfeng's departure was a shock to her.

Wei Changying didn’t have Shen Cangfeng's timely support. Even though Shen Cangfeng had been bedridden since before Wei Changying arrived in Western Liang, as he had been in Western Liang City, he could sometimes pass his messages around Mingpei Hall. The seniors hadn't dared to make a move without the most careful thought.

That was not only because of Shen Cangfeng's ability. It was due to his status. He was the future Family Head approved by Shen Xuan and Shen Zhou. It was not a secret among the family. Instead, it could be said that it was widely known. Otherwise, Muxiuer wouldn't have come personally for him or fallen into the trap.

Although Shen Xuan and his brother were far away in the capital, would they leave their hometown outside of their control? Shen Xuan had decided on a successor when he was still in his prime and before Shen Cangfeng had turned twenty years old. He wanted to start supporting his heir as early as possible so that when the time came, they could take over Mingpei Hall easily.

In this generation of the lineal branch of the clan, the first young master, Shen Cangli, and the second young master, Shen Lianshi, had been sent to Western Liang to gain more experience on the battlefield when they had turned fifteen. On the contrary, Shen Cangfeng, whom the family had high hopes for, had turned twenty and become married before coming to Western Liang. It wasn't that Shen Xuan and his brother loved him so much that they had been hesitant to let him go into battle, but they hoped that Shen Cangfeng would amaze the world with a single brilliant feat!

Before he had become fifteen years old, Shen Cangfeng had been young. Even if he had been more intelligent than his peers and even some of his father's generation, the seniors in the family hadn't thought he had been good enough. Therefore, they had waited until Shen Cangfeng had turned twenty and had become married and more sophisticated. Last year when Shen Cangfeng had just arrived in Western Liang, hadn't he taken the bold initiative to act as the bait to lure Chanyu Muxiuer into a trap?

Although Muxiuer had eventually escaped from the battle, everyone in Western Liang deeply admired Shen Cangfeng's courage, decisiveness, daring, and temperament. In particular, he had stopped Shen Youjia from immediately pursuing Muxiuer, who had just returned to his tribes. When Muxiuer had returned to his tribes, he had said to people that the army from the Great Vi would attack them very soon, which had made people in the western tribes too scared to remove him instantly in case there would be nobody to lead them and they would be defeated by the Great Vi. Though Muxiuer had done all these things, he had been put in a very difficult situation, so with this move, Shen Cangfeng had again shown how astute he was.

The third young master had only been in Western Liang for a little more than a year, but he had established his authority. Compared with her husband, Wei Changying, who had been in Western Liang for only two months, was young and hadn't shown well-crafted measures that could silence everyone, so she wasn't as prestigious as her husband.

They probably thought that Shen Cangfeng would leave after the New Year's holiday, so these old men were quietly getting ready for the change, weren’t they?

Thinking of this, Wei Changying looked more unfriendly. Looking at the most beautiful girls, she asked, "What can you all do?"

Those girls had been brought to Shen Canghui, had met him, and had heard from him that he would ask his sister-in-law to look after them. They had more or less heard that Wei Changying had caused a beautiful maidservant, who had served her husband, to be beaten to death as soon as she had arrived in Western Liang. But that was not enough so she had driven the family uncle and aunt who had given her husband the beautiful maidservant into a dead end. A jealous Family Mother was a nightmare for girls who were usually regarded as playthings.

Now having heard her words, they each cautiously said, "My young madam, I have learned to play guqin."

"I can dance."

"I can play the flute."

The things they said they could do were all related to singing and dancing, which Wei Changying had anticipated. She turned to Mrs. Huang, saying, "This is difficult now. I said we didn't have enough people working here. I mean we want capable people. Canghui has brought me this group. Every one of them is good at performing, but they are not genuine workers. What should we do?"

On hearing her words, a couple of girls ventured, "I can also be a servant."

Looking at the two people, Wei Changying saw that they were not the prettiest or the worst ones, but of course, they were more beautiful than some ordinary people. She asked casually, "Can you be servants in the front courtyard?"

Being afraid of her, the two girls had to consider what she meant. The front courtyard was somewhere Wei Changying seldom visited. She put them there, which obviously suggested that she didn't like seeing them around all the time. This was very much in line with an image of a jealous woman. The young madam had killed her husband's pretty new maidservant as soon as she had arrived in Western Liang. So, had she spoken these words to sound them out?

But then they thought again. They had said they could become servants serving the tea. If they now said they couldn't do it, they worried that this young madam might become angry, thinking they had teased her.

Thinking of these things, they regretted that they had said too much. They were in a cold sweat, not daring to answer.

Wei Changying waited for a moment but didn't hear their answer. The hall gradually became deathly silent. Even the girls who hadn't said they wanted to be servants were all nervous. Having observed them carefully, Wei Changying didn't find anyone who seemed disobedient. She secretly nodded, thinking these people still knew their places, so she gently nodded at Mrs. Huang.

Mrs. Huang then stepped forward, saying, "Actually, I think that since these people have skills, why must they become servants? We can choose additional people from the servant families."

Wei Changying said, "Granny, you are putting me in a difficult situation. Canghui brought them here. He thinks looking after them is troublesome so he gave them to me. If I don't give them something to do, I can't just provide for them, can I? Should I bring them back to Canghui? Canghui thinks they are trouble!"

On hearing her say that Shen Canghui saw these people as trouble, two of the most outstanding ones looked very upset, unconsciously biting their lips.

Wei Changying guessed that they were the two who had talked about their miserable lives. Out of the instinct of being a wife, Wei Changying really disliked women like them. They poured out their bitterness in tears to men whose wives weren't around in order to get sympathy or even to be accepted as concubines, but they pretended to be honest and docile when they saw the wives or other women. Therefore, she deliberately kept Shen Canghui's request to treat them well as a secret. Instead, she suggested to these girls that Shen Canghui saw them as trouble.

Mrs. Huang glanced at those two people, smiled gently, and said, "The lineal branch of the clan of Mingpei Hall has always been in the capital, so the main room in the ancestral hall has always been empty. No one else is qualified to live in it. Now the third young master and the fourth young master are back. There is a lack of servants. Not only is there a lack of servants, but there is also a lack of household courtesans. We haven't recruited enough servants and it's still the New Year's holiday, so we can't deal with the problem for the time being. Usually, it was the most difficult thing to recruit household courtesans because Western Liang is far less prosperous than the capital. There are not as many people to choose from as in the capital. Surprisingly, this group of people are all lovely and they even have skills. There is also no need to even train them."

"Granny, you are right. Although we are not very senior, we have family nephews. My husband is bedridden, so he can't come out to greet guests. Canghui might have this need. When guests come, it's not a good idea to always send someone over to get official courtesans." Wei Changying squinted, saying to the people in the hall, "In that case, you should go to the courtyard where the household courtesans live."

Several of the girls' faces turned pale when they heard that they were to be used as household courtesans. They had been happy to know that they were going to be given to the fourth young master. The fourth young master of the lineal branch of the clan was young, good-looking, and gentle. Most importantly, the fourth young madam hadn't come this time. One of the reasons why the fourth young madam hadn't come was that she was pregnant and would give birth after the New Year's holiday.

Even after the New Year's holiday, the fourth young madam still had to look after her child and couldn't immediately come to Western Liang to guard her husband. Since the wife couldn't come over, they would naturally have more freedom. If they took the advantage of this opportunity to have the fourth young master's children, they would have a guarantee for life even if the fourth young madam's lineal son ranked higher than their offspring.

For these girls, that was what they could pursue in their lives. It would be better than being a plaything who would be dismissed with some money when they were no longer young and pretty. It would be better than marrying some random person and wondering whether they could have their own children as they had used so many contraceptives.

However, having met Shen Canghui, they realized that although the fourth young master was a good-tempered person, he was tightly controlled by the fourth young madam who was far away in the capital. The beautiful girls had gathered around him. But after his people had mentioned the fourth young madam to him several times, the fourth young master had still made the decision to give them to his third sister-in-law to deal with after some hesitation, though he had clearly been moved by the most beautiful girls who had told him their miserable past.

It was already like a thunderbolt from out of the clear sky for these beautiful girls to fall from gentle Shen Canghui's hands to the hands of Wei Changying who was a jealous woman, being secretly gossiped about throughout Western Liang City. Who would have thought that this third young madam from the capital would be worthy of the name of a jealous woman? She casually made them become household courtesans rather than be potential concubines.

Seeing that someone was going to take them to the courtyard where household courtesans lived and that it seemed that Wei Changying had done with them and had turned to Mrs. Huang to talk about something else, the beautiful girls knew this was their final chance. Once they got into the household courtesans' courtyard, they wouldn't be able to leave the courtyard unless they had guests requesting their services, let alone see Wei Changying again.

Perhaps they had finally realized the situation, or perhaps they were so reluctant. While some of them were full of sadness and ready to leave, some of them stood still. Having made up their minds, they fell down onto their knees, each sadly begging, "I beg for your mercy, my young madam."