Ning Chen saw Eunuch Quan off and rode his beloved Diaochan, clop, clop, clop, to the courtesans’ quarter.

He came up to the second floor and found Pan Yucheng and Gao Ziping and a few others drinking.

Ning Chen walked over, looked at Pan Yucheng and said with a smile, “Good, you’re here. I had Old Feng go looking for you at the Inspectorate.”

Pan Yucheng asked, “You need me for something?”

Ning Chen took out the imperial edict and handed it to him.

At the sight of the edict Pan Yucheng’s face changed color, and he immediately made to kneel and receive it.

Ning Chen said, laughing, “It isn’t for you.”

Pan Yucheng froze where he was and looked at Ning Chen, not understanding.

“It’s for Miss Nanzhi.”

Pan Yucheng gave a start, and then something seemed to occur to him. He looked at Ning Chen with his whole face full of hope.

Ning Chen smiled and gave a slight nod.

Pan Yucheng took the edict, glanced at it, sprang to his feet and rushed for the third floor with the edict clenched in his hand.

Gao Ziping asked, curious, “Ning Chen, what does the edict say?”

“His Majesty has pardoned Miss Nanzhi from the slave register and restored her freedom.”

Gao Ziping and the others went blank for a moment, and then their faces filled with delighted surprise. They were happy for Pan Yucheng.

“You all keep drinking. I’m going up.”

Ning Chen called out to them and went on up the stairs.

“Ning, dear!”

Yudie came skipping to meet him, delighted.

Zisu was sitting on the couch in front of the screen with a medical book held in both hands. She turned her beautiful eyes up and rolled them at Ning Chen.

Every time this son of a bitch came, her lips were swollen the next day and her hands ached badly.

Ning Chen went over and sat down right against her. “You don’t seem glad to see me.”

Zisu shifted away along the couch with distaste, wearing a look that said don’t come near me.

Ning Chen squeezed over against her again.

Zisu shifted away again.

Ning Chen squeezed up against her once more.

Zisu glared at him. “A man and a woman are not to touch. Don’t you know that?”

Ning Chen grinned wickedly. “I’ve always had my doubts about whether you’re a woman.”

This woman was only willing to come at him with mouth and hand, and would not go the whole way.

Zisu gave the slightest start, and then snorted. “The truth is, I’m a man.”

“Is that so?” Ning Chen said, a wicked grin all over his face. “Then let me examine you?”

And with that he reached for her.

Zisu ran off with her face red.

“Zhirou, do something about him…”

Yudie’s smile was radiant. “What does it matter? Sister Zisu will have to let Ning, dear, examine her sooner or later anyway.”

Zisu: “???”

“Zhirou, you are past saving!”

Ning Chen beckoned. “Yudie, come here. I have something good to show you.”

Yudie’s small face flushed, and she came over obediently and sat down beside Ning Chen.

Zisu spat. “I’m going out.”

“Don’t. You can look too.”

“Pah… who wants to look?”

“If you don’t want to look, never mind.”

Ning Chen finished speaking and took out the imperial edict.

Zisu was startled. “An edict?”

Ning Chen nodded. “What did you think I wanted you to look at?”

Zisu realized where her mind had gone, went crimson to the ears, and glared at him without a word… And don’t think she didn’t know Ning Chen had meant it that way.

Ning Chen handed the edict to Yudie. “His Majesty has pardoned you from the slave register. You’re free!”

Happiness came too suddenly. Yudie went blank on the spot!

Zisu took the edict, opened it and looked, and her eyes reddened. “Wonderful. Wonderful… Zhirou is free!”

She held the edict out for Yudie to see.

Yudie looked at the edict, and her tears came down like pearls off a broken string, pattering one after another. She was weeping for pure joy.

Ning Chen gathered her gently into his arms.

Yudie wept so that it hurt to look at her, and cried until she could not get a word out.

Zisu frowned slightly. “His Majesty grants Yudie to you as a maidservant. What is that supposed to mean?”

Ning Chen sighed, and did not hide it from her. “His Majesty still means to marry the Ninth Princess to me, so he kept something in reserve.”

“Then isn’t Zhirou still on the slave register?”

Ning Chen shook his head. “She’s on the free register. Tomorrow I’ll go to the Ministry of Revenue and have Yudie’s registration papers made out again.”

Yudie stopped crying, tears still on her face, and said happily, “Sister Zisu, it doesn’t matter. As long as I can be with Ning, dear, I am content.”

It hurt Ning Chen to see it, and he dried her tears for her.

“Pack up tonight. Tomorrow I’ll come and take you both home.”

“In a couple of days I’ll go with you both to Xiuzhou to make the offerings.”

Ning Chen did not stay the night at the courtesans’ quarter.

He stayed a while and then left.

Under cover of darkness he came to the Carefree Escort House.

“Marquis.”

Silence bowed.

Ning Chen waved a hand. “I’m a man at leisure now. Don’t call me marquis anymore.”

Silence said, “Force of habit.”

Ning Chen changed the subject. “I’m going to be away from the capital for a while… While I’m in the capital the hand behind this will not show itself. The man is hidden very deep.”

“Once I’m gone from the capital, find him for me.”

Silence bowed his head. “Yes.”

Ning Chen said, “The man is very careful. Watch Fan Taihe without letting up and you’re bound to get something.”

Silence nodded.

“Marquis… Young Master Ning. Shall I send men to guard you in secret?”

Ning Chen shook his head. “No need. I have my own arrangements… If your men are discovered, my charge of dealing with the enemy and betraying the country is as good as proven.”

Silence made a sound of assent and said, “There is a letter from the mistress.”

“Saying what?”

“The mistress says that if you are willing, the gates of the Wu Kingdom stand open to you at any hour… The mistress can appoint you, appoint you…”

Ning Chen narrowed his eyes at him. “Appoint me what?”

Silence hesitated, and then said, “The mistress says she can appoint you… Chief Eunuch of the Inner Palace.”

The corner of Ning Chen’s mouth twitched.

“Thank her for me. Thank her whole family… I take it she isn’t planning on any happiness of that kind for herself from here on?”

Ning Chen meant to write the woman emperor a letter back, but he thought it over and let it go.

She was a pregnant woman. He would not aggravate her.

Come to think of it, the child was more than six months along… In another two or three months it would be born.

The next day Ning Chen had Gu Yichun ready a carriage.

He drove it himself, and came to the courtesans’ quarter.

Yudie had her things packed already and was saying goodbye to the girls she was close to.

The courtesans’ quarter is in truth a vicious place.

And it is an official institution.

If an official commits a crime, it is not your head alone they cut off. They put your wife and your daughters into the courtesans’ quarter, where a thousand men ride them and ten thousand sleep with them.

Put plainly, it is to humiliate the guilty official, and to humiliate his family.

Once the family of a guilty official goes into the courtesans’ quarter, they can almost never leave it.

If His Majesty pardons them, they can leave openly and in glory.

Otherwise you wait until you are old and faded and of no further use, hand over a sum of silver, and only then are you allowed to go.

The old madam came out of the courtesans’ quarter leading Yudie by the hand.

She gave Yudie over to Ning Chen with her own hands.

The old madam charged him: “Yudie is soft by nature. Treat her well. Don’t bully her.”

Ning Chen smiled and nodded.

Under the envious eyes of the other girls, Yudie got into the carriage.

Xiaoxing was Yudie’s personal maid, but the two of them were as close as sisters.

Not every woman in the courtesans’ quarter is the daughter of a guilty official. Some are poor, and sell themselves into the courtesans’ quarter willingly.

Xiaoxing was one of these.

Yudie paid a large sum of silver and bought Xiaoxing out.

Ning Chen knew that doing this would bring a lot of criticism down on him.

Ordinarily it would be enough to send somebody to fetch her.

But Ning Chen came himself, and drove the carriage himself.

Because he did not care in the least about criticism.

He could not give Yudie the place of principal wife, so he gave her the greatest respect he could.

Yudie had no distinguished family behind her and no noble standing… but to Ning Chen, there was nobody in this world who could take Yudie’s place in his heart.

Because whether he stood at the height of his glory or was brought down to nothing, Yudie had not changed toward him by so much as a hair.

Every thought Yudie had was of him.

(End of Chapter 381)