Confiscating property? A stunningly beautiful substitute bride empties the national treasury and is

"Which Lord Xu is this? His official arrogance is so great!"

Song Qingqian leaned closer to her and whispered a question.

The madam looked at him in shock, her mouth agape. After a long while, she whispered, "Sir, are you perhaps from out of town? You don't even recognize this Lord Xu?"

"Mother was right. I was just passing through and wanted to relax. I don't know any of those 'Lord Li' or 'Lord Xu'!"

"No wonder!"

The madam explained in a low voice, "This Lord Xu is the prime minister of our prefectural government, and he manages many things on behalf of the prefectural government!"

Song Qingqian smiled thoughtfully: "Is that so? Then I'll be a gentleman and not take what others love. Find me a few more, and I'll choose one myself!"

"Got it!"

The madam beamed with delight: "Sir, please come upstairs!"

In a short while, the madam brought more than ten girls to Song Qingqian's room, allowing her to choose one of them.

Song Qingqian waved her fan in one hand, her gaze sweeping over the crowd before finally settling on the woman who had tried to stop the carriage earlier that day.

"You look up!"

The madam laughed as she pulled her out of the crowd, then lifted her face with a smile and introduced her:

"My lord, she is Camellia, eighteen years old, and proficient in all the arts, including music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. Her only shortcoming is that she is a bit stubborn!"

"Camellia, quickly greet your husband!"

The woman seemed terrified after being beaten; as the madam helped her up, her body trembled violently, and she then spoke respectfully:

"Camellia greets Your Excellency!"

Song Qingqian smiled and nodded: "You stay!"

"Since you've made your choice, I'll take them all out. Have a good time, my lord!"

The madam was about to lead the group away when Song Qingqian called out to her.

"Mom doesn't seem to understand what I mean. What I mean is that if she stays, they all stay too."

"What? Leave them all behind?"

The madam's mind went blank for a moment. What did this man want to do with so many women accompanying him?

Seeing her ever-changing expression, Song Qingqian raised an eyebrow and smiled: "Why not?"

"Okay...okay..."

The madam instantly smiled, her eyes crinkling, and stepped forward, fawningly saying:

"My lord, you may do as you please, but the money..."

Is fifty taels enough?

Song Qingqian simply took out a silver note and waved it in front of her, then continued to explain:

"Fifty taels for these girls for one night, Mom, do you think that's feasible?"

"Yes...yes, let alone just one night. These girls are lucky to catch your eye, sir!"

The madam was about to take the silver note from Song Qingqian's hand when Song Qingqian deftly turned her wrist and smiled with a deep look in her eyes:

"These will all belong to Mom sooner or later, so why are you in such a hurry? Just follow the rules!"

"well!"

After the madam finished speaking with a half-hearted smile, she reluctantly withdrew her hand, gave a few polite instructions, and then turned and left.

Most of the girls went into his room and none of them came out. How could he let her do business in the middle of the night?

The madam became increasingly suspicious and secretly began eavesdropping...

The door closed, and the women looked at each other in bewilderment. Some were more proactive, smiling as they stepped forward to offer Song Qingqian massages, others poured tea, and some even took out musical instruments to prepare to perform...

"Let's choose the pipa!"

After Song Qingqian finished speaking, she closed her eyes, cleared her mind, and began to enjoy the moment. Hearing footsteps leaving, she reached out and grasped the hand of the woman massaging her shoulders, and asked:

"How long have you been here?"

"My lord, it has been three years!"

"What about you?"

The woman lowered her head and explained, "It's been a while, five years!"

"What did your family do before?"

The woman bit her lip, her eyes darting away as she didn't reply.

Seeing that the woman playing the pipa had played a wrong note and was about to stop abruptly, Song Qingqian looked up at her and reminded her:

"Don't stop! Keep playing!"

"Camellia, what about you!"

Song Qingqian asked the woman who was hiding in the corner, looking lost and dejected.

The woman just kept wiping away her tears and didn't answer. It was the first woman to speak who finally spoke:

"My lord, she's only been here for three months and doesn't know many of the rules yet. Please don't hold it against her. Ask me if you have any questions!"

Song Qingqian nodded and looked at everyone, asking, "Are you all from out of town?"

"Yes!"

Song Qingqian spoke again: "They were exiled here and then sold, right?"

Upon hearing this, all the women stared wide-eyed at Song Qingqian in disbelief, their shock evident in their eyes.

"Want to leave here? I can help you!"

"I think, I think!"

Camellia quickly wiped away her tears, came to Song Qingqian's side, knelt down and said:

"I want to leave this place. If you can save me, I am willing to serve you for the rest of my life!"

Song Qingqian looked at everyone and asked, "What about you? Do you want to leave here? If you do, I can get you out!"

"it's useless!"

The woman who had stayed the longest sighed sadly, "Even if we leave, we might not survive. The madam of this brothel and the county magistrate are in cahoots. We can't escape this Imperial City!"

A woman chimed in, "Even if we escape, what difference does it make? We don't even have household registrations anymore, let alone indentures. No matter where we go, we'll be caught by the soldiers, and we'll just die anyway!"

Someone said sadly, "Actually, we should have died long ago. Even if we hadn't been spared, we would have certainly died anyway if we had gone to the barbarian lands!"

Song Qingqian shook her head in denial: "When the exiled officials go to the barbarian lands for handover, all those who are not present will have their household registrations cancelled. So you are indeed people without household registrations, but that doesn't necessarily mean you will die!"

"According to the laws of our dynasty, all people who are seventeen years of age or older without household registration will be forced into marriage in order to regain their household registration, so you still have a glimmer of hope."

Someone realized what was happening and quickly nodded: "Yes, as long as we escape and leave this Imperial City, as long as we say we are refugees who fled famine and have no household registration, at most we will be forced into marriage. That would be much better than what we are like now."

"My lord, can you really get us out of here?"

Song Qingqian smiled and nodded: "As long as you are willing, I can take you away and send you out of Dizhou City smoothly. As for the road ahead, you will have to walk it yourselves!"

"I...I do!"

"I do too!"

"And I!"

.........

"Alright, you can stay quietly in the room for now. Sing if you want, play if you want. I'll go and meet with the madam first, and then I'll take you out the back door!"

"You can go back to your rooms in batches to pack your things. It's best not to stop making noise in this room. Delay it as long as possible."

After giving instructions to everyone, Song Qingqian quietly slipped out of the room.

As soon as she left, the women started chattering amongst themselves.

"Sister Chunhua, do you think he was lying to us? What if he told Mom he ran away? What are we going to do then?"

"Yeah, yeah, if Mom finds out, I'm sure I'll get a beating!"

"If you ask me, we were just tricked by him. There's no such thing as a free lunch. Even if there were, it wouldn't fall into our laps!"

"Besides, Li Yixiao is all-powerful in this Imperial City. Who can surpass him? If they could, Sister Baihe wouldn't be whispering sweet nothings in Prime Minister Xu's ear every day!"

The woman who had been there the longest sighed and said, "I don't know if it's true or not, but what she said does make some sense!"

"Sister Chunhua, I think we can hope for the best. I just massaged him and realized he's not a man. He's just like us!"

"What? A woman dressed as a man?"

The woman quickly nodded: "Yes, otherwise why wouldn't she ask us to accompany her? Besides, she knows we are exiles, so she must have come specifically to find us."

"So...should we believe her or not?"

Upon hearing this, Chahua was the first to step forward. She said happily, "I...I remember now. I saw her today. She was also taken away by Liang Han. She was an exile just like us!"

"She was able to escape from Li Yixiao's mansion, so she must be someone important. She can definitely rescue us! I... I need to pack my things..."

"Camellia, don't get your hopes up!"

A woman quickly grabbed her and pulled her back, speaking earnestly:

"Camellia, even if she is an exile, even if she has great supernatural powers, have you ever thought about why she would risk her life to help us when she has nothing to do with us? Why?"

"No... I don't care, I just want to escape. Even if I get beaten to death, I'd rather die out here. It's too filthy in here, I can't stay here a second longer!"

Chahua shook her off, pushed open the door and went out, leaving the others bewildered!

"Sister Chunhua, what are you doing!"

"It's better to believe it's true than not! You all go pack your things first, I'll keep watch, and we'll try to get as many people as possible to escape!"

As Chunhua spoke, she pushed the group out, explaining as she did so:

“I am older than you all, and you are still young. You have a long road ahead of you. If you can escape, then escape. If you are lucky, you can live a normal life as an ordinary citizen!”

"Sister Chunhua..."

"Go carefully, don't attract attention!"

Chunhua sat down and began to play the zither calmly.

*

After slipping out of the room, Song Qingqian searched for a long time but couldn't find the madam.

Not only did she not see the madam, but she also didn't see a single shop assistant. She couldn't help but feel a little strange. Had they discovered her in advance?

As soon as she went to the backyard, the scene that caught her eye made her smile and squint her eyes. Could this be considered telepathy?

All the brothel's staff, along with the madam, had been detained by Lu Jingchuan's men. Lu Jingchuan himself was standing with his hands behind his back, leaning forward.

He was still holding several indentures in his hand. He turned around, saw her walking towards him, and waved with a smile.

"Qianqian came to perform a heroic act, why didn't you call me 'husband'? Don't you trust me?"

"No, I see you're quite busy, so I didn't want to bother you with these small things!"

Song Qingqian smiled gently and explained in a low voice.

"Hmm..."

The madam was tied up and gagged, unable to speak, and could only make muffled noises in frustration!

Song Qingqian leaned closer to him and whispered, "I was thinking of rescuing them quietly. Isn't it a bit inappropriate for you to make such a big fuss?"

"Since you've already burned down someone else's mansion, one more won't make a difference!"

Lu Jingchuan looked at her with a doting smile!