The Legend of the Concubine in the Harem

Lu Weiyuan led his men to walk forward on his own. After walking a few dozen steps, he saw the two carriages standing in a row. He recognized that one of them was the carriage of a certain earl in the capital, and it was heading out of the city; the other one was heading towards the capital, and it was obviously coming from another place. There was no special decoration on the carriage, only the emblem of a certain trading company hung on the side of the body, but the clothes of the people standing next to the carriage did not look like those of traveling merchants.

They should be the family of an official from other places, who rented a carriage from a local business to enter the capital. The reason for this belief is that the people standing anxiously beside the carriage were mostly women. One of them was a woman dressed in brocade and wearing a thick hat that covered her face tightly. Two maids and two servants stood around her, surrounding her and looking around vigilantly.

Lu Weiyuan also noticed that behind the carriage with its wheels fixed, there was another carriage with the same emblem. The carriage at the back was much smaller than the one at the front, and there was a pile of boxes and sundries in the empty space at the back.

She led her people forward a few steps. The two maids who were standing by the road waiting for the servants to figure out how to separate the two carriages immediately cast their vigilant eyes towards Lu Weiyuan. After discovering that she was not a man, but just a woman wearing a riding outfit that was somewhat similar to men's clothing, they quietly breathed a sigh of relief, withdrew their gaze from her, and silently, but tacitly, led the girl in the Mi Li hat to move to the side.

Faced with this unreasonable avoidance, Lu Weiyuan decisively forgot about the carriage blocking the road, raised his eyebrows slightly, and took a few steps in their direction, pretending to be enthusiastic and said: "Be careful, don't stand in the grass. The sun is getting warmer, and the snakes, insects, rats and ants in the suburbs of Beijing are out and about. If one of you accidentally steps on a snake that is out basking in the sun and gets bitten... it will be bad."

The girl in the Mi Mi hat turned her head and looked behind her. When she found that they were indeed about to stand in the bushes beside the official road, she subconsciously wanted to move forward, but was firmly held by the two maids on her left and right.

The maids standing beside her did not react at once. After noticing their young lady's movements, they instinctively pulled her back. However, they did not expect that this movement caused her young lady to stagger and almost knock her hat off: "Young lady, be careful!"

One of them hurriedly supported the young lady, while another quickly helped the girl to hold down the hat on her head. Only after they stabilized the person did they have the leisure to respond to Lu Weiyuan's words.

However, it was not the young lady who spoke up, but the old maid standing on her left. The old maid was wearing an indigo-colored dress with almost no patterns and a long skirt that covered her feet.

Nowadays, this style is no longer popular in the capital. Instead, people prefer skirts and gowns that are more convenient for movement, especially for servants who need to do housework and women who make a living. Most of the skirts only reach the calves. Some even give up the skirt and wear long pants and an apron, doing whatever is convenient for movement.

As for the daughters of powerful families, they have more choices in clothing. The most popular outfit this year is like Lu Weiyuan's, a modified Hu clothing, or a simple and capable riding suit, a pair of calf-length soap boots or deerskin boots, a belt embroidered with clouds and flowers to mark the waist, and jade pendants and sachets hung on the belt, a small curved knife or dagger, or a horse whip and something else.

"Thank you for the reminder, young lady. However, this is... the wilderness, and there are many foreign men here. It is inconvenient for my young lady to show up. If we have been treated poorly, I hope you will forgive us." The old nanny's mouth was tightly tightened, without any softness on her face. She looked even more solemn than the strictest master in the imperial study.

But the more she did this, the more Lu Weiyuan wanted to tease her deliberately.

After all, it is rare to see such old-fashioned families in the capital nowadays.

As the saying goes, what the superior likes, the subordinates will follow. The wealthy and powerful in the capital, especially those ruined families who love to use the numerous rules of their family to show off their own extraordinary status, have to hold their noses and break the old rules that have been adhered to for a hundred years in their family in order to please the superiors, even if they are unwilling in their hearts, and begin to learn to relax the restrictions on their daughters.

Those daughters of noble families who had been raised in the boudoir since birth and seemed to be still living in the old times, when they first came into contact with freedom beyond the rules, some of them decisively ran towards the world outside their own small buildings, even if their actions made their elders dislike them, they were unwilling to continue to obey and give in; however, the other part seemed to be frightened by the outside world, and became more and more autistic and self-imprisoned, obeying the orders of their elders and clumsily imitating the practices of other powerful families, but at the same time, they became more and more convinced in their hearts that the way their family had raised girls was the right way, and that the world today... is bad.

But no matter whether they are willing or not, as long as the patriarch above them still wants to please the nobleman above them and not be excluded by the many circles in Beijing, these so-called aristocratic families who are good at self-isolation can only go with the flow.

Lu Weiyuan, who was interested, ignored what the nanny said and raised his voice slightly: "You are not from the capital, right? Where are you from? Where are you going in the capital?"

She took a step forward, and the old maid instinctively stepped back: "Whose family are you from? Why are you going to Beijing alone? Are you going home or to stay with your relatives?"

"What's your name?"

"Young lady!" The old nanny shouted in intolerance. Seeing Lu Weiyuan looking at her in confusion, she cleared her throat and said, "Young lady, my young lady is a well-behaved woman. Please...don't force me like this."

If it weren't for the fact that the girl was wearing extraordinary clothes and probably had some background, the old nanny would have wanted to chase her away directly - how could a woman in the capital wear men's clothes and show up in public like this? It was really... really too rude.

My daughter lost her mother when she was born, and her father is a complete idiot. If the old man had not arranged a marriage for her with the Chen County Earl's family in the capital when he was still alive, I'm afraid I don't know what her future would have been like!

Now that the young lady is old, the Chen County Earl's family has no intention of fulfilling the marriage. She has no choice but to come to Beijing first and stay at her uncle's house for a while. After the master has handed over his government affairs and returned to Beijing to report on his work, they can discuss the marriage with the Chen County Earl's family.

Before that, no news that is unfavorable to the young lady must be spread!

Thinking of this, the nanny couldn't help but reach out to tighten the curtain hanging from her young lady's hooded hat.

Lu Weiyuan found it interesting that the nanny wanted to teach him a lesson, but didn't dare to do so because she was unsure of her identity, so he wanted to bully her again. However, Deng Jihui had already caught up with him and said, "Your Highness, don't be naughty. Since this young lady doesn't want to show up, I think she has something to hide. To be kind to others is to be kind to yourself. Please don't tease her for my sake."

Lu Weiyuan turned around and said, "Well, since Duke Ying is so kind-hearted, why don't you kneel down and beg me?"