The eight people left the Imperial City and parted ways. Each of them had tasks assigned by Yang Hong, so there was no time for prolonged pleasantries before they went their separate ways.
Jia Yuanchun, accompanied by her maids, turned and headed back towards the Daxing Imperial City.
Her home was within the Imperial City itself.
West of the Imperial City, there was a street called Ningrong Street. On both sides of the street stood two magnificent mansions, almost occupying the entire thoroughfare.
This was Jia Yuanchun’s home: the Ningguo Mansion and the Rongguo Mansion.
“Miss, it’s been fifteen years since we last returned to the Rongguo Mansion, hasn’t it?” asked Baoqin, Jia Yuanchun’s maid, with a sigh of emotion in front of the Rongguo Mansion’s gate.
She hadn't had the chance to accompany Jia Yuanchun during her imperial visit last year, and indeed, it had been over ten years since she had last returned to the Jia family.
“Not fifteen years, but fourteen years, four months, and seven days.”
Jia Yuanchun had cultivated a habit of counting days in the Imperial Palace; life there was truly a day-to-day struggle.
“Oh! So it’s been over fourteen years. Time flies by so fast.”
Qin Yun, another maid, also spoke with a sense of melancholy.
“Let’s go. We’re going home!”
“Unlike the grand procession during the imperial visit, I feel like this is what coming home truly means.”
Jia Yuanchun smiled, her heart filled with emotion as she walked towards the Jia family’s residence. Baoqin and Qin Yun quickly followed.
As they neared the main gate of the Rongguo Mansion, Jia Yuanchun, a Qi cultivation practitioner, felt her body tremble slightly.
It was excitement.
Although her current visit was not a grand affair, it was a visit that offered the Jia family a chance for rebirth.
“Well, well, what kind of young lady is this, so disrespectful as to show her face so openly?”
“Heh heh~ Could this be a top courtesan from some pleasure house? So beautiful, so young?”
“Heh heh~ Don’t just talk about the courtesan, even these two maids are top-tier!”
“If I could… I would die a happy man.”
“I want that courtesan~”
“Brother Lai, of course, picks the best. The four of us will take the two maids.”
As Jia Yuanchun and her two maids approached, a barrage of vulgar remarks assaulted their ears.
All three of them felt displeased, their brows furrowing.
However, considering these people were their (or rather, their young lady’s) servants, they refrained from immediate retaliation.
But then…
“You all stop right there! This is the Rongguo Duke’s Mansion, not a place for harlots like you to enter.”
Lai Hongqing, addressed as Brother Lai, blocked Jia Yuanchun’s path. His lecherous eyes roamed over her body, his lust unashamedly displayed.
“Blind as a dog, you don’t recognize our Empress.
No, she’s your Empress too.
Wait, no! She’s our lady.”
Seeing Lai Hongqing’s flippant words, Baoqin’s eyebrows shot up. She stepped in front of Jia Yuanchun, shielding her young lady from the lecherous gaze of this scoundrel servant.
“Hmph, I don’t care whose Empress you are!
You’re still not allowed to enter the Rongguo Mansion!”
Lai Hongqing turned his head, continuing to pursue Jia Yuanchun with his gaze. In his eyes, this woman, as beautiful as a celestial maiden, was his to possess.
Relying on the Jia family’s influence and the protection of his uncles, Lai Da and Lai Er, he had, despite being merely a doorkeeper, wronged several women.
Seeing a woman without a sedan chair or carriage, not even wearing a veil or a bamboo hat, he immediately assumed she was a courtesan.
Furthermore, Jia Yuanchun and her maids carried six parcels, clearly indicating they were here to seek refuge with the Jia family, or perhaps to sponge off them.
Such women were the easiest to manipulate.
Therefore, he became even more audacious.
“You vile slave, get out of my way! I want to see the top courtesan.”
With that, Lai Hongqing, in his recklessness, attempted to push Baoqin aside.
However, with his meager physique, he couldn’t budge Baoqin, who was already a Innate Grandmaster.
“Huh, this vile slave is actually a bit strong!”
“My lady.”
Baoqin felt a hand on her shoulder and recoiled with disgust, but she still didn't immediately attack the doorkeeper.
“Teach them a lesson. My return for a visit is a happy occasion, don’t let these sordid creatures spoil my mood.”
Jia Yuanchun said calmly, her mood barely affected.
She had never paid attention to mere doorkeepers, whether in the Jia family or in the Imperial Palace.
Much less now that she was a Qi cultivator beyond the Grandmaster realm.
To her, these people were no different from ants.
“Bang~”
“Ouch~”
Baoqin raised her hand, and Lai Hongqing was sent flying over ten feet away.
Jia Yuanchun strode forward, ignoring the fallen doorkeeper.
Even though this dog was still her family’s.
“Help! Someone is trying to force their way into the Duke’s Mansion!”
“Help!”
“Someone!”
“Quick, help! Call the Five City Patrol!
Someone is rebelling!”
As soon as Baoqin made her move, the other doorkeepers immediately started shouting.
“Who? Who dares to be so presumptuous in the Rongguo Mansion?”
“Which fool has the gall to seek death in the Rongguo Mansion?”
“Brothers, grab your weapons!”
“Someone’s causing trouble! Grab your weapons, report it to the authorities.”
Within moments, a group of household guards rushed out.
The gates of both the Rongguo and Ningguo Mansions were flung open.
Jia Yuanchun’s expression darkened. The Jia family was truly arrogant, more so than royalty.
No wonder the royal Yang family wanted to deal with the Jia family.
“What impudent scoundrel dares to cause trouble in my Jia family?
Do you wish to die?”
The master of the Rongguo Mansion had not yet appeared, but someone from the Ningguo Mansion emerged first.
It was Jia Zhen, the head of the Ningguo Mansion.
“Master Zhen, it’s these three young ladies! They beat me, they’re rebelling!”
Seeing Jia Zhen appear, Lai Hongqing, as if finding a backbone, crawled towards Jia Zhen, crying out.
“Eh, three young ladies, so beautiful! Arrest them all.
Hahaha, I want them, I want all of them.”
The moment Jia Zhen saw the beauty of Jia Yuanchun and her two maids, his eyes lit up.
Especially Jia Yuanchun, who, after cultivating the ‘Mysterious Maiden Art,’ was like a celestial maiden descended to mortal realm.
This excited the lustful Jia Zhen. He didn't even carefully examine Jia Yuanchun’s true identity or her detailed features.
“Jia Zhen! Master Zhen, look who I am!”
Seeing Jia Zhen emerge, Jia Yuanchun suppressed the nascent killing intent in her heart for the moment.
“Are you~ are you the top courtesan from the Yihong Courtyard, or the flower queen from the Yicui Tower?”
As the saying goes, what kind of master, what kind of servant.
Sometimes, the reverse is also true.
Jia Zhen asked questions similar to Lai Hongqing’s.
“Slap their faces!”
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
Jia Yuanchun’s expression turned completely cold.
Baoqin and Qin Yun were thrilled. They had been holding back, and now they could finally fight with abandon.
“Hum~ Hum~”
With two soft sounds, Baoqin and Qin Yun simultaneously unleashed their Innate Grandmaster aura.
A large number of the household guards, at most of third-rate caliber, immediately collapsed.
“Innate~ Innate Grandmasters! You are Innate Grandmasters?”
Jia Zhen was a man of experience and immediately recognized their aura.
That was the aura of Innate Grandmasters.
“Several female heroes, who are you? Is there perhaps some misunderstanding?”
Jia Zhen glanced at the two maids fighting like tigers among sheep, then fixed his gaze on Jia Yuanchun, a look of vigilance on his face.
He could tell that this immortal-like woman was their master.
“Jia Zhen, you really don’t recognize me?”
Jia Yuanchun’s face grew even more somber, the rage in her eyes threatening to burn Jia Zhen to ashes.
“You are~ you are…”
Jia Zhen suddenly exclaimed with feigned realization.