The Prime Minister Seduced Me to have Babies!-Chapter 583: Dismissing the Rear Courtyard

In the following two days, almost every girl who received the flower dew responded with a note, all saying they liked it a lot.

Some invited Yun Jiao to visit their homes, while others returned small gifts like embroidered pouches.

Yun Jiao replied to the notes but politely declined those invitations, as she did not dare to leave home for now. Although Sab Lang told her that if she needed to go out, he would have the Duke’s personal soldiers accompany her, she thought it best not to cause unnecessary trouble.

After the Lantern Festival, Lady Wu began to plan the engagement between Jiang Youzhi and Yun Jiao.

Lady Wu invited the official matchmaker to visit Mrs. Chen to discuss the marriage proposal.

There was no other way for now than to have Mrs. Chen act as Yun Jiao’s guardian.

After the marriage proposal, Yun Jiao gave her birth date and time to Mrs. Chen, who then passed it to the official matchmaker.

The birth dates and times of Yun Jiao and Jiang Youzhi were taken to the temple for a high monk to examine. The monk wrote eight words—extremely auspicious, a union made in heaven.

The Princess took the monk’s written eight words to look at herself and was very pleased. She then sent a hairpin as a token.

This showed the man’s family was very pleased with the marriage arrangement.

Then Lady Wu began to prepare the betrothal gifts.

Mrs. Chen also became anxious, pulling Yun Jiao aside to say, "You must also prepare some dowry. Otherwise, entering the Duke Mansion empty-handed will cause people to look down on you."

Yun Jiao sighed, "Isn’t it still early? Besides, I don’t know what to prepare."

Mrs. Chen shook her head, "It’s not early. Even if the marriage is next year, preparations must start promptly. Some things take time to find the right ones."

She thought for a moment and suggested to Yun Jiao, "You could borrow the lady’s dowry list to get an idea and use it as a reference."

Yun Jiao felt this was a good idea and planned to mention it the next morning when she paid her respects to Lady Wu.

Early the next morning, Yun Jiao entered Lady Wu’s courtyard, where a maid at the door quickly came over and whispered, "Please wait a moment, miss, the lady is having a meeting inside."

The maid led Yun Jiao to a nearby tearoom, warm with burning charcoal.

From the adjacent room, Lady Wu’s voice kept coming through.

Yun Jiao hadn’t intended to eavesdrop, but the conversation penetrated her ears.

"The Duke and I have discussed; anyone wanting to return to their home will receive one hundred taels of silver as travel expenses. For those with indenture papers, the papers will be returned, allowing them their freedom."

"For those unwilling to leave, they will all move to the West Courtyard. As long as you live, the Duke Mansion will not let you go hungry, and when you die, there will be a coffin."

Yun Jiao raised an eyebrow hearing this, realizing that the Duke seemed intent on dispersing the mansion full of concubines.

This was indeed a good thing, as the more women there were in the backyard, the more chaos was likely to ensue.

Soon after, Yun Jiao heard a woman’s sobbing, "I won’t leave! I have nowhere to go. I was sold off as a child and don’t even know where home is. Since I entered the Duke Mansion, I belong to the Duke alive, and dead, I am the Duke’s ghost."

From the head of the room, Lady Wu calmly replied, "If you don’t want to leave, then don’t. What’s there to cry about?"

"Just pack your things and move to the West Courtyard, and leave one maid to serve you."

The woman continued to cry, "Lady Wu, you are too harsh. We used to have two senior maids and four junior maids. How can just one handle it?"

Lady Wu laughed softly.

Strong steps came forward; a woman grabbed the crying woman by the hair and slapped her twice.

The woman instantly collapsed to the ground, seemingly fainting.

The dozen women standing in the room were trembling all over.