Chapter 159: Heart Strings
Chapter 159: Heart Strings
The carriage made its way through the main street, moving deeper into Dongzhi City. Since it was very early in the morning, very few people could be seen outside on the street and most of them were on their way to open their shops for a new business day.
The carriage came to a stop right outside the main entrance of the Chen Manor. The first person to climb out of the carriage was Xin Cheng before Xiang Ling followed right after him. She hesitated for a mere second before she accepted the Demon Emperor’s offered hand and climbed down from the carriage. Once Dao Ming had joined them as well, the coachman led the carriage away from the manor.
The area around them was completely empty without any sign of a single other person except for the three of them. Finding the moment perfect, Xiang Ling brought out the sixty people from inside the Spatial Realm. A huge group of people appeared in front of the main entrance of the Chen Manor and despite standing straight, they all had their eyes closed as if they were fast asleep.
"They are under a spell." Dao Ming commented as soon as he noticed the state of the slaves Xiang Ling had bought from the Underground Slave Market.
Xiang Ling clicked her fingers and all the slaves opened their eyes except for one man whom she was holding straight with her powers. The pills Xuelin fed them had erased their memories of the Spatial Realm and all that they remembered was following her to Dongzhi City.
"Carry him inside." She told two men standing close to the still unconscious slave she saved the previous night. The two men looked confused at first but immediately moved to catch the unconscious man when they saw him falling once Xiang Ling stopped holding him up with her powers.
All of them entered the manor and were greeted by Uncle Sun who was coming out of the Main Hall. As soon as he noticed Xiang Ling and the company, he hurried over and greeted her.
"My Lady, you are back."
His eyes immeditely shifted over to the group of people behind Lady Chen and to say that he was shocked to see so many people would be an understatement. "My Lady, are they the new servants of the manor?"
"They are indeed the new servants of the Chen Manor, but most of them wouldn’t be working here. Serve them breakfast and help them in any other way they want. Also arrange for new clothes for them. I will meet them again this afternoon." Xiang Ling instructed Uncle Sun who immediately accepted the order and signaled the group of servants to follow him to the servant quarters.
Xiang Ling then headed toward her own courtyard along with Xin Cheng and Dao Ming. It was still pretty early but there was no time for her to catch any more sleep. Besides, she slept quite comfortably in the carriage even though it lasted for only two hours.
As she recalled the moment when she opened her eyes back in the carriage and found herself sleeping comfortably in Xin Cheng’s arms, who too was fast asleep, a smile made its way to her lips. Every time she thought that she was not too interested in the Demon Emperor, that man ended up doing something that pulled the strings of her heart in all the right ways.
Letting out a small sigh, she decided to use the little time she had in her hands to cultivate and recharge her body after the long night. She entered her Spatial Realm and started cultivating spiritual energy.
An hour later, she walked out of her bedchamber, looking fully refreshed and rested, and headed in the direction of the dining hall. She helped Fu Xiao and the others in preparing the morning meals before the family members arrived there.
"Xiang’er, you are back." Hao Ran was surprised to see Xiang Ling in the dining hall as he thought she hadn’t returned home yet.
"I arrived early in the morning, First Brother." Xiang Ling answered as she greeted both Hao Ran and Zuan Hu.
The family enjoyed the breakfast prepared by Xiang Ling and there were a lot of talking throughout the meal. When Hao Ran asked her again where she went the previous night, Xiang Ling finally revealed that she went to buy more servants.
"More servants? We might not need more servants, Mei Mei. I think the manor has more than enough servants at the moment." Zuan Hu spoke her mind and Hao Ran nodded his head in agreement.
With a small smile on her lips, Xiang Ling replied, "The new servants are not for the manor, First sister-in-law. I’m preparing to start a business soon, the new servants are for there."
Her words clearly shocked Zuan Hu and Hao Ran who exchanged a silent look between the two of them but didn’t ask Xiang Ling anything more about the said business.
Once the breakfast ended, Xiang Ling spent the rest of the morning hours taking care of the Manor’s daily business along with Zuan Hu. To say that the latter was shocked to see the efficieny with which Xiang Ling was handling the household matters, would be such an understatement.
During noon, Xiang Ling finished her lunch early and made her way toward the Main Hall to meet the new servants. All the fifty-nine servants were there except for one who still hadn’t gained consciousness.
Among the fifty-nine, Xiang Ling picked selected ten people to keep them in the Chen Manor and train them with the other servants whom she was already teaching special skills.
Among left forty-nine servants, ten were specifically selected young women who knew about music and dancing skills. Since Xiang Ling was going to open such a luxury Inn, she needed dancers and musicians as well. As for the left thirty-nine servants, seventeen were females and twenty-two were males.
Since the servant quarters in the Inn were already ready, Xiang Ling decided to shift these forty-nine servants there and left the responsibility of training them on Fu Xiao.