At the North Prince Mansion.
After returning to the North Prince Mansion, Lu Chen did not rush to seek out his woman for a romantic rendezvous. Instead, he sat on the stone bench in the pavilion of the outer courtyard, earnestly examining the new map of the North Land recently drawn up by the Brocade Guard.
Since he intended to bring the entirety of the North Land under his domain, making it thoroughly his territory, it was certainly necessary to understand the extent of the North Land and its terrain.
Just then, a young maid with flushed cheeks entered the outer courtyard. "Prince, a white-haired elder has arrived at the entrance of the Prince's Mansion; he says he wishes to see you," she reported.
Upon hearing this, Lu Chen was momentarily taken aback.
"A white-haired elder? Is he alone?"
Under normal circumstances, Lu Chen, the Prince, was not someone whom just anyone could meet on a whim.
Surely, Lu Chen couldn't personally receive every commoner who came to the Prince's Mansion's gates insisting on an audience; otherwise, he'd have no time for anything other than greeting commoners all day long.
Ever since defeating the Barbarian Tribe's army of three hundred thousand, there had always been some who brought gifts to the mansion hoping for an audience with him—most of these people were from the various powers within Great Xia.
For example, members of Aristocratic Families, or envoys from certain Seigniors.
However, Lu Chen had basically ignored them; he might accept the gifts, but there was no need to meet the bearers. He didn't have so much time to watch them flatter him to his face.
Learning someone was looking for him, Lu Chen's first thought was that yet another power was sending someone to flatter him. But then, his focus shifted to the words "white-haired elder."
If it was someone sent by a certain power to deliver a gift or to flatter him, it was unlikely they would send an old man.
The young maid then said, "Yes, he's by himself."
Lu Chen continued to inquire, "He's not carrying any sort of token?"
If an ordinary person came to the Prince's Mansion without a token or didn't state their identity and intentions, the servants of the mansion wouldn't bother informing Lu Chen of the visit; they would instead simply turn the visitor away.
The maid answered, "No."
At this point, the maid suddenly realized her mistake and quickly added, "Prince, it was Commander Bai who instructed me to come and report to you."
The newly arrived maid, whose training was inadequate, had now realized that ordinary people didn't have the privilege of seeing the Prince, so she hurriedly mentioned that it was Bai Qingqing who had sent her to make the report.
Bai Qingqing's position had not been removed; she was still the Guard Commander, although she no longer managed the inner courtyard on a daily basis.
When Lu Chen heard the maid say that it was Bai Qingqing who had sent her, he immediately understood that the visitor must not be someone ordinary, otherwise Bai Qingqing wouldn't have allowed the maid to report to him.
Glancing at the young maid before him, Lu Chen then said, "Bring him to see me."
The maid promptly responded, "Yes, Prince."
She then quickly turned and made her way to the exterior of the courtyard.
Watching the maid's departing figure, Lu Chen felt somewhat reflective. Back in the Capital City, his residence only had a few maids.
Now, his residence probably had countless maids and servants.
As one's status rises, indeed, everything else becomes easier to obtain.
That young maid was clearly new, and she wasn't just any commoner's child.
Lately, quite a few families had been thrusting maids toward the North Prince Mansion, attempting to get them into his bed.
But his bed was not so easily climbed upon. It seemed he had to have a proper talk with his consort; they should not be accepting just any maid from now on.
Putting aside whether those maids had nine out of ten marks in terms of quality, just by looking at their naive appearances, he wasn't the least bit interested. He preferred mature beauties like Chu Yuqin and Yelv Nanyan.