Chapter 42: The New Mansion (Part 1)

  The next morning, Gao Yuan and Ning Qi led the followers sent by Li Mu to the mansion bestowed upon him by King Zhao.

  Li Mu sent a total of 23 people to Gao Yuan, consisting of 14 men and 9 women. Among them, four were in charge of Li Mu's mansion, namely Yan Zhong, Han Sheng, Guo Chen, and Yao Shao Si. These four individuals were originally Li Mu's door guests, but because they had followed Li Mu for a long time, they all became managers in the Li Mu household. The other people were family members of these four, which also indicates that Li Mu actually sent these four people to Gao Yuan.

  The plateau didn't have many personal belongings, but there was a lot of gold. At the banquet yesterday, Li Mu and Sima Shang bet with Guo Kai and won a total of 3,000 taels of gold. Both of them said that this gold was all won back by Gao Yuan, so they gave all 3,000 taels of gold to Gao Yuan. Gao Yuan couldn't decline, so he had to accept all the gold. Adding to the 500 taels of gold given to him by King Zhao, Gao Yuan now has more than 3,500 taels of gold. If converted into grain, it can buy 400,000 to 500,000 dan (a unit of measurement), which is a huge fortune in this era.

  The mansion of the highland was not far from Li Mu's mansion, and they arrived in a short while.

  In this era, the mansions of high-ranking officials were all built according to certain specifications, with almost identical layouts. They generally presented a square-shaped enclosure structure, with a symmetrical layout on both sides. The main parts were concentrated along the central axis, including the gatehouse, front chamber, main hall, back chamber, back hall, inner chamber, and so on. These served as places for the master to receive guests, hold banquets, and reside. On either side were storerooms, guest rooms, stables, kitchens, and servants' quarters, etc. The only differences lay in the size of the land occupied, the number of rooms, and the specifications for the gatehouse, various chambers, halls, floor levels, and wall heights, all of which varied according to the official's rank.

  If there are officials who do not follow the rules, they will be punished by the imperial court for being rude. Even in this era of collapse and chaos, it is no exception. Only a small number of high-ranking officials' mansions can have some changes, but they are also not much different. Only on their own fiefdoms can they do as they please.

  The mansion bestowed upon Gao Yuan by Emperor Zhao was a standard, albeit smaller than Li Mu's, with three courtyards spanning over 100 meters in length and width, comprising at least 70-80 rooms of varying sizes. The decorations were exquisite and lavish, without any signs of decay. This left Gao Yuan in awe, never having imagined that he would own such a grand mansion in this era, something that was previously unimaginable.

  Moreover, what King Zhaoqian bestowed was not just a mansion, but also all the furnishings inside were fully equipped, including servants, attendants, and waiting maids. Additionally, King Zhaoqian specially granted Gao Yuan twenty beautiful singing girls, totaling over 150 people, with nearly 100 male servants and 50-60 waiting maids. They had already received notice and were gathered at the front gate under the leadership of the mansion's manager, awaiting their new master.

  After entering the house, everyone knelt down on the ground and said in unison: "Greetings to Doctor Gao." High Yuan was also startled and did not expect that there would be so many people in this mansion.

  Gao Yuan Dao: "All of you get up."

  Everyone slowly got up. Gao Yuan took a look and only then discovered that among the servants, there were men, women, old and young, all present. Gao Yuan also said: "Among you, who is in charge?"

  An old man in his sixties stepped forward from the crowd and bowed, saying: "Reporting to Your Excellency, this mansion is now run by a minor."

  Gao Yuan nodded and said, "What's your name."

  The old man said: "The little one's name is Geng Zhong." He then turned to Ning Ke and bowed, saying: "I've seen General Manager Ning."

  Ning Qi also returned a courtesy and said: "So it was Manager Geng."

  "Are you familiar with each other?"

  At this time, Ning Que said: "Report to the master, this mansion was originally the mansion of Geng Jing Daifu. Later, Geng Daifu committed a crime and his whole family was killed by the king, and the mansion was confiscated. Now it has been bestowed upon you, sir. They are all former servants of Geng Daifu's mansion, so most of them have the surname Geng. This Manager Geng used to be the steward of Geng Daifu's mansion, and I have had a few dealings with him before, so we know each other." Then he turned to Geng Zhong and said: "Are all the people in this mansion still the original ones?"

  Geng Zhong hastily replied: "Yes." After a moment of hesitation, he added: "Also, the king sent twenty songstresses today, saying they were gifts for you."

  Actually, Zhao Wang had already noticed these twenty songstresses a long time ago. The clothes and adornments of these twenty songstresses were different from others, and they were young, beautiful, elegant, and stood out among the rest. In this era, maidservants, female attendants, and songstresses were all equivalent to slaves, with basically no personal freedom, completely private property of their masters, who could dispose of them at will. As for the songstresses, they also had the duty of serving their masters in bed. Therefore, Zhao Wang giving these twenty songstresses to himself was obviously also a move to win over his own people.

  Gao Yuan also nodded and said, "Geng Zhong, I've just arrived at the mansion and am not familiar with all the affairs, so you will continue to manage things here. The others will still be in charge of what they were responsible for before." He pointed to Yan Zhong, Han Sheng, Guo Chen, and Yao Shao Si, saying "These four people will move in with me, first arrange their accommodations, tonight you bring me the list of all personnel's names and duties, after I review it, I will reassign your tasks."

  Geng Zhong hastily said: "I obey your orders." Then he also said: "Sir, look at the servants and maids in the mansion, should they all follow your surname?"

  Gao Yuan shook his head and said, "Whatever surname they had in the past, let them keep it, no need to change."

  Geng Zhong responded with a sound, immediately dispersing the crowd. Then he went to arrange accommodations for Yan Zhong, Han Sheng, Guo Chen, and Yao Shao Si. He knew that these four people came with Gao Yuan, naturally they were Gao Yuan's trusted followers, and would certainly hold important positions in the mansion, including his own supervisor position. It was possible that he would yield to one of them in the future, as it is said "one day a king, one day a minister". Therefore, he didn't dare to neglect them and had to treat them with care. He also stored all the gold brought by Gao Yuan into the treasury. At the same time, he was secretly amazed that this new master was indeed wealthy, having three or four thousand taels of gold at his disposal.

  Ning Qi saw that there was nothing lacking in the mansion, so he put his mind at ease. After Gao Yuan had calmed down a bit, Ning Qi also bid farewell to Gao Yuan and returned to Li Mu's residence.

  After Ning Qi left, other officials in the court also sent their family members to come to the mansion to congratulate Gao Yuan. As a result, Gao Yuan, who was still young, took up the position of Upper Great Official and also bore the title of "General Who Brings Good Fortune". He was deeply favored by Li Mu and others, who all hoped to make friends with him. Therefore, the congratulatory gifts they sent were very generous, including commonly used white jade, jade pendants, silk fabrics, fine wines, famous horses, pearls, rhinoceros horns, ivory, bronze swords, and other precious items. Of course, they also sent singing girls. Gao Yuan was overjoyed and received a large batch of precious items, as well as more than 20 singing girls.

  As a result, the entire day was very lively in Gao Yuan's mansion, with visitors coming and going constantly. Because Gao Yuan and others were new to the mansion, they were not familiar with the affairs and personnel of the mansion, so all the social interactions were still handled by Geng Zhong. However, after a whole day, Geng Zhong received visitors from various mansions, and was courteous and orderly, busy but not chaotic, showing extremely strong organizational and interpersonal skills. Of course, many of them were old acquaintances of Geng Zhong's.

  Moreover, while receiving guests, he also arranged for the accommodation and belongings of Gao Yuan and others to be fully taken care of, without any delay inside or out. Even Yan Zhong, Han Sheng, Guo Zhen, and Yao Shao Si were deeply impressed by Geng Zhong's abilities and felt inferior in comparison.

  Geng Zhong's performance also made Gao Yuan highly appreciative, this old man had indeed seen the world, after all he was from a family of high officials, it seemed that in the future he could still be entrusted with being the general manager of the mansion.

  They were busy until the evening lamp was lit. The guests had all dispersed, and Gao Yuan only had dinner with everyone together, and besides having Yan Zhong, Han Sheng, Guo Chen, and Yao Shao Si accompany him, Gao Yuan also let Geng Zhong sit together, and took the opportunity to ask Geng Zhong some questions about the situation in the mansion. In fact, in Li Mu's mansion, Li Mu often had meals with the guests at the door, and Yan Zhong and the others were already used to it, while Geng Zhong was also favored and surprised. He answered Gao Yuan's questions very detailedly.

  At dinner, Gao also made arrangements for the affairs of the other four people. Yan Zhong was responsible for receiving and entertaining guests, including other ministers. Han Sheng was in charge of managing the finances and supplies within the mansion, including various income and expenses. Guo Zhen was responsible for managing the various items and horses within the mansion, as well as purchasing and selling goods. Yao Shao was responsible for rewarding or punishing the servants and maids within the mansion, as well as defending the entire estate. At the same time, Gao also instructed Geng Zhong to tidy up the rooms and stables, as soldiers would be arriving in the next few days. Geng Zhong took note of all these instructions.

  After dinner, Geng Zhong said: "The daily life of the adults requires how many people to serve, whether the adults want to personally select them." He paused for a moment and continued: "The twenty songstresses bestowed by the king, does the adult want to choose some from among them to wait on him?"

  Actually, the plateau is not used to having someone serve him. In Li Mu's military camp, although he lived alone in a tent, there was no one serving him, and all matters were handled by himself. However, with his own mansion, it is indeed impossible to have no one serving him. Not to mention other things, just his living room has four or five rooms, adding up to over 200 square meters. Such a large room needs a few people to clean and tidy up. Therefore, he nodded and said: "Okay, I won't personally select them, you can arrange a few people to come. However, not too many people are needed, and don't choose from the song girls." He paused for a moment, then said: "Also, arrange a few people to serve these four as well."

  Geng Zhong hastily said: "Don't worry, sir. I've already made arrangements. They have all been assigned to the residences of the four gentlemen. If the four gentlemen are not satisfied, I will come and replace them."

  Gao Yuan also nodded and said: "Manager Geng, you have thought it through very thoroughly."

  Geng Zhong said: "The servants I have selected for you are also arranged, they are in your residence, please go and see them yourself."

  Gao Yuan thought for a moment, although he didn't have much to pick on the servants, it was good to take a look, and Ge Zhong also had a rare kind intention, so he said: "Okay, let's go together." He also told the other four people: "You all worked hard today, just rest early."

  Everyone bid farewell to Gao Yuan and left, while Gao Yuan also returned to his own residence under the accompaniment of Geng Zhong.