Clearly, all the guests down below noticed the young man. He was dressed in an aqua-blue, wide-sleeved brocade robe with open lapels, exposing a slender neck and delicate collarbones. Being still quite young, his build remained between tender and mature, appearing exceptionally petite and slender inside the slightly oversized clothing.
As for his appearance, Yunchan Wei considered it thoroughly ordinary. With a pearl and jade of peerless quality already preceding him, although this person shared a similar age and beauty mole with Jinshu Fu, Jinshu Fu’s looks were entirely incomparable to his.
One was an immortal exiled to heaven, while the other was a vulgar counterfeit.
Unwilling to look any further, Yunchan Wei turned his head and asked Jinzhou Lin, “Which one is the young lady you adore?”
Jinzhou Lin raised a hand and pointed directly at the woman in white: “Third from the left, isn’t she beautiful? I once saw her dance before, and she was just like a fairy.”
She was precisely the woman Yunchan Wei deemed slightly passable.
Yunchan Wei stated bluntly, “Acceptable.”
Jinzhou Lin had only glanced at Jinshu Fu from afar a few times during Jinshu Fu’s birthday banquet and had not seen Jinshu Fu’s face clearly. However, he knew very well that Yunchan Wei’s aesthetic standards were fastidious; since Jinshu Fu could win Yunchan Wei’s approval, other things aside, his appearance must definitely far surpass ordinary people.
He muttered gloomily, “Young Master, my standards aren’t high; Yunxiang is already top-tier to me. A beauty like the Young Madam is something this subordinate has no fortune to enjoy.”
Yunchan Wei disliked using the word “beauty” to describe Jinshu Fu, feeling that “little chubby lump” was much more fitting. Hearing Jinzhou Lin’s words, he did not refute him either, only urging, “Hurry up and handle your proper business, and buy your Yunxiang girl back. I still have matters to attend to this afternoon, so don’t waste time here.”
He felt as though he was about to be pickled in the heavy rouge fragrance of this brothel, finding it agonizingly difficult to endure. Thinking along these lines, he naturally thought of Jinshu Fu, whose person was always clean and carried a natural fragrance, indescribable as to what specific scent it was, resembling the aroma of grass and trees, but in short, entirely pleasant.
His thoughts were no longer here, appearing entirely out of place among the men scrambling to bid. Haiyuan Wei had noticed him early on and, to avoid being discovered by Yunchan Wei, had deliberately seated himself in a rear position.
Soon, the several young women on the stage were claimed one by one, and Jinzhou Lin also successfully redeemed Yunxiang from the madam. The madam naturally wanted to give him this face and dared not open her lion’s mouth, asking only for two hundred taels of silver; this was solely because Yunxiang possessed good looks, making her a few dozen taels more expensive than others.
Jinzhou Lin paid the money cheerfully, though his heart still ached, he was not Yunchan Wei, who could casually throw away thousands of gold coins and willingly spend hundreds of taels of gold just to buy a jade pendant. With these two hundred taels spent, it could be considered completely clearing out the marriage fund he had saved over the past few years.
Yunxiang felt no joy upon learning she had been redeemed; women like them who fell into the dust of the mortal world received no respect anywhere they went.
That was until the madam led her before Jinzhou Lin and Yunchan Wei.
Yunxiang noticed Yunchan Wei first.
Yunchan Wei was dressed in magnificent attire; even though the style and patterns of his garments were very simple, at a glance, it was material ordinary families could not afford to buy. Moreover, although this person was slender and pale-faced, he was tall and surrounded by the dignity and nobility of someone in a position of authority.
Looking across all of Yunliang, only one person matched these characteristics, and that was the legitimate eldest son of the Yunliang City Lord, Yunchan Wei.
Thinking Yunchan Wei was the one who bought her, Yunxiang dropped to her knees before Yunchan Wei: “I kowtow in gratitude for the Young Master’s mercy, and this slave will naturally serve the Young Master with care.”
Before she could finish, she was yanked back up by the madam: “Oh, you foolish girl, what face makes you think you can catch the Young Master’s discerning eye? You’ve thanked the wrong person, Young Master Lin bought you! Hurry up and express your gratitude to Young Master Lin!”
Though her words sounded harsh, their intent was actually protective. The madam was terrified that Yunxiang might displease Yunchan Wei, especially since everyone in Yunliang City knew that the young master of the Wei household was fickle and capricious, and none of those who provoked him ever met a good end.
In earlier years, Yunchan Wei was skin and bones, plagued by illness, and looked terrifyingly gloomy, leading folks to secretly give him the title of “White-Faced Asura.”
Seeing him today, Yunchan Wei’s complexion looked much better, and some flesh had grown on his cheeks, making him appear considerably less frightening.
Realizing she had made a “foolish assumption of affection,” Yunxiang hurriedly turned toward Yunchan Wei and kowtowed three loud times to apologize: “Please do not blame me, Young Master, please do not blame me.”
Then, prompted by the madam’s gaze, she turned in another direction and bowed by kowtowing to Jinzhou Lin. Just as she lowered her head, her forehead was gently supported by Jinzhou Lin: “There is no need for such grand formalities. Get up, your skirt is thin, and kneeling is uncomfortable.”
The tone carried undisguised affection and tenderness.
Meeting his gaze, Jinzhou Lin’s demeanor was upright and righteous at first glance. Yunxiang’s heart relaxed, and she placed both hands over the palm Jinzhou Lin extended, letting him pull her up.
Watching this “fine show” from the side, Yunchan Wei saw that they had finally “found their happily ever after,” so he also stood up: “Let’s go.”
Just as they reached the door with their front feet, they heard a burst of crying with their back feet.
Yunchan Wei had never cared for joining in the bustle, but the sound ringing in his ears was simply too loud.
“I won’t go with this old man. wuwu. someone save me!”
Yunchan Wei looked back and saw that the person making a fuss was precisely that young man. Beside him, a stout old man with extraordinarily ugly features was forcibly embracing him, attempting to drag him upstairs.
The young man was weeping tearfully, his face covered in tear tracks. Seeing the red mole between his eyebrows, Yunchan Wei let out an impatient click of his tongue.
It was not that he pitied this male prostitute, but the mere thought that if someone else bought him and casually defiled that exact same brow-center mole belonging to Jinshu Fu felt as though it were desecrating Jinshu Fu himself.
At this thought, Yunchan Wei’s expression grew somewhat darker.
He beckoned to Jinzhou Lin, who leaned in close: “Go buy that person, no matter how much it costs.”
Jinzhou Lin was extremely surprised and asked with difficulty, “Ah, this Young Master, aren’t you afraid of hurting the Young Madam.”
This remark was abrupt and without context, yet Yunchan Wei understood it completely. He raised his hand and slapped Jinzhou Lin on the forehead, his voice tinged with anger: “Fool, you’re thinking too much, go quickly.”
After a short while, Jinzhou Lin brought that young man over.
As the group exited the Rouge Tower, Haiyuan Wei stepped out from the side, unable to fully grasp Yunchan Wei’s intentions, having a legitimate, pampered wife at home yet buying a counterfeit back, what was the meaning of this?
He pondered it to himself for a moment and came to a sudden realization. He must have found Jinshu Fu too young to touch yet, so he was fetching a substitute back to vent his desires.
Being men, how could that Yunchan Wei maintain complete purity while holding such a fragrant and soft wife like Jinshu Fu every day?
Heh, though if his little sister-in-law found out, she would likely cry and make a fuss for a bit, at which point he could step in to exploit the opening with thoughtful comfort, perhaps even seizing the advantage ahead of time.
While his wishful thinking ticked away brightly, Yunchan Wei prepared to head back to the estate and intended to dump the person on Jinzhou Lin to handle.
With a bitter face, Jinzhou Lin pleaded, “Young Master, have mercy, I don’t care for male beauty. You know that if I bring Yunxiang back today, a scolding is unavoidable; if I bring another man back on top of that, my father will probably break my legs.”
That was true as well. Thus, Yunchan Wei said to the young man who was still sobbing: “You there, go back and find your family.”
Instead, the young man dropped to his knees and grabbed the hem of Yunchan Wei’s robe: “I was sold here by a father addicted to gambling, I won’t go back. Young Master, please take me back with you. I can work, any dirty or hard labor is fine, anything is better than being ruined by others.”
Yunchan Wei stared briefly at the youth’s rough hands; clearly, this youth came from an impoverished background, with hands full of calluses. Yunchan Wei then thought of Jinshu Fu. His mother had told him Jinshu Fu was found by them from a remote mountain village, yet the skin and flesh of Jinshu Fu were so tender, bearing not a single trace of what a country child should look like.
Clearly unusual in every regard, yet his parents insisted Jinshu Fu was an obedient, honest, ordinary child.
Jinzhou Lin chimed in from the side: “Exactly, exactly, Young Master, didn’t Madam tell you to do a good deed every day? You might as well just bring him back, consider it taking on a page.”
By noon that day, the news that Yunchan Wei had brought someone back to the Wei estate reached Madam Wen’s ears.
“What sort of person? A boy or a girl?”
“Replying to Madam, a boy. I asked, he’s eighteen, and the Young Master bought him from… from the Rouge Tower today.”
Upon hearing the three words “Rouge Tower,” Madam Wen frowned: “What does he look like?”
“He has a delicate appearance, but there is one special feature.” The maid hesitated.
“Speak.”
“Between his eyebrows, there is a red mole just like the Young Madam’s.”
With a clatter, Madam Wen overturned the teacup beside her. After a long moment, she said in a deep voice, “Bring him here so I can take a look.”