Shen Yi hurried toward Zui Feng Pavilion with Lu Ming.
Fortunately, Zui Feng Pavilion was not a brothel. It was an elegant establishment frequented by refined scholars and high-ranking officials. Most of the people working there were descendants of once-prominent families whose fortunes had declined. They were skilled in music, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, and literature. Most entertained guests through their artistic talents or accompanied them in drinking and merrymaking, and very few sold their bodies.
If a guest wanted to sleep with one of them, they either had to pay a hefty sum for a night or simply redeem them from the establishment and take them home to keep them as a treasured mistress.
And the five hundred taels Jiang Xuening had brought were neither too much nor too little. They happened to be enough to redeem one person.
Good. Just because he had neglected her, she had dared to put a green hat on him.
And she even had the nerve to ask him for money?
Shen Yi suppressed the anger burning inside him and stepped into the relatively elegant and refined Zui Feng Pavilion.
Inside, the melodious sounds of strings and wind instruments filled the air. In the main hall, a stage draped with gauzy curtains caught the eye. Several dancers twirled their long water sleeves as they danced gracefully.
Nine-tenths of the elegant seats around the hall were occupied, with two or three beautiful women accompanying each table.
On the second floor, carved windows were decorated with flowers and bamboo, with curtains hanging from them. Those were the private rooms.
Shen Yi swept his gaze briefly across the main hall. He guessed that Jiang Xuening, being a woman, would probably not show her face so openly on the first floor.
Just as he was about to head upstairs, the corner of his eye caught a familiar figure in the corner.
Although the person was dressed as a man, she had a slender figure and a small, fair face. The exquisite beauty between her brows and eyes was impossible to conceal.
Who else could it be if not Jiang Xuening?
At that moment, she was resting her chin on her hand, completely absorbed in watching the dancers perform. Sitting beside her was a gentle-looking young woman who was feeding her peeled lychees.
Jiang Xuening accepted one and said something to the woman beside her. As she ate the lychee, she continued watching the stage without taking her eyes off it.
She certainly knew how to enjoy herself.
The situation was somewhat better than Shen Yi had expected. At least the person accompanying her was a woman rather than a male courtesan.
Shen Yi narrowed his eyes and walked toward her.
……
Jiang Xuening was completely immersed in the beautiful music and the graceful, lively movements of the dancers.
In the past, she had been confined to a rural estate and had never heard such heavenly music or watched such exquisite dancing. Although she had come here for another purpose, she could not help being captivated by the beautiful sights before her.
Just as she was intoxicated by the performance, she suddenly felt a bone-chilling gaze fall upon her.
She followed that gaze and turned her head.
She immediately saw Shen Yi striding toward her. His dark eyes were filled with a cold, piercing light, sharp as two awls.
Why was he here?
Jiang Xuening was, after all, somewhat guilty about being in a brothel-like establishment.
A wise woman did not pick a fight when she was at a disadvantage.
Before Shen Yi could reach her, she turned her head and instructed the young woman beside her, “Wait for me at the back door.”
She then grabbed the only two lychees left on the plate, stood up, and ran.
Things in the establishment were expensive. A single pot of tea cost two taels of silver, while this plate of fruit had cost her three taels. She had even ordered the cheapest one.
So even if she had to flee, she still had to take those last two precious fruits with her.
Shen Yi had not expected that even after being caught red-handed, she would actually dare to run.
He anticipated the direction in which she would flee and blocked her path, only to see her turn around and dash toward the second floor instead.
She was different from the sheltered young ladies of prestigious families.
Those sheltered young women normally never left their homes. Most had delicate constitutions, and their movements were restricted by the ornaments they wore around their ankles. They rarely did anything that could be considered improper.
But this woman, who completely disregarded her dignity and ran like a rabbit, was something Shen Yi had seen for the first time.
Relying on his long legs and large strides, Shen Yi had not pursued her too closely at first.
But when he saw that she had reached the second floor within just a few breaths, he had no choice but to quicken his pace and follow closely behind.
By the time he reached the second floor, he happened to catch sight of half of her robe disappearing into one of the private rooms.
Shen Yi rubbed his forehead.
He could not understand what she thought she would accomplish by running.
Even if she managed to escape him this time, would she not still have to face him once they returned home?
He walked unhurriedly toward the private room where she had hidden.
When he reached the room, he did not enter. Instead, he leaned casually against the side of the beaded curtain, folded his arms, and waited for her to come out on her own.
About fifteen minutes later, a little head indeed poked out from behind the curtain.
The Shen Yi who had been waiting like a hunter watching a rabbit immediately grabbed her by the back of her collar and caught her.
“Jiang Xuening, where else do you think you can run?”
The person he had caught covered her own face, stubbornly refusing to admit who she was.
“I’m not. Young Master, you’ve mistaken me for someone else.”
“Is that so?”
Shen Yi hauled her into the private room and pinned her against the wall.
“Take your hands down.”
She refused.
Both hands remained firmly over her face, unwilling to move. One of them was still clutching the two round, plump lychees.
“Dare to do it but not admit it, Jiang Xuening?”
His deep voice came from above her, so low that it sent a chill through the air.
“Who gave you the nerve to come to a brothel?”
Jiang Xuening was trapped between the wall and his arm. Knowing that she could not escape no matter what she did, she finally gave up trying to hide and raised her head to look at him.
She happened to meet his deep, dark eyes that seemed to let no light through.
But she was not afraid of him.
She had indeed had a “justifiable” reason for coming here. The reason she had hidden from him earlier was because she had seen the murderous look on his face and thought it would be better to avoid him for the moment and explain everything after they returned home.
Since he had come to ask her why she was here, she simply answered him now.
“You told me to come.”
“Nonsense. When did I ever tell you to come to a brothel?”
“Didn’t you tell me to learn properly how to please men?”
She looked completely innocent.
“Is there anyone in this world better at pleasing men than the women in brothels? So I came here to learn…”
Shen Yi froze.
He had not expected the root of this matter to actually lie with him.
“Even if I said something like that, you still shouldn’t have come here. You are the Legitimate Daughter of Zhongcheng Residence and the Heir Apparent’s wife of Jingning Marquis’s Residence. With your status, how could you lower yourself by coming to a place like this? If word gets out, what will happen to the reputations of the two households?”
“But I disguised myself as a man.”
She lifted her face and spoke with complete confidence.
“Other people won’t recognize me, so naturally it won’t damage the reputations of either household.”
At the mention of disguising herself as a man, Shen Yi was so angry that he almost laughed.
“Do you think changing into men’s clothes and putting your hair up in a man’s hairstyle means you’re completely safe?”
He reached out and pinched her delicate, exquisite little face.
“Do you know how eye-catching this face of yours is? Who could possibly fail to tell that you’re a woman disguised as a man?”
Her eyes rippled slightly.
“Are you complimenting me on being beautiful?”
“Is that the point?”
“Then are you worried about my safety?”
She smiled.
“Don’t worry. Every time I come, I sit in the least conspicuous spot. No one bothers me…”
Every time?
“How many times have you come here?”
She lowered her eyes and counted for a moment.
“Not ten times, but at least nine…”
Shen Yi’s face turned livid with anger.
Seeing that he had fallen silent, Jiang Xuening reluctantly took out one of the lychees and tried to placate him.
“This lychee is very sweet. I’ll treat you to one.”
At a time like this, how could he possibly be in the mood to eat lychees?
Shen Yi slapped away the lychee she offered him.
The bright red fruit hit the floor with a crisp smack before rolling a long way away.
Jiang Xuening stared heartbrokenly at the lychee that had been smashed from the fall. Then she huffed angrily.
“If you don’t want to eat it, then don’t! Why are you taking your anger out on a lychee?”
Shen Yi was so angry that he almost laughed.
Was he taking his anger out on a lychee?
So after he had been furious for so long, she still had not realized that she was the one who had done something wrong?