Three rounds of drinks had passed, and Xue Shao was feeling somewhat hazy. He beckoned for his attendant to approach and whispered a few instructions into his ear. The attendant looked startled for a moment but immediately bowed in compliance.
Xiao Yanshi did not pay much attention to this. He toyed with his wine cup, mentally calculating what excuse he could use to take his leave. If they continued drinking like this, it wasn’t just a matter of him getting drunk; he feared that the “Third Young Master” beside him would freeze to death.
However, before he could formulate an excuse, the attendant returned with a tray. Xiao Yanshi felt a headache coming on. “Your Highness, I truly cannot drink anymore…”
“It is not wine.” Xue Shao personally picked up a cup and handed it to Xiao Yanshi. “It is hangover soup, to warm your stomach.”
Xiao Yanshi breathed a sigh of relief. He picked up the cup and was about to drink when he noticed the “Third Young Master’s” eyes were unfocused, as if he were about to faint. Instinctively, he reached out to support the other’s shoulder and passed the cup toward him instead. “Do not disgrace the Princess’s Estate while we are out.”
With those words, Xue Shao found himself unable to lash out.
However, Xue Shao’s eyes remained fixed on the cup, seemingly ignoring Xiao Yanshi’s words. He looked slightly unnatural. “There is plenty of hangover soup. Ashi, you should drink your own. Someone, hurry and attend to the Third Young Master…”
“Ashi!”
Before Xue Shao could finish his sentence, his expression changed slightly.
Xiao Yanshi snatched the hangover soup from the attendant and drained it in one gulp. “It is all the same. Your Highness and the Third Young Master should also sober up. The sky is getting late; it would be best to return and rest early.”
He set the cup down with a light clack against the table.
Xue Shao clenched his hands and walked over, grabbing Xiao Yanshi’s shoulders. “Ashi… how do you feel?”
“Hm? How do I feel about what?” Xiao Yanshi asked, confused.
“You… have you…” Xue Shao found it difficult to speak. He stared at Xiao Yanshi without blinking, his grip on his arms tightening.
Xiao Yanshi’s head was already spinning, and Xue Shao’s unintentional pressure caused him pain, prompting a bit of impatience. “I am fine… I just want to sleep. My head hurts.”
He appeared normal, but Xue Shao remained suspicious. He signaled the attendant and whispered a question. The attendant looked bewildered and shook his head.
“Your Highness, I wish to sleep…” Xiao Yanshi braced himself against the table, his eyes dull.
Xue Shao hesitated for a moment before instructing the attendant, “Prepare a superior room and send the Heir to rest… If the Heir has any… needs, find someone clean to attend to him.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Two attendants supported Xiao Yanshi, one on each side, and led him upstairs.
Xue Shao watched as Xiao Yanshi’s silhouette disappeared into the distance, then slowly turned around. Before him lay only that lonely fur cloak. The person who had been sitting by the window was gone.
“Where is the person?!” Xue Shao grabbed a random guest. “Where is the person who was just sitting by the window?!”
“He… he left…”
Xue Shao was furious. “Men, go after him!”
“Yes, Your Highness!”
Seeing the chaotic situation, the guests of the restaurant fled one after another. After waiting for a long time without seeing anyone captured, Xue Shao flicked his sleeve and stormed off.
Elsewhere.
With Xue Shao’s orders, a crowd of attendants fanned out, blocking every alley and searching inch by inch, determined to catch and deal with the target. Ultimately, the Flower House—the most dangerous place—became the safest.
“Hey, who are you? Why are you rushing in here so recklessly?” The manager of the Flower House blocked a man who was walking with his head down and a hurried pace.
“Let go!” the man scolded sharply. “You even block guests? Does this Flower House want to do business or not!”
“Naturally, I want to do business, but you look suspicious and unfamiliar…” The manager looked him up and down. The man was dressed luxuriously, but his expression was unnatural, and his face was marred with pits—it was quite ugly. She wondered which girl he had chosen; wouldn’t he scare the poor thing half to death?
“I came from Hedong to do business. This is my first time here, so naturally, I look unfamiliar,” the man explained with growing impatience. Seeing that he was a tough customer, the manager felt unsure and let go of his arm.
The man made to leave, but the manager stopped him again. “Hey!”
The man paused. The manager covered her mouth and smiled. “Since you came from Hedong, the long journey must have been exhausting. You probably lack some good things…”
“Good things?”
“I mean this incense,” the manager waved her handkerchief and stuffed a small incense stick into the man’s hand. “Remember to light it early, sir. It helps relax the muscles and bones… It is excellent for dispelling fatigue!”
“Thanks.” The man strode away.
Once his figure disappeared, the manager paused suddenly. “Is that direction not the superior room where the nobleman is resting?”
Just as she was about to follow to take a look, one of her maids ran over, panicked. “Manager, someone is causing trouble outside the Flower House. It seems they offended a nobleman…”
Hearing this, the manager hurried off with the maid.
Meanwhile.
Xiao Yanshi had been lying on the couch, drifting between wakefulness and sleep. But as soon as the two who brought him in left, an indescribable sense of embarrassment surged from his lower abdomen.
Having consumed so much wine, his mind was foggy, and his reactions were slow. He crawled up, moved toward the table, and gulped down a pot of cold tea, barely managing to suppress the surging heat.
But within seconds, a burning sensation clawed at his chest and lower abdomen, so intense it felt as if his head would explode.
Usually, he was not a man driven by desire. Occasionally, he would find release on his own. As a man, such needs came and went quickly. In the military camp, such things were inconvenient, and intense physical training usually suppressed the urge.
But this time, it felt like a wildfire it consumed his very consciousness. It was as if he were dried grass suddenly tossed into a furnace, fueling his intoxication… he could barely stand.
Thud! Unsteady on his feet, his wrist accidentally swept a cup off the table, shattering it on the floor.
The next moment, the door was shoved open.
Xiao Yanshi narrowed his eyes. “Who is it?”
“His Highness sent us two to attend to the Heir. If the Heir…” Before the words were finished, both saw that Xiao Yanshi was in a bad state. One remained in the room, while the other turned and went out.
Within seconds, the one who had left returned with a woman and placed her on the couch.
“In an emergency, we must act accordingly. We hope the Heir will find relief.” After speaking, they withdrew, not forgetting to thoughtfully close the door behind them.
Xiao Yanshi’s head hummed. He braced himself against the table and looked toward the couch. His vision was blurry, but he could sense a woman lying there.
A faint, sweet fragrance wafted toward him. It was not unpleasant, but at this moment, when the fire of desire was threatening to burn away his sanity, the scent of powder felt like throwing oil onto a blaze.
Xiao Yanshi pushed off the table to move away, but he tripped over a stool and crashed to the floor, his elbow slamming into the ground as if hit by a stone hammer.
He hissed in pain, which helped him regain a sliver of sanity, and he struggled to crawl up from the floor. He was not far from the door, but the short walk was stumbling and difficult. When he finally reached the door frame, he discovered it had been locked from the outside.
“Xue Shao!” Xiao Yanshi gritted his teeth in hatred and slammed his fist against the door. The back of his hand bled immediately.
The beads of blood dripped down. Smelling the blood, the swelling sensation in his lower abdomen became even more distinct.
At this point, how could Xiao Yanshi not understand? He had been drugged.
As for the timing… thinking back to when Xue Shao called someone over to whisper instructions, and then blocked him from drinking that cup of hangover soup.
Xiao Yanshi gave a bitter laugh. Self-inflicted, truly self-inflicted! He blamed himself for being stupid enough to insist on snatching that cup of hangover soup.
But… if he hadn’t swapped them, the person who drank the spiked soup would have been… him.
Xiao Yanshi was not cunning, but he was not naive. He suspected that from the moment Xue Shao asked that person to stay and drink, he had harbored the intention to set them up. Losing composure while drunk was a minor issue. But if, while drunk… he became entangled with someone and was exposed in public, the “Third Young Master” who was one step away from entering the Princess’s Estate would be completely disgraced.
Then, at any given moment, a minor excuse would be enough to drive him out of the estate… or even out of Jiangling.
Xiao Yanshi broke into a cold sweat. He couldn’t help but worry about where that person was now. Would Xue Shao hatch another scheme, one that would leave the person without even a corpse?
“Unh…”
The effect of the drug surged again. Xiao Yanshi leaned against the door and exhaled a long, heavy breath, then couldn’t help but show a helpless smile: I can barely save myself, how do I have the energy to worry about others…
“Young Master…”
The woman on the couch had woken up. She walked over barefoot, looking at Xiao Yanshi with concern. “Your hand is injured…”
The fragrance flooded his senses. Xiao Yanshi gripped the door frame with one hand and said coldly, “Stay there! Do not come any closer!”
“Young Master…” The woman’s voice was like an oriole’s. As she raised her arms, a gust of fragrant wind followed. Her gauze dress, as thin as a cicada’s wing, barely covered her key areas. Xiao Yanshi could not see clearly, but he felt that the further this woman stayed from him, the better.
Until now, he had never even touched the concubines prepared for him at the Marquis’s estate, let alone indulged in the pleasure of a woman. Now, thinking of having to engage in intimacy with a stranger, he felt completely uneasy.
“I said, stay where you are and do not move!” Xiao Yanshi’s eyes were bloodshot from holding back. His voice was fierce. The women of the Flower House had never seen a patron so ferocious, and she was frightened into standing perfectly still.
“Can the window be opened from the inside?” Xiao Yanshi endured the surging desire in his lower abdomen. “Do not try to lie to me.”
The woman nodded hurriedly and pointed in a direction.
But then she remembered the instructions of the cold-faced guard: she had to dutifully help the nobleman in the room relieve his medicinal effect. She had to serve him well. If she let him get hurt, or if he was unsatisfied, she would lose her life.
The woman shuddered and glanced at Xiao Yanshi again. Although this man had a temper, his looks were excellent, and his bearing suggested he was a famous noble in Jiangling. If she spent a night of passion with him… she wouldn’t lose out. If she went a step further, and this noble was self-respecting and responsible, perhaps he could even take her away from the Flower House. Even if she only became a concubine, she would never have to sell her charms and entertain guests again.
Thinking of this, her courage grew. She took an aphrodisiac incense stick from a hidden compartment by the couch and threw it into the golden beast-shaped incense burner. Then, she shed her thin gauze and walked toward Xiao Yanshi with swaying, graceful steps.
Xiao Yanshi was focused on trying to open the window when a soft body suddenly pressed against his back. His brows jumped; an uncomfortable sensation surged from his spine.
His instinct forced him to push the person behind him away, but the woman wrapped her arms around his waist. Given the effect of the drug, he couldn’t even shake off a weak woman. Moreover, the woman rubbed against him gently as she held him.
His already sensitive body could not withstand such provocation. Xiao Yanshi was furious, and a sharp shout escaped his lips, but it had no effect.
From the moment she clung to him, the woman’s six-part gamble turned into ten. Beauties loved heroic men, and the moment she pressed close, she knew. Xiao Yanshi smelled of the blood and iron of the battlefield, which tempted her even more. Especially the way he struggled to push her away with no strength left in her eyes, it was nothing more than coy, ambiguous resistance.
“Today, this concubine will serve you well, Young Master…”