“Miss Rumeng, do you need us to go in with you?”
A-Long spoke after escorting Jiang Wangzu and Rumeng to the entrance of Rumeng’s room.
“No. You and A-Hu can stand guard outside.”
“Come on, little man. Let me see what you can do with song and dance.”
Rumeng swayed her body as she opened the door to her room.
Jiang Wangzu followed Rumeng into her room.
The entire floor lay beneath a thick, sturdy Persian-style carpet with large floral patterns.
Dark-patterned silk covered the walls.
A crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling.
Rumeng’s room was not luxurious. It consisted of only two sections.
The inner room was the bedroom, while the outer room was a reception hall.
The reception hall contained a writing desk, a chair beneath it, and two cabinets against the wall.
There was also a sofa and a tea table, all made of excellent-quality rosewood.
Jiang Wangzu looked dazed as he took it all in.
Jiang Wangzu’s family lived in Pig Cage Walled Village in the Lower City District, home to Shen City’s poorest commoners.
There were also refugees from elsewhere.
Because his family were native to Shen City, they had once owned two proper houses. Even then, the entire family had been crammed into those two small homes.
Many outsiders could afford neither to buy nor rent a house, so they built Shanties throughout Pig Cage Walled Village.
By now, more than ten thousand residents probably lived in Shanties throughout Pig Cage Walled Village, whose environment was filthy, chaotic, and unbearably poor.
The interior of Pig Cage Walled Village was even like a maze.
However, his family’s house was gone. His opium-addicted, gambling-addicted father had used it as collateral.
His mother had died of anger. His elder sister had gone to the wealthy Su family of Shen City as a maid, while his younger sister had gone to the countryside as a child bride.
As for whether that deadbeat father was alive or dead, Jiang Wangzu was not sure.
In any case, ever since he had transmigrated here, he had never seen that deadbeat father.
The misfortune of his birth family had also driven his predecessor into a dead end, forcing him to join a gang.
He recalled the living conditions in his predecessor’s memories and thought of the lower-class people in the Lower City District struggling to survive,
then looked at the Upper City District’s Xianle Gate, alive with song and dance, Degenerate Music, glittering lights, and wine,
the difference was like that between immortals and mortals!
“Bring me paper and a pen!”
After a moment of distraction, Jiang Wangzu composed himself and spoke to Rumeng.
Rumeng took a sheet of letter paper from the writing desk drawer, then asked another question:
“Would you like to use a brush pen or a fountain pen?”
“A fountain pen!”
Jiang Wangzu replied.
His predecessor knew only a handful of characters and had studied elementary lessons for a few days under a down-and-out scholar from the Former Dynasty. Jiang Wangzu, however, was a graduate of a prestigious university.
Moreover, the written languages of the two worlds were identical, so learning it posed no difficulty.
Jiang Wangzu had beautiful Hard-Pen Calligraphy. After a moment’s thought, he wrote out an entire song.
“Miss Rumeng, please take a look!”
Jiang Wangzu spoke.
“You finished it so quickly?”
Rumeng was surprised. She walked over, took the letter paper from Jiang Wangzu’s hand, and her eyes lit up at the graceful, flowing script:
“I didn’t expect you not only to be literate, but also to have such beautiful handwriting.”
“However, your song only has lyrics and no musical score, so I can’t judge whether it is good or bad!”
“That’s all right. I can sing it for you!”
Jiang Wangzu cleared his throat, then began to sing:
“Sweet Honey, your smile is so sweet, like flowers blooming in the spring breeze…”
Jiang Wangzu’s voice was average, and the song did not suit a rugged man like him.
But the song’s melody and tune were good.
Rumeng possessed a profound mastery of music.
Thus, she quickly understood the song’s score, singing technique, and melody.
“That was awful!”
“Let me sing it for you instead!”
Rumeng curled her lips in disdain. Holding the letter paper, she began to sing and left Jiang Wangzu intoxicated.
Could such a beautiful voice exist in this world?
Even compared with the song’s original singer, she would probably be no less impressive.
“Well?”
After finishing the song, Rumeng looked at Jiang Wangzu with a flowerlike smile that left him enchanted.
“Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!”
“This song should exist only in heaven; how many times could one hear it in the mortal world?”
“Miss Rumeng, are you satisfied with my song?”
Jiang Wangzu spoke with great emotion.
“You… you little man, you do possess some literary talent.”
At this, Rumeng’s face flushed, her seductive eyes curving like hooks. Jiang Wangzu’s talent had clearly won her over.
Seeing this, Jiang Wangzu knew the moment had come. He placed a hand against Rumeng’s lower back and pulled her into his embrace.
He brushed his lips against her earlobe and whispered beside her ear:
“I’m not a little man. I’m big.”
“Where are you big?”
“What do you think?”
“I think you’re big-hearted.”
“You know nothing about me, yet you dare treat me like this. Aren’t you afraid of bringing trouble upon yourself afterward?”
Rumeng nestled in Jiang Wangzu’s arms, pressed against his chest as she listened to his strong heartbeat. Masculine Yang Qi swept over her, leaving her lovestruck and disoriented.
She did not know what had come over her.
Why was she being so irrational?
How had she fallen in love at first sight with a handsome young man of unknown origins?
But he was handsome and extravagantly talented.
He made it impossible not to love him!
“Since you’ve said I’m bold, do you think I’d fear the trouble you mentioned?”
“Besides, Sister Rumeng, would you have the heart to let that trouble come looking for me?”
Jiang Wangzu swept Rumeng into his arms. Their eyes met, and the ambiguous atmosphere grew more intense.
“Good little brother, love me!”
Rumeng felt herself falling completely. Her seductive, misty eyes and flushed face betrayed her as she spoke.
“All right!”
Jiang Wangzu’s eyes lit up at her words, and he carried Rumeng straight into the bedroom.
Soon, waves of degenerate music rang out from Rumeng’s room.
The brothers A-Long and A-Hu stood guard outside Rumeng’s room and stared at each other in bewilderment.
Had Miss Rumeng let this boy have his way with her?
That was the Golden-Voiced Queen of Xianle Gate!
How many Powerful Officials and Nobles had pursued her, only to love her without ever obtaining her?
Some wealthy merchants had even lavished One Hundred Thousand Silver Dollars on her and still failed!
And that pretty boy had won her over?
Was there any justice in this world?
Was there any law?
Question the pretty boy, understand the pretty boy, become the pretty boy, surpass the pretty boy!
How they hated not being pretty boys themselves!
This captured exactly what A-Long and A-Hu were thinking at that moment.
Early the next morning.
Faint lipstick marks covered Jiang Wangzu’s face and neck as he emerged from Rumeng’s room, refreshed. He carried one thousand Silver Notes and wore a gray long gown torn open.
A-Long and A-Hu stood at the doorway with dark circles under their eyes. They glanced at him listlessly, wishing they could strangle him.
That bastard really knew how to wear himself out.
Each session lasted at least half an hour.
There had been three sessions in total.
The commotion had not stopped until the early hours of the morning.
It was daylight, yet that bastard had already emerged looking refreshed.
Sure enough, anyone capable of being a pretty boy had real skill!
Healthy kidneys, powerful kidneys!