The Xiangsi Terrace was situated at the tail end of Beian Avenue, a street where one could find endless entertainment and colorful distractions.
Sitting at the banquet table on the second floor were various well-known young wastrels of Xuandu. One of them remarked, “Little Marquis, since you are hosting a banquet, if not in a proper restaurant, you could at least serve us some sunflower seeds. What is the meaning of hosting it here at the Xiangsi Terrace? If another table spills blood later, wouldn’t that be dreadfully unlucky?”
“Don’t panic, I’ve booked the whole place for today.” Meng Jiaze sat in his chair with an air of unrefined boldness, tossing an orange up and down as he played with it. “Since you were all here last year, you must act as witnesses for me again this year. Once the gambling is finished, we’re heading to the Baoxiang Tower!”
As he finished speaking, the group’s gaze unanimously fell on one person: Zhu Han, the Heir Apparent of the Prince of Jin’s estate.
Meng Jiaze and Zhu Han were two wastrels who did not mix well; they despised each other, were constantly at odds, and had once even fought in the streets, taking their feud all the way to the Emperor. Last year, the two had agreed to a wager at the Xiangsi Terrace to settle their rivalry, and Meng Jiaze had ended up losing even his own father’s heirlooms.
It seemed that today, he was looking to get even.
Zhu Han held a wine cup in his left hand and said languidly, “Everyone here today will not be disappointed. If the Little Marquis finds his luck running dry again and loses today, I will act as the host. However, I must ask you all to advise him later so he doesn’t lose his temper on the spot and run away in a fit of rage.”
Meng Jiaze’s gaze landed on Zhu Han’s right arm. “Even if I lose, I can still get back up with both hands. Young Prince Zhu, your situation is much more pathetic when the time comes, you’ll have to rely on me to help you up.”
Years ago, Zhu Han had lost his right arm in a gambling game in Chaotian City and had worn a cloak ever since. He was the Heir Apparent of the Prince of Jin; although he held no real power, he was related to the Prince of Mingxuan, and usually, no one dared to provoke him. Yet today, Meng Jiaze had struck a nerve.
Zhu Han’s gaze turned gloomy. Meng Jiaze arched his eyebrows and deliberately hummed a popular folk song from Chaotian City.
Seeing that the two were about to clash, someone at the table intervened, “Since both of you have arrived, let’s start the table and let us witness the game!”
“Don’t be in such a rush, don’t be in such a rush! I have invited one more person. Once he arrives and we’ve made introductions, we shall begin this round.” Meng Jiaze finished speaking and threw the orange upward with force. Everyone looked up, seeing a hand stretch out from the rafters to steadily catch the orange.
The person landed a young man in a silver-red narrow-sleeved robe, his figure slender and refined, his face fair and delicate, his black hair tied high. He looked sharp and composed.
“Yo! Heir Apparent Rong!” Meng Jiaze said in surprise, “Your cousin—the Prince of Mingxuan was married yesterday, and I didn’t see you there. I thought our Heir Apparent was off doing something major. How do you have the time to play with us today?”
Rong Yi threw the orange at his head and said, “I came to see if you would cry.”
Meng Jiaze had lost last year; he had pretended to be indifferent in front of others, but after returning to his estate, he had smashed a whole room of things. Still feeling unsatisfied, he had grabbed a broom from a servant and whipped the floor, never expecting to whip his own leg, causing him to howl in pain for half the night.
This was too shameful; very few people knew about it, but coincidentally, Rong Yi was one of them.
Rong Yi ignored Meng Jiaze’s resentful glare and said, “Start the table quickly. Who is so important that we must wait for them?”
Meng Jiaze knew his Achilles’ heel and intentionally drew out his tone, “Your cousin…”
Rong Yi turned to leave, but after two steps, he paused—Zhu Hexing was not the type to frequent gambling dens, and it was impossible for him to associate with this group of wastrels. In his eyes, they were all brainless fools.
Rong Yi turned back and kicked the leg of Meng Jiaze’s chair. Meng Jiaze swayed backward, grabbing him and babbling, “I haven’t finished yet! It’s your cousin’s…”
“Guest arrived!”
The tavern waiter’s voice arrived before he did, his shout cutting off Meng Jiaze’s words. The curtain in the middle was pulled aside, revealing a scene more beautiful than anything Xuandu had ever seen. Meng Jiaze’s breath hitched; he let go, and fell straight down.
Thump!
The muffled sound of something heavy hitting the floor distracted everyone’s attention.
Someone at the table went to help, but Meng Jiaze blocked them off. He was usually pampered, but despite taking a heavy fall, he didn’t cry out in pain and rolled back up. The person was still standing at the curtain opening. Meng Jiaze clapped his hands, greeted Shen Quebai in person, his face glowing with spring-like vitality, and shouted, “This is the Fifth Young Master of the Marquis of Yongding estate!”
The entire terrace went silent again.
Meng Jiaze didn’t notice anything. While enthusiastically leading Shen Quebai toward the table, he stared at his face and said, “When you returned to Xuandu a few days ago, I was at my mountain villa. I invited you here today so we could get acquainted. From now on, since we’re all in Xuandu, we should hang out whenever you’re free.”
Meng Jiaze had invited Shen Quebai out of pure curiosity, never expecting him to be so good-looking. He had previously thought this marriage was terrible, but now he was extremely envious. The Prince of Mingxuan truly had great fortune—great fortune, great— “Ouch!”
A sudden slap interrupted Meng Jiaze’s daydreams.
Rong Yi withdrew his hand and said coldly, “Your eyes are about to pop out.”
“Don’t mind other people’s business!” Meng Jiaze elbowed him away, holding onto Shen Quebai’s sleeve, jubilant, “Today I have a lucky star with me. I’m bound to win! Start the game!”
Shen Quebai had been sent away shortly after birth and heard that the Marquis’s estate didn’t pay much attention to him. Meng Jiaze figured his days in Chaotian City hadn’t been wealthy and that he didn’t usually play these money-burning games, so he took the initiative, “Zhu Han and I will settle this in one round. We’ll bet on ‘big’ or ‘small’; the higher point wins.”
Zhu Han?
The name sounded familiar to Shen Quebai, but he couldn’t recall it at the moment. He asked, “And the stakes?”
Meng Jiaze said, “Whoever loses must go outside and shout three times: ‘Grandpa, your grandson submits to you!’ Both our names must be shouted at the beginning.”
If those three shouts went out, the entire Liang Dynasty would know. Losing face outside and then getting hit with family discipline upon returning home—Shen Quebai said gently, “That’s quite embarrassing.”
Meng Jiaze had been full of heroic spirit, but now, pushed by beauty, he felt a hint of nervousness, “What if I lose, what will you do?”
“Me?” Shen Quebai smiled, “I will turn around and leave, as if I never came today.”
Meng Jiaze slapped his shoulder, laughed heartily, and said, “Good magpie!”
On the other side of the gambling table, Zhu Han’s eyes caressed Shen Quebai’s face. He loved playing with beauties, regardless of gender, and Shen Quebai was a peerless gem. It was a pity he carried Zhu Hexing’s name. Zhu Han suppressed his frustration and said deliberately, “Little Marquis, don’t be hooking up with my cousin-in-law. It will ruin our families’ reputations if word gets out.”
Meng Jiaze said, “Quebai is a man, and so am I; why can’t we touch?”
Zhu Han didn’t answer upon hearing this, only casting a mocking glance at Shen Quebai’s waist. The meaning was clear.
After being penetrated by a man there, are you still a man?
Most of the people present today thought the same, but no one dared to say it aloud. They looked at Shen Quebai with amazement because he was too beautiful, but because of that beauty, their gazes also held pity and regret, before naturally viewing him through a lens of “lust,” seeing him as frivolous and base.
Shen Quebai’s expression remained as usual, his eyes revealing a sense of “not understanding.”
Meng Jiaze stepped forward, blocking Zhu Han’s gaze, and said, “Stop hanging your cousin on your lips every day. Do you think he even thinks highly of you?”
“Even if he doesn’t think highly of me, he doesn’t think highly of you either!” Zhu Han slammed the table, “We are in the same boat. I am just inferior in his eyes.”
“And so what?” Meng Jiaze said disdainfully, “At least my title was inherited from my father, perfectly legitimate. Your status as the Heir Apparent of the Prince of Jin is something your cousin didn’t want and bestowed upon your family. Do you really think you’re noble imperial blood?” He was particularly curious, “By the way, you are kin, but when you see the Prince, don’t you have to kowtow and pay your respects?”
Zhu Han rose with a whoosh, “You!”
Meng Jiaze was stabbing him in the heart.
Years ago, the former Prince of Jin, Zhu Lingzhao, had passed away from illness. The title should have been inherited by his son, Zhu Hexing, but Emperor Jing’an favored Zhu Hexing so much that he enfeoffed him with the title “Mingxuan” and let him establish a separate estate, while letting Zhu Hexing’s third uncle inherit the title of “Prince of Jin.”
Zhu Han had grown up under the shadow of “Zhu Hexing.” Everyone knew the Zhu family’s Zhu Hexing who knew his name? Even his father had nagged him since childhood, saying that the line of the second uncle was the root of the Zhu family, while they were but appendages. Later, when his father became the Prince of Jin, he still told him that Zhu Hexing was his cousin, and half-master; he must be respectful.
Now Zhu Hexing had married not a princess or a county noble, but a concubine-born son of the Marquis’s estate, a discarded son. If this reached the underworld, it would shock the ancestors of the Zhu family so much they would rise from their graves to berate Zhu Hexing for his unfilial behavior! Yet, seeing the “cousin-in-law” in person today, he was a face of a fairy.
Zhu Hexing truly had good fortune. The jewelry and jade he smashed were world-class treasures, and the beauty he played with on his bed was also top-tier.
The taste of rust filled Zhu Han’s tongue. He said coldly, “I want to change the terms of our bet.”
Rong Yi guessed what he meant and frowned, “How can you change the terms in the middle of a game?”
Zhu Han looked only at Meng Jiaze, leaning over the table, “Is the Little Marquis afraid?”
“Am I afraid?” The greatest suffering Meng Jiaze had ever endured in his life was whipping himself with that broom last year. He had never seen real danger, so there was nothing he was afraid of, “What are the stakes?”
Zhu Han straightened up, his gaze like a venomous snake, “If you lose, you cut off your left arm! If I lose, I will be armless from now on!”
He was holding a grudge even about Meng Jiaze’s mockery earlier.
The people upstairs trembled. Someone said, “Two young masters, don’t take this too far! Heir Apparent Rong, please stop them!”
Rong Yi had come today precisely because he was afraid Meng Jiaze and Zhu Han would clash. This fellow was brainless. Normal trouble was fine, but shedding blood was not, “If this gets too ugly, it will be hard to explain before the throne.”
“Gambling at the Xiangsi Terrace involves money and lives. It’s just an arm; even if we speak before the throne, a bet is a bet.” Zhu Han pulled his cloak around him, “But if the Little Marquis is afraid, I will not force the issue.”
Meng Jiaze stared at him for a moment and sneered, “Quebai, speaking of which, it’s a coincidence: our Prince Zhu’s right arm was lost in your Chaotian City.”
Shen Quebai’s gaze flickered; he finally remembered why the name “Zhu Han” was familiar.
“Zuiyunji is an elegant place for performances. Young Prince Zhu tore the clothes of a zither player while drunk, causing the girl to commit suicide by running into a pillar in front of everyone. The ‘Ninth Master’ of Zuiyunji set up a gambling game and casually rolled a die from the fourth floor” Meng Jiaze gestured, “—a six! And that’s how our Young Prince Zhu walked in like a crab and walked out like a dead fish.”
He turned his head to wink at Shen Quebai, “Quebai, would you say this is called ‘Heaven’s law is clear, and retribution is swift’?”
Shen Quebai didn’t know, but hearing Little Marquis Meng’s breathing tighten, he knew this little wastrel was forcing a show of pride while secretly being terrified.