In Jiang Yichen's mind, the fragmented pieces of information seemed to find a connecting point. The old man's behavior and the actions and demeanor of the Gossipmonger after the map was snatched were almost identical. In that case, the Gossipmonger must have grabbed the opponent's chest to conclude that the person was a woman. Combining this with the Gossipmonger's subsequent words, that woman was very likely a girl from a courtesan house, and isn't this place exactly where a courtesan house is located?
The more he thought, the more shocked he became. Orchid Fragrance, Orchid Fragrance—the courtyard with orchids he saw in the alley earlier, the style of the building, seemed to be the same as this place. It would not be impossible if they were the same location.
That Purple-clothed Woman was the same woman who snatched the map that day!
The Innkeeper of Yunbo Inn and the Purple-clothed Woman had an unusual relationship, and she seemed quite attentive to him. Was it out of concern or did she have another purpose? Was that Purple-clothed Woman following and protecting him? Right, the way the Innkeeper looked at him seemed no different from how Liu Qi looked at him that day. Could it be that the Innkeeper was also one of the old man's people!?
While Jiang Yichen was deep in thought, the golden cup of jade wine was only a hair's breadth from his lips, yet he had no reaction at all. The Pink-clothed Woman who pulled him in thought this tender chick was stunned by shyness and was planning to force a few cups down his throat to make him let go of that bit of boyish restraint, but as she handed the cup to the youth's mouth, she was stopped by a fair, jade hand.
"Sister Xin, this child is my distant cousin. Don't bully him; leave him to me." The command was spoken with a tone of pleading, which was very pleasant to hear.
Although the Pink-clothed Woman called Sister Xin knew that what the person who arrived said was not true, she had no choice but to let the few pieces of silver that were about to be hers fly away. However, she did not dare to refuse, and instead said readily, "Then Sister Xiao Lan must thank me properly another day!"
The woman who intercepted him halfway was none other than the Purple-clothed Woman who had snatched the map from the Gossipmonger, had a close relationship with the Innkeeper of Yunbo Inn, and had crossed paths with Jiang Yichen in the alley—Ruolan, one of the Top Eight courtesans of Yichun Courtesan House.
Jiang Yichen was once again dragged away in a trance, and this time, after passing through the noise, he was pulled into a quiet private room.
The moment he was dragged away, the scent of orchids rushed into his nose, and immediately, Jiang Yichen knew who the woman pulling him was.
An unmarried man and woman were alone in a room, yet the atmosphere was not as awkward as imagined. Jiang Yichen was full of questions he was about to resolve and could get a definitive answer from Ruolan, while Ruolan was annoyed by Jiang Yichen's inexplicable behavior today and wanted to scold him to vent her anger.
"You?" "You!" The two spoke almost simultaneously. "What are you doing here! Do you know what kind of place this is!?" Ruolan spoke first, seizing the initiative before Jiang Yichen.
"I, I, this, I don't know. Isn't this Yichun Courtesan House? You, aren't you here too?" Jiang Yichen's voice grew quieter as he spoke.
On the other side, Ruolan was already glaring with rage, trying her best to suppress the anger in her heart, and squeezed the words out from between her teeth: "This old woman is one of the Top Eight courtesans of this Yichun Courtesan House! Why can't I be here?!!!"
"Ah! Then, then you..." Jiang Yichen recalled the scene he had just seen, as well as what the Gossipmonger had said that day and his lewd actions, and dared not think or say any more.
"Pah! Stinky Kid, this old woman sells her art, not her body! What are you thinking about!!!" Ruolan was furious upon hearing this, and directly reached out to twist Jiang Yichen's ears, roaring.
"Sister, Older Sister, it hurts, stop twisting." Jiang Yichen pleaded, feeling as if his ears were about to be twisted off.
"Who is your older sister? Shameless." Although she said this, Ruolan felt quite comfortable hearing it, so she slowly loosened her strength and let go of the Stinky Kid before her.
"Speak! How did you run here?" Ruolan asked sternly, cursing in her heart: Stinky Kid, you just left the island and you're already acting recklessly, running to a place like this. I must report this to Sister Ling.
"I, I don't know either. When I passed by the main gate, I was dragged in by that sister just now," Jiang Yichen answered honestly.
Seeing Ruolan's eyes widen again and her reaching out to twist his ears, not knowing what he answered wrong, he quickly protected his ears, hunched his body, and continued downwards, "It's like this, in the morning I don't know why I walked into that alley, and then I accidentally smelled the orchid fragrance, so I wanted to find out where that pleasant orchid scent was coming from, then I climbed onto the wall, and then I was seen by you, and then and then..."
Jiang Yichen dared not continue after saying this. Was he supposed to say, "Older Sister is very beautiful, I was mesmerized"?
Who knew that Ruolan had already seen through Jiang Yichen's inner thoughts and helped him finish, "And then, and then, Older Sister is very beautiful, you were mesmerized, and after being glared at by Older Sister, you were like a little girl who hasn't left her boudoir, your heart pounding like a deer, too shy to know what to do, dazed and running to the Main Street, and unconsciously walked to the main gate of our Yichun Courtesan House, and when you were confused, you were dragged in by my sisters. I'm not wrong, am I?"
Ruolan looked at Jiang Yichen's surprised expression, thinking to herself that this Stinky Kid was really easy to guess, and couldn't help but smile triumphantly. She had already taken off her veil in her room, and this smile made a hundred flowers feel shy, leaving Jiang Yichen mesmerized, and as expected, he had his ears pinched again.
"Stinky Kid, you just left the island and you're not learning anything good, always staring at women so lecherously. Sooner or later, someone will dig your eyeballs out," Ruolan scolded.
This time Jiang Yichen did not reply to Ruolan, but quickly reacted to her words, his guess was indeed correct: "Older Sister is indeed one of the old man's people, and that Innkeeper is too, right?"
"Uh..." Ruolan was stunned for a moment, but immediately recovered. It didn't matter if she let it slip. "Hey, Stinky Kid, how did you suddenly become smart? Yes, the old man is a great benefactor to Sister Ling and me. We make a living here, so we help the Righteousness Alliance collect some intelligence here."
All the scenes and clues had formed a complete chain in his mind. Jiang Yichen replied with certainty, "The person who snatched the Jiangning Commandery map from the Gossipmonger yesterday was also you, Older Sister."
"Yes!" Ruolan hadn't intended to hide it; she just wanted to see how stupid this kid could be and if it was possible for him to complete a simple investigation mission. Now it seemed that although his reaction circuit was a bit slow, he could at least turn the corner. The child is teachable, the child is teachable~
Subsequently, Ruolan extremely, very, and quite patiently and naggingly "trained" Jiang Yichen on various jianghu common sense and rules, considering herself to have completed the task Shen Xinling had entrusted to her: "You can teach him more when you have time."
Who would have thought that one of the Top Eight courtesans of Yichun Courtesan House, who was gentle and elegant and danced gracefully in front of ordinary people, would be such a chatterbox who let go of all restraint behind closed doors? Fortunately, Jiang Yichen was not a glib person, but he was a good listener, and he actually listened to everything. As for how much he could understand, how much he could comprehend, and how much he could remember, that would have to be asked of himself.
It was also thanks to Ruolan being one of the Top Eight courtesans of Yichun Courtesan House that she had considerable freedom. The madam, Third Concubine, did not think too much after seeing Ruolan bring a tender young man to her room, nor did she let guests disturb her.
It wasn't until nightfall that Ruolan, after "training" and "entertaining" Jiang Yichen, took him to Shen Xinling under the cover of night.
The three people combined the information they had recently obtained and concluded that the Thousand Bamboo Forest Winery must be inseparable from the Red Robe Cult, and that they would soon take action against the Righteousness Alliance or directly against the Chrysanthemum Garden. Shen Xinling made detailed arrangements for the mission to investigate the Thousand Bamboo Forest Winery and handed it to Jiang Yichen.
……
（Jiangning Commandery Majia Posthouse）
After receiving the mission that night, the next day, Jiang Yichen traveled westward without stopping. After two days of rushing, he finally entered the territory of Jiangning Commandery. He left his luggage and the Little Brown Horse at the Majia Posthouse, and after a short rest, he followed the direction drawn on the map and sneaked into the Thousand Bamboo Forest located opposite the Majia Posthouse.
That map was naturally the Jiangning Commandery map that Ruolan had snatched from the Gossipmonger.
For this mission, Jiang Yichen had also done his homework with the help of Shen Xinling and Ruolan. Although for the two of them this was something that could be easily accomplished, for Jiang Yichen, who had no jianghu experience at all, any unexpected situation could lead to a risk to his life if not handled properly. The two of them also took great care of Jiang Yichen.
Although his sense of direction was not very good, fortunately, his luck was not bad. Using the general direction indicated on the map, Jiang Yichen managed to circle to the side and rear of the winery, the station of the snake and scorpion woman Hong Yue, before he got himself lost.
The winery had existed in the Thousand Bamboo Forest for five years, mainly producing bamboo wine, and also produced Bamboo Leaf and Burning Knife. It was also quite famous in the Jiangning Commandery area, and a year ago, it had gained the trust of the people of Taoyuan Town, supplying bamboo wine on a long-term basis.
The address of the winery was naturally marked in detail on the map, but unless one was coming to buy wine, the winery mostly sent wine out, and there were few merchants coming and going. Jiang Yichen was here to secretly investigate the situation, so he couldn't just walk over openly and be completely exposed to the opponent's eyes. Therefore, this action was entirely a covert investigation operation.
Jiang Yichen lay on the hill to overlook, and the general situation of the winery was already in full view.
Just like the markings Shen Xinling made on the map, the winery was located in a large courtyard surrounded by a bamboo fence. Three houses were arranged in a concave shape: one was the residence of Hong Yue and Yu Tao, one was the residence for the employees, and the largest remaining one was the wine cellar. Outside the houses, it was filled with wine vats and wine jars of all sizes.
The most important target of this trip was the wine cellar.
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