twin moon

Chapter 56, Scene [-]

At the same time, Jiang Yan, who had just entered the Shi Hua Pavilion, was surrounded by a few smiling accompanying women, who kept waving handkerchiefs stained with powder in front of him:

"Look at my brother's attire, could he be a distinguished guest from the Royal Ling Army? Does my brother want to drink flower wine or find a girl? Do you want to go with the slave's house to take a bath and change clothes first, and then play with the couple?"

Before today, Jiang Yan had known in advance that the Shihua Pavilion was divided into three entrances, the front, the middle, and the back, and there was a kitchen for cooking in the back hall.Right now, the front hall where he is located is just a place where some cash-strapped princes and literati drink flower wine and recite poems.Here, you only need to pay a little bit of money, you can knead on the body of the accompanying wine girl, and have a bit of lust, but you can't do anything else.

The second entrance from the front hall is the Yingge Yanwu place where there are special people to handle it, and you need to pay extra to enter.The women in the period are not just accompaniment girls who can sing a ditty and make a doggerel for fun, but are charming and charming, who can make men easily fall in love with their pomegranate skirts.

Going forward to reach the third entrance courtyard, you need to pass through a long and winding corridor among rockery and flowing water.The feeling of this entry is completely different from the previous two entries. There is no sound of drums and music, and the sound of lewdness.

It is precisely because of such distinctive features that the Shihua Pavilion has become famous in Mulu City.And the four leading names of Shiying, Hejin, Ziyuan, and Lily of the Valley living in the third courtyard are peerless talented women who have been practicing piano, chess, calligraphy and painting since childhood. Price, and even fight with each other, no matter how much money they spend, they want to fight for their beauty.Jiang Yan's trip was also aimed at this third courtyard.

The black-eyed boy knew that he would encounter such an event.As soon as he entered the door, before the girls blocked his way, he went straight to the second entrance yard, and took out more than ten silver coins from his pocket while walking:
"I would also like to ask my sisters to let me in. I am here today, just looking for a girl—"

"Oh, sir, you really know how to joke. You are not looking for a girl here, so maybe you are looking for a man? Don't be so hasty. Sit down and drink two glasses of flower wine first, and then the little girl will help you. Looking for someone."

One of the girls who accompanied the wine had quick eyesight and quick hands. Although she took the money, she didn't get out of the way like the others.Before the generous young man in front of her had time to react, she had already walked two steps towards Jiang Yan's side, and hugged his strong arms tightly in her arms:
"Since you have spent money, my lord, I have to serve you wholeheartedly. How can I let you leave with a dry throat?"

The warm touch from the woman's body immediately spread to Jiang Yan's hands, making him hot all over.The boy was abruptly dragged by the other party to a small round table in the corner and sat down. Just as he was about to get up and leave, he found that the woman had tied the gauze on her shoulders to her belt at some point, A dead button.He didn't like having a fit, so he had to sit down patiently and drank the wine in the glass:

"The wine has been drunk, please let the girl go."

"When will the slave family not let the official go?"

The voice of the wine hostess is extremely charming, if it is an ordinary person, I am afraid that the bones will be crisp from hearing it long ago.As she spoke, she grabbed Jiang Yan's hand and poked it under her gauze skirt, which was as thin as a cicada's wings.

The black-eyed boy hastily withdrew his hand, but his heart was still beating violently.He knew that half of the rewards for drinking flowers and wine would fall into the pockets of these hostesses, so they would try their best to tease the guests, and would not let themselves go easily.He couldn't help being anxious, and hurriedly took out a silver penny from his pocket, and pressed it on the table:
"Girl, I am indeed looking for someone today, and I don't have the heart to chat with you. If you don't mind, girl, I will use the money to buy some rouge and gouache. Please let me go quickly."

But in this way, the woman became more and more unwilling to let the money tree go away, twisting her waist and sitting in Jiang Yan's arms: "Then you tell the servant, who is the name of the girl you are looking for?" , the slave family can go inside and report for you."

"Girl, please don't push yourself too hard! Although you are not allowed to bring weapons here, I can still hurt people with my bare hands! If you continue to deliberately obstruct me, don't blame me for turning your back on me!"

The black-eyed boy had no choice but to suppress his voice and threaten.The hostess in front of him saw that his expression was unkind, and knew that no more benefits could be gained by pestering him any longer, so she snorted softly and left resentfully.

Jiang Yan, who was finally able to get away, used another five silver pennies to successfully enter the second entrance gate.He didn't stay here for too long, but the third courtyard gate that went further forward was not something that could be passed easily with some money.

The old bustard in the store heard that a rich owner came today, and immediately rushed over from the front door, flattering her: "Master, look at you, you are in such a hurry, are you looking for four people in the courtyard?" Which of the girls?"

"I wonder if Miss Ziyuan is convenient today?"

"Yo, the guest officer really has good taste. But do you want to listen to Ziyuan's piano playing, or to see her paintings?" As soon as she saw the young man's attire in front of her, the old bustard remembered the scene outside the door , I already knew it in my heart, but I still had a smile on my face.

"No."

"So you want to drink a pot of tea that she made herself?"

"No. I didn't come here to find girls for entertainment."

"Yo, didn't you come here to find a girl for entertainment? Then why did you specifically ask to meet our girl Ziyuan?" The old bustard rolled her eyes fiercely.

"I heard that Miss Ziyuan is from the Yushui River Estuary in Changzhou, and she has a mole on the tip of her nose. This appearance is somewhat similar to an old friend of mine, so I want to talk to her face to face and ask her ask clearly."

Jiang Yan, who had never been in a brothel, was a straight-hearted man, and the other party told the truth with only a little trickery.

"This young master really likes to joke. Miss Ziyuan is the flower head of our Shihua Pavilion. She doesn't leave the door all day long. There are a lot of rumors about her outside. You can be sure that what you hear is true. ?”

The old bustard finally figured out the reason for the other party's visit, and his attitude immediately became cold, "Ye country is so big, so many princes and ministers under the king's command want to see Zi Yuan, and they have to work hard. One night after another. You just rushed in so recklessly, if you are allowed to see her, will my Huahua Pavilion still be in business in the future?"

"I understand. You can tell me how much money you need. I won't bargain for a single copper coin. I left immediately after talking with Miss Ziyuan. It shouldn't be considered a violation of the rules here, right? I hope you can accommodate me." Accommodate."

Jiang Yan cupped his hands again, looked at the old bustard sincerely and said.

At first, the old bustard didn't expect that the young man in front of him, who was wearing the uniform of Captain Mo Lingwei, would be so generous in his actions. He thought that this kid was either hiding something, or he was really stupid, and he dared to ask himself for a price.She rolled her eyes, intending to explore the other party's bottom first, so she clapped her hands and said with a smile:
"Oh, it's not impossible for you to talk to Miss Ziyuan through the bead curtain. However, I can't set the price. You have to ask Miss Ziyuan what she means. Just to pass a message to her for you first. If she is willing to see you, it will be easy to arrange later, if she is not willing to see you, then the guest officer can only treat it as a waste of time."

"Okay." The black-eyed boy didn't know that the other party was testing him at this time, and thought it was the same as before, just asking him for money in a different way, but he nodded in agreement, and then directly took out a gold coin. Zhu handed it to the madam, "This is your errand fee, I'll wait here in the yard, please tell Miss Ziyuan, and call back as soon as possible."

After a while, a few maids who were not so coquettishly dressed came over with candied fruit snacks, beat Jiang Yan's legs and shoulders, and chatted and joked, but their actions were not as wild as before.Although the boy still resisted a little, he felt that it would not be so boring if someone waited with him, so he stopped making a sound to drive him away.

After half an hour, a well-dressed girl came out from the small building deep in the courtyard, with a smile on her face, she seemed to be a personal servant girl serving Ziyuan's daily life.Jiang Yan had something to say in his heart, he stood up and greeted him with a bang:
"Could it be that Miss Ziyuan is willing to see me?"

"Yes, and she only needs to charge you a dozen or so gold baht, which will bring you sixty-six or six dollars of good fortune, and also give the guest officer a good fortune." The other party spread his hands in front of the young man as he spoke.

"As long as Miss Ziyuan is willing to see me, that's fine." Without saying a word, Jiang Yan took out another twelve gold bahts from his pocket and put them into the opponent's palm—this was all the money and silver left on him. up.At this time, the young man was still grateful in his heart that the other party did not offer a high price that he could not pay.And the expenses just now had already used up all the salary he had saved in the past two years.

"Please also ask this guest officer to wait in the Xufeng Pavilion. I will bring Miss Ziyuan to see you, and I will come as soon as I go."

The girl in front bowed and saluted, and ordered several maids to lead Jiang Yan to wait in the Xufeng Pavilion on the side of the second courtyard.He didn't think that the other party's departure would take another three sticks of incense. Only then did the young man realize that something was wrong. He was about to open the door and go out to question him, but he saw the old bustard who hadn't shown up for a long time running towards him with a sad face, still babbling. He kept on reading, showing a very regretful look:

"Oh, guest officer, you don't know. Just now a well-known leader in the city came here, and he also asked by name to listen to Miss Ziyuan playing the piano. Miss Ziyuan hurriedly tidied up and rushed over."

"Which Commander? What do you mean by that?"

"Who else can there be? In the entire Mulu City, there is only one commander in the Baisha camp of the boat master! Oh, by the way, that general seems to be called Baili, and he should also be the leader of your Yuling army." Right? He paid a lot of money to hire Miss Zi Yuan for the whole day, I'm afraid you won't see her today, why don't you come back another day."

Hearing this, Jiang Yan finally realized that he was in the other party's way, and immediately frowned and hummed heavily:
"Did you see that I was wearing Mo Lingwei's brocade robe, so you wanted to find an excuse to scare me away? To tell you the truth, that general Baili is very familiar with me. If he comes, then I will just go and see him." His light, let's ask Miss Zi Yuan face to face, please lead the way!"

The old bustard originally thought that the reason he had carefully concocted was very justified, but he didn't expect that it would be self-defeating, so he panicked for a while:

"Or maybe I remembered it wrong, but the other party is definitely one of the most important figures in this city. Anyway, you won't be able to meet Miss Zi Yuan today, so please come back! If there is someone destined, I will see you next time."

"Are you still thinking about cheating my gold baht next time? I thought this brothel was famous and the money should be earned more openly!" Jiang Yan couldn't help shouting angrily, "It's okay to let me go, let me go. Return the twelve gold bahts you just received!"

"The money you give is the water that was thrown out. Besides, I have already handed over all the gold baht to Miss Zi Yuan. Now that you want to get the money back, do you mean you don't want to see her anymore?" Completely torn skin.

"Aren't you afraid that I'll smash your black store? Those thugs in the store can't be my opponent!" The black-eyed boy was furious, and threatened the other party in desperation.Unexpectedly, the bustard on the opposite side didn't take this at all, and smiled more confidently:
"I think you dare! Boy do you think that my Shihua restaurant can run for so many years in Mulu City with a few helpless girls and families? To tell you the truth, this store is owned by the Marquis of Jinghai. Lord, it was also arranged by the elder brother of the current king. If you dare to smash the store, you are against Lord Jinghai and the old man! Even if the general Baili in the boat division really has nothing to do with you Relationships will definitely not be able to save you!"

Hearing that the old bustard actually brought up the name of Marquis of Jinghai, and said it clearly, Jiang Yan couldn't judge whether he was telling lies or not.But he clearly knew that Qi Shouyu was quite powerful in the city.If the incident at the General's Temple three years ago hadn't been for Xiang Baili's protection, he would have been kicked out of the palace long ago, and because of this, his mentor had a new grievance with the prince.Right now, although his extraordinary martial arts can show off his enthusiasm for a while, if the interests of the powerful and powerful are really touched, it will be like stabbing a hornet's nest, and it will become difficult to end.

Since there is no way to take the other party for a while, we have to find another way.So under the contemptuous eyes of the old bustard, the boy angrily withdrew from the Shihua Pavilion.However, just as he turned the corner of the street, he suddenly felt a sharp look from behind.When he turned his head to look, he saw two men with long beards mingling in the crowd and staring at him.

Seeing that Jiang Yan became suspicious, the two immediately turned their eyes away, acting extremely unnatural.The black-eyed boy's heart shuddered, and he couldn't help but quicken his pace.

(End of this chapter)