Careerist in Qin Dynasty

Chapter 253 Playing
Mi Lian has learned complete aristocratic etiquette and is impeccable in her daily dealings with others, but she is still somewhat uncomfortable facing the environment of Zuimenglou.

Dancing girls and happy girls all belong to the category of playthings. As playthings, they must know how to please the audience and those who can determine their own destiny.

Huaying is the oiran and boss of Zuimenglou. She has the power to do anything to other people in Zuimenglou. Naturally, she is the main target of the dancers and musicians.

Regarding the 'little refugee girl from Qi' she brought back from this trip, the other girls could easily see that Huaying valued her, and of course they all wanted to fawn over her.

Mi Lian's last name was too conspicuous, so she gave herself a pseudonym: Lian Yi.

The homophonic sound of "rippling" comes from the Book of Songs, "The sandalwood is cut across the hills, and the river is dry. The water is clear and ripples." The original meaning is the ripples on the water surface blown by the breeze. She likes this word very much.

When she was in Xianyang, Mi Lian, as the daughter of Lord Changping, received a lot of flattery, and she was used to it, but those flatteries were full of aristocratic elegance.

The "rude and direct" expressions of kindness by romantic women like Zuimenglou frightened her.

People of this lowly status, whether in Xianyang, Chenying or Guangling City where she stayed briefly, were not qualified to speak to her, let alone give her a hint.

But now Mi Lian has to live with them day and night, even though her status is still equal to these women.

This made Her Royal Highness the eldest daughter very uncomfortable, and she even felt a little aggrieved.

Hua Ying paid most attention to Mi Lian's emotions: including arranging a separate room for her, the same level of food as herself, the aloof treatment that although she was a dancer in name, she never had to perform on stage, etc.

However, the management of Zuimenglou requires Hua Ying to look over it from time to time, so she cannot always pay attention to the eldest daughter of the king.

The unusual situation and the fact that she often pays attention to Yi Er's movements after her free time every day have caused the drunken dream building to be filled with some unsafe remarks.

At times like this, Huaying must not exercise excessive control, otherwise it will be a cover-up and it will be easier to secretly trigger unimaginable discussions.

Although Licheng is close to Daze Mountain, it is still the territory of the Qin State after all. Because it is on the border with the Qi State, there are many Qin spies among the guests. These guys are very capable of catching wind and shadows, even if they do not think of the Chu State out of thin air for a while. The princess could go to him, but once the seeds of doubt are sown, there will be hidden dangers.

For the sake of merit, they don't care whether the person they suspect is innocent or not. Anyone who can be suspected has details that need to be investigated, and whenever Mi Lian is investigated, there will be more and more flaws.

Fortunately, her stay here is only temporary. As long as the war in the south improves slightly, Mi Lian can return to the Chu Kingdom and continue to be the high-ranking eldest princess.

But if the war in the south goes unfavorably, there should still be no risk of exposure here.
It turns out that Huaying had a relationship with Wang Li, the eldest grandson of the King of Qin who came here last time. If Wang Li was still here, all troubles could be avoided through the name of the Wang family.However, later Wang Jian attacked Chu, and Wang Li and Wang Ben of Daliang were both recalled to Xianyang, and this relationship was severed.

The business hours of Zuimenglou usually start at Youshi. The business was particularly good on this night. A large number of customers came early to enjoy the music and dance.

But the composition of the personnel made Huaying aware of something unnatural: there were too many Qin people, and several hundred generals from the garrison camp also arrived.

This is a rare opportunity to learn about the Qin army's intelligence, but it also comes with considerable risks.

Mi Lian was still sitting in her room doing her own business today. How could she dance for those lowly people with her noble status?

However, this arrangement, which had lasted for several days without any problems, was revealed by a guest who wanted to stir up trouble:
"I heard that Zuimenglou adopted a Qi girl some time ago. She is petite and cute, and she is very popular with Huaying girl." A drunk man staggered from the box to the corridor holding a wine bottle, shouting loudly:

"While being paid extremely well, I have never danced for outsiders to appreciate. How lovely I look. Today I am offering you ten taels of gold to invite this girl from Lianyi to make her debut and dance in front of everyone. I wonder what girl Huaying thinks. How~"

The words of the drinker lying on the handrail could be heard throughout the lobby on the first floor.Someone paid a dancer to dance in front of the public. This was naturally a great thing and immediately attracted a burst of cheers.

The guests in other boxes also became interested after hearing the drunken man's description.

When Huaying hurried over to see such a scene, she was shocked and at the same time had to put a bright smile on her face to appease the proposed drinker.

The drunk guest was the young son of a local wealthy businessman. He was always lecherous and a frequent visitor to Zuimenglou. After confirming his identity, Huaying felt a little relieved: no one was deliberately stirring up trouble.

There are too many customers with sensitive identities today, so we have to fool them.

Subconsciously, he glared at the dancer who was supposed to be accompanying this regular customer, then personally helped her back to the box to comfort her for a while, and then went back outside to explain to the guests on the first floor that "Miss Lianyi is not yet good at dancing and is still learning." As an excuse, this night's episode finally didn't cause too much trouble.

Mi Lian heard about this incident during the day the next day and looked unhappy, but she had no choice but to do anything.

Now she is living under the fence of someone else. She is not the only one. Huaying and the entire Zuimeng Tower have to live under the fence of Qin State. Some things have no choice but to resist and can only endure.

However, the next night, another guest mentioned the name 'Lian Yi' in Zuimeng Tower, which made Hua Ying's situation difficult again.

The person who made the request this time was a young boy, about thirteen or fourteen years old, who claimed to be a businessman from the past. He heard that there was a girl in Lianyi in Zuimenglou who had an extraordinary temperament, so he was willing to spend thirty gold to meet her.

"Even if you don't know how to dance, you can still play the piano, play chess and talk." The fair-faced boy, who looked like he was born into a wealthy family, smiled and played with the folding fan and asked Huaying in a separate box.

"This price is worth it for a female dancer. If Miss Huaying continues to refuse, I will have to go outside and lament that this girl Lianyi is worth hundreds of gold and is very rare~" the young man said regretfully Sighing, these words made Huaying's heart sink.

If this news really spreads, Mi Lian will be completely famous in Xiaoxiaoli City, and it will cause trouble in the future.
"Young Master Tian is willing to pay thirty gold just to meet my Lian Yi. Naturally, Zuimenglou will not let you down."

Hua Ying was smiling broadly, and there was no trace of her trying to force a smile: "Hua Ying will go give some instructions to Lianyi right now, and will play the piano and play music for the young master later."

"Well, I hope you won't be disappointed with the [-] gold spent." With a smile on his handsome face, he raised his fingers to his companion Le Ji: "You should have met Miss Lianyi, please introduce this to me. 'The Daughter of Thirty Gold'."

"Come with me later to save yourself from making a fool of yourself if you mistakenly identify the maid and accidentally think that the maid is Miss Lianyi~"

When Huaying walked out of the box door and heard what the other party said, her feet stopped instantly, and the plan she had planned in advance could not be implemented.
She couldn't give any more advice to the girl in the house now. She frowned for a long time and had no choice but to move to the real Mi Lian's room: It would be risky to kill this young merchant, so she should try to let him sleep peacefully for a night.

It's just that Mi Lian still has to show up.
------

Just when Ji Yan, who was disguised as a man in the box, took the initiative to show that she was impatient to wait, a maid finally came over and invited her to move her seat. .

According to the maid, Hua Ying had to accompany him because of the visit of Licheng County Captain, so she could only lead the young master to see Lian Yi.

'The timing is just right. Ji Yan, who had known about this for a long time, was not surprised at all. He smiled and asked the maid to lead the way.

Arriving at an elegant door on the fourth floor, Ji Yan walked in. Having seen the target in advance, she knew that the person in front of her was the genuine Mi Lian, not a counterfeit.

He waved Lucky and the maid to leave, leaving them alone.

"The decoration here is more stylish than the tacky gold and jade decoration below. Miss Lianyi has really good taste."

Ji Yan came to Mi Lian unceremoniously and sat down cross-legged. His nose twitched slightly and he praised: "Is incense the Garden of Cloud Dreams in Chu State?"

"Young Master is well-informed, and this is the fragrance." Hiding the reluctance in her heart, Mi Lian tried her best to make her tone less cold, but the sense of superiority that she was not aware of was still exposed.

With just this sentence of conversation, the smile on Ji Yan's undisguised face became even stronger: She is just a daughter of an ordinary noble, and she is not her biggest enemy to her brother, the hall master.

The young man in front of him was about the same age as himself, but he looked pretty good, but after all, he had a low status.

Mi Lian calmly picked up the small pot on the table, poured a cup of tea, and put her hands in front of Ji Yan: "Master, please use fragrant tea."

"Is it the Fire Phoenix Wutong from the Chu Kingdom? This is a rare treasure." Picking up the tea cup and smelling the aroma of the tea, Ji Yan suddenly sounded regretful: "It's a pity that it is still of ordinary quality. The top-grade Fire Phoenix Wutong is exclusively for the Chu Kingdom family, and it is a rare treasure. Only the King of Chu himself can taste it."

"It is said that the tea has a flat appearance, a yellow-red color like fire, a long and fragrant aroma, a light red and bright soup color, tender and uniform leaves at the bottom, and a mellow and sweet taste, and its nourishing function is even more amazing."

"Really?" Mi Lian was stunned. She actually didn't know that the Fire Phoenix Wutong was so particular.

When she was in the Changping Palace of Qin State, she drank ordinary quality fire tea.As Ji Yan said, top-quality fire tea was exclusively for the Chu royal family. Even if Changping had it, he would not drink it when he was the right prime minister of Qin.

Later, he launched a rebellion. Although Xiong Qi succeeded him as King of Chu in Guangling, the country was in crisis and the origin of Fire Phoenix Wutong was occupied by the Qin people, so he would not have the chance to drink it.

When she came to Licheng, she only brought these ordinary fire teas.

"Young Master is really proficient in Chu culture." The topic of conversation turned to Chu one after another, and Mi Lian couldn't help but want to continue chatting on this topic.

'A bit silly. '

Ji Yan smiled lightly, nodded and continued to tell Chu Cha, but deep down in his heart, he had completely eliminated the idea of ​​Mi Lian as his opponent.

She had clearly said that the top grade Fire Phoenix Wutong could only be obtained by members of the Chu Kingdom family, but she didn't find it strange that she suddenly felt sorry that there was only ordinary fire tea here~
And since you want to hide your identity, why prepare so many things related to the Chu State for daily use~ You are obviously a Qi girl.

Now Ji Yan is not only not worried about Mi Lian competing with him for position in Lu Wei's place, but is worried about whether such a king's eldest daughter will bring trouble to Gonggong Hall.

He got up and went to the incense place and opened the small incense burner. While chatting and laughing freely, Xiao Yan'er glanced at the back hall, rolled his eyes calmly, and took the initiative to add the 'Garden of Cloud Dreams' that had been placed aside for use in the burner. .

At this time, Mi Lian learned a lot of wonderful knowledge about Chu from this knowledgeable young master, and she didn't notice anything wrong with his actions at all.

It wasn't until the conversation got deeper and deeper that Mi Lian's eyelids couldn't stop closing unconsciously, and she noticed that something was wrong when she saw the smile on the other person's lips that had not changed at all from when he came in.
'How could this happen even though she had taken the antidote beforehand?' Pa, Mi Lian, who could not sit still, fell to the ground. At the same time, behind a screen at the back of the room, two figures of guard attendants fell down, making her even more helpless. :"It's you."

She bit her lip so that she could raise her head to look at the young master, whose face instantly changed into expressionless. She watched in horror as he approached, pinched her chin with a small white hand, and took out a pill with a very unpleasant color. stuffed in
Then, Mi Lian completely lost consciousness.

(End of this chapter)