My wife has a secret

Chapter 103 The Strange Man in the Corridor
Realizing that time was running out, Xu Qing reached out to take the umbrella handed to him by Yang Liu, turned around and rushed into the nearby gate.

In just a few breaths, the willow trees that lost the protection of their oil-paper umbrellas were drenched by the heavy rain.

She was soaked all over, and her thin clothes were clinging to her graceful, curvaceous figure.

Although Yang Liu was not as beautiful as the other ladies of the Xu family, she had a proud and upright chest and a slender and soft waist.

She moved her long, white legs and ran to Cui'er's umbrella. She looked at her with resentment and said angrily, "Why did you change the question without permission? The time for this question is clearly one stick of incense."

"Didn't you also secretly remind him of the answer to the previous question?"

Cui Er frowned and said sarcastically, "Could it be that you are greedy for the wealth and glory of the Xu family and don't want to go with the young lady?"

Yang Liu sneezed because of the cold rain, and the makeup on her little face was washed away.

But when she heard Cui'er's remarks, she couldn't help but raise her eyelashes and raised her head to refute: "Don't slander me. You and I both know what the lady is thinking. Why don't you do what she wants?"

"It is precisely because I know what the young lady is thinking that I don't want Mr. Xu to give up in the face of difficulties."

Cui Er looked at Yang Liu expressionlessly and asked, "The Xu family now has three wives and one unmarried lady... Even the most inconspicuous Third Young Lady has a literary scholar behind her. What does our young lady have?"

The willow remained silent.

The father of the first wife, Shen, was the prime minister who commanded the civil officials, and she was also a favorite of the Empress Dowager Xu. Not only was she trusted and favored by the Empress Dowager, she also enjoyed the treatment of the first wife in every way.

The second branch of the Yang family holds military power and is a famous family in the Northern Army, with hereditary border generals.

Compared with them, the young lady is more like a fallen leaf drifting with the tide, rootless and without support.

"Take advantage of this opportunity today to make Young Master Xu retreat and put an end to Miss's thoughts... Isn't this the best outcome?"

Yang Liu pouted, but she couldn't beat Cui'er who had plenty of excuses, so she simply turned her head and ignored her.

"What's wrong with helping a little? Anyway, the young master can't remember what happened back then, and can't answer the last few questions."

After saying this, Yang Liu left the place without looking back, leaving Cui'er alone, holding the umbrella handle tightly, drifting in the rain.

……

When Xu Qing walked up to the corridor, she realized that she was like Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden, and her eyes were opened.

Previously, because of the curtain formed by rain blocking his view, Xu Qing did not observe the corridor carefully. Now that he climbed up, he found that it was full of secrets, and the connected rooms were full of prostitutes.

These women were dressed in bright colors and had different styles.

They were already curious about the legendary Master Xu, and now seeing him really appear before their eyes, they all rushed over to him.

"Mr. Xu, would you like to listen to a pipa piece?"

"Sir, I dance very well, and I also know the Jiangnan tunes and Wu dialect of your hometown."

"..."

The swarming women are like flowers in full bloom, using all kinds of tricks.

Because they know that as long as they can get close to the young master of the Xu family and gain his appreciation, they can turn from a wild chicken into a phoenix and change their future life.

After only a short while, Xu Qing was completely blocked and could not move forward. Moreover, the space around him was getting smaller and smaller. Some of the brave ones even reached out to take advantage of him, which made Xu Qing shudder.

"Be quiet."

Xu Qing knew that this was not going to work, so he quickly reached out and asked the women to calm down and listen to him.

"Sisters, you all know why Xu came to Wangyue Tower, so please don't embarrass me... Although there are only ten taels of silver in this purse, you can take the purse to the female official at the door to exchange it for a thousand taels of silver."

Xu Qing's intention was very clear. Although Wangyue Tower was the most luxurious brothel in the capital, which woman would not want to earn enough money to redeem herself and become a good woman?
A thousand taels of silver, plus her own reputation, were enough for an ordinary prostitute to redeem herself and her family.

"Just tell me the solution to the second riddle and I'll give her the purse."

Xu Qing originally thought that there would be brave men if there was a huge reward, let alone these women who were earning a living?

But his words made the noise in the entire space disappear, and the women around him all became quiet at the same time and looked at each other in surprise.

Finally, a brave woman stepped forward and said, "Sir, it's not that we don't want to tell you, but we don't know the title of this puzzle."

"Yes, we all thought that the young master went up to the corridor because he had other ideas. It turns out that he went upstairs to solve a puzzle."

Hearing the voices of agreement around him, Xu Qing realized that he had missed an important clue.

After carefully recalling Cui Er's reminder, he immediately changed the topic and asked, "Then who among you knows where there are unmarried women in the corridor of Wangyue Tower?"

"An unmarried woman?"

The woman couldn't help but frowned and asked in confusion, "Sir, you know, 'unmarried' means unmarried. Strictly speaking, it only refers to the rich girls who never leave the house. It has nothing to do with Wangyue Tower."

Others also found Xu Qing's question strange.

"Yes, and you don't know what the Langlou is, right? We are all women who receive guests, but there are no women designated by the guests. So on weekdays, we can only come to the Langlou to try our luck, hoping that some benefactor will take a liking to us and spend a good night together."

"Generally, sisters who are famous or favored by rich young men will live in a courtyard with servants to serve them."

After the girls explained to him in great detail, Xu Qing gradually understood what the corridor was.

But the two most important points in the clue are the corridor and unmarried, so this puzzle must be hidden somewhere in the corridor.

"Besides the woman who was receiving guests, were there any other people in the corridor?"

"Wangyue Tower is a place of romance and love, how could there be other people here?"

Just when Xu Qing was stuck in solving the problem and didn't know where to start, a woman with a slightly red face and timid behavior in the crowd raised her hand and whispered: "Although Langlou has never heard of unmarried women, there is indeed a weird person living here."

"wack?"

Seeing Xu Qing's interested expression, she didn't dare to look him in the eye, and lowered her head and said, "Yes, she was a well-known celebrity in the building before, but later her face was disfigured and she was abandoned by her lover, so she stayed in the corridor. Aunt Wu felt sorry for her and exempted her from the monthly payment and let her live and eat in the building."

Talking about the other party, the woman who spoke first also sighed.

"What kind of guests can a woman with a disfigured face receive? She will just spend her days eating and waiting to die in the corridor."

The other prostitutes also had an impression of this woman and had strange expressions on their faces.

(End of this chapter)