Chapter 55: Joyful Songs of the Prosperous Times
The fourth prince Yuan Jian also had a weak eye. He had been in the palace for a long time and had seen many beautiful women, but he had never seen a passionate and unrestrained woman who dared to throw herself into the arms of a man. As soon as he entered the Yuanyang Tower, a girl with half her breasts exposed smiled coquettishly and hugged his arm. She even pushed her body into his arms. This scene immediately frightened the young man, and he blurted out, "Second brother——"
Tang Ying was amused by his reaction and was originally prepared to stand by and watch, but seeing that he was about to be frightened by the girl, she took a few steps forward, unsheathed the sword, and half of the Fei Luan sword exuded a captivating cold light. The girl with a charming smile opened her voice and shouted "Help!", but was covered her mouth by the madam.
Die!
You're shouting for help right after the opening. Are you trying to scare today's customers?
In fact, it was not the girl's fault for being short-sighted. Fu Chen came in with a few others, all wearing official uniforms of the Forbidden Cavalry Division, except for the Fourth Prince Yuan Jian, who was wearing casual clothes and walked in first. The girl saw that he was a young man she didn't know and the shop hadn't been open for several days. She was afraid that her competitors would steal their business, so she rushed over first.
"You are so ignorant. Don't you see what the gentlemen are doing?" The madam was so frightened that her face changed. She hurried forward with a smile and pulled the girl away. Seeing that the one who drew the sword was a "female gentleman", she couldn't help but complain in her heart: A good young lady ran to the brothel and brandished a sword, delaying my business. Isn't this making trouble?
Tang Ying sheathed her sword, looking calm as if she didn't know she had just messed up a young lady's business. She even teased Yuan Jian, "Young Master, you are too showy. If everyone was as cold as ice as Master Fu, who would dare to rush over?"
Fu Chen: “…” Does she dislike me for being too cold on a daily basis?
Lord Fu mentioned to the madam that he wanted to meet the famous girl Yinlan in the building. He secretly guessed what Tang Ying meant. Could it be that his usual appearance scared her?
He lowered his head and glanced at Tang Ying, and saw that she was smiling and joking with Yuan Jian. The Fourth Prince was very friendly and had no airs at all. He was not angry when being teased, and even showed a bit of shyness, just like a good-tempered younger brother next door.
Fu Chen thought to himself: Does she like this?
While they were daydreaming, the madam personally led them to Miss Yinlan's room on the third floor. Standing at the door was a little girl of eight or nine years old: "Mom, our girl still needs to dress up."
There are two money-making trees in Yuanyang Tower, one is Yinlan and the other is Miss Xuelian. They happen to live opposite each other and compete with each other for customers. They have to use all their tricks for fear of being suppressed by the other.
Prince Zhao was rather sympathetic to the beauties and he stayed in the rooms of Miss Yinlan and Miss Xuelian for two nights respectively.
The madam usually held the two girls in her hands and indulged their tempers, but Fu Chen had no patience. He winked and Xiong Yu went straight past the little maid guarding the door and knocked on the door: "Miss Yinlan, the Forbidden Cavalry Division is investigating a case. Master Fu has something to ask."
The people in the room heard it clearly, including a maid who was combing her hair. They all stopped what they were doing and asked quietly, "Master Fu from the Imperial Cavalry Department?"
The maid combing her hair showed joy on her face: "I heard that this gentleman is not interested in women, but he is really handsome. I once met him on the street when I went to buy rouge."
Yinlan took the gold hairpin from the maid and motioned her to open the door.
The hair-combing maid opened the door and saw several people at the door. Fu Li said, "My girl always only sees one person."
Tang Ying: "I'll go in."
Anyway, the Huangzi Department of the Imperial Cavalry Division is responsible for interrogating female suspects, which is exactly within her duties.
The hair-combing maid: “…”
Lord Fu had a smile on his face, and no one knew what he was thinking about.
Xiong Yu frowned and shouted, "Has your daughter lost her mind in business? How can the Forbidden Cavalry Department allow you to bargain when they are questioning us?"
Perhaps hearing the noise, Miss Xuelian came out from the opposite room to see what was going on. "She just likes to act pretentiously. Gentlemen, just go in!"
The madam's face turned green.
This troublesome girl!
The little girl guarding the gate rolled her eyes in the direction of Xuelian angrily. Xiong Yu had already lifted the little girl by the collar and put her aside: "Your Highness, please, Your Excellency, please——"
Liu Zhong raised his voice and said, "Miss Xuelian, right? Since you are all here, why don't you come over and question us together?"
Xuelian was plump and beautiful, with fair skin. She was wearing a red dress and had a cheerful personality: "Okay." When she stepped out of the room, the maid was still chasing after her: "Miss, put on a shawl..." It can be seen that she is also a carefree person.
Yinlan's room was decorated no worse than the rooms of ordinary ladies, with all kinds of musical instruments, chess, calligraphy and paintings, and there was also incense burning in the room. Tang Ying knew nothing about these things, so she sniffed twice and found the smell very pleasant.
After Xuelian followed everyone in, she kept glancing at Fu Chen. She didn't look like she was here to answer the constable's questions. Instead, she looked like a star-chasing girl who saw her idol, with hearts almost forming in her eyes.
Tang Ying stood beside her and whispered, "Isn't Master Fu handsome?"
"Handsome! Handsome!" Xuelian: "He really lives up to his reputation!" The girls in the building talked about the young gentlemen in the capital in their spare time. Lord Shen and other young men who often interacted with the playboys were all on the list. Lord Fu's reputation was well-known. The last time he set foot in Yuanyang Building was three years ago when he was investigating a case. It was said that an official who was in high spirits was arrested and the Yuanyang Building was sealed off for half a month.
Yinlan and Xuelian had been locked up in the back garden to learn their talents before, and only started to go out to play in the spring of that year, so they had never had the chance to meet Fu Chen.
Fu Chen's face darkened.
——This girl and the prostitute are so bold to comment on him!
Xiong Yu and Liu Zhong silently took a step back, staying away from Lord Fu, so as not to catch a cold when they returned.
Yuan Jian: “…” Second brother’s personality is really not like that of a girl.
He was a stubborn person. He would remember the bad things others did to him, but he would remember the good things others did to him even more. No matter whether Zhang Erge was a man or a woman, she had saved him from Huan Yanbo.
His Royal Highness the Fourth Prince seemed to sense Lord Fu’s displeasure, and he bravely stood in front of Second Brother Zhang.
So... Lord Fu became even more depressed.
The depressed Lord Fu was in a bad mood, so he was even more rude when interrogating Yinlan and Xuelian. He interrogated the two of them together, then interrogated them separately, and even the servants around them were not spared.
Tang Ying questioned Miss Xuelian alone and followed her back to her room. She saw that the girl's room was filled with mahjong, back-sixes, and poker. It seemed that she and Miss Yinlan were taking completely different paths.
Miss Yinlan’s character is a talented girl, and she specializes in playing with people.
Tang Ying sat on the couch by the window, with her sword casually placed on the table. She flipped through the mahjong cards on the table and said with a smile, "So you are an expert, young lady?"
Speaking of gambling, Miss Xuelian's eyes lit up: "Miss, do you like it too? She rolled up her sleeves and seemed to want to drag Tang Ying to join in a game."
Tang Ying flipped through the mahjong cards casually: "I can't say whether I like it or not, I've never played it before." She changed the subject: "But I have a friend who should be able to play. Miss Shen knows him, right?"
Miss Xuelian stared with her big eyes, seeming to be quite protective of Shen Qian: "Master Shen, we are not familiar with each other, we just played a game of cards together. Could it be that Master Shen is involved in the case?"
"That's not the case." Tang Ying laughed. "Young lady, you also know that Lord Shen probably doesn't like to get involved in anything other than eating, drinking and having fun, so how could he get involved in the case? It's just that when I saw the furnishings in your room, I simply thought he would like them very much."
Xuelian relaxed, patted her chest and laughed: "I was scared to death, I thought the Marquis was in trouble." It sounded like she was very familiar with Shen Qian.
Tang Ying talked about this and that, secretly sighing that Lord Shen was really a good brick, moving wherever he was needed. Miss Xuelian saw that he was completely relaxed, and even talked about a few ridiculous things about Shen Qian. She suddenly asked: "Miss Xuelian, have you seen the ghost ball that Prince Zhao carries with him?"
※※※
In the Second Prince's mansion, Cai Ping came to report the matter.
"Your Highness, I sent some roast chicken and steamed buns to the beggars at Yanyue Tower, but I didn't get any useful information from them . Either they don't know Zhang Er's background, or Zhang Er gave them a bigger benefit to make them keep it a secret. But I left a message for them to pass on to Zhang Er."
There was also a middle-aged man with a goatee sitting in the study. He was the second prince's aide, Yu Jingyi .
He said, "Your Highness seems to think highly of Zhang Er? Isn't he just a beggar?"
Yuan Lang said, "It's hard to say. If he can defeat the guards in the Princess's mansion, he is not a simple beggar." He ordered Cai Ping, "Continue to send people to keep an eye on him. If you can find out Zhang Er's background, report it. Or if you can win him over, that's fine too."
Cai Ping followed the order and came out. He met Feng Kui outside and said with a wink, "Congratulations, brother."
Feng Kui: "If you weren't so ugly, you might have been given this good job."
Cai Ping: "Don't hit someone in the face. That's enough."
Both of them were Yuan Lang's confidants. Cai Ping had known for a long time that Feng Kui had confessed that he was the maid who was ordered by his master to get close to Miss Tang. However, he was still young and handsome two years ago. But last year, he got red pimples all over his face. He took some Chinese medicine to regulate his body, but the pimples appeared again after a while. It was like a spring breeze that brought new pimples. Therefore, he was very upset about Zhao Kui's good job of using public funds to deceive the little maid.
After leaving the main courtyard, Feng Kui went to the inner courtyard under the cover of night. Cai Ping secretly sighed at his miserable fate as he had to take advantage of the night to switch shifts with the brother who was following the beggars.
It was completely dark. Lights were on in the mansions of nobles and shops along the streets. The Yuanyang Building was especially brightly lit. Guests came in droves. The girls in the building were dressed up beautifully. Except for the two top girls on the third floor who were still being interrogated, the rest of the girls went downstairs to receive guests like butterflies. A humming song was sung on the stage in the hall. It was a song of joy and prosperity.
