Volume 1 Chushan Bandits Chapter 18: Talking about Romance in Yuehonglou
Xu Huai placed the knife on the sandalwood table, picked up the teacup and sipped the fragrant tea carefully.
"Mr. Xu should know the rules of Yuehonglou. Do you want to listen to me sing a few songs, or..."
Liu Qiong'er spoke softly and stood up to prepare her zither and flute, while also secretly guarding against the possibility that this fool would rush over impulsively.
"The money I paid is not enough for Miss Liu to undress, but it is enough for her to sit until midnight. Why should Miss Liu be in such a hurry?" Xu Huai picked up his sword and put the scabbard against Liu Qiong'er's chest, asking her to sit down. Then he kicked a chair accurately behind the boudoir door and walked over to sit down against the door.
At this time, the maids outside had already driven away those who were curious and wanted to watch the fun, and closed the courtyard door.
Liu Qiong'er sat at the table for a while, but Xu Huai stared at her and felt uneasy. He asked again: "Mr. Xu, don't hold the knife. What's so fun about it? Mr. Xu doesn't like to listen to the piano or music. I have a lot more fun things in my room..."
"Is it really fun to use a knife? It seems that Miss Liu Qiong'er, you really don't know how to use a knife. Let me show you how to dance with it!" Xu Huai stood up and drew the sword from its sheath. After three slashes, three afterimages fell in front of Liu Qiong'er.
Liu Qiong'er was so frightened that her courage almost jumped out of her throat. She looked at the three strands of black hair falling in front of her with her almond-shaped eyes. Was it a coincidence, or did the idiot really want to cut off three strands of hair?
Liu Qiong'er watched Xu Huai pick up the three strands of black hair from the brick floor, not daring to even breathe.
"Is my knife fun?" Xu Huai sheathed the knife, wrapped three strands of hair around his fingers, and asked, "Miss Liu Qiong'er, do you want to play with it? My knife skills are now at a level where I can shave the hair off your earlobes without hurting your skin. Miss Liu Qiong'er, do you want to see it?"
"What on earth do you want to do?" Only God wants to see the knife technique of shaving the ear hair. Liu Qiong'er sat on the chaise longue with weak legs, looking at Xu Huai with a ghostly face, not knowing what unexpected thing he would do next. She didn't dare to call for help, for fear of irritating this madman.
"I borrowed those small silver coins from Zheng the butcher, plus more than ten catties of copper coins, which should total three taels of silver ingots. But the eunuch Zhou Mazi lied to me that it was not enough to give Miss Liu a gift. Zhou Mazi treated me as a fool, and I was too lazy to argue with him. But Miss Liu, you can't lie to me that it's already past midnight, right?"
Xu Huai said,
"Since I've given the money, we have to wait until midnight for our deal to be finalized, don't you think, Miss Liu? As for what I'm going to do for the rest of the night, I think even if I just sit there doing nothing, Yue Hong Lou can't say I'm not following the rules, right?"
"Aren't you the fool from the Xu family?" Miss Liu Qiong'er asked uncertainly.
She had only seen Xu Huai from a distance two or three times, and heard other things from others, but she was not sure whether this man was stupid or not, or whether she had recognized the wrong person in the previous times. She looked at Xu Huai carefully at this moment, and found that he was not as strong as she had imagined, but tall.
If it weren't for the preconceived impression, how could one associate him with a "fool" when he is obviously a handsome man?
"It's true. My name is Xu Huai, and I'm from Lutai Village, Yuhuangling, Biyang County. I'm currently working for Xu Wujiang, a senior official at the Huaiyuan Inspection Office, and have admired Miss Liu Qiong'er's fame for a long time. Today, I came to borrow some money from Zheng's butcher to come and have a chat with Miss Liu Qiong'er! " Xu Huai said.
"Mr. Xu is not like what people say outside, that..." Miss Liu Qiong'er said timidly.
"Since Miss Liu asked this, I think we can have a slightly more pleasant night - Miss Liu, are you saying that in the eyes of others, Xu Huai should be a complete fool who should not understand the fun of romance?" Xu Huai patted his thigh with the sword and sheath on his body, and asked with a smile.
"..." Liu Qiong'er stared at Xu Huai in a daze. How could this be considered love talk?
Xu Huai added: "I would say that I am a foolish person who is very smart. Maybe I am too confident. But in the eyes of others, I am a fool, which makes it easy for me to do many things. So sometimes I don't bother to explain how others see me - Miss Liu, do you think I am a person with a bad temper?"
"......?" Miss Liu Qiong'er opened her lips slightly, thinking what kind of damn temper this guy has. After a while, she asked, "Since Mr. Xu doesn't mind what others think of you, why do you have to be so aggressive in front of me? If Mr. Xu really wants to talk about love, Liu Qiong'er can do it too..."
"Miss Liu Qiong'er, please don't sound so aggrieved, as if I forced her to perform and sell her body. I heard from the servants at Yue Hong Lou that Miss Liu is beautiful, gentle and considerate, and good at poetry, calligraphy, and painting. Even if she doesn't sell her body, she can still please the guests. But Miss Liu has a bad habit of eavesdropping on the guests. I wonder if this is true?" Xu Huai stared at Liu Qiong'er and asked.
"That's impossible?" Liu Qiong'er denied.
Xu Huai seemed not to have heard Liu Qiong'er's denial, and continued, "On the day I dealt with Zheng the Butcher, eight foreign guests stayed in Yuehonglou. The leader was named Zheng, and it was Miss Liu who recruited them. I just want to know if Miss Liu overheard anything interesting at that time?"
"Sometimes I hear some things unintentionally, but they are just unintentional. The guests you mentioned stayed in Yuehonglou for three days and then left. I don't know anything about them." Liu Qiong'er felt a chill on her spine and said through gritted teeth.
"Then let me make it clear," Xu Huai said, "Those eight people were assassins sent by the Privy Councilor Cai Ying to assassinate the former Chief Censor Wang Bing. Anyone who knew about this would be silenced by them. So Miss Liu, you are tight-lipped and dare not leak a single word. I understand. However, Hutou Village killed people twice on the Zou Ma Dao, but Miss Liu could not control her fear and ran to the scene to see what happened. Do you think that all this fell into the eyes of the Hutou Village's spies? Will they believe that Miss Liu was completely unaware of the collusion between the assassins and Hutou Village?"
Liu Qiong'er sat on the bed with a pale face, and asked in a lost voice: "Were you sent by them?"
"Miss Liu should have been thirteen years old when she was sold to Yuehonglou? I, Xu Huai, was still running around the streets of Huaiyuan Town naked at that time. Miss Liu Qiong'er might have seen my little Que'er - to tell you the truth, little Que'er has grown up now, so it is not convenient for me to be open with Liu Qiong'er today. How could Miss Liu think that I was sent by an assassin?" Xu Huai asked.
"Then who are you and what do you want to do with me?" Liu Qiong'er asked in surprise.
"The assassins wanted to kill Wang Bing, but they were afraid to do it and even colluded with Hutouzhai to make things bigger. Naturally, there was someone behind the scenes who was protecting Wang Bing and making them afraid. Miss Liu is knowledgeable and experienced. She was able to become the top prostitute of Yuehonglou and has remained so for several years. She can please all the customers. Can't you understand such a simple truth?" Xu Huai asked with a smile.
"Protect Wang Bing, why should we protect Wang Bing?" Liu Qiong'er asked.
"This is called asking why Cai Ying wanted to kill Wang Bing?" Xu Huai said.
Liu Qiong'er stared at Xu Huai but said nothing.
Xu Huai answered himself and said, "Cai Ying wanted to kill Wang Bing because he was afraid that Wang Bing's comeback would be detrimental to him. We want to protect Wang Bing, of course, for Wang Bing's comeback one day. Miss Liu may think that telling what she overheard will only prompt the assassin to come and kill her, so she thought it would be better to say nothing and bet that the assassin would not notice you; or Miss Liu thinks that I am kind and will not deliberately leak Miss Liu's affairs to the assassin - well, Miss Liu Qiong'er, you think so, it makes sense. However, Miss Liu Qiong'er, have you ever thought about this? Now if someone wants to chat with Miss Liu, they have to give Yue Honglou two taels of silver at least. If Miss Liu works with us to help Mr. Wang Bing make a comeback, how much silver will others have to pay if they want to find Miss Liu?"
"I'll be full by then, why would I still be doing this business?" Liu Qiong'er said angrily.
"Miss Liu is very clear in her mind," Xu Huai laughed and said, "I heard from the servants of Yuehonglou that Miss Liu has secretly saved a lot of silver in recent years to redeem herself, so I thought Miss Liu must be a person with ideas, otherwise she would not have become the top star of Yuehonglou. These things are clear once they are said, and I don't need to spend too much time talking. By the way, I will give Miss Liu a piece of news for free. The Tang family privately cast silver ingots and couldn't help but pour tin and lead into them. In the past two years, someone reported it to the Inspection Office. However, the Tang family is powerful, and Tang Tiande has tipped off the Inspection Office, so these things were not spread in the end. I don't know if there will be any problems with the silver that Miss Liu exchanged for from the Tang family warehouse, but I can't help but wonder, if Miss Liu took out the silver when redeeming herself, as long as one of the silver ingots was found to have problems, what would happen? It seems that Yuehonglou is also secretly controlled by the Tang family. Will Miss Liu have a chance to appeal for justice at that time?"
Liu Qiong'er's pretty face turned pale, and she subconsciously looked towards a corner of the boudoir.
Xu Huai ignored him and continued, "If there is any problem, Miss Liu will need a thug to help her out. Please call Xu Huai. If Xu Huai frowns, it means you raised him. Can we get back to the assassin now? How much useful information does Miss Liu know? Miss Liu has to think carefully and don't leave anything out, as this will affect future rewards!"
"Why should I trust you?" Liu Qiong'er asked, staring at Xu Huai with her almond-shaped eyes.
"You may not believe it, but I will leave after midnight. Yuehonglou has dozens of thugs. Can I destroy Yuehonglou alone?" Xu Huai walked to the bed at this time, held the sword in his arms and lay down in his clothes. It seemed that if Liu Qiong'er went out to call for help at this time, he would not stop .
Liu Qiong'er stood up as if hiding from a thief and stared at Xu Huai with an uncertain look for a long time.
At this time, there was a commotion outside, and soon a woman was heard rushing in. She was stopped outside the yard by many people, and she was heard yelling angrily: "I, Su Di Niang, can't control how many evil things you have done in Huaiyuan, but today, even if I have to search through Yuehonglou, I will find Xu Huai out - Xu Wujiang, are you going to look for him or not?"
Xu Huai didn't expect that the news would reach the military camp, and Su Di actually brought his seventeenth uncle Xu Wujiang over to capture him.
Why is it so difficult to have a feast?
Xu Huai sat up helplessly, looked at Liu Qiong'er for a while, and said, "Miss Liu still won't say anything now? It seems that I can only find another opportunity to come and bother Miss Liu later - but if she moves around too much, the assassin may pay more attention to Miss Liu, which is not good either."
"I said, can you please stop bothering me in the future?" Liu Qiong'er stared at Xu Huai and asked.
"It depends on how much help the information Miss Liu said can provide us." Xu Huai said with a smile.
Liu Qiong'er hesitated for a while, and finally told the truth about what she knew:
"What I overheard was limited. I know that the leader's surname is Zheng, he is weak and gentle, half a head shorter than you, like a scholar, and has no interest in women. They seem to think that the old people of the Jingsheng Army in Tongbai Mountain were instigated by a man named Lu to secretly join forces to protect old Mr. Wang, but they think it has nothing to do with the Xu family - it seems that they heard from someone that the head of the Xu family, Xu Wufu, had a bad relationship with your seventeenth uncle Xu Wujiang, and they thought that Xu Wufu was not involved. They were unwilling to let go of old Mr. Wang, but they did not dare to make a big fuss and let someone in the court take the opportunity to attack Cai Ying. So they thought of helping Chen Zixiao control Hutou Village and help them act in Huaiyuan..."
Xu Wujiang was cornered by Su Di and rushed into the yard and shouted:
"Xu Huai, you idiot, have you grown feathers yet? You are so hungry that you come here to drink wine? Get out of here now, don't ask me to pull you out of bed!"
