Chapter 209: Seeking an Audience
Chapter 209: Seeking an Audience
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Shangguan Ru's threat about teaching the Wei father and son a lesson was merely due to a slip of her tongue. Although the Governor was an insignificant figure, the Central Plains that he represented was colossal. This piece of information was undoubtedly known to the Tenth Young Master.
If it were not for Wei Lingmiao doing something so outrageous, she would have lost her patience.
The philandering Young Master Wei Lingmiao came to the Stone Castle from tens of thousands of miles away. He did not fancy any of the famous prostitutes in South City; instead, he had fallen for the Tenth Young Master. As if he was obsessed, he had sent presents every day to ask her to grant him an audience. This matter was somehow leaked and was quickly spread throughout the city.
"You mean the Stone Castle's Tenth Young Master? The leader of the Leviathan Society? That little devil that kills people without blinking an eye? The Overlord that owns half of the businesses in South City? Please stop joking around."
This would had been people's initial reaction.
"It can't be wrong. Why don't you go to to the front gate of the Leviathan Society and see for yourself? Boxes upon boxes of gifts, all the treasures are from the Central Plains. It's a shower of gold, you know? A shower of gold! Even if you gather all of the famous prostitutes in South City together, they wouldn't even be worth this price."
The person who spoke these words one day had their tongues cut off. Since then, no one dared to compare the Tenth Young Master to prostitutes.
That day when Wei Lingmiao personally came to visit the Tenth Young Master in South City, many onlookers followed him and were blocking the entire street. Everyone praised in their hearts that this Young Master Wei was truly one of a kind in this world. He had a daring passion and a unique taste. He actually fell in love with not just a female killer, but also the leader of killers.
The people still remembered the last person who had fallen in love with the female killer. What happened to the Meng's Fifth Young Master wasn't worth anyone's envy. Not only did the women who loved him all died, but also a large sum of money had been squandered away. The money even somehow ended up paying for the wedding dress for the Shangguan family's twins.
Young Master Wei's appearance and demeanor were many levels higher than that of Meng Mingshi; therefore as he arrived on horseback, he was greeted with a commotion of praise.
The guards held the people back and pushed the dense crowd apart to form a narrow passage.
Wei Lingmiao did not care about the crowd's gazes and indications. With a pensive smile on his face, he behaved as if he was strolling through the courtyard of his own home. His dismount from his horse was as smooth as floating clouds and as natural as flowing water, prompting cheers from the crowd.
A personal servant entered to announce his arrival.
The gatekeepers were shocked by Young Master Wei's demeanor as they stared at each other uneasily and their smiles became strained.
Soon, the personal servant was kicked out.
His whole body was forcibly rushing towards Wei Lingmiao at the gate, one of the gatekeepers reached out and pushed the concealed human figure away, allowing the servant to land safely and then immediately withdrew.
Wei Lingmiao knocked the fan into the palm of his hand with a sigh before raising his voice and shouted, "Tenth Young Master, an old friend has come for a visit, why not come out and meet me?"
Shangguan Ru held a saber with a dissatisfied expression. Under the deterrence of Maid Lotus, she did not charge out to slay him. This Young Master Wei was indeed a scoundrel. Brazenly arriving without prior notice, it was as if she was the one waiting for his arrival.
Gu Shenwei went out to order the machetemen to drive the onlookers away and to persuade Wei Lingmiao to leave. "The Tenth Young Master can't meet with any guests today. Young Master Wei, please pardon us."
A small setback could not sway Young Master Wei. "Report this to the Tenth Young Master: From now on, I'll come tomorrow and every day after." Then he vigorous winked at the killer, as if there were some tacit secret.
Young Master Wei left, but Shangguan Ru's rage did not diminish. She finally made the resolution to punish this womanizer.
The next day, Wei Lingmiao came again. This time, the front gate was tightly shut; even servants were refused entry.
Leaving his gifts at the door, Wei Lingmiao left with a sigh.
For five consecutive days, Young Master Wei came every single day. Although there were fewer and fewer onlookers, he became more and more spirited; and even his gifts were becoming more and more unique. One evening, he also hired a fireworks performance; even those who were located at the top of the Golden Roc Fort towers could see it.
On the sixth day, Young Master Wei did not show a disheartened expression, but he felt that his life was becoming somewhat tedious and some adjustments needed to be made.
Aside from the Tenth Young Master, which other women in South City were worthy enough for Wei Lingmiao to visit them in person.
There was only one.
Not anyone could just summon South City's top prostitute and treated her like smoke in the air.
Pleasure Alley has never forced anyone to stay. The prostitutes were regularly rotated in and out; even those who became famous were forgotten. Only Xiao Fengchai had been standing firm as the most famous for the longest time. She also became the leader of the cosmetic community within Jade City.
Those who never had the chance to see Xiao Fengchai would often say, "that prostitute was just ordinary, and she isn't very young anymore. If it wasn't for the Meng family's investments, who would line up for her services? Fame is hard to achieve alone."
After hearing such words, those who had seen Xiao Fengchai always sneered with a sense of superiority and held their heads high as they took their leave; behaving in an aloof manner in front of their peers.
Wei Lingmiao had met with Xiao Fengchai before. The last time he visited the Jade City, he had stayed at Xiao Fengchai's home for ten days, becoming the man who stayed with her the longest. You should know that Xiao Fengchai picked her guests. If she disliked you, even if you offered a fortune, you could only sit with her for a chat and to drink tea; wanting to stay any longer was dependent on one's nature.
Therefore, Wei Lingmiao felt that coming here would give him great comfort.
He became unhappy when a maid had made such a distinguished guest like him wait.
However, Wei Lingmiao quickly relaxed because Xiao Fengchai was Xiao Fengchai after all. It was worth the wait. When he first came to visit, he was also not brought upstairs immediately. Like everyone else, he had to go through three trials.
The first trial was money. Xiao Fengchai picks people, not money. If you want to see her, the monetary gift can't be less than a thousand taels. Adding a few fashionable trinkets would increase your chances. Wei Lingmiao had already prepared a monetary donation of three thousand taels with a dozen or so gifts that were rejected by the Leviathan Society as his offering for the first trial.
The second trial was the person. After drinking tea downstairs for a quarter of an hour, Wei Lingmiao was finally invited to the living area of the second floor. The decoration here was extremely luxurious; rugs from the Western Region, calligraphy paintings from the Central Plains, Buddha statues from the Fourth Truths Temple, sandalwood from the Ocean Country--everything one could wish for was on display--there were even a few maids that were national beauties strolling around. If the guests, upon arriving on this floor, revealed even a hint of being dazzled by these things, then they could forget about seeing Xiao Fengchai herself.
What had Wei Lingmiao not seen before? The decor on this floor was of no interest to him, except for a calligraphy painting. He stood in front of this masterpiece, knowing full well that Xiao Fengchai was watching him closely.
The third trial was patience. Wei Lingmiao drank tea for another half an hour on the second floor, reluctantly suppressing his frustration. Being treated like any other first-time guest was tolerable, but this was his second time visiting--did their tender affection from his previous visit mean nothing?
Wei Lingmiao thought in this heart that a prostitute was just a prostitute after all; forever using the same know-how.
The wait was finally over when two stunning maids rolled up the beaded curtains, and Wei Lingmiao knew that he could enter.
The woman sitting by the window was the Xiao Fengchai from his memory. It had almost been three years since he had last seen her. Even without makeup, her beauty had barely faded. She was wearing an elegant light yellow dress, stilling looking out the window as if she hadn't heard anyone coming in.
After smelling the refreshing fragrance in the room, all of Wei Lingmiao's dissatisfaction immediately vanished, and his heart swayed. "Fengchai... "
Bang! Wei Lingmiao felt pain from the back of his head before everything went dark. His last thoughts were, "Prostitutes are heartless."
Capturing Wei Lingmiao was no easy task. Coming to a place such as South City, he had dozens of guards by his side with quite a few experts among them. Without blood splattering the streets, forget about even getting close to this Noble Young Master.
Since Xiao Fengchai has seen many things in her life, she turned with an apathetic expression on her face. The three young killers did not even phase her. Even during the times of Leviathan Society's fiercest war, no one dared to run amok at her place--until today.
"Which one of you is the Tenth Young Master?"
"I am." Shangguan Ru took a step forward. Since the other side has already guessed her identity, there was no need to hide it any longer. She pulled down her mask to show her aggressive appearance. "En, you're quite a beauty. The rumors were true."
Xiao Fengchai smiled. "You're also very beautiful, no wonder Miao'er has been infatuated with you."
"It's just his wishful thinking," Shangguan Ru said bitterly.
The other two killers were still covering their faces; one of them was a woman, and the other was a man. Xiao Fengchai stopped smiling. "Men aren't allowed in here."
These words being said by a prostitute was somewhat ironic and hypocritical. However, what Xiao Fengchai said was the truth. These three killers snuck in here from the neighboring Xu Yanwei's home, which frightened her. At this time, she wanted to end this game.
Gu Shenwei heard of many rumors from Tie Hanfeng involving Xiao Fengchai. In particular, incidents of her helping the wealthy hide their golds and silvers and could not help suspect that Wei Lingmiao was here for that very purpose.
"You don't mind us stealing away your customer, right?" Shangguan Ru took a liking to this prostitute, because of her being so cooperative and saving her a lot of trouble.
"I don't mind, and I don't want to see him today. I have no taste for insincere guests. Want me to humor him while his heart is somewhere else? I don't do such things; therefore he's not my guest. Also, don't use the word 'steal' because others will misunderstand."
A naughty smile flashed on Xiao Fengchai's face as if a big sister was having a conversation with her younger sister. Shangguan Ru did not get angry. She also had a smile on her face as she left with the killers and the captive.
Although Xu Yanwei was still in North City, her bedroom was empty. The distance between Xiao Fengchai's window and the rear window next door was about ten feet apart. Naturally, this distance was not tricky for killers from the Golden Roc Fort. They used grappling hooks to hook onto the awnings, and with a slight swing, they were inside Xu Yanwei's home. The security guards on duty were unaware of these events, still envying their master's luck with women.
Wei Lingmiao made a few noises as Gu Shenwei put him down on the floor, and was about to wake up.
This was planned by Gu Shenwei after bribing one of Young Master Wei's followers and inquired about his hobbies. He concluded that Wei Lingmiao was definitely going to visit Xiao Fengchai.
Shangguan Ru, Maid Lotus, and Slave Huan had waited in Xu Yanwei's home for three days, just for this opportunity.
"What now?" Gu Shenwei asked as he and Maid Lotus stared at Shangguan Ru.
Shangguan Ru was holding her saber, but she did not want to kill anyone, and she had no plans to kill anyone. "This person is filthy, so he really needs a good wash."
Wei Lingmiao woke up and groaned. He opened his eyes but discovered that a black cloth was covering them, and his mouth was stuffed with a rag. He became very frightened, thinking that he had come to Jade City in pursuit of ambitious plans but he would only end up being killed for no apparent reason while in a brothel?