The Rise of Phoenixes

Feng Zhiwei ran quickly, as if she didn’t hear anything.

But then she felt a tightening around her waist as her body was grabbed, and she heard the man yell from behind her:

“If you don’t save me, I’ll say that you raped me!”

Feng Zhiwei stopped short and turned around slowly. She pointed to herself and asked in disbelief: “Me? Rape you?”

The man flashed a charming smile, gathering some loose hair behind his ear and nodding. He pointed to his ripped clothes, “Look, you ripped my clothes. Irrefutable proof.”

Feng Zhiwei barked out laughter in angry disbelief. “Just look at your honor’s old face, with wrinkled crevices deep enough to bury people alive. Me rape you?”

“Hey, can you have some conscience?” The man said heatedly, pushing his chin forward and showing off his face. “I have an old face? Old face? Old face?”

Feng Zhiwei looked more closely and had to admit that she had been wrong. If this face was an old face, then everyone else’s face should already be buried and nailed shut in a coffin.

With such an adorable face, it would be convincing if he sued someone for rape, no matter if it were against a man or a woman.

“When something could no longer be avoided, then don’t run.”

This note from the mysterious notebook was something that Feng Zhiwei agreed with, and so she smiled, “Ok, I’ll save you, but let go of me first.

The man looked at her with suspicion, but Feng Zhiwei didn’t struggle. She twisted, and reached up, tearing apart his hair bun and covering his head with the silk flowers she had just bought.

After spreading the flowers, she wrapped pink silk cloth with cherry blossom branches around his shoulder, and then she poured some dark red sauce from the Crystal Sugar Lotus Root on his face, turning his jade skin into a blackish yellow. That done, she pushed him away towards the tree.

Everything happened too fast for the man to react, and Feng Zhiwei had completed the work just as the pursuing troops arrived.

A ferocious group of female soldiers.

A fat woman led, a kitchen knife and chopping block in her hands, like a valiant general armed to the teeth. Behind her were some similar looking and slightly skinnier women with fierce expressions on their faces, all armed with anything from a washing board to a small pancake flipper.

The group of women rushed over like a tidal wave, the fat woman in front shouting loudly, “You deserve to die by a thousand blades, daring to cheat on me! If I don’t castrate you today, I’ll write my last name upside down!”

She had rushed here uproariously, expecting to find her shameless husband, but instead she stumbled upon a young man in black who was lowering his head and flirting with a woman.

The woman had silk flowers in her hair and work a light silk dress. The young man blocked her body from view, and only half of the woman’s darkish face showed through. Reacting to the fuss, the young man turned around; his was a stranger’s normal face, with reacting with some surprise and unhappiness.

The woman with the flowers looked out at the crowd and felt shy, raising her sleeves to cover her face, shivering from embarrassment.

The fat woman glanced at the two and couldn’t find her husband. She had thought that she catch her dissolute husband, but had instead interrupted someone else’s private affair. The fat lady felt embarrassed, and after an awkward nod, waved her hand, leading her troop of female soldiers somewhere else.

Behind Feng Zhiwei’s arm, the beautiful middle aged man let out a sigh of relief.

Feng Zhiwei smiled faintly as she moved her arm back to her side. As the man tried to thank her, she stopped him with a gesture. “Four feet Jiang Nan Street’s Golden Flower Silk, five Feng Yi Zhai’s new Gold Powder Silk Flower, half a kilo of Si Fang Zhai’s Sticky Rice Crystal Sugar Lotus Roots. A total of 16 Taels and 8 Qian of silver.”

The man paused in a half bow, and then after a moment looked up with a bitter expression and twisted mouth. “…. can I owe you for now?”

Feng Zhiwei’s eyes thinned. “Your Excellency came to the yard without bringing money?”

“Hiring a prostitute with money means nothing!” The man straightened proudly. “A true talent can make courtesans approach him and not ask for money!”

Feng Zhiwei looked him over and nodded thoughtfully. “True, with your appearance it would be hard to say who took advantage of whom.”

“You…” just as the man was about to reply, Feng Zhiwei continued hurriedly. “You don’t have to pay for spending the night, but this life saving money… Remember, your wife is still not far from here.”

The man patted himself over helplessly before retrieving a small seal and passing it to her. “This is made of Tian Huang stone, and is worth a little.”

It really was worth a little; a good quality Tian Huang stone the size of a finger was worth a sky high price.

Feng Zhiwei accepted it disgruntledly, frowning. “… real silver is better…” she muttered before placing the stone in a pocket.

The beautiful man stared at her for a moment before asking suddenly. “You are a servant for the brothel? A talent like you stays in this kind of place? Isn’t this a bit of a waste? Do you want another job?”

Feng Zhiwei refused with a disinterested wave. “Thanks, but no thanks.”

“If you change your mind, come find me at Song Mountain ten miles outside of the city. Show the seal and ask for Xiao Xin¹.”

Feng Zhiwei nodded absentmindedly, and just as the middle aged man “Xiao Xin” was sneaking away, she suddenly called out after him.

“Let me ask one more thing. What is your Excellency’s wife’s name?”

The man’s mouth twisted again. “… Wang.”¹

“…”

It was late, and Feng Zhiwei passed through the backdoor to deliver the silk flower to Yang Hong’s place. Just as she lifted the door curtain and was pushing through a door, a person rushed out hurriedly and bumped past her. She could hear Yan Hong cursing in her high voice, “Which family’s fool!? Wanting me to spend a night with you for one tael of silver!”

The person’s face blushed crimson, and he turned back angrily and shouted: “In this young master’s eyes, you aren’t even worth half a tael of silver!”

Feng Zhiwei was stunned. Who would have thought that even after she had hid in the streets for so long, she would still bump into Feng Hao. He was really too useless, even daring to come to brothels.

Feng Hao paid no mind the the footboy standing to the side as he shivered in anger. A couple days ago he had met some noble friends; they had brought him around to play and had showed him many new things, even pushing him to “try the flavor of women,” telling him that a tael of silver was enough. But today, in Lan Xiang Yard, the small piece of silver was immediately thrown to the side.

Yan Hong pushed through the door, her eyebrows cocked in anger and her finger jabbing toward Feng Hao’s nose. “Beggar, go climb back into your mother’s womb! You want to sleep with me? Too young!”

The spoiled brat couldn’t bear the humiliation and lifted his hand to slap Yan Hong, shouting out, “Dirty bitch!”

A hand grabbed his wrist, stopping his slap in its track.

Feng Hao struggled in red faced futility before turning to take a look at the quiet footboy who had grabbed him.