Chapter 180: The Brothel Encounter

Dressed in palace-woven garments and paired with shoes made with golden silkworm silk soles, he looked every bit like a dissolute young noble.

“I say, Shang Qinghua, is this really necessary?”

Although the face was still the same face, because his temperament had changed so drastically, Xi Yu found Shang Qinghua awkward no matter how he looked at him.

“Mm, this young master is afraid of being devoured alive,” Shang Qinghua replied with a straight face.

His serious tone nearly made Xi Yu topple over.

Those words had originally been something he used to tease Shang Qinghua with, yet now they were thrown right back at him.

He looked at Shang Qinghua with a mixture of laughter and tears, then shrank into a corner of the carriage and closed his eyes to rest.

After traveling for roughly two hours, the carriage arrived outside Piaoxiang Courtyard.

Shang Qinghua was the first one to step down.

He casually flicked open the folding fan in his hand, looking completely like a pampered playboy.

Xi Yu, on the other hand, wore a long face as he reluctantly dressed himself in a servant’s outfit and followed behind him.

Seeing guests arrive, the young attendants responsible for welcoming visitors at the entrance hurried forward.

They unanimously ignored Xi Yu, crowding around Shang Qinghua from all sides.

“Esteemed guest, please present your entry token for the valley.”

Shang Qinghua took the wooden token from his chest and handed it to the attendant. Immediately afterward, someone led the two of them into the valley.

The moment they entered, the madam came forward to greet them. “This young master looks quite unfamiliar. Is this your first time here?”

Shang Qinghua took out a small gold ingot weighing a full tael and handed it to the madam. “This bit of pocket money is for Madam to buy some rouge and face powder.”

Xi Yu looked at Shang Qinghua in surprise. This fellow truly acted the part of whatever role he played.

If Xi Yu himself did not know him inside and out, he would genuinely have believed that Shang Qinghua was nothing more than a rich family’s spoiled young heir.

The madam weighed the gold in her hand, smiling so broadly that her mouth nearly split open.

“What kind of people does young master desire? Here we have every type imaginable—plump or slender, delicate or bold. Whatever kind of girl or Ger you want, we have the .”

The choking scent of rouge and powder made Shang Qinghua frown in displeasure.

“We are looking for the people at Qiuyue Hall.”

The moment Shang Qinghua opened his mouth and named the currently most popular courtesan, the madam became even more certain that she had encountered a fat sheep ripe for slaughter.

She stepped forward and grabbed Shang Qinghua’s sleeve. “Young master, you truly have excellent taste. Our Qiuyue is extremely popular these days…”

Shang Qinghua could not be bothered to deal with her.

He secretly exerted a bit of strength, pulling his sleeve out of the madam’s grasp and casually tossed her another gold ingot.

“Please trouble Madam to make the arrangements. We would like to see Miss Qiuyue as soon as possible.”

Even for someone as greedy as the madam, receiving twenty taels of gold out of nowhere in such a short span left her so excited that her speech became slightly incoherent.

“Th-this, young master, you’re far too generous.”

Xi Yu stepped forward and said, “Our young master has already said it, money is not an issue.”

Hearing Xi Yu say this, the madam smiled so hard that the powder on her face fell off in little clouds. She responded again and again, “Please wait a moment, young master. I’ll take you to Qiuyue Hall right away.”

As the saying goes, money makes the devil turn the millstone.

This was especially evident with the madam.

After taking Shang Qinghua’s gold, she smiled so widely the entire way that her mouth never closed.

Very quickly, the group arrived outside Qiuyue Hall. The madam called out to the servant guarding the door, “Go fetch your mistress at once.”

Seeing that the madam herself had come, the servant dared not delay. He immediately broke into a jog to inform Qiuyue.

Before long, Qiuyue came out to receive them.

Xi Yu quickly turned his face to the side, afraid of being recognized.

In truth, his worry was entirely unnecessary, because from the moment Qiuyue laid eyes on Shang Qinghua, her gaze stuck to him as though glued, unable to move away.

Shang Qinghua was no stranger to being stared at like this, yet for some reason, when faced with Qiuyue, he did not have the slightest bit of patience. With a hint of dislike, he said, “You are Qiuyue?”

Seeing that the man before her was not swayed by beauty, Qiuyue felt that something was off, though she could not quite pinpoint what it was. She could only smile and respond, “Qiuyue greets young master.”

Shang Qinghua frowned. He had come to save someone, not to visit a brothel. But how was he supposed to see Yue Mingxuan?

Meanwhile, the person Shang Qinghua had gone to great lengths to search for was at this very moment gloomily washing dishes.

Ever since he had offended Qiuyue last time, not a single day had gone smoothly for him.

Although the people of Qiuyue Hall did not dare to openly do anything to him because he was tied to Madam Yu’s profits, he still suffered no small amount of petty torment.

Fortunately, his nature was optimistic and from time to time he could still find a bit of amusement amid hardship.

If only there were a basin of golden and silver steamed buns to eat right now, Yue Mingxuan thought this to himself while wiping the sweat from his forehead

At the same time, Shang Qinghua was already sitting upright in the flower hall of Qiuyue Hall, while Qiuyue kept forcing the conversation and desperately searching for topics.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep