chapter 14

The doors of the restaurants and inns were closed tightly, the hawkers on the street seemed to look troubled and anxious. In the past, the capital was blooming like a piece of brocade, but now it looked like it was crumbling. The wind howled at the sparse street, which appeared to be even more wretched.

Murong Yun Shu sighed in her heart, suddenly she felt guilty from looking at the current scene. At the same time, she started to worry. What if the kingdom was not willing to accept her condition? If they weren’t, then she was afraid that Huifeng Bank had no choice but to submit to the them. Plunging the people into misery and suffering wasn’t her intention at all, even her father must not have wished to see the Murong Sect suffer in infamy. No matter whether she succeeds or not, she must stop this endless war of attrition as soon as possible.

“Miss, there’s a stall selling cosmetics, let’s take a look.” It was the first time that Lu’er came to the capital. Every time she saw something new, she became as excited as a sparrow.

“All of these cosmetics were produced from Jin Ling Province, there’s nothing new to see.”

“The fact that Jin Long cosmetics are being sold in the capital is even more reason to check them out!” Lu’er ran towards the cosmetics stall while saying so. She took some of this and some of that to take a look, it was was if it were written on her face, ‘I am an outsider.’

Murong Yun Shu felt helpless and shook her head, then she followed Lu’er to the stall. She noticed that there was a stall beside them that sold hair clasps which aroused her interest. After picking left and right, a navy blue wooden clasp caught her fancy. On top of the clasp was a white rain freesia miniature.

“How much is this hair clasp?”

“One silver tael.”

“So cheap?” Murong Yun Shu was shocked. The materials used and the attention to detail put in the hair clasp could be classified as top-notch, it could easily be worth at least ten silver taels.

The stall owner sighed and said: “Nobody would buy it if it’s weren’t cheap! It’s not easy to do business at this times. Everyone in the capital was wealthy, they used to save their silver taels and deposit them into Huifeng Bank and exchange them into silver notes, but now that Huifeng Bank has closed down, the silver notes have become akin to trash paper. The rich and wealthy suddenly went broke, to the point that even living is hard for them. Who would have the extra money to buy hair clasps? To tell you the truth, you are my first customer this month.”

Murong Yun Shu felt even more guilt than before. Then she readily picked another nine jade hair clasps and said to the stall owner: “Pack these up together along with the wooden clasp.”

“Alright, I’ll pack it for you now.” The stall owner was very happy at the sale.

“Miss, why did you buy so many hair clasps?” Lu’er curiously asked.

“Gift it to the aunts.”

“Miss you are so kind, the aunts would be so happy……Huh? How come there’s another hair clasp on your hand? It looks like a hair clasp for men…… Miss, did you buy it for a man? ……Ah! I know now, this must be for Master, right?” Lu’er asked excitedly.

“I bought it for my father.”

“But he’s already passed away.”

“Can’t I burn it in tribute for him?”

“……Can.” Lu’er was messed up by Murong Yun Shu’s words.

*

It had been three days since Murong Yun Shu and her servants came to the capital, but they hadn’t entered the palace yet. It wasn’t because they didn’t want to, it’s because they couldn’t.

“The Emperor doesn’t even send someone to greet us, how are we supposed to go in?!” Lu’er complained as she used her palms to hold her chin.

“They probably don’t know that we are here.” Murong Yun Shu gently spanned the teacup with her hand. She realized that she was wrong, she should have taken Nie Qing along with her.

“Then what should we do?” Lu’er said with a bitter face: “We can’t possibly stay at a brothel forever, right?”

Murong Yun Shu silently lowered her head and drank her tea, at least living in the brothel is much more comfortable than living on the streets.

By the time they reached the capital, although they had searched every street and corner, they hadn’t been able to find any inns that were currently in operation. They didn’t have a place to stay, so they walked randomly until they reached the front of a brothel. Murong Yun Shu suddenly thought of the idea to disguise herself as a man and stay inside the brothel.

“Miss, you must think of something! If Master knew that you lived in a brothel, he will surely go crazy!”

“Why would he go crazy?” Murong Yun Shu asked calmly as if it didn’t matter to her: “It’s not like he himself never stayed here before.”

“How did you know he stayed here before?”

“I guessed.”

“……So good at guessing.” Lu’er really admired her Miss. She knew if it was herself, she wouldn’t have been able to stay so calmly inside a brothel. Every night, she would wear a few more layers of clothes to ensure her safety, she was so afraid that someone would attack her.

*

Murong Yun Shu thought for a long time, then she finally decided to go to the Ministry of Revenue first. But before she even walked out of the brothel, she was blocked by officers.

“Aiyo, lord officer, what are you doing here?” The bawd fearsomely went out and greeted the officers.

“The government has received secret information saying that there’s a kingdom criminal hiding in Baihua Brothel!” The leader signaled his team with a ‘go’ gesture, the officers immediately rushed into the brothel and started searching everywhere.

“Ah…… Ah……” The bawd wanted to stop the officers, but she didn’t have the courage to do so. After she waved her hands randomly in the air in a flustered manner, she turned her body and faced the officer and said: “We have only ladies here, there are no criminals at all! Lord officer, can you please give us some mercy……?” While she was saying so, she took a few silver notes out from her sleeve and intended to hand it to the officer.

That officer saw the silver notes and his face immediately showed an expression of ridicule: “I have a lot of silver notes in my hands, too. How about I gift some to you, and you hand over the criminal to me?”

“Lord officer really knows how to joke.” The bawd smiled apologetically and rushed to a servant to tell them to take out some silver taels quickly.

Murong Yun Shu sighed silently while looking at the situation. She had a thought in her heart that if she were to set up a stall on the street to exchange for silver notes, she was not sure if anyone would sell the silver notes to her.

Once the silver taels arrived, the officers immediately stopped searching the brothel. They acted as if they couldn’t find the criminal and left a word of, ‘If you see the criminal, immediately report it to us,’ then they disappeared. After the officers had left, Baihua Brothel finally recovered back to normal operations. The ladies were practicing dancing, singing, and laughing. Just waiting for sunset to start their nightly business.

“I can assure you that there’s no such criminal at all. Those officers came to get some petty advantages from us.” Lu’er was displeased about the situation earlier.

Murong Yun Shu did not say anything. She calmly stared at the bawd for a while, then she turned her body and went upstairs.

“Miss, are we not going to the Ministry of Revenue?”

“Not anymore.”

“Why?”

“I felt hungry suddenly.”

“……” But Miss had just eaten her breakfast.

Murong Yun Shu walked up the wooden stairs at a slow pace, but she was still observing the situation below through the corner of her eye. When she finally walked up to the top, the bawd kept to her defensive expression.

Murong Yun Shu really felt that she ended up meeting a lot of weird people no matter where she went. She laughed and shook her head and then walked back to her room.

“Miss, I feel that there’s something weird about this brothel.” Lu’er tried to suppress her voice as she carefully said so to Murong Yun Shu.

“Mmm.” Murong Yun Shu answered her calmly, she was thinking of out her escape plan in her mind.

Just now, downstairs, after the officers had left, and when Murong Yun Shu intended to go out as well, she saw the bawd’s expression suddenly become strict just as she raised her right leg, then she noticed that there’s an embroidery needle in her hand. She need not guess because she already knew that the embroidery needle was prepared for her, so she wisely changed the direction of her feet.

Murong Yun Shu used her palm to hold her forehead and moaned, there are so many brothels in the capital, why did she have to choose this brothel?

So unlucky!