/
Chang’an street was thronged with people. Jin Wang ordered his attendants to park the carriage in a secluded narrow lane and led Ye Shu out without them.
Ye Shu, in the end, chose to wear the disguise. The reason was: Since His Majesty had already taken in the beauty, he could not let those officials down; he must be pampered well.
But Jin Wang knew he was making trouble on purpose. This man could hardly wait for the outside world to look upon him as capricious.
This was really damnable. Jin Wang thought to himself.
“Shall we go over there and have a look?” Ye Shu turned his head to look at him, his eyes smiling brightly.
Ye Shu’s disguise was quite the beauty as well, but his original appearance, which was more delicate, was much more to Jin Wang’s liking. To Jin Wang, who was accustomed to the sight that could cause the downfall of his state, the beauty of this disguise was simply invisible to him.
But now that he knew who was under it, even it had become pleasing to his eyes.
Jin Wang shook his head and broke out from his momentary daze. Ye Shu didn’t wait for him to answer and directly pulled him towards Chang’an street.
During the day, the street was nowhere near as lively as it was at night, but it was not so bad either. Hawkers were on both sides of the street, passers-by flocking through, three to five people forming companionships; what an auspicious scene.
As an emperor, it was gratifying to see such a prosperous time under his reign. But with this little devil by his side, Jin Wang didn’t have the slightest mood to appreciate the spirit of the people.
Why is he running so fast? Doesn’t he know that he has to walk slowly? He’s even cramming into crowded areas, what if he gets shoved? Furthermore, how dare you let go of Gu’s hand! Gu will not let you out next time!
Jin Wang forcefully took Ye Shu’s hand. “Hold on to Gu.”
Ye Shu looked back at him, just in time to meet Jin Wang’s gloomy complexion.
The two looked at each other for a moment.
Ye Shu then smiled and said, “We came out to have fun, what are you making such a long face for? Here, this is for you.”
He stuffed a skewer of tanghulu into Jin Wang’s hand.
Jin Wang was stumped and asked in a trance, “You… You bought this for Gu?”
“Aye,” Ye Shu also held a skewer in his hand, sticking out his tongue to lick the coated sugar. “Your Majesty hasn’t had the chance to eat this in the past. Try it, it’s delicious.”
Jin Wang lowered his head and took a bite.
The taste was sweet and sour, like the fragrance of this man’s faith incense.
Ah no. This hawthorn fruit has a more astringent taste, not nearly as good as the faith incense.
Wait… Hawthorn fruit……
It hadn’t been long since the imperial physician told him that Kunjun should abstain from eating hawthorns during gestation.
This man was courting disaster again!
Ye Shu was about to take a bite when Jin Wang quickly reached out and seized his skewer.
Ye Shu, “?”
Jin Wang expressionlessly said, “Spit it out.”
Ye Shu obediently opened his mouth.
Jin Wang held out Ye Shu’s skewer and said, “This is Gus.”
Ye Shu, “???”
“Don’t you already have one?” Ye Shu asked.
Jin Wang, impervious to reason, said, “But Gu wants to eat yours.”
“……”
Ye Shu stood silent for a moment, then spread out his hands. “Fine. Here you go. You’re the Majesty after all.”
He probably didn’t mean anything else by that, but it suddenly occurred to Jin Wang that Ye Shu had always given him the best things in those most bitter days of their past.
Giving way to him at all times and never fighting over it.
Jin Wang was momentarily lost in thought, but Ye Shu’s attention was soon drawn by other things and he tugged Jin Wang forward at a fast pace.
They soon arrived in front of a small building, the plaque above bearing three big words:
“Chun Jiang Pavilion“
This was the number one brothel in the capital.
Visitors to brothels were usually few and far between during the day and only did they become a scene of bustle and excitement at night.
But this was not the case here. People came and went from the Chun Jiang Pavilion in a steady stream. At the top of the steps, the scene was not like a common brothel where men and women smiled and beckoned customers; only two manservants stood in front of the door, urbanely greeting arriving people and bidding farewell to those departing. It could hardly be called a place of debauchery but rather a place of splendor and elegance.
Ye Shu couldn’t help but take another few looks.
“Do you want to go?” Jin Wang asked.
Ye Shu promptly shook his head. “Not at all, not at all…”
“If you want to go, just say so, Gu can take you.”
“Not… Eh?” Ye Shu’s eyes lit up. “Really?”
Jin Wang smiled and pulled him directly into the Chun Jiang Pavilion.
A manservant greeted them and Jin Wang asked him to lead them to the most comfortable seats. The windows were wide open, just enough to take in the sight of the entire Chun Jiang Pavilion. The windows also faced a high platform in the front hall.
As the manservant left after serving tea, Ye Shu couldn’t help but ask, “You… You’ve been here before?”
And it looked like his visits numbered far more than just one. Judging from Jin Wang’s familiarity with the place and his skillfulness in issuing orders to the manservant, he was clearly a frequent customer.
Ye Shu’s eyes suddenly became very subtle.
Didn’t expect you to be such a dog emperor.
Jin Wang coughed lightly and explained, “The late emperor was very fond of such places, for he indulged himself in carnal comforts, thus the capital was filled with brothels. Do you think the imperial family wasn’t surreptitiously fanning the fire?”
“Y-You mean……”
Jin Wang faintly said, “At that time, most of the brothels in the capital were actually the imperial properties.”
Ye Shu then understood. “So this is also…”
“After Gu ascended to the throne, Gu shut those brothels down successively, leaving only this Chun Jiang Pavilion,” Jin Wang paused and he frowned. “……Don’t look at Gu like that. Unlike that fatuous ruler, this brothel is not entirely for pleasure.”
Ye Shu pretended not to hear Jin Wang call his father a “fatuous ruler” and then asked, “Why is that?”
Jin Wang fell silent.
After a while, he pensively replied, “Gu has three hundred spies all over the area. They need a place to pass on information.”
Ye Shu still remembered that the book did say that the three hundred spies hid among the haunts of the common people and specially chose inns, restaurants, and other crowded places to deliver news. The book did not specifically refer to Chun Jiang Pavilion, but Chun Jiang Pavilion was indeed in there.
Ye Shu took a sip of his tea. How interesting.
The proprietor behind the state’s greatest brothel was actually the ruler himself. Who would dare to believe this?
“Chun Jiang Pavilion only enjoys song, dance, and poetry during the day. It’s only at night that romantic affairs are conducted.” Jin Wang swept him a glance and said calmly, “We will leave when the sun sets.”
Reading between the lines, Ye Shu let out a glum “oh.”
Don’t even want a beauty to accompany you. How boring.
Singing and dancing performances were beginning on the high platform in the front hall. Jin Wang didn’t bother to look at those, propping his chin to only look at Ye Shu.
And strangely enough, Ye Shu felt a subtle emotion in the air.
A moment of silence reigned until Ye Shu finally couldn’t help asking, “What are you always looking at me for?”
Jin Wang smiled and said, “You’re all Gus. Why, can’t Gu look at you?”
“……S-Suit yourself ba,” Ye Shu put the teacup down on the table and said, “It’s not much fun here. Let’s go have fun somewhere else.”
Jin Wang, however, didn’t move.
The two looked at each other for a long time, when Jin Wang sighed and spoke, “A-Shu, when will you learn?”
Ye Shu looked somehow disconcerted as he said, “W-What do I have to learn?”
“You have left a total of seven to eight marks in the street since you came out.” Jin Wang said insipidly. “You think Gu didn’t see it?”
Ye Shu’s fingers hidden under the table curled up.
He had indeed left his traces along the way.
Ever since he left the ancestral temple and fell into the hands of others, he never met Chang Yuan again, who had probably waited for him and didn’t know where he had gone. He had beguiled Jin Wang to go out precisely to leave his marks on the street to inform Chang Yuan about his news.
Ye Shu let out a dry laugh and said, “What marks is Your Majesty talking about? This subject doesn’t understand ah…”
Jin Wang looked at him with a lukewarm expression.
Ye Shu looked down and said in a low voice, “Alright, I’ll tell you. I simply wanted to find Chang Yuan.”
Hearing him mention this name, Jin Wang’s  eyes flashed with a touch of hostility.
Afraid that Jin Wang wouldn’t believe him, Ye Shu explained, “I wasn’t really planning to escape… It’s… It’s just that Chang Yuan doesn’t know of my whereabouts so he must be very anxious right now. I just want to let him know.”
Jin Wang fixed his gaze upon him. After a while, he raised his hand to brush the hair strewn in front of Ye Shu’s forehead behind his ear. With a gentle voice he said, “Actually, you had other easier ways.”
His tone plainly screamed danger. Ye Shu flinched and asked, “L-like what?”
Jin Wang smiled. “Asking Gu.”
Ye Shu didn’t answer.
Although it was daytime, Chun Jiang Pavilion was, after all, a brothel. The interior was ambiguously decorated with the cloying fragrance of incense permeating the air, even the atmosphere around the two was mired in the ambiguity.
Ye Shu gulped. “Your Majesty…”
“Hmn?”
Ye Shu looked somewhat nervous. He clenched his hands under the table and said, “It’s not necessary.”
Jin Wang was taken aback.
Ye Shu quickly continued, “He’ll leave on his own if he can’t find me. It’s just as well, he doesn’t have to get involved.”
Silence reigned once again. After a while, Jin Wang softly smiled and the heavy atmosphere of that moment all but faded away.
“Alright, as you wish.”
Ye Shu let out a silent sigh of relief.
He had passed another hurdle.
Chang Yuan had helped him escape before. This dog emperor was only willing to help him find him as a joke. If he really accepted Jin Wang’s help, it would be hard to tell if he would receive the man alive, dead, or with his limbs intact.
Poor little Chang Yuan. I hope he never gets caught by this dog emperor. Ye Shu thought in his heart.
The two sat for a few more moments, then got up and left their seats.
As soon as they reached the stairway, a figure suddenly lunged out, almost bumping into Ye Shu, but Jin Wang promptly shielded the latter and the figure fell at their feet.
Jin Wang frowned. A trace of hostility flashed under his eyes.
The young man who had been thrown, however, didn’t care much and took the lead in crawling forward and grabbed the hem of Ye Shu’s clothes. “S-Save me…”
The fragrance of nectar suddenly spread around the area.
“You……”
Ye Shu was about to speak when he heard a sharp cry behind him. “Where are you going? How dare you disturb the customers?! Bring him back!”
Several manservants immediately came forward and grabbed the young man.
The young man looked up. He was not at all advanced in years, looking only sixteen or seventeen years old, with delicate and soft features. There was also a cinnabar mole between his eyebrows. He had just hit his forehead on the stairs, receiving a tiny cut.
But the young man seemed to feel no pain, struggling with all his might, “Let me go. I don’t want to stay here—”
“Hold it!” Ye Shu exclaimed.
All movements stopped.
The young man, dressed only in plain, coarse clothes, seemed to be extremely frightened and was shivering all over.
Ye Shu understood at once. Did he just encounter a destitute-young-man-being-sold-to-a-brothel kind of drama?
Sure enough, a woman dressed as a brothel keeper arrogantly came up and said, “What are you still waiting for? Get him! This old woman has spent quite a lot of silver taels to buy this Kunjun. If he escapes, you all get the hell out of here!”
“……” Looks like he did.
The manservants once again set about their task to restrain the young man, who had crawled and hid behind Ye Shu. “Young master, save me, save me…”
“What are you still running for? Your father sold you off—” The old woman walked while speaking, but her voice came to an abrupt halt as soon as she saw Jin Wang. “Y-Your……”
Jin Wang calmly shook his head at her.
Chun Jiang Pavilion was a stronghold for the spies to pass on information, so this brothel keeper was naturally one of them.
Ye Shu didn’t pay much attention to this and softly tugged the hem of Jin Wang’s clothes. “A-Yuan…”
Jin Wang looked back at him. “Hmn?”
“This child…” Ye Shu hesitated for a moment and continued, “Didn’t you say that you could return my family’s fortune to me? Can I allocate a portion of it first to save him?”
Without hesitation, Jin Wang smilingly answered, “Of course.”
He looked back at the woman. “Did you hear that?”
“H-Heard……” The woman looked calm on the surface but her heart was actually in turbulent waves.
How could His Majesty speak so gently to outsiders? She couldn’t be mistaken, could she???
Jin Wang said, “Quote a price ba.”
Even if someone gave her a few thousands of units of courage, she wouldn’t dare accept money from the ruler. She shook her head repeatedly and said, “No no……”
Jin Wang, “I’ll let you quote the price.”
“……F-Five hundred taels.” As if worried that His Majesty would think she was indiscriminately bidding prices, the brothel keeper hurriedly explained, “This child has the rare body of a Kunjun. He differentiated earlier than ordinary people. I had bid with several others just to buy him. If Your Ma…. Ahem, if the young master likes him, I could give you a discount?”
“No need,” Jin Wang said. “I’ll take the man with me. The taels will be delivered later.”
Then, he turned his head to look at Ye Shu and said, “Are you satisfied now?”
Ye Shu didn’t answer. The brothel keeper’s words had left him in complete fog.
Kunjun… Differentiation… What???