“What else can Miss do other than playing chess?” Shuang Jiang glanced at Shen Miao and said angrily, “Miss is grounded all day and can’t even get out of the courtyard.”
“Shh—” Bai Lu whispered, “Stop talking. Miss is already unhappy about being grounded. Don’t make her angry.”
Shuang Jiang muttered, “Our girl has a good temper. She won’t be angry.”
Speaking of which, it had been a long time since she saw Shen Miao angry. In the past, Shen Miao was quite emotionally unstable. She was happy and sad all the time, but now, her maids couldn’t understand her. She seemed to have acquired many decades of life experience overnight.
No one knew how he went from being simple and weak to being calm.
“Bai Lu.” Shen Miao call.
“You can go and pawn the gold jewelry in the silver jewelry box in the cabinet,” she said without looking back.
“Yes,” Bai Lu quickly replied, then was stunned. “But Miss, I just pawned a box of jewelry yesterday. This is the last box.”
“It’s fine.” Shen Miao put down the chess piece. “There’s no need for that. After you pawn it, give the banknotes to Jingzhe and call Gu Yu in.”
Bai Lu went out, but she was a little puzzled. Shen Miao was in a hurry to use the money, so Bai Lu wondered what the money was for.
The Pleasure Restaurant was the largest restaurant in the capital. It was located on the busiest street. Opposite the Pleasure Restaurant was a group of brothels. After the officials and nobles finished eating, they would most likely go to the brothel opposite to have some fun. The brothels were divided into different levels. The best brothels were on the top floors. The girls on the top floors were the courtesans who entertained guests with performances but not with their bodies. The lowest class was the ninth-grade brothel. Such a brothel was filled with girls who sold their bodies.
People who visited the ninth-grade brothel were mostly laborers. Often, girls who were about to die of illness would be thrown out into the street. The wandering beggars on the street would carry these girls back, perhaps to enjoy them, or perhaps their clothes could even be sold for a copper coin.
At the window of the Pleasant Restaurant, a young man’s white sleeves were spotless. He frowned and looked at the ninth-grade brothel opposite him. He saw that someone had thrown newly-arrived girls in. The girls were struggling and crying non-stop. It seemed that some rich families had sold their servant girls. Some young girls were beautiful, and in order to prevent them from seducing their husbands, the jealous madam would sell them to brothels.
“How cruel.” The young man in white shook his head. Although his tone was filled with pity, he had no intention of helping.
The young man opposite him was dressed in a purple robe. He poured himself a glass of wine and said indifferently, “He has already entered Prince Yu’s mansion. I don’t know if we can find him.”
“What if we can’t?” The young man in white turned to look at him.
“Continue looking.” The young man in purple curled his lips into a smile. His evil smile was especially handsome, and even the Guzhen player beside him couldn’t help but fall into a daze and play a wrong note.
Seeing this, the young man in white smiled mischievously. “Jingxing, you’re getting more and more charming. How can I live when all the beauties fall in love with you?”
He pretended to sigh. In fact, this white-clothed young man was very handsome, but compared to the purple-clothed young man, he lacked a noble aura. The young man looked lazy, but his eyes were very sharp, like the sun in the sky. He was born strikingly handsome, attracting all the attention of the crowd.
“Gao Yang, if you like beauties, I’ll… give you a room full of them later.” Xie Jingxing glanced at him.
“Forget it.” The young man in white called Gao Yang hurriedly waved his hand and smiled bitterly. “I don’t have that much energy. As for you,” he took a sip of wine, “you’re still young. How can you not have a female by your side? If you want, in Ming Qi, there will definitely be girls coming at you one after another.”
“My confidante.” Xie Jingxing smiled. “Who knows if she’s just a skeleton?”
“Don’t make it sound so scary.” Gao Yang pointed at the brothel opposite. “Look at how cute those girls upstairs are. What skeletons?”
Xie Jingxing followed his gaze and suddenly paused, a trace of surprise flashing across his eyes.
“Why is it him?”