The First Courtyard suite was the finest in the Yunsu Tower. Who had come up with this near-identical layout — one never quite knew — but every large pleasure house seemed to follow the same pattern: private courtyards in the back, and a peerless beauty in every private courtyard.

This girl, Yun Xiaozhao, had the look of a small wildflower blooming on the open plains — pure and unblemished in every way.

A girl like her, forced by circumstances into life in a pleasure house, would inevitably carry some painful history, some sorrowful story.

But she told no story. She barely spoke at all.

In that room saturated with its ambiguous, heavy fragrance, she sat in a chair, fidgeting with discomfort, staring down at the tips of her shoes. And somehow, the more she behaved like that, the stronger the impulse became to tip her off balance entirely.

Gui Yuanshu, for his part, was not at all stiff. He sprawled across the bed in a completely unselfconscious way. He had tipped himself over.

The fragrance on the pillow seemed to carry some soporific effect — and added to that, he hadn’t slept properly in days. He found himself growing drowsy.

“Sir…”

After a long while, Little Zhao called to him.

Gui Yuanshu asked, half-asleep, “Do you know how to play chess?”

Yun Xiaozhao’s face brightened somewhat — she probably thought this gentleman wanted to play chess with her, which would buy some time. If by some chance he fell asleep before any further intentions arose and the proprietor returned for his actual conversation, perhaps she would be spared altogether.

“I do.”

Yun Xiaozhao answered quickly and went to retrieve the chess box from the table drawer.

Gui Yuanshu didn’t move an inch, still sprawled on the bed, drowsily replying, “Good. Play against yourself then.”

Yun Xiaozhao: “????????”

She stood there holding the chess box, no longer sure what she was supposed to do with herself.

Then she saw that Gui Yuanshu had actually fallen asleep — and was even snoring.

The suite wasn’t small. At present, she and Gui Yuanshu were in the main room, while Old Sun had been arranged in the side room next door. There, a girl stood before Old Sun in some awkwardness — because Old Sun hadn’t given her a single glance. He was picking at his feet.

Actually picking at his feet: the moment he came through the door, he pulled off his boots, got on the kang, and picked at his feet with such an expression of blissful satisfaction that his eyebrows seemed to be taking flight.

“This… this gentleman.”

The girl hesitated for a moment, then worked up the nerve to speak. “The proprietor has assigned me to attend to you, sir. If there is anything you wish…”

Old Sun said, “Just you?”

The girl nodded. “Just me.”

Old Sun said, “That’s not enough.”

The girl: “????????”

She couldn’t help looking Old Sun over several times. His age — somewhere around forty. At that age, a man claiming to have great stamina was, seven or eight times in ten, bragging.

The other two or three times out of ten, they were the kind who wouldn’t dare to brag that loudly.

Everyone knew how men were: their peak was somewhere around twenty. After that, even when they walked out of a pleasure house they’d linger, pretending to chat with the girls a little longer, because they didn’t want their companions outside to think they’d finished too quickly. The girls all knew — these men just didn’t want to be the first one out the door.

And yet Old Sun’s manner was perfectly self-assured.

After a moment, seeing no movement, Old Sun narrowed his eyes and glanced at her. “Well? Why haven’t you gone to call for backup? I said one person isn’t enough. You’re not enough. Go find two more — three of you together might barely stand a chance against me. I’m putting that on the table now, and if I end up losing to the three of you, I’ll run three laps down the main street without my trousers.”

That was enough to stoke the girl’s competitive spirit. With a *humph* she turned and walked out — and before long, she really did come back with two companions.

—

In the main room.

Yun Xiaozhao said, awkwardly and with some grievance, “If… if you don’t fancy me, I’ll just go back and tell the proprietor. At worst… at worst I’ll just get a scolding.”

Gui Yuanshu said, “Why put on such a performance? Just sit there quietly playing chess against yourself. Is that so difficult?”

Little Zhao had timidly shaken him awake a moment ago, and he seemed rather disgruntled about it.

He rubbed his eyes and sat up. “Tell you what — I didn’t get to eat properly out there earlier, and I can see that left room is a kitchen, yes? Can you cook?”

Yun Xiaozhao immediately brightened — having something to do was infinitely better than this awkwardness. She rushed out.

As she left, she happened to see three girls going into the other room together. Her eyes went a little wide. In that moment, the pure little flower showed a few not-so-pure petals.

—

Yun Xiaozhao busied herself in the kitchen for a while. As it turned out, she had quite a talent for cooking.

She prepared several small dishes — each one beautifully presented, each smelling wonderfully appetizing. Gui Yuanshu helped himself without the slightest hesitation, apparently unconcerned in the least that there might be any sedative or poison in the food. He picked up his chopsticks and started eating.

Yun Xiaozhao filled his cup with wine, then raised her own. “A toast to you, sir.”

Gui Yuanshu lifted his cup, then suddenly said, “Where’s the fun in drinking like this? Let’s finger-guess — whoever loses must…” *heh heh heh.*

That laugh had all the hallmarks of a true nature revealing itself.

Yun Xiaozhao thought the gentleman was revealing his true nature — only to find that he was indeed revealing his true nature, just not the true nature she’d been thinking of.

Finger-guessing. Lose and pay ten copper coins. Not a high stake — just for fun.

And so they played. Yun Xiaozhao lost seven or eight rounds in a row. Seven or eight times ten copper coins wasn’t much — what could you even do with seventy or eighty copper coins? Buy a few flatbreads. In these times, you couldn’t even buy a piece of meat.

But still, her competitive instincts began to stir, and the gambling spirit in both of them started to swell.

Another hour later, Yun Xiaozhao was sitting beside Gui Yuanshu with her cheeks puffed out, ignoring him.

After playing for over an hour, she hadn’t won a single round. What kind of person wastes their time mastering finger-guessing to such a point of perfection? How little must you care about anything to be this good?

She didn’t know — in his days at the Tingwei office, Gui Yuanshu had been so bored that finger-guessing with Zheng Shunshun and the others had been how he passed the time. Not just her — even with all four of Zheng Shunshun’s group together, they could rarely beat Gui Yuanshu.

—

Just at this moment, Old Sun strolled back in through the door with a look of deep and settled satisfaction. Both Gui Yuanshu and Yun Xiaozhao looked up at him at the same time.

After Yun Xiaozhao had finished cooking, she’d mentioned to Gui Yuanshu that his companion had called three girls into the room. Gui Yuanshu had thought to himself: *the old fellow really does have some nerve.*

But now, seeing Old Sun’s steady gait and ruddy complexion, beaming with self-satisfaction, Gui Yuanshu found he had no choice but to be impressed.

Old Sun looked at the loose silver coins scattered in front of Gui Yuanshu and asked, “Won that from finger-guessing?”

Gui Yuanshu said, “Small winnings, small winnings — nothing worth mentioning.”

Old Sun nodded. “Indeed, that really is not worth mentioning.”

He detached a money pouch from his belt and gave it a shake. It clinked and jingled inside — a considerable amount, and from the bulging, well-rounded shape of it, there had to be several dozen taels of silver at minimum.

Old Sun said, “Impressed?”

Gui Yuanshu said, “What exactly did you do in there?”

Old Sun said, “I called three people in — what else was I going to do? Play mahjong. Those three girls were no match for me at all. If I’d been just a little less lenient, they’d have lost their clothes.”

Gui Yuanshu thought to himself: *they were probably hoping to lose their clothes instead.*

Since the Yunsu Tower had opened its doors, it had never once hosted anyone like these two. Today it had. Neither of them behaved like people there to enjoy themselves — they behaved like people there to earn their living expenses.

“Alright.”

Gui Yuanshu said, “I know you’re not the one who calls the shots here. You’re just someone Pei Bancheng arranged to watch us — trying to get a read on what we’re about. You’re not as helpless and pitiful as you seemed, either. You’re just good at acting.”

He looked at Yun Xiaozhao. “Go and invite Pei Bancheng to come.”

Yun Xiaozhao was quiet for a moment, then suddenly smiled. “You’ve certainly broadened my horizons today, the both of you.”

With that, she turned and walked out.

Not long after, Pei Bancheng came strolling in from outside, already wearing a smile.

He had indeed never left. He’d been outside all along, waiting — and the longer he waited, the more intrigued he became. Today had been quite an eye-opener for him as well.

He sat down across from Gui Yuanshu. Pei Bancheng smiled and said, “Young Master. Remarkable.”

Gui Yuanshu pointed at Old Sun. “He’s more remarkable than me.”

Old Sun said, “Perfectly normal.”

Pei Bancheng said, “I was being somewhat discourteous earlier, and I ask your understanding. But please appreciate that I had no choice but to be cautious — I haven’t had any contact with the Young Master in a very long time. Not with the Young Master, nor with anyone from the Mountain River Seal. When two strangers come knocking out of nowhere, I had to test the waters.”

Old Sun asked curiously, “What did you expect to learn from testing us like that?”

Pei Bancheng gestured toward Yun Xiaozhao, who had stepped back to stand at a slight distance. “A girl like her is exactly the kind who makes men lose their heads. The purer they look, the more she stirs up base impulses in men — that’s the wisdom of many years running this business. If it had been people sent by the court, they would never have been able to resist that kind of temptation. Their trousers would have been off three times already.”

Gui Yuanshu said, “I understand what you mean — that we seem to be men of principle, not the kind who get sidetracked by fleeting pleasures. But I still feel rather offended.”

Pei Bancheng let out a great laugh. “You should both know I’m not being dishonest. At the very least, it proves neither of you is the sort to be bought by small temptations.”

Gui Yuanshu said, “In that case, you may have misread the situation somewhat.”

Pei Bancheng was taken aback — because what Gui Yuanshu said didn’t sound like it was meant as a joke.

Gui Yuanshu said, “Let’s get to the real matter.”

Pei Bancheng said, “Fair enough. Since you carry the Young Master’s token, I’ll take your identity on faith. So, may I ask — what does the Young Master intend?”

Gui Yuanshu said, “Your Young Master’s meaning is that you shouldn’t be asking what he intends — you should simply do as you’re told.”

This reply came because Gui Yuanshu could see plainly: it was Pei Bancheng’s second test.

“Hmm…”

Pei Bancheng smiled. “Young Master seems quite confident.”

Gui Yuanshu looked at Old Sun. Old Sun showed no reaction. Gui Yuanshu cleared his throat. Old Sun turned his head the other way. Gui Yuanshu cleared his throat a second time. Old Sun picked up a teacup and handed it to him. “Throat bothering you?”

Gui Yuanshu glared at him. Old Sun sighed, then replied with a look of his own: *the money you gave me doesn’t cover this part. That’ll need to be a separate fee.*

Gui Yuanshu just held his gaze. In the end it was Old Sun who relented with a resigned nod.

Old Sun looked down at the ground beneath his feet. Following his gaze, one could see that the stone tiles underfoot — without anyone noticing exactly when — had been crushed to powder.

Pei Bancheng’s expression shifted visibly. His eyes narrowed.

Old Sun reached over and picked up the silver pot from the table. In a few quick, casual movements, he kneaded it into a smooth silver ball.

Then he handed the silver ball to Gui Yuanshu. Gui Yuanshu dropped it into his travel pack.

The whole sequence, fluid and unbroken.

Pei Bancheng slowly let out a breath. He asked, “At most, I can provide you with support from behind the scenes. I won’t step forward directly.”

Gui Yuanshu smiled. “Now you’re starting to see things more clearly.”

Old Sun, meanwhile, sat thinking to himself: *My final payment is still up in the air, and the jobs I’m taking on just keep multiplying. This isn’t right. This really isn’t right.*

—