Were Yao Xishui and those people going to such great lengths to cause accidents for the ministers’ sons originally planned to be selected as companions for the Third Imperial Prince because they wanted to send someone of their own to the Third Imperial Prince’s side, but the slots had already been taken by the four of them?
If that was the case, then the Third Imperial Prince might not be entirely without hope for the throne!
However, the closer the Third Imperial Prince came to the throne, the more perilous his own situation became.
No matter who the conspirator hiding behind Yao Xishui was, he had seen that little bitch Yao Xishui’s true face, and they would certainly find ways to eliminate him, their greatest liability. The simplest and most direct method would be “killing to silence witnesses.”
This “killing” could be assassination, entrapment and murder, poisoning, framing for death, or execution under false pretenses—with Han Qian’s current capabilities, guarding against any of these would be extremely difficult.
Han Qian sat smiling by the window, but his limbs ran cold.
Alas, Han Qian sighed bitterly in his heart, then rallied his spirits and said to Feng Yi, “This time my father locked me away at the manor in Jiangcheng—I was suffocated to death! Forget all this other nonsense, let’s go to Wanhong Tower!”
“What, go to Wanhong Tower now?” Feng Yi hadn’t expected that faced with such an important matter, the first thing Han Qian wanted to do upon returning to Jinling was enthusiastically drag them to Wanhong Tower to seek pleasure.
“My father warned me to restrain myself…” Though Feng Yi was sometimes absurd, he couldn’t help saying this.
“My father warned me the same way. I figured since it won’t be convenient to go out at night in the future, I’d better seize the day and seek pleasure while I can,” Han Qian said.
“You’re right.” Seeing Han Qian was fearless, Feng Yi thought that he himself had been confined at home for the past half month. If not for coming to find Han Qian, he and Kong Xirong still wouldn’t have been allowed to leave.
During this half month, Feng Yi had grown tired of toying with the two maids who attended him—they were too plain-looking, only good for warming beds. In his heart, he was desperately missing those delicate and beautiful girls at Wanhong Tower with their soft Wu dialect. With Han Qian’s casual persuasion, he readily agreed and, regardless of how unwilling Kong Xirong was, grabbed him and headed outside.
“Young Master…” Fan Xicheng was in the front courtyard. Seeing that the Young Master Han Qian had been home for barely the time it takes to burn a stick of incense before being dragged out by Feng Yi and Kong Xirong, he no longer had the heart to concern himself with Han Qian’s affairs, but feared being scolded by the family head Han Daoxun when he returned, so he called out.
“I’m going out on business. Zhao Kuo, come with us,” Han Qian called for Zhao Kuo to accompany them.
Han Qian thought that since he had no way to avoid Wanhong Tower, rather than living in constant fear waiting for assassins from Wanhong Tower to come kill him at his door, he might as well face the deadly trap directly and perhaps discover Wanhong Tower’s true secrets.
Han Qian didn’t dare go to Wanhong Tower alone, but going together with Feng Yi and Kong Xirong would be safer.
Since Wanhong Tower was going to such lengths to create accidents for him and Zhou Kun, they clearly didn’t want their conspiracy exposed in broad daylight.
If all three of them—he, Feng Yi, and Kong Xirong—met with accidents, when news reached Emperor Tianyou’s ears, no matter how foolish the emperor was, he could guess that a shocking conspiracy was unfolding around his third son.
Given Emperor Tianyou’s ruthless methods, wouldn’t he have heads rolling throughout Jinling City?
Han Qian figured that whatever scheme Wanhong Tower or the conspirators behind it were plotting, the person they least wanted to alarm was probably Emperor Tianyou, right?
***
***
Han Qian didn’t head directly to Wanhong Tower with Feng Yi and Kong Xirong.
Feng Yi and Kong Xirong had no servants following them. Seeing they were dressed lightly, they presumably carried no money either. Han Qian, having been confined at the manor during this period, also had nothing on him. If they ran straight to Wanhong Tower now to freeload, wouldn’t they be delivering a handle for Yao Xishui and the others to hold over them?
Han Qian first took Feng Yi and Kong Xirong to the Han Family Bronze Shop on Tiesang Street.
Xuanzhou produced copper. During the previous dynasty, it accounted for nearly one-seventh to one-eighth of the nation’s copper output. After the realm split into pieces, Xuanzhou’s copper mines became extremely important to the Chu state occupying the Jianghuai region, becoming one of the two major sources of copper needed for minting coins in the Jianghuai area.
Although the use of gold and silver was becoming increasingly frequent in this era, they were far from replacing the status of copper coins.
Since Emperor Tianyou established the Chu state, he strictly forbade private mining of copper and coin minting. The casting and sale of bronze wares was permitted only to a handful of great clans like the Han family of Xuanzhou and the Zhou family of Guangling.
The Han Family Bronze Shop was one of the Han family’s properties in Jinling. Second Uncle Han Daochang had said that when Han Qian returned to Jinling, whatever he needed for his extravagances could be drawn from the Han Family Bronze Shop.
Han Qian had never held back when taking money from the bronze shop. This time too, he first went to the Han Family Bronze Shop and took away twelve small gold ingots before heading with Feng Yi and Kong Xirong toward Wanhong Tower by the Qiupu River.
Each small gold ingot weighed a full liang, worth twelve thousand cash.
Twelve small gold ingots, if exchanged for the Kaiyuan Tongbao coins that had been promoted and circulated during the previous dynasty, would weigh a standard nine hundred twenty-one jin.
For sons of privilege going out to seek pleasure, gold ingots were truly practical.
Otherwise, if he, Feng Yi, and Kong Xirong had to haul nearly a thousand jin of Kaiyuan Tongbao coins to Wanhong Tower to hire prostitutes, the scene would be rather ridiculous.
Wanhong Tower was located by the Qiupu River, facing the renowned Wuyi Alley.
The Lanting Alley where Han Qian lived still had dirt roads between its streets and lanes. During rainy weather, when carriages and horses passed through, the roads became muddy and impassable, causing great suffering for those without oxen, horses, or carriages who needed to travel on foot.
But the north bank of Qiupu River, though filled with pleasure houses and places of vice, had streets paved with stone slabs.
Jinling was originally named Shengzhou. Over a thousand years ago, a city was built by the Qiupu River, marking the beginning of Jinling’s establishment. In this timeline, the Wu Dynasty of the late Han and Three Kingdoms period first established its capital in Jinling. Afterward, when the Jin court moved south, it and the Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen states all successively made Jinling their capital, historically known as the “Six Dynasties.” Until the previous dynasty, Jinling had always been the most prosperous place south of the Yangtze…
Wanhong Tower was built twelve years ago on the site of a ruined garden in Wuyi Alley that had been burned down by bandits. This was roughly the same time Emperor Tianyou officially established his capital in Jinling. Among the hundreds or thousands of brothels in Jinling City, its history was absolutely not long.
However, from its very establishment, Wanhong Tower became famous throughout Jinling for housing hundreds of beauties from all directions. Not only did it rapidly establish itself in this city of flowers and willows, it even surpassed its competitors to become the first choice destination for all young masters of aristocratic families in Jinling City seeking pleasure.
Thinking carefully about it now, all this was truly extraordinary.
Han Qian hadn’t thought about these things before, but now, standing before the seemingly ordinary entrance of Wanhong Tower, his thoughts were far more complex.
Han Qian had lived in Jinling for only three or four months in total, yet he was already a regular at Wanhong Tower.
Han Qian, Feng Yi, and Kong Xirong had certainly been openly debauched in broad daylight before. Seeing the three of them appear at the door, a doorkeeper in a blue robe came out from inside with a smiling face: “Young Master Han, Young Master Feng, Young Master Kong, it’s been quite a while since you’ve come to Wanhong Tower! Has some other establishment gotten new girls who’ve won you three young masters’ favor? Oh, and Young Master Zhou from Minister Zhou’s family—why don’t I see him coming with you three young masters?”
“Are you truly ignorant or pretending? That unlucky fellow Zhou Kun fell off a startled horse last month and broke his spine. He’s extremely fortunate to have kept his life,” Feng Yi said, not recognizing anything suspicious about Zhou Kun’s accident and assuming the doorkeeper at Wanhong Tower, with his many sources of gossip, should have heard about it already.
The doorkeeper seemed to hold a lowly position at Wanhong Tower, but all guests entering and leaving Wanhong Tower fell under his observation—actually a very crucial role.
Han Qian lowered his gaze and stared at this doorkeeper who appeared to be under forty. From the surface, one couldn’t tell whether he was privy to secrets within Wanhong Tower.
“Is there any important gentleman requiring Miss Yao’s company at the moment?” Han Qian asked.
“I knew Young Master Han would be thinking of Miss Yao. You don’t know, Young Master Han, but during this time you haven’t come, Miss Yao has grown so thin from missing you…” The doorkeeper smiled and stepped back half a pace, indicating that Han Qian and the others should enter first.
Han Qian looked back and saw Zhao Kuo standing silent. Guessing he was probably afraid of being scolded if his father Han Daoxun found out, Han Qian smiled and said, “We’re just here to relax. If you don’t go tell my father to come arrest me before nightfall, you won’t be blamed.”
“This old servant will wait outside,” Zhao Kuo said, unwilling to enter Wanhong Tower.