The face pinched between his fingers smiled, eyes still closed but mouth curved wide: “Perhaps we met in a past life, and you’ve been thinking of me ever since. Why not redeem me and take me home to cherish properly? Then your memory won’t be wasted.”
Naturally, all brothel girls hoped to be redeemed and live a life of luxury, so if she had truly met him before, she couldn’t possibly pretend not to know him.
Releasing her, Yin Gezhi ignored her words, got up from bed directly, and called for maids to help him dress.
Fengyue sat up, pulling the blanket over herself, leaning against the headboard watching him, her long hair flowing to the ground, her expression languid and amorous.
Ignoring her completely, Yin Gezhi changed into fresh white robes, his sleeves flowing like a gentle and refined scholar. When he turned back, his face remained as undisturbed as still water:
“How long have you been in this profession?”
Surprised by his question, Fengyue raised an eyebrow, glanced at him, and laughed softly: “More than two years.”
“Have you always been registered here?”
“Young Master flatters me.” Covering her mouth with her sleeve, Fengyue giggled: “Not just anyone can enter Dream Return House. When I first started, I would carry my pillow to clients’ doors in the dead of night—what establishment would register someone like that? Only after gaining enough experience did Madam Jin take me in. You’re my very first client here at Dream Return House.”
First client at Dream Return House, not her first client, and not her first man.
He had discovered last night that this woman was not a virgin. And if she wasn’t a virgin, taking her back would be even more inappropriate.
Eyes half-lowered, Yin Gezhi swept his sleeves and turned to leave, but stopped at the doorway. After pondering for a moment, he spoke in a deep voice: “Tell Madam Jin to reserve you for a few days. I’ll return tomorrow.”
Oh my, becoming a regular client? Fengyue was touched, thinking that it was good when men were more bestial—all that cultivation and talent was just fluff, in the end, they still preferred little enchantresses like her!
Wrapping herself in clothes and getting out of bed, Fengyue scurried to Yin Gezhi’s side, pulled him down by his collar, and planted a kiss on his cheek with a “smack,” twisting her waist and batting her eyes: “Thank you, Young Master!”
Wiping his face with disgust, Yin Gezhi opened the door to leave when someone nearly crashed into him from outside.
“Young Master!” The guard Guanzhi said in a low voice: “Something’s happened on Yisu Street. Miss Yi is there.”
Frowning slightly, Yin Gezhi followed him out without another word.
There were few people surnamed Yi in Wu Kingdom, and even fewer who could provoke a reaction from Yin Gezhi.
Seeing him leave, Fengyue immediately changed clothes, sitting at the dressing table and speaking to her maid behind her: “Lingshu, do my hair! Quick movement, stylish pose!”
Hearing this, Lingshu immediately stepped forward and tied a red ribbon in her hair—simple and incredibly fast.
With no time for refinements, Fengyue burst out the door and headed straight for the back courtyard’s dog hole, taking a shortcut to catch up with the galloping Yin Gezhi.
Seeing a flash of bright red rushing over, Yin Gezhi immediately reined in his horse, hooves raised high, slightly blocking the sunlight.
“What are you doing!” Recognizing who it was, Yin Gezhi’s face darkened: “Why did you come out!”
“This slave isn’t a rat, can’t I come out of a hole?” Pouting pitifully, Fengyue ran to his horse’s side, extending her soft delicate hand: “You abandoned me right after our intimacy, I can’t bear to part with Young Master! Whatever the matter is, take this slave with you?”
The disgust in his eyes instantly deepened. Yin Gezhi looked at her, his voice dropping eight degrees in temperature: “I hate it most when women get in the way. Get lost!”
Anyone else might have been brought to tears by his shout, but Fengyue was thick-skinned and completely unafraid of him. She looked at the stirrup and stepped right on it! Her red clothes fluttered, drawing a beautiful arc in the air before landing on the horse’s back.
The white robes billowed, wrapping the red gauze within, creating an enchanting sight.
But Yin Gezhi’s expression was ugly, as dark as the sky before a thunderstorm, his gaze sharp as lightning. He raised his horsewhip to strike her off.
Moving extremely fast, Fengyue ducked and hugged his waist, locking her hands together and shouting: “If you waste any more time on this slave, Young Master will miss something important!”
He had never met such a clingy woman! Yin Gezhi gritted his teeth but didn’t want to waste more time, so he spurred his horse forward.
The horse’s back bounced, and this wasn’t a double saddle. Yin Gezhi thought she might fall off after a couple of bounds. But after galloping to their destination, the person behind him sat as steady as Mount Tai.
“Ah—”
Just as he reined in his horse, he heard screaming ahead. Yin Gezhi had no time to deal with the person behind him, dismounting and shouting: “Guanzhi, help!”
The agile guard immediately flew from the side into the crowd.
Fengyue looked up to see a porridge stall set up in the clearing ahead, seemingly providing aid to refugees. But they seemed to have encountered violent individuals—over a dozen raggedly dressed, fierce-looking people surrounded the stall, some beating people, others grabbing rice. Children were crying, women screaming, and the scene was spectacularly chaotic.
In the midst of the chaos, Guanzhi rescued a young lady dressed in fine silks, her crescent-moon face streaked with tears, looking at the mob with a pitiful expression.
“Don’t hurt them!” Yi Zhangzhu choked out: “They’re innocent, they’re all common people!”
Fengyue raised an eyebrow.
Yin Gezhi swept his sleeves, walking over calmly and looking at her: “After beating, smashing, and looting, how can you call them innocent?”
Seeing him, Yi Zhangzhu pouted, clenching her fists: “How are they at fault? They were forced into this situation. If they had food to eat, who would want to stay in such a place stealing things? The rice was prepared for them anyway, let them take it.”
Shaking his head helplessly, Yin Gezhi was about to speak when he sensed a sharp whistling behind him. As he turned his head, a dagger flashed past his face, straight for Yi Zhangzhu’s head!
Reacting instantly, Yin Gezhi caught the dagger’s tip, flicking it back and numbing the attacker’s hand, making them drop it.
Yi Zhangzhu was startled, stepping back repeatedly. Two people surrounded Guanzhi, while three stood before Yin Gezhi. Some of the refugees who had been lying on the ground somehow stood up again, silver flashing from their sleeves as they rushed toward them.
This was a trap, yet Yi Zhangzhu, the compassionate lady at the center of it, did nothing but shout: “Don’t kill them, just hold them back!”
Fengyue rolled her eyes.
Holding people back without killing them, with the enemy having superior numbers—Yin Gezhi’s side would be at a disadvantage. Yet Yin Gezhi followed her words, keeping his sword sheathed and using the scabbard to strike at people’s heads, trying to give them concussions at most.
Guanzhi also put away his knife, struggling somewhat to deal with the mob around him.
Yi Zhangzhu hadn’t brought enough servants, so before long some refugees broke through the guards, raising a large wooden club to strike her!
Her pupils contracted; Yi Zhangzhu was terrified, instinctively pulling a nearby servant to dodge. But the club whistled through the air at incredible speed, leaving nowhere to escape.
In this critical moment, a hero appeared—Fengyue, who had been ignored until now, rushed forward to stand before Yi Zhangzhu, raising both hands high like a radiant immortal from mythology, fearlessly meeting the heavy blow.
The surrounding servants were dumbfounded, the maids screaming in succession, and even Yin Gezhi, who was fighting, spared a glance.
“Bang—” The club came down, so heavily that people seemed to hear something crack. Fengyue’s expression didn’t change, her lips still holding a cold smile befitting an expert.
The person holding the club was stunned, looking at her and stammering: “You…”
“Get lost!” Before they could finish speaking, Guanzhi flew over with a kick, sending them spinning far away, the club falling to the ground with a dull thud.
Yin Gezhi frowned, tired of playing with them. His attacks suddenly turned fierce, and within ten moves, all the violent refugees were lying properly across the street.
“Are you alright?” Returning to Yi Zhangzhu’s side, he asked.
“…I’m fine.” Looking at Fengyue in shock, Yi Zhangzhu trembled: “This lady… is truly an expert!”
Glancing up at her, Yin Gezhi asked: “You know martial arts?”
Fengyue answered in an extremely soft voice: “No.”
“No?” Walking to her front, Yin Gezhi looked at her hands: “If you don’t know martial arts, how could you block that club without moving an inch?”
“I didn’t move because I have bones.” Taking a deep breath, Fengyue slowly turned her eyes to look at him, and within moments, tears gushed out like a spring: “But damn it, bones aren’t as hard as wood! My hand bones are shattered, ahhhh help!”
Yin Gezhi: “…”
He reached out to lower her still-raised hands, but before he could touch them she let out a series of wails: “Don’t move! Don’t move! The bones are shattered, I’m not joking, get me a doctor to move them!”
Yi Zhangzhu became anxious, pulling Yin Gezhi’s sleeve: “Quickly take this lady to the medicine hall, it’s right there, just a few steps away!”
Looking at the nearby medicine hall, Yin Gezhi said to Fengyue: “You can walk there yourself, it hurts when others touch you.”
Fengyue’s tears poured down dramatically, giving him a reproachful look as she shuffled toward the medicine hall with her hands still raised high.
Guanzhi watched, wanting to tell his master that he could carry her over, but just as he turned his head, he saw what seemed to be a smile on his master’s face.
A smile?! Guanzhi was dumbfounded, rubbing his eyes hard to look again, but Yin Gezhi’s face was still expressionless, the lines of his profile elegant and cold, only glancing at Fengyue twice before turning back to continue talking with Yi Zhangzhu.
He must have been seeing things, or perhaps today’s sunlight was too bright, Guanzhi thought, shaking his head.
Sacrifice was necessary for getting things done, Fengyue knew, but she hadn’t known the sacrifice would be this brutal. If she had known, she would have found another way to save Miss Yi.
The more she thought about it, the more heartbroken she became, and she cried even harder, her wailing echoing throughout Yisu Street, frightening a galloping horse in the distance into stumbling.
“Your Highness, be careful!” The guard behind called out.
Ye Yuqing quickly reined in his horse, his cyan robes fluttering, a close call. Looking ahead carefully, he saw a red-clothed lady crying streams of tears and mucus, both hands raised high above her head, shuffling sideways step by step—a sight that couldn’t have been more comical if it tried.