"Then what do you mean by this payment for prostitution? Are you willing to give me these five thousand taels of gold?"

Cen Xi didn't want to ask, but in order to confirm her thoughts, she asked anyway.

"Come back with me. This money is still my family's, of course, but you can spend it as you please."

The fat old man spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world, exuding an air of dominance.

"Finish this cup of tea, and I'll go back with you."

Cen Xi cursed inwardly. Sure enough, she had guessed correctly. No wonder it was so big just now.

However, in order to lure the other party into taking the bait, she still had to greet them with a smile.

"Then it's settled, young lady. Look, I've finished drinking."

At this moment, a wicked thought finally crept onto the fat old man's kind face.

Cen Xi couldn't help but sigh. Some people may have kind faces, but the ugliness in their hearts cannot be revealed by their appearance.

Lost in thought, the fat old man in front of me suddenly collapsed onto the table.

Cen Xi leaned against the wall and listened to the sounds from next door. There were still some of those sounds coming from inside. Cen Xi smiled silently, then tied the fat old man's thick waist with a ribbon. With a surge of internal energy, the fat old man accurately entered Zhu Yanniang's room through the window of Cen Xi's room.

After doing all this, Cen Xi opened the door to see if the madam had found someone else for her.

As soon as she pushed open the door, a young man rushed in. After glancing at the madam's indescribable expression, she knew that this man was probably not someone to be trifled with.

Well, she specializes in dealing with all sorts of dissent and those of questionable character; the more the merrier. She's too embarrassed to send good people to Zhu Yanniang.

"I heard that it costs a thousand taels of gold to spend the night with you. I'm very curious, so I came to see just how beautiful you are."

Before Cen Xi could speak, the young man who had entered sat down in front of her, fanning himself with a folding fan, and raised an eyebrow.

"So, do you think I'm beautiful now? Am I worth the price?"

Cen Xi raised an eyebrow as she looked at the noble young man before her.

"Beautiful, stunningly beautiful, but the price... isn't it a bit too high? I heard that several others came in before, all worth a thousand taels of gold. Since they're all secondhand, shouldn't we offer a discount?"

The young master was waving a folding fan, his smile so wide it was almost impossible to see his eyes.

"But the rule at Chunhua Pavilion tonight is a thousand taels of gold per visit. If you feel you're being taken advantage of, just leave. I don't keep guests."

Cen Xi's smile deepened, awaiting his next words.

"Since we're already here, it would be a disservice to the Wen family not to spend some money. Here's the silver note. The night is long, let's get to work."

The man closed his fan, took out a stack of silver notes from his pocket, and handed them to Cen Xi. His peach blossom eyes sparkled beautifully.

She looked very similar to Wen Qixi, and her smile had a touch of charm, making her even more attractive than Wen Qixi.

"No rush, let's chat first. What's your relationship with Wen Qixi?"

Cen Xi took the silver note, glanced at it casually, and asked with a smile.

Today she encountered either members of the Jun family or the Wen family. It seems that in Shangyang City, these two families are the richest and most powerful.

"You know my cousin? My cousin has also frequented this Chunhua Brothel?"

Cen Xi watched as he suddenly stood up, his eyes flashing with an alarming light.

Cen Xi really wanted to add, "Are you crazy?"

But I held back.

She smiled and nodded, saying:

"Having met him a few times on the street, Young Master Wen has an excellent reputation in Shangyang City. He would never stoop to a place like Chunhua Tower."

"Oh! Well! I didn't expect him to still be so boring after all these years. It's such a waste of his good looks. I don't know what's so good about your wife that makes him so devoted to her."

Wen Qiyu immediately deflated, looking like a pickled eggplant, her face full of displeasure.

"Yeah, I don't see anything good about your sister-in-law. She's not as interesting as me. Anyway, let's not talk about your sister-in-law. Let's talk about you. Do you have a wife?"

Cen Xi genuinely thought Wen Qixi's wife wasn't very good, so she echoed her opinion. Then she got back to the main point: if Zhu Yanniang didn't like that fat old man, this guy needed to be sent over quickly, otherwise she wouldn't be able to handle her impatient manner.

"No, why would I marry a wife? That kind of thing is the most annoying. She'll control you and ask if you care about her. What would I be thinking to marry a queen to worship at home? No way! I will never marry a wife in my life."

Wen Qiyu shook his fan vigorously, a hint of anger lingering on his face.

"You weren't forced into marriage and ran away, were you?"

Judging from his tone, actions, and expression, Cen Xi was quite certain that he was a young master who had run away from his arranged marriage.

"How did you know? Can you read minds?"

Wen Qiyu stared wide-eyed at Cen Xi as if he were looking at a monster.

Cen Xi thought to himself, "Do I really need mind reading skills? You've practically written 'running away from the wedding' on your face, do I need to guess what you're thinking?"

But obviously, this shouldn't be said in this setting, so Cen Xi gave a dry laugh and said, "Just a wild guess, a blind cat stumbling upon a dead mouse."

"Oh, young lady, you have no idea how much I've suffered. If I hadn't escaped this time, I would have been completely controlled by those crazy girls in the Duke of Chen's mansion..."

Like a dam suddenly bursting, Wen Qiyu spoke incessantly about how he escaped from the capital, how he traveled to Shangyang City, and how he ended up at Chunhua Tower—in short, his journey was incredibly tragic.

But Cen Xi found it utterly uninteresting, not noticing the slightest hint of surprise, nor understanding how miserable the man was.

She was just about to force-feed the guy a cup of tea and then throw him out of the brothel when her door was suddenly pushed open from the outside.

Shen Jinchen held her portrait, standing at the door with an imposing aura, his cold eyes fixed on Cen Xi, whose face seemed to drip ink.

Upon seeing him, Cen Xi's alarm bells went off instantly. Without thinking, she jumped straight out the window, shouting as she did so:

"Zhu Yanniang, you will repay the eight men you owe another day."

After saying this, before the scoundrel could react, he stole a horse from a man on horseback in the street and galloped away.

Before Wen Qiyu could react, he saw a man in white jump out of the window after the woman he had been chatting with, steal a horse, and frantically chase after the woman.

What kind of situation is this? Oh dear, he had just sighed when he ran into Shang Se, who often followed Shen Xiang at the banquet. His mouth immediately formed an "O" shape. If he wasn't mistaken, the man who had chased after him earlier should be Shen Xiang, the Shen Xiang who would hide whenever he saw a woman.

Seeing that Shang Se was about to jump out of the window, Wen Qiyu grabbed him and asked, "Was it really Shen Xiang who jumped down just now?"

"Get out of the way!"

Shang Se pushed Wen Qiyu away and then jumped out of the window as well.

Fengming and Fengqin, who followed behind, exchanged a glance, closed the door, pressed Wen Qiyu's pressure points, and then one lay down on the bed while the other was thrown onto the soft couch to go to sleep.