That day, he happened to be begging in the downtown area when he inadvertently saw Su Yunyan and her companions enter a shop. He followed them as if possessed and overheard that they were short two taels of silver.

That's two taels of silver! Enough to pile up a mountain of white flour buns—enough to feed you for a month!

Coincidentally, someone invited him to a banquet at his home yesterday. He knew that if he refused, he would be beaten up and forced to go to the banquet, but if he agreed, he could still walk in with some dignity.

That night, he lay on the ground and barked like a dog all night long, the laughter almost deafening him. Fortunately, he received a full tael of silver, the greatest reward he had received in all these days.

Without thinking, he kept a few copper coins for himself and threw in the remaining two taels of silver.

He heard laughter coming from inside, separated by a wall, but this time there was no sarcasm in the laughter.

But he couldn't laugh anymore. He seemed to have forgotten how to laugh, ever since that day when he was caught between laughter and tears.

~~

Night falls.

Inside Changqing Tower.

The girls ate heartily, their faces glistening with oil.

"Come on, this pig's trotter, I think it suits Lanxi very well."

"Hahaha, okay, I'll start with a pig's trotter. This fish eye is for Yunyan, she has bad eyesight."

Su Yunyan smiled helplessly: "Alright, alright."

"How's everyone's preparation going?" Honeysuckle asked anxiously, without even touching her chopsticks.

Yan Mufeng exclaimed, "Look everyone, Xiao Hua seems to be the mistress of the house now!"

Honeysuckle blushed at her words: "Go away. I feel that since I promised Yunyan, I must be responsible to the end. It was my idea to open the shop. I can't let it open carelessly and haphazardly. We have invested so much energy and money, so we must see it through and make it a success."

Yan Mufeng looked at Xiaohua with eyes full of admiration for the first time.

Lanxi stopped joking and picked up a glass of wine, saying seriously, "Xiaohua, just for what you said, I'll set an example for you. Toast!"

"Cheers to you!"

Anning was still counting the colorful gauze she had bought, which would be very useful; the success of the embroidery depended entirely on these.

"Hey, hey, Xiao Ningzi, stop busy. You've been running around all afternoon. Here, have a lamb leg."

Anning looked up and saw that her bowl was piled high with food.

"Okay, okay."

As soon as he finished speaking, he realized that everyone was holding their wine glasses and waiting for him.

She laughed and raised her glass: "Cheers!"

Bang.

"cheers!"

If we're talking about the most unrestrained ones here, it has to be Lanxi and Wuying. Now that Wuying isn't here, Lanxi has taken up the mantle and won't stop until all the sisters are completely drunk.

That's enough, you can't drink anymore.

Last time, when she got drunk and was taken back to the manor, Jin Yinhua clearly sensed that Mu Anyu was unhappy. Although he didn't say it outright, she promised not to drink so much alcohol in the future.

"I said, it's about time, let's go back, okay?"

Honeysuckle nudged Lanxi.

"Huh?" Lanxi's eyes were almost closed. She let out a sound and then took a big gulp of wine.

"Alright, alright, stop drinking."

Honeysuckle snatched the wine from her hand and patted her face.

Lanxi's hazy eyes narrowed slightly, but then she stared blankly behind Xiaohua.

Xiaohua was startled: "What's wrong?"

Following her gaze, I saw the eldest brother, with one girl on his right and one on his left, strolling leisurely past the door.

Anning saw it too. This time she didn't drink too much. Last time she had a headache all day after drinking, but this time she learned her lesson.

Unexpectedly, Lanxi suddenly rushed over and hugged him, then stumbled to the door and exclaimed loudly, "Young master, you are so handsome! Come back to the manor with me tonight! Ah? I really like you so much~"

An Ning froze on the spot, letting Lan Xi grope her body.

Her fingertips traced her face, and her red lips whispered softly in her ear, sending shivers down her spine.

"Lanxi, Lanxi, please don't do this."

Perhaps because they were making too much noise, Mu Anxiang stopped and turned around.

Lanxi's captivating eyes stared straight at him, full of provocation, and right in front of him, she gave Anning a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Ah!" An Ning exclaimed, covering her face, unsure whether to feel ashamed or not.

"My dear, come back to the manor with me tonight, so I can pamper you properly."

Anning was shattered.

Mu Anxiang's face turned ashen as he rushed over and separated Anning and Lanxi.

Lanxi held Anning's belt tightly, pulling so hard that Anning's skin started to hurt.

"Are you out of your mind? What are you doing?"

Lanxi roared at Mu Anxiang.

Mu Anxiang grabbed her arm and questioned, "What do you mean? You're taking this pretty boy back to the manor?"

Lanxi frowned: "What does this have to do with you? Haven't we always been doing our own thing?"

Mu Anxiang was speechless for a moment: "Even if everyone does their own thing, you can't bring all sorts of random people back to the mansion."

Lanxi looked at the two pretty young girls behind him: "You can have two girls on your left and right, but I can't have my own lover?"

Mu Anxiang was furious: "If you dare to take this pretty boy back, I'll fill my courtyard with concubines tomorrow."

Lanxi shrugged: "Whatever~"

Mu Anxiang was so angry with Lan Xi that his face turned pale. When the two girls behind him rushed up, he pushed them away.

Lanxi stood behind with her arms crossed: "What are you pretending for? When I wasn't around, we were still having sex, weren't we?"

"Ugh." Her stomach churned violently, and Lanxi turned her head and vomited uncontrollably.

An Ning instinctively reached out to help her, but was pulled away by someone.

"Get out of the way."

Mu Anxiang glared at An Ning, then reached out to support Lan Xi, gently patting her back: "I told you to drink less. Don't you know how badly you threw up last time?"

Lanxi vomited and cursed at the same time: "What's it to you? What's it to you?"

"Okay, okay, it has nothing to do with me."

After saying that, Mu Anxiang reached out to hug Lanxi, but she refused him with extremely rough movements.

"How dare you touch me?" Lan Xi was unsteady on her feet, still half-hanging on Mu Anxiang, her hazy eyes half-open, looking at him with resentment.

Mu Anxiang turned his face away uncomfortably. He couldn't stand Lan Xi's eyes when she looked at him. They were charming and clear, the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen. He had no choice but to hide.

"I'll take you back to your residence."

Lanxi turned her head: "No need."

Mu Anxiang hoisted the person onto his shoulder and said, "If you're so capable, jump down."

Lanxi lay on Mu Anxiang's back, kicking and thrashing about, but to no avail.

So I simply opened my mouth, snapped it open, and took a bite.

"Hiss~" Mu Anxiang gasped, his eyes were dizzy from the pain, but he didn't loosen his grip on her even a little.

An Ning watched their departing figures, somewhat bewildered: "What... kind of arrangement is this?"