Zhang Fang handed Li Huai'an a mask and gestured for him to put it on.
Li Huai'an took the mask and obediently put it on. He suddenly realized that Cangchunlou was protecting the privacy of its guests, thus preventing awkward encounters between regular customers.
Li Huai'an thought to himself: If it really is someone I know very well, I can almost recognize them just by looking at their back. That mask is really useless.
However, he did not expect that his words would come true so soon afterward.
Before leaving the room, Zhang Fang reiterated to him that no one was allowed to speak before entering a room in the Hidden Spring Pavilion. This was a rule established since the pavilion's inception, and even he could not abolish it.
If anyone is found to be breaking the rules or making a sound, the guards in the shadows will shoot them dead.
Li Huai'an was just about to ask when Zhao Yuan, the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, came to investigate the case last time. Didn't so many officials and constables still make a ruckus and speak loudly in Cangchun Tower? Yet Cangchun Tower did nothing to them.
He immediately realized that it was a special case; the people in Cangchunlou had received advance notice and hidden away the important and suspicious individuals.
Li Huai'an followed Zhang Fang with a belly full of suspicion, but dared not look around.
The two climbed the sturdy wooden stairs and headed up to the second floor.
Upon reaching the entrance, Zhang Fang exchanged a glance with the guard, who immediately lowered his head. Only after Zhang Fang and Li Huai'an had walked away did he raise his head again and look ahead.
Li Huai'an then realized that, apart from Zhang Fang, all the visiting guests and guards on each floor of the Cangchun Tower were wearing masks.
Upon reaching the second floor, Zhang Fang didn't stop, heading straight for the third floor. The person guarding the entrance to the third floor, like the one on the second floor, only looked up after the two had gone some distance.
Upon reaching the third floor, Li Huai'an keenly sensed the faint aroma of incense and wine permeating the air, creating an indescribable, ambiguous atmosphere.
The corridor on the third floor was covered with thick carpets, and people walking on it made only a very slight sound.
Finally, Zhang Fang led Li Huai'an to a carved wooden door. The door seemed no different from the surrounding decorations, but it exuded an unusual aura.
He gently pushed open a crack, gesturing for Li Huai'an to come closer.
Li Huai'an held his breath and cautiously peeked inside.
Inside the room, the candlelight flickered, illuminating the figure of a middle-aged man. He recognized that figure all too well—it was his father, Li Zan.
But at this moment, the father was completely different from his usual stern and unsmiling self.
He wore a mask, his chest was exposed, he rested his chin on his hand, and lay half-reclined on the Yangfei couch, with only a red gauze robe draped around his waist.
Opposite him was a desk, its top covered with a pile of art supplies. Behind the desk stood a woman dressed only in a red koi-patterned dress.
The woman's long hair cascaded down her back, half of it hanging down on her bare back and the other half on her chest, concealing half of her allure.
"Sir, if you are tired, you can move around a bit." The woman's voice was as melodious as a nightingale's.
"In red, spring is in the air, and I can't take my eyes off you for a second!" Li Zan joked with a smile.
"Master, please don't be in a hurry. I must finish painting this picture for you before I can serve you!" The woman in red smiled charmingly.
Li Zan couldn't wait any longer. He wrapped the gauze around his waist, slowly walked towards the woman in red, went around the desk, and pulled the beauty into his arms.
The woman in red cried out sweetly, still holding a paintbrush dipped in vermilion paint. She scolded, "Master, I've already told you, the painting you requested isn't finished yet!"
Li Zan ignored them, lowered his head and gently sniffed the red-clad woman's neck, the faint scent of rouge making his heart flutter.
"I don't care when the painting will be finished; I only care about spending this moment with you."
He whispered softly in the red-clad woman's ear, his voice full of tenderness.
The woman in red blushed at Li Zan's words and lowered her head shyly, not daring to look him in the eye.
The paintbrush in his hand had long since fallen to the ground, the vermilion paint spreading across the floor like an unfinished painting.
Seeing the woman in red looking like this, Li Zan was even more delighted and couldn't resist the urge to seduce her.
He gently placed the red dress on the desk, lowered his head and kissed her forehead, then traced his kiss down her cheek, finally resting on her luscious lips.
Hongyi felt her heart race instantly. She closed her eyes and let Li Zan linger on her lips.
Seeing this, Li Huai'an clenched his fists in anger, wishing he could rush in immediately, stop his father, and question him about why he betrayed his mother who loved him so deeply!
Zhang Fang secretly gripped Li Huai'an's arm, signaling him to continue watching.
At this moment, Zhang Fang had his own ulterior motives.
He wanted to destroy Li Zan's image as a kind father in Li Huai'an, and he wanted to take revenge on Li Zan for the filthy things he had done to him.
What knife could be more ruthless than the falling out between father and son, or the estrangement between husband and wife?
Li Huai'an suppressed his rage, his eyes wide with hatred as he stared at everything happening in the room.
At some point, perhaps during a moment when Li Huai'an was distracted, Li Zan tore off the undergarment on Hongyi's body with his mouth, revealing her snow-white skin.
Then, Li Zan took a deep breath, as if he wanted to inhale all the fragrance from the woman in red into his lungs.
A smile played on his lips as he said softly, "No matter how beautiful the painting is, it can't compare to you. Red dress, at this moment, you are the most beautiful sight in the world."
A scene vaguely appeared in Li Huai'an's mind, as if it were not long ago, on the day of the first snow, his father had stood with his mother in the courtyard, watching the snowflakes fluttering in the distance, and said something similar, "Wei'er, snow is pure and without trace, the purest thing in the world. But I feel that nothing in the world can compare to even a fraction of your beauty."
A tear slid down his cheek. It turned out that the sweet words his father used to say to his mother were all learned in places like this.
The veins on Li Huai'an's arms bulged like snakes, and his emotions were on the verge of spiraling out of control.
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