Before the afternoon, the viewing tower of Qingyu Lake was full of people, and there were rows of passenger boats on the lake. Only people with status could sit on the boats.

The madams of each building would wait outside their own passenger boats early in the morning, and would immediately greet them with a smile as soon as they saw old customers coming.

It was the first time for Captain Liu and his companions to attend the Oiran Banquet. They asked for leave from Kan Chaoyan early in the morning, went home to change their clothes, and came to Qingyu Lake.

The madam of Xiaoqinglou recognized Captain Liu and his party at a glance, and hurriedly led people to greet them: "Greetings, everyone. I hope you are all well. The wing room that the young lady has arranged for you is over here. I will take you there."

Captain Liu smiled and said, "Thank you, old procuress."

When Captain Liang saw the madam leading them to the boat ahead, he quickly walked up to Captain Liu and whispered, "Your Mu Nanjin is really generous."

Captain Liu rolled his eyes at him and said, "What do you mean by my family? Your words could easily be misunderstood."

"She is one of your men. If she is not your family, then what is she?"

Captain Liu was too lazy to argue with him about this matter.

Captain Liang continued, "According to my understanding, the berths in the front are at least five hundred taels each, and the ones further ahead are even more expensive."

Mu Nanjin invited 20 centurions from the Jinyiwei alone, which cost 10,000 taels. Moreover, there were dozens of centurions, plus Kan Chaoyan and his men, so the seats alone cost tens of thousands of taels of silver. It must be said that Mu Nanjin was generous.

Captain Liu was slightly startled: "Five hundred taels for one position?"

It is equivalent to more than a year of their worship.

Captain Jiang interrupted: "Ship space also costs money? I thought only expenses on the ship cost money."

Liang Baihu explained: "This symbolizes a certain status, so of course it costs money. If you eat and drink there, you have to pay extra."

Captain Liu looked at him suspiciously: "How do you know so much? Are you a frequent visitor?"

"How can I become a regular customer with my little monthly salary?" Captain Liang said unhappily, "The reason why I know so much is that one year the courtesan banquet happened to be my day off, and I came here out of boredom to ask about the boat fare, and then I found out that it cost so much silver to get on board."

He pointed to the rear of the passenger ship: "Do you see the last ship?"

The centurions looked and saw that the ships were lined up very far away. They tried their best but could not see the last ship.

Everyone said: "I didn't see it."

Captain Liang looked helpless: "I spent ten taels of silver to sit on the last boat, but I couldn't even hear the music, let alone see the courtesan. I could only enjoy the lake and the moon, just like Mu Nanjin's invitation said."

"Hahaha." Everyone was amused by his words.

At this time, the madam stopped and pointed to the big flower boat beside her and said, "The masters have arrived. Please get on board. The rooms for the masters are on the third floor."

Jiang Baihu smiled and said, "The third floor is good. You can see the scenery farther from the third floor."

Before boarding the ship, Liang Baihu couldn't help but ask the madam, "How much is a seat here?"

"This..." The madam didn't quite understand what he meant by asking this question.

"I'm just curious."

The madam couldn't help laughing: "To answer your question, sir, the first floor of this ship is calculated by seat, which is one thousand taels per seat. The second floor is calculated by table, which is ten thousand taels per table. The third floor has only one wing room, which is thirty thousand taels per wing room."

"30,000 taels?"

The centurions all widened their eyes.

The twenty of them spent thirty thousand taels for one night, plus the cost of food, that's how much that would cost.

No wonder brothels hold a banquet for the courtesans every year, it’s so easy to make money.

The madam explained to them: "In previous years, the boat fare only cost 500 taels, but this year more people are trying to get tickets than in previous years, so the price of the ticket has been raised."

Liang Baihu asked curiously, "How much silver does it cost to board the first ship in the queue?"

"A seat on the first ship will cost 10,000 taels."

Captain Liang didn't want to ask any more questions, as asking again would be slapping himself in the face.

He put his arms around Captain Liu and Captain Jiang’s shoulders and said, “Let’s get on board.”

After they got on the boat, the waiter asked them to go upstairs.

When they reach the box on the third floor, there will be two more maids serving them.

"I've lived for decades, but this is the first time I'm enjoying myself."

Captain Liang walked to the terrace outside the wing and looked towards the viewing building. Although it was still some distance away from the viewing platform and he couldn't see the face clearly, he could still see the figure of the person upstairs.

Then, a figure came into his sight.

"Hey, everyone, come and look, is that Mu Nanjin?"

Captain Liu had no intention of moving his feet. He took a sip of tea and said, "It's not like you don't know her. Is it possible that she doesn't know her?"

"No. She is very different today. You will know if you come out and take a look."

The other centurions walked to the terrace and looked in the direction that Captain Liang pointed. A young girl in a white dress was walking towards them.

Her long black hair was tied up and hung on both sides, revealing her delicate facial features. She had her black hair draped over her back and a delicate hairpin in her hair. Her eyebrows were like mountain paintings, her eyes were like clear lakes, and her delicate lips were as pink as peaches. She looked like a winter plum blossom transformed from a plum fairy, cold and beautiful, with a kind of coldness that made people feel unapproachable.

In the eyes of the centurions, they felt that the other person was both strange and familiar. He looked a bit like Mu Nanjin, but not quite the same.

After all, they were used to seeing Mu Nanjin wearing a flying fish dress. Now that she had changed into another dress and put on light makeup, it was a little hard to recognize her.

Jiang Baihu kept staring at the little girl's face: "She looks like Mu Nanjin, but she doesn't look like her."

He wasn't so sure anymore.

"What's so different about her today that you can't recognize her?"

Captain Liu put down his teacup and walked to the terrace, where he saw Mu Nanjin who had stopped after walking to the first two boats.

He widened his eyes in surprise: "My goodness, this little girl is so beautiful when she dresses up."

She was prettier than any of the courtesans he had ever seen, and even prettier than the top prostitutes in the brothel.

In fact, he used to think Mu Nanjin was good-looking, but it was overshadowed by her hateful voice.

Liang Baihu said: "It is really Mu Nanjin."

Mu Nanjin noticed someone was looking at her, so she looked up, took a glance, and then looked away.

[These centurions look handsome in flying fish uniforms. They look silly in their regular clothes.]

All the hundred households: "..."

"It's her without a doubt." Captain Liang decisively returned to his room and stopped making trouble for himself.

Captain Liu gritted his teeth and said, "You stinky girl, can't you spit out a few tusks from your mouth?"

The others also returned to their rooms.

The madam of Xiao Qing Lou walked up to Mu Nanjin and said, "Miss, you are here. You look really beautiful in your make-up today."

Mu Nanjin said calmly: "I have nothing to do, so I came to take a look."

She slept until noon today before getting up to eat.

As soon as I finished my meal, I was invited over by the owner of Yixinyuan.

Then they dressed her up from head to toe, saying that the boss was dressed elegantly and the brothel also had face.

She followed them.

"The captain and his men are here. Do you want to go up and meet them?"

Before Mu Nanjin could respond, a male prostitute from Xiaoqinglou ran over and said, "Madam, the third boat has arrived."

The madam quickly said, "Miss, I won't accompany you anymore."

Mu Nanjin watched the madam and the pimp leave in a hurry.

【The third ship?】

[I remember the third ship was reserved for the Emperor, the Empress Dowager and the Empress. Are they all here?]

"puff……"

He thought she had invited the princess, but he didn't expect that she had invited the emperor, the queen and the queen mother as well.

The other centurions were also surprised.

Mu Nanjin decided to go and take a look.

She did not approach, but saw from a distance that the emperor and a large group of people came to the third ship in a mighty manner. The imperial guards in ordinary clothes entered the ship first to search it, and only allowed the emperor to board after confirming that there were no assassins hidden inside.

The Queen Mother and the Empress did not come.

The former did not want to leave the palace again because he was frightened at the Jingtuo Temple last time, while the latter did not come because he attached great importance to formalities and did not allow himself to mix with people from brothels.

They didn't come, but the Left Prime Minister and the Right Prime Minister did.

【Hey, the Left Prime Minister is here. 】

[Isn't the Left Prime Minister afraid that the tigress at home will know that he is visiting the Oiran? ]

[However, he came with the old emperor. Even if the tigress knew, he would have an excuse to deal with the tigress at home.]

Left Prime Minister: “…”

Really understand him.

The right prime minister sneered.

The left prime minister glanced at him coldly.

[The Right Prime Minister has also arrived.]

[Did he report to his mother before coming? If not, he would have to kneel in the ancestral hall again when he got home.]

The left prime minister sneered: "You are all the same, and you still have the nerve to laugh at others."

Right Prime Minister: “…”

[The emperor is still good. Not only does he have great power, but he can also kill anyone he wants. No one can control him, even if he has hundreds of civil and military officials and three thousand beauties in his harem.]

The emperor laughed out loud.

[Unfortunately, this is the only benefit of being an emperor. ]

The emperor frowned: "..."

Being an emperor is not just about these benefits. There are many other good things, right? For example, he can marry whoever he wants, and he has more women in the palace than anyone else.

As if Mu Nanjin could hear his rebuttal, he just had this thought when he heard Mu Nanjin's inner voice.

【The emperor seems to be in a good position, but in fact, he has no choice in many things. I won’t talk about other things, let’s talk about the harem with three thousand beauties. The emperor can’t be with anyone he wants. If he favors one concubine, some ministers will advise him not to favor a concubine or scold the favored concubine as a witch. If the emperor needs help from a minister, he has to pretend to favor the concubine of the minister, and if necessary, he has to work hard to give the concubine a child. In order to have children, the emperor makes himself like a stud. He spends the night with this concubine tonight and another concubine tomorrow night. His life is worse than that of the prostitutes in the brothel. At least the prostitutes will be rewarded after sleeping with others, but the emperor has to reward others after sleeping with them. How pitiful.】

Everyone: “…”

emperor:"……"

It seemed so reasonable, he couldn't refute it.

[The saddest thing is that when the sons grew up, they killed each other for the throne. In the end, I don’t know how many of the more than ten sons are left to burn incense for you.]

emperor:"……"

He was in no mood to admire the lake, the moon or the courtesan.

Seeing that the emperor looked unhappy, the left prime minister coughed lightly and said, "Your Majesty, don't listen to her nonsense. She is just a little girl who knows nothing."

The emperor glanced at him and said, "Then tell me what she said was wrong?"

"Uh..." Zuo Xiang thought hard, but couldn't think of how to refute Mu Nanjin.

The emperor snorted coldly, turned around and was about to leave, but then he heard Mu Nanjin's excited voice.

【Ahhh, the national teacher is here. 】

[Ah, our governor is here too. 】

[Old Emperor, why don't you come out and greet me. ]

emperor:"……"

Are you sure?

As an emperor, he still had to go out to greet others? The emperor, who wanted to leave, snorted again and turned to go up to the third floor.

[I will personally serve the Imperial Master and our family's governor.]

The emperor was puzzled: "Why doesn't she come to serve me? She knows I'm here, but she doesn't even come to greet me."

Left Prime Minister: “…”

There's no need to be jealous about this, right?

The Right Prime Minister murmured, "Perhaps she is not very familiar with you, Your Majesty."

"Why aren't we familiar with each other? She and I..."

The emperor stopped here.

It seems that they are not very familiar with each other.

He and Mu Nanjin had barely exchanged a few words.

The emperor blew his beard and glared at the other end.

It would have been better if he didn't look, because when he did, he saw Mu Nanjin, Feng Sinan and the governor boarding the passenger ship next to them.

Feng Sinan and the governor also saw the emperor and immediately bowed to him.

The emperor snorted and turned his head, and saw two larger and more luxurious ships parked in front of their ship.

He deliberately asked loudly: "Why are there two boats ahead? Why am I assigned to the third boat instead of the first?"

The sound was so loud that it was hard for Mu Nanjin not to hear it.

It was impossible for her to answer the emperor's words, but she couldn't help but say it in her heart.

[The first two boats are for those who are taking advantage of you. Whoever can afford the price tonight will spend the night with the courtesan.]

[Emperor, if you want to make a lot of money, you should bid as much as you can tonight. Let the people in front mistakenly think that they can't compete with the third ship and then they will bid as much as they can. Then we can make a lot of money, hehe.]

emperor:"……"

He was called here to admire the oiran just for this? The left minister couldn't help laughing and whispered, "I didn't expect she has a business mind."

The Right Prime Minister tutted: "You're praising her now."

Feng Sinan and the governor went to the third floor and sat down.

Feng Si Nan smiled faintly: "I didn't expect the governor would also come to the Oiran Banquet."

Not only did he not expect this, even Captain Liu and the others were also surprised.

I'm really curious about how Mu Nanjin managed to invite this person here.

The governor said calmly, "I didn't expect the Imperial Master to come to the Oiran Banquet."

Feng Sinan slowly put away his smile and stopped talking, but his eyes turned elsewhere to look at the scenery in the distance.

As if he was waiting for someone to come, his eyes kept moving around in the crowd but he couldn't find the person he was looking for.

The governor asked again: "Is the Imperial Master looking for someone?"

Just then, there was a commotion in the crowd.

Everyone looked in the direction of the observation tower, and then a large group of monks appeared in everyone's sight.

Thank you for the tips from Mochi Glutinous Rice Cake and Sea Salt Caramel.