Shu Lan led him to Yuchai Feng and selected a design of sea and cliffs. When she saw Song Qingzhang's gaze fall on her, she quickly and secretly selected a few designs of intertwined magnolias and magpies on brows.
Song Qingzhang thought of the blue silk she had been holding earlier, and pretended not to know what she was thinking, smiling as he turned his head away.
After Shu Lan paid the bill, he asked her if she wanted to walk around outside.
Shu Lan looked up and saw the June sun hanging in the sky. Without the shade of the leaves, the dazzling white sunlight fell down, so bright it was blinding.
She squinted her eyes, quickly shook her head, and said, "I'd like to find a place to sit for a while, have some tea, and eat some sweet cakes."
Song Qingzhang looked around and saw a teahouse not far away. He asked her, "How about Yanshui Tower?"
Upon hearing this, the girl behind the counter smiled and said, "The owner of Yanshuilou is from Jiayuan, and the pastries in the restaurant are exactly Jiayuan style, sweet and savory, just what you like, young lady!"
Upon hearing this, Shu Lan nodded and said, "Then let's go there, young master, is that alright?"
Song Qingzhang remained silent, took her hand, and slowly led her towards Yanshui Tower.
The girl outside the building saw the two men enter and gestured. Soon, two more men followed them in. They were both seven feet tall, burly men with round faces, piercing eyes, and bushy beards on their chins. They each had a long knife at their waist with a red tassel fluttering on the hilt. When they spoke, their voices were so loud that the whole building could hear them: "Where's the waiter? Give us two brothers a private room!"
Seeing that the two seemed difficult to serve, the waiter didn't dare to delay and quickly led them upstairs.
Shu Lan, who was already upstairs, turned around and looked at the two of them, then said to Song Qingzhang, "Young Master, something seems amiss."
The waiter had reserved the second private room for Song Qingzhang. Seeing that another waiter was intentionally leading the two burly men to the first room, and considering their loud voices, Song Qingzhang was about to suggest changing rooms when he heard Shu Lan speak. He carefully observed the burly men's figures and footsteps and indeed noticed some clues, so he abandoned the idea of changing rooms.
These two men look like they come from the military; their sudden appearance in Heling must mean something.
Song Qingzhang said to Shu Lan, "Don't make a sound for a while."
As he spoke, he led Shu Lan into the second private room.
In Yanshui Tower, the private rooms are not separated by walls, but by two movable doors. When closed, they are no different from walls, and guests talking inside will not disturb guests in the next room. However, if they are opened a little, the sound can easily be leaked out.
Furthermore, the two burly men's voices were rather loud, so Song Qingzhang could easily hear their conversation after slightly opening the partition door—
"To be honest, this is really not a good thing! We brothers are living a good life in Xingchuan Prefecture, why should we be the ones to escort the government silver? This is a tough job!"
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