Chapter 11 (Revised)
Changyuanfang, the capital's most extravagant entertainment destination, was a beloved haunt of the city's celebrities and dignitaries. Cockfighting, dog racing, cuju, polo, opera, and music—those extravagant pursuits for a woman's smile—often drew her admiration. These dandy young men, she thought, were truly the best at playing.
"Miao Miao, there is another place in this capital that you have never seen in Pingzhou."
When Chu Miaomiao heard this from a friend she had just met in the capital, she didn't take it seriously.
Although the forms of entertainment for the world's dandies vary, the essence is the same: it's nothing more than finding ways to while away time and energy while competing for financial resources for fun. She is also a dandy, and she really thinks she has never seen the world.
Among his friends was Bai Xiaochen, who came from the Anchang Marquis's mansion. Seeing Chu Miaomiao's face full of disbelief, he chuckled and said, "Don't believe it? Then why don't you go there yourself?"
In the end, curiosity got the better of her, and Chu Miaomiao agreed without thinking too much. She followed this group of friends to a teahouse called "Yiheju".
Chu Miaomiao turned around and looked at those friends with strange smiles on their faces, pointed at the plaque on the top, and asked suspiciously: "Is that it?"
Several playboys looked at each other, as if everything was self-evident, and then surrounded Chu Miaomiao and pushed her into Yiheju.
The lobby of Yiheju is quite spacious, with a circular stage in the middle. At this moment, a handsome man in light green clothes with wide sleeves and long skirts is playing the piano.
The sound of the piano was elegant, but the clothes he wore made Chu Miaomiao feel cold for him.
The stage was surrounded by long gauze curtains, and inside the curtains were elegant seats separated by landscape screens.
The wind blows the gauze, and the shadows of people are hazy, which has an indescribable elegance.
Yiheju is a three-story building with a circular design from the lobby to the third floor. The difference is that the second and third floors are completely independent private rooms, ensuring the greatest privacy for guests.
The loudest young master of the Wang family casually called the waiter to request a private room and said, "Ask Brother Liu and Brother Yan to serve us. You can arrange the rest. Let this friend of mine learn something new today."
As Wang's brother spoke, he took Chu Miaomiao in his arms, lifted her hand with two fingers in disgust, and threw it away, with an awkward but polite smile on his face.
When the receptionist saw that Chu Miaomiao was a girl dressed in men's clothes, he immediately understood, put on a smile, agreed, and left.
"Brother Liu, Brother Yan."
Several people sat down in the private room. Chu Miaomiao silently read the two names that had just appeared, and felt something was wrong: "Wait a minute, this can't be--"
As someone who hangs around in the playboy world, how could Chu Miaomiao be completely unaware of the affairs between men and women? For example, her good second brother would sometimes be completely captivated by handsome men.
Just as she was surprised, several handsome young men knocked on the door and entered, and the atmosphere in the private room suddenly became lively. Seeing the two people who were most friendly with these Beijing playboys, they must be the Liu Ge'er and Yan Ge'er mentioned earlier.
Several people from Yiheju joined in, and almost everyone had a partner, so the table became crowded. Chu Miaomiao was already trying very hard to keep a distance from the somewhat shy man next to her, but some physical contact between the two of them was inevitable, and she felt really uncomfortable at this moment.
Bai Xiaochen seemed to notice Chu Miaomiao's awkwardness. He pointed at her and said to Yan Ge'er beside him with a smile, "This is Princess Pingyang. You must entertain her well."
Chu Miaomiao felt even more uncomfortable after Bai Xiaochen revealed his identity. Having received Bai Xiaochen's order and knowing Chu Miaomiao's identity, Yan Ge'er sat closer to her even more enthusiastically, shocking Chu Miaomiao so much that she almost jumped up from her stool.
"Please move a little to the side." Chu Miaomiao said with gritted teeth.
She wanted to move to the other side, but the people on the other side of her were still from Yiheju!
"The atmosphere in our Yiheju has always been relaxed. Why should you be so restrained, Princess?" Yan Ge'er smiled comfortingly and covered her delicate hand with his large palm, as if trying to make her relax in this way.
Chu Miaomiao subconsciously wanted to retract her hand, but Yan Ge'er clenched it instead. Just as she cleared her throat with forced composure and was about to speak, the door of the private room was suddenly kicked open from the outside. The originally cheerful atmosphere froze instantly, and everyone looked towards the door in surprise.
A handsome young man in a light silver suit embroidered with flowing cloud patterns looked at them with a gloomy face.
No, it's not so much looking at them as it is looking at one of them.
For some reason, Mr. Chu, who was present, felt guilty and looked away awkwardly, not daring to meet his gaze.
Bai Xiaochen thought the person looked familiar, but he couldn't place them for a moment. His instinct told him that this person was someone to be reckoned with. However, before he could react, the slightly tipsy young master of the Wang family pointed at him and yelled, "Who the hell do you think you are? How dare you disturb our fun? Get out of here!"
His arrogant attitude and angry tone made Chu Miaomiao sweat for him.
Who do you think he is? He is the Crown Prince!
Wei Zhen's cold eyes swept over these dandies who showed their ugly behavior, and finally fell on Chu Miaomiao, and on the hand covered by the strange man. He frowned slightly and said coldly: "Let go."
Chu Miaomiao withdrew her hand quickly like lightning.
"come out."
Chu Miaomiao stood up and walked in front of Wei Zhen under the surprised and puzzled gazes of everyone.
Seeing his friend being ordered around like this by a stranger, Wang Jiazi, driven by both the strong liquor and his arrogance that refused to be ignored, slammed the table and stood up: "Stop! First you ignored me, and now you want to take Miaomiao away. Who do you think you are!"
Wei Zhen did not answer, and even disdained to look at the boy from the Wang family. He just said to the personal guard following behind him, "You handle it," and left with Chu Miaomiao without looking back.
*
After Wei Zhen finished his chores that day, he thought of the Chu family, who had recently arrived in Beijing. He hadn't seen them since the day they came to the palace to meet the emperor, and wondered what Chu Miaomiao had been busy with these days.
He left the Eastern Palace and went to the residence of Prince Chu in the capital, but he only saw the prince and his wife. Chu Miaomiao, on the other hand, had been running outside happily these days, regardless of the cold weather.
After exchanging a few pleasantries, Wei Zhen said goodbye and left the house, then sent people to investigate Chu Miaomiao's whereabouts. Only then did he learn that after arriving in Beijing, she had been hanging out in entertainment places all day, mixing with the playboys in the capital, and had just followed those people to Yiheju.
As soon as he heard the three words "Yiheju", Wei Zhen's expression became solemn. Without thinking too much, he led his men straight in.
When he saw the handsome man from Yiheju holding Chu Miaomiao's hand affectionately, and she had no reaction and let a strange man get close to her, the usually calm and self-controlled Crown Prince felt rarely annoyed, and looked at that hand with great displeasure.
"How could you..."
"you……"
On the carriage back to Prince Chu's mansion, Chu Miaomiao looked at Wei Zhen with a serious expression uncomfortably, wondering why this man still had a gloomy face since she hadn't done anything to offend the prince recently.
She hesitated for a moment and was about to ask Wei Zhen why he suddenly appeared, but the other party also spoke at the same time.
The sudden tacit understanding made both of them a little embarrassed. Chu Miaomiao paused and said, "You go first."
Wei Zhen was originally very angry at Chu Miaomiao for being so shameless as to go to such a dirty place, but after calming down, he realized that she had only been in Beijing for a few days, so how could she know what kind of place Yiheju was? He guessed that it was those bad friends who led her there this time.
He could be angry at Chu Miaomiao for her careless choice of friends, but he could not vent the anger that had just surged in his heart on her.
Wei Zhen took a deep breath and said calmly, "Yiheju is not a good place. It's better to stay away from there in the future."
Based on his understanding of Chu Miaomiao, he thought he would hear her rebuttal next, but she nodded heavily, seeming to agree with him very much.
"That place is just a brothel disguised as a place of elegance. Stay away from it."
Wei Zhen was a little surprised: "Do you know where that is?"
"I just didn't know it before, but I knew it after I went there and sat down to take a look. It's not like I haven't been to brothels and red-light districts before."
Wei Zhen suddenly recalled the scene when they first met. That day, he was walking down the street, and this girl suddenly appeared and dragged him to a brothel, and inexplicably took the blame for her.
He chuckled lightly: "It seems that I still underestimated the princess."
Chu Miaomiao raised an eyebrow. Coming from the Crown Prince, these words sounded rather sarcastic. However, she decided not to dwell on such trivial matters and directly asked, "How did His Royal Highness the Crown Prince know where I was?"
She had to say she was very grateful for the prince's timely appearance. After all, she felt really uncomfortable staying there.
"I went to the Prince of Chu's residence today. The prince and his wife said you had been wandering around outside these past few days, so I sent someone to inquire about your whereabouts."
Although this matter sounded somewhat vulgar, Wei Zhen had no intention of hiding it. He also took this opportunity to remind Chu Miaomiao: "Female dandies are rare in the capital. Anyone with a keen eye can easily detect your whereabouts. The capital is different from Pingzhou. You can do whatever you want. If you get into trouble here, I'm afraid no one can save you."
"Thank you for your advice, Your Highness. I know my limits."
Chu Miaomiao appeared confident, but Wei Zhen had some doubts. He felt like this person didn't take his words to heart at all.
"I thought you didn't know. Today, you followed those playboys into Yiheju. If they spread this matter, even without them adding fuel to the fire, the listeners would be able to imagine a disgusting drama. Will your reputation still be there?"
Chu Miaomiao scratched his head and said nonchalantly, "I threw away my reputation back when I was in Pingzhou City. Otherwise, I wouldn't have offended you."
"Do you think the prince's physical condition allows him to hear such news?"
"Didn't you ask someone to stay and clean up when we left just now?"
Chu Miaomiao spoke confidently, and Wei Zhen found it amusing: "Does the princess really think there is an impenetrable wall in this world? There are so many eyes and mouths in Yiheju."
"Oh, that's right." Chu Miaomiao finally realized what was happening and immediately became anxious. "What should I do then?"
Wei Zhen shook his head helplessly. From Pingzhou to the capital, Chu Miaomiao's habit of doing things without considering the consequences had not changed at all.
"I knew I was panicking at this point."
"Your Highness, please be a good person at a time like this. Stop making sarcastic remarks and help me think of a solution, okay?"
"If you can't stop the gossip, the best way is to prevent him from hearing a single word."
This made Chu Miaomiao a little confused: "Your Highness, didn't you just say that there is no impenetrable wall in the world?"
"But there is indeed a place that can be well isolated from the rumors of the outside world."
Chu Miaomiao understood immediately: "The Imperial Palace."
But this answer embarrassed Chu Miaomiao. It was indeed possible to isolate herself from outside rumors, but once she entered the palace, she also lost her freedom. Entering and leaving the palace was not something she could do at will. She glanced at Wei Zhen, her face conflicted.
Wei Zhen said slowly: "Which is more important, freedom or the health of the prince? The choice is yours."
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