Luo Ming woke up the next day in a very warm place, with peach pink bed curtains and bedding filled with his daughter's scent. He was only wearing white underwear, and had a splitting headache after a night of hangover.
He was so drunk that he had no idea what happened last night.
Until the bed curtain was lifted, a young woman appeared in front of him. The woman had a rosy face and a pair of clear eyes, which made me feel pity for her.
That's how the two of them met. When Luo Ming found out that she was a prostitute, he still felt a little disgusted. After all, he was a scholar and grew up in a superior environment. His family education would never allow him to go to such a place.
Moreover, this is a stain for a person who is going to take the imperial examination, and will affect his career in the future.
But he may not realize that his current self-degradation has already affected his path to the imperial examination.
The woman told him that her name was Yanzhi, and that she was a skinny girl who performed art but not her body in Ningxiang Pavilion. She was originally a lady from a wealthy family, but her family fell into poverty later. One of her relatives was an official in the court, and his house was confiscated because he committed a crime.
Her family was implicated and all their property was confiscated. She also fell into a brothel. Fortunately, she had a skill and did not have to become a prostitute trading sex.
After hearing that she only sold her art and not her body, Luo Ming began to have some favorable impression of her. After listening to her experience, he also felt pity for her.
Yanzhi saw that he was worried, so she offered to play a song for him to ease his worries.
Luo Ming listened to her playing the pipa and after talking with her for several times, he found that she was actually a talented woman who was good at reciting poems, composing essays, playing the piano, chess, calligraphy and painting. She was truly a daughter in distress.
Moreover, Yanzhi was very considerate. With just a few words, she was able to relieve a lot of the depression in his heart. Luo Ming's affection for her increased dramatically overnight.
His family had just experienced a misfortune not long ago and almost collapsed. The two of them actually had a sense of sympathy for each other's experiences. When two people with the same suffering get together, it's like dry wood and sparks of passion, and they feel that they met too late.
After that, he came to see her a few more times. After just these few meetings, Luo Ming fell in love with her and they quickly fell in love.
Luo Ming would call her over from time to time, and the two of them would stay together for the entire night, talking all night long. However, because Yanzhi only sold her art and not her body, it would cost ten taels of silver to call her over for a night. These ten taels of silver were only used to listen to music and chat, and they could not do anything else.
Luo Ming considered himself a gentleman, and his feelings for her were based on courtesy and he never overstepped the boundaries.
He had a bold idea, which was to redeem Yanzhi and let her regain her freedom, but when he asked the brothel owner, he was told that it would cost three thousand taels of silver to redeem Yanzhi. After all, she was sent to the brothel because someone in her family was convicted, so the nature of her case was different.
Three thousand taels is a huge sum of money for Luo Ming now. His family has just gotten through the most difficult time and has not yet stood firm. He will not get three thousand taels at once if he asks his family. He will not ask Ye Congwen for it. If Ye Congwen knows about it, it will be a big deal and might even implicate Yanzhi.
Besides, he was too embarrassed to ask him this because he was a proud man.
So, he asked Yanzhi to wait for him a little longer, and if she gave him some more time, he would find a way to collect three thousand taels of silver to redeem her as soon as possible.
He admitted to Yanzhi that he was already married, but he never mentioned the fact that he was a live-in son-in-law. He also said that his family was in the porcelain business and that something unexpected had happened some time ago and they have not yet recovered, so he asked her to wait and he would take her out of Ningxiang Pavilion when the time comes.
Yanzhi also believed this firmly. She also said that she didn't mind being his concubine because she cared about him as a person. As long as she could stay with him for a long time, nothing else mattered.
These words were a deadly blow to Luo Ming, making him even more devoted to Yanzhi. As for Ye Shu, who was she?
Yanzhi might truly love him, but it was definitely not without plan. When she first met Luo Ming, she was indeed attracted by his handsome face, but when she recognized his clothes as a student of Baiyun Academy, she knew that this man in front of her must have certain talents to be able to study in Baiyun Academy, and his family would not be too poor. He had made quite a lot of money after studying in Baiyun Academy for a year.
Yanzhi was indeed born into a family of ladies, and she had had enough of Ningxiang Pavilion. Although she didn't have to sell her body, she would still suffer losses when she met some dishonest customers. She didn't want to go on like this. She wanted freedom, but didn't want to rely on those greasy, vulgar old men. She also longed for romance.
So, Luo Ming became the object of her bet. After understanding Luo Ming's situation, she felt that she had made the right bet.
Anyway, having fallen into this state, it is impossible for her to redeem herself. By the time she saves up the three thousand taels, she will probably be old and ugly. The only way for the girls in the building to regain their freedom is to find a stable financial sponsor and wait to be redeemed one day.
But usually in this case, after she goes out, she either becomes a mistress or a concubine, there is no choice.
But she has choices. At least Luo Ming is handsome and talented, so she will not lose out no matter what.
However, she thought she had found a way out and just needed to wait patiently. But she never expected that Luo Ming had not come to see her for half a month and had not even written a letter.
Over the past few months, Luo Ming would come to see her once every three or four days at most. But half a month had passed and there was still no news, and she began to panic.
…
Ye Congwen discovered what was going on between them, and after Luo Ming returned, he was called in for a private talk.
Ye Congwen learned of his whereabouts that day, but was not in a hurry to capture him for fear of alerting the enemy, so he waited until he came back the next day.
When Luo Ming came to the study, Ye Congwen was standing with his hands behind his back and facing away from him.
He had a feeling that something was wrong and had a bad feeling in his heart. Sure enough, as soon as he came in, Ye Congwen asked him to kneel down, and his tone was very serious and cold.
Luo Ming didn't know what he had done wrong. He didn't respect Ye Congwen that much from the bottom of his heart, so he naturally didn't want to kneel for no reason.
"Father-in-law, I wonder what I did wrong? Can you explain it to me?"
Upon hearing this, Ye Congwen snorted coldly and turned around to look at him:
"Do you really not know what you did? Or are you playing dumb with me?"
Hearing this, Luo Ming's heart trembled. The only ghost in his mind was Yanzhi, nothing else. Could it be that Ye Congwen knew?
His guess was correct, so he lowered his head guiltily.
"Kneel down and tell me, when did your relationship with that prostitute named Yanzhi begin?"
When the name Yanzhi came out of Ye Cong's mouth, Luo Ming couldn't help but tremble. He felt nervous and scared because of his guilty conscience.
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