Yuan Sanniang had been staring at the servant named Lao Zheng outside the private room on the second floor for nearly half an hour.
Old Zheng, with his pockmarked face, looked perhaps under fifty, but looked well into his sixties. His always somewhat scruffy face was especially dull today, as he stared unblinkingly at a nearby private room through his puffy eyes.
Although Old Zheng only came to the ship half a year ago, he claimed that he had done this business before and there was nothing wrong with his interpersonal relationships. He did not look like a worldly-wise person. Why did he look a little timid today?
Either they were after the reward money or they were after the private property of others. That was all they had in mind.
Thinking this, Yuan Sanniang stepped up to the second floor. Without waiting for the other party to react, she grabbed him and took two steps back to a hidden place to the side.
"Look at you, you're so short-sighted! I'm afraid you haven't even seen an official higher than a county lieutenant, have you? How could you be so useless? If everyone on my ship were as greedy and lazy as you, would I still be able to do business?!"
Old Zheng lowered his head and said nothing, only occasionally raising his eyelids, still looking in the direction of the private room.
Yuan Sanniang was so angry that she turned her head to look behind her.
"I want to see what kind of great immortal is worthy of you..."
She suddenly stopped talking halfway through, and her expression froze as well, her eyes fixed on the second private seat by the window not far away.
The man in the elegant seat was dressed in moon-white clothes, very simply and elegantly. Apart from the jade hairpin, he had no other decorations on his body. His slender arms half supported his body, his head slightly tilted, his eyes not fixed on the enchanting figures of the dancers in the middle. His left hand was casually plucking the piano, but the sound of the piano made people lose their souls involuntarily.
She was staring intently when suddenly a face slowly moved into her sight. It was the woman next to the man.
The woman looked at her expressionlessly, blocking the man's face completely with her bulging cheeks.
Yuan Sanniang felt inexplicably guilty and was about to look away, but the next moment the man pulled her into his arms and pointed at his lips, as if signaling her to feed the peeled tangerines on the table into his mouth.
The woman grinned as she broke open a juicy slice of tangerine flesh, but stopped half an inch away from the man. She turned around and stuffed the whole thing into her mouth. Then she pushed the man away with a droopy face, patted her butt, and stood up. Seeing this, the man pushed the piano table away, stood up, and followed her. The evening breeze on the river blew up his moon-white clothes, making his figure look even softer and more graceful than the willows on both sides of the river.
The two men left the private room and went to the deck. Yuan Sanniang's eyes followed them like spider webs, moving from inside to outside, and from side to side, until the two figures disappeared into the night at the bow of the ship. Only then did she come to her senses.
She slapped her face hard.
What's going on? Could it be that the Ju River god has truly appeared?
She's been in this business for over a decade now, and she's seen all sorts of people. How could she be so out of control? She must have drunk one too many cups of sweet-scented osmanthus wine tonight, and that's what got her head spinning.
Yuan Sanniang shook her head, and when she turned back, Old Zheng was nowhere to be seen. She cursed softly and hurried towards the boat's kitchen.
Nothing can go wrong tonight.
On the deck, Xiao Nanhui caught a glimpse of Yuan Sanniang's leaving figure, then he dropped the crushed tangerine in his hand and looked around carefully.
A man's voice sounded behind her.
"Angry?"
"Stop it."
She deliberately avoided looking at him, as if she was in a critical moment and had no time to spare.
But the person behind her was obviously not so easy to deal with, and he used his ability to act miserable and sad to the extreme.
"She wants to see me, what can I do? If you don't like it, I will cover my face next time. If that doesn't work, you can lock me up in the inn..."
Xiao Nanhui knew that if she didn't do something, the other party would completely "frame" her and put her in an unkind and unjust position.
She turned around quickly, raised her hand to cover the man's lips, and signaled him to be silent.
Somehow, the bustling sounds of stringed instruments, drums, and people chatting and laughing all disappeared, and the atmosphere became quiet in an instant, with only the sound of the river water hitting the hull of the boat.
She slightly peeked her head out from behind the fluttering gauze curtain, and saw that the elegant rooms that had been bustling with singing and dancing just now were now devoid of any musicians or dancers. The guests at the banquet were all slumped over at the tables, as if they had been immersed in deep joy just the moment before, and now fallen into a deep sleep.
She subconsciously covered her mouth and nose, but after sniffing carefully, she didn't notice anything unusual.
There was some movement in the corner of the private room. It was a big-bellied man with a jade belt around his waist and a young woman wearing a veil. She looked at the two of them and realized that there was a difference between private rooms and private rooms.
Only the distinguished guests who were given paper flowers drank the pure wine, while the rest were probably drinking something adulterated.
Xiao Nanhui was just thinking about it when Jia Han approached carefully from the other side of the boat.
"Is this about to begin?"
She was about to say something when she suddenly realized she was still covering someone's mouth and quickly put her hand down. The other person looked at her, said nothing, but raised a finger to touch the corner of his mouth.
Jia Han looked at her, then at the quiet man, and suddenly seemed to understand something, and staggered half a step involuntarily.
The two men now had an unusual tacit understanding, one on the left and one on the right, walking around him and forward side by side.
"It's about to start, let's go."
Jia Han took a deep breath and followed after a while.
The pleasure boat had stopped on the river at some point. It was pitch black all around and one could hardly distinguish the water surface from the river bank. Only a solitary lamp on the bow reflected the full moon in the sky.
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