In the teahouse, the storyteller's eyes gleamed as he embellished the tale of a handsome young man and a shameless courtesan.
"Now, this courtesan, seeing that she had failed to seduce the young master, was resentful but had no other options. At this time, her friend gave her a plan. Dear readers, guess what happened?" The storyteller said, holding a folding fan and his eyebrows dancing with excitement.
"What's wrong?"
"Tell me quickly, what's the plan?"
"Hurry up and tell me, stop keeping me in suspense!"
The storyteller unfolded his folding fan with a "whoosh," covered his mouth with a wink, and then began to speak: "Her friend used the most direct method, which was—giving her a bag of aphrodisiac powder!"
After saying this, he raised his folding fan to cover his face, seemingly ashamed to speak.
"Wow! Is this going to force a fait accompli?"
"As expected of a merchant's daughter, she's so lowly, she can come up with all sorts of schemes."
“This…this woman is just too…” A scholar hesitated, unable to find a single adjective to describe her.
The older man sitting next to him patted him on the shoulder, looked around, and then whispered to him, "Brother, you haven't seen enough. There are plenty of women like that. They're willing to gamble with their bodies just to climb the social ladder. If they're lucky enough to get pregnant, they might even be promoted to concubines!"
The scholar's lips turned pale, and he shook his head, unsure of what to say.
Seeing that he seemed deeply hurt, the elder brother patted him on the shoulder again, "Young man, you seem to be a scholar. If you gain favor, don't associate with a woman like that. As long as the money is there, it's fine, but if she's just trying to get into your family, she might even get pregnant with an illegitimate child!"
One of the people at the table in front of them turned around, covered his mouth, and whispered, "I'm telling you this, but don't tell anyone else."
Seeing the two nod, he continued, "I've heard that this story is a true tale of Miss Shu and the Crown Prince of Qing Kingdom. Do you think it's possible that Miss Shu, knowing her lowly status, has already gone to have an affair to become a phoenix and rise in rank?"
A furious roar came from the next private room—
"This is outrageous!"
Shu Zhan's eyes were red as if they were about to spit fire, and he stood up, ready to rush out. Lu Huai grabbed his moon-white robe and frowned, saying, "Calm down."
"Calm down? How can you expect me to calm down! They're talking about my sister! My own sister!" Shu Zhan roared at Lu Huai, his anger raging.
Qin Xi shook his head at him, made a shushing gesture, and then pointed at Shu Hua.
Shu Zhan looked over and saw that Shu Hua was gripping the teacup tightly in her hand, her fingertips were white, and her face was completely bloodless.
Shu Zhan was taken aback.
In his memory, his younger sister had always been dazzling. Her clothes had to be made of the finest fabrics, with the most fashionable patterns, and her headdress and jewelry had to be the most beautiful. Even her rouge had to be fragrant.
She said that this was the only way to accentuate her beauty and make her stand out in a crowd.
Her father said that daughters should be raised in luxury, and he and her mother were happy to spoil her, always buying her the best things in the mansion. Although Shuzhan sometimes bickered with her, he would never let her suffer any grievances.
The woman before him, though dressed in a bright red daffodil dress and adorned with bright red hair ornaments, gave a first impression of being fair-skinned.
Yes, white.
It wasn't snow-white, but pale.
He looked as if he had suffered a great blow, his whole body was empty and white.
Shu Zhan felt as if her heart was being tightly gripped, or as if it had been stabbed hard with silver needles, the pain making her eyes red.
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