Yun Qing's expression was so straightforward that Li Yan could immediately tell what was going on in her little head.
I couldn't help but sigh. Does this carefree little guy really think he will treat everyone the same?
When she bullies others, he naturally turns a blind eye, siding with his own family regardless of right or wrong.
But for her, the slap from last night was still warm. If he dared to criticize her because of another woman, this little girl would probably turn the East Palace upside down!
Thinking of this, Li Yan hugged her tightly: "As the Crown Prince, you can hit me whenever you want without any scruples. As for the others, they are fortunate enough to be taught a lesson by you."
Since Yun Qing had been in a low mood all day, Li Yan didn't do much. After taking a bath, he went to bed, held her tightly in his arms, and soon fell asleep.
On the contrary, Yun Qing tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep. She stared at the bed curtains in front of her, her mind filled with countless thoughts.
She simply couldn't connect the man pressing against her back with Li Yan from her dream.
Since they met, he has always been completely open and honest with her, so how could she accept the ending she saw in her dream?
...
A year ago, Li Yan received an imperial edict ordering him to travel incognito and thoroughly investigate corruption in the Jiangnan region.
At that time, Yun Qing was just a young girl kept in Huanyun Tower.
Huanyunlou was the most famous brothel in Jiangnan, and the madam of the brothel had a close relationship with the prefect of Hangzhou.
On the surface, they run a brothel, but in private they are involved in trafficking innocent young girls.
They would raise promising young girls as courtesans or "skinny horses" (a euphemism for prostitutes), and then send them to the powerful and wealthy in the capital when they grew up.
This is why, for many years, the prefect of Hangzhou held absolute power and acted tyrannically in the Jiangnan region, yet no one dared to sue him.
In fact, Li Yan had already found out who was secretly dealing with the Hangzhou prefect when he was in the capital, and he also followed the clues to learn about the dirty deals behind Huanyunlou.
Upon arriving in Jiangnan, he disguised himself as a wealthy merchant and infiltrated Huanyun Tower. It was there that he met Yun Qing.
At that time, Yunqing was a beautiful 15-year-old girl, and her appearance was outstanding among the girls in her class. Naturally, the mothers in the building paid special attention to her.
Unfortunately, apart from having a beautiful and refined face, Yun Qing has almost nothing to offer.
The daughter's studies in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting are often inconsistent, with little effort put in.
She is anything but gentle and mild-mannered; she can explode at the slightest provocation, disturbing everyone's peace.
If it weren't for her incredibly pleasing face and the protection of the matriarch, she would probably have been devoured long ago, leaving not even a bone fragment.
Even so, the rules of Huanyunlou could not be changed for her: when a girl reached the age of fifteen, she would either stay in the brothel to serve customers or be sent to the homes of high-ranking officials and nobles as a concubine.
Although Yunqing was simple-minded, she understood that serving one person was more relaxed and comfortable than entertaining guests in the brothel.
She had lived in Huanyun Tower since childhood and knew that most of the girls there had tragic fates.
Those who are lucky enough to survive until they are old and their beauty fades, then save enough money to buy a small courtyard and live out their old age in peace.
Those who are unfortunate may contract venereal diseases and die within a few years, without even a proper burial place. They may be hastily wrapped in straw mats and abandoned in mass graves.
Yun Qing did not want to end up like this, but at the same time, she did not want to become someone's concubine.
After all, there were girls who had been sent to the prefect as "skinny horses" before. One of them was framed by the prefect's wife, disfigured, and returned to Huanyun Tower to work as a servant.
For Yun Qing, fine clothes and delicacies, wealth and honor, and status are all things she pursues and desires.
Therefore, long before she came of age, she had already carefully chosen her future partner: Yin Xiangjie, the eldest son of the prefect of Hangzhou.
Although the prefect of Hangzhou was morally corrupt, he had once passed the imperial examination and become a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest level of the imperial examinations). Yin Xiangjie, of course, also had outstanding talent and passed the provincial examination at a young age.
More importantly, because the prefect's wife was unable to have children, she adopted Yin Xiangjie into her family. However, it is said that the relationship between the two was not close.
With this in mind, Yun Qing thought that even if the prefect's wife had a bad reputation, she wouldn't easily humiliate her. After all, Yin Xiangjie wasn't her biological son, so it wasn't appropriate for her to interfere too much in matters of the inner quarters.
In addition, Yin Xiangjie had already promised her that once he passed the imperial examination, he would immediately marry her in a grand wedding procession and then be transferred to another place, far away from Hangzhou.
However, unexpectedly, before their plan could be put into practice, the Hangzhou prefect fell from power.
Yin Xiangjie had long heard about the Emperor sending people to Jiangnan to investigate the case. With the storm brewing, his only worry was Yun Qing.
So he repeatedly warned her: "Things are not peaceful these days. The capital has sent an imperial envoy to thoroughly investigate corruption. Huanyunlou will probably be implicated as well. You should stay in the courtyard I bought for you and do not go out."
Yun Qing, being extremely afraid of death, naturally kept his words firmly in mind. By the time she inquired about the situation again, the prefect's entire family had already been raided and their property confiscated.
The shady dealings of Huanyunlou were also exposed, and the madams who had helped the prefect commit evil deeds over the years were all imprisoned, and the girls were dismissed.
Thinking of the money she had hidden in her room, Yun Qing felt a pang of heartache and finally decided to sneak into Huanyun Tower to retrieve it.
In the dead of night, the moonlight shone like water on the earth.
Yun Qing cautiously and stealthily slipped into Huanyun Tower through the back door. Her steps were light, like a ghost, and she quickly ran to the room where she used to live.
The room was pitch black, so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. Yun Qing crouched down and cautiously groped her way forward. Suddenly, she felt something warm against her shoulder.
In an instant, Yun Qing's hair stood on end, a chill ran down her spine, and she involuntarily let out a scream: "Ah—"
However, before her scream could fully escape, a large hand swiftly covered her mouth. In the empty room, a deep voice rang out: "Shut up!"
Yun Qing stared in horror, and by the dim moonlight, she finally saw the person in front of her: a masked man dressed in black.
Although those involved in the Hangzhou corruption case have been arrested, the whereabouts of the prefect's two sons remain unknown.
Furthermore, the officialdom in the Jiangnan region was exceptionally complex. Rumor had it that the prefect of Hangzhou possessed a ledger recording his bribes to court officials over the years.
During the search of the government office, Li Yan did not find this crucial account book. Connecting it to the relationship between Yin Zhaofeng and Huanyunlou, he decided to investigate personally that night.
Unexpectedly, they encountered a petty thief here.
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