Chapter 67 Ayin, please have mercy on me

Li Ao was a frequent customer of this brothel and was very generous with his money. Although he was a little picky when choosing the girls, overall he was not a difficult customer to deal with.

But since a few months ago, Li Ao suddenly changed his personality. He used to be a simple guy who slept with girls, but now he started playing with props and torture.

Moreover, his criteria for choosing a girl also changed. In the past, he liked delicate and weak types, but later he only wanted the arrogant and bad-tempered types, preferably with a heroic look.

The madam heard from the owner of Nanfengguan, whom she knew well, that it was the same there.

In Li Ao's words, this is the way to play and you'll feel a sense of conquest.

But Li Ao's methods were too cruel, and he ruined many of the brothel's girls. Although he compensated them afterwards, it takes more than just money to train a qualified girl.

The madam was very unhappy with Li Ao, but she couldn't turn him away.

Li Ao came at noon today, and as usual, he asked for a new girl and went to the small building in the backyard.

Based on previous experience, he would play until the next morning, and he also brought two guards with him, so the brothel owner didn't pay much attention to him.

Who knew that the waiter just came to tell him that Li Ao's guards were guarding the door. They didn't hear any movement from inside for a long time, so they knocked on the door out of worry. No one answered, so they broke in and found Li Ao hanging naked on the windowsill, fainted, covered in snow, and his lips were frozen purple.

If we had gone in a little later, we would have been frozen to death.

The madam walked quickly and asked, "Where is the girl in the room?"

The employee said, "She was chained to a wooden frame and was unconscious. It couldn't have been her who did it."

The madam gritted her teeth and said, "Whether she did it or not, our words don't count."

If Li Aofei says that it was that girl's fault, they will be in trouble.

When the two rushed to the room where Li Ao was, Li Ao had already been wrapped in a quilt and put on the bed. The charcoal basin had also been moved over. The fainted girl had also woken up, with water all over her head and body, obviously having been splashed awake.

The girl was only wearing a thin shirt, which she must have put on herself after waking up. She knelt trembling beside the brothel, and when she saw the madam come in, she ran over to ask for help.

"Mom, it wasn't me. I fainted from the pain a long time ago. It's really none of my business. Wuwuwu..."

The girl couldn't stop crying. She was afraid that if anything happened to Li Ao, she would die.

The madam squeezed her hand soothingly and asked the waiter, "Have you sent someone to call the doctor?"

The clerk said, “He’s gone.”

At this time, Li Ao's guards also came over and said coldly: "You must give us an explanation for this matter, otherwise if the head of the family finds out, you will be in big trouble!"

To be able to open such a large brothel in the capital and keep it standing all these years, it is impossible for the madam to not have a strong backer.

Now that the truth has not been found out yet, the guard wants to pass the buck, but the madam of course won't accept it.

She raised her chin and said, "Everything will have to wait until the doctor comes and Master Li wakes up. I believe the Li family is not unreasonable and will give us a clear name."

If the Li family still dares to make trouble when it has nothing to do with them, don't blame her for informing the people behind the scenes.

The guards also knew that the brothel seemed to be backed by the Cui family, and the madam had the confidence to be arrogant, so they didn't say anything more and just snorted coldly.

While waiting for the doctor to come, the madam went to check the wine and food on the table and found that the wine bottle was empty. She immediately frowned.

The waiter was surprised and said, "Is this Fuchun Bar? Everyone is finished drinking? No wonder..."

Hearing his voice, the guards ran over and asked sharply, "What is Fuchun wine? What did you give my young master to drink?"

The madam had already understood the general truth and was more confident in her words. She rolled her eyes at the guards and said, "Don't worry, I didn't feed your young master poison. This Fuchun wine is for aphrodisiacs. It's not advisable to drink too much at once, otherwise you will experience symptoms such as heat and confusion. We told Young Master Li these precautions eight hundred years ago."

As she spoke, she turned the wine bottle upside down and shook it, saying, "Look, not a drop left. Master Li probably drank it all by himself."

"Impossible!" the guard shouted, "How could my young master drink all of this wine when he knew it was not allowed to be consumed in excess?"

The madam shrugged, "How should I know? Maybe he drank too quickly and forgot. When he wakes up, we can ask him about it."

After the doctor came and examined Li Ao, he also said that Li Ao drank a lot of Fuchun wine, and took off all his clothes and lay on the windowsill to cool down, which might have been done when he was unconscious.

He induced vomiting in Li Ao and poured some medicine into his body. All he could do next was to wait.

It was not until the next morning that Li Ao slowly woke up, but what he said was completely opposite to what the doctor and the madam said.

According to him, after the girl fainted, he was going to drink some Fuchun wine to stimulate her spirit and then use a whip to wake her up.

But just after he finished a glass of wine, he suddenly felt a pain in the back of his neck, and then he lost consciousness. When he woke up, he was in this situation now.

The doctor checked Li Ao's neck and found no scars.

Li Ao believed that the whole story was that someone sneaked into the house, knocked him unconscious, poured all the wine into his stomach, then took off his clothes and hung him on the windowsill.

Of course the madam was unwilling to admit that her brothel had security issues, as a thief would actually sneak in and attack a guest, a distinguished one at that.

She refuted Li Ao, saying that judging from the traces of clothes falling on the ground, it was obvious that he had taken them off himself. He did not remember drinking all the wine, and his memory might be confused because of drinking. The pain in the back of his neck was also his imagination.

So the truth should be: Li Ao was too excited about the fun and forgot about the side effects of the Fuchun wine. He drank it all, and then became unconscious. Coupled with the heat in his body, he took off his clothes and lay on the windowsill to cool off, and fainted without knowing it.

Each side insisted on its own story, and neither wanted to admit that it was their fault, so the argument ended in a bad mood.

Li Ao asked his father and brother to make the decision for him, and the brothel owner also went to the Cui family for help. Her brothel gave the Cui family a large amount of money every year, and she didn't believe that the Cui family would ignore her.

As expected, the Cui family was reluctant to give up this cash cow, so they sent people to the Li family to negotiate peace. However, the head of the Li family also felt sorry for his son, and felt that it must be the brothel's fault. Not only did he want the brothel to compensate his son and apologize, he also wanted it to close down.

The reason why Patriarch Li was so angry was not just because of Li Ao's incident.

Previously, he was forbidden by Zong Zhengxiao to use fertilizers. Cui and Chen families just watched from the sidelines. Later, the two families even made compost crazily and used it on every acre of land at home, waiting for a good harvest next year.

The head of the Li family also wanted to do it secretly, but those people were watching him very closely, and there was no chance for him to find any loopholes.

When he thought about how much loss he would suffer the next year if he couldn't use fertilizer, the head of the Li family was so angry that he couldn't sleep, and his hatred for the Cui and Chen families deepened.

Now that Li Ao was being plotted against in the brothel, the Cui family had no intention of taking responsibility and acted condescending, only sending a servant to negotiate with him.

The head of the Li family couldn't swallow this humiliation, so he simply drove the man out without mercy.

The Cui family would definitely not be happy with him doing this.

Now the whole matter is no longer just a question of who is right and who is wrong between Li Ao and Qinglou. Both the Cui and Li families will not allow their dignity to be trampled upon. Whoever gives in first will lose and will never be able to hold their heads up again.

Zong Zhengxiao himself had not expected that he only wanted to teach Li Ao a lesson, but it would cause such a huge chain reaction. It seemed that the resentment between the noble families had been accumulated for a long time, and they were just waiting for this outbreak.

Rong Yin was curious: "Will the two families fight?"

Zong Zhengxiao shook his head: "It will be noisy, but it won't be too ugly. After all, they still have a common enemy in front of them."

Rong Yin sat by the pool, wagging her tail happily. Zong Zheng Xiao, who was soaking in the hot water, said, "When I think of Li Ao being stripped naked and hung on the windowsill like a piece of pork, I want to laugh."

Zong Zhengxiao's lips also lifted up: "Laugh if you want to. I heard that he got seriously ill from being frozen, and because he drank too much of that kind of wine, his offspring were almost ruined. All these things combined should be enough to make him behave himself for a while."

Rong Yin sighed: "How sad the pervert must be when he loses his tools."

Don't be too obvious in your tone of gloating.

Zong Zhengxiao gently stroked Rong Yin's silver fishtail, turned his head to look at him, his eyes deep: "Then this little pervert who hasn't lost his tools, do you want to come down and take a bath with me?"

Rong Yin slid into the water, swam over and got close to Zong Zhengxiao, blinked her eyes, and asked innocently, "Just taking a bath?"

Zong Zhengxiao put his hands around Rong Yin's waist and said, "Everything is subject to A Yin's instructions."

Rong Yin's sharp nails slid slowly up along Zong Zheng Xiao's naked chest, passing by his clavicle, Adam's apple, and jaw, and finally stopped on Zong Zheng Xiao's lips.

As his nails approached Rong Yin's lips, he exhaled softly and said, "Come in the water, I will use the mermaid form. Whoever calls a halt first loses. If I lose, I will listen to you and be on top next time. If you lose, I will not use the medicine jade for the next month. What do you think? Do you dare to bet with me?"

After the two of them had been intimate many times, Zong Zhengxiao finally revealed to Rong Yin his habit of being on top, but Rong Yin felt that this position was very deep and he was very scared, so he kept resisting.

Zong Zhengxiao found out that he didn't like it, so he didn't force him. Only when he saw Rong Yin was in a good mood, he would coax him to come once in a while.

Therefore, this condition is still very tempting to Zong Zhengxiao.

As Rong Yin expected, Zong Zheng Xiao agreed immediately.

“I hope you won’t cry and give up halfway.” Zong Zhengxiao held Rong Yin’s paw, held him and turned around, pressing him against the wall of the pool.

No words were spoken that night.

In this battle, both of them used up all their endurance and physical strength. Rong Yin's eyes were swollen from crying, but he refused to admit defeat.

熬到天蒙蒙亮了，他倆才約定好平局，然後相擁着雙雙睡去。

不過從某種角度上來說，戎音算是輸了，因為這次事後他雖然沒有被塞藥玉，但是塞了別的東西。

他在下午醒來後才發現，氣得一腳把宗政逍踢下床，還不小心閃了自己的腰。

宗政逍知錯：“太累了，我忘記出來了，都是我的錯，阿音你別生氣了，我給你按摩好不好？”

但不改：“下次會注意的，但也可能還會出現意外。”

戎音：“不要臉！”

然後宗政逍就被戎音趕出了屋子。

宗政逍站在門口，小艾同學剛好路過，看見他就跑過來跟他玩。

宗政逍摸了摸它的狗頭，嘆氣：“你爸爸抛棄我和你了。”

“嗷嗚？”小艾同學露出了不解的神情。

于是銀鲛園的宮人們就看見了這幅畫面：宗政逍領着小艾同學一左一右站在門口，開始沖裏面喊話。

宗政逍：“阿音，我錯了，讓我進屋吧。”

小艾同學：“汪汪汪！”

過了一會兒，房門打開，宗政逍臉上的笑容還來不及綻放，戎音就把狗牽進去，接着又“砰”一聲把門關上了。

宗政逍再次被攔在外面，這回就真只有他一個人了。

宮人們差點憋不住笑，怕被皇上發現，趕緊快步跑開。

到了晚飯時間，連小艾同學都上戎音的桌啃骨頭了，宗政逍還是被孤零零隔離在一邊，一個人坐一桌，慘得他都吃不下去飯。

四喜提議：“陛下，要給您上壺酒嗎？”

正所謂一醉解千愁。

聽懂他意思的宗政逍：“你想被罰月俸了是嗎？”

四喜：“老奴知罪，老奴錯了。”

這次戎音是真不高興了，跟宗政逍鬧了足足三天的別扭，兩人沒分床睡，但戎音碰都不讓他碰一下，要是半夜宗政逍湊過去抱他，被他察覺到的話，還會狠狠把人給推開。

宗政逍苦啊，一失足成千古恨。

他站在門口，看着外面飄飄揚揚的雪花，覺得自己的心比冰還冷。

忽然，宗政逍想起了什麽，不顧天上還下着雪，快步跑向了堆滿雪的庭院裏。

屋中，戎音正在和小艾同學玩拔河游戲，他拽着短繩的一頭，小艾同學的嘴巴拽着另一頭，互相比拼力氣。

小艾同學頓頓有肉吃，體格子越長越壯，力氣也越來越大，戎音現在跟它玩都得集中精力，不然一不小心就輸了。

剛玩完一輪，戎音拍拍小艾同學叫它去喝水，冬天幹燥，容易缺水，他自己也端起果茶喝了一口。

這時，四喜進來了，他手裏端着一個托盤，對戎音行了禮後将其遞上前。

“主子，陛下說他知道您不想看見他，就讓老奴把東西送過來，希望您不要再生他的氣了，他知道錯了，請您原諒他。”四喜語氣誠懇。

戎音擡眼看去，托盤裏有五個小雪人圍成一圈，圈的中間放着一顆戎音再熟悉不過的雪球愛心，而小雪人的臉上都貼着紙條，連起來看就是——老婆我愛你。

戎音眼波微動，神情有所緩和。

四喜趁熱打鐵，将從前的事娓娓道來：“其實陛下早對主子您有意，只是怕主子您知曉後會害怕，所以一直不敢開口訴說，那天您送了陛下這顆雪球，他歡喜得不得了，一直用冰冷藏着，有空就去看一眼，比任何金銀財寶都要寶貝，若不是今日實在沒辦法了，陛下也舍不得把它給請出來。”

戎音盯着那顆早就不複當初漂亮的雪球，心髒一陣陣地刺痛，不禁想起他與宗政逍之前差點就再也無法相見了。

“既然珍惜，就端回去放好，屋裏太暖和，待會兒就化了。”戎音語氣沒什麽起伏。

四喜以為這招沒用，剛想替陛下默哀，就又聽見戎音道：“出去的時候，順便叫他進來。”

“欸！老奴這就去！”四喜頓時喜上眉梢，步伐輕快地轉身離開，只差飛起來了。

宮人們也極有眼色，知道待會兒他們恐怕不适合在現場，自己離開的同時 ，還連哄帶騙地把小艾同學也牽走了。

外面，宗政逍聽完四喜的回複，輕咳一聲，壓抑住激動之情，垂眸問他：“朕看起來怎麽樣？”

四喜知道他的意思，趕緊附和道：“陛下看起來被凍得不輕，晚上睡前最好擦點凍傷膏。”

宗政逍這才滿意地笑了：“朕進去了，管好他們，沒事別來打擾我們。”

“是，老奴定會為陛下守好大門。”四喜忠心耿耿。

宗政逍點頭：“不錯，這個月的月俸翻倍。”

四喜喜笑顏開：“謝陛下。”

宗政逍進去了，順便關上了門。

聽見關門聲，戎音知道是宗政逍來了，不過他頭也沒擡一下，繼續裝作在看書。

屋裏只有他倆在，外面半點動靜也無，是以戎音能清晰地聽見宗政逍的腳步聲，一步一步，像是踏在了他的心上。

戎音的手指捏着書頁邊緣，卻久久沒有翻下一頁。

終于，宗政逍在戎音面前停下了腳步。

戎音屏住呼吸。

宗政逍單膝跪下，将一雙骨節都被凍得紅彤彤的手遞到了戎音眼前。

同時，宗政逍可憐兮兮的聲音響起：“阿音，我好冷啊，那麽冰的雪，都快把我的手給凍僵了。”

戎音看不下去書了，他擡頭望向宗政逍，發現他發型微亂，額前還搭着一縷碎發，耳朵和臉頰都被凍紅了。

戎音驚訝：“你這是去捏雪人還是打仗去了？怎麽把自己弄成這樣？”

宗政逍慢慢靠近戎音，見他沒有拒絕的意思，便俯身将臉枕到了他的腿上。

“外面一直在下雪，我站在雪地裏捏的雪人。”

宗政逍個子高，體型也壯，那麽高大一個人委委屈屈地縮成一團靠在戎音身上，看起來有種莫名的可憐感。

戎音不知是氣還是心疼：“你是不是傻？下雪了不知道去屋裏躲啊？”

宗政逍道：“因為我想快點把雪人捏出來，讓阿音早點原諒我，情急之下，就忘記要躲雪了。”

其實戎音清楚，宗政逍這是在故意裝傻，就算他真沒想起來要躲雪，四喜和其他宮人又不眼盲，怎麽會眼睜睜地看着他待在雪地裏而不上去勸說。

宗政逍刻意把自己搞這麽慘，就是想要讓他心軟，從而原諒他。

可明白事情真相又如何，看見宗政逍為了他如此用心，他就是想對他兇都兇不起來。

“你就是仗着我舍不得你，就總是欺負我。”戎音氣鼓鼓道。

宗政逍起身，握住戎音的手，凝視他的眼眸，道：“我也舍不得你，老婆。”

最後兩個字像是一柄小錘子，輕輕敲在戎音心頭，讓他心跳逐漸加速，臉蛋也熱了起來。

“我原諒你了。”戎音指着自己的唇，“所以，現在立刻馬上親我。”

他話音未落，宗政逍已經俯身吻了上去。

戎音回抱住宗政逍，兩人吻着吻着就換了位置，換成宗政逍坐着，而戎音騎在他腿上。

趁着換氣的時候，戎音喘息着道：“下次不許再放裏面不出來了，萬一後面壞了怎麽辦？你一點都不為我考慮。”

“我錯了，下次絕對不這樣了，我發誓。”宗政逍不再跟戎音玩笑，撫着他的後脖頸，語氣認真地保證。

“我相信你。”說完，戎音又吻了上去。

宗政逍與戎音和好如初，崔家和李家那邊也差不多了。

僵持這幾日，其實兩家也沒發生什麽太大的沖突，就是生意上有了幾處摩擦，但都無傷大雅。

不過要是兩位家主再不說開，兩家繼續別苗頭，到後面會不會發展到不可挽回的地步，誰也不敢打包票。

李家主本就是逞一時之氣，說實在話，他鬥不過崔家，也不敢跟崔家鬥，但架子都擺出來了，讓他灰溜溜去認錯，他做不到。

最後還是崔家主覺得再這麽冷戰下去也不好，沒必要因為一件小事就鬧到翻臉的地步，別到時候滅了自己威風，漲了皇帝的氣勢。

于是崔家主便請陳家主做中間人，把李家主請到自己家，與他坐下來詳談了許久，最後說服李家主放棄了與崔家作對。

當然，崔家主也給了李傲一個交代，青樓承認是自己防護沒做到位，讓歹人溜了進來，将李傲打暈後又灌了他酒。

奈何歹人功夫太高，沒有在屋裏和周圍留下任何痕跡，青樓那邊表示很遺憾，他們抓不到歹徒，但是願意賠付銀兩給李傲。

李家主清楚，與其說是抓不到歹人，不如說青樓那邊內心根本不承認歹徒的存在，又不可能莫名其妙抓個人來頂罪，那樣未免太過難看。

索性就多花點錢，道歉再誠懇一些，想将這件事就此揭過。

李家主跟崔家主早就談妥了，也不會為難青樓那邊。

李家主是絕對相信自己兒子的，可他也讓人去查過了，大雪隐藏了所有痕跡，他根本找不到證據證明有別人進過那個房間。

If they searched for the person in a high-profile manner, the whole capital would know that Li Ao was stripped naked and hung on the windowsill and almost froze to death. However, the Li family, as a big family, could not find the person who harmed their young master. It would be laughable.

Because Li Aoping had offended too many people, the head of the Li family could not confirm who had done it, so he could only accept the defeat.

"Bang--"

The sound of dishes hitting the ground was particularly harsh. In Li Ao's room, the maids knelt on the ground, all with their heads lowered and trembling, afraid that they would be the next to suffer.

"I said I don't want to eat! You don't understand what I'm saying, right?" Li Ao had a vicious expression and kicked the little maid who brought the food to him. The little maid fell to the ground screaming in pain.