Chapter 60 Camellia

Shancha didn't know why Ming Huashang wanted to see their house, but Ming Huashang had Prince Jiang behind him and Shancha couldn't afford to offend him. She had nothing else to do anyway, so she took Ming Huashang around to have a look.

Ming Huashang went to the second floor first. She turned out of the stairs and found an inconspicuous door on the side. Ming Huashang pushed it open. The light inside was very dim and she could only see the general outline in the darkness.

Light shone in from behind, and Ming Huashang could vaguely see a wooden rack against the south wall, on which were placed wine utensils, teacups, and gambling equipment. Ming Huashang walked in cautiously and asked, "Why is it so dark in here?"

Shancha leaned against the wall impatiently and said, "It's surrounded by walls on three sides, so it's dark."

Indeed, this small storage room has walls on three sides, with only a small vent on the top of the north wall. However, the window is connected to the stairs and cannot provide light, it can only dissipate the smell.

Ming Huashang walked around the house. It was obvious that this place was often used, but no one cleaned it up, and the utensils were piled up randomly. She stopped in front of the south wall. Behind this wall was Fengqing Siyuan, where Zhang Ziyun died. But Ming Huashang looked around for a long time and couldn't find any way to get to the next door from here.

Ming Huashang could only leave with regret. She walked to Fengqing Siyuan and saw the word "sealed" on it at first sight. Ming Huashang looked around the seal. Shancha saw it and asked suspiciously: "There is a dead person in there, why don't you hide it and look at it with longing? You don't want to go in, do you?"

Seen through. Ming Huashang snorted coldly and said, "I am just checking whether you are lying. Did Zhang Sanlang really commit suicide? I warn you, we in the Marquis of Jiang'an Mansion are not vegetarians. If the prince gets into trouble with you, Marquis of Jiang'an will definitely make you pay for it."

Shancha said, "Really. Zhang Sanlang probably came at the hour of You. Yuqiong said she admired his painting skills, so she drank alone with him in Fengqingsiyuan. Around the hour of Xu, more and more guests came. I was preparing to dance when I suddenly heard a quarrel downstairs. It turned out that the distinguished guest who often invited Yuqiong came and asked for Yuqiong's company. The madam went to Fengqingsiyuan to call for people. Zhang Sanlang said that the painting was not finished yet and would not let Yuqiong leave no matter what. The madam asked Uncle Du to send a few bottles of wine, and he quieted down. Oh, this group of pedantic literati are all like this."

Ming Huashang asked: "He was drinking, why would he commit suicide?"

"Who knew that?" Shancha said, "I was dancing in the lobby at 11:00 p.m., and many people came to support me. How could I pay attention to a scholar? When I finished dancing, it was already 11:00 p.m., and I was so tired. I just took a break upstairs when my mother downstairs screamed. I sent someone to ask, and then I found out that someone had died downstairs. That nerd who was obsessed with painting had committed suicide."

Ming Huashang raised her eyebrows: "Commit suicide?"

"Yes." Shan Cha said as a matter of course, "After the hour of Xu, the door of Fengqing Siyuan was always closed. There were so many guests in the lobby, so many eyes, and they could see everything clearly. Under the watchful eyes of everyone, how could someone bypass everyone's eyes and enter the room to kill him? After the hour of Hai, my mother finally took action. She went to Fengqing Siyuan to urge him to leave, but she didn't expect to see a dead person when she pushed the door. There were many people with my mother at that time. Everyone saw that the doors and windows of the private room were closed, the ground was clean, and Zhang Sanlang was leaning against the table, holding a knife in his hand, blood on his neck, and even with a smile on his face. No one knew how long he had been dead. There was a painting on the table. Everyone said that he loved painting and became crazy. He was enlightened and his soul entered the painting to become a god."

Ming Huashang remained silent. If she hadn't known that the treasure map Zhang Ziyun was carrying was lost, she might have thought it was suicide.

She paced outside Fengqing Siyuan, slowly measuring the terrain. Through the slits in the window, she could see that Fengqing Siyuan had walls on the north and south sides, the windows on the east side faced the street, and the doors and windows on the west side were next to the corridor on the second floor.

There were Xuanxiaowei spies watching the east window to make sure no one opened the window; there was Yuehu watching the west gate the whole time to make sure no one approached.

This is strange. Could the murderer be able to walk through walls? How did he get into the box, kill Zhang Ziyun, and take away the scroll?

Or should she think differently? No one entered or left the secret room after the hour of Xu, but something was placed inside in advance to delay the killing of Zhang Ziyun? Then, how to explain the loss of the Daming Palace Map?

Ming Huashang couldn't figure it out, so she decided to explore the terrain of Tianxiang Tower first. She didn't believe that there were ghosts killing people or entering paintings, so the so-called secret room must be a trick based on the structure of Tianxiang Tower.

Ming Huashang said, "Let's go to the third floor and take a look."

The rooms of the brothel girls were all on the third floor. Although the private rooms on the second floor were elegant and luxurious, they had nothing to do with them. Even a popular new star like Shancha could only get a small room on the third floor. She had to eat, wear, live, travel, and even receive guests here.

Shancha had no choice but to take Ming Huashang upstairs. The stairs were made of wooden boards, and the bottom was suspended. Ming Huashang felt a little weak walking on them. She could not help but hold the handrail tightly, and accidentally got the corner of her clothes caught in the cracks of the wood.

Ming Huashang shivered as she squatted down to untie the corner of her clothes. She accidentally glanced down and suddenly felt dizzy. Ming Huashang couldn't help but ask, "Your stage and boxes are so gorgeous, why don't you fix the stairs?"

Shancha sneered and said, "Who would be willing to pay for something that can't be seen? Anyway, the people who often use it are not patrons, so Mom doesn't care."

Ming Huashang was speechless. She tried hard not to look down and carefully pulled out her clothes. She was close enough to see a red thread stuck on the wooden board of the stairs.

It seemed that there was another unlucky person like her who had gotten his clothes caught here. Ming Huashang didn't care, and after freeing the corner of her clothes, she continued to walk upstairs.

The two of them went up to the third floor, and Shancha said, "Here, this is where we're going to live. I don't know what's so good about it."

What comes into view is a row of dove-cage-like doors, neatly arranged. The early summer night is already a bit humid and stuffy, and most of the houses have windows open, so one can get a rough glimpse of the scene inside from the corridor.

Ming Huashang didn't care about Shancha's cold words. She asked questions as she walked, sketching out the image of each owner in her mind.

She didn't think she could be lucky enough to run into the murderer by just wandering around, she just wanted to get familiar with the environment of Tianxianglou. People are shaped by the environment, and only by understanding the environment can we understand how people living in this environment think, how they feel, and how they act.

Among the brothel girls who half-opened their doors and windows, fanned themselves idly, and had no regard for privacy, Yuqiong's room was particularly unique. Her doors and windows were tightly closed, and the window was covered with silk cloth. Looking inside was foggy, so there was no way to poke a finger through it and peek.

Shancha saw Ming Huashang staring at a window and said lazily, "That's Yuqiong's room. She's very particular about it and won't let anyone touch her things. If anyone enters her room without permission, she'll get angry."

Ming Huashang said: "Yuqiong has been a courtesan for many years. She must have a lot of valuable things in her house. It is normal that she doesn't like others to touch them."

Shancha sneered and rolled her eyes vigorously: "On the contrary. Our courtesan has a very strange temper. If her room was full of gold and jade, I could understand it. But her room is like a snow cave, with white walls on all sides. I feel scared when I enter it."

Ming Huashang was surprised: "I can't believe Yuqiong actually likes simplicity."

Shan Cha sneered and said disdainfully, "Just pretending to be noble."

Slowly walking to Shancha's room, Shancha thought that guests are welcome, and she didn't need to entertain guests tonight anyway, so she invited Ming Huashang to come in and sit down.

Ming Huachang wanted to observe brothel life up close, so she readily agreed.

Shancha's residence was just like her personality, filled with bright red and bright gold. Ming Huashang felt her eyes were dazzled when she entered. Shancha casually picked up the shawl on the couch and said, "Sit wherever you want."

Ming Huashang stood on the ground, looking at the red decorations around her, not knowing where to start. Ming Huashang saw a lacquer box next to her filled with red clothes. She really couldn't tell what kind of clothes they were, so she asked, "Shancha, what are these?"

Shancha was looking for tea utensils. When she heard this, she turned around and glanced at it. She said, "Oh, that's the ribbon I use for dancing."

Ming Huashang gestured, unable to understand: "Does dancing require such a long ribbon? Won't it trip you up?"

There was only cold tea in the room. Shan Cha poured a cup of tea and brought it to Ming Hua Shang. She glanced down with her slanted eyes and sneered, "Only a fool would be tripped."

Ming Huashang felt vaguely that these words were meant to sarcastically mock her. Before she could reply, Shancha stuffed the teacup into her hands, leaned over, hooked up Hongji, and began to spin in this small house that they could not even leave.

Red silk wrapped around her body like flying clouds and flowing water, and the big red waves rolled up and down, turning faster and faster, and the skirt at the bottom bloomed like a flower.

It was gorgeous and thrilling. Ming Huachang was worried that she would step on the hem of her skirt or get tangled in the red silk with every step, but Shancha was on the border between spinning and falling with every step. Finally, Shancha took all the red silk in her hands like a magic trick and spun around and stopped.

Ming Huashang couldn't help but applaud: "Amazing, such a great dance!"

Shancha put away the red silk and felt a little embarrassed by such straightforward and non-obscene compliments. She smoothed her hair and said, "It's just the basics. I haven't shown my real strength yet."

"Really?" Ming Huashang had never seen anyone dancing so well before, so she asked curiously, "What's your best dance?"

Shancha pointed outside and said, "Flying Dance."

Ming Huashang was curious: "What is that?"

This was probably the first time a woman had seriously discussed dance with her. There was no lecherous look, no shady words, no overt praise or covert criticism. Shancha also became interested and pointed to the roof and said, "See that wood up there? That's a track built for me. I came up with a new dance. I put red silk on the wood, jump down from the third floor, loosen the silk while dancing, and then I can fly down from the sky. I've been practicing for a long time, and yesterday was my first time performing the dance."

Ming Huashang broke out in a cold sweat just by listening to this: "This is too dangerous. What if you don't hold on tight and something happens?"

Shan Cha snorted and raised her chin, saying, "Only those who are not well-trained will have accidents, but I won't."

Shancha was about to demonstrate. She walked to the corridor holding the red silk ribbon. It was clearly a soft silk ribbon, but she somehow managed to throw it so hard that it went over the beam and floated down from the other end. Shancha pressed her legs, held the red silk ribbon, looked back and smiled proudly: "I haven't practiced for a day, my legs are a little raw. Watch out."

As she spoke, she held the red cloth tightly with both hands and flew up like a butterfly. She stepped lightly on the railing, and her weight pulled the red silk down, finally getting stuck on the middle beam.

Ming Huashang was caught off guard by Shancha's sudden jump, and her heart was stuck in her throat. Seeing that Shancha was about to hit the opposite railing, she suddenly retracted the cloth and changed her body posture.

Ming Huachang was about to scream, but Shancha brushed past the railings as if she was playing a joke on everyone. Hongyi took her back like a flying bird, circling over the lobby.

This unexpected change was so unexpected that everyone looked up. Shancha's pomegranate skirt fluttered wildly. She controlled the speed of rotation by shortening and lengthening the red cloth while performing various dance moves in the air. She really looked like the flying fairy in the mural, light and floating, with colorful ribbons floating in the air, and she was extremely beautiful.

Ming Huashang slowly exhaled the breath she had been holding for a long time, raised her hands, and clapped with joy and sincerity.

Jiang Ling and Ren Yao were racking their brains to get Yu Qiong to say something when they suddenly heard a cry of surprise from outside. Jiang Ling turned around and saw a beautiful woman in red passing by the window, with petals falling behind her.

Jiang Ling was stunned: "What just flew over there?"

Seeing that everyone was staring at the hall, Yuqiong quietly stopped playing the pipa. The madam was also surprised, but her first reaction was to sigh in regret.

Shancha, this little bitch, had her first dance yesterday, and she didn't dance that well. Why did she go crazy today and suddenly start dancing? The madam only regretted that there were no customers today, and this scene was wasted, and she couldn't raise Shancha's value.

But at least there is still the son of Marquis Jiang'an. The old procuress glanced towards Jiang Ling and comforted herself that she still had this big fish, so it was not a loss.

Two servants stood in the dark, looking up at the woman flying in the building. But now that everyone was watching, they were not out of place. The shorter man bumped into the person next to him and laughed in a low voice, "I never thought that the second sister would be so successful in a place like this. First she was jealous of the current oiran, and now she wants the next oiran to dance for her. I am ashamed of myself."

The boy in the shadows glanced at him coldly. The boy had an ordinary appearance, but his eyes were as vast as the stars. It was a pity to have such a pair of eyes on his face.

"Shut up." The young man lowered his voice, as if he didn't want others to hear him clearly, and said in a low voice, "Go to the wine cellar and check the dumb slave who delivers the wine. Stop idling around here."

"Why am I idle?" Xie Jichuan said aggrievedly, "You want to go in and see the courtesan, but you ask me to find an old, dumb, ugly man. Tell me, did you do this on purpose?"

Ming Huazhang would rather check on the mute slave, but Ming Huashang was inside and was very conspicuous. Ming Huazhang was afraid that something might happen to her, so he could only go in and keep an eye on her. He glared at Xie Jichuan coldly, but he didn't take his joke at all and said unmoved, "Go quickly."

Xie Jichuan muttered "boring" and turned slowly. He was about to walk into the darkness when he suddenly heard a scream from behind: "Be careful!"

Xie Jichuan and Ming Huazhang looked back at the same time and saw that the red silk ribbon broke, Shancha lost her balance and fell down.