Teasing Emotions VI

Teasing Emotions VI

The large boat had already docked at its usual berth. The two followed several other passengers boarding the vessel and quickly stepped onto the deck.

"Young Master Song, it's only been a few days, and your complexion has grown so much rosier." The Boat Woman came forward with a smile. "Ruler is still dressing up. Would you like to sit for a while and listen to a little tune to ease your boredom? We've had several new Singing Girls join us, and they're all quite accomplished."

Song Zhenguo's face was stern, and he gave her no smile.

"I wish to ask about a friend I brought here the night before last, a young master named Wang Ziquan. I heard he came to the pleasure boat again afterward. Please call out the girl who accompanied him that night. I have something to ask her." As he spoke, he casually stuffed several taels of loose silver into the Boat Woman's hand.

That casual gesture was equivalent to scattering several thousand yuan. Without great wealth at home, no one would dare spend so recklessly.

"You mean Butterfly? Yes, I'll call her over right away. Young Masters can rest and wait in one of the side rooms." Seeing the grave expressions on Song Zhenguo and Lu Sheng's faces, the Boat Woman did not dare delay. Among these young masters, there were few guests as generous as Song Zhenguo. Those sons of officials might have powerful backers, but they were not nearly so free-handed with their money.

Lu Sheng and Song Zhenguo were led into a side room to rest and wait. Before long, Butterfly was brought in.

Butterfly looked frail, obedient, and pitifully delicate. She wore a pale green long dress that hugged her slender waist, and she still held a long flute in her hand, as if she had been preparing to perform for a guest. Having been summoned here, she looked utterly bewildered.

"Young Master Song, may I ask what you wished to ask Butterfly?" she asked softly.

"Tell me, do you know where Young Master Wang Ziquan, whom you accompanied the night before last, is now?" Song Zhenguo asked in a deep voice.

Butterfly looked blank.

"Young Master Wang Ziquan? Oh, I remember now. Didn't he leave with you, Young Master Song? Butterfly was very tired then. As soon as you young masters left, I got off the boat and went home to rest."

"Went home to rest?" Song Zhenguo was taken aback.

"Yes. Butterfly had received three guests in a row that night, and I was exhausted. As soon as it ended, I told the Boat Woman. I was even among the first few to leave the boat." Butterfly answered in a low voice. "What is it? Did something happen to Young Master Ziquan?" She looked somewhat frightened.

Lu Sheng fixed his sharp eyes on her, but he could not detect the slightest sign that Butterfly was lying.

"Tell me, after we left, did your boat close for the night?"

Butterfly hurriedly nodded, growing uneasy beneath Lu Sheng's gaze.

"Yes, yes. As soon as the three young masters left, the Boat Woman closed for the night."

"Then let me ask you this! After closing, does this boat usually hang red lanterns?" Lu Sheng asked again.

"Red lanterns?" Butterfly looked confused. "What red lanterns? Every day after we close, our boat goes directly into a nearby dockyard for repairs. No lamps or fires are allowed aboard during repairs; only the shipwrights repairing the boat may have lights. Yesterday was the same."

"It goes into the dockyard? It doesn't stay here?" Lu Sheng's heart jolted.

"No. We only bring it here temporarily when we're doing business. The wind and waves can occasionally be fierce here. Wouldn't the boat be easily blown away if it stayed here?" Butterfly gave Lu Sheng a strange look.

A faint unease rose in Lu Sheng's heart. Wang Ziquan had likely boarded that pleasure boat covered in red lanterns, just as he had.

"Brother Lu." Song Zhenguo, listening at the side, found it increasingly strange. He did not understand the point of Lu Sheng's questions. To him, Lu Sheng had probably simply boarded the wrong boat with the red lanterns. Still, he patiently listened.

"Is there truly no large pleasure boat around here that hangs red lanterns all over it at night and has no one aboard? One identical in style to your boat?" Unwilling to give up, Lu Sheng pressed on.

Butterfly blinked.

"Young Master, where did you hear about a large boat covered in red lanterns? Do you know when we hang big red lanterns here? Only when one of the girls aboard has died do we hang three red lanterns outside and inside her room.

"One hangs outside the door, to guide the way. Two hang inside the room, for mourning and peaceful rest."

At those words, Lu Sheng's entire body shook.

He recalled that eerie pleasure boat. It had been covered in red lanterns, and every room, every private chamber, had red lanterns hanging before it! The arrangement was exactly as Butterfly had described: one outside the door and two within the room! "Oh, how terrifying! Young Master, surely you didn't hear some ghost story somewhere and come here to frighten Butterfly?" Butterfly was growing frightened as well, goosebumps rising all over her body.

"Yue Sheng, could it be that you were truly dreaming?" Song Zhenguo looked at Lu Sheng with concern. Lu Sheng's courtesy name was formed by splitting apart the character for Sheng, so Song Zhenguo called him Yue Sheng.

Back in Nine Links City, Lu Sheng rarely used that courtesy name. Everyone there called him Young Master Sheng or Brother Sheng. But now that he had come out to study, using a courtesy name signified closeness and was more formal as well.

"It's nothing. I only..." Lu Sheng hesitated, but still did not mention being locked inside the red boat. Even if he said it, Song Zhenguo might not believe him. And even if he did, it would not really help.

"But if Ziquan never came to this pleasure boat, where could he have gone?" Song Zhenguo worried. "The Yearly Exam is almost here. If he breaks the academy's rules and cannot register, that would truly be ruining his own future!"

"If there is nothing else, Young Masters, Butterfly must go play a flute piece for a guest," Butterfly said quietly.

"That will be all. Thank you, Butterfly. This is your reward." Song Zhenguo handed her several pieces of loose silver.

Butterfly immediately brightened. This was income entirely her own, apart from the pleasure boat. Carefully tucking the loose silver into her Waist Pouch, she turned and lightly walked toward the door. Halfway there, she suddenly remembered something and looked back.

"Oh, right, Young Master. Butterfly has also heard a ghost story, one passed among the girls on the boat.

"They say there was once a red boat on Pine Cypress River called the Red Chamber. Later, a great fire broke out, and none of the girls aboard escaped. After that, the legend of the red boat began to spread along Pine Cypress River. They say that boat was covered in red lanterns, and anyone who boarded it never came back down."

Lu Sheng's spirits lifted, and he hurriedly stopped Butterfly.

"Miss, please wait. Could you tell us about this Red Chamber pleasure boat?"

"Um... Butterfly has only been in this line of work for a short while and does not know much. But isn't Young Master Song close with Miss Ruler? Sister Ruler thinks of Young Master Song every day. She has worked on this boat for a long time, so she should know if you ask her," Butterfly said softly.

"I understand." Lu Sheng nodded. "Go on, then."

After Butterfly left the room, neither Lu Sheng nor Song Zhenguo spoke. They sat in silence, each lost in his own thoughts.

Before long, Ruler entered gracefully in a plain white, low-cut short dress. The moment she saw Song Zhenguo, her beautiful eyes lit up.

"Young Master Song!" Unconsciously, traces of affection showed in her eyes.

"Ruler!" Song Zhenguo stepped forward and gently drew her into his arms. "It has been several days. Have you been well? The money I gave the Boat Head was enough. Other than me, no one can request you."

Ruler nodded lightly, a trace of happiness appearing on her face. "Ruler knows Young Master treats Ruler well."

"I have been waiting, waiting for the day Ruler agrees to let this young master redeem you." Song Zhenguo spoke gently. "All right, we came today to ask about Young Master Wang Ziquan, who came with us the night before last.

"Ruler, do you know whether Young Master Wang returned to this boat later that night, after we left?"

"Young Master Wang Ziquan?" Ruler thought back. "It was already very late that night. Didn't that Young Master Wang leave the boat with you? Why would he come back?"

"You are certain he never returned?" Lu Sheng asked.

Ruler nodded. "Certain. Because that night, I deliberately delayed a little and was among the last to leave the boat. Counting the time, it was about the span of an incense stick after you young masters left."

"Is that so? Then this is strange..." Lu Sheng muttered thoughtfully.

Song Zhenguo asked several more questions in succession. Ruler answered each one, and there was no difference from what Butterfly had said earlier. Unable to find any clues, the two could only disembark in frustration.

"At this point, I'm afraid we must report this to the authorities," Song Zhenguo sighed.

Lu Sheng shook his head. "I fear reporting it to the authorities may be useless as well."

Song Zhenguo looked at Lu Sheng, not understanding.

"Brother Song, you should go back first. Let's leave it at this for today. It's getting late." Lu Sheng reminded him. "You still have to take the Small Test tomorrow."

"All right, I'll return first. Yue Sheng, if you find any clues, be sure to inform me." Song Zhenguo sighed again and parted ways with Lu Sheng.

Watching Song Zhenguo board his carriage and gradually disappear into the distance, Lu Sheng recalled every reaction Butterfly and Ruler had shown during their questioning. There had not been the slightest flaw.

"It seems they weren't lying. But if that red boat was not the one we had boarded before, how could my money pouch have ended up on it?" Lu Sheng was puzzled.

He faintly sensed that he might have become entangled in a new trouble.

Sitting in the carriage, Song Zhenguo sighed again and again.

He was a man who valued loyalty and sentiment. Something had happened to Wang Ziquan after they had been together, and there was still no news of him. No matter what, he had to give the Wang family an explanation.

Besides, Ziquan was his good friend and brother. A living, breathing man had simply vanished by Pine Cypress River.

"Could it be..." A possibility suddenly occurred to him. "Could he have slipped and fallen into the river!?" At that thought, a chill ran through his entire body.

"No! If he is alive, I must see him; if dead, I must see his body! Ziquan was brought out by me. If something truly happened to him, then it is my responsibility, Song Zhenguo's!" Song Zhenguo's heart clenched as he made up his mind. "If something truly happened to Ziquan, I will report it to the authorities!"

He had already decided.

"But if I do that, what about Ruler?" On second thought, he remembered Ruler, whom he loved so bitterly. Every month, he spent over a thousand taels in banknotes on her alone, all to keep Ruler entirely to himself and prevent other guests from requesting her. Because of this, his old father had quarreled with him no fewer than ten times.

The moment he thought of it, Song Zhenguo's head began to ache again.

He hurried home, got out of the carriage, paid the fare, entered the courtyard, and made straight for his room. He did not want to see anyone in the household for even a moment.

Several maidservants and attendants saw him and had just wanted to greet him, but in the blink of an eye, he had vanished from sight.