Rouge Boat

Mo Hua asked in a low voice, "Living it up in a world of flowers and wine... what kind of 'flowers' are those?"

The shopkeeper had just been about to answer, but when she looked up and saw Mo Hua's fair, delicate face, she shook her head. "It's nothing good, not suitable for children. You're a good child, so don't get mixed up in that messy nonsense."

"Oh." Mo Hua was a little disappointed. Then he asked, "Then... how did this Young Master Ye die?"

"How else could he have died?" The shopkeeper curled her lip. "I heard his boat sank. Six people aboard, all drowned. The Water Monsters in the river chewed them until they were beyond recognition..."

Mo Hua's gaze narrowed slightly. Just as I thought.

"How could a perfectly fine boat suddenly sink?" Mo Hua asked doubtfully.

The shopkeeper hesitated for a moment and looked around before lowering her voice. "It wasn't that simple. The circles these young masters move in are a complete mess..."

"This Young Master Ye was a wastrel. His conduct was never proper—extravagant and lustful. I heard this time he fought with another young master over a woman, earned someone's grudge, and was secretly targeted. Someone hired people to sink his boat and drown everyone aboard."

The shopkeeper rattled on.

"Who did he offend?" Mo Hua asked.

The shopkeeper shook her head. "Who knows?"

"The Ye Family didn't pursue the matter?"

"They didn't dare," the shopkeeper said. "The Ye Family has some standing in Yanshui City, but across all of Ganxue Prefecture, they're nothing much. That young master of the Ye Family might count as a 'young master' around Yanshui City, but compared to those young masters from the other Great Clans—people like celestial beings, seen only in glimpses like divine dragons—he probably