Playful Dragon Teases Phoenix

Shuzhou City was vast, with four horizontal and eight vertical thoroughfares, stretching long from east to west and narrow from north to south.

The Xiao Manor of Marquis Dingyuan sat north of Bashan Street on the city's central axis, near Zhennan Street, at the intersection of the two roads.

Facing south with its back to the north, it occupied an enormous expanse of land.

Chen Yi and the others left the mansion gates, turned two corners, and headed south along Bashan Street.

All the while, he kept pulling aside the carriage's brocade curtain, curiously peering outside.

The road was paved with smooth bluestone slabs, with few potholes, let alone dust or debris—clearly someone was responsible for sweeping it.

On both sides stood wooden buildings of uniform height, their lacquered surfaces a deep purplish-red, each hung with a sign bearing names like "Moon Gazing Restaurant," "Jiangnan Cloth Shop · Shu Brocade," or "Black Mountain Inn."

Though it was still morning, there were already many pedestrians coming and going along the way.

Most wore fine linen clothes, and quite a few were martial artists carrying weapons.

Among them, Chen Yi also spotted several foreigners dressed in gaudy silks, just as Xiao Die had said—they mostly wore necklaces of various colored gems, wrapped in turbans or veils.

"Those are the Poshir people. They're really bad," Xiao Die said indignantly, peering through the curtain at the foreigners.

"Some of the masters at the mansion once said these Poshir often pretend to be horse bandits and raid caravans on the Tea Horse Road. A few years ago, Second Miss even led troops to sweep them out."

Chen Yi glanced at the Poshir, with their slightly dark skin and curly hair, then nodded and looked at the others, especially the martial artists carrying weapons on their backs.

But after staring for a while, he couldn't make heads or tails of it.

These wanderers of the jianghu mostly dressed plainly—tattered and disheveled—and from their appearance alone, there was no telling what skills they had. They weren't even as sharp and imposing as Eldest Miss's guard, Shen Huatang.

Just then, Xiao Die glanced at Xiao Wuge and quietly leaned in. "Son-in-law, c-could you not go to South of the City?"

Chen Yi chuckled at that, feeling her warm breath on his face as he caught the fragrance in the air and reassured her, "Don't worry, I'll just take a look. I won't do anything."

If it weren't for the "drama" there, he wouldn't have chosen Yanhuaxiang in South of the City for his first outing.

"Even if I were to do something, Son-in-law would have to go at night, wouldn't you say?"

Xiao Die lowered her head and thought for a moment, then asked in confusion, "Son-in-law, what's the difference during the day?"

Chen Yi turned his head and caught the curiosity on her face—so this girl was just repeating hearsay, with no real understanding of the mystery.

Seeing him smile without answering, she realized she might have asked a stupid question. "I—it's just that the older sisters in the mansion say that place isn't good. I'm worried people might find out and gossip about you, Son-in-law."

Chen Yi laughed and patted the bun on her head. "Let them talk. You can't stop their mouths anyway."

Xiao Die's pretty face flushed red. "Son-in-law, hitting the head makes you dumber."

"It really does," Xiao Wuge chimed in with a serious nod, as if he'd overheard their conversation. "Brother Heir Apparent often gets his head hit by his father, and that's why he turned out this way."

Chen Yi laughed again. This one was also a curious kid and a problem child.

"You two..."

As the three chatted, the carriage reached South of the City and stopped at the entrance of a secluded tavern.

Wang Lixing knocked on the carriage. "Young Marquis, we're at South of the City."

Wang Lixing hadn't been among Xiao Wuge's original guards, but when the Marquis's mansion heard they were leaving, they assigned two more escorts.

Besides Wang Lixing, an Eighth Rank Realm expert, there was an older middle-aged man driving the carriage, named Liu Si'er. Several of the Marquis's personal guards called him "Fourth Brother."

Chen Yi jumped out of the carriage first, then helped Xiao Wuge and Xiao Die down. He glanced around, having no idea where this Lihong Courtesan House was, so he made an excuse and slipped into the tavern next door.

A moment later, he walked out calmly, pointed east with his finger, and led the way with his hands clasped behind his back.

Xiao Die quickly followed him.

The guards clustered around Xiao Wuge, clearly valuing the Young Marquis's safety far more than Chen Yi's.

Liu Si'er stayed seated on the carriage without moving. Only after he saw Chen Yi and the others walk far away did he enter the tavern.

He scanned the place—just ordinary folks who'd come for breakfast after a night of carousing—then went straight to the counter and asked, "What did that young master just ask you about?"

The shopkeeper behind the counter, still clicking his abacus, replied slowly, "Five coppers."

Liu Si'er narrowed his eyes, then tossed down five copper coins.

The shopkeeper pocketed the money, finished his abacus work, and answered, "He asked for the location of Lihong Courtesan House."

Liu Si'er noted the name, turned, and returned to the carriage, pondering Chen Yi's purpose for going there.

Then a strange expression crossed his face. "He can't be so pent up that he's heading to a brothel to blow off steam, can he?"

He hadn't heard before that this Chen family concubine-born son had a taste for visiting courtesans.

And in broad daylight, with the Young Marquis in tow—wasn't he afraid Second Miss would string him up and whip him when she got back?

He wondered if this information was worth reporting...

On the other side.

After finding Lihong Courtesan House, Chen Yi led the group wandering around the area, as if genuinely sightseeing.

To be fair, the scent of rouge and powder in Yanhuaxiang was indeed heavy.

In an alley two li long, there were as many as fifty or sixty pleasure houses of various sizes, all with identical red lanterns hanging at their doors.

Some of the more distinctive ones even had a few gaudy bellybands hanging out, which if you didn't look closely, looked about the same as face towels.

Xiao Die glanced at them, instantly blushing and lowering her head, not daring to look further.

But Xiao Wuge was extremely bold, peering left and right, then suddenly asked, "Brother-in-law, what are we doing here? The smell is awful."

Pfft.

Hearing his words, one of the guards couldn't hold back a laugh, which set off the other guards chuckling as well.

Even Wang Lixing's face was flushed red from holding it in, clearly struggling to keep his composure over the "smell is awful" comment.

Chen Yi turned back and winked: "Taking you to see the world."

Of course, he himself was also here to see the world.

Not to mention those private items like bellybands, just the signs at the doors reading "Poshir, Western Buddhist Kingdom, Japanese" had already broadened his horizons.

This Shuzhou truly lived up to its reputation as a major city in the south of the Great Wei Dynasty, doing business with all four corners.

Xiao Wuge still didn't understand, "They're just some colorful clothes, nothing special."

"Kid, don't ask so many questions."

Just as he finished speaking, a group of over a dozen people walked in from outside the alley, led by a plump, broad-shouldered woman dressed in luxurious silks and satins.

And the women following behind her were no pushovers either, all wearing fierce expressions.

Chen Yi quietly signaled a few of them to step back, then had Xiao Die pull out some melon seeds. As he handed them out to the others, he said in a low voice:

"Looks like there's some entertainment coming, don't talk."

Before Xiao Wuge and Xiao Die could figure it out, the woman walked straight up to the door of Lihong Courtesan House and waved her hand: "Smash it!"

The fierce women behind her immediately stepped forward, tearing down the clothes hanging at the entrance and smashing the plaque to pieces, cursing nonstop.

A woman in a bright red dress with heavy makeup rushed out of the establishment, shouting as she ran, "Aiyo aiyo, what, what are you doing?"

"Tell Liu Man to get out here!"

"That's right, let Scholar Liu come out! I want to see which vixen has been keeping him out all night!"

Soon, amidst Xiao Wuge's bewildered expression, a middle-aged man in disheveled clothes was shoved out.

Despite the scholar's thin frame, his movements were impressive—he dodged left and right, nimbly evading the woman's claw-like grasp.

"Madam, madam, let's talk this out, don't hit, don't hit..."

But the Poshir woman behind him, wearing only a bellyband, wasn't so agile. She was dragged out by the fierce women, beaten and cursed, trembling in fear.

At this scene, not only was Chen Yi nonstop cracking melon seeds, but even Wang Lixing and the others were dumbfounded, grinning from ear to ear.

Only Xiao Die was so scared she shrank behind Chen Yi, not daring to watch.

As for Xiao Wuge, he simply had no idea what was happening and watched the fight with curiosity.

"Brother-in-law, are we leaving?"

Chen Yi glanced at him, and then a prompt appeared before his eyes:

[You have comprehended the essence of Scholar Liu's evasive movements. Reward: Yellow Tier movement technique—Playful Dragon Teases Phoenix. Luck +4.]

[Commentary: Arrive, hear the noise, witness the scene—observe the myriad faces of life, watch the spectrum of humanity.]

Chen Yi scanned it, his expression wooden. "Let's go!"

Playful Dragon Teases Phoenix?

If he used that movement technique against Lady Xiao Jinghong, he probably couldn't even dodge a single slap.