The Past

"You can come with me."

Miao Yunshang moved gracefully over to Fang Yuan. She clasped her hands together in a salute, then leaned in to whisper.

"Young Master, you can't do that!"

Fang Qian was anxious. Ignoring his injuries, he hurriedly spoke up.

Miao Yunshang was the Drunken Dream Pavilion's star Flower Queen. Many people came drawn by her fame.

"I can't?"

Fang Yuan glanced at Fang Qian, then calmly asked.

"Everything is up to the Young Master!"

Fang Qian's lower abdomen was still aching, and he didn't dare offend the man before him again. He answered with nearly all the strength he had.

"Go on ahead."

Fang Yuan was irritated by the sight of Fang Qian, who looked half-dead. He'd been away from the family for too long and had gradually forgotten his place.

"The Young Master is here. Whatever happens, he alone decides. Do not disobey him," Fang Qian instructed the Madam.

Fang Yuan sent the Madam away, pointed to the group of young women before him, then instructed Xiao Zi:

"Tonight, let them wash up and rest here. Tomorrow, find a place in the city for those who stay."

"What about you, Young Master?"

Fang Yuan smiled faintly. "I'm not so helpless that I can't look after myself. Besides, I still have her."

As he spoke, Fang Yuan's gaze drifted toward Miao Yunshang.

He'd chosen to keep Miao Yunshang mainly because she'd told him who she was: a daughter of the Murong Family in the Royal City.

Fang Yuan had some ties to the Murong Family in the Royal City, after all. His fiancée was there.

"You come from the Murong Family in the Royal City. How did you end up at the Drunken Dream Pavilion?"

The Murong Family was even a little stronger than the Fang Family. Even if one of their disciples had fallen on hard times, they shouldn't have ended up in such a state.

What's more, Fang Yuan could tell that Miao Yunshang had considerable talent.

At her age, reaching the Xiantian Realm would make her a prime candidate for cultivation among the Murong Family's younger generation.

Few would have guessed that the Flower Queen of the Drunken Dream Pavilion was a powerful Xiantian Realm expert.

"I'm the Murong Family Head's illegitimate daughter. The Matriarch cast me aside, and I was lucky to escape with my life."

Miao Yunshang's tone was even, but Fang Yuan could hear the raging currents hidden beneath that calm lake.

"The Matriarch sent people to hunt me down. I was forced to flee to Clear Sea City, where I chose to hide in a place of wine and women."

Miao Yunshang was indeed clever. Who would have thought that the daughter of a family head would choose to take refuge in a brothel?

Though many people came and went from the brothel, she was the Flower Queen, and very few were qualified to meet her.

"Are you planning to take revenge?" Fang Yuan saw straight through Miao Yunshang's thoughts.

"I wouldn't dare conceal the truth from you, Young Master. The Murong Matriarch treated me this way. I intend to take her life with my own hands."

Miao Yunshang spoke with conviction. Though her frame seemed delicate, her temperament was fierce.

"I may become your father's son-in-law in the future, which would make us in-laws. I could send you straight back to the Murong Family."

Fang Yuan watched Miao Yunshang and spoke with interest.

She'd been at the Drunken Dream Pavilion for quite some time. She couldn't possibly be unaware of the marriage alliance between the Fang Family and the Murong Family.

Miao Yunshang paused. "I can tell that you're a good person!"

"Tell?"

Fang Yuan was confused. He looked at Miao Yunshang with suspicion.

If she'd read him wrong and said that, she could lose her life.

"Ever since I was little, I've been able to tell who means me well and who means me harm. I've never been wrong," Miao Yunshang explained.

A knack for sensing danger?

That was the only possibility Fang Yuan could think of. He hadn't expected such a miraculous talent to exist.

It seemed keeping Miao Yunshang by his side had been worthwhile!

"Young Master, it's late. Why not stay here and rest?"

Miao Yunshang gently untied the sash at her waist and slipped off her long skirt, revealing her undergarments and her stunning figure.

What a pair!

"What are you doing?"

Fang Yuan had just been about to leave when he saw the beauty throwing herself at him, but his eyes never left Miao Yunshang.

Caught completely off guard!

"Seeing you to bed, Young Master," Miao Yunshang said gently.

"Please rest assured, Young Master. Everything in Dream Room No. 1 is changed every day."

Miao Yunshang blushed. "Besides, I'm still a virgin. I've never even been intimate with a man."

The first part was perfectly ordinary, but the second left Fang Yuan stunned.

The Drunken Dream Pavilion's top Flower Queen was still a virgin?

"Yunshang wouldn't dare deceive you, Young Master!"

No woman would casually joke about her chastity. Fang Yuan reckoned it was probably true.

Besides, if she lied to him, it wouldn't take much to expose her.

"Stay by my side and serve me well from now on. One day, you'll have your chance to take revenge."

Fang Yuan lightly brushed his sleeve, glanced at Miao Yunshang, then sat down on the large round bed behind him and spoke calmly.

Though a beauty was right in front of him, he hadn't let her charms cloud his judgment.

Miao Yunshang saw that he'd read her intentions and looked awkward, a little uncomfortable.

"Thank you, Young Master."

Miao Yunshang had overcome many hardships to get where she was. She quickly composed herself.

The next day.

A ray of sunlight fell through the window into the room.

Fang Yuan was still half asleep. A wave of fragrance drifted into his nose, a soft, warm body rested in his arms, and strands of hair lay across his eyes.

A woman's tender embrace was a hero's grave!

Fang Yuan declared that he absolutely couldn't sink into such an atmosphere. He had to focus on cultivating.

By noon.

Only when someone knocked outside did Fang Yuan get out of bed. He ate the delicious meal the servants had carefully prepared.

"Find a house in the Inner City. Those women we took in yesterday will be your staff."

With a wave of his hand, Fang Yuan conjured a bag of silver and gave it to Miao Yunshang for her daily expenses.

"Young Master, I still have money left," Miao Yunshang said, blushing.

"From now on, just focus on cultivating. If you need more cultivation resources, send someone to find me," Fang Yuan said.

He had many things to take care of in the future and couldn't personally handle every last detail. He needed to build up his own forces.

"Rest assured, Young Master."

After leaving the Drunken Dream Pavilion, Fang Yuan returned home. Along the way, he noticed that quite a few disciples looked at him strangely.

"Greetings, Young Master!"

Still, whenever the disciples ran into him, they greeted him respectfully.

"Did you hear? The Young Master spent the night at the Drunken Dream Pavilion yesterday, with the Flower Queen for company!"

"Where'd you hear that? Is it true?"

"The Young Master has always been so proper. Why would he go to a place like that?"

One disciple had once seen Miao Yunshang's beauty from afar at the Drunken Dream Pavilion and couldn't help sighing.

"That Flower Queen really is gorgeous. She's every bit as beautiful as Fang Ke'er and Qingyun."

"Are you crazy? How dare you compare women from a house of pleasure to them?"

The others looked at him with disdain, as if he'd sullied their lofty goddess.

But when they remembered that their own goddess was also on close terms with the Young Master, their hearts couldn't help aching again and again.

"No way. That absolutely can't be true."

"The Young Master went to the Drunken Dream Pavilion to put things in order. You don't know? Fang Qian's Dantian has already been crippled."

A female disciple, unwilling to accept it, shared what she'd heard.

"That happened too..."