Rumble, rumble-
The wheels rolled over the blue bricks and stopped outside the Pei Residence.
Holding the fluffy Niao Niao, Pei Xiangjun stood beneath the lanterns gazing into the distance, like a respectable lady waiting for her husband to return.
Seeing Ye Jingtang step out of the carriage, Pei Xiangjun smiled.
"Jingtang, how did the talks go? Yang Guan didn't give you any trouble, did he?"
"Third Madam, why were you waiting at the door?"
Ye Jingtang climbed the steps and reached out to stroke Niao Niao, who knew how to enjoy life better than he did.
"He didn't. It took a great deal of talking before I could explain everything to Master Yang..."
"Ahem-"
Chen Biao and the two unfamiliar escorts unloading the carriage all stumbled at his words. They turned to look at Ye Jingtang, their expressions probably saying:
You said five sentences altogether, and you call that talking yourself hoarse?
Yang Guan didn't give you trouble, but don't you know why?
His old retainer Yang Chao, Liuzi, and the others, on the other hand, barely reacted.
After all, in their eyes, the young master really had talked himself hoarse today.
Back in the lawless Border Town, the young master would have considered even one sentence wasted on a hoodlum like that. He would have cut him down and walked away.
Ye Jingtang ignored their looks and continued explaining what had happened in gentle terms, lest Third Lady Pei, a woman of the household, be frightened.
Pei Xiangjun had followed behind and watched everything from beginning to end, so naturally she was not frightened. Like a sweet little wife, she listened until Ye Jingtang finished, then lightly bit her lower lip, her eyes full of admiration.
"You're amazing. Having a man in the family really does make a difference~"
An exquisite beauty looking at a strong man with admiration packed quite a punch.
Ye Jingtang considered himself indifferent to fame and profit, but under Third Madam's admiring gaze, he still felt a little lightheaded. He waved a hand with manly assurance.
"It was nothing."
"I just discussed it with your eldest aunt. We'll make you the Pei Family's young master and pay you a hundred taels of silver a month. You don't think that's too little, do you?"
The young master was roughly equivalent to the vice-chairman of the Pei Group, with enough authority to open the silver vault. A monthly salary of a hundred taels of fine silver worked out to over a hundred thousand a month.
The compensation was rather extravagant. Ye Jingtang would have felt guilty accepting it, so he shook his head.
"Third Madam said a man should support himself, then turned around and offered me this. The shop managers would surely resent it. Just pay me a lead escort's wages."
Hearing this, Chen Biao hurriedly shook his head. "Young Master Ye, you're treating us like strangers. The money you saved by settling things with Yang Guan today was far more than that. Besides, a lead escort earns twelve taels a month. What could that do for someone like you? Young Master Pei spends more than that on a single night of drinking..."
Pei Xiangjun nodded too. "Exactly. Being the young master isn't all carefree fun. You'll have plenty of social engagements. If you go drinking and listening to songs with the officials' sons at Wende Bridge and can't even scrape together money to tip the girls, wouldn't that disgrace the Pei Family? Just think of it as spending money. If you really feel bad, put your heart into helping the family."
Seeing this, Ye Jingtang stopped declining.
"Then I'll follow Third Madam's arrangements. Now that the Green Lotus Manor business is settled, is there anything else the family needs me to do?"
Pei Xiangjun had plenty to deal with-her eldest brother had died in the martial world, and his title of Spear Chief had been taken, a grudge still unavenged; numerous martial factions were encroaching on their sources of income, with no one to step forward and settle matters; several hall masters of the Red Flower House were restless, constantly pressuring her to relinquish her position.
But these were all matters of the martial world, and it was still too early for Ye Jingtang to get involved. She smiled and said:
"With all those managers under us, how could we have the owner handle everything? It's raining today, and there aren't any social engagements. Take a break. Have Chen Biao show you around the Capital City."
As she spoke, Pei Xiangjun moved a little closer, took out a banknote, and quietly slipped it into Ye Jingtang's robes.
"They'll all be working under you from now on. Taking them out for a meal and a few drinks when you have time is part of the Young House Master's duties too."
Chen Biao perked up at these words and promptly took the horses back to the stable.
At the mention of eating out, Niao Niao suddenly found Pei Xiangjun's arms much less comfortable. Niao Niao hopped onto Ye Jingtang's shoulder and waved a wing at Pei Xiangjun. "Chirp, chirp, chirp~" Probably saying-Goodbye, big-boobed sister...
Ye Jingtang first went inside to change back into his everyday clothes, then set off with several escorts.
But just as they were leaving, Pei Xiangjun noticed Chen Biao's sly grin and added a warning.
"Chen Biao, don't take him anywhere inappropriate. Jingtang has only just arrived from out of town and hasn't seen the Capital City's glittering temptations. If you turn him into another Pei Luo..."
Chen Biao wiped away his sly grin and put on a mature, steady air.
"Boss, do I look like that sort of man to you?"
"Don't worry, Third Madam. I know where to draw the line."
After answering her, Ye Jingtang led his men out of the alley.
Half an hour later, on the second floor of the Spring Fragrance Pavilion.
A musician holding a pipa sang a lilting tune onstage.
Three dancers in colorful dresses moved to the music, their figures graceful.
Seven or eight vigorous escorts stared wide-eyed through the window at the girls downstairs, swallowing hard, unwilling to spare even a moment to pick up any food.
Ye Jingtang sat in the private room, exchanging toasts, while Niao Niao bobbed from side to side beside him, looking even drunker than he was.
Chen Biao raised his wine cup in both hands and toasted Ye Jingtang.
"Young master, you certainly know where to draw the line!"
Ye Jingtang had been ordered to take his men out for some "team building," so naturally he could not be too stingy.
"We're only listening to songs, not visiting a brothel. Honestly, the girls at the border can't compare to those in the Capital City. Eight out of ten are probably sturdier than me. If I hadn't known a little martial arts, I'd have been dragged off to a wedding altar at fourteen..."
Chen Biao blinked and leaned closer.
"Young master, you aren't still..."
*?*
Ye Jingtang found that question rather difficult to answer.
A tipsy Yang Chao chimed in from beside him.
"Some eye for things you've got. With the young master's looks, if he went looking for girls, the girls ought to pay him. Would you make a deal that lost you money?"
"True enough. As far as I'm concerned, only the well-bred young ladies of Wende Bridge are a match for our young master. If those painted, powdered common girls outside want to root up our fine cabbage, I'll be the first to object..."
"Heh..."
Listening to songs at a pleasure house, eating and drinking.
While they were enjoying their wine and conversation, a small commotion arose in the street outside.
Thud, thud, thud-
The sound of a large troop of infantry running.
They frowned and rose to look out the window. Numerous imperial guards and Black Bureau constables were hurrying through the rain toward the Jade Resonance Tower, at the far edge of their view.
"What's going on?"
"With a stir that big, something's probably happened over at Prince Jing's Manor. The Black Bureau has plenty of martial-world bandits locked up, and I hear the Jade Resonance Tower holds lots of martial arts manuals too. Brazen thieves from the martial world often cause trouble there. It usually dies down within a couple of hours."
Since it had nothing to do with him, Ye Jingtang paid it little attention and continued drinking.
Martial men could all hold their liquor, and the wine was of fairly high quality, fragrant rather than fiery. After drinking for much of the day, not a single man had collapsed, and afternoon arrived before they knew it.
Once they had eaten and drunk their fill, one lecherous escort hinted that they should continue the festivities at a place offering "meat."
But Chen Biao knew what mattered. Listening to songs and looking at girls was harmless, but if they dared take the young master somewhere offering fleshly pleasures, Third Madam would surely throw them all out. In the end, he did not dare broach it with Ye Jingtang, and everyone dispersed.
As the sky grew dark, Ye Jingtang returned to Dyeing Street, once again with one horse and one bird.
The banknote Third Madam had given him today amounted to a month's salary in advance. A hundred taels of silver was enough to rent a large two-courtyard residence. With luck, he might even buy a little maid who could warm his bed and relieve his boredom at night.
Although Ye Jingtang was not picky about his lodgings, he had no habit of deliberately making himself suffer. It had rained all day, and with such a huge hole in the roof, the place was certainly unfit to stay in.
He had returned to collect the few things in his room and inform his landlady before moving somewhere with better surroundings.
Creak-
The old, unlocked courtyard gate opened. Nothing inside had changed.
Ye Jingtang tethered his horse beneath the kitchen eaves, put away his umbrella, and went to the main room. As he pushed the door open, he was still talking to Niao Niao.
"Behave yourself from now on. Stop burrowing into women's arms for no reason..."
Niao Niao perched on his shoulder, chirping as though not having heard a thing.
"Chirp, chirp, chirp~..."
But the next moment, both man and bird fell silent.
The room had little beyond its four bare walls, so any change was immediately obvious-the hole in the roof had been covered with a straw rain cape.
But neither Ye Jingtang nor Niao Niao noticed that. They simply stared blankly at the bed.
Beneath the double bed with its dark-gray sheet sat a neatly arranged pair of blue-green embroidered shoes adorned with bamboo leaves. A strange woman sat cross-legged on the bed, her hair arranged in a married woman's bun with a jade hairpin set diagonally through it. She appeared to be a young married woman.
Her skin was exceptionally fair, her peach-blossom eyes lovely, and her brows like willow leaves in early spring. Her cherry lips wore no rouge, yet were naturally rosy and full. Even calling her a beauty who could topple kingdoms felt trite. She was more like a fox immortal who had come to a farmhouse to repay a kindness, or a celestial maiden who had married into the Cowherd's home, her beauty carrying an unmistakably otherworldly grace.
The young woman was wrapped in a pale blue-green cloak. Only her fair hands were visible, held before her abdomen in the midnight-noon hand seal. Her posture resembled that of a secluded master, and she appeared to be practicing some profound technique. Fine beads of fragrant sweat dotted her forehead, and wisps of vapor rose from her bun, as though she had a fever so high she was nearly cooked.
"Chirp?"
Niao Niao stood by Ye Jingtang's feet and tilted a head to look beneath the bed, seemingly searching for the steaming pot underneath.
Ye Jingtang was so bewildered that he did not even notice the young woman's otherworldly beauty. He merely wondered whether he had entered the wrong house.
But there probably was not another house in the Capital City with such a massive hole in its roof.
"Lady warrior?"
Finding his nest occupied when he came home, Ye Jingtang could hardly turn around and leave. He called out from the doorway, but the young woman gave no response. After a moment's thought, he gripped his saber and approached the bed.
Niao Niao tucked in a head and hid behind the door, peeking out in apparent terror...
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