Bâtir une dynastie de chansons harmonieuse

Chapitre 22

After saying that, she deliberately ignored Li You's dark expression and instead smiled ambiguously at the women: "If you serve Young Master Li well, he will surely reward you handsomely..."

Sure enough, the women smiled even more sweetly.

"What are you saying, sir?"

"..."

"Since you're here, you're an honored guest. Even if you hadn't said anything, there's no reason for us to be negligent." As she spoke, she didn't forget to pat Li You's neck.

Seeing the self-assured smiles around him, Li You couldn't help but smile bitterly. How could someone like him really argue with these women? He could see that these women were sticking to him like glue, impossible to push away or say anything to.

This girl is definitely not someone to be trifled with.

But what kind of cultivation did Li You possess? If he were stumped by such a trivial matter, he wouldn't be worthy of being called a playboy. After a moment, the headache had completely disappeared from his handsome face; he was actually quite content.

That's not right...

While Yang Nianqing was surprised, a sense of foreboding rose in her heart. What kind of trick was this guy up to?

moment.

Her long, slightly playful eyelashes fluttered twice. Li You sighed softly, then suddenly grabbed her sleeve and put his arm around her waist.

"I was just curious, wanted to see her," the magnetic voice said, laced with ambiguity. "You should understand, I've never cared about women. Listen to me, let's go upstairs and talk about it, okay?"

The silence lasted for a full minute.

All the women scurried away as if avoiding a plague, leaving the two of them alone. Who would have thought that such an outstanding man would be a homosexual!

Huh? What is this?!

Yang Nianqing was dumbfounded.

The women had clearly never encountered such a situation before, and all turned to look at the madam. The madam, probably never having seen anything like it either, hurriedly stepped forward and stammered, "You two..."

Realizing what was happening, Yang Nianqing immediately struggled: "Hey, don't talk nonsense..."

“Listen to me, she can’t compare to you. I was just curious and came to take a look,” Li You interrupted her, holding her with one arm and stuffing a silver ingot into the madam’s hand with the other. “Thank you for your trouble. Could you lend me your room? And could you please buy me some top-quality sandalwood yourself?”

She smells strongly of perfume; she should probably use some incense.

What a huge ingot of silver!

Before the madam could react, Yang Nianqing's eyes reddened.

"Yes, yes, yes, I'll have someone go buy it right away," Silver finally brought the dazed madam back to her senses. She immediately took it with great joy and held it in her hand. "Don't worry, young master..." After saying that, she was about to leave when she suddenly realized that she had forgotten something. She immediately put her hands on her hips, glared at the women who were watching, and scolded them: "You little whores, why aren't you going to serve the customers? What are you doing standing around like this!"

Li You smiled and said, "You must deliver the sandalwood incense in person. I have some other matters to trouble you with."

Beneath the thick layer of makeup, the madam's face was actually a little red: "Young master, rest assured, I will take care of everything perfectly, and there will be absolutely no gossip. Bai'er, Bai'er! Quickly take these two guests to their rooms upstairs."

A maidservant came running in response.

Li You smiled and said, "Thank you for your trouble."

The madam was stunned.

It seems this lecherous man is the type who appeals to all ages; his smile could charm a whole bunch of people! Yang Nianqing sighed inwardly, about to express her disdain, but before she could even open her mouth, Li You had already pulled her upstairs.

The beaded curtain hangs low, and the incense burner quietly swirls.

Li You sat comfortably in his chair, while Yang Nianqing was extremely annoyed. The maid next to her kept giving her strange looks, and even when serving tea, she kept her distance, as if afraid to get close. She was increasingly wanting to teach this girl a lesson! This girl had made her pretend to be a "GL" (Girls' Love) character once, and now she wanted her to pretend to be a "BL" (Boys' Love) character. If this continued, she might really become a pervert one day...

Li You, however, remained nonchalant, chatting with the madam with a smile on his face.

"I've long heard of Miss Liu Yanyan at Baoyue Tower. She's quite beautiful. Would you be so kind as to invite her out for a meeting?" As he spoke, he deliberately glanced at Yang Nianqing beside him. "How does she compare to my Xiao Nian?"

When did it become "your little nian"?! You're addicted to wishful thinking!

Yang Nianqing couldn't hold back any longer and suddenly stood up, about to explode, but then she saw the madam's undisguised disappointment: "Unfortunately, young master is too late, Yanyan has already..."

At this point, seeing Yang Nianqing suddenly stand up with a fierce look on her face, she immediately stopped talking in fright.

The purpose of coming here was to gather information. Seeing that the topic was about to be brought up, Yang Nianqing was not one to be tactless, so she had no choice but to hold her temper and sit down: "Please go ahead, it's alright."

Li You suppressed a laugh: "Children are a bit jealous, please don't take it to heart, Auntie. As for Miss Liu Yanyan..."

The madam wiped her sweat, becoming even more certain of the relationship between the two men before her. She immediately put on a fawning smile and "comforted" Yang Nianqing: "Young Master Yang... is so handsome and charming. In my opinion, Yanyan is nowhere near half as good as you."

Hearing this well-intentioned "comfort," Yang Nianqing just wanted to faint and vomit blood: Did they think she was the "bottom" in a BL story? And with "beauty and charm"...

The madam, however, thought she had captured the correct image and secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She thought to herself, "So this is what male prostitutes are like. Look at the way 'he' walked just now, and look at his nose and eyes, and that ambiguous voice..." Thinking this, she couldn't help but shudder. She immediately shifted her gaze to Li You and shook her head regretfully: "Young master, you don't know, Miss Yanyan left Baoyue Tower half a year ago. It was Zhang Mingchu, the great hero, who redeemed her."

Actually, the two of them already knew that Liu Yanyan was not at Baoyue Tower. Yang Nianqing feigned surprise: "Gone?"

“Exactly,” the madam complained, lamenting to the two men, “Master Zhang is a big shot, and he insisted on redeeming her. How could I dare to stop him? Since she left, business here has slowed down considerably. I worked so hard to train her, and that girl is so heartless and cunning!”

Yang Nianqing looked at her with sympathy: "She was raised by you, Auntie?"

“Of course,” the madam said with a hint of pride, “I don’t know how much effort and energy I spent training her to become the top courtesan here.”

Then, she began to complain with a resentful look on her face: "That girl, I think she's just unlucky. She sees a blade of grass and thinks it's a tree... Think about it, Madam Zhang won't let her into the house, so even if she leaves, she won't have any status. Now I hear that Master Zhang is dead, she'll suffer a lot in the future, hmph..."

Li You said regretfully, "I have long heard that Miss Yanyan is an unparalleled beauty, and no ordinary woman. She has practiced martial arts. Am I really so unlucky?"

Upon hearing this, the madam was stunned at first, then burst out laughing.

"That girl is someone I've watched grow up since she was little. She might know a few things like playing musical instruments or chess, but what martial arts skills does she possess!"

I spotted some familiar IDs. Hehe, thanks to all my friends for your continued support.

Many thanks to Miki for pointing out the error. I hadn't really researched the term "BL" before; a friend had jokingly mentioned "female BL" before, and I just used it in my writing. I'm ashamed of my lack of knowledge. Luckily, I corrected it quickly, and I hope it didn't become a big joke.

Book One: The Rabbit Who Needs to Find Excuses to Lie

Yang Nianqing exclaimed, "She really doesn't know martial arts?"

"Young master, you've probably just listened to the nonsense from those people in Master Zhang's family," the madam laughed, her whole body trembling, her face powder falling off like a sieve. "That girl used to get slapped by me when she misbehaved, how could she know any kung fu!"

Yang Nianqing looked at Li You, her expression filled with surprise and doubt: "But I heard she once beat someone so badly they vomited blood..."

Upon hearing this, the madam immediately stopped laughing, thought for a moment, and shook her head, saying, "This matter is strange, but I saw it with my own eyes. It was the day that Master Zhang redeemed her. Madam Zhang sent a servant to humiliate her. When I went in to stop him, I saw that the man had already fainted on the ground, his mouth full of blood, and there was a tooth lying on the ground next to him. After he woke up, he only said that Yan Yan hit him."

As she spoke, she clicked her tongue in amazement: "I was shocked at the time. How could such a big man be beaten like this by a girl? When I asked the girl, she was puzzled at first, and then she laughed."

A moment of silence.

Yang Nianqing hesitated: "Could it be... that she secretly learned martial arts from someone else?"

The madam laughed: "I take care of all her daily life, and I even watch over all the guests she receives. If such things were true, how could I not know? I'm afraid she was possessed by an evil spirit that day."

Yang Nianqing didn't believe in superstition, but the madam insisted that Liu Yanyan had never practiced martial arts. But if she didn't know martial arts, how could she have beaten a grown man until he vomited blood and knocked out a tooth?

Li You pondered, "Interesting. I wonder how the old lady adopted her in the first place?"

Upon hearing this, the madam looked at them with some suspicion: "You are...?"

“Miss Liu is truly an extraordinary woman, and her background must be quite remarkable,” Li You said with a smile, while taking out a silver ingot and placing it on the table beside him. “Since I cannot see her beautiful face, I can at least hear about her story.”

The madam immediately beamed again: "That girl is really unlucky. If only she had met someone like you, young master, sooner..."

She stopped abruptly, glancing worriedly at Yang Nianqing. Seeing that her complexion was still good, she continued, "She has no background whatsoever! She was just a refugee from another place who had been separated from her family. I took pity on her, and since she was young but pretty, I took her in."

Li You pondered for a while, then suddenly looked up: "Does the old lady know her whereabouts?"

"I'm afraid I don't know..." The madam pondered for a while, then looked at the silver on the table. Suddenly, her eyes lit up with inspiration. "When she left that day, she said that Master Zhang had secretly bought her a house outside, it seems to be in... Old Willow Lane."

Dusk, Old Willow Lane.

The warm sunshine had already disappeared by noon, the sky was overcast, and the whole city of Jinling became inexplicably desolate and quiet, filled with a gloomy atmosphere. It always gets dark earlier in winter.

The alley was deserted, with only five or six households living there.

Looking at the high courtyard wall in front of her, Yang Nianqing nodded to herself. Zhang Mingchu must have considered this when he chose this place to settle Liu Yanyan. There were few people here, and it was quiet, which was just right for "keeping a beauty in a golden house".

But which household does Liu Yanyan belong to?

Nangong Xue reached out and knocked casually on a door.

No one answered.

He paused for a moment, then reached out and knocked twice more.

The door opened.

The person who opened the door was a girl of about seventeen or eighteen years old, wearing a purple top and a bright red long skirt. She was very pretty, with a straight nose, big eyes, and a clever look between her brows.

All four of them were stunned.

The beautiful woman seemed to be in a bad mood: "Is there something you need?"

The sound was crisp, sweet, and very loud.

Nangong Xue was also somewhat surprised. She immediately smiled and cupped her hands in apology, saying, "I apologize for disturbing you, Miss. My friends and I were looking for someone. We wonder where Miss Liu Yanyan lives?"

The beautiful woman was already in a bad mood, and upon hearing this, she looked Nangong Xue and the others up and down several times. Her attitude immediately turned sour, and her tone became somewhat angry: "There is no Liu Yanyan here."

With a bang, the door slammed shut.

The four were stunned.

Liu Yanyan doesn't live here?

Nangong Xue smiled wryly: "She's a woman, she probably doesn't go out much on weekdays, why don't we ask someone else?"

He Bi nodded.

The four of them took a few steps—

With a creak, the door behind them opened again, and a sweet voice came from behind: "Wait a moment."

The same beautiful woman came out, but her attitude suddenly changed completely when she looked at the four of them: "Is this the Miss Liu Yanyan you're talking about, the one who moved in half a year ago?"

Nangong Xue was taken aback, then smiled: "I'm afraid so."

"I heard that someone picked her up from Baoyue Tower and she lived in the courtyard next door," the beautiful woman pointed, her smile sweeter than her voice, "but she moved out last month."

They moved away? The four were stunned.

Yang Nianqing hurriedly asked, "Then do you know where she went?"

The beautiful woman shook her head.

After a while.

He Bi said in a deep voice, "She really isn't here?"