"Thank you for your promotion, sir."
He bowed deeply to the ground again, but when he stood up, his pale eyes were filled with worry.
With only two hours left until the hour of Yin (3-5 AM), the only variable was Xu Youtu. It was only at the banquet today that it was learned that before Xu Youtu left the capital, the Emperor had granted him a favor: if the situation changed, Xu, the Governor of the Waterways, could personally command the Right Guard of Divine Martial Guard stationed outside the capital.
Now, all I can hope is that Wang Chengen's "after-the-fact gift" will be enough to keep Xu Youtu occupied.
Xu Youtu narrowed his eyes as he looked at the male prostitute exuding seductive charms under the brocade quilt.
"My lord, he's the actor who just sang 'The Drunken Beauty'," the servant reminded him ambiguously. "That Magistrate Wang is quite cunning."
Xu Youtu glanced coldly at the bed: "Take him away."
"My lord, my lord," the young male prostitute cried out as he was carried out of the bedroom.
Xu Youtu didn't even open his eyes, but simply waved his hand. The servant immediately understood and stepped forward, saying, "The woman from this morning has already cleaned up. Sir, who is it?"
Seeing his master nod in satisfaction, the servant quickly left the bedroom. "Please wait a moment, sir, the person will be brought over right away."
The door closed softly, and Xu Youtu lay on the bed, feeling the smell of alcohol permeating his entire body, a surge of lustful desire stuck between his legs, just waiting to be released.
"You take so long to pick up even one person, you useless piece of trash!"
He cursed, and just as he was about to open his eyes, he felt the candle go out.
That bastard is always up to no good.
Annoyed as he was, he became interested and stiffly stood up: "Where is it? Hurry up and give it to me..."
Before he could even utter the words "to relieve his anger," he was paralyzed. Terrified, he tried to call for help, but found that no sound could come out of his throat.
The effects of the alcohol wore off, and the fire was extinguished.
In the pitch-black night, he was completely blind. No matter how hard he strained his ears, all he could hear was the sound of his own heart pounding in his chest.
Who, who is it? Is it a person or a ghost?
He was lost in a jumble of thoughts, his mind wandering wildly.
Suddenly, it sounded like something had fallen to the ground, a gentle, tinkling sound.
Copper coins!
Was it the child from this morning? But that child was clearly dying. Could it be... a ghost?
His eyes widened in terror, and cold sweat suddenly covered his face.
The spinning copper coin swayed and wobbled like a death warrant. Just as the coin finally landed with a rapid buzzing sound, a cold light pierced the air, and the grotesque, soul-destroying state was ended by a sharp pain in the groin.
"I'm useless, that woman...that woman has escaped." The servant pushed open the bedroom door in a panic, only to be shocked by the bloody scene before him.
"grown ups!"
At the exact moment of Yin (3-5 AM), the "variable" that Fu Xian was worried about did not happen in the end, and more than ten silver ships anchored in Xia County were punctured.
The plan succeeded, and he slept soundly through the night.
A few days later, after the "crippled" Lord Xu finally had the strength to roll back to the capital, the busy people finally reunited at breakfast time.
Good morning, Sixth Senior Brother.
Fu Xian gave a vague reply and was about to take the soup noodles handed to him by the youngest brother when someone suddenly snatched the "love" away.
A severe bout of morning grumpiness cast a shadow over his normally gentle face. "Shangguan Yi, you're here way too early."
"Brother Fu, didn't you notice? I stayed at your residence last night." Openly challenging the authority of the head of the household, Shangguan Yi raised an eyebrow with amusement.
They actually took advantage of the fact that he was too busy to take care of his family—
Just as he was about to unleash a glare, he caught a glimpse of a dead fish-eyed man who habitually slept naked walking out of the room.
"Ninth Brother!" The chopsticks snapped in two, and Fu Xian roared, "Beat him!"
With nowhere to vent his pent-up passion, Xun Dao grinned maliciously, turned around, and kicked the still-sleepy, dead-eyed man into the room. Then—
The battle to close down!
"This is truly an eye-opener." Slowly withdrawing her gaze, Shangguan Yi said with displeasure, "Your sect has really upheld the strict separation between men and women very well."
"Staying overnight at a young lady's house without permission, even Young Master Shangguan knows the proper separation of men and women." Fu Xian, now fully awake, returned to his usual level of composure.
Ignoring the verbal sparring on one side and turning a deaf ear to the violent confrontation inside the room, Yu Zigui brought out several bowls of noodle soup and a few side dishes. After a while, she finally noticed something was wrong and looked at the person who had been hiding the fan since early morning.
"Seventh Senior Brother, why are you looking at me like that?"
Upon hearing this, the two who had been arguing stopped and looked at Rong Ye, who had been called out.
One could tell from the twitching corner of his eye how distorted his expression was. "The mother and child you asked me to send away a few days ago."
"Mother and child?" Fu Xian looked at Zigui in confusion.
“Three days ago, when I was delivering clothes to Ninth Brother, I rescued a little boy who had fainted from hunger. I took him to Seventh Brother’s villa outside the city on the way. After I found his missing mother, I asked my brother to give them some money so they could go to another place to make a living.” She picked up a piece of dark, fried fish and put it into Seventh Brother’s bowl. She said casually, “Eat more, Seventh Brother.”
"The youngest son did a great job," Fu Xian praised.
Even the patriarch was deceived, her eyes curving into crescents as she smiled, revealing dimples, only to be met with a mischievous look from someone.
"This dish of pickled ginger is good, Ziyu, eat more, eat more." She fawned over the side dish, then buried her head in her noodles.