Chapter 25

At this moment, a servant at the water pavilion saw Zhao Hongrun and his three companions and greeted them with a broad smile, inviting them inside.

The servant, who was accustomed to this line of work, had a keen eye. Although Zhao Hongrun was dressed like an ordinary commoner, he was a prince who lived freely in the deep palace, and his every move exuded the air of a superior.

Not to mention the three men behind him—Shen Yu, Mu Qing, and Lu Mu. They were all carefully selected by the Clan House to accompany the prince, each a robust young man in his twenties, with sharp eyes and a strong build. Even in ordinary clothing, they did not look like commoners.

"Please, please, please, sirs, come in." The servant smiled broadly and invited Zhao Hongrun and his companions inside.

"Hmm." Lu Mu was pleased that the servant did not look down on them because of their attire. He casually took out a ten-tael silver ingot from his pocket and tossed it to the servant.

In the palace, it was common to give a ten-taal silver ingot to a young eunuch for a favor, but this was outside the palace. When the servant saw the ten-taal silver ingot, his eyes lit up with joy, and he became even more convinced that these men were from noble families.

The four men sat down in the hall as arranged by the servant. Seeing this, Lu Mu frowned.

He glanced around, displeased. The hall was filled with self-proclaimed talented scholars and wealthy, well-fed merchants.

'How can His Highness, the Eighth Prince of our great Wei, sit in the same hall as these commoners?' Lu Mu thought, his mood souring. He asked in a low, stern voice, "Is there no private room here?"

The servant immediately guessed that these men were first-time visitors and did not know the rules of the water pavilion. He was about to explain but saw Lu Mu take out a fifty-taal silver ingot from his pocket and say sternly, "Arrange a top-notch private room and send the most beautiful girls to serve us."

'Truly a generous guest...' The servant's eyes sparkled at the sight of the silver ingot, but his face showed a hint of difficulty. "Sirs, the rule of our water pavilion is that the girls choose their guests, not the other way around..."

"What?" Lu Mu was instantly furious, thinking, 'How can a group of prostitutes pick and choose our prince, the Eighth Prince of Wei?'

He slammed the table and shouted, "Impudent!"

The servant trembled and quickly explained, "Sirs, please don't be angry. Look around, everyone here is the same."

Zhao Hongrun turned to look around and noticed that the hall was filled with handsome young men and wealthy, well-fed merchants. Like him, they were sitting in the hall, drinking wine and entertaining themselves, with no women to accompany them.

Embarrassingly, Lu Mu's outburst had drawn the attention of everyone in the hall, who looked at them with the eyes of country bumpkins.

This made Zhao Hongrun feel a bit embarrassed, and he quickly whispered, "Lu Mu, calm down."

"Yes, sir."

Lu Mu, realizing his mistake, looked a bit awkward.

Before entering, he had thought that since his prince had never been to such a place, he should handle things for him. However, his actions had only caused the others in the hall to look down on them.

'So, this young master is the real deal!' The servant, seeing that Zhao Hongrun's words had silenced the angry Lu Mu, understood and respectfully explained, "Young master, it's not that I'm being difficult, but that's the rule of our water pavilion. If a young master can win the heart of a girl in one of the chambers, he will be led to the second or third floor to meet her."

Zhao Hongrun understood. This place was not a common brothel but a place of higher class and taste.

"How can one win the favor of a girl in the chambers and be invited upstairs?"

Hearing the unmistakable tone of a superior in Zhao Hongrun's voice, the servant did not dare to be disrespectful and quickly replied, "The girls will send their maids to bring a paper with a question to the hall. If a young master can answer the question to the girl's satisfaction, he will be invited upstairs."

"Ah." Zhao Hongrun nodded, then pointed to a wealthy, fat, and slightly bald man in the distance and whispered, "I can't see how that man is talented. According to what you said, he has no hope of going upstairs. What is he doing here?"

The servant glanced back, looking a bit hesitant.

Seeing this, Zhao Hongrun gave Lu Mu a look, and Lu Mu understood, placing a ten-taal silver ingot on the table.

The silver was cold, but the heart was warm. Seeing another ten-taal silver ingot, the servant no longer hesitated, quickly pocketing the silver and making a subtle gesture for money, whispering, "Not all girls choose based on talent... Only the pure girls do. After all, this is the capital of Chen, with many wealthy young masters. Even the girls hope to meet a rich and talented young master who can redeem them, even as a concubine, which is better than staying here... Don't you think?"

"As for those who have given up hope, they try to earn money to redeem themselves by any means." Zhao Hongrun bluntly finished the servant's sentence.

The servant smiled helplessly.

"Alright, I understand. ... Tell me, which girl is the most beautiful here?"

"Pure girls." Shen Yu interjected, as a bodyguard, he could not tolerate non-virtuous women approaching their prince.

Zhao Hongrun glanced at Shen Yu but did not say more.

The servant thought for a moment and whispered, "Then it would be Miss Su from the 'Cui Xiao Xuan' (Green Bamboo Pavilion)."

"Oh? What's her name?" Zhao Hongrun asked curiously.

The servant whispered, "Young master, here, it's not customary to ask for the girls' real names. They don't easily reveal their true names."

"Why?"

"Think about it, the girls are here out of necessity, which is a disgrace to their families. Who would willingly reveal their real names?"

"Ah. ... Cui Xiao Xuan, I'll remember that."

The servant added, "Young master, Miss Su from Cui Xiao Xuan is said to be both beautiful and talented, but she is usually cold to the guests. If you have great knowledge, that's good, but if not..."

Mu Qing, looking displeased, interrupted, "Our young master is well-versed in literature and history. Why do you need to speak so much?"

"Yes, yes, that's good, that's good..."

The servant bowed and left, returning a moment later with a pot of wine, a pot of tea, four cups, and some snacks like dried fruits, roasted beans, peanuts, and dried dates.

"Damn, just these things cost thirty taals? This money is too easy to earn!"

Lu Mu, paying the silver for the prince's sake, muttered under his breath.

"The wine isn't even good." Mu Qing sniffed the wine and frowned.

'You're comparing it to the wine in the palace?'

Shen Yu shook his head slightly, poured a cup of tea, and offered it to Zhao Hongrun, whispering, "Young master, this tea is quite good. Why don't you have a cup?"

"Ah." Zhao Hongrun nodded indifferently.

He thought, he didn't come here to drink or eat. Like the others in the hall, he just wanted to meet the beautiful girls in the water pavilion.

If he wanted to drink, thirty taals would be enough to get him drunk in a tavern.

While he sipped his tea, maids from upstairs occasionally came down to give questions to the guests in the hall.

The servants quickly delivered a square wooden tray to each table, with ink, brush, paper, and inkstone, clearly for answering the questions.

The questions from the girls in the chambers were mostly from Confucian texts, some simple, some obscure. They would read the first half of a sentence and ask the guests to complete the second half. The simplicity of the questions disappointed Zhao Hongrun.

'Is this so-called questioning just a gimmick?'

Zhao Hongrun was disappointed.

Fortunately, there were a few rounds where the guests were asked to write poems or couplets, which restored some of his interest.

However, he did not write anything, just drank his tea, letting the self-proclaimed talented scholars in the hall compete to answer the questions.

He was waiting for the question from Miss Su of Cui Xiao Xuan.

After a while, a maid from Cui Xiao Xuan came to the second-floor corridor, facing the guests in the hall, and slowly unfolded a painting.

Zhao Hongrun looked up and saw a painting of cranes playing in the water, with the most prominent crane standing on one leg, preening its feathers.

'The painting is not bad... Unfortunately, it doesn't give the illusion that the cranes are alive, and the lines are not well-drawn... Cranes should be slender to appear more ethereal, but this one is fat, looking like a stupid, fat goose. ... Not as good as the Sixth Prince, far from it.'

Since the Sixth Prince, Zhao Hongzhao, had also painted cranes, Zhao Hongrun couldn't help but compare, and the result made him shake his head.

He didn't realize that he was being unreasonable to compare the painting to the Sixth Prince's, whose works were worth a thousand taals in the capital. If Miss Su of Cui Xiao Xuan had such talent, she wouldn't be here.

Still, Zhao Hongrun was a bit disappointed and ignored the people in the hall who were praising the painting.

Unexpectedly, the maid did not ask for an evaluation of the painting but posed a question that made everyone laugh and cry.

"Miss Su asks: Why does a crane stand on one leg while the other is curled up?"

The hall fell silent.

But Zhao Hongrun felt a spark of interest.

'This is interesting...'

He looked around the hall.

In contrast to his interest, the other young masters and scholars were shaking their heads and sighing.

"What is this?"

"It seems Miss Su of Cui Xiao Xuan doesn't plan to see guests today, deliberately asking such a difficult question."

"Let's try our luck, maybe we'll get lucky."

The scholars and young masters in the hall sighed and wrote down their answers, handing them to the servant to give to the maid.

"Young master?"

Shen Yu handed the wooden tray to Zhao Hongrun, knowing that his prince was waiting for Miss Su's question. Otherwise, with his prince's intelligence, he would have answered the earlier, simpler questions.

From the side, Mu Qing couldn't help but suggest, "Why does a crane stand on one leg and curl the other... To appear more ethereal, right, Your Highness?"

Zhao Hongrun looked at him with amusement, wrote a sentence on the paper that made them all laugh, and signed his name at the bottom.

Jiang Run!

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