"Is the City of Wei far away?"

"Close to Kaiping."

"Then where is Kaiping?"

"Close to the City of Wei."

"Well, I know it is around frontier fortress. But where were you before you went to the frontier fortress?"

"In the mountain."

"Which mountain?"

"Min Mountain."

"Is Min Mountain big?"

"Of course."

"Where have you been before going to Min Mountain?"

"... "

"Where have you been before?"

"Well... I was too young to remember it. All I know is that I was an orphan."

The conversation around the handrail had to stop here, for Ning Que's inarticulate expression after wine drinking and stubbornly thinking chaotic status quo. Thus this conversation finally could no longer continue to proceed further. Situ Yilan picked up a wet towel to wipe her forehead forcefully, bitterly staring at the drunk lad at the table, and was compelled to accept this situation.

Just at this moment, Dewdrop who had temporarily left for something came back to decrease the embarra.s.sment here. She frowned and glanced at Ning Que's head and could not help but shake her head, helping him get up and using the right hand to put a wet towel on his forehead, and then smiled to Situ Yilan to hoa.r.s.ely say, "Miss Situ, he can't hold his liquor well."

Before Situ Yilan opened her mouth to laugh, Ning Que who was lying in the arms of Dewdrop woke up confusedly. He could vaguely feel something cool, soft and round on his face. He tightened his hands around the person's waist subconsciously and rubbed his face on it.

Dewdrop's plump breast was squeezed to be somewhat out of shape by the lad's evil pressing. The little face, which was like a translucent jade bracelet, suddenly had charming shyness and a few hidden redness that rarely showed up.

Situ Yilan saw the staring Ning Que in the arms of Dewdrop put his indecent hand to stretch into the girl's sleeves and move toward a certain place. She could not help but be annoyed and look up to cover her forehead with her hand, covering her eyes as well. She was, after all, the n.o.ble lady of Yunhui General's Residence in Chang'an. Seeking-fun in brothels was something that was treated elegantly before her. She has never seen that anyone actually dared do something indecent in front of her.

Of course, she knew that Ning Que was made by her to drink too much so as to be unconsciously lost at this moment. He might not know what he was holding, the waist or a new willow, and what he was rubbing, the chest or a big piece of bread. But for a girl who has not been married - even if she was known for boldness and negligence in Chang'an City - this picture in front of her was indeed somewhat unbearable. Thus, out of shame and anger, she stood up to draw back Ning Que and continued to let him drink more.

Vaguely feeling someone wanted to make him drink more, Ning Que resisted the person by tightly holding Dewdrop's waist and refused to let go. His hand kept going into her sleeves to rub the girl's soft and plump belly and kept talking nonsense like "This is better than drinking. I'll quit drinking".

Dewdrop giggled from his rubbing, and hastily lifted her sleeves to cover her lips, and laughed, saying, "Pay up first before touching."

Crouching in her arms, Ning Que replied confusedly,"Your brother, I, now have two thousand taels of silver. Do I look like I'm lacking in money? If a monk can touch you, why can't I spend a night with you?"

Dewdrop has been a little annoyed after listening to these words. However, she became more confused about the word "monk". Therefore, she looked up to glance at Situ Yilan who spread out her hands to angrily say, "How would I know what he was talking about?"

Then she used her fingers to drag him up by the front of his robes and said loudly in his face, "Go back quickly, you drunkard. Don't you have somebody waiting for you at home?"

It was uncertain as to whether it was the night wind beside the handrail or Situ Yilan's ruthless shaking or some keywords in this sentence that have touched Ning Que's mind, he suddenly stiffened his body and slowly came to open his listless eyes, watching the night outside the handrail and murmuring. "Yeah, someone is waiting at home."

Situ Yilan and Dewdrop looked at each other and at the same time heaved a sigh of relief. What they cared about was not the source of two thousand taels of silver that Ning Que has talked about before, but the pleasure of finally being able to leave the company of the poor young master who had suddenly become rich.

However, to their surprise, Ning Que staggered slightly as he stood up, tearing himself away from Situ Yilan's hands and avoiding

Dewdrop who wanted to support him by the arm. He staggered into the building, grabbing the writing brush in the account office, and tore off a sheet of account book. Then he half leaned on the side of the table with drunk eyes and wrote some blurred cursive figures, and then said, "Send it back to Lin 47th Street for me."

Dewdrop came near to have a look, only to see some scrawled words on that sheet of account book. Those words had a twisted and untidy frame, which were too unclear to be easily identified--

"Sangsang, your young master, I, am drunk today and won't come back to sleep, so you must remember to drink the stewed chicken soup left in the pot."

Ning Que was a lad who was calm and collected by nature and had a gentle appearance. He was aware of his own poor alcohol tolerance. Therefore, except for drinking with Sangsang, he rarely drank excessively leading to out-of-control situations. But this time, the situation was different, for he was really so happy that he would feel lost without having alcohol to celebrate.

His deepest joy had nothing to do with fun-seeking activities in the brothel at night, or the carnival party with the young students from Academy, but purely because he has seen messages on that sheet of thin paper in the old library. In the afternoon with warm suns.h.i.+ne, he vaguely saw the direction of that wonderful world's door. After struggling in the desperate quest for more than ten years, he finally saw a glimmer of hope. Was there anything more suitable reason for being drunk at this moment in the world?

Seeing the cute appearance of drunk Ning Que, Dewdrop could not help but laugh, holding his left arm, and shook her head to say, "Stop drinking. I'll have the carriage driver send you home."

Gently holding her hand, Ning Que found that his palm was full of damp sweat. It wasn't until at this moment did he know that there was logic behind the saying that drunk people have clear minds. Squinting slightly to cover up his tension, he pretended to be calm and said, "I'll stay here tonight."

"It's improper for you to do so in front of your cla.s.smates." Dewdrop laughed and said, "Where is your elegance?"

Drunk Ning Que said, "I am just a little soldier from the frontier fortress. How would I know anything about elegance? Dear sister, why not let me have some fun for once tonight?"

"Don't behave crazily while you're drunk. Otherwise, you'll regret it when you sober up." Dewdrop laughed and said, "If you're sober in the daily life, I'll let you have fun three times instead of once."

With drunken eyes, Ning Que kept waving and laughed, "I can't do it, for it will make me be not elegant thrice."

"I can no longer listen to this nonsense." Situ Yilan frowned, covering her forehead, trying to suppress the waves the alcohol was making in her belly, and then said, "Ning Que, why can't you pick another day to behave crazily?"

Struggling to stand up straight, Ning Que bowed deeply and said, "Miss Situ, this is the place you've chosen. If it's another day, I really dare not accompany a girl to the brothel."

Speechless, Situ Yilan gave him a dark look, thinking that if Ning Que knew that he was accompanying a girl to the brothel, he should have just listened to songs, watched the Hu dance and talked about life and art instead of behaving like so.

Fortunately, she did not say these words, or she might provoke Ning Que's complaint that the difference between a scholarly young girl and normal young girl was only the different order of things they wanted.

Dewdrop laughed and looked at Ning Que sympathetically, "Ning Que, you seem to have forgotten one thing. Mistress Jian has ordered everybody not to entertain you since that day, so where can you have fun?"

Right after Dewdrop finished talking, a little maidservant with a proud and arrogant face carrying a bowl of zinnia sobering soup appeared. The girl was Xiaocao, Mistress Jian's close personal maidservant. She stared at Ning Que's eyes coldly and said, "Mistress Jian says that no one is allowed to let him drink any more. And you Ning Que, drink this bowl of sobering soup and immediately take a bath before going upstairs with me. Mistress Jian has something to ask you."

In novels, there was often a kind of sentence used to describe the master's working style, namely: Quick as a wink, they saw... The emergence of the maidservant Xiaocao was a typical example. She spoke like a master and with her words, the Academy students who were eager to make Ning Que drink more were persuaded by the girls beside them. Ning Que put down the liquor jar dejectedly. The room became silent.

When Ning Que drank the bowl of sobering soup and took a bath, those Academy students naturally started to talk about the things that have happened before. Especially those who knew the ident.i.ty of Mistress Jian could not help but talk to others about the imperial court secrets and a certain story of Tang Empire legends. Therefore, everyone became more curious about the what had just happened.

It was still quiet beside the handrail. Situ Yilan and Jin Wucai came back again after a short conversation and stood beside Dewdrop. They looked at the well-known prost.i.tute of the capital curiously and softly asked. "Even if Ning Que is lucky enough to impress Mistress Jian, you and Lu Xue both enjoy high status, and don't need to deliberately flatter him. So why you do so?"

"It was really funny for Ning Que to be fooled into the building at the beginning. That night, Mistress Jian has ordered everyone in the building not to entertain him. Maybe he could still visit other brothels in Chang'an City. But all the girls here dare not violate Mistress Jian's orders. So what does it mean when he still continued visiting?"

Dewdrop moved her eyes and smiled softly, saying, "It meant that this lad just came to chat with us. And as for the girls here, they actually would like to simply chat innocently with people."

Situ Yilan propped her chin up with her palm and leaned against the handrail as if she was thinking about something.

Dewdrop smiled and continued, "The reason why we like to chat with him is that we usually chat with the purpose of making customers like censors and Huangmen a.s.sistant Ministers happy. But Ning Que enjoys chatting with us, for he naturally needs to relax via chatting. And now, he seems to be able to relax only in this place by chatting with the girls here."

Situ Yilan frowned, with a girl's curiosity in the eyes. "What kind of stress can he have?"

"I don't know what problems he has in life, but I do know there must be something wrong." Dewdrop's smile slowly slid off her face and she said sadly, "In your eyes, Ning Que is a quiet and simple lad. Only the worldly sad people like us can see the sadness hidden in his body."

Finally, the well-known prost.i.tute in Chang'an gently said, "In addition, I'm also an orphan with no parents ."