A Seductive Gentleman Chapter 50

Chapter 50: From the Flower Reflects a Picture – Part 7

"Yup yup, how could an innocent young lady like me visit this kind of place?"

Zhao XiaoLan was completely unaware that he was being deceived, patiently explaining, "Yan-jiejie probably doesn't know that this Hundred Flower Abyss only blooms in the middle of the night!"

Ming ChangYan didn't understand, "What do you mean by that?"

Zhao XiaoLan gave him an inexplicable smile and refused to explain further. Ming shaoxia pondered for a while before coming to a deep interpretation.

Him, "Since it seems like you're so informed when the moment comes don't forget to properly take care of me. I look so handsome in my men's clothes, entering this sort of place is like entering a spider's cave. If the evil jiejie's wants to eat me clean, I can only depend on XiaoLan shaoxia to look after me!"

Zhao XiaoLan was so elated by his flattery that he forgot what his surname was. He laughed out loud and said, "No problem! No problem!"

The two chatted and laughed as they continued to walk forward.

Suddenly around the corner, they came across monks from XiaoHan temple. Ming ChangYan stopped his steps, subconsciously yanking Zhao Xiaolan to the side to avoid them.

Zhao Xiaolan was alarmed, "Aren't those monks? Why are they also at the Hundred Flower Abyss?"

Ming ChangYan murmured, "XiaoHan Temple is starting to become more and more open, they're even daring to visit brothels now."

Little by little in the alley, the soft voices of women gradually grew louder.

In the end, Zhao XiaoLan stood in front of a wooden door.

Ming ChangYan took two steps back and looked around. The wooden door was very simple with nothing particularly special about it, thus he asked, "XiaoLan, are you sure we're here?"

He couldn't help but wonder: No matter how you look at it, it doesn't look anything like a brothel!

From what Ming ChangYan heard and saw regarding brothels, if it weren't extravagant large buildings, then it was crowds of women and bustling excitement. This was the first time that he'd seen such an inconspicuous brothel.

"Strange!"

Zhao XiaoLan said, "Yan-jiejie, what's strange? The Hundred Flower Abyss is the number one place for this, so it's only natural that they're different from usual brothels. All you have to do is just follow me!"

He knocked on the wooden door but saw that there wasn't a courtyard or lounge behind the door, rather another alleyway.

However, this alley was different from the alley outside. The road was completely paved with mahogany with countless rooms on both sides. Each room had a thick cushion, a small table that held a jar of wine and two cups. On the floor, there was a laid out bamboo mat seemingly used as a bed. There were screens that were currently wide open as if waiting for a customer. Outside every room there hung a lantern, there were ones that were white and ones that were red. There were small flowers that grew in the masses on top of the rooms, when the wind blew some of the petals would rustle down. It looked like it was raining flowers, the sight elegant and unique.

"If Yan-jiejie visited during the Mid-Autumn Festival, the view of the full moon from these alleys made it seem like it was hanging from the tree branches. Amidst the flowers and under the moonlight*, with a beauty in your arms, wouldn't that be lovely?"

(TN: 花前月下; ideal romantic setting)

Ming ChangYan sighed, "Indeed it's worthy of being called the number one brothel in the world."

Zhao XiaoLan led him along. As he got closer, the view became much clearer. There was a lot in each room. Ming ChangYan looked around, each had a woman, all exquisitely dainty and beautiful, some were lying down and other crouching, some were sitting and some were standing, giggling as they looked towards the customers that would come and go.

Zhao XiaoLan explained, "The rooms with the white lanterns mean that they're only singing tonight and don't allow anyone to spend the night. The rooms with the red lanterns mean that you're only allowed to spend the night and are given no singing."

Ming ChangYan opened his eyes, "Then what about the ones that don't have lanterns?"

Zhao XiaoLan said, "Yan-jiejie, are you blind! Are there any that don't have lanterns hanging on them! The lantern's already been distinguished because someone's already been led away!"

Ming ChangYan said, "This, is truly strange!"

They haven't walked far when a few women recognized Zhao XiaoLan, immediately scooting closer on their knees and softly calling out, "XiaoLan, what took you so long!"

Zhao XiaoLan moved forward yelling: "Rouer-jiejie", "XiangXiang-jiejie", "YanZhi-jiejie", till Ming ChangYan had a headache. He hadn't even matched the names to a face yet when the other yelled out another round of names.

XiangXiang giggled, "XiaoLan, why don't you play with us!"

Zhao XiaoLan said, "I want to go find Maiden Li Li!"

XiangXiang used a handkerchief to cover her cheek, flirtatiously turning around in her room and exposing her lustrous white thighs, well-rounded and beautiful. It frightened Ming ChangYan so much he couldn't fully concentrate.

She mumbled to herself, "Jiejie is going to get jealous, hahahahaha!"

Zhao XiaoLan cutely laughed, apologizing, "XiangXiang-jiejie don't be jealous, I'll definitely play with you next time!"

XiangXiang suddenly sat up and leaned against the couch, "If you pity me then play with me tonight. XiaoLan, did you bring a friend with you? Let jiejie take a look and see if they're handsome or not, if they're handsome this jiejie will let him sleep a night for free, hehehe."

When Ming ChangYan was met by such laughter, it caused his blood to run cold and goosebumps to form all over his body.

Zhao XiaoLan hadn't had time to reply when a sudden fragrance blew his way. A woman dressed in purple silk and gauze pushed Zhao XiaoLan. Zhao Xiaolan was startled, "YanZhi-jiejie!"

YanZhi continued to tenderly smile, after she wasn't able to fully push him down she simply fell into Zhao XiaoLan's arms and turned around in circles while hugging him. The gauze fluttered in front of Ming ChangYan, very alluring. He took a step back. Zhao XiaoLan was directly thrown into the room by YanZhi.

More than half of the outer robe on his shoulders had fallen down, he promptly propped up his upper body, "YanZhi-jiejie, today–"

The fingernails for both of YanZhi's fingers were painted crimson, using them to gently cover Zhao XiaoLan's lips.

"Li Li isn't here today, your visit was in vain."

Zhao XiaoLan's eyes slowly widened, "Why isn't she here?"

XiangXiang poured a cup of wine and brought it up to Zhao XiaoLan's lips, "XiaoLan, drink it, drink it and jiejie will tell why."

Zhao XiaoLan wasn't doubtful as he gulped it down at once.

XiangXiang smiled, "Ah, it's because she's sick."

Zhao XiaoLan was startled, "Sick? What illness? She was still fine this afternoon!"

YanZhi giggled, "She got sick this afternoon. Your Li Li, got sick from the fright. We all know, after that kind of thing happened at the Flower Viewing Festival, she probably doesn't even have the guts to properly walk on the road."

XiangXiang said, "You might as well stay here and have fun with us. XiaoLan, it's not that this jiejie is scolding you, but the people who want to marry Li Li could form a line all the way from here to Jiangnan. You, definitely don't have a chance."

Zhao XiaoLan said, "Why can't I!"

XiangXiang kissed his cheek, leaving behind a lipstick mark, "Because you're too cute!"

Zhao XiaoLan didn't know whether to laugh or to cry, "Jiejie, are you praising or mocking me!"

XiangXiang loved him so much that she couldn't help but wish that she could eat him whole, and carefully dote on him.

It was the same with YanZhi and acted in collusion with the others. Hugging, but there wasn't a sense of the love between man and woman, more like finding a beloved little kitten, touching and kissing all over him, extremely fond.

She touched him by herself then called over a few sisters that she was on good terms with on regular days. When they heard that the silly boy from Lin'an's Zhao family was here again, they were so delighted that they forgot about getting customers, carrying their lanterns and wearing their skirts as they rushed over. They continued to softly laugh the whole way there. Perhaps even the emperor wouldn't receive this sort of treatment if he came.

Zhao XiaoLan's face was pinched red by YanZhi, with his eyes gleaming with tears he said, "YanZhi-jiejie, my face hurts."

YanZhi ignored him and continued to rub his face for a while, until she hugged his waist and leaned against his chest.

Zhao XiaoLan didn't have the heart to push her away so he said, "YanZhi-jiejie, where did Maiden Li Li go?"

XiangXiang said, "Why haven't you given up yet?"

Zhao XiaoLan exclaimed, "If I can't meet her, then I won't give up!"

XiangXiang poured another cup of wine and handed it to Zhao XiaoLan, "XiaoLan, I'll tell you if you drink this cup of wine."

Zhao XiaoLan said, "I'll drink, I'm not afraid to drink."

Having said this, he proceeded to pick up the jar of wine and directly chugged the whole thing down. The women present all thought he was extremely cute. After drinking the wine, he was filled with energy, and on his cheeks appeared two red clouds causing their laughter to become merrier.

Ming ChangYan stood outside, he politely pushed away a few girls who had embraced him and said, "Zhao XiaoLan, don't drink too much, you're not gonna be able to walk properly after this."

Zhao XiaoLan absent-mindedly nodded his head, propping himself to a standing position but by then he already couldn't pinpoint north, west, east, or south.

YanZhi delicately lifted the wine jar like there weren't any bones in her body, then raised it very high causing some of the droplets to drip onto Zhao XiaoLan's face. He dizzily extended his tongue out and faintly licked it. YanZhi then mischievously took the wine jar away which provoked Zhao XiaoLan to fall in her direction. Her each and every step caused all the girls around them to laugh.

Ming ChangYan noticed that as soon as that jar of yellow wine entered his stomach, he was already drunk. His front lapels were already drenched with wine and his outer coat was stripped off to who knows where, the hairpin that was originally on his head had fallen on the ground causing his disheveled hair to stick to the sides of his face. His skin was soft and white while his lips were a glossy red, with his eyes out of focus he exhibited a natural posture.

"I…Li Li…"

YanZhi loved to see him like this, looking like he was bullied by a few girls. Zhao XiaoLan rested his head on the couch, XiangXiang picked up his hairpin and inserted her own onto his head, tenderly saying, "XiaoLan, give me yours for me to wear and I'll give you mine for you to wear, let's exchange tokens of love to each other all right?"

YanZhi said, "You shameless little wench. XiaoLan, don't be biased, what she has, jiejie also has!"

After that, the girls touched him once through and kissed his face again, leaving behind a bunch of rouge and powder. Upon seeing this, Ming ChangYan sighed and said, "Zhao XiaoLan, are we still going?"

Zhao XiaoLan, "…"

XiangXiang put her own hairpin into Zhao XiaoLan's hair and was currently examining the hairpin with a butterfly that looked like it was just about to take off into the sky.

"You don't have to worry about him, when the time comes, there'll be someone here to pick him up," After she finished speaking, XiangXiang turned around and analyzed Ming ChangYan before faintly smiling, "Are you XiaoLan's friend?"

Ming ChangYan said, "Yes."

XiangXiang laughed out loud, reaching out she tapped Zhao XiaoLan's chin, "He actually has other friends. I thought that he only had one."

Ming ChangYan was puzzled, "Does he not have any other friends?"

XiangXiang said, "This fellow likes to play with girls, I've never seen him with a second male friend. The only one, this young lady doesn't like very much."

Ming ChangYan laughed, "We still have important business, could you hand him back to me?"

XiangXiang said with a smile, "If you need to handle something then go handle it, this boy is useless, what can he help you with? You carefully take him back and he'll just drag you behind. Why doesn't this young master sit down for a drink?"

Ming ChangYan said, "I don't drink. But, I want to ask you a few things."

XiangXiang said, "You don't drink yet you want to ask me about something, I won't answer!"

Ming ChangYan thought about it for a while, then took out a pair of bracelets from his bosom and handed them to XiangXiang, "If I give you these, will you be willing to answer?"

XiangXiang picked them up and examined the quality of the bracelet before she beamed, "What does this gentleman want to ask?"

Ming ChangYan said, "Just now, I noticed a few XiaoHan Temple's monks were here, do you know what they came here to do?"

XiangXiang replied, "I don't know anything about a XiaoHan Temple, but there are several monks that come here. Tell me, what can smelly men come here for, hahaha!"

Ming ChangYan paused for a bit then asked, "Do they come here often?"

XiangXiang played with her hair, "Naturally, if a monk had money, then why remain a monk, wouldn't it happier to just be a regular person? The monks these days have a lot of money, it's either constructing big buildings or out whoring, they're spending their money faster than running water."

"Constructing big buildings? Are you talking about the new temple that XiaoHan Temple is building at the former Huating villa?"

XiangXiang said, "This lowly one doesn't know."

Ming ChangYan said, "Does this jiejie still think that it's not enough? I only had those bracelets on me."

XiangXiang laughed, "They even have the guts to revamp the old site of that villa, it seems that those old monks are really tired of living!"

Ming ChangYan inquired, "What do you mean by that?"

XiangXiang explained, "Did you know back then when the villa caught on fire, one of the people there went missing? Even after the imperial court and hundreds of cultivators from each sect in the martial circles rummaged the ruins inside out, they still couldn't find even a single bone of that person. In my opinion, this kind of searching, even if their body dispersed into ashes they would still be able to yank the soul from depths of Hell. But that person disappeared into thin air, isn't that strange?"

Ming ChangYan doubted, "Was it really necessary to get so many people involved?"

XiangXian grinned, "If it was some regular person who would care about their life or death? But the person who disappeared was the villa's young master Zhuang Xiao. At the time of the accident, that young master was only about a 10-year-old child."

Ming ChangYan said, "Zhuang Xiao?"

XiangXiang said, "I don't know any more than that. I only know that the old site of the villa is an evil place, after the fire, whenever they would unearth the soil for construction there will always be a few people who die. But it's only natural that with an aristocratic family like theirs, having a few enemies isn't something new. It's just that up till now, no one has been able to determine whether the fire was an accident or man-made. This matter happened several years ago so we're not too clear about the details. If this young master is interested, why don't you go ask the monks at XiaoHan Temple? As long as they didn't commit any shameful deeds, then they're not afraid of a ghost knocking on their door in the middle of the night."

He assumed the posture of pulling Zhao XiaoLan up when from the corner of this eye, he spotted a monk from XiaoHan Temple with an unusual expression, causing him to hastily chase after him.

Ming ChangYan retracted the hand that he had just extended, "Help me keep an eye on him, I'll come back later."

YanZhi smiled, "There's no need for us to keep an eye on him, someone's going to be here soon."

Ming ChangYan didn't wait for her to finish, his figure already fading away.

Zhao XiaoLan seemed to sense something, he moved his body a little but couldn't overcome the drunkenness, once again lying down to the side.

YanZhi supported him, "What are you trying to do?"

Zhao XiaoLan murmured, "Flowers…flowers…"

YanZhi followed his line of sight and saw that near the doorway of the room and under the steps, many petals had fallen down.

"What are you pitying those flowers for, don't tell me that I can't compare to those flowers?"

Zhao XiaoLan crawled forwards two steps, raised his knee, and shakily picked up the flower petals on the ground.

Everyone laughed that he was silly, Zhao XiaoLan very slowly explained, "Flowers are like women….need, need to be cherished……if the flower falls, then their complexion will turn old, not good, not good….."

YanZhi giggled, "You stupid boy, how can flowers falling mean old age, that means death!"

Zhao XiaoLan devotedly picked up the flowers when suddenly, his hands ran into a pair of boots.

He faintly raised his head and after trying to identify them for a bit, he foolishly giggled, "Zhu, Zhu-xiong, you came!"

The author has something to say:

In this novel, the rich use the jade pendants hanging by their waist to recognize one another, so one could roughly recognize the owner according to the jade pendant that's beside the corpse. It's equivalent to an ID card.

This was translated by , any repost of this is stolen and if you steal my work then I'm giving you pollen allergies.

Weird(ish) chapter but the next one is normal, trust me.

Now that I'm staying in I finally have time to read some of the novels that I've been really wanting to read. Started Sha Po Lang (so far really good, I enjoy the politics but is too stupid to understand some of it) and reread 2ha and cried my eyes till they looked like the butts of those chocho fruits

If you see any grammatical/translation errors please notify me!

I hope you all are healthy and staying safe!! ｡｡゛(ﾉ><)ﾉ

Chapter end