Which Young Master Cheng?
The Cheng family from Jiang–zhou – the newly appointed jinshi Cheng Wenyu.
Of course, that wasn’t the main point. The key point was that his surname was Cheng, from the Jiang–zhou Cheng clan – and he had a sister, Lady Cheng.
A direct disciple of True Master Li, the very one who had driven back the Ghost Judge; a girl from the Jiang–zhou Cheng family who could be mentioned in the same breath as Zhang Jiangzhou.
Chun Ling shouted all this in her heart. But could she say it aloud?
If she did, and that young master from the Gao family lost his nerve, how could the play go on? Wouldn’t all her efforts have been for nothing?
“Yeah, who is it? Must be quite something!”
The others in the hall all joined in the clamor.
Amid the noise, the little maid seemed a bit frightened.
“M–my lady servant doesn’t know,” she stammered. Then she looked up and added, “But my lady said he’s really amazing.”
A woman praising a man as “amazing” – that was the highest compliment for that man, but also the deepest insult to another.
Laughter rippled through the hall.
“Really amazing, is he?” Young Master Gao stopped laughing and lifted a hand. “Take my visiting card,” he said, “and go tell this amazing Young Master Cheng that today, I intend to borrow his Lady Zhu for a while.”
“I’m neither a Ministry of Personnel clerk nor your mother-in-law – what your official title is has nothing to do with me!”
At that moment, in the private room, the Music Bureau instructor finally lost her temper at the insolent little servant and snapped, her brows arched sharply.
“In this Desheng Pavilion, we may serve officials, but we’re not afraid of being threatened by them.”
With that, she raised her hand.
“Your official lordship – our Desheng Pavilion can’t afford to host you. Please find yourself another place.”
To be thrown out by a madam – the men in the room flushed red, mortified.
“Si-lang, Si-lang, let’s go,” a few of them murmured, rising quickly. “We shouldn’t have come to a place like this.”
The woman heard that, and seeing the shabby, bookish air of the young scholars before her, grew all the more disdainful.
“Oh yes, the Desheng Pavilion isn’t a place just anyone can stroll into,” she said with a cold laugh. “Come to think of it, I haven’t even asked yet – you said you came to invite my Ah-Heng, but can you even afford the price?”
Cheng Si-lang’s face also flushed red; he sat there, uneasy and ill at ease.
Footsteps sounded again outside, and the door was suddenly flung open.
Everyone in the room brightened at once.
The woman standing at the doorway was as radiant as a peony, her complexion soft as a pink peony bloom. Dressed in splendid silks and adorned with dazzling vermilion hairpins, she looked for all the world like a celestial maiden descended to earth.
“Ah-Heng thanks Young Master Cheng for your gracious favor,” Lady Zhu said with a graceful bow. “But I already has an engagement today – I shall pay my respects another day.”
Cheng Si-lang grew even more flustered and hastily rose to return the salute.
“Ah, n-no, it’s not like that–” he stammered.
Before he could finish, footsteps again approached from outside. Everyone turned instinctively to look, and saw a haughty-looking servant step in, followed by Chun Ling, who looked timid and frightened.
At the sight of him, the woman who had just been sneering and disdainful immediately changed her expression, hurrying forward with an ingratiating smile.
As for that servant, upon seeing the people in the room – especially Lady Zhu standing there – his arrogance took on a tinge of anger.
“Sister.” Chun Ling ran forward, tears streaming down her face.
“So Lady Zhu really is here,” the servant sneered.
Lady Zhu’s expression remained calm and indifferent; she turned as if to leave.
“And that must be Young Master Cheng?” the servant said, lifting his chin without even glancing properly at the man before him.
“I am,” Cheng Si-lang replied.
“Young Master Cheng,” the servant said with a half-smile, half-smirk, “my young master asks to borrow Lady Zhu for a while – he hopes you’ll be generous enough to oblige.”
“There’s no need to speak to him about it,” Lady Zhu said at once. “I, Zhu Heng, am only Zhu Heng – not anyone’s to lend or borrow.”
This young lady…
Cheng Si-lang couldn’t help but glance at her.
“Yes, yes, no need to talk to anyone else. Ah-Heng, go on now – and in the future, don’t go meeting just any random stray cats or dogs,” the woman said quickly with a forced laugh.
“Wait.” Cheng Si-lang spoke sharply. “It was I who first–”
Before he could finish, the servant stepped forward and held out a visiting card.
“I almost forgot – this is my young master’s card,” he said.
The card was unfolded toward Cheng Si-lang, and under the lamplight, a single large, gleaming character – Gao – hone brightly.
Gao?
Cheng Si-lang and the others froze in surprise.
“Which Gao family?” one of his companions murmured under his breath.
It couldn’t be that Gao family… could it?
The Gao family of the Empress Dowager and the Imperial Consort’s maternal line – the Gao family that common folk called the highest under heaven…
“That’s right – Gao of Xiang-zhou,” the servant replied with a proud, knowing smile, as if reading their thoughts.
As expected!
Heavens above!
The expressions of Cheng Si-lang and the others changed drastically.
Chun Ling had only said that some powerful lord was forcing her mistress, and that her mistress refused with all her heart. She had once been the daughter of an official household, but after her father was framed and her family destroyed, she had been forced into the Music Bureau.
A pure and decent girl, compelled to live from the pleasures of others.
Now, her father’s injustice had finally been redressed, but her name was already tainted. Even though she was freed from the registry of courtesans, she no longer had the face to return to the Zhu family home. She could only live quietly within the pleasure quarters, asking for nothing – nothing but to keep her body unsullied.
Yet even that, it seemed, was no longer possible.
“If she truly loses her purity, elder sister will have no choice but to die,” Chun Ling wept.
“That young master is very powerful – even the Music Bureau instructor doesn’t dare cross him. He’s determined to spend the night here, but my lady has refused and avoided him again and again. The man grew angry and left harsh words behind; my lady, too, steeled herself – she secretly hid a dagger on her body. I fear… she means to take her own life…”
“I was once sold off, but was fortunate enough to be cared for by my mistress -my days since then have been like those of an immortal. If I could, I would die in her place…”
“I don’t know what else to do,” she cried. “I only wish someone could help my lady stall for a while, help her escape – just for a little time.”
“Fourth Young Master,” Chun Ling sobbed, “I don’t know what to do. Please – can you help me, help my mistress?”
Cheng Si-lang’s mind rang with her earlier words as he stared at the visiting card before him, his thoughts in turmoil.
She had only said it was a very powerful lord – but he hadn’t expected this kind of powerful.
The Gao family…
Cheng Si-lang was startled; his companions were horrified.
Good heavens – what a night this turned out to be. First they’d come to the Desheng Pavilion and gotten to sit with a top-tier courtesan; then they heard it was Lady Zhu who’d been summoned; then they heard Lady Zhu and Cheng Si-lang had an old connection, and suddenly it had become a beauty contest – and the rival in that contest was a son of the Gao family!
The Gaos! Who in the capital would be insane enough to pick a fight with the Gao family? Sure, people fought at court, but that was at court – even if you gave Minister Chen Shao ten times his courage, he wouldn’t come down to a brothel and brawl with the Gaos.
What on earth was this? First they’d pissed off the Gao family; second, squabbling in a brothel wasn’t exactly honorable. What rotten luck.
Was Cheng Si-lang trying to drag them into this on purpose?
But when the others looked at Cheng Si-lang’s face, it was obvious he’d only just discovered who his rival was too. He’d probably been carried away by the excitement of passing the imperial exam, gone to the Desheng Pavilion on impulse and booked the finest courtesan – only to find she was already claimed. Truly… unlucky.
“Si-lang, let’s go.” His friends hissed, nudging him. If they left now it could be passed off as a misunderstanding, as if nothing had happened. After all, these minor officials wouldn’t mix with a powerful house like the Gaos; they could simply avoid them in future. But if it came to blows, for Cheng Si-lang, who had just entered officialdom, ruining his career would be as simple for those powerful families as snapping their fingers.
Seeing the dazed looks of the men in the hall, the servant smirked with a mix of pride and contempt.
“Of all the things to imitate, you choose to imitate others fighting over a woman,” he sneered, then turned to Lady Zhu. “Lady Zhu, your taste really couldn’t be any worse, could it?”
Lady Zhu gave a cold laugh.
“I don’t even know him,” she said evenly. “I am merely a courtesan – when someone invites me, I go. It’s all the same. Whoever can afford the price, in my eyes, wins by what they pay, regardless of rank or title.”
At those words, Cheng Si-lang’s feelings grew complicated.
But Chun Ling, listening nearby, was overjoyed.
This wasn’t disdain toward Cheng Si-lang – it was clearly Lady Zhu’s way of protecting him, trying to deflect blame so that Young Master Gao wouldn’t bear him a grudge.
At this point, Cheng Si-lang was surely beginning to suspect he’d been used. A rational man would shake his sleeves and walk away.
But for a proud and pure woman like Lady Zhu to say something like that – it changed everything.
If someone clings shamelessly, others only pull back; but if you push them away too harshly, they’ll step forward instead.
That’s what people mean when they say, “Push him and he won’t move; hit him and he’ll come running.”
Some men are just made that way – stubborn to the bone.
It seemed, she thought, that her luck had truly turned. Heaven, earth, and people were all aligned in her favor. What she’d planned as a simple little act – just a few words and gestures to set things up – was unfolding smoother and better than she had ever imagined.
Since everyone else was so deep into their roles, she couldn’t just sit back.
Thinking this, she lifted her head to look at Cheng Si-lang, tears spilling down her cheeks. After only a single glance, she turned and hurried after Lady Zhu, who had already started to leave the room.
“Sister!” she cried.
Lady Zhu arched her brows.
“What are you crying for? Have you forgotten your place?” she scolded softly.
Chun Ling quickly stifled her sobs, her little face twisting with the effort. When she lifted her eyes toward Cheng Si-lang inside the room, the sorrowful helplessness in her expression was enough to break anyone’s heart.
Come on, shout it out, quick! she urged silently. When a beauty shows such loyalty and feeling, how can you, a scholar and gentleman, shrink before power and abandon righteousness and integrity?
“Wait.”
Just as the servant was about to follow Lady Zhu out, Cheng Si-lang’s voice rang out sharply from within the room.
“My young master does not receive guests,” the servant replied carelessly. “If you’re really feeling guilty about it, you can go outside and knock your head on the ground a few times. That’ll do.”
He spoke with total indifference – he’d seen this sort of thing far too many times before.
Cheng Si-lang’s face flushed crimson, and he stepped forward once more.
“Lady Zhu was my invitation first!” he declared loudly.
“What?”
The few people who had already started to leave turned back in astonishment, and even the companions standing beside Cheng Si-lang stared at him in shock.
Meeting everyone’s gaze, Cheng Si-lang straightened his back.
“Lady Zhu was engaged by me first,” he said firmly. “Even if she is a courtesan, does that mean her word counts for nothing?”
Then he turned to the servant, whose expression was frozen in disbelief.
“And does holding high rank mean one may do as one pleases in a pleasure house?”
He took another step forward.
“Today I have an appointment with Lady Zhu – what can you do about it?”
Chun Ling covered her face and burst into tears.
This time, it was truly tears of joy!
Beautifully done, Cheng Si–lang – those years of effort I spent on you weren’t in vain after all!
