Does being an official courtesan mean you can go back on your word? Does holding rank and power in a place like this mean you can do whatever you please?
As Cheng Si-lang’s words rang out, the whole room fell silent.
Everyone stared at him in astonishment.
“He’s a fool!” the instructress muttered, her willow brows arching in anger. Hands on her hips, she pointed at him. “Throw him out!”
The thugs who had already surged forward at her command responded in unison.
“What are you doing! What do you think you’re doing!”
The servant clung desperately to the doorframe, shouting, “Do you even know who my young master is?”
“I don’t care who your young master is!” the instructress advanced with clenched teeth. “But do you know whom you’ve offended?”
The servant showed not the slightest fear.
“No, I don’t,” he snorted.
“Then do you know who that young master’s father is?” she asked, sneering through gritted teeth.
The servant sneered right back.
“Then do you know who my young master’s sister is?” he shot back.
At those words, the faces of everyone within earshot changed again – each one struck with new astonishment.
“What?” The instructress thought she’d misheard and asked again.
“Do you know who my young master’s sister – our First Young Lady – is?” the servant snorted.
Well, that was a first. People had compared family status and fathers’ ranks before, but comparing sisters? That was new.
“So I really have run into an idiot! And an idiot dares to make trouble in my Desheng Pavilion!” the instructress cursed, swinging her hand to slap the servant hard across the face.
The servant cried out in pain and fell to the ground.
“How can you hit people like that?” Cheng Si-lang shouted, stepping forward.
“Hit people?” The instructress glared at him. “You dare to act wild on my turf – if I don’t hit you, you’ll never learn your place!”
As she spoke, she raised her hand again, striking at Cheng Si-lang.
He tilted his head to dodge, but her nails still raked across his jaw, leaving several bloody scratches.
The room erupted with startled cries from the watching men.
“I’ll fight you to the death!” the servant screamed, leaping up and ramming straight toward the instructress.
But the woman had trained in dance and performance since youth; with a twist of her waist, she slipped neatly aside.
“Outrageous!” she shouted. Backed by the Gao family – and eager to curry favor with Fourteenth Young Master Gao – she gritted her teeth and stamped her foot. “Beat them out of here! Let them learn this isn’t a place where they can run wild!”
To be thrown out was one thing; to be beaten out was quite another.
At her cry, the thugs’ restraining hands turned into fists, and they lunged at Cheng Si-lang, who hadn’t even recovered from his shock.
Cheng Si-lang cried out in pain, clutching his stomach and doubling over. But it didn’t stop there – more fists came raining down.
Shouts, curses, and screams filled the air. Cheng Si-lang’s companions were thrown into chaos – two rushed forward to stop the beating, while two others covered their heads and ran for the door.
In an instant, the whole scene descended into turmoil.
The commotion drew everyone’s attention. Some even ran up from the main hall below to watch the spectacle, while those of higher status in the surrounding private rooms didn’t show themselves but sent their attendants to peek out instead.
Scenes of men fighting over official courtesans were hardly rare in Desheng Pavilion -arguments and brawls broke out almost every day. But to see Lady Zhu herself standing at the doorway – that was a first.
For one, Lady Zhu was not the sort of courtesan who came and went at a man’s beck and call; and for another, everyone knew that lately Fourteenth Young Master Gao had taken a fancy to her. Who would dare snatch food from a tiger’s mouth?
Yet someone actually dared to do it today?
And now he was getting beaten for it – well, he’d brought that suffering upon himself.
“Don’t beat him, don’t beat him!” Lady Zhu froze for a moment, then called out.
But her words carried no weight. Chun Ling dashed forward and yanked the first servant – who had been knocked to the floor – back to his feet.
The servant, watching Cheng Si-lang being held down and beaten, began to cry and tried to rush forward; Chun Ling held him fast.
“Are you stupid? Hurry and go find help!” she shouted. “What good are you on your own?”
The servant snapped back to his senses, scrambled up, and ran for the door.
“Hurry, run faster – otherwise your young master will be beaten to death,” Chun Ling called after him.
She nearly laughed as she watched him tumble down the stairs. Run! Run faster! Go tell your mistress to bring people to fight for you.
After the servant had gone, Chun Ling turned her head to look at Lady Zhu, who stood in the middle of the chaos trying to intervene; her eyes flickered slightly.
“Stop hitting him, stop hitting him,” she cried, then threw herself forward without a second thought, barging in. “Fourth Young Master, you must go – just go and apologize and run! If you don’t, that Young Master Gao says he’ll have your hand broken…”
Break his hand?\
For a scholar, losing a hand meant becoming a cripple for life!
That Fourteenth Young Master Gao was notorious for his cruelty – every courtesan who had ever served him had wept in secret about it afterward.
And now his pride had been publicly humiliated like this – what wouldn’t such a man be capable of doing?
How could it have come to this? How could it?
Lady Zhu stared at the chaos before her, her mind in turmoil.
While the scene below had descended into uproar, the luxurious private room where Young Master Gao sat remained calm as ever.
Does being an official courtesan mean you can go back on your word? Does holding rank and power in a place like this mean you can do whatever you please?
When those words were repeated by an attendant to the people inside, the lavish room fell silent – not from fear, of course.
“Damn it, where did this fool come from?” Young Master Gao said, half laughing in disbelief. He slammed his wine bowl down on the table with a sharp clack, then reached out to lift the chin of the courtesan sitting beside him.
“Talking about honor and integrity with a courtesan? Doesn’t he know the saying – ‘a whore is heartless, and an actor faithless’?”
The courtesan giggled coquettishly and wrapped her arms around his.
“Fourteenth Young Master,” she said with a teasing smile, “I am full of affection for you.”
Young Master Gao burst into hearty laughter, pinching her soft cheek before pulling her into his arms.
“In a pleasure house, someone wants to talk about rules? What does he think this place is – a schoolroom? If it’s rules we’re after, who would come here at all? It’s not that the powerful do whatever they please – but what, the lowly get to enjoy the beauties instead?” he sneered. “I was angry at first, but now I see – he’s just an idiot! Not worth the trouble of being angry over.”
The others in the room laughed aloud.
“And I heard he’s a newly minted jinshi,” someone said.
A jinshi?
Young Master Gao burst out laughing.
“A muddle-headed jinshi like that – if he ever held office, imagine what kind of disaster he’d bring to the court!” he said, still laughing, then suddenly spat in disdain.
“Go tell him to get lost! Otherwise, don’t blame me for being rough. What has Desheng Pavilion become? Any random fool thinks he can run wild here?”
“Don’t worry, Fourteenth Young Master,” a servant quickly replied. “Madam Mo has already had the man tied up and is about to throw him out.”
“You can tell Madam Mo must be getting old,” Young Master Gao said with a smirk. “She can’t even handle a trifle like–”
Before he could finish, there came the pounding of footsteps outside, and suddenly the door was flung open.
A lady stormed in like the wind.
The room fell silent at once, every gaze turning toward her.
She was stunning – delicate features, finely dressed – but her face was pale with panic, and her chest rose and fell with hurried breaths, lending her beauty an even more striking allure.
Young Master Gao narrowed his eyes and smiled.
“Well now – Lady Zhu, you’ve certainly kept us waiting,” he drawled.
Lady Zhu looked at him, her face taut with emotion.
“Young Master Gao, I’ll accompany you – just let Cheng Si-lang go,” she pleaded.
The smile on Young Master Gao’s face froze.
“What did you say?” he asked.
“Please, let Cheng Si-lang go! I’ll stay with you, I’ll do whatever you want – just don’t hurt him!” Lady Zhu stepped forward anxiously.
“How have I harmed him?” Young Master Gao’s smile returned, though now it was edged with cold cruelty. “Lady Zhu, even if you’re worried about your lover, that’s no reason to start begging me so recklessly.”
The two words lover were drawn out with mocking emphasis.
The taunt made Lady Zhu’s anxiety spike; she dropped to her knees.
“It’s all my fault – I was lazy, I shouldn’t have refused your company. This has nothing to do with Cheng Si-lang – it’s all my fault, it has nothing to do with him!” she said desperately.
Young Master Gao’s smile grew colder still. The courtesan beside him instinctively shrank back, and the others in the hall fell silent, not daring to speak a word.
Only Lady Zhu – usually so seasoned in the ways of the pleasure quarters – was too flustered to realize the terrible mistake she had just made.
To plead for another man, and even take the blame upon herself, in front of someone who had long pursued her and been repeatedly rejected – what man could bear such a thing?
All the more so when that man was one who had never been denied anything in his life.
“I see,” Young Master Gao said slowly, lifting his wine bowl and taking a light sip. “Someone come in.”
A servant appeared at the doorway.
“Go tell Madam Mo…” Young Master Gao began.
At those words, Lady Zhu’s head shot up, and she breathed out in relief, thinking he had relented.
But as he looked at her – at that exquisite face, so radiant yet contorted with emotion for another man – his smile only deepened.
“Tell Madam Mo not to bother,” he said softly. “Then… have them break one of his hands.”
The breath of relief froze in Lady Zhu’s throat. She stared in shock.
“Young Master Gao – Young Master Gao?!” she cried, her voice filled with horror.
“Oh.” Young Master Gao lifted his hand, stopping the servant who was about to leave, and smiled faintly. “Lady Zhu has pleaded for him.”
Lady Zhu looked at him, her face tense with fear.
“I can’t let a lady’s plea go unanswered,” Young Master Gao said lightly. “I should at least give a beauty some face. But the trouble is–” his tone turned mocking, “I haven’t actually done anything yet.”
“What?” Lady Zhu felt her head spin.
“So I suppose I’ll have to do something, otherwise wouldn’t my reputation go to waste?” Young Master Gao went on, flicking his wrist. “Go – break that Cheng fellow’s hand. Then, for Lady Zhu’s sake, that will be enough. Just throw him out afterward.”
“Young Master Gao!”
At last Lady Zhu understood. She leapt to her feet, shouting, and tried to rush out, but two attendants seized her by the arms and held her fast.
“Young Master Gao, don’t – please, don’t!”
As she saw the rest of the menacing servants turn and head out at a run, Lady Zhu screamed hoarsely, struggling with all her strength to break free.
“Don’t!”
The door was shut firmly in her face, and the sound of pounding footsteps receded rapidly into the distance.
“No – no! Don’t!”
