Red Mansion: Picking up a Lin Daiyu

Chapter 154: Cold-Faced Man Beats the Dumb King
Xue Pan was delighted when he heard this, but after a moment his expression returned to normal. He glared at him and said, "How can a servant like you know where to go? Don't make trouble. I'm already very annoyed. Don't wait for me to punish you with a stick!"

The servant smiled awkwardly and said, "How dare I deceive you, sir?"

Xue Pan said impatiently: "Oh? Then tell me first."

The servant said hurriedly, "It will be boring on the boat. When we reach the shore, there will be fun for you. My family is in Cangzhou. There is famine in Cangzhou now. In order to survive, the poor families are exchanging their daughters for money. There are good girls everywhere. How can we not satisfy your wishes?"

Xue Pan was slightly moved, "She is a good girl, forcing her into prostitution is not a good thing."

The servant replied, "How can you force a woman of good character into prostitution? This is a business where you exchange money for goods. Don't worry, sir. I have a fellow villager who does this business in the local area. He will definitely arrange for you to live comfortably."

Xue Pan has known rouge and powder for a long time, and has tasted all kinds of flavors in the alleys of willows and flowers. A few reluctant girls from good families really add a different flavor to his life.

As soon as he closed his eyes, the aggrieved look of someone who had to give himself up reluctantly just for a bite of food appeared in Xue Pan's mind.

Licking his lips, Xue Pan pointed at the boy and said with a smile: "You are quite capable, kid. Don't worry, I will definitely not treat you unfairly after the matter is done."

……

Cangzhou Prefecture, Shili Lane,
At night, the streets were surprisingly quiet.

The huge Cangzhou Prefecture was filled with starving people lying on the ground. Even in spring and summer, no insects could be heard chirping, as if even the insects were too hungry to move.

Deep in the alley, in front of a sealed house, the young man in white adjusted the mask on his face, used a tinder to illuminate, and checked the seal mark on the door.

"This is the right place."

The young man drew his sword and slashed with it, first breaking the iron chain wrapped around the door, then neatly removed the government seal and pushed the door open.

When he lit the fire again, he saw a number of iron cages in the room. In the cages, there were no livestock or wild beasts, but living people.

There was a stone trough in front of them with some juice in it, which was convenient for feeding livestock.

Many little girls aged eleven or twelve were frightened when they saw the man coming. They all huddled together in the shadow of Li Jian, their bodies trembling uncontrollably.

The young man gritted his teeth and said, "How dare these dog officials do such evil things? God will send someone to take them away!"

After cursing silently, the young man did not dare to delay any longer, for he was afraid that if the city police came looking for him, he would find it difficult to escape.

Arriving in front of the iron cage, the young man looked around and said in a deep voice: "I am not a bad person, I am here to save you. Everyone, stand back and wait for me to cut open the iron chain, and you can escape as soon as possible. Now it is dark, if you escape separately, no one will be able to catch you again."

"Do you understand?"

The girls around him finally understood the boy's intention and said, "I see, benefactor, please be careful."

The young man closed the door first, then with the help of the light from the tinder, he swung his sword several times before finally breaking the lock.

After opening the iron cage, the boy said, "Quick, escape and find your parents. Life or death depends entirely on your luck. If you stay here, you will die!"

The girls hurriedly covered their half-naked bodies and ran away.

The boy walked towards the next iron cage and said, "Stand back, don't let me hurt you!"

After rescuing the girls from the cage, the boy held his slightly numb arms, leaned against the door frame and breathed a sigh of relief, "We can't stay here for long, we need to leave as soon as possible."

As soon as he went out, he saw that the soldiers were no longer disguised and were coming from all directions with torches, shouting, "Catch the thief, catch the thief! This man has killed dozens of people. Whoever catches him will be rewarded with ten kilograms of grain by the prefect!"

In Cangzhou, the price of grain has skyrocketed. It used to be less than 20 wen per catty, but now it is 120 wen.

Even so, it is hard to buy even if you have money.

With the leader's words, not only did the officers and soldiers rush forward bravely, but even the civilians who were lying on the ground struggled to get up, wanting to join the officers and soldiers in capturing people.

The young man's face changed and he ran out in a hurry. Then he stepped on the low wall, jumped onto the wall, and ran away along the eaves.

Although this move could avoid the people who were trying to intercept him on the ground, his figure was discovered by everyone, and immediately there was a thunderous shouting.

"There it is, there it is! Go get it, go get it!"

……

At night, the Xue family's passenger ship slowly approached the shore.

After the great battle in the capital, the river was reopened to navigation, with soldiers and merchant ships constantly traveling back and forth, and passenger ships had to give way to them.

The ship can sail during the day, but at night, it can only find a nearby dock, stop for the night, and set off again at dawn.

For this reason, the Xue family's passenger ship decided to stop at Cangzhou Prefecture and replenish some firewood, rice, oil and salt.

It was just nightfall, but Xue Pan was already feeling hungry and thirsty, so he quietly pushed open the door.

He went straight to the cabin exit but was stopped by someone.

"Master, where are you going? Madam has ordered that you are not allowed to walk around freely at night."

Xue Pan could be afraid of his mother and his sister, but he had no reason to be afraid of servants. He immediately raised his eyebrows and said, "Where the master goes is none of your business. Why can't you let me go to the toilet?"

The Xue family servant looked embarrassed, "This... this is not forbidden."

Xue Pan snorted coldly and said, "Forget it, forget it. I won't cause you any more trouble. I'll just do it in my room, and you have to bring it out for me later. Otherwise, my room will smell like urine, and how can I sleep at night?"

The servant nodded quickly, "Thank you for your understanding, Master."

Xue Pan waved his sleeves and went back into his room. Soon he called the servant guarding the gate over.

"The door is not locked. Come in and help me take the urinal out."

"Yes."

The servant entered the room, but did not see any urinal at all. He immediately asked in confusion: "Master, what are you talking about..."

Before he could finish his words, he was knocked unconscious by a servant from behind.

Xue Pan clapped his hands and said, "Well, well, well, you are quite skilled. Let's get off the boat."

The servant said, "Master, you can't go down with this attire on. If you are seen by those poor people, they will strip you naked."

Xue Pan thought it made sense and asked anxiously, "Then what do you think I should do?"

The servant pointed at the servant on the ground and said, "Master, isn't this ready-made? Put his clothes on, and no one will suspect you when you get off the boat. Besides, put your clothes on him and tie him to the bed, and he can be used as your substitute, isn't that perfect?"

Xue Pan smiled and said, "You are really smart. Hurry up, I can't wait any longer!" After taking care of things on the boat, Xue Pan followed the servant into Cangzhou City in a swaggering manner, and was not noticed by other servants of the Xue family.

After entering the city, the servant took Xue Pan through many twists and turns and finally arrived at a restaurant in Shili Lane.

Along the way, Xue Pan saw the miserable state of the city, with starving people everywhere, and he couldn't help but wonder, "Are you kidding me? What good things can there be to eat and have fun in this poor city?"

The waiter hurriedly said, "Master, you can't think like that. If the common people in the city can't eat, what does it have to do with the rich people in the city? Look, isn't the light still on in this restaurant?"

Xue Pan nodded slightly, thinking it made sense.

"Well, now that I'm here, I'll trust you for once."

The servant opened the door and invited Xue Pan in.

What greeted me was the aroma of food mixed with wine.

Not only that, the maids coming and going in the hall were all dressed in light gauze clothes, their graceful figures were looming in the distance, holding brocade plates and going deeper into the hall.

The soul of Xue Pan, who had not eaten meat for days, would also be taken away.

The shopkeeper at the door looked at the clothes of the two people and thought they were some country bumpkins who had accidentally come in.

The shopkeeper shouted, "Come and guard the courtyard, kick these two low-class people out. Their eyes should be dug out, they didn't even know where this place is, but just rushed in!"

The servant hurriedly stood in front of Xue Pan and gestured to the shopkeeper, "Brother Dayang, it's me, a fellow villager."

The shopkeeper leaned over and took a closer look. "Hey, it's you, kid. Didn't your father say you went to Nanjing to make a fortune? Why are you back here?"

The servant stepped aside and introduced the shopkeeper, "This is my benefactor in Jinling, Master Xue. We are on our way north to the capital and passed by here, so I thought of taking Master out for some fun. Brother Dayang, please take care of him."

Xue Pan walked forward with his head held high and said arrogantly: "Master, I have plenty of money. Bring me your best girls and your best wine."

The shopkeeper rubbed his fingers and said, "Even if he is a distinguished guest from Jinling, we have to see his strength first."

Xue Pan rolled his eyes with disdain. If he really had nowhere to go and the thing in his crotch was as hard as an iron pestle, he would not come to this place where people looked down on others.

Pulling out a banknote from his pocket at random and slapping it on the shopkeeper's desk, Xue Pan said, "One hundred taels, open a small room for me first."

Seeing the banknotes, the shopkeeper immediately smiled and complimented Xue Pan, "As expected of a young master from Nanjing, you are really generous. Chunling, please turn down everyone else today and accompany this distinguished guest well!"

"Come on~"

The geisha named Chunling came to Xue Pan, took his arm, and said, "Master, please follow me. I will serve you well today."

Xue Pan nodded, "That's good enough, let's go."

After Xue Pan left, the servant said to the shopkeeper conscientiously: "Brother Dayang, this is my eldest master, he wants to eat something different. I heard you have a good girl? You have to get two for my master to play with. My master is from an imperial merchant family, he is not short of money, and he doesn't care about ordinary rouge and powder."

The shopkeeper put his arm around the boy's shoulders and said with a smile, "Well, you have become more capable now. You can find out about this, too."

Patting his chest, the shopkeeper said, "Don't worry, I'll leave everything to you, brother. Don't you want to make more money?"

The shopkeeper and the servant hit it off immediately and wanted to give Xue Pan an unforgettable night.

After drinking half of the wine, Xue Pan was fed up with the girls around him urging him to drink more, so he turned to the servant next to him and asked, "Where is the good thing you mentioned? Where is it?"

The waiter was also very drunk and spoke incoherently, "Master, this kind of thing cannot be done in the restaurant. Exit the restaurant, turn left, the fourth room has been prepared for you."

Xue Pan smiled and stood up. "Okay, you are a loyal boy. When we get back to the ship, I will go to my mother and guarantee that you will be the manager of a silver shop."

"Thank you for your appreciation, sir. I can't drink much, so I'm going to sleep now. Sir, you've had your fun, but remember to come back. If we don't get back before dawn, it will be a disaster."

Xue Pan shook his sleeves and said, "I know my limits!"

Since Xue Pan stood up, the girls around him rushed over again, "Master, don't leave, we still need to serve you."

Xue Pan pushed them all away, thinking that who would want these withered girls when he had decent girls to hang out with?

Still smiling, he said, "Master, I'm going to the toilet. I'll be back soon. Please wait for a while."

After telling a lie to get away with it, Xue Pan walked out of the main entrance of the restaurant and turned left.

When the cold wind blew at night, Xue Pan, who had just drunk some wine, couldn't help but shiver, and the anger in his stomach was reduced a little.

"Isn't she just a good girl? She's played tricks before, so why are you so cautious and put her in the tenth room? Well, good things come to those who wait. I'll count carefully and make sure I don't enter the wrong door."

Xue Pan perked up a bit, counted ten doors and windows from the restaurant to the left, then stopped, rubbed his palms, and was secretly happy, "Young lady, you must have been waiting anxiously, here comes the master!"

Xue Pan climbed up the stone steps and pushed hard, and the door opened.

Facing the room was a table with an oil lamp lit. Someone was sitting under the lamp, wrapped in cloth, with his shoulders exposed.

Following the light, Xue Pan saw that the skin was firm and delicate, which made him intoxicated.

Xue Pan hurriedly entered the room and closed it tightly. When he came behind the man, he found that it was a male. He bumped into him and couldn't help wondering, "What's the difference between a good family and a bad family for this man? But a man is fine. I'm afraid he knew I liked this and came here on purpose."

Xue Pan walked around to the man and in the dim light, he saw that the man had a stern face and beautiful eyes and eyebrows. He was truly a handsome man, and he was instantly moved.

"My dear, what is your name and where do you live?"

As Xue Pan asked, he also touched it, which made the young man in white frown.

"My life is worthless, not worth mentioning. Where did you come from, brother?"

Xue Pan heard this without any doubt, thinking to himself: "So this young master likes this tune, then I have to cooperate with him to put on a show."

Xue Pan sat down next to the young man, swallowed his saliva, and said, "Master, I came from Jinling. Today I have the chance to meet you in Cangzhou. After one night, I will not treat you badly."

The young man in white also realized that the newcomer was a fool, so he slowly put the sword in his hand back on the stool beside him and followed his words: "So are you really nice to me, or are you just pretending to be nice to me?"

Xue Pan was teased and felt itchy, "If you are not sincere, I will die here immediately!"

As he said this, he pounced towards the young man, but before he could reach him, he felt a fierce blow on the back of his neck, which made him feel dizzy.

"You blind beast, today I will let you recognize who Master Liu is!"

(End of this chapter)