I only wished to take up my fiefdom, but my elder brother forced me to rebel.

The madam snorted coldly, looking at them as if they were already dead.

"If they take another step forward, we'll break their legs!"

She's been in the red-light district for so long, so she knows best when to laugh and when to draw her knife.

The Crown Prince is in the building today, let alone these two good-for-nothing sons.

Even if their fathers came in person, they could not make Shiyunlou bear the blame for them.

After exchanging glances, the two young men both burst into mockery.

"What do you mean by this, madam?"

"Whatever she means? I want to see if anyone dares to mess with me!"

The nephew of the Vice Minister of Justice, emboldened by the alcohol, actually reached out and pushed the guard in front of him.

The guards took cover from the side.

He pushed through the gap and stumbled into Lu Yuan.

However, his gaze did not linger on Lu Yuan, but instead fell on the girl behind him.

"Now that His Highness the Crown Prince has arrived, let him be the judge!"

As he spoke, he pushed off with his foot and reached out to grab the girl.

Caught off guard, the girl instinctively backed away.

Lu Yuan's gaze immediately turned heavy.

He suddenly twirled the folding fan in his hand, and the handle struck the other person's wrist.

With a "snap".

The man felt as if his wrist had been hit by an iron rod; his five fingers suddenly lost all strength, and he let out a scream before pulling back.

Lu Yuan took a step forward, shielding the girl behind him.

"You dare touch my people?"

After he finished speaking, the hall immediately became very quiet.

The young man covered his face with his hands, and the drunkenness on his face disappeared by more than half.

"Your Highness, that's not what I meant..."

"That's not what I meant?"

Lu Yuan held up his folding fan, pointed to the hand he had just extended, and said, "Did your hand grow out of its own?"

Everyone curled their lips and looked at the two young masters as if they were dead.

These two families are completely finished!

The man opened his mouth, and cold sweat quickly broke out on his forehead.

The injured man finally understood, and his face turned extremely pale.

"Your Highness, this is a misunderstanding."

The man with the forehead injury said with difficulty, "We didn't know His Highness was here, otherwise we certainly wouldn't have dared to disturb him."

Lu Yuan dismissed this with disdain.

"If I hadn't come today, would you all be able to bully a girl as you please?"

The two of them were speechless.

Lu Yuan turned around and looked at the girl behind him.

She had grabbed his sleeve again at some point and was looking up at him.

His eyes held surprise, envy, and joy.

"What's wrong with you?"

"No...nothing."

The girl shook her head, but her fingers didn't loosen. "Your Highness just said I'm your person..."

The sentence wasn't loud, but the guests at the surrounding tables all perked up their ears.

Lu Yuan hadn't expected her to ask him in public, so after a moment of silence, he put the folding fan away.

"Since you are standing behind me, you are naturally one of my people."

The girl blinked, then asked expectantly, "Can I always stand behind Your Highness from now on?"

Even the madam lowered her head this time, almost bursting out laughing.

Looking into her clear eyes, Lu Yuan suddenly felt that this girl seemed even more difficult to deal with than those two playboys.

"Stand firm first, then think about the future."

The girl looked down at her feet and then nodded seriously.

"I'm standing very steadily."

Lu Yuan was speechless for a moment.

While they were talking, the two young men quietly took two steps back.

The madam, with her sharp eyes, immediately noticed their movements.

"What are you waiting for?"

She raised her hand toward the four guards, her voice suddenly rising.

"Drag them out!"

Four guards stepped forward and each grabbed one of the guards' arms.

The two young men were still struggling, their robes torn and disheveled.

The man with the wound on his forehead cursed at the madam, while the other man asked the guards outside the door for help.

But the guards at Shiyunlou were used to handling these kinds of disputes year after year, and they never gave them a chance to continue making trouble.

The two were dragged across the hall and carried down the steps to the street.

The onlookers quickly made way for them.

The madam stood at the door, giving instructions to the coachman outside on the street.

"Remember their faces. If they come in again, ask them to leave first. If they refuse to leave, do as His Highness commands."

The two young men got up from the ground, their faces extremely grim.

"You just wait!"

"I've returned to my residence to gather men; today, I'll raze this building to the ground!"

The madam ignored them and turned to close half of the door.

In the private room upstairs, Liang San Niang sat by the window, holding a teacup in both hands, but her gaze remained fixed on Lu Yuan.

When those two men introduced themselves, the sons of ordinary merchant families would never have been so calm.

Moreover, upon hearing the words "Crown Prince," the madam didn't ask any further questions and immediately followed his instructions.

The more Liang San Niang looked at him, the more she felt that this person's identity was not simple.

Lu Yuan sat down opposite her.

"Now you can tell me who you are."

Liang San Niang's heart tightened.

She couldn't very well tell him that she was the Third Princess of Northern Liang, who had changed her clothes beforehand and gone to the capital alone to seek pleasure simply because she didn't want to follow the delegation into the city according to the rules.

She picked up her teacup and pretended to be deep in thought.

"My surname is Liang, and my name is Liang San Niang."

"My family runs a trading business, and our ancestral home is in the northern border region. A few days ago, I traveled to the capital with a caravan, but I got separated from my family on the way and ended up staying in the capital alone."

Lu Yuan looked at her.

"Would a merchant's daughter disguise herself as a man and run into a brothel?"

"I'm just curious."

"You smashed the heads of the two young masters out of curiosity?"

Liang San Niang raised her chin.

"They bullied me first, I was just defending myself."

"You don't have any guards with you?"

"The caravan members were all scattered by the flood."

She answered quickly, as if she had already prepared her answer.

Lu Yuan picked up his teacup and did not press the matter further.

Liang San Niang breathed a sigh of relief and quickly showed a grateful expression.

"Thank you so much for saving me today, young master. If it weren't for you, I'm afraid I would have been taken away by them."

"Don't come to this kind of place again."

Why?

"This is a place for men to seek pleasure; it's not suitable for you."

Liang San Niang blinked.

"Aren't you here too?"

"I...I'm here on business."

Lu Yuan almost revealed his identity and immediately changed his words.

Liang San Niang noticed the pause and became even more certain that the person in front of her had a secret.

But she didn't ask any further questions, and simply nodded in agreement.

"Okay, I won't come anymore."

"You agreed so quickly."

"Young master saved me, so of course I will obey your orders."

This was said in a very tactful way, but Lu Yuan did not completely believe it.

The daughter of a merchant family in the northern borderlands could travel alone through several states to the capital and deal with two powerful young men in a brothel. She didn't seem like an ordinary merchant's daughter at all.

The people downstairs started urging them on again.

"Miss Shishi, it's time to come out!"

"Any new songs today?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Yuan immediately stood up and went to the railing on the second floor.

Liang San Niang then went along with her.

"Why are you in such a hurry?"

"A girl like Shishi is someone you can only meet once in a lifetime."

Lu Yuan looked downstairs, his tone filled with admiration.

"She was the most famous talented woman in the capital, proficient in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, especially dance, which ordinary women could not match even after ten years of study."

Seeing the expectation in his eyes, Liang San Niang felt a little resentful.

"Is she really as good as you say?"

"You'll find out when she comes out."

The curtains were slowly opened in the hands of the maid.

A woman in a moon-white long dress walked out from behind, her sleeves hanging down to her feet, and only a plain silver hairpin in her hair.

After Liang San Niang saw the person's face clearly, her eyes immediately widened.

"How is that possible?"