Although the prosperity of the Eastern Capital is not as high as that of the capital city, it is favored by people for its beautiful scenery and numerous historical sites.
Cen Tong had been to Dongdu more than once, but at this time he had no intention of enjoying the scenery here. Instead, he and his two nephews went straight to the administrative office of Dongdu.
They have official documents from Jingzhao Mansion in their hands. With this, they can ask the officials from Dongdu to follow them to find people.
Cen Tong was worried that only his own family members were gone, and that he would not be able to rescue them at all, or even see them face to face.
It was obvious that Hualou could not hand over the people honestly, let alone the crime of abducting officials' relatives.
If pressed, they would either hide the person or simply kill him to silence him.
It must be guarded against.
The chief of Dongdu saw it and said quickly: "It turns out to be Mr. Cen. I'm disrespectful. But I don't know where the person you are looking for is? I will take someone there right now."
Cen Tong returned the gift and said, "In my opinion, it's better not to alert the enemy yet. Why don't we wait until the flower building opens, and we pretend to be guests and go in first to see what's going on."
If it is true, you can then fence the place. If it is not, we will come out directly without bothering you."
"Second Master Cen is thoughtful, so let's do it like this! You three have been working hard all the way, and I'm afraid you haven't had lunch yet. You might as well give me a favor and ask your subordinates to prepare a small amount of wine to catch the wind for you three."
It was already afternoon. They just got up early and had a random bite on the boat. It was indeed time to eat.
After eating, we took a short rest.
Cen Tong thought that when he went to Hualou, he had to be more dignified so as not to be noticed by others.
He was originally a very particular person, but because of the disappearance of his daughter, he became a bit slovenly.
I took a bath in the backyard of Dongdu Yamen and put on clean clothes.
Seeing that it was already dusk, he and his two nephews slowly came to Jade Man's Square.
There are flower towers piled in front of the flower buildings in Dongdu, and a row of red lanterns with red gauze hanging under the eaves.
At this time, guests have already begun to arrive, and the girls greeting guests in front of the door are all smiling like flowers. The handkerchiefs in their hands are red and willow green. They are spread out or fluttering, or covering their mouths or faces, like butterfly wings flying around, attracting people's attention.
Auntie Xiangxiang, the old bustard of Jade Renfang, saw the three uncles and nephews of the Cen family upstairs, and said to the girl on the side: "Jiaorui, these three new guests are probably from some background. Let's go down to welcome them."
Jiaorui giggled and said: "Mom, these three are not accustomed to hanging out at first glance. They really have to be led by you."
Aunt Xiang walked downstairs holding a hollyhock fan and said to Cen and the other two: "You three are rare guests. Come in quickly. The drinks here are good and the girls are even better."
Cen, uncle, Tong, and nephew are all handsome men, and they don't have the dandy habits of those frivolous children. They are elegant and noble, which makes them very different in this land of fireworks.
Jiaorui and other girls came forward, but three of the six were running towards Cen Tong.
"I don't know how to call you? Forgive me for being presumptuous, but looking at your demeanor, you seem to be from the capital." Aunt Xiang said with a smile as she accompanied Cen and Tong and the others inside.
"My surname is Tong, and these two are my nephews." Of course Cen Tong couldn't tell his real name, so he called himself Tong Er.
"It turns out it's Tong Erye, disrespectful, disrespectful!" Aunt Xiang didn't ask in detail. It's normal for guests here not to want to reveal their names.
The reason why she asked before was just for the convenience of addressing him.
Entering the Jade Man's Square, Cen Tong looked around the place calmly.
There are three floors here. In the middle of the first floor is a stage. There are many tables and chairs around the stage, and several people are sitting there.
There are many small cubicles on the left and right sides, which are the residences of third-class girls here. To the north is the kitchen.
The second and third floors are all single rooms. You can tell the worth of the girl in the room just by looking at the door curtain above without looking at anything else.
Seeing that Cen Tong always had a calm expression on his face, Aunt Xiang guessed that he was probably dissatisfied with these girls.
So he tentatively asked: "Master Tong, we have a lot of girls here, but some of them haven't finished dressing up yet. When we come downstairs in a while, take a look and see if any of them catch your eye."
Cen Tong nodded slightly but said nothing.
He just came here to see if the girl Yimei Li Kaiyan mentioned was Cen Yunchu, and he didn't care about anything else.
Cen Shaoxian pretended not to care and asked: "I heard that you have a new oiran here, who is her name Mei? Is she here today?"
Aunt Xiang laughed when she heard this and said: "Young Master Tong has a good ear for the gods, and this girl Yimei is both beautiful and artistic. I haven't seen such an outstanding person in many years. Tsk, that waist is as slender as March."
Liu, her little appearance is even more annoying. However, she is a star among the stars now, and if you want her to accompany you, you will have to spend a lot of money."
When Cen Tong heard what she said, he couldn't help but clenched his hands and gritted his teeth to prevent himself from losing his composure.
When he was not sure whether this person was Cen Yunchu, Cen Tong felt angry and sad when he heard people talk about her like this.
He can only pretend to be calm now, but his heart has turned half into ice and half into flames.
He was originally a gentle gentleman, but these days he often had thoughts of murder.
He secretly thought that if Cen Yunchu was really here, then he would risk his life to kill everyone here!
Aunt Xiang was here to greet them, but suddenly she looked outside the door and a smile appeared on her face.
Leaving behind Cen, Tong, uncle and nephew, he went up to us and said, "Oh, my eldest young master! You are finally here. You have missed so many good things!"
The man who was called the eldest young master had a short figure and a sinewy face. The clothes he wore were extremely luxurious, but he could not hide his vulgarity.
Cen Shaoxiang quietly asked the person next to him and found out that this person was Dong Duling's son, named Fang Bao.
The county magistrate is not as good as the current one. The Dongdu Ling is like a local emperor in Dongdu, so this Fangbao is the crown prince of Dongdu.
"Damn it, you old pious woman! You don't want to keep fresh goods for me, you are so brave! I won't use any other food to go with the wine today, just dig out your gall and make it for me to drink!" Fang Bao said angrily.
"Young master, if you really don't mind my cowardice, I will ask them to bring it out to you," Aunt Xiang calmly patted Fang Bao's chest twice and said, "Don't say I am only courageous.
I don't dare disrespect you even if I'm brave! No one dares to touch this little girl Yimei. The most I can do is let her come out and sing a few songs."
After hearing this, Fang Bao calmed down a lot, and asked her doubtfully: "Is what you said, old beggar, true? If you want me to know that she has been broken, I have to burn your chicken coop today."
No!"
"Young Master, calm down the fire quickly. The beauty is waiting for you upstairs! You are not in Dongdu these days, and the girls are all in low spirits." As Aunt Xiang said, she called a little turtle slave over and asked him to take charge of the room.
Go upstairs.
The turtle slave raised his head and pulled his neck and shouted towards the third floor: "Miss Yimei is accepting guests!"
