WangXian Forever Book 8

Chapter 25 Brothel

Hui Gai looked around the library.

"So who's coming, PengYou?" He asked Wei Ying.

"Well, definitely myself and Lan Zhan." Wei Ying looked over to his brother.

"If you think we're going to let you go alone, you've got another thing coming!" Jiang Cheng growled.

Wei Ying grinned at his friend.

"So that's two and two, four So far."

"Father, can we come too?" Li XiWang asked.

"No Little Rabbit, not this time. We're going to a place which is unsuitable for children, alright?" Wei Ying explained as kindly as he could.

He did not like saying no to the children as a rule, especially because all the children he knew were so good, and so far they hadn't asked for anything unreasonable yet.

Zago leaned in to Hui Gai and loudly whispered, "Why is he so hostile again?"

"Indigestion." Hui Gai replied with a straight face.

"Ah...I hear it can be quite severe for humans." She remarked, shaking her head sympathetically at Jiang Cheng.

Jiang Cheng scowled back at her.

Her red eyes gleamed with the desire to make mischief, but she tabled it for now. After all, there was never a bad time for mischief in her book...

Baoshan Sanren looked kindly at both her grandchildren.

"I can stay with you both. Would you like that?" She asked them, and got big hugs from Li XiWang and Rumi. "I feel as if I haven't seen either of you in forever."

"Grandmother, we have so much to tell you!" Li XiWang said, excitedly.

"Really? Then don't you think exciting tales need a little side enjoyment too?" Baoshan Sanren winked at the children and pulled out sticks of sticky sweet haws.

Wei Ying smiled fondly at them and then he and Lan Zhan came forward.

"You can count me out too, I'm busy..." Nie Huaisang injected hastily.

"Maybe we should go now, while they're busy." Wei Ying said, nodding at Nie Huaisang.

Hui Gai nodded.

"It's enough that I saw the brothel in their minds, I bet if I thought of the same place hard enough, I'd be able to go straight there."

"Alright, I trust you, my friend." Wei Ying happily agreed.

He wasn't looking forward to going to a brothel of all places, but their investigation was leading them to that specific one, and it would be a failure on their part not to check it out.

"There must be another way to get there..." Jiang Cheng grumbled after Hui Gai grabbed his robes by his neck.

"Do you think if I punched his stomach, it would cure him?" Zago asked Hui Gai.

"What's that got to do with indigestion?" He asked, startled enough to laugh.

"Well, I'd be taking his mind off the other problem, right? So can I try? Please?" She begged. "I'll let you off one payment?" She waved the lollipop at him.

"No. PengYou has banned me from doing anything to him." Hui Gai told her with a pointy toothed smile. "So if you do something to him, by proxy it's still me, and he won't like that."

"Hmmm...." Zago stared at Jiang Cheng thoughtfully.

Hui Gai took Wei Ying’s hand and as they were all connected, they appeared inside an ordinary looking tavern.

"This is it, PengYou. The Brothel is on the second floor." Hui Gai said, taking Zago and vanishing. "We're still here PengYou, but the locals won't take kindly to Zago or myself if we stay visible."

"Good idea, Hui Gai." Wei Ying motioned to an empty table.

The four of them sat down like normal customers and soon a waiter came along.

"Can we have four jars of your best wine please, and a kettle of your finest green tea?" Wei Ying told him, eagerly.

Lan Zhan might not like it but this was for research purposes and Wei Ying was determined to have a good time.

Lan Zhan actually didn't mind. He knew Wei Ying had a high tolerance for alcohol and two jars wasn't going to do much. It would be a different story if Lan Zhan was made to drink anything other than green tea though.

While they waited, Wei Ying looked around furtively.

"Don't look now but there are guards at the top of the stairs." Wei Ying said, not looking at them in the slightest way.

"They are checking whoever goes up there." Lan Zhan added.

"Payment, do you think?" Wei Ying suggested, pretending to hold up a cup but actually looking past it.

"No, it's something else." Jiang Cheng said. "Look, they're being made to show the back of their hands."

This was true.

They could make out each man who went up there had to wait until one of the guards checked his hand. Then depending on what it was, the person was directed into going one way or another.

"So I'm guessing, since we don't want to teleport directly into any particular room," Wei Ying shuddered at the thought, "how are we going to do this?"

"I can knock out the guards. Then you guys can pretty much go where you like." Zago said, helpfully.

"Um...how about we cause as less attention to us as possible? Just in case they're hiding something from us? Let's not risk it." Wei Ying said.

The staircase to which he referred to was on the right hand side of a wide and long drinking area. All the decorations were in gold and red, but in some places the red had faded, giving this place an old vibe. There was the smell of cheap wine and cheaper perfume hanging around the air and Wei Ying wished someone would have the decency to open a window.

It was clear that their customers did not come in here only to drink. Or maybe they had to be passably drunk in order to go through the other activities available up the stairs.

The waiter came back with their tea and wine then.

Lan Zhan poured out the wine for Jiang Cheng and Wei Ying,  and tea for himself and XiChen.

"Do you get many customers here?" Wei Ying grabbed the waiter's sleeve to pull him back in order to ask him.

"I'm not sure what you mean." The waiter replied, but his eyes said he fully understood but wasn't going to indulge them.

Wei Ying smiled in his best friendliest of ways, and nodded.

It made the young man relax, putting him at ease.

Wei Ying had a brilliant idea then. He took off his wedding ring and placed it in the centre of the table. Then he glared at Jiang Cheng, who immediately got the gist of what he was trying to do. Jiang Cheng also muttered an inaudible apology and took off his wedding ring too, placing it next to Wei Ying's ring.

"Lan Zhan, you too." Wei Ying prompted.

Lan Zhan didn't want to. He had not taken off his wedding ring since Wei Ying had first put it on his finger, all those years ago.

"I cannot." He admitted.

This latest plan was a terrible idea, and he felt worse because he could not participate...not like Wei Ying wanted him to.

Wei Ying smiled at him fondly, knowing the reason why.

How could Lan Zhan forsake the token of their love? It was unfair to ask him to do this, and now Wei Ying also felt bad. He reached for his ring to put it back on, when the waiter spoke.

"It's okay, young masters. First time looking for entertainment outside your homes may be daunting...but I shall help you."