Nightfall

The Fall of Censor Zhang Yiqi

After realizing the truth, Zhang Yiqi felt hopeless and gave up his thoughts on promotion in his career. As a result, he placed all his focus on earthly luxuries and forcefully went against his ferocious wife to marry several concubines. Now and then, he would visit the popular brothel in the Chang’an city to indulge in the pleasures.

Unfortunately, to indulge in such great pleasures without any limit, one would need both silvers and status, and Zhang Yiqi did not wish to be caught in a trap. Since it was a big matter for a censor to fool around with prostitutes, should this matter spread to the royals, His Majesty would definitely punish him heavily and strip him of his official rank. Due to these reasons, the censor would be extremely cautious every time he was out to seek for pleasure, as though he was a thief.

Without exaggerating, Zhang Yiqi was indeed the most prudent person among the officers that visited the brothel, and he was also tough to be tracked. As such, Zhuo Er could never discover his whereabouts and daily itinerary. Ning Que had also spent several days and more than ten silvers before he finally obtained some information.

A horse carriage stopped outside the side door of House of Red-Sleeves. Censor Zhang Yiqi, who was dressed up like a normal-looking wealthy man walked out of the horse carriage and waved his hand behind him. His personal bodyguard, who was already familiar with his itinerary, went off into the alley in search of an eating house, where he would wait patiently for his master.

After Zhang Yiqi had entered the brothel, he tried to signal the manservant to leave as he walked along the stone pathway that was hidden by the row of green bamboos and headed towards the courtyard near the small stream. At the instance, the responsible censor had turned into a regular customer of the brothel. His face of seriousness and concerns for the citizens were gone an and was replaced by a uniquely relaxed and pleased expression.

Since he was the regular customer, he would not need any manservant to guide him the way. Moreover, he was afraid that others would notice his presence. The building within House of Red-Sleeves was made up of individual small courtyard, making them highly private and confidential. Also, he would always make an appointment before visiting, to avoid any embarrassing situation such as full house.

As for safety, he was rest assured. Law and order in the Chang’an city was always good. Other than those brainless men who loved to get themselves into meaningless fights, and the extremely low chances of murder cases that occurred in the north, south and west sides of the city, no one dared to create trouble in the building of House of Red-Sleeves.

That’s because everyone knew that this building was related to Chang’an Local Government, and that Mistress Jian was supported by a woman with the strongest authority in the world, which was the empress. Though the fourth princess had already returned from the grassland, other than her, who would dare to cause trouble for Mistress Jian?

Mistress Jian was indeed an amazing person. Initially, she was being forcefully brought to Chang’an from South Jin Kingdom by the previous emperor and was asked to build up the reputation of House of Red-Sleeves as the world’s no. 1 song-and-dance troupe. For these years, she had managed to train numerous top courtesans and obtained a glorious result in the industry. What made Zhang Yiqi impressed was that as the boss of a brothel, she could actually enter in and out of the palace without any restrictions. There were even rumors spreading that the relationship between the empress and her was as close as sisters!

As Zhang Yiqi walked on the stone pathway and stared at the small courtyard that was getting closer to him, his mind was filled with the amazing legends of Mistress Jian. He silently confessed that should anyone be able to obtain her favor, that person’s life must be plain sailing. In fact, if not for his own pride, he would have pounced himself onto her.