Allure of a Country Maiden
Chapter 1123 - 1120_1

Chapter 1123: Chapter 1120_1

Mrs. Tan is a shrewd woman, she thinks the Imperial City has an abundance of everything, but the most abundant are assorted beauties. She fears that her honest husband might get deceived one day without even realizing it, so she restricts her husband to wear regular cotton clothing except when meeting guests or attending banquets, and his purse must never exceed one tael of silver!

Even Xiao’er admires Mrs. Tan’s cunning! Thankfully her uncle has a good temperament, and he appreciates his wife for marrying him and bearing hardships with him without complaints at his most difficult times, otherwise, who could endure such restrictions!

Jinghao, Zhiwen, and Zhiwu didn’t stay at home for long before they left again as they had to attend the Qionglin Banquet granted to the newly appointed scholars by the Emperor.

Xiao’er too ran out saying she had made plans with her close girlfriends to have some fun.

Xiao’er had to rush back to the estate to nurse her baby and had an appointment with the Fifth Princess in the evening.

The Fifth Princess was getting married in a few days. Tonight, she summoned a group of her sisters to take a trip on a sightseeing boat and distributed little gifts to everyone as mementos, kind of like a farewell to her bachelorette life.

Xiao’er planned to have a short outing before returning to the estate. She had been cooped up since her pregnancy until the time she gave birth to the baby, which had finally worn her out! Therefore, she decided to let Guan Xuanyi stay at home to look after the baby while she went out to enjoy herself.

Because of the incident with the eyebrows, Shangguan Xuanyi didn’t have the chance to disagree.

But Xiao’er has been confined in the estate for almost a year, so Shangguan Xuanyi had not planned to keep her back anyway.

He even wanted to take her to the Qionglin Banquet, but she was not interested.

So, he decided not to go to the Qionglin Banquet either.

...

The Qionglin Banquet, granted by the Emperor to the scholars who passed the imperial examination, is held in the Qionglin Garden with every new batch.

Undoubtedly, Jinghao became the center of attention at this Qionglin Banquet, everyone tried to get on his good side. Somehow, everyone knew that prior to the imperial examination the Emperor had already declared that if Jinghao cracked the top scorer position, the Emperor would grant him the position of a magistrate. A Magistrate! At his first appointment, he would start from the fourth rank, and how many people in this world could have such a high starting point!

How could everyone not fawn over Jinghao? Perhaps, they might never become a fourth-rank high official in their lifetimes!

As Zhiwen and Zhiwu were Jinghao’s cousins, they also became the targets of everyone’s flattery.

The three of them were toasted by everyone turn by turn, even Jinghao who had a great tolerance for alcohol, seemed a bit drunk. Zhiwen and Zhiwu were even more so exceedingly drunk.

After the Qionglin Banquet concluded, a few people suggested going to the sightseeing boat to enjoy music.

The literati class loved this kind of frivolous activity more than anything. Initially, Jinghao wanted to decline but hearing others’ suggestions, Zhiwen and Zhiwu who were considerably drunk cheered aloud. He had to reluctantly follow along.

Not everyone went to the sightseeing boat, only a dozen of them, the majority being youngsters from prominent families.

The older scholars and some of the scholars from humble backgrounds, who were concerned about not being able to cover their expenses, declined.

Before going to the sightseeing boat, Jinghao took a hangover pill that Xiao’er had given him, and he also made Zhiwen and Zhiwu take one each.

He knew that getting drunk could lead to trouble.

In the past, whenever Xiao’er used to have some drinks at her house to lighten the mood before she got married, she would remind them that once they stepped into the office or the business world, they must never get thoroughly drunk.

Therefore, even though Jinghao had drunk a lot that night, he never let himself get truly drunk.

Otherwise, he could easily get schemed against!

While the group of about ten people was walking towards the moat, as they passed the largest brothel in the Imperial City, Jinghao saw two familiar figures being pulled in by a few girls. He couldn’t help but stop in his tracks.

Those two, aren’t they...? Jinghao was fuming inside, "These two are utterly lawless!"

A young master surnamed Zhu saw Jinghao halting and thought to himself: Could it be that the top scorer wants to go to the brothel? He didn’t expect that Shen Jinghao would be different from the rumors, he actually enjoys seeking pleasure!

An amorous man from ancient times is the easiest to become intimate with! Young Master Zhu was secretly delighted, thinking he found out a major hobby of Jinghao.

Not just Zhu, the others also thought Jinghao wanted to go into the brothel!

After all, he had just stopped abruptly and looked inside.

There was a surge of disdain in some of their hearts.

At this time, the nanny of the brothel noticed them waiting on the side of the road. Thinking that they wanted to enter but felt embarrassed to do so, she hurriedly walked over to these men. "Oh, so many young masters here, would you like to come in for the songs? A beautiful new girl has come to our brothel, she plays the guqin exceptionally well, tonight is her first time performing! A lot of people are waiting for the bidding to start!"

Zhu, wanting to curry favor, replied, "Shen Zhuangyuan, why don’t we go in to enjoy a cup of wine and listen to some songs?"

The term ’flower wine’ is simply a euphemism. After going in, who knew if they would drink flower wine or pick flowers!

The other newly minted scholars frowned when they heard this, thinking it’s a vulgar place for them to go, thus, it was insulting to their scholarships!

Jinghao, hearing this, glanced at him. Knowing he was misunderstood, he replied, "You all go on to the sightseeing boat and wait for me. I saw a pair of acquaintances enter here just now. I’m afraid they are unaware of what kind of a place this is. I must bring them out."

This Mr. Zhu, known as Zhu Hao, was a well-educated young man from a well-read family. There were many successful candidates in his family, some of them even held local official positions. Yet, their achievements were meagre, their ranks not considerably high. Over the years, the family was showing signs of decline.

Lai Zhemin’s wife came from the Zhu family, making her this young master Zhu’s cousin.

Because Liu Jingshu had married Lai Zhewei, the two families were somewhat related.

However, Liu Zhiwen and Liu Zhiwu were Liu Jingshu’s real brothers. Ignoring them, Mr. Zhu had always been bothering Jinghao, which Jinghao greatly disliked.

Zhu Hao previously had his encounters here, but hearing Jinghao’s words, he felt Jinghao was making up an excuse to save his image. Therefore, he replied, "Oh, I see. Well, we will wait for you at the sightseeing boat while you take your time."

Feeling slightly worried, Jinghao didn’t have extra time to clarify things and hurried towards the entrance.

Having walked some distance, Zhiwen and Zhiwu had sobered up. Seeing Jinghao about to enter such a place, they immediately tried to stop him : "Jinghao, you can’t go into this place! Uncle will break your legs when you get back!"

"I just saw two acquaintances, it’s not what you think. You all go ahead to the sightseeing boat first and wait for me." Jinghao explained hurriedly and shook off their hands, entering the brothel.

There were all sorts of people inside the brothel. The two people he saw earlier were nobody else, but Xi’er and his mentor’s young granddaughter!

What if they went in there and encountered mishaps! Their reputation would be ruined.

This was not something Jinghao could explain to others either. If he let it out, their reputation would be the same - ruined. His sister would never be able to marry in the future! Who would dare to marry a girl who would roam brothels!

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.