Chapter 7: Being Hard-Crowd-Controlled

Lin Yichuan was now absolutely righteous and indignant, believing Gu Lanyuan was nothing but a scoundrel. It was one thing to want to toy with Tushan Wenrui, but to actually try to sell her directly into a brothel after playing with her—how could anyone be so inhuman!

Lin Yichuan was about to enter the Moon-Grasping Tower, but he was stopped by Feng Niang.

Feng Niang sized up Lin Yichuan. “Guest, you look quite unfamiliar. May I ask which young master you are?”

Lin Yichuan said with a cold face, “I am not any young master, I just want to go in and spend some money.”

Feng Niang declined politely, “I am sorry, our Moon-Grasping Tower is a place of elegance and refinement, and a letter of recommendation is required to enter.”

“Then why did that Gu Lanyuan from earlier enter without a letter of recommendation!”

Lin Yichuan regretted asking this question the moment it left his mouth, because Old Man Li, who sold pancake-bread earlier, had told him about Gu Lanyuan’s identity. He could be said to be super noble, and definitely wouldn’t need any letter of recommendation to enter.

And Feng Niang looked at Lin Yichuan with the gaze one gives a fool and said, “Guest, if you do not have a letter of recommendation, then I am sorry.”

Lin Yichuan muttered in annoyance, “Isn’t it just a brothel, why put on such airs.”

Hearing Lin Yichuan’s mutterings, Feng Niang’s expression changed drastically, and she furiously rebuked him, “A brothel? You’re treating our Moon-Grasping Tower as a brothel? The girls of our Moon-Grasping Tower all have talents to support themselves, earning money with the skills they’ve learned, remaining chaste and upright, and being open and aboveboard. You actually dare to compare the girls of my Moon-Grasping Tower to the women of the dust in a brothel! Someone! Get this foul-mouthed fellow out of my sight!”

Three muscular… three muscular female toughs walked out of the Moon-Grasping Tower, cracking their knuckles, glaring maliciously at Lin Yichuan.

“Kid, are you going to get lost yourself, or do the three of us have to teach you a lesson before helping you get lost?”

Because there was a good show to watch, the surrounding area was already crowded with onlookers, pointing and whispering about Lin Yichuan.

Lin Yichuan’s face turned a sickly shade of pale. In this situation, staying here would only make things more complicated, so he had to slip away first.

Lin Yichuan half-covered his face and fled as if escaping.

It was just too embarrassing. Who knew this place wasn’t a brothel after all!

Lin Yichuan fled to a corner of a wall to hide.

It seemed Gu Lanyuan hadn’t yet become so unscrupulous as to want to sell Tushan Wenrui into a brothel, but the situation wasn’t much better either.

Watching a dance, huh, who would believe that!

Wouldn’t they probably end up in bed while watching?

Now it seemed that trying to enter through the main gate was impossible; he would have to find another way.

*****

A private room on the second floor.

“Eat slowly, no one is fighting you for it.”

After the dishes were served, Tushan Wenrui immediately started devouring them, a chicken leg in her left hand and a pig’s trotter in her right, eating very heartily.

Right now, Gu Lanyuan’s head was a bit muddled.

He had only wanted to see if Tushan Wenrui’s dancing was good out of curiosity for the Spirit Beastkin after seeing her, and then he had released her as a result.

Because slavery was legal in the Great Liang State, Gu Lanyuan had no way to criticize anything, because he had just happened to see it, and Tushan Wenrui’s hood had fallen off, revealing her appearance, which then piqued his interest, and that was all.

Because entertainment options were extremely scarce, what Gu Lanyuan liked to watch most was dancing, but the dances here were too formal and not very good to watch. He preferred to watch the abstract kind of dance, thinking that the half-human half-beast Tushan Wenrui probably wouldn’t dance too formally.

But Tushan Wenrui was too innocent, which made Gu Lanyuan feel inexplicably guilty.

A moment later, Tushan Wenrui alone had devoured the entire table of food and let out a comfortable burp.

“I haven’t eaten this well in a long time, it’s too delicious, Benefactor!”

Gu Lanyuan waved his hand. “Don’t call me benefactor. Just call me by my name, Gu Lanyuan.”

“Full now, time to dance, burp~”

Because she had eaten too much, Tushan Wenrui let out a burp when she stood up.

Gu Lanyuan said helplessly, “Forget it, you should digest a bit before dancing. I’m afraid you’ll vomit all over the floor while dancing.”

“That works. I ate too much, I’m so full it’s a bit uncomfortable.”

Tushan Wenrui plopped her bottom back down.

“Um… two guests, may I play the zither now?”

The zither player had been waiting in this room for a long time, but Gu Lanyuan had not yet let her play.

“Wait a little, no rush.”

“Uh, alright.”

The zither player glanced at Gu Lanyuan and Tushan Wenrui with some strangeness.

This was the first time she had encountered such strange guests. Bringing their own dancer to Moon-Grasping Tower was a first for her.

However, Feng Niang had instructed her to entertain Gu Lanyuan well, because Gu Lanyuan seemed to be the son of the Grand Commandant.

She had seen all sorts of second-generation officials in Moon-Grasping Tower. The sons of the other two of the Three Dukes, the Chancellor and the Grand Censor, also frequently came to Moon-Grasping Tower, and even various princes would visit Moon-Grasping Tower.

This was the first time he had seen the son of the Grand Commandant.

Gu Lanyuan asked curiously, “I heard you have Fifth Grade strength and could even kill a Fourth Grade expert. You should have been able to escape if you wanted to. How did you get caught?”

Tushan Wenrui’s lips pouted. “It’s not that I didn’t want to run. They said even if I ran, they would still find me. So I decided to take a gamble, but in the end, I lost.”

Gu Lanyuan: …

Gu Lanyuan was completely stunned by Tushan Wenrui’s words for a good while.

After recovering, Gu Lanyuan pressed his throbbing temples and said, somewhat speechless, “You just believed them when they said that! If you had run, how would they have found you! This isn’t just being naive anymore, it’s being stupid!”

Tushan Wenrui froze for a moment. “Eh? So you’re saying if I had run, they wouldn’t have found me?”

A feeling of helplessness arose in Gu Lanyuan’s heart. “If you had run, how would they find you? Even if they could, couldn’t you have looked for help while you were running!”

Tushan Wenrui tilted her head and thought for a moment. “Oh, so I was tricked!”

Gu Lanyuan sighed, “Then how were you discovered? Aren’t the Spirit Beastkin of the Diling State supposed to be able to disguise themselves?”

Tushan Wenrui replied, “But when I disguise myself, it makes my ears feel really uncomfortable, so I deactivated the disguise, and then I was discovered.”

Gu Lanyuan’s lips twitched.

How ridiculous.

“You’re so… naive, did your family really let you come out without worrying?”

Tushan Wenrui said angrily, “My mother said I was too stupid, so she let me go to a place called Boundless Academy to study, and told me to learn to be smarter before coming back, but I think I’m pretty smart, I don’t need to study at all!”

Gu Lanyuan agreed, “I think… your mother is right, but your mother still overestimated your intelligence.”

Tushan Wenrui retorted, “I really am pretty smart, my father said I’m very smart, he said I understand things instantly when I cultivate! Really!”

Gu Lanyuan pursed his lips and looked at Tushan Wenrui.

This Tushan Wenrui, either her intelligence had a problem and she was intellectually disabled, or she had been protected too well.