Chapter 38 : Kidnapping

The greenhouse in the daytime was cold and quiet. The girls who had already risen were gathered on the ground floor, eating preserves and chatting, the old/pimp was comfortably lying on a chaise longue in the middle of the hall, and a few maids were serving her with pinches and pinches.

"Die, you!" The old pimp suddenly sat up and slapped the little maid beside her on the face, "You're so heavy-handed, you want to hurt me to death!"

The girls immediately silenced their voices and looked over curiously. The beaten little maid drooped her head, tears welling up in her eyes, not daring to utter a single breath.

"Useless thing!" The old bawd cursed, stood up, and raised her eyes to see two young men in brocade garments coming in from outside, the one standing in front was slightly shorter, with a pretty brow, if not for the flat chest, she would have thought it was a woman at first glance. The back of a about thirty or forty years old, serious face, even the eyes are cold.

The old/pimp took a look at the door of a guest who was either rich or noble, and hurriedly greeted him with a smile, "Two gentlemen, please come in!"

The short youth waved his hand, several papers of silver bills floated down to the ground, he stepped one leg on the stool next to him and put on a gangly look, "Call out your Floating Fragrance House's Flower Leader to this young master!"

The crowd looked at each other in disbelief, some smart and resourceful ones quickly understood what was going on.

It was again the guests who had come here in admiration because of the flower girl, Shirong. It seemed that they might not know that Shirong had been bagged by a powerful official son, so they were being so brash.

The girls hid the smiles on their faces and stood up, waiting for a good show.

The old/pimp greeted them with a flattering smile, ''You don't know, sir, Miss Shirong has been bagged by a guest and will not take on any other guests. Our Floating Fragrance Mansion is one of the top big green houses in the imperial capital, there are more nice girls, why don't you take a look? The girls-"

"No need," the short youth directly interrupted the old/pimp and said nonchalantly, "I'm only seeing Miss Shirong."

The old/pimp screamed bitterly in her heart, but her face was still smiling as she picked up the silver ticket and said, "Sir, that guest who bagged Miss Shirong paid several thousand taels more than what you gave her, and that one is the one who can't be messed with!"

The youth sneered, "Hmph, this young master has money and power, who is that so-called unapproachable master? Call out and compete with this young master to see who is more powerful!"

"Aigoo, Your Excellency!" The old/pimp was itching to kneel down and beg for mercy for the two guests, "Shirong really can't take on any other guests. We have many other talented and beautiful girls here, to put it mildly, they're no worse than Shirong, you can take a look first."

The youth glanced at the man behind him, wanting to kick over the table next to him, thinking that it's better to talk in peace, he slowly sat down on the chair he hadn't stepped on, pulling out another silver ticket from his pocket, "Actually, I just want to see Miss Shirong just for a glance, I don't have any other requirements. Here is a five thousand taels silver ticket, enough for a meeting, right?"

The pimp stared at the silver ticket and gulped, still in a bit of a dilemma - the guest who had chartered Shirong had repeatedly emphasised that it was forbidden for Shirong to see anyone else. But the guest in front of her just wanted to take a look at Shirong, and five thousand taels would be in her hands, the temptation was just too great.

"You mustn't be too greedy, or else ..." the youth looked meaningfully at the old/pimp.

The pimp looked at the silver tickets he had just picked up and then looked at the ones in the guest's hand, thinking that the guest would arrive later, and if he kept his mouth shut, the guest wouldn't even know that Shirong had met someone else!

"If you're worried about anything happening to Miss Shirong, just call the person here. We can't do anything to her in full view of everyone, right?"

"Good, please wait for a moment, Your Excellency, I will immediately go and call Miss Shirong down."

"Very well, I'll give you the silver ticket if you bring the person here." The youth said, deliberately shaking the silver ticket a few times.

"Yes, yes!" The old/pimp smiled and ran upstairs.

The other girls stared jealously at the five thousand taels of silver tickets, and then looked at the old/pimp walking up the stairs, muttering something in whispers.

The youth sat up straight and tidied his hair and clothes, at the same time collecting a gangly smile, suddenly looking gentle and elegant, as warm and soft as jade, completely different from before, the girls all looked infatuated.

The man behind him casually surveyed the furnishings within the greenhouse, and took a few more glances at the several thugs standing at the doorway leading to the backyard, his gaze still as cold as frost.

Not long after, the old/pimp led Miss Shirong down. Miss Shirong's stunning face is slightly powdered, her demeanour is naturally soft, she is still dressed in white, with light pink flowers embroidered on her collar, cuffs and skirt hem, making her more and more beautiful and touching, just like a piece of jade that is rare in the world. Between walking, there was a hint of light fragrance that came to her face, which was refreshing.

"Indeed worthy of the name of Flower Leader, a stunning beauty!" The youth clapped his hands in praise.

Shirong blessed, "Thank you for your compliments, sir."

The youth fumbled in his sleeve for a while and took out a red brocade bag containing a gold-encrusted emerald bracelet, lustrous and valuable, the surrounding girls looked over with new curiosity, each drooling over it.

"I have an ancestral bracelet here that I would like to present to the girl," the youth smiled elegantly, "I wonder if I could put it on for her?"

The old/pimp pushed Shirong, and only then did she hesitantly to walk closer to the youth, stretching out her snow-white and delicate hand.

The youth held Shirong's hand and looked up at her with a smile.

Suddenly, when Shirong was caught off guard, the youth dragged her into his arms, and with his other hand, he fished out a dagger from his pocket and placed it on Shirong's neck.

Both the pimp and the girls were stunned, but they quickly reacted as the thugs swarmed over them. The man behind the youth leapt up, so fast that people could not see what he was doing, the clubs and swords of the fighters were chopped off in unison and fell to the ground, then the man flew up with a few kicks and kicked the fighters to the ground, and the tiger-backed fighters rolled over in pain and moaned, unable to get up.

The girls shrieked in fear and ran upstairs.

The old/pimp scurried behind the chairs and asked loudly in terror, ''Who the hell are you people! Let go of Miss Shirong, or I'll report you to the police and arrest you!"

The youth handed Shirong over to his men for custody and smiled as he walked over to the old/pimp, "You don't need to know who we are. Tell Miss Shirong's benefactor that if you want to see a living person, come to the Ten Mile Pavilion outside of the city tonight at Ohio time with one hundred thousand taels of silver tickets. If you don't come ... tomorrow, I will send someone to send Miss Shirong's corpse back, and then ... "The youth looked up and looked around the large greenhouse, "Tsk, this is well decorated, it cost a A lot of silver? It's a pity that it's likely to go up in flames tomorrow."

The old/pimp pointed at the youth, scared and angry, stammered for half a day unable to speak.

"Remember? Tonight, at the stroke of midnight, one hundred thousand taels of silver, see you at the Ten Mile Pavilion, or prepare to collect your corpse." The youth turned his hand and reached out to gently caress over the silky smooth face of Miss Shirong, "This beauty is truly rare in the world, but I will still kill her. Let's go!"

Once she saw that the kidnappers were ready to leave, the old/pimp was so anxious that she was finally able to speak, "Do you know who Shirong's benefactor is? It's someone you can't afford to mess with, if you don't want to die, let her go!"

The youth picked up the silver ticket on the table and stuffed it back into his sleeve, saying disdainfully, "Who he is, I have no interest in knowing. I only know that he is a rich lord, that's why I came to kidnap and collect the ransom. In addition, if you dare to report to the police, none of you at Floating Fragrance House will want to live!"

Not wanting to talk more nonsense with the old pimp, the two dragged out the fearful and uneasy Shirong girl out of the building, got into the carriage parked at the entrance, and left.

The old pimp's face was like ashes, fell on the ground, beating her chest, crying loudly, her face makeup was blown into a piece.

The girls looked at the door, have come downstairs to gather around the old pimp, "You say now what should we do ah!"

The old bawd didn't know what to do, "What kind of bad luck do we have, the guest will be here in an hour! How am I going to explain to him? I think our Floating Fragrance Mansion is doomed!" Although she didn't know the real name and family background of the guest, but from the words and behaviour of every visit to Floating Fragrance House, he was at least the son or grandson of a major official in the dynasty, so how could they afford to mess with him?

When the girls heard this, they lost their colours and asked each other what to do. Seeing that there was nothing to be done, they had no choice but to hug their heads and cry.

Seeing the girls crying, the old pimp did not stop crying, wiped her tears, climbed up from the ground, and said: ''What are you still staring at? Quickly clean up the hall, absolutely no one can tell that something has happened to Floating Fragrance House!"

"Yes, yes!" The girls stood up and started cleaning with their hands and feet, the beaters were assisted by the maids to go back to the backyard to rub the medicine, and soon Floating Fragrance Mansion returned to its usual appearance.

The old/pimp instructed again and again, "Remember, pick up customers as usual, and don't tell anyone that Shirong has been kidnapped."

"Remember!" The girls promised and went to their respective rooms to freshen up.

The old/pimp folded her hands, closed her eyes, and prayed, "God bless, nothing must happen to Floating Fragrance House, and Shirong must return safely!"

At night, a light rain falls, the winter rain is unusually cold.

In the imperial study, the lights were dim, and there was a thick pile of folders on the imperial case. The emperor sat behind the case draped in fox fur, holding in his hand the last zhangzuo that needed to be approved. His temples have been white, the years mercilessly left traces of old age on his face, even his eyes are not as bright as before.

Feel a trace of bone-chilling cold, the emperor wrapped tightly the fox fur, cover the mouth cough a few times, standing next to the Qian Gong Gong rushed to serve a cup of hot tea.

The emperor wrote a few words on the zhangfang with a Zhu pen, before receiving the tea cup, sip, comfortable long sigh.

Eunuch Qian placed the teacup and said, "Your Majesty, the hour is late, please go to bed."

"No," the emperor waved his hand, "summon the second prince over, I have a few words to say to him."

"Your Majesty, it's late at night, the dragon's body is important, let's talk about what we have to say tomorrow." Eunuch Qian advised.

The emperor showed his impatience, "You quickly go and pass it on."

Eunuch Qian had no choice but to take orders and went out.

The emperor sat in silence for a while, took out a yellow brocade cover booklet from a hidden compartment, and caressed over the gorgeous floral pattern on it with a million sighs.

This was the imperial edict for the crown prince's enthronement, and a prince's name would be written on it in these two days.

"Your Majesty, it's not good!" Eunuch Qian yelled loudly and ran back, dropping to his knees in front of the imperial case, looking panicked and lost, "The second prince is not in his bedchamber! According to the palace maid, His Highness went out of the palace in the afternoon and has not returned!"

"What, there is this matter?" The emperor was shocked, the hour of midnight had passed, the palace doors were locked, where would the second prince have run off to, that he hadn't returned in the middle of the night? Ever since he was a child, nothing like this had ever happened before!

"Your Majesty, slave has already sent people to look for your highness in the palace."

The Emperor put the imperial edict aside and commanded, "Immediately take people out of the palace to look for them! Also, didn't I ask you to send someone to keep an eye on the Second Prince? Call the people back and ask them clearly where he's been all day!"

"Yes, I'll go and do it now, please be less restless, Your Majesty!" Eunuch Qian rolled and rushed out.

Silence returned to the palace, except for the crackling sound of the rain hitting the windows, and the Emperor rubbed his forehead in exhaustion.

The second prince has always been well-behaved and understanding, coupled with Zhang Taishi has been at his side to assist and guide, is the best candidate for the throne of the crown prince. So all along, he has been keeping an eye on the second prince while clearing all the obstacles on his way to the future, even going so far as to set up a trap to kill the other sons who have bad intentions.

Late at night not returning home was the first time it had happened, and the always suspicious Emperor could not help but speculate wildly.

Seems to have been quite a long time, outside finally sounded footsteps, money eunuch soaked to the skin, face frozen white, he entered the door in fear of "flopping" on the ground, want to speak and stop.

The emperor eagerly asked: "found the second prince?"

"Nucai damned, Nucai failed to find His Highness, just ..." Qian Gonggong looked at the Emperor, and panicked and hung his head.

"Just what? Quickly say!"

Eunuch Qian gathered courage and said with a trembling voice: "Back to the words of the Emperor, someone saw His Highness the Second Prince ... him, he ran out from a green house this afternoon!"

"What?!" The emperor burst into a rage, "A green house ... what did he go to a green house for?" Being a prince would actually go to a place like a greenhouse, it was really hard to believe.

"After inquiring," Eunuch Qian paused, looking even more frightened, "Your Highness he has been infatuated with a flower girl called Shirong since half a year ago, and has even bagged her ..."

"Ignorant of shame!" His Majesty grabbed the teacup and slammed it on the ground, shattering it into powder with a "bang".

His Majesty's son was obsessed with a woman in a greenhouse, so where does the face of the Royal Family go? It will be the laughing stock of the whole world.

Thinking back to the previous two days, Wu Pan said in the street met the second prince, but those days he should not step out of the State Prison right.

This child could have been deceiving everyone?

The anger in the Emperor's heart suddenly burned hotter and hotter, gritting his teeth.

Seeing the Emperor's anger, Eunuch Qian remembered his benefactor, Lord Wu Pan, and continued to add, "In addition, it seems that His Highness went to the Ministry of Accounts in the afternoon to ask for one hundred thousand taels of silver bills, and then the slave's men lost His Highness."

This sentence was undoubtedly adding oil to the fire, the emperor was so angry that his beard was trembling, he "Teng" stood up and ordered: "Go, immediately bring the second prince back to me! Also, this matter absolutely cannot be leaked out, understand?"

"Yes." Eunuch Qian didn't care about his wet clothes and went on his errand.

"Sinful son, sinful son!" The Emperor cursed and fell back into his chair, out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of the imperial edict, he picked up the yellow coloured pamphlet and threw it heavily back into the dark compartment.