Chapter Ninety Revenge

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  Leaving Zhang's house, the first thing Chen Jianchen wanted to do was to return to the inn to retrieve his silver. Then he would send it to Yang Daifu. A person without credibility cannot establish himself, this is something that must be done.

  The first day of arriving in Suzhou has passed like this.

  The next day, the sky was overcast with winter rain, pattering down gently.

  The heavens did not make things beautiful, so Chen Jianchen did not go out and instead stayed in the inn to read. This winter rain did not last long, stopping on the third day, starting to clear up, a winter sun came out, shining on his body, slightly warm.

  Wang Fu lay in bed for two days, and after drinking a bellyful of medicine, his body finally recovered. Seeing the good weather, he immediately wanted to pull Chen Jianchen onto a horse-drawn carriage to go out of the city to Suzhou River, one of the Eight Views of Suzhou, to take a pleasure boat ride.

  The Suzhou River is located on the left side of Suzhou City, it's a beautiful and picturesque river. The water in this section flows gently, with willow trees lined up along both banks providing shade, and wild flowers and green grass dotted among them, making the scenery very pleasant to behold.

  This river is one of the Eight Views of Suzhou, with a great reputation. Especially at night, there are boats on the river, with music and beautiful women.

  These boats are painted in various bright colors, red, green, orange and purple, each with its own characteristics. They also have nice names, such as "Penglai", "Xianshan" or "Wenrouxiang", filled with a soft and gentle atmosphere.

  In fact, each boat is a floating brothel on the Suzhou River.

  It's unimaginable for Wang Fu to come to Suzhou and not take a boat ride on the Suzhou River, or sit in one of those famous painted pleasure boats.

  It's a waste of one's youth if he doesn't have romantic affairs when young; what more now that he is already a young adult?

  It's the prime of youth, an age as fierce as a wolf and as powerful as a tiger.

  The shadow of the old peach blossom has gradually faded with time, and Wang Daixiu is about to change his map and taste, and revive his heroic spirit once again.

  Many painted boats only come out to drift in the evening, but they actually open for business at noon. By this time, many literati and travelers arrive by carriage, choose a boat moored under the willows, set up a banquet, drink wine and eat food, and cultivate their "poetic inspiration". When the sun sets and the stars begin to appear, the girls in the painted boats dress up and come out to greet the guests.

  It was at this time that Suzhou River was at its most bustling.

  A decade of prosperity, every night a joyful song, embracing the unending beauty, drinking the endless fine wine, such a life is what the scholars and officials strive for with all their might.

  Wang Furen was undoubtedly a representative of the middle class. He dressed up for nearly half an hour, and finally wore bright and dazzling clothes from head to toe, and even applied perfume before he went out with a swagger.

  Compared with him, Chen Jianchen was much inferior, wearing simple clothes and looking very plain, a typical pedantic scholar.

  Sitting in the carriage, Wang talked incessantly to Chen Jianchen about the situation of Suzhou's painting boats, speaking as if the heavens were falling. It seems that during these two days when he was ill, he didn't idle around, doing his homework thoroughly, and it's unknown which channel he got so much gossip and romantic news from.

  Chen Jianchen seemed to be listening, but his mind had already wandered afar, as he was practicing the "Three Stances of True Energy"

  Now he has refined twenty orthodox energies, and the Hao Ran Yang Wu sword condensed from them is as thick as a matchstick. Its power has been further enhanced. In addition to this, he also explored the chaotic world of Mudan Palace in all directions, trying to find out the whereabouts of the evil-warding brush and that mysterious figure. However, the world inside was gray and boundless, with no direction, except for the suspended pen and ink in the middle, nothing else appeared.

  Secrets still hidden in layers of fog...

  Chen Jianchen did not feel discouraged about this... Secrets were like locked boxes, and he liked unlocking them.

  "Luoxian, we've arrived!"

  The sound of Wang Fu's joyful voice rang in his ears, Chen Jianchen looked up to see that the horse carriage had stopped, and it was parked by a wide river.

  The Suzhou River is quite large, almost comparable to the Jianjiang River. However, the Jianjiang River has a majestic and powerful current, while this section of the Suzhou River is calm and gentle, like a quiet and elegant lady.

  On both sides of the riverbank, rows of willow trees were indeed planted, and under the trees, a fleet of brightly colored pleasure boats was moored, lined up in a row, with at least over a hundred boats.

  These painted pleasure boats are not large, like small houses, and are built in a very elegant manner: each boat has two to five girls who take care of the guests, and if you rent one for the night, it costs one liang of silver ingots.

  This only includes the cost of the package tour, food and drink are extra, and entertainment content is charged according to the program. As for the so-called division of entertainment programs, men who come to have fun know this.

  Chen Jianchen had never been there before, but after hearing it once, he naturally understood as well.

  First-class is everywhere, and the painting boats on Suzhou River also have a grade problem. It's said that among them, there are three giant painting boats, each of which can accommodate hundreds of guests, and the girls on board are all beautiful like flowers and jade, each one carefully selected. Of course, those who can enter these three giant painting boats for entertainment are either rich or noble, ordinary people simply cannot afford it.

  Even if it were Wang Fu, he wouldn't dare to go to those large painting boats, where it belongs to the absolute melting pot, let alone silver, even if gold is thrown in, there won't be any ripples.

  After getting off the horse carriage, Wang Fu started walking along the shore to find a boat that suited his taste. At this moment, a man with a sly appearance ran over and asked with a smile: "Are you two gentlemen looking for a boat?" Wang Fu glanced at him and said: "What if we are?"

  The man said: "I have thirty-eight pictures of boat-tracking girls here. Why don't you find a place and ask the young master to choose slowly?"

  When Chen Jian heard this, he suddenly realized that the emotions of this man were not just one or two boats on the Suzhou River, but dozens of boats. The mastermind behind them was from different forces. In this way, there is a fierce competition problem.

  There is competition, and there will be a phenomenon of pulling customers.

  Apart from price, the appearance of the boat girls is the most important thing.

  To know the men who come to visit, whether they are literati or merchants and officials, basically their intention is not in the wine, but in the chaos after drinking, and sex. However, the girls cannot stand outside the painting boat every moment, letting customers "choose a show" so there are special touts to attract customers.

  The pimps have many girls' portraits in their hands, classified and placed well by painting boats. When they see new customers coming to find a boat, they will immediately go up to solicit business. As for the authenticity of these girls' portraits, it is pending commercial inquiry, with some beautification and advertising, which can be understood.

  Wang Fu came for the first time. Although he had done some homework beforehand, the door was still not accessible. Now there is a ready-made portrait to look at, which meets his expectations. He smiled and said, "Good, let's take a look!"

  He Lai immediately took out a string of copper coins from behind him.

  The man accepted the reward money with a smile and quickly invited Wang Fu to sit down in a nearby pavilion, slowly selecting.

  Chen Jianchen did not go over there, but instead went alone to the shore to enjoy the view.

  It's no longer early now. The winter sun is slowly falling westward, and the air near dusk is getting colder.

  In the blink of an eye, Chen Jianchen saw a huge pleasure boat drifting down on the river. This pleasure boat was six feet high and had two layers, looking like a moving fortress on the river, compared to ordinary pleasure boats, it was like a small witch seeing a big witch.

  As the painted barge floated down, waves of moving string music drifted out, interspersed with bursts of laughter and clinking cups, apparently a grand banquet was being held on board.

  Suddenly, a young maid rushed to the shore, no more than twelve or thirteen years old, wearing a blue short jacket, with a round face and a look of anxiety.

  She ran quickly and didn't notice for a moment, suddenly bumping into Chen Jianchen.

  Huh?

  Chen Jianchen's hands were quick and agile, with a swift movement, he grabbed hold of the opponent, and the maid narrowly avoided falling to the ground.

  "Sorry, sorry!"

  The maid turned around dizzily, apologizing hastily with her mouth, and finally seeing Chen Jian's appearance clearly, she suddenly exclaimed: "Young master, how is it you?"

  Chen Jianchen furrowed his brow and asked, "Do you know me?" In his impression, he seemed to have never seen such a little maid.

  The maid quickly spoke up: "My name is Xiang Er, and my mistress's name is Lu Gong Nü." Seeing Chen Jianchen still looking confused, she continued: "Young master, do you remember that one time when you got drunk and fell asleep on the street? My mistress happened to be passing by and saw you, but couldn't bear to see you lying in the streets. She instructed me to bring a piece of dried tangerine peel to help sober you up, but at the time, you didn't want it..." As soon as she mentioned this, Chen Jianchen suddenly remembered - it was because on that day, he had met Yan Chixia and they had gotten drunk together for the first time in his life. He had accompanied Yan Chixia drinking a lot of wine, and when walking home, he felt drowsy and randomly found a place to sit down and rest. Before he knew it, he fell asleep, and that's when this little maid came over with a piece of dried tangerine peel. At the time, Chen Jianchen still thought he was fine and suspected that maybe some young lady had secretly taken a liking to him.

  It turned out that this maid's young lady was called Lu Gong Nü.

  Lu Gong's daughter?

  Chen Jianchen suddenly felt that this name was somewhat familiar, as if he had heard someone mention it before. After a moment's thought, he finally realized that he had heard it from Wang Fu, who said that the young lady of the Lu family was only fourteen years old, with unparalleled beauty and talent, and was the leading courtesan of Jiangzhou's Youniao Building. She was proficient in music, chess, calligraphy, painting, and even acupuncture and medicine, and was truly exceptional.

  But how did she end up in Suzhou?

  Chen Jianchen was perplexed, but Xiang'er grasped his hand and urgently implored, "Young master, please save my mistress." Chen Jianchen was even more bewildered and asked in a deep voice, "Don't be anxious, speak slowly and tell me what's going on?" Xiang'er couldn't hold back her tears and sobbed as she explained: "My mistress originally came from a wealthy family in Suzhou, but due to the decline of our household, all our property was seized by local bullies. As a result, my master and mistress were both bedridden with illness and eventually passed away. My mistress was left alone and destitute, forced to flee to Jiangzhou and become a courtesan. For many years, she endured humiliation and lived in hiding, waiting for an opportunity to return and avenge her parents. Ten days ago, my mistress brought me back to our hometown to pay respects to the anniversary of my master's passing. After the ceremony, we didn't return to Jiangzhou because my mistress said she had found a chance to avenge herself. Today, that local bully is hosting a banquet on a luxurious boat in Suzhou River, and my mistress plans to sneak onto the boat and find an opportunity to kill her enemy. The danger of this plan is self-evident, but I couldn't dissuade her. She gave me some money and told me to leave, but as someone who has followed her since childhood, how could I abandon her? So I followed her here, hoping there might still be a way to turn things around."

  "Heaven have mercy! Let me bump into the young master. Young master, you must save my mistress!"

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