The Minister: Cold by Day, Hot by Night-Chapter 85: A Sudden Outburst Leads to Such Immoderation
Lu Zhan’s handsome face froze. "Chen Jiu," he said coldly, "you’re getting quite audacious."
Chen Jiu immediately hunched his shoulders, not daring to speak again.
Before boarding the carriage, Lu Zhan suddenly asked, "What other brothels are there?"
Chen Jiu’s feet slipped, and he nearly fell.
’This is terrible, just terrible. The Princely Heir seems to have gotten a taste of the good life visiting brothels, and now he’s completely hooked.’
’If the Duke and his wife find out I brought the Princely Heir to visit brothels, I wonder if they’ll break my legs.’
Chen Jiu shuddered and shook his head. "I do not know."
Lu Zhan frowned. "Then what use are you?"
With a pained expression, Chen Jiu said, "I’m a respectable man who never frequents brothels. I’ve only heard of the Spring Breeze Building and the Ruyi Building."
"Go find out!" With that, Lu Zhan boarded the carriage.
Chen Jiu: "..."
... 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞
Since she would be returning to Yangzhou in a few days, Zhi Wan had spent the last two days doing nothing but painting, aside from packing her luggage.
She had to rush to deliver another batch of paintings to the bookshop before leaving for Yangzhou.
That day, she gathered her finished paintings, preparing to take them to the bookshop. As she walked into the front courtyard, she ran into Lu Zhan and Chen Jiu, who were just returning.
"Cousin," Zhi Wan said, stepping forward with a curtsy.
"Going out?" Lu Zhan asked nonchalantly.
"Yes." Zhi Wan nodded. Noticing the dark circles under his eyes, she couldn’t help but ask with concern, "Cousin, you don’t look very well. Did you not rest properly last night? Are you feeling unwell?"
Trailing behind Lu Zhan, Chen Jiu heard this and grumbled to himself: ’The Princely Heir didn’t just have a bad night last night—he hasn’t had a good night’s rest in days, okay?’
’I don’t know if the Princely Heir has been possessed or something. For the past few days, the moment he gets off duty at the Government Office, he dives straight into a brothel.’
’And he visits several in a single night.’
’The Princely Heir has nearly made his way through every single brothel in the Capital City.’
’What a calamity.’
’The Princely Heir must have been repressed for too long. Now that he’s finally snapped, he’s completely lost all self-control.’
"I’m fine," Lu Zhan said, and walked away.
Zhi Wan was also about to leave the residence, but turning, she saw that Chen Jiu also had dark circles under his eyes. She couldn’t help but ask, "Ah Jiu, why do you and my cousin both look so exhausted? What have you two been doing lately?"
Chen Jiu looked like he wanted to say something but held his tongue.
’These past few days had been torture; he was dying to find someone to vent to.’
’But the Princely Heir visiting brothels wasn’t exactly an honorable affair.’
’He had to protect the Princely Heir’s good name, so he had to remain tight-lipped.’
Now, faced with the Miss’s concerned questioning, he almost failed to keep his mouth shut and let the whole story slip out.
"N-Nothing’s wrong," Chen Jiu finally managed, his suffering unspeakable.
Seeing his reaction, Zhi Wan didn’t press further. She only said, "Well, you and my cousin should take better care of yourselves. Don’t push so hard that you ruin your health."
Chen Jiu scratched his head. Her words sounded a bit strange to him, though he couldn’t put his finger on why. He just nodded blankly. "Understood."
"When I get back, I’ll bring some three-dice buns and salted goose for you and my cousin," Zhi Wan added after a moment’s thought.
She had noticed last time that her cousin seemed to really enjoy the three-dice buns and salted goose made by Lady Yu.
"Oh, that would be wonderful! Please bring back plenty, Miss." Hearing there would be tasty food, Chen Jiu’s gloominess vanished, and his spirits lifted.
"Alright," Zhi Wan agreed amiably and left with Shuang’er.
After delivering her paintings to the bookshop, Zhi Wan had another sum of silver. Added to her previous savings, she now had two thousand taels.
The mere thought of it was thrilling to Zhi Wan.
It was perfect timing, as her aunt was going to start looking for a live-in husband for her after she returned from Yangzhou.
With silver in hand, she no longer had to fear being unable to support a live-in husband.
However, Manager Jin was not quite satisfied with the quantity of paintings she had submitted and hoped she could produce more.
Zhi Wan furrowed her brow. "Painting this many is already my limit. Besides, I have a long journey coming up, so I’m afraid I won’t be able to submit any more paintings for a while."
Hearing this, Manager Jin quickly asked, "Where are you going? And for how long?"
Zhi Wan didn’t say where she was going, only that, "The round trip will take over a month, at the very least."
Manager Jin grew anxious at her words. "It’s fine if you don’t submit any paintings for over a month, but you must deliver more to me when you get back."
’That noble patron absolutely loves this artist’s style, but the number of paintings she delivers is far from enough to satisfy their demand.’
’Besides, her paintings sell extremely well when compiled into art books.’
’It’s like watching gold beckon to him, yet he can’t grab it.’
At this thought, Manager Jin grew increasingly anxious.
Zhi Wan looked troubled. "I can’t paint while I’m on the road."
"Thirty taels! Thirty taels per painting! As long as you’re willing to paint, the compensation is not an issue," Manager Jin quickly offered, raising the price.
Zhi Wan gave him a surprised look.
’My paintings sell that well?’
’Manager Jin was so desperate for more that he proactively raised the price to thirty taels per painting.’
She ventured tentatively, "Fifty taels a piece, and I’ll consider it. After all, traveling is exhausting, and having to paint on top of that is really asking a lot of me."
Manager Jin gritted his teeth. "Deal!"
Zhi Wan: "..."
’It seems my paintings are even more profitable than I imagined.’
"In that case, I’ll do my best to try," Zhi Wan said, motivated by the money.
Manager Jin was all smiles. "Then you must be sure to paint as many as you can!"
After leaving the bookshop, Zhi Wan went to Zhimei Restaurant.
It was the busiest time of day at the shop. Lady Yu was in charge of making the pastries, while Zhao Dong handled sales and the money. Their young son, though only seven, was surprisingly quick and deft at his work.
The shop offered pastries for both takeout and dining in.
Zhao Xiaoxi helped by serving pastries to the customers and wiping tables, handling his tasks with ease.
Seeing Zhi Wan, Zhao Xiaoxi quickly greeted her, "Proprietor."
Zhi Wan patted his round head and pulled a handful of sweets from her purse, pressing them into his hand.
"Thank you, Proprietor," Zhao Xiaoxi said with a sweet, simple smile.
Seeing how busy the shop was, Zhi Wan and Shuang’er lent a hand.
In the afternoon, when the customers had thinned out, Zhi Wan went into the back kitchen. As it happened, there was still one salted goose and some three-dice buns left. She had Lady Yu pack them into two separate portions to take back to the residence.
Initially, the shop had only sold pastries. But after trying to sell salted goose a few times and finding it was quite popular with customers, they started making several every day to sell alongside the pastries.
Business at the shop was now quite stable. After deducting all costs and expenses, they were making a net profit of twenty taels a day.
After discussing a few matters with the couple, Zhi Wan and Shuang’er headed back.
As soon as they returned to the residence, she had Shuang’er deliver one portion of the food to Lu Zhan, while she personally took the other to Lady Wei at Lan Courtyard.
「Qingyun Residence, in the study.」
Chen Jiu held a goose leg in one hand and a bun in the other, his mouth slick with grease as he ate.
After he finished eating, he looked at his master and said fawningly, "Princely Heir, which brothel would you like to visit tonight? I’ll go make the arrangements."
Lu Zhan set down his chopsticks. "That won’t be necessary," he said coolly.
Chen Jiu was taken aback.
’We’re not going tonight?’
’Then again, even with his master’s stamina, he couldn’t possibly keep up this nightly pace.’
’He had just been thinking that, for the sake of the goose leg his master had shared, he would grit his teeth and accompany him again. Oh, well!’
「Yaoguang Pavilion.」
Zhi Wan hadn’t been resting well these past few days due to her painting, so after her bath that evening, she went straight to bed.
She hadn’t been asleep for long when she suddenly felt a tickle on her face, as if someone was stroking it.
She groggily opened her eyes and saw a man sitting by her bed.
"What are you doing here?" Zhi Wan asked, still drowsy.
The man withdrew his hand, his gaze complex as he looked at her. "Young lady, who exactly are you?"
