Chapter 171 The jade crown on her head was a brilliant green.

Chapter 171 The jade crown on her head was a brilliant green.

As soon as I stepped into the house, I was greeted by the scent of rouge.

The woman in purple led the two into the house, and Jiang Yutang was instantly dazzled by the light filling the room.

A dozen or so red candles were burning brightly, and layers of pink gauze hung in the room, vaguely revealing the woman's charming profile behind the gauze, which was more elegant than she had imagined.

She was so engrossed in watching that when she came to her senses, she was already sitting at the carved table.

The woman in purple was nestled affectionately beside her, her slender hands holding a teapot to pour tea for her; the scene was one of pure bliss.

On the other side, Jiang Sumin presented a completely different picture.

He remained motionless with a stern face and a ramrod straight back. He didn't even lift his eyelids when the woman beside him offered him fruit and snacks. He was as unyielding as a rock.

Jiang Yutang almost burst out laughing, and a joke inexplicably popped into her head: "Just standing there, he looks like a soldier."

It was completely out of place with the glamorous atmosphere of the brothel.

Jiang Sumin noticed her gaze, pouted with a look of utter despair, and gestured for her to quickly get rid of these women.

Jiang Yutang coughed lightly, suppressing a laugh, and deliberately lowered her voice to ask the woman in purple beside her, "Does the young lady know if Lord Li often comes here?"

The woman immediately came closer with a smile, her breath sweet and fragrant.

"Which Lord Li are you referring to, young master? There are quite a few officials with the surname Li who come here for entertainment."

"hehe."

Jiang Yutang chuckled twice, then gently pushed away the woman who had snuggled up to him without making a sound, and took out a heavy silver ingot from his pocket and placed it on the table.

The silver coin landed with a soft thud, and the woman in purple's eyes lit up instantly. With lightning speed, she grabbed the coin and stuffed it into her sleeve, smiling obsequiously.

Jiang Yutang leaned closer to her, lowering her voice even further: "Does Magistrate Li come here often?"

The woman glanced quickly toward the door, nodded almost imperceptibly, then pretended to lean on her shoulder, her warm breath brushing against her ear.

"That Lord Li is of noble status. In the past, he only went to the fourth floor, where he was personally served by the courtesan Su Wan. I really don't know anything about the others."

Jiang Yutang picked up a plump grape and held it to the woman's lips, her tone gentle yet guiding.

"Do you know if he will bring other people with him when he comes?"

The woman held a grape in her mouth, rubbed her fingertips intimately, and chuckled, "Yes, what a coincidence, Lord Li is here today, with a handsome young man following behind him. He doesn't look like one of our people."

"oh?"

Jiang Yutang raised an eyebrow, a thought flashing through her mind.

Those whom Li Tongpan would arrange to meet privately might be his accomplices.

She gently patted the woman's shoulder, her tone gentle yet authoritative: "My brother and I have important matters to discuss. Please take the other ladies out for a moment."

"It is you, young master."

Having received the silver, the woman naturally agreed readily.

With a soft, coquettish voice, she slowly stood up, waved to the other women inside the room, and the group swayed their hips as they gracefully walked out of the room, thoughtfully closing the door behind them.

As soon as the door closed, Jiang Sumin breathed a long sigh of relief, raised his hand and sniffed his sleeve hard, his face full of disgust: "What is this smell? It makes me dizzy."

"People say it's the fragrance of rouge and powder, but I think these ladies are just beautiful, fragrant and slender."

Jiang Yutang teased him on purpose, smiling happily.

Jiang Sumin rolled his eyes and looked at her with disgust: "Are you a man or a woman?"

After venting his frustrations, he immediately composed himself and changed the subject: "Today is a great opportunity. We need to find a way to get to the fourth floor and maybe we can catch them in the act of colluding."

Jiang Yutang nodded: "Let's go."

The two tiptoed to the door. Jiang Sumin first peered through the crack in the door for a moment to make sure no one in the corridor was paying attention before he gestured to her.

The two slipped out the door one after the other, crouching low and tiptoeing along the wall towards the fourth floor, looking just like two thieves.

The higher you go, the quieter the corridor becomes, with only faint piano music drifting from afar, making the atmosphere increasingly tense.

The layout on the fourth floor was much simpler than downstairs, with only three rooms in total. Two of them were lit with warm yellow lights, and the heavy wooden doors were tightly closed. Faint piano music could be heard drifting out from one of the rooms.

Jiang Yutang raised her hand and gestured to Jiang Sumin to "explore separately".

Jiang Sumin understood immediately, and with a bent back, he quickly made his way to another lit room, his figure soon disappearing into the shadows of the corridor.

Jiang Yutang held her breath and tiptoed to the first room near the stairs, pressing her ear tightly against the cold wooden door.

Only the melodious sound of the piano could be heard, gentle and lingering, and there was no other sound.

She suddenly remembered a spying scene from TV, secretly dipped her tongue in her mouth, poked a tiny hole in the crack of the wooden door, closed one eye, and peered inside.

The room was decorated very elegantly. Beside the rosewood table and chairs, a woman in a long dress with flowing sleeves was sitting on a couch playing the zither, but her face was not visible.

The seat opposite her was empty, with only a section of her dark blue sleeve draped over the edge of the table visible.

Just then, the music suddenly stopped, and a slightly greasy man's laughter came from inside the room.

"Wan'er's zither skills are getting better and better; even my worries have been washed away by her music."

Wan'er?

Jiang Yutang felt a chill run down his spine. He figured the woman in the room must be Su Wan, and the man must be Magistrate Li.

Just as she was about to turn around to meet up with Jiang Sumin and discuss the next steps, a cold hand suddenly landed on her shoulder, forcefully turning her around.

"Ho—"

Jiang Yutang was startled by this sudden action and almost couldn't catch her breath.

Looking up, he saw a burly man standing eight feet tall with a face full of scars and a short knife at his waist.

"Who are you? What are you doing sneaking around here!" The man's voice was rough and deep.

Jiang Yutang knew things were going badly; he'd been discovered as soon as he reached the fourth floor. This was troublesome.

She forced a calm demeanor and gave a fawning smile.

"Sir, you've misunderstood. I urgently needed to use the restroom but couldn't find one, so I confusedly came here. I'll leave now, I'll leave now." He said, and started to back up towards the stairwell.

"Who are you trying to fool!"

The man snorted coldly, reached out and gripped her wrist tightly, with such force that he almost crushed her bones.

"You think you can just barge into this fourth floor? Sneaking around and posting this on the door, tell me! Who sent you?"

Cold sweat instantly soaked Jiang Yutang's back. Her mind raced, trying to decide whether to run away immediately.

But how could a woman possibly outrun a burly man? If she made a scene, Judge Li would surely become alert.

Just as she was hesitating, the wooden door behind her creaked open.

A middle-aged man with a mustache stood in the doorway, his eyes wide like saucers, and coldly asked Jiang Yutang, "What's going on?"

The man immediately adopted a flattering expression and bowed, saying, "Lord Li, this lad was sneaking around eavesdropping at the door, and I caught him red-handed!"

Judge Li!

Jiang Yutang's gaze instantly met that of the middle-aged man, whose eyes were filled with malice.

This is the culprit who exploits the people of Danzhou!

Judge Li looked her up and down, his brows furrowing more and more: "I know all the rich young men in Danzhou, but I've never seen your face before."

He waved his hand: "Take him away and torture him severely. We must find out who is behind this!"

"I'm really lost!" Jiang Yutang struggled to push the man away, her eyes frantically searching for Jiang Sumin's figure in the corridor, while her peripheral vision inadvertently swept into the room.

That one glance froze her in place; there was another man sitting inside.

She squinted uncertainly and examined him closely. The man was dressed in a moon-white casual outfit, leaning back in his chair with a tall and straight posture, his profile sharp and smooth.

It was Cheng Lanzhou!