Chapter 904 Failed Negotiations
At Pink Alley off Crusade Avenue.
Li Mu, with Shen Jia in tow, was stepping into Rose’s Allure — an establishment that sat right in the centermost area of Pink Alley — with Mr. Wei, one of the overseers of Cloud Nine Lodge, leading and welcoming him inside.
Anyone could tell at first glance that this was a pleasure house.
And Shen Jia just wasn’t pleased at all by the prospects of his sister’s fate.
Pink Street was known for being the red-light district of Rydorburg and almost all establishments of this trade in the city operated from here, where the proprietors and owners of the establishments here were most powerful and influential individuals and even sects and orders too. The Rose’s Allure, for one, belonged to the Convent of the Pious Rose, another great militant order here of the Northern Steppes region.
The Convent was an all-female organization, giving it an edge in handling matters pertaining to the fairer gender.
Shen Jia felt nothing but pain for the suffering that his sister had to endure in such a place as if a knife had been driven through his heart.
“Oh, my! Mr. Wei! What brings you here to these parts!” a woman, a Cla.s.s-V female warrior and a lady of sublime elegance and grace, who obviously was the madam in charge of this establishment came out to receive them.
“I bring with me two of our Lodge’s esteemed guests, Madam Gao. They’re here to see Maiden Moonbliss.” As a figure of considerable influence himself, Mr. Wei clearly knew Madam Gao.
The matron in charge of the Rose’s Allure cast a look at Li Mu and Shen Jia and deftly ignored the latter, her gaze focusing on Li Mu in the end.
Always with an eye for finer things and shrewdness which had helped her survive dealing with the rich and the powerful while taking what she wanted from them, Madam Gao obviously knew what she was looking for: Li Mu. Of the pair, she immediately knew that the young and das.h.i.+ng man in a debonair white tunic was the real “esteemed guest” that Mr. Wei was referring to. “Oh, my! Aren’t you a specimen of fine pedigree and n.o.bility? This way, please! I got your message, Mr. Wei, and the finest room is ready!”
Madam Gao led them all inside, weaving through corridors and pa.s.sing through halls and cloisters until they came to a flight of stairs.
Walking inside Rose’s Allure was an eye-opener for Li Mu.
The courtesans of Rose’s Allure were all female warriors skilled in both the crafts of destruction and the arts of love. Even the male attendants that worked there were Cla.s.s IV to V warriors, although they did their best to mask their prowess by flas.h.i.+ng every guest that walked by with friendly smiles and polite greetings like they were ordinary people.
“This way please, sir, Mr. Wei.”
Li Mu and the others were brought into a suite.
The suite was uniquely extraordinary. Simple and ordinary from the outside, the inside was an ornately lavish suite with three rooms and one living area. Expensive paintings festooned the walls that surrounded the fragrance-filled apartment that was utterly devoid of any fetid odor. The furniture, refined and stately as it was, comprised of a zither, a tea table, and some stationery materials with writing implements, making the room more like the neat but paradisiacal study of a learned scholar or a master painter that inspired erudition and sophistication.
Li Mu sat down. He peered at Shen Jia who could barely keep his anxiety and apprehension in check and said, “Maintain the balance of Zen at all times, boy.”
Shen Jia obediently did as he was told and activated the Divine Tranquility technique that has a soothing effect and he calmed down.
The pitter-patters of footsteps came from outside.
Creak!
The door slowly swung open.
What came first was the scent of a woman.
Handmaidens clad in scanty clothing with their ivory shoulders exposed and the curves of their ample bosoms threatening to burst out of their low neckline dresses entered first, followed by another ravis.h.i.+ng la.s.s with beauteous eyes and sweet delicate looks. Her eyes swirled like the clear waters of a bubbling brook as she scanned the room, then she came to Li Mu first. With a graceful courtesy, she greeted him, “Moonbliss here to greet you, sir, and you too, Mr. Wei.”
Li Mu gave Mr. Wei a tactful look.
The overseer of Cloud Nine Lodge immediately knew what to do. He gave Madam Gao a curt nod before the matron of Rose’s Allure led the pair of handmaidens out with Mr. Wei following closely behind.
“Have a seat, maiden.”
Li Mu motioned to the chair beside his.
Moonbliss stared at him strangely. Despite having a beat of hesitation, she sat down. She could feel the palpably odd atmosphere lingering in the suite.
“Maiden Moonbliss. Is your true name Shen Xiaoyue? Shen Xiaoyue from Autumnbrook?” Li Mu cleaved straight to his purpose without beating around the bush.
Moonbliss’s stolid and divine-like countenance melted into one of wariness and circ.u.mspection almost immediately. “Is there a reason you’re asking this question, sir?” she asked stiffly.
Her reaction was all Li Mu needed to confirm who she was. He pointed to Shen Jia who was standing just behind and said, “Why don’t you take a good look at him, maiden, and see if you recognize him?”
For the first time since entering the suite, Moonbliss panned her gaze to the boy standing behind Li Mu. A boy who was literally shaking with tears swirling in his eyes. She looked hard before distant memories in her mind reminded her to whom that boyish face now on the verge of bursting into sobs belonged, striking her with a force as hard as the blow of a sledgehammer that she leaped to her feet at once.
“SISTER!”
No longer being able to hold himself, Shen Jia hurried toward his sister and threw himself into her arms.
Moonbliss froze into a statue as her face broke into one of dawning recognition. That really was her brother. The stern and strong young man really was that young and naive boy who was her brother! More than a year had elapsed since they last saw each other and much he had changed, much he had grown…
“How… Shen Jia… How did you find me here?” Moonbliss stammered, her voice on the verge of cracking. Never in her wildest dreams did she expect to reunite with her brother ever again.
Li Mu did not need to be told that they have found the right person.
Seeing how overwhelmed the brother and sister pair were by the emotions of their reunion, Li Mu quietly got up and stepped out of the suite.
Madam Gao and Mr. Wei were just outside, waiting for him.
Both of them stared at him strangely, but they knew better than to pry and intrude into his privacy.
“I wish to buy Maiden Moonbliss’s freedom, Madam Gao. Please arrange it for me,” said Li Mu.
“Buy her freedom?!” Madam Gao looked like she had just heard the worst news she had ever received.
“Is there a problem? Are courtesans of Rose’s Allure forbidden to leave this place?” Li Mu asked.
“Not that it’s a real problem, sir,” said Madam Gao. “But Maiden Moonbliss’s special. She was brought here by the Canoness Superior herself, making the matter something that I need to consult with her directly.”
As an a.s.set that belonged to the Convent of the Pious Rose, the Canoness Superior, as the head of the Convent, has absolute say over all matters of Rose’s Allure.
“Speak to her then, if you please, Madam Gao,” requested Li Mu.
Madam Gao gave Mr. Wei a look, who bobbed his head in a.s.sent. “Very well then, sir,” she said, “Allow me to send word to the Canoness Superior right away.”
She ushered Mr. Wei and Li Mu to a table and instructed for food and wine for them both before she left to make arrangements for Li Mu’s request.
The seats allowed Li Mu a full view of the Pink Alley outside. The hour was growing late but that did little to dissuade the throngs of male patrons that flocked the well-lit and busy alleyway in search of pleasure. Opposite him, lines and lines of pretty damsels cooed and chirped at any man who pa.s.sed by, peddling their carnal charms to any man who laid his eyes on them.
The entire alleyway was every bit the flouris.h.i.+ng sight of prosperity and excess.
“Thank you so much for your help, Mr. Wei,” said Li Mu, raising his porcelain cup for a toast, “Your instrumental contribution was what solved a major matter of grief for my student. As pleased as I am to say, if you have anything that you need in the future, please do not hesitate to come to me,” Li Mu proposed another toast.
“It’s just a piece of cake, sir,” said Mr. Wei.
It was nothing personal. Just pure business. With nothing much between them to talk about, Li Mu used the time to discuss with Mr. Wei about the situation in the city and learned as much as he could.
Then they heard noises of a commotion coming from downstairs.
Angry and hurried footsteps followed the clamorous din before a few men dressed in fine silks stormed up the stairs, looking as furious as a raging bull. The two scantily-clad handmaidens from just now were just behind them and despite their best efforts to calm the men down, they were just shoved aside in the roughest and boorish way.
The creases on Li Mu’s forehead deepened with foreboding dread.
“I don’t care! Whoever moonbliss is entertaining now, he can b.l.o.o.d.y sod off! I am a provost of the red temple! How dare you expect me to wait like a common lowborn!”
The leader of the troupe, a man with a head of flamboyant red hair that stayed up like it was on freeze-frame, reminded Li Mu of a certain j.a.panese character in a fighting game back on Earth. Arrogant and imperious, and maybe a bit drunk, he looked like a skilled and deadly warrior and the three men who came with him were all armed.
“Trouble does like to come at the most inopportune moment…”
Li Mu mused wryly.
“Here we go again…”
The Provost of the Red Temple was grabbing the handle of the door of Li Mu’s suite and Li Mu was about to retaliate when a middle-aged man in the garb of a male attendant here appeared out of nowhere. With blinding speed, his entire person flickered and vanished, reappearing right in front of the Provost. He deftly seized the Provost’s wrist and held it in a vice-like grip, “We have rules here in Rose’s Allure, Provost Xu. I hope that you have no intention whatsoever to cause any ruckus here.”
“Rules? The only rule that matters here is money! Here, here’s more than ten times of what she’s worth!” Provost Xu bellowed loudly, guffawing smugly like a bully.
The male attendant responded placidly, “It would appear that you could use some sobering-up, sir. If you would come with me…”
He did not even wait for himself to finish. His hands shot with the speed of lightning, tapping on the several meridian points on the bodies of the Provost and his three men. All four men stiffened and found themselves paralyzed as if they had been frozen. A few guards arrived in no time and carried them all away.
And that was how a potential crisis was averted.
Li Mu witnessed every detail and what transpired amazed him. The management of Rose’s Allure ran a tight s.h.i.+p here and their adroit way of handling matters was what made them the best and most popular pleasure house here in Pink Alley.
That middle-aged male attendant was at least a Cla.s.s-VI warrior who would have easily made a name for himself outside. Li Zhiyuan was also in Cla.s.s VI when he was hailed as one of the ten best young prodigies of the Northern Steppes, but Li Mu realized how frivolous it was to be one of the ten best young prodigies when the true masters in the crafts of warriors.h.i.+p often were the ones who preferred to lay unseen. It was through experience and hards.h.i.+p that one honed his skills and power like a sword with a whetstone.
That was not all. Since coming here, Li Mu discovered that the populace of this city was every bit as industrious and dedicated to both commerce and business as its counterpart on Earth.
The door of the Li Mu’s suite swung open suddenly.
A tear-sodden Shen Xiaoyue, also known by her moniker here as Moonbliss, came with her brother Shen Jia to express their grat.i.tude to Li Mu.
She must have been sobbing hard just now, but she looked more composed now.
For a girl who had first been kidnapped by the Sky Dragons before she was sold as a slave into a pleasure house where she became a courtesan, most would have crumbled and lost the will to live. But not her. Shen Xiaoyue knew she needed to stay alive to see her brother again. Whatever the odds were, she knew she needed to see her brother at least once and finally, the Fates have smiled upon her and made her dream come true.
Shen Jia was beyond words with grat.i.tude and appreciation for the lengths that Li Mu had gone to make this possible.
“All right, Shen Jia, stay here with your sister and help her pack some stuff. We’re leaving. I’m arranging to have her freedom bought back so you don’t have to be apart anymore.”
The siblings beamed so broadly that they fell to their knees, muttering words of thanks to Li Mu.
“Has the storm finally pa.s.sed and it’s smooth seas ahead for us?!”
The brother-and-sister pair thought in unison. Li Mu’s entry into their lives was the life of a savior who had come to them, bearing gifts of deliverance and salvation.
But Madam Gao came scurrying back all of a sudden, looking rather worried and distressed.
Li Mu peered at her.
The visage on her face was definitely not one that heralded good news. “We’ve hit a stumbling block, sir,” she said grimly, “The Canoness Superior has denied your request to buy Moonbliss’s freedom. Maiden Moonbliss is and must remain here at Rose’s Allure. She cannot leave with you.”
“Ahh…” Shen Xiaoyue’s face turned chalk-white as she gasped with horror.
Shen Jia scrambled to his feet at once, looking fl.u.s.tered and nervous. The stolid and taciturn boy was now a volcano waiting to erupt every time he heard something about his dear sister.
Li Mu waved for Shen Jia to calm down before he spoke very deliberately in a hushed tone, “And what is the reason, if I may ask?”|
“I’m afraid I am not privy to the Canoness Superior’s reasoning. As the chief of the Convent, we do not question her motives nor does she owe her subjects an explanation for whatever decisions she makes. Her wish and will are our command and she suffers no disobedience from us. You may come as frequently as you like if you wish to see Moonbliss. Rose’s Allure welcomes you as a guest, but I’m afraid that is as far as we’re able to do for you.”
Li Mu flashed Mr. Wei a thoughtful smile. “Perhaps you should be taking your leave now, Mr. Wei.”
The overseer of Cloud Nine Lodge immediately caught on to Li Mu’s gist. With a transitory but almost imperceptible beat of hesitation, he bowed and immediately trotted out of the pleasure house.
Madam Gao stared at them, not understanding what was going on at all.
Li Mu gradually rose from his seat. With an amicable smile, he said, “Please understand this, Madam Gao. By offering to pay, I was merely showing a gesture of courtesy to you and your benefactors, the Convent. But if the Canoness Superior refuses to oblige my request, then I’ll do what it takes to make sure that I get what I want. One way or another, Moonbliss is coming with me. So if you think you can stop me, you’re welcome to try.”