Chapter 111a: Gathering of the Elites from the Four Kingdoms
The entire Heavenly Dream Tower entered a state of frenzy.
In the majestic stage above, ten over young ladies adorned in gold coloured costumes with roving eyes and elegant postures displaying faintly discernible grace and enchantment vividly and thoroughly. The numerous men seated around them were all cheering insanely, shouting pa.s.sionately as they looked on without moving their eyes. Some even opened their mouths so wide that they were practically drooling without detecting it themselves.
On the fourth floor, Luo Qing Luan and the others were rather satisfied with this because this was exactly the effect which they wanted!
Nangong Yu nodded his head consecutively, “I thought it was merely dancing but even the music sounded so different, it’s really too splendid!”
This union of Wild Dance and Belly Dancing originally reflected a kind of foreign mien. Not only was the appearance and dressing different, even the music itself was extraordinary. Earlier when Luo Qing Luan and Yan’er had a discussion, she already asked Yan’er about the related accompanying music. The two of them discussed and improvised the whole thing and finally ended up with this piece of antique style yet totally different tune.
Luo Qing Luan antic.i.p.ated the valuation, wondering just what was the highest bidding price that the wealthy could come out with. These wealthy merchants, Western Chu’s government officials, even some scholars and Young Masters, all of their gazes were fixated onto Yan’er who was standing at the foremost position with a pa.s.sionate and wild gaze. Needless to think, basically everyone had their eyes on Yan’er and the highest bidder would end up on the envy of all the other men’s eyes, winning the momentary company from Yan’er.
They don’t even need to think of themselves as a frequent and welcomed guest, just purely drinking tea and chatting or enjoying a single dance would not be bad already. This was Heavenly Dream Tower’s rules and all courtesans treated their customers in the same way. But this rule not only did not anger the customers, instead there was a ‘the best is not obtainable’ mentality making the mob scrabble madly for the un.o.btainable, stepping on the breach to replace fallen comrades.
But just a mere chat and dance for Yan’er to accompany them tonight would require them to fork out tens of thousands of taels!
“Nalan Ye.” Luo Qing Luan gave a slight smile as she turned her head around, “If you were the one, how much would you be willing to come out with?” A curious sentence had just been posed when she realised that Nalan Ye’s attention wasn’t quite there.
He congealed his gaze as he sat there, his eyes glued to a certain area below with a fully concentrated look, as though he had been watching for a very long time. Long lashes and a pair of dark and serene pupils radiated with brilliance within, disappeared within a flash. No matter when his posture would be straight and upright with a face as beautiful as the jade ornament making Nalan Ye felt as though he was the limpid autumn waters on a snowy peak, giving off a distant and outstanding temperament.
Luo Qing Luan was slightly curious on what Nalan Ye was looking at?
Following the direction of his gaze, she noticed a table in the corner of the lobby. Four lavishly dressed men were seated together and their table was piled up with dishes and wine but none of them moved at all, merely holding on to their wine cups as they grazed slightly over the entire scene.
Luo Qing Luan took a few more looks and discovered that these four men bore strange expressions. Although Heavenly Dream Tower’s guests mostly didn’t reflect much emotion on their faces but they were all flirty deep down in their bones hence one could tell more or less if they were out looking for pleasures.
Whereas these few people were totally different as each of them revealed an arrogant temperament as their gazes were dim, occasionally grazing past Yan’er and the others on stage, but without that kind of astonished and excited look. Instead they gave off a disdainful expression as though they looked down on them.
“These few people….. are a little strange.” Luo Qing Luan said softly as her interest was piqued.
Heavenly Dream Tower was originally a pleasure quarter so instead of coming here to seek pleasure in exchange of money, instead they put on a fake n.o.ble and virtuous look so no matter how she saw it, they just had a problem.
Nalan Ye’s gaze turned and fell onto Luo Qing Luan with a changed expression. His gaze was gentle and his lips wore a smile as he questioned, “Why, Qing Luan, you can tell too? Just from their looks, can you guess their ident.i.ties?”
Her lips curled upwards and Luo Qing Luan asked, “Why, want to test me?”
Just a few look at them and she could tell that these four had a problem. If she really wanted to find out, would she be afraid of not being able to guess it correctly?
Although it was slightly far, but she had already tell that two of them among the four men had slightly restrained their gazes as their concentration weren’t on the platform’s performance, instead they kept noticing the surrounding movements so the status of these two should be the other two’s guards or subordinates or so.
As for one of the other two men, the one with slightly fairer skin tone who was dressed in a blue luxurious robe with an arrogant gaze. Especially when he looked at Yan’er and the others, his lips bore a disdainful tug. Occasionally giving off the subconscious action expressed his ident.i.ty even further – This was a woman!
A woman who was dressed in disguise as a man! Furthermore she wasn’t someone from Western Chu State which could be easily seen through her accessories and habits.
“These four people are all from East Wan, right?” Luo Qing Luan gave a slight smile as she stole a glance at Nalan Ye as a smirk of delight flashed past her eyes.
“How did you tell?” Nalan Ye slightly nodded to acknowledge what she said was right, although he probed further.
“Although these four people have changed into Western Chu’s clothes with an obvious intent to conceal their ident.i.ties, but they didn’t change out of their shoes. Take a look,” Luo Qing Luan expressed, “These four people have a common point which is that the sides of their shoes all have hidden patterns. Mn…. now you can’t see it because it’s blocked by their clothes but sometimes when they move, it will show. Although I don’t know what the special hidden patterns on their shoes mean, but at least I know it’s the ancient script from East Wan Country, which is also regarded as their totem. Other than citizens from East Wan, other people would not wear this kind of patterned shoes.”