"I'll surely redeem you from here when the time is right."
Mu Xia usually stayed in the brothel. There were mostly idlers in a brothel. Xie Chengrui still needed Mu Xia to gather information, so he had to continue to deceive her.
"When will the right time be, my lord?"
Mu Xia seemed to be used to hearing Xie Chengrui say this. She asked further with a hint of dissatisfaction.
"Recently, there have been continuous heavy rains in Jingzhou. I have to find a way to deal with this and I'm tied up."
Mu Xia understood it in her heart, but she still believed Xie Chengrui. They chatted on and off.
Gu Jiangyue had been eavesdropping at the door for a long time. Regarding the continuous heavy rains in Jingzhou for months, Gu Jiangyue felt that there seemed to be some impression in her mind, but as too much time had passed, she couldn't quite remember.
Just as Gu Jiangyue was about to leave and figure out another way, she turned around and saw a mask in front of her. Gu Jiangyue remembered that this was the person who had just given Mu Xia a reward.
"Who are you!"
Gu Jiangyue was startled by the man and questioned him. She had been so engrossed in listening to Xie Chengrui and Mu Xia's conversation that she hadn't noticed anyone approaching.
The man burst into laughter. His voice was extremely familiar to Gu Jiangyue. Under Gu Jiangyue's gaze, the man took off the mask on his face.
"My lady, long time no see."
Xie Jiuan's face appeared in front of Gu Jiangyue. He smiled warmly, with tenderness in his eyes.
"Xie Jiuan!"
Gu Jiangyue was really surprised by Xie Jiuan. Her voice was a bit loud. Xie Jiuan immediately reached out to cover her mouth and looked around.
"Shh, it'll be bad if we attract others."
Xie Jiuan put his finger in front of his lips, making a gesture to be quiet. Gu Jiangyue quickly nodded, and only then did Xie Jiuan let go.
"How did you recognize me?"
Gu Jiangyue lowered her voice. She looked at Xie Jiuan and asked the question in her heart suspiciously. Although Gu Jiangyue thought that Xie Jiuan must be able to recognize her when she stood in front of him, it was a bit strange that Xie Jiuan could recognize her as she wasn't sitting far from him just now.
"The disguise is good, but as long as it's you, I can recognize you at a glance."
There was a smile in Xie Jiuan's eyes. He couldn't just tell Gu Jiangyue that he had been following her for several days. Presumably, Gu Jiangyue would be angry if she knew about this.
"What are you doing in the brothel?"
Gu Jiangyue simply waved her hand and stopped dwelling on this question. She stared into Xie Jiuan's eyes with a hint of scrutiny in her expression.
"Don't worry about this for now. Does my lady need my help?"
Seeing Xie Jiuan like this, Gu Jiangyue didn't know what else to say even if she wanted to interrogate him.
"How can you help?"
Gu Jiangyue stood in front of Xie Jiuan with her arms crossed. She remembered the rumors in the capital that Xie Jiuan was a womanizer and often visited brothels. Before, Gu Jiangyue didn't believe it, but today she really saw Xie Jiuan in the brothel. She was slightly dissatisfied and spoke in a rather bad mood, wanting to teach him a lesson.
"Look, my lady."
Xie Jiuan seemed to be coaxing Gu Jiangyue. He took out the hand that had been behind his back all this time and waved it in front of Gu Jiangyue, as if there was something in it.
When Xie Jiuan handed the thing to Gu Jiangyue, she finally saw clearly that it was a very small medicine bottle.
"What is this?"
Gu Jiangyue played with the medicine bottle in her hand, looking left and right but couldn't figure out what it was. She asked the question in her heart.
Xie Jiuan let out a soft laugh. He lowered his head and leaned close to Gu Jiangyue's ear, his thin lips parting slightly as he said,
"I asked Ji Yunsheng to prepare it. It's a powerful aphrodisiac."
Xie Jiuan emphasized the words "powerful aphrodisiac" especially, and even the look in his eyes when he looked at Gu Jiangyue was not entirely innocent.
"For Xie Chengrui?"
Gu Jiangyue frowned and took a step back, keeping a distance from Xie Jiuan. She said seriously with a straight face.
"For Mu Xia. From what I know about Xie Chengrui, he'll fall into the trap himself."
Xie Jiuan wasn't angry that Gu Jiangyue didn't take his bait. He just laughed a few times and answered Gu Jiangyue's question.
Gu Jiangyue looked at Xie Jiuan and thought what he said made sense.
"What should I do then?"
Gu Jiangyue looked up into the room, indicating to Xie Jiuan that Xie Chengrui was still inside. Xie Jiuan naturally knew this too. He said,
"It's a small matter. I'll handle it. You go downstairs first. Come up after Xie Chengrui leaves."
Xie Jiuan's tone was confident, and Gu Jiangyue naturally trusted him. After all, if they couldn't deceive him, they wouldn't lose anything.
Gu Jiangyue put away the medicine and left the second floor. She returned to her seat. Her eyes were fixed on the stairs. If Xie Chengrui came down, she would go up. If Xie Jiuan failed, she could also provide backup.
Xie Jiuan wasn't idle either. After Gu Jiangyue left, he went to find his bodyguard, Han Tian. Han Tian had been on standby. When he saw Xie Jiuan coming, he quickly clasped his fists and bowed.
"Greetings, my lord."
If Xie Jiuan went to lure Xie Chengrui himself, the possibility of being discovered would be too high, so he came to find Han Tian. Xie Jiuan took off his mask to get some fresh air and then said casually,
"Go and tell Xie Chengrui that the prince wants to see him."
Although Han Tian didn't understand, he still clasped his fists and took the order, but he hesitated a bit.
"Yes, but if Xie Chengrui is... busy, should I still call him?"
Busy? Having fun with Mu Xia. Xie Jiuan rubbed his chin and thought for a while. Then he said with a mischievous smile,
"Go and take a look and you'll know if he's busy or not."
"I'll go right away."
Han Tian was sure that his lord wanted Xie Chengrui to come out no matter what. Whether Xie Chengrui was busy or not, as long as he went in and took a look, whatever was going on would be interrupted.
Han Tian was always emotionless and did things coldly. He came to the door where Xie Chengrui and Mu Xia were. He directly raised his hand and knocked on the door three times. Seeing no response, Han Tian directly pushed the door open and went in.
Han Tian was Xie Jiuan's subordinate, so he naturally didn't have a good temper towards Xie Chengrui, but he wasn't afraid of him either.
"Second Prince, the Ninth Prince wants to see you."
Han Tian simply didn't care what they were doing and just said it directly.
Xie Chengrui had just finished drinking a cup of tea and was about to scold the person who came in, but when he saw it was Han Tian, he was stunned. How did Xie Jiuan know he was here? Xie Jiuan had always been at odds with him. Xie Jiuan had secretly made things difficult for him many times. If Xie Jiuan told the emperor about his visit to the brothel, he would be finished.
Mu Xia had interacted with Xie Jiuan a lot before and she also recognized Han Tian. Mu Xia had always been worried that Xie Jiuan would take revenge on her for siding with Xie Chengrui. Now that Xie Jiuan had actually come looking for them, Mu Xia anxiously reached out and pushed Xie Chengrui.
"Go quickly. I'll wait for you."