Although Mei Qing was a bit suspicious, she didn't dare to ask more questions. She just nodded and walked out.
Su Mingyu was completely bewildered by his actions. "What on earth are you up to?"
Gu Ruobai didn't answer her. Before long, there was a knock on the door. When the person came in, it turned out to be Nian'er.
Before Su Mingyu could say a word, Gu Ruobai said the same thing again. "Sing a song."
Nian'er blinked her clear eyes. "Sir, Nian'er sings terribly. How about I dance for you instead?"
Gu Ruobai lowered his eyes slightly, which could be regarded as an agreement.
Then Su Mingyu watched as Nian'er tried to seduce Gu Ruobai with her dance, but Gu Ruobai remained completely unmoved. In the end, Nian'er was so embarrassed that she could hardly continue dancing.
It was Su Mingyu who couldn't stand it anymore and told Nian'er to leave first.
Watching Nian'er flee in a hurry, Su Mingyu was both amused and annoyed. "What on earth are you doing?"
Seeing that Su Mingyu wasn't jealous at all, Gu Ruobai seemed a bit disappointed. "Tell me, if I invited the top ten girls selected today to the private room and only kept Mei Qing in the end, what would people think?"
"Everyone would be extremely interested in this Mei Qing who caught your eye."
Su Mingyu squinted and smiled. "I thought you were going to let Mei Qing make her own way up. Weren't you quite confident in her before? And doesn't Mei Qing know that you're actually Mo Wenyuan?"
Seeing her smile like a fox, Gu Ruobai raised his eyebrows. "Just adding a little more weight. Whether she knows or not has nothing to do with this competition."
"Sometimes I don't know whether I should say you're cold or overly calm." Su Mingyu pouted. Not telling his own subordinate the truth. Was he being too cautious?
Even though she said so, Su Mingyu still accompanied Gu Ruobai to watch the performances of the top ten girls. Then she watched as Mei Qing was left behind under everyone's envious gazes.
Perhaps she was too suspicious, or maybe a bit nervous. When Mei Qing toasted Gu Ruobai, she accidentally stepped on his robe, lost her balance, and fell straight onto Gu Ruobai.
Gu Ruobai reacted quickly. He stood up, grabbed her arm, and lifted her back to steady her.
Mei Qing was a bit flustered and quickly apologized. "I'm sorry, Young Master Mo."
Gu Ruobai brushed off his robe. "It's okay."
Su Mingyu half - squinted her eyes and looked at Mei Qing. "Miss Mei Qing seems very nervous?"
Mei Qing smiled a bit shyly. "I've just been over - training for this competition."
Hearing this, Gu Ruobai waved his hand. "Someone, go to my mansion and send Miss Mei Qing some bird's nest with my blood in it."
"This is unacceptable!" Mei Qing quickly refused. "I'm just a girl from the brothel. I'm not worth such an expense from the young master."
Gu Ruobai didn't say much. He just nodded. "A girl with such a beautiful voice should take good care of it."
Mei Qing bit her lips and finally agreed. "Then thank you, Young Master Mo."
After sitting down again, Mei Qing was obviously not as nervous.
"Miss Mei Qing only has eyes for Young Master Mo. She doesn't even look at me, Young Master Su?"
There was a smile in Su Mingyu's tone, and her eyes sparkled.
Mei Qing quickly toasted. "I'm sorry. It was my oversight."
Su Mingyu took the wine without being polite and drank it all in one gulp.
After chatting for a while, perhaps because Mei Qing was really in high demand now, she was soon called away.
Gu Ruobai didn't stop her. He just told Mei Qing to take care of herself, then lowered his head and drank his wine indifferently.
When the door was closed again, Su Mingyu's expression suddenly became serious. "I think you'd better tell Mei Qing that you're Mo Wenyuan as soon as possible."
Gu Ruobai was a bit confused. "Why do you say so?"
"Don't you trust Mei Qing?" Su Mingyu asked him back. "Even if she knows you're Gu Ruobai, she will never let the cat out of the bag."
Gu Ruobai heard the implication in Su Mingyu's words and a smile curled up on his lips. "Jealous?"
This time, Su Mingyu didn't joke around. She nodded seriously. "Yes."
Seeing her being so honest for once, Gu Ruobai was taken aback. After a while, he explained in a low voice. "It's not that I don't want to tell her. It's just that my current identity is quite dangerous. If Mei Qing knew, she would surely cover for me, and it would drag her down."
Dangerous? Su Mingyu pondered for a moment and then understood. "The King of Yu?"
Gu Ruobai nodded. "The King of Yu used to be in charge of the oil and rice business. Now that I've snatched most of his resources, he's already sent people to investigate me. My disappearance before was just to avoid the limelight."
"Then why did you still come out using this identity?" Su Mingyu asked and then realized.
"Do you want to use Mo Wenyuan to attract the King of Yu and ensure everything goes smoothly?"
Seeing that Gu Ruobai didn't say a word, Su Mingyu knew she had guessed right.
A warm feeling welled up in her heart. There was a ripple in Su Mingyu's eyes, and her tone lost its previous coldness. "I've already said that I can handle it."
Gu Ruobai nodded non - committally. "I know, but I'm still worried."
"Also, Mei Qing is just my subordinate."
The implication was that there was no need to be jealous at all.
Listening to Gu Ruobai's deep voice, Su Mingyu bit her lips secretly. Judging from Mei Qing's shy demeanor, it might not be that simple.
But since Gu Ruobai trusted Mei Qing so much, Su Mingyu didn't want to tell the two of them directly that this was a huge misunderstanding.
If things went wrong, it would directly affect their trust. Su Mingyu didn't want to see either Mei Qing or Gu Ruobai get hurt.
For a moment, Su Mingyu's face looked a bit solemn.
"What's wrong with you?" Seeing her bow her head in silence, there was a hint of worry in Gu Ruobai's voice.
"Nothing." Su Mingyu forced a smile. "I just think we've been in the private room for a long time. It's time to go out, isn't it?"
Gu Ruobai nodded. "Let's go."
The two of them walked down from the second floor. The whole brothel was in an uproar, and people were talking about them. Su Mingyu and Gu Ruobai didn't care about such gossips, so they just walked out without paying attention to anything.
Sure enough, Mo Wenyuan's participation was like a bomb that set the whole capital ablaze.
For a while, everyone was talking about the beauty pageant at the First Fragrance. The names of Mei Qing, Nian'er and others caused quite a stir in the capital's social circles.
So the next day, when Su Mingyu came to the First Fragrance again, she saw that it was already crowded with people.
"Young Master Su, come on. Your seat has been reserved for you."
The madam saw Su Mingyu and immediately came up with a beaming smile.
Those who didn't have seats were unhappy when they saw this. "Madam, why are you so partial? You have seats but don't let us sit."
The madam raised her eyebrows. "It's ten taels of silver to go to the second floor, thirty taels for a seat, and fifty taels for a good seat. As long as you're willing to pay, I'll reserve any seat you want for you."
When those noisy people heard that it would cost so much silver, they immediately quieted down.
Then Su Mingyu went up to the second floor and sat down in her old seat under the envious, jealous and hateful gazes of many people.
She had just sat down for a short while when she saw Mo Wenyuan, played by Gu Ruobai, coming gracefully.