The Golden Age - Chapter 87: Horse Farm
After following Ning Zhifeng into the Moon Gather House, Qin Xiao found out that the inside was even more gorgeous than the outside.
From the outside, the Moon Gather House already looked magnificent, but once inside, everything was just absolutely luxurious.
In the middle of the lobby, two dancers were wearing beautiful costumes and dancing on the wooden stage. There were tables all around the stage, and all the tables were full of people. All the men’s eyes were on the dancers, hating to waste even a blink of time.
The ladies who were accompanying the guests were also incredibly beautiful, although they were nothing compared to the dancers.
Even though Xiling was the Tang Empire’s territory, there were all kinds of people on this piece of land.
As the biggest city in Xiling, there were many Tang people from inside the Pass, and there were also many travelers from the Western Region. There were even people who came from as far north as Bohai Country.
Merchants and travelers from the Western Regions would bring all kinds of things to trade with the Tang people. Some even brought beautiful women and sold them to various places to be dancers.
The dancers from the Western Regions have extraordinary talents. Their gorgeous moves and charming faces made everyone who sees them fall in love. But, these dancers were also incredibly expensive. Only big and wealthy entertainment houses had the right to buy them.
Fenggan City was the biggest city of Xiling, and the Moon Gather House was the biggest entertainment house in this city. Rumors claim that the Xiling Menfa were secretly supporting them as well. Therefore, the Moon Gather House always had the best of the best dancers from the Western Region.
The dancers who were well enough to be accepted into the Moon Gather House would usually only stay there for three to five months. Once the guests started to feel repetitive, they would immediately change and get a new group of dancers. The old ones would either be sold to other rich people and entertainment houses or one of the Menfa could come and make them their own servants.
The dancers in these entertainment houses were real talents. However, no matter how much money one gives, these dancers would not sleep with any of the guests.
What one couldn’t get was always the best. Because of this, the dancers secured the daily income for the Moon Gather House and also secured its number one entertainment house’s position in all of Xiling.
Qin Xiao followed Ning Zhifeng through a hallway. While walking, he took a look at the beautiful and sexy dancers on the stage. He couldn’t help but wonder if Mu Yeji was here, whether or not she could also attract so many people.
But this thought soon vanished. There was no way she would do something like this.
Ning Zhifeng was obviously really used to this already. He didn’t even take a glance at the dancers as he brought Qin Xiao to the second floor. He led Qin Xiao to the door at the furthest room on the left and opened it. The room was ginormous. There was a huge table placed in the center, and several people were around the table. On the table sat all kinds of wine and delicacies as well. Yuwen Chengchao was sitting in the seat directly facing the door.
When Ning Zhifeng led Qin Xiao in and everyone’s eyes immediately fell on the two of them. Yuwen Chengchao’s face was already bright red, it seems that he had drunk a lot already. When he saw Qin Xiao, he waved his hand and smiled. “Brother Wang, come here. Everyone has been waiting for you.”
Qin Xiao bowed to everyone and glanced around. Among the few around the table, there were Pang Yu and Zhao Yi who Qin Xiao knew. He remembered seeing the third person last night, if his guesses were right, it should be Da Peng.
Da Peng had a thin and long face with a dark shade of skin.
He looked up at Qin Xiao, nodded, and didn’t say anything. Pang Yu also just smiled at Qin Xiao. Zhao Yi was a bit more enthusiastic. “Brother Wang, the Eldest Son has been waiting and prepared some really good wine. Tonight we don’t leave until all of us get drunk.”
Ning Zhifeng sat down on the mat beside Da Peng, and Qin Xiao also walked to the mat beside Yuwen Chengchao. The wine on the table was mostly gone already, but the food and main dishes were barely even touched. Including himself, there were a total of six people on the table, yet there were nine sets of bowls and wine cups. This table was big enough for even a group of ten, so there was plenty of room for everyone.
Qin Xiao knew that although the entertainment house was a place to socialize and be happy, Yuwen Chengchao did not come here for entertainment. The extra sets of bowls were obviously there because he wanted to believe that his other brothers were still alive.
Yuwen Chengchao left the Manor of Marquess Yuwen. Without any family members to be with him, he could only treat his brothers like his own family. Now that two members of his little family passed away, there was nothing he could do to lighten up his mood.
Qin Xiao just sat down and before he was even able to pick up the wine cup, a voice suddenly came from outside. “El…Eldest Son…” A man slowly walked in with a terrifying expression on his face. It was Childe Ma.
Yuwen Chengchao frowned. Ning Zhifeng whispered a few words to Yuwen Chengchao’s ear, and he frowned even more. After taking a quick look at Qin Xiao, he waved his hand towards Childe Ma. Childe Ma quickly bowed down and walked in. “Eldest Son’s drinking here too? If you don’t mind, please forgive me, I’ll pay for everyone here. I’ll…”
“What do you think you are?” Yuwen Chengchao interrupted coldly, “Why should I forgive you?”
Childe Ma’s face was full of sweat. “Eldest Son, it’s all my fault, I…”
“You said that dogs shouldn’t be at the Moon Gather House?” Yuwen Chengchao interrupted again while staring at him.
Childe Ma had already fallen onto his knees and replied with a trembling voice, “Eldest Son, I shouldn’t have said anything. Please forgive me, I didn’t know…”
Qin Xiao looked at the scene and did not speak. He slightly shook his head and sighed.
Back when he was still in Gui City, he and Meng Zimo had to deal with Zhen Yujiang, the second son of Marquess Zhen. From that point on, he hated the Menfa and their children. He never expected that one day, he’ll be walking with the Eldest Son of the Yuwen family. Not to mention the Eldest Son helping him out right now too.
“I’m not in the mood of beating you up today.” Yuwen Chengchao replied coldly, “However, from now on, you’re not allowed to come to the Moon Gather House ever again. You said it yourself, dogs should not be in this place, therefore you yourself should be out of here.”
The Moon Gather House was a place to dine and enjoy for many children of the noble family. This was one of the only places that they can relax and be happy. If he can’t come here ever again, that was as if taking half of his life away from him. Upon hearing this, Childe Ma stood there dumbfounded and not knowing what to do.
“Get out of here now and don’t let me ever see you again. Do you understand?” Yuwen Chengchao was already in a depressing mood. Plus the wine he just drunk, he was even angrier right now.
Childe Ma knew that if he can’t come to the Moon Gather House again, that’s taking half of his life away from him. But if he stayed here for another minute, his life will probably be completely taken away from him.
“What are you waiting for?” Zhao Yi shouted.
Childe Ma dared not to stay any longer. He quickly got up in a panic and ran for the door.
The way he got out of the room looked very funny, but no one laughed. The room was quiet for a while until Ning Zhifeng finally held up his bowl.
He also picked up the wine jar and poured some wine for Qin Xiao. “Brother Wang, I heard that you saved the Eldest Son last night, we’re all very thankful. I’ll drink this to show my gratitude.”
He picked up his bowl and gulped down all the wine.
Qin Xiao also picked up the bowl of wine. Back outside, he saw that all of the customers were using wine cups. But here in this room, none of the cups were even touched. Everyone was drinking wine with their bowls. He smiled awkwardly. “Uh, I’m afraid if I drink all of this I’ll be done for tonight.”
“You need to practice drinking too,” Zhao Yi smiled, “In the future, if you’re going to follow the Eldest Son, you must be able to drink a whole lot with the Eldest Son.”
Yuwen Chengchao tapped Qin Xiao on the shoulder and smiled. “Don’t listen to him. Drink as much as you can. Take your time, we’re going to stay here all night.”
Ning Zhifeng also smiled. “Brother Wang, even the Eldest Son has spoken. Don’t be afraid and drink the wine slowly. If you’re drunk, go find a place to sleep for a bit. If you like any of the ladies here you can sleep with her overnight too. Just too bad you can’t choose any of the dancers, that’s just how the rule here works.”
“Idiot. Do you think everyone’s like you? Who even forgets how to walk after you see a beautiful woman? Brother Wang here is still young, don’t ruin his innocence.” Zhao Yi couldn’t help but interrupt.
“Zhao Yi, are you jealous?” Ning Zhifeng laughed. “You have a wife and children, but I’m single. All I need to take care of is myself. If you slept with another lady out here, your wife would probably break your legs when you go home.”
“She wouldn’t dare.” Zhao Yi rolled his eyes. “In case you didn’t know, I’m in charge of my family. She wouldn’t dare to disagree with anything I say.”
“But I remember that last year, you wanted to get a concubine[1]. After talking with your family, you came out limping the second day. Since then, you never talked about it ever again. I wonder why?”
Everyone else burst into laugher. Zhao Yi blushed and muttered, “I changed my mind myself. it has nothing to do with her.”
“Xiling horse.”
While everyone was laughing, a voice suddenly interrupted, “They’ve been planning this for a long time.”
Everyone looked toward where the sound came from. It was Da Peng, who had not yet said anything.
Da Peng looked like an honest person. After entering, Qin Xiao didn’t hear a word from him. While everyone was laughing, his face remained unchanged. He was obviously a person who was very careful and smart.
As soon as he spoke, all the laughter suddenly stopped. Ning Zhifeng stood up and closed the door without even being told, then, Da Peng continued, “They weren’t using normal Xiling horses. They were using the good ones that only officials should have. It shouldn’t be too hard to find the source.”
“It’s probably from the horse farms.” Pang Yu also said seriously, “A horse farm that can supply someone with dozens of horses at a time could only be the three large horse farms beside the Qilian Mountains. If we search their records carefully enough, we can find where the horses came from.”
Ning Zhifeng shook his head. “I know what you mean. If we can find the real records from the three big farms, we would know everything. After all, thirty or so horses is no small number. There must be records. But the other two farms belong to the Zhen Family and the Fan Family. They wouldn’t give their records to us. Even our own horse farm, the records are in the hands of Granduncle Meng. Without orders from the Marquess, he wouldn’t let us see the records either.”
Translated by: UnderTheMoon