Short update today, the end of Chapter 5.
Since he suspected that the other party was Shen Luoyan's second trap, he flatly turned her down.
Xu Ziling took this opportunity to look at ‘Li Zhi's' two companions; he saw that they were ‘genuine goods at fair prices': real, tough looking men. Their eyes gleaming with vigor and they had swords hanging on their waist; all in all, they smelled like bodyguards.
Obviously Li Zhi was quite shocked that Kou Zhong was treating her like that; her pretty face alternated between red and white, her phoenix eyes turned cold. She looked like she wanted to turn around and leave, but could not let it go.
After giving Kou Zhong a hateful glare, she turned to Xu Ziling and said, "You are Li Si? I …”
Xu Ziling simply cut her off, "I am definitely Li Si. Miss is flirting openly in such a public place, don't you have any shame?”
‘Li Zhi' was visibly shaken, her ‘beautiful eyes' shot a thick murderous aura, yet her ‘jade countenance' stayed surprisingly calm. The two boys thought, ‘Here it comes,' their hands immediately grabbed the hilt of their saber. They were even more convinced that she was Shen Luoyan's people.
Suddenly Li Zhi seemed to be able to regain her self-control, her eyes calmed down as she said in low voice, "You'd better remember what you said to me.”
Finished speaking, she brushed her sleeve and walked down the stairs. In a flurry the two middle-aged men paid the bill and ran after her.
By the time the three people left, their food and drink were delivered; the two boys forgot everything about Li Zhi, they simply bent over the table and chewing busily.
Cups came and cups went, very soon the two boys started to feel tipsy, and then they entered the world of the drunkards.
Holding a cup of wine with both hands Kou Zhong giggled drunkenly and said, "The first cup tasted pungent and difficult to drink, but the second cup turned into exquisite elixir; ha! I did not know wine is such a good drink.”
Xu Ziling looked at the more than half a cup strong wine still remained, he surrendered, "A little tipsy feeling is enough; perhaps as soon as we step out of this wine shop Shen Luoyan will prepare a trap for us. Ay! Right now I only want to sleep. Last night that Li Shimin guy had his leg pressed on my side that I could not sleep well.”
Kou Zhong pressed his hand against Xu Ziling's forehead, he drunkenly whispered in his ear, "It would be better to go straight into the biggest pleasure house, find two most popular aunties to accompany us sleeping. This is called ‘today has wine, today get drunk' [i.e. live in the moment, carpe diem]. Come! Call the waiter, have him tell us all the detailed information about this pleasure house.”
Xu Ziling nodded happily. He was about to call the waiter, when suddenly one of the two men sitting on the next table raised his voice a little bit, "Zhang Xiong, you came to visit our Pengcheng, but if have never visited Yihong Courtyard, and have never seen that place's most popular aunties, Baiyun [white cloud] and Qiuyan [autumn swallow], how can you be considered ever visiting Pengcheng?” [Translator's note: at first I thought Kou and Xu mentioned ‘auntie' (lit. paternal aunt) because the women were older than they were, but this man also said ‘auntie', so perhaps the word refers to ‘prostitute'?]
The two boys thought ‘what a great coincidence'; hurriedly they focused their attention to eavesdrop.
The other man replied, "Is Chen Xiong referring to the Yihong Courtyard that is at the corner of the street as you turned left from this street? How could I never come there? It's just that now it is still daytime, the misses are still asleep; let's talk about it again tonight! Ha! Those girls are so pretty that I am drooling already.”
The one surnamed Chen laughed and said, "Right now it's still wu hour [noon, 11am-1pm], Yihong Courtyard is not open to receive guests. Let us drink two more cups and then take a stroll around!”
Hearing this, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling were delighted; they kicked each other's leg under the table, and decided right then and there that today would be the day they have a taste of women.
For young men their age, what could be more interesting than the mystery of the opposite sex? What could move their heart even more?