Chapter 56 So eager to visit the pleasure houses for some music?

Zhao Mu's gaze finally settled on the young woman on the far right.

Unlike the first two—who, despite their tension, consistently managed to keep their shoulders and backs straight, with their chins slightly tilted at just the right angle, looking reluctant yet deliberately showing themselves off to him—this last one stood straight with her head held high, but her eyes were noticeably unfocused, wearing an expression that suggested she felt life had lost all meaning.

"You," Zhao Mu's voice softened just a fraction, "what is your name?"

"R-Reporting to my lord, this humble maid is called... Yunxi." The young woman's voice was clear, carrying an unperceived tremor, yet her articulation was fairly distinct.

"Yunxi..." Zhao Mu repeated, a faint, ambiguous smile brushing the corner of his lips. "Not a bad name at all. Can you sing?"

The moment Yunxi heard she was asked to sing, a sudden flash of brilliance sparked in her eyes.

After a brief moment of thought, she nodded and replied, "Answering my lord, this humble maid understands... understands a little."

"Then sing a couple of lines for me."

Seeing the girl glance toward the pipa nearby, Zhao Mu shook his head and said, "No instruments. A cappella."

Clearly, he was afraid the instrument might overpower her natural voice.

Yunxi took a deep breath, steadied her nerves, and parted her rosy lips: "The willows are green and droop down to the ground..."

A gentle, melodious tune in the soft southern dialect flowed gracefully from her mouth.

Her voice began with tension and a slight dryness, but after a couple of lines, she seemed to relax a little, revealing an innate clarity and an astonishingly smooth penetrating power.

Though her technique was crude and her breath control unstable, that uncarved vocal foundation flowed through the quiet, elegant pavilion like a clear spring from a mountain stream.

The moment she started singing, Zhao Mu's half-closed eyes suddenly opened a fraction.

He straightened his posture slightly, and his gaze was no longer the casual, picky inspection from before, but one of focused scrutiny and... interest.

With one hand supporting the side of his face, the fingers of his other hand unconsciously tapped a light rhythm against the low table. His gaze landed on Yunxi with a tangible weight, as if looking past her current performance to peer into the raw talent and undeveloped potential hidden beneath her layer of powder.

"...Thinking of you, when will you return on this journey?" Finishing the final line, Yunxi stopped with a slight quiver in her voice, waiting anxiously for the verdict. Seemingly remembering something, her expression suddenly turned mournful.

Zhao Mu did not offer an immediate critique, falling silent for a moment.

That silence seemed to freeze the air throughout the entire room.

Yunxi's face turned pale, making her believe that the very skill she had hoped would preserve her innocence in this pleasure house had failed her now.

At that moment, however, Zhao Mu leaned back into the depths of the soft cushions once more, resuming his signature lazy posture, though the curve of his lips unmistakably carried a hint of satisfaction.

With a trace of imperceptible excitement in his voice, he spoke, "Mm... this voice... it's getting interesting. And the foundation is good; she's an unpolished piece of jade."

"Even though right now she sings like a newly crowing little rooster, unstable in pitch and range."

"And she almost choked herself..." He paused, and before Yunxi's face could turn even paler, his tone shifted. "Still, after all, there's a foundation of bright vocal timbre hidden inside. With some training and polishing, and pouring in a few million-level vocal tuners... cough..."

"I mean, finding a decent musician to properly polish it."

"Perhaps... perhaps it might barely be listenable?"

With that, Zhao Mu looked toward the visibly relieved manager, his tone lazy yet carrying an unquestionable command. "This one called Yunxi, I'll take her for Cloud and Rain Pavilion."

"As for the other two..." Zhao Mu paused in thought, then shook his head. "The tall girl can come to Cloud and Rain Pavilion as an assist... maid."

"As for the first one, forget it. You can keep her at Wutong Pavilion."

"Whatever Lord Mu commands!" The manager nodded repeatedly, clearly having already obtained the owner's permission. After a moment of thought, he carefully put on a smiling face and asked, "It's just that, my lord, you originally agreed to three, but now you've only chosen two. That matter you discussed with our owner..."

"No matter, when some new girls arrive later."

"I'll come back and pick another one to make up for it, won't that do?"

"Understood!" The manager's face instantly blossomed into a broad smile. "We'll do just as you say!"

"Alright, send both of them over to Cloud and Rain Pavilion," Zhao Mu instructed.

The manager hurried away with the three young women, each wearing a different expression.

No sooner had the four of them left than Night Owl materialized from nowhere, suddenly appearing before Zhao Mu with a worried look on his face. He asked anxiously, "Sir, didn't you say that frost sugar could no longer be sold?"

"How is it this time..." Before Night Owl could finish, he saw Zhao Mu suddenly raise an eyebrow and look past him.

Discovering that it was Li Chengqian standing in the doorway leaning against the frame, Zhao Mu's familiar, teasing, and lazy smile returned to his face. "Oh? Shouldn't our Crown Prince be slaughtering the opposition in the imperial court right now? How do you have the leisure to patrol the pleasure quarters?"

"And... you came here wounded?" Catching sight of the unhidden injury on Li Chengqian's forehead, a thicker layer of teasing laced Zhao Mu's words. "Could it be that His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince was... beaten up by a mob of officials in court today?"

Hearing this, Li Chengqian's expression stiffened.

The surging wave of triumph that had filled his chest was abruptly smothered, as if doused by a basin of ice water poured straight over his head.

The impassioned words he had prepared, the court details he had intended to make Brother Zhao gasp at in continuous amazement, were all choked back in his throat.

Li Chengqian first had his guards secure the perimeter once more to strictly guard state secrets, and only then stepped across the threshold.

"Brother Zhao..." Clearing his throat to deliberately brush past the sharpness in Zhao Mu's words, Li Chengqian pressed on, "You simply cannot imagine what happened in court today!"

"His Majesty he..."

"Stop." At that moment, Zhao Mu frowned as he looked over the clothes Li Chengqian was wearing, abruptly cutting off what he was about to say with clean, decisive finality, leaving no room for argument.

"I say, Your Highness..." Zhao Mu didn't even bother to stand up, his gaze piercing straight toward Li Chengqian like a cold blade as he asked, "Take a look at your own attire first, and then look out that window."

"Do you still know what kind of thing is hanging up there in the sky outside?"

Taken aback by the question, Li Chengqian was momentarily dazed and instinctively glanced out the window.

Up in the azure, cloudless sky... was the dazzling, scorching sun hanging high?

"Did you see it?" Zhao Mu asked.

Though bewildered, Li Chengqian nodded. "I saw it, Brother Zhao. It's the blazing sun at noon."

"You still know that, my Crown Prince!" Zhao Mu's voice suddenly rose, carrying a suppressed fury as he demanded, "In broad daylight, under a clear sky!"

"You, the dignified heir apparent of the Great Tang, have just emerged from the Taiji Palace!"

"You haven't even changed out of your court robes!"

"Yet you rush headlong and impatiently into the pleasure quarters of Pingkang Lane?"

"What, was breaking into the palace ban last night not thrilling enough?"

"You had to provide the civil and military officials, as well as all the subjects of the realm, with another topic of gossip over their meals?"

"The Crown Prince comes straight from court just to eagerly listen to songs in a brothel?"