Chapter 471: Blissful Flower Palace
A place of “romance”, consisting of the character “feng” and “yue”. [1]
Feng was referring to “elegance”, “grace”, and “romantic”. [2]
Yue was referring to the “evening”. [3]
In the evening, visit an elegant place to look at a few graceful beauties and do some romantic deeds.
“Born as a man, one must drink and rest in the feng yue.” The previous Divine King, Long Chuanfeng, wrote this line while staying at the Blissful Flower Palace in the past. He spent a loving night with the Flower Fairy here.
The old man was quite a romantic in the past with countless lovers. However, he ended up being alone at old age. Women in this world wouldn’t necessarily follow you to the end after sleeping with or even having feelings for you. More often than not, someone who will follow you to the end might not even be the one you love the most.
The winter at the capital was unbearable frigid, especially during the night. The snow piling on the street went up to the waist.
Feiyun dressed in a very shabby manner - a clean robe and cloth shoes on top of a paper fan. The eunuchs from the mansion wanted to follow him but he forced them to stay.
He was heading for the Blissful Palace to have a secret meeting with Wolong Sheng about an alliance. Thus, he naturally didn’t want others to know his whereabouts.
The sky increasingly darkened but it was brightly lit outside of the flower palace. One could hear singing and dancing across the halls. It was comparable to the imperial palace. In the distant sky, there were colorful floating pavilions looking like a scene of heaven.
“Squeak.” An extravagant carriage rode forward from the other end of the street with more than ten well-dressed servants. It headed straight for the entrance of Blissful.
There was no end of young prodigies surfing on the snow. Each of them happily chatted and talked about the courtesans, the events tonight, and who they were cheering for…
Feiyun initially came to find Wolong Sheng but now, he was slightly caught up in the festive mood, being the young man that he is. He smirked and entered the Blissful Palace.
He was instantly pulled by someone the moment he got in. This was a woman around forty to fifty year of age with a colorful dress. She swung her hips back and forth as she walked as if she wanted to break her waist.
Her eyebrows were overly thin just like the legs of a fly. Who knows how many layers of powder she had on her face but it was as white as a corpse.
“Young Noble, are you busy tonight?” She tugged on her arm while being quite mysterious with her tone.
Feiyun tried his best to smile after gulping: “Aunty…”
“Who are you calling Aunty?” The old woman didn’t like this and let go of his arm: “My time might have elapsed but I’m still pretty famous. Everyone knows who I am in these parts.”
“Oh, you’re that amazing? How should I address you then, Aunty?” Feiyun asked.
“Wan Huatong.” She pounced for his arm again and said: “Young Noble, this must be your first time in a place like this at the capital?”
Feiyun took one step back and pondered for a moment before nodding with a smile.
“I see, no wonder why you haven’t heard about me. Don’t worry, you’ve come to the right place. I guarantee that we won’t waste your time tonight.” The old woman gave him an amorous blink.
Feiyun felt a chill inside and coughed twice: “Aunty…. Well… the two of us aren’t too suitable…”
“What? Brat, what the hell are you thinking? I’ve been in this business for so long but I’m not an old cow that eats young grass. I’ll be honest, one of the four top ladies in Blissful, Huo Bingbing, will be performing tonight at Deep Blue Palace. Many prodigies are going. Young Noble, you’re tempted now right, no need to act cool. Haha, no men can fake it in front of me. Alright, let’s go cheer for Beauty Huo, your night definitely won’t be wasted.”
“Wait a minute… did you bring money?” She was taking him deeper into Blissful before realizing the most important issue. What’s the point of pulling this guy if he doesn’t have money?
Feiyun smiled and said: “Of course.”
“Haha, I like rich people like you the most since money is charm. I wonder if your ‘charm’ is enough to win Huo Bingbing’s favor. If you can, you’ll be the envy of all the young men here.”
She took him to Deep Blue Palace. This was a beautiful place with a lotus pond covered in mist. It also had the most precious and rare flowers and grasses.
“Why so little?” Wan Huatong looked at the few silver coins in her palm and said: “It took a lot for me to bring this fat lamb here, another fan for Huo Bingbing, you should at least give me a gold coin.”
A maid with braided hair looked at Feiyun standing far away with disdain and sneered: “Aunty, you need to get a vision check, that poor guy is a fat lamb? I don’t think he’ll even be able to spend a few gold coins.”
Wan Huatong put away the silver coins and said: “Your Blissful Palace is too cheap. When I drew in customers back at Heaven’s Smile, I always got several dozen gold coins each time.”
Having said that, she ran back towards Feiyun and smiled: “Young Noble, why are you still standing here? Go inside already, Deep Blue has seven rooms, each with specialized musicians. Why don’t we go in one for a bit?”
“Good.” Feiyun nodded.
Her expression became slightly awkward as she revealed: “But we do have to pay three thousand gold coins to get in one of those rooms, inviting the lowest-level courtesan needs another one thousand… This Blissful Palace is really too expensive and doesn’t allow bartering…”
Feiyun directly took out a spirit stone as big as a fist from his spatial stone and tossed it over.
The moment it appeared, a thick spirit energy emanated through the area with a sweet fragrance.
Wan Huatong grabbed the stone with her trembling hands. After stabilizing her grip, she was completely shocked and bit her lips: “Oh lord, Sir, this is a True Mysterious Spirit Stone, where are you from?!”
She stared at him with wanting eyes.
Feiyun smiled and said: “I want the best room and highest-level courtesans, the more the better, since I’ll be inviting some friends for a talk. Oh right, that Miss Huo Bingbing, tell her to dress up. I have money, we’ll see if she can earn it from me.”
“Right right, it’ll be easy with money. Oh, Sir, just who are you really?” Wan Huatong smiled happily while rubbing the spirit stone.
Feiyun only smiled and didn’t respond.
That other maid also came closer and bowed respectfully towards Feiyun: “Young Noble, thank you for visiting the Deep Blue Palace. Our Lady will not disappoint you, please follow me, I will personally guide you.”
This maid was ecstatic inside. Anyone who could casually take out a spirit stone was definitely a top member of the young generation. Such a guy could support her lady with endless resources. Thus, a maid like her would also get some nice rewards.
Wan Huatong murmured to herself: “The girls nowadays are so wily and fast to steal people, even more so than an old woman like me. But, someone who can take out a spirit stone is quite rare. If I tell the top flower ladies, it’ll be some money. Looks like I got it made this time.”
Her eyes flashed while thinking, not able to contain her smirk.
Not long after, all the top courtesans in Blissful knew that a rich young master has arrived. Moreover, he was also very handsome. This caused quite a stir.
Even the Blissful Flower Fairy, Sima Zhaoxue, took note of this. She was ranked fourteenth in the dynasty so her beauty was unquestionable. She slightly frowned and mused: “Strange, the top prodigies who come here usually do it for me. Is it a new young lord that had just arrived at the capital?”
“Miss, Flower Emperor Feng Guansai is coming too. The other two Flower Fairies all have powerful young kings backing them already. Our opponents are quite strong, we can’t let this young master get away.” One maid said.
“Of course we’ll get him. How can Huo Bingbing be my match? I’ll personally go this time.” Zhaoxue carefully looked at herself in the mirror and revealed a charming smile.
***
Meanwhile, Wolong Sheng had received Feiyun’s message so he came to Deep Blue. He closed to the door after coming inside and smiled: “Brother Feng, you’re always so unpredictable. A historical genius like you coming to Blissful to see a different courtesan, not the Flower Fairy? If this courtesan finds out you’re here, she’ll definitely run over.”
Feiyun smiled back: “I’m keeping a low-profile since we’ll be talking about the alliance, so that nosy people won’t disturb us. Oh, by the way, who is the Flower Fairy of Blissful?”
Feiyun thought he was slick and kept it quiet, not knowing that Wan Huatong’s big mouth had spread news of him everywhere.
“Flower Fairy, Sima Zhaoxue. The truth is that the reason why I’ve been staying here for so long is because of her. You need to take a good look because she’s definitely a temptress, to die for, even.” Wolong Sheng said.
“Sima Zhaoxue…” Feiyun’s eyes became serious while lamenting in his mind. Bi Ningshuai spent 20,000 spirit stones just to redeem her so that they could elope. It has been half a month now - she was still the Flower Fairy while he was nowhere to be found.
While feeling something was amiss, he said: “I initially had no plan to see her, but if Brother Wolong puts it that way, I guess I don’t have a choice.”
Wolong Sheng suddenly became serious: “For people of our level, a woman is only a tool for whatever means we need, Brother Feng. You shouldn’t let Maestro Ye down just because of a Sima Zhaoxue.”
Though Ye Xiaoxiang was rumored to have disappeared, those who knew more about it were aware that she was together with Feiyun.
Wolong Sheng felt the deepest gratitude towards Xiaoxiang and considered her a goddess. He assumed that Feiyun was hiding her as a lover. Out of fear that Feiyun might make her sad, he advised her not to take in Sima Zhaoxue as well.
1. This is one of those passages that you dread as a translator, same with the word itself. Feng Yue is a euphemism for a brothel. Whenever this word comes up, I have to rephrase it a bit in other to avoid the word brothel, but also to let the readers know that it’s pretty much a brothel.
2. These are all two-character words starting with Feng - Fengya; Fengyun, and Fengqing. They do have different meanings and can be context-dependent, I’m choosing the ones that fit the best
3. Yue means moon