"Oh my, to what do I owe this honour?"
Upon receiving the private invitation to meet the famous courtesan, Yu Lan, Xie Qinzhen became the envy of all the other men in the room but he knew that his luck had run out. In truth, it wasn't as though he was trying to conceal his identity; after sifting through the capital in search of Chun Xue's whereabouts, from the seediest of bathhouses to the grandest of brothels but to no avail, he knew that he had to broaden his hunting ground.
He didn't believe that Chun Xue's particular looks hadn't gone unnoticed by the rich and powerful men who played games in the capital. The reason why he'd been brought away in the first place was already suspicious at best. If Xie Qinzhen didn't manage to solve this for his father, they might become tangled up in a mess big enough to bring imperial wrath down upon them.
(1) Using an oxcleaver to kill a chicken: an idiom that means to use overly aggressive methods to solve a simpler problem.
A/N: Thank you very much for reading, and for the lovely gifts, comments, power stones, and golden tickets! <3
One chapter a week is all I can manage for the next week, sorry. I worked 6:30 am to 9:30 pm from Tues to Fri and was called back in again today for a relief shift because someone fell sick. Next week, my bosses are again on call for most of the week, meaning I might have a lot of overtime shifts again (': I can't wait to be rotated to another department.