"I want to borrow one of the girls from your establishment." Dou Jingtong, seeing that this young master had an extraordinary bearing and likely wasn't a nobody, yet was running a brothel with such care, figured it wouldn't be easy to take a girl from here.
Sure enough, as soon as Dou Jingtong finished speaking, Ye Lanshan's gaze turned cold: "The girls here aren't something you can just borrow casually."
"We can discuss payment. Name your price—how much to lend me a girl?" Dou Jingtong didn't back down; instead, his attitude grew firmer than before.
"What if I say no?" Ye Lanshan's voice remained as gentle as ever, but his tone was resolute.
"Perhaps you don't know who's backing me? It's the Sun family." Dou Jingtong, faced with such stubbornness, had no choice but to bring up his patron.
"So what if it's the Sun family? This brothel is mine, and whether I cooperate or not is my business."
Ye Lanshan hated nothing more than being threatened.
He hadn't liked Dou Jingtong from the start and had agreed to meet him only to see what tricks he was up to. But now that he was being threatened, he lost even the interest in watching the show.
Dou Jingtong, seeing his cold demeanor and unyielding attitude even after hearing about the Sun family, couldn't help but get angry.
"Do you know who the current Empress is? She's from the Sun family. If you want to keep this brothel thriving in this area, you'd better hand over a few of your girls."
Hearing this, Ye Lanshan laughed in anger: "Business matters aren't decided by the Sun family. If you want to destroy my brothel, you'll have to see if the Mu family agrees."
At the mention of the Mu family, Dou Jingtong's heart tightened. But on second thought, that didn't add up. He had investigated this brothel before—it had no background. That's why he'd let Mu Ziming come here to play. How could it be connected to the Mu family?
"If you're going to lie, at least come up with a better excuse. Saying this brothel belongs to the Mu family—who'd believe that?"
A faint smile curled at the corners of Ye Lanshan's mouth as he spoke with an air of mystery: "I never said it was run by the Mu family. I only said that if you destroy this brothel, the Mu family won't let you off."
"What's your relationship with the Mu family?" Dou Jingtong finally caught something different in those words.
"I don't think I'm obligated to answer that. If you have nothing else, Dou, please take your leave." Ye Lanshan politely showed him the door.
Dou Jingtong gave him a long, hard look before saying, "I hope you don't regret this."
"That's none of your concern, Dou. Qingdai, see the guest out."
"Hmph." Dou Jingtong stormed out of the brothel, fuming. Connected to the Mu family, huh? He'd better not find out he was lying, or else he'd personally shut down this brothel.
Qingdai worriedly asked, "Young master, by offending Dou Jingtong like this, will there be trouble?"
"He's not much of a threat and won't cause big waves." Ye Lanshan had initially thought Dou Jingtong would be a tough opponent.
But now, seeing his arrogant, impulsive behavior and how he constantly flaunted his backers, he was utterly shallow and cunning at best—just a bit clever.
"I need to go to the Mu residence. First, tell Taoyao to wait another two days." Ye Lanshan stood up, ready to head to the Mu family.
Just as he was about to leave the room, Qingdai hurriedly called out, "Young master, we're short on staff. Should we recruit more?"
"I'll leave that to you. I trust your judgment." Ye Lanshan didn't stop walking and soon disappeared, leaving only those words hanging in the air.
Hearing his trust and affirmation, Qingdai felt a surge of motivation. Young master, I will definitely build our intelligence agency completely.
"What? He left again?" Taoyao was disappointed to hear he had gone again.
Expecting to see him, she felt a pang of loss. Qingdai explained, "The young master left because of urgent matters. He hasn't forgotten about you. In fact, he cares quite a bit, but he's been busy lately, so he sent me to handle it."
"I see. If you have nothing else, leave. I need to rest." Taoyao still harbored strong hostility toward Qingdai.
...
"Is Mu Ziming at home?" Ye Lanshan stood at the Mu family's gate, politely asking the guard.
The guard, seeing his refined demeanor, knew he must be from a prominent family and answered courteously, "The young master is busy with something and is rarely seen. Perhaps you could visit again in the evening."
"Oh, is that so? I see." Ye Lanshan hadn't expected Mu Ziming to be away, but it didn't matter.
She took something from her space and handed it to the guard: "When he returns, give this to him and tell him I'm waiting at the Wo Ju in Futian Tower."
"Certainly, I'll make sure to pass it on." The guard was easy to deal with.
Ye Lanshan rewarded him with two taels of gold.
"Who is this young master, and how does he have Miss Ye's belongings?" When Mu Ziming returned home, the guard handed him the item.
He initially thought Ye Lanshan had sent a subordinate, but instead, he met a stranger.
"I'm a friend of Ye Lanshan. I need your help with something." Ye Lanshan didn't reveal that she was actually Ye Lanshan.
"What is it? If I can help, I will." Hearing it was about Ye Lanshan, Mu Ziming softened his tone.
"If Dou Jingtong or his people ask about the owner of Dream Red Pavilion, just say he's your friend and you're not at liberty to disclose more."
"Alright, but is that all?" Mu Ziming couldn't believe he had been summoned so dramatically for such a trivial matter.
"Of course not. Miss Ye asked me to tell you not to act rashly. The Sun family might use a beauty trap to ensnare you." When Dou Jingtong came to Dream Red Pavilion asking for women, Ye Lanshan knew their purpose.
"I understand. Pass on my thanks to Ye Lanshan for the warning." Mu Ziming's lips twitched at that. Did she really think he was so easily swayed by beauty?
"We've been talking for a while, but I still don't know your name," Mu Ziming suddenly realized.
"My name is Shan Luo." Ye Lanshan had just answered when she heard a noise.
"Who's there?" Ye Lanshan and Mu Ziming immediately looked around.