Chapter 1832
Heroine Mother 3
When the Grand Princess heard that Chu Xiao'er had opened a brothel, she almost fainted.
She could already imagine what her "good sisters and best friends" would say about her.
When Liu Qingyan brought Chu Xiao'er to open the brothel, the Grand Princess sternly demanded that Chu Xiao'er close down the brothel.
How could Chu Xiao'er possibly agree?
He got into an argument with the Grand Princess.
The Grand Princess was so angry that she fainted.
Han Yunya lowered her eyes and calmly arranged for the servants to fetch the doctor, but the wicked person in her heart was laughing so hard she was pounding the ground.
Liu Qingyan favored Chu Xiao'er, not wanting her to be punished or forced to do things she didn't want to do.
Liu Qingyan approached Duke Zheng and told him about the profits from the brothel.
Duke Zheng remained silent.
Liu Qingyan raised his stakes: "Restaurants and brothels are the easiest places to gather information."
The rest is self-evident.
Duke Zheng waved his hand.
Liu Qingyan left the study, understanding that Duke Zheng would not stop Chu Xiao'er from continuing to run the brothel.
Fearing that he might further upset the Grand Princess, Liu Qingyan left with Chu Xiao'er without waiting for her to wake up.
She never even considered visiting her two sons.
Liu Dong didn't care, but Liu Cheng was very disappointed.
Liu Tong: "What's there to be disappointed about? Didn't we used to only see him once in a long while?"
Because they rarely met, Liu Cheng was not familiar with Liu Qingyan, and although he had some admiration for his father, it was not much.
Especially after Chu Xiao'er appeared, Liu Chengxin became even more dissatisfied with his mother and with his father, Liu Qingyan.
Liu Cheng: "But he is, after all, a father."
Liu Tong: "Our mother raised us. Besides, he will have other children in the future. How much fatherly love will he be able to give us? Rather than having unmet expectations of him, it's better to pretend he doesn't exist. It'll save us from worrying."
Liu Cheng: "..."
Liu Cheng admitted that he couldn't be as straightforward as his younger brother, but he thought he would try his best as his brother had suggested.
After all, his younger brother is smarter than him.
Liu Tong: "Is there a new storybook? Do you want to read it?"
Liu Cheng: "Look!"
Entertainment was scarce in the ancient world, and even storybooks were quite boring.
To pass the time, Liu Tong found a few scholars with decent writing skills.
He provided character outlines and asked scholars to write the stories.
Cultivation of immortality, domestic intrigue, tomb raiding adventure, ghosts, gods, demons...
Who says people in ancient times didn't have big imaginations?
It's simply because they lack experience and inspiration.
With Liu Dong guiding the group of scholars, their imaginations ran wild, and the stories they wrote were no less impressive than those on the modern internet.
Liu Tong took the story to Han Yunya's dowry shop, printed it, and sold it, and it became a huge success.
He and the scholars made a fortune.
Seeing that writing vernacular stories was so lucrative, all the scholars switched to writing vernacular stories as a profession.
These storybooks use classical language and sentence structure. Although the content "borrows" from modern online tropes, it is indeed Liu Tong's original work.
Therefore, although Chu Xiao'er had read these storybooks, she did not consider the possibility that another time traveler had written the novel.
Liu Cheng enjoyed reading these storybooks, and so did the rest of the Liu family.
Han Yunya liked reading novels about cultivating immortality, as did the Duke of Zheng.
The Grand Princess enjoys reading stories about domestic power struggles and incorporates those stories into her palace intrigues...
Liu Cheng's attention was thus diverted.
The so-called father was less important to him than a storybook. After that, Liu Qingyan rarely came here, and even when he did, he was alone and would return to see his beloved after only a day.
It felt like three autumns had passed since we last saw each other.
Chu Xiao'er also opened a brothel in the border town, but business was not as good as in the capital.
There aren't many wealthy people in this border town.
Just as Chu Xiao'er was considering whether to close the brothel, a wealthy customer arrived.
This lavish spender's lavish spending at the brothel alarmed Chu Xiao'er.
Chu Xiao'er changed into men's clothing and ran to the brothel, wanting to see this wealthy customer.
The wealthy man smiled and invited Chu Xiao'er to drink with him.
Chu Xiao'er agreed and drank and chatted with the wealthy man as if they were old friends.
The magnate exclaimed, "I never imagined that the border town would have such a brilliant and talented person as Brother Chu!"
Chu Xiao'er smiled: "You flatter me. Brother Wu, is there anything I can do for you in this border town?"
Brother Wu: "No, I'm just traveling around here."
Chu Xiao'er: "Really?"
Brother Wu stayed at a brothel that night, where he was served by the most beautiful courtesan.
The most beautiful courtesan in this brothel was brought from Jiangnan by Chu Xiao'er, and she was even more beautiful than Chu Xiao'er herself.
Although Brother Wu realized that Chu Xiao'er was a woman, he could not allow her to serve him, and he was satisfied with the courtesan.
After leaving the brothel, Chu Xiao'er went to find Liu Qingyan and told him about Brother Wu's situation.
“I suspect he’s from the Black Earth Kingdom,” Chu Xiao’er said. “Although he speaks Mandarin fluently, there are a few words with strange intonations. He said he travels all over the country, and I deliberately misremembered a few places’ scenic features, but he didn’t notice… All of this shows that he’s not from the Central Plains.”
Liu Qingyan: "Understood, I'll keep a close eye on him."
Chu Xiao'er smiled: "Did I do a great service this time?"
Liu Qingyan smiled and said, "Yes. Once it's confirmed that this person is indeed a spy from the Black Earth Kingdom, I'll recommend you for credit."
Unbeknownst to the two, while they were discussing how to deal with the spy, Brother Wu had already quietly left the brothel.
Others thought Brother Wu was having an affair with the courtesan, but little did they know that he had already ruthlessly destroyed her.
The poor courtesan has passed away.
Brother Wu led his men through the border town and came to a small courtyard.
Brother Wu sat in the main seat of the room, and soon a subordinate came to report.
"Your Highness is right, Chu Xiao is indeed Liu Qingyan's wife."
Brother Wu, also known as the Second Prince of the Black Earth Kingdom, chuckled lightly: "Such an extraordinary woman has actually submitted to a martial artist like Liu Qingyan. It is truly a waste of her talent."
Brother Wu: "This woman is very clever; she must have figured out my identity. Pass down the order to have everyone suspend all activities, hide themselves, and not attract the attention of the officers and soldiers."
His subordinate immediately withdrew to deliver the message.
Brother Wu was itching to be with the beautiful woman dressed as a man, who was so confident and charismatic.
This kind of woman should belong to him.
The next day, Chu Xiao'er received a message from the brothel informing her that the courtesan had been killed and that Brother Wu had disappeared.
Chu Xiao'er was heartbroken!
She paid a high price to become the courtesan, but she was killed before she even made much money.
Chu Xiao'er hated Brother Wu to death, but Liu Qingyan ordered a city-wide search, yet no trace of him was found.
However, this also confirms that he really was a spy from an enemy country.
Liu Qingyan ordered that Wu be arrested immediately upon discovery.
The border town was in a state of panic for quite some time, and many people were arrested, but they were eventually proven not to be spies and were all released.
But Brother Wu has not been found yet.
Chu Xiao'er had completely forgotten about the person; she closed the brothel and was now considering what kind of business to pursue. (End of Chapter)