Chapter 10 – Then Let Me Sleep with You

【Young Master Xiurong, I’m coming for you!】

The moment the brothel keeper of Xiaoqing Tower pushed open Gong Xiurong’s room door, Mu Nanjin screamed with excitement in her heart.

【To meet Young Master Xiurong without spending a single coin—every servant in Xiaoqing Tower will be green with envy! When I walk out of his room later, will someone be so jealous they’ll want to kill me?】

“Miss Mu, please.”

The brothel keeper made a polite gesture. Once Mu Nanjin entered, he quietly closed the door and stood guard outside.

Inside, Gong Xiurong reclined lazily on the bed, his luxurious robe draped loosely over one shoulder, revealing a perfectly sculpted chest.

【Wow, Gong Xiurong truly lives up to his title as the King of Courtesans. Not only does he have a face that could topple kingdoms, but his body is just as seductive. No wonder the Right Vice Minister of Rites and his colleagues would rather abandon their beautiful wives and concubines to come to Xiaoqing Tower for pleasure. I’ve decided—I’ll get close to the Ministry of Rites crowd. When they come to Xiaoqing Tower again, they can bring me along!】

“Pfft—”

Upstairs, the Right Vice Minister of Rites, who had been secretly watching, spat out his wine.

His colleagues scooted away in disgust.

“My apologies,” he said, wiping the wine from his mouth. “But since she already knows we’re here, is there any point in hiding anymore?”

One of them shrugged. “We’re already here. Might as well see what the two of them are up to.”

The others nodded in agreement—they were just as curious.

The young courtesans nearby exchanged puzzled glances, unable to understand the officials’ cryptic remarks.

Inside, Gong Xiurong rose and poured a cup of water for Mu Nanjin. “Miss Mu, we meet again. I must thank you for the bun you gave me yesterday.”

【A man who knows gratitude is a good man.】

Mu Nanjin took a sip of water. “It was just a bun—nothing worth mentioning.”

【If you really want to thank me, then let me sleep with you.】

Downstairs, the officials fell silent.

This young woman truly had a mouth that could shock the heavens.

Outwardly, she looked prim and proper, but inside—what a bold and unrestrained spirit!

“For you, it may have been a small favor,” Gong Xiurong said with a soft laugh, “but to me, it was a lifesaving grace.” He quickly changed the subject. “Forgive my curiosity, Miss Mu, but which household are you from? And how did you become a Ninth-Rank Jinyiwei? I thought the Jinyiwei didn’t recruit women.”

If she were an unranked junior officer, he wouldn’t have asked—but a woman with an official rank was practically unheard of. How could the emperor and his ministers have allowed it?

“I’m merely an orphan living under someone else’s roof,” Mu Nanjin said after a pause. “As for how I became a Ninth-Rank Jinyiwei… perhaps because I once saved His Majesty.”

Perhaps.

Because, truthfully, the original Mu Nanjin hadn’t intended to save anyone—she hadn’t even had the ability to. She had simply been shoved in front of the emperor at a critical moment, taking the blow meant for him.

The emperor knew the truth, yet still promoted her. There was clearly something fishy about it, but no gossip column ever mentioned the details.

“You saved the emperor?” Gong Xiurong arched a brow. “Forgive me, Miss Mu, but you don’t look like someone trained in martial arts. With such delicate arms and legs, how did you manage that?”

Mu Nanjin said half-jokingly, “Don’t let appearances fool you. I can take down ten grandmasters with one punch.”

Gong Xiurong blinked.

Ten grandmasters?

Did she even know what a grandmaster was?

To rise from a common fighter to a grandmaster required surpassing ten stages of cultivation. Thirty percent of practitioners were stuck below the fifth rank, half between the sixth and eighth, and even among Ninth-Rank warriors, only a handful ever became grandmasters.

At present, the Great Qian Empire had fewer than three thousand grandmasters in total.

So no—grandmasters were not newborns one could just punch to death.

Gong Xiurong chuckled. “Miss Mu certainly has an amusing way of speaking.”

Mu Nanjin nodded earnestly. “I really am amusing—and quite good at fighting too. If you ever run into trouble, come to me. I’ll take care of them for you.”

【Of course, my help comes at a high price—say, ten free sessions with you.】

The officials upstairs nearly choked on their wine again.

This girl was absolutely obsessed with freeloading off Xiaoqing Tower’s top courtesan!

Gong Xiurong laughed even harder. “Then I’ll thank you in advance. But I’m just a humble courtesan—what trouble could I possibly encounter? And even if I did, I could handle it myself. No need to trouble you, Miss Mu.”

Mu Nanjin said with conviction, “You won’t be able to handle it.”

Gong Xiurong froze, the smile fading from his face.

“What do you mean by that? Do you know something I don’t?”

Before Mu Nanjin could answer, noise erupted outside the window—voices shouting in alarm.