"Welcome to Peony Garden, Childe, your usual room?"
The place that Wei Wuxian went to was the famous courtesan house – Peony Garden – which only catered to the rich and mighty.
The building had two floors and the second floor was reserved to the most requested girls of the Peony Garden. Each room was decorated according to their taste and the guests could only arrive after their appointment and payment were made up front. If they exceeded their two hour time limit, there would be extra charge for every hour they stayed – not including if the girl had already made another appointment prior.
They did not do any bodily fluid exchange there, only music, dance, literature, and all the things a high-end courtesan did to stimulate the mind of the lonely – with an exorbitant price, but still in very high demand, judging from the waitlist that could span as far as six months in advance.
All of their girls were beautiful and smart, but most importantly, Peony Garden was actually an information guild that was set up and belonged to Wei Wuxian. He gathered the orphans – mostly Omegas and Betas – and put them under training to become spies because he knew that information was worth more than gold.
The girls were trained by an Omega woman that Wei Wuxian saved when she was heavily pregnant and abused by her husband – Jiang Yanli, and her Beta brother, Jiang Cheng. Both of them did not know that he was the Crown Prince – only a rich son of a noble who was kind enough to help them, and they did help with all their body and soul, by making the Peony Garden one of the two most successful courtesan houses in the red-light district.
And now, the receptionist who recognized him quickly took him to his special room that was only reserved for him only.
She nodded at the trainee girl to call Madam Jiang and informed her that the Childe was here.
"Would you like some snacks while you're here, Sir? We have a new menu for this month." The girl, Mianmian, knew that Wei Wuxian liked the Peony tea and the specialized snack of the Peony Garden – a snowdrop cake with peony jelly inside. But the new menu was different because it was made out of the strange fruit that the foreigner brought and taught how to make them into a delicious chocolate drink and snacks, and she wanted to show off her skill to the handsome and gentle Childe.
Xue Yang was about to reject because he did not like it when Wei Wuxian ate food that had not been tested first, but the latter stopped him and he smiled gently at the young girl.
"Sure, Mianmian. Please bring some to my friends here too, okay?" And he ruffled Mianmian's hair before he went to the back door where the special room was located – leaving Wen Ning and Xue Yang outside.
Inside the dark room, Jiang Yanli had waited for him with a pot of specially brewed tea and a few plates of snacks such as mooncake, pineapple bun, and the famous snowdrop cake with the peony jelly inside that Wei Wuxian loved.
He knew that it was risky to eat without the poison tester, but he trusted Jiang Yanli and she would never betray him by her own choice.
"Childe, I've been expecting you." She curtsied and bowed her head deeply as a sign of respect, and Wei Wuxian waved her off.
"Any news?" He sat in front of Jiang Yanli and took a piece of the snowdrop cake and bit into it.
"Not the ones that you wanted to know, but we have an appointment with Minister Lu in three days, we should know more by then." Jiang Yanli then updated Wei Wuxian with something that was bothering her lately. "Childe, we have information that many of the orphaned young Beta males were kidnapped and were taken somewhere. We tried to investigate, but every time we could not find any more clues. Like they just disappeared into thin air."
Wei Wuxian lifted his brow in question.
Young Beta males were very common and many people threw their Beta son away in hope to conceive another more superior offspring, like an Alpha male.
No matter how weak, Alpha males and females were in high demand, especially for works in government positions – where Omegas were forbidden to hold any high position. So it was no wonder that the Beta children were the lowest in the hierarchy, and they would amount to become eunuchs in the palace, since it was hard for them to have children too.
But, to kidnap them in the broad daylight? That there, took some guts, and it could only be done by someone with a high ranking, whether it was nobles – or slave traders.
"Please ask Jiang Cheng to investigate more into this. Use any means possible to find out more and the whereabouts of the kidnapped children, please. You may use the emergency fund to utilize more manpower to do so."
"Yes, Childe. Thank you for your concern, and I promise not to let you down."
After that, they continued with the usual reports, and Wei Wuxian would leave when it was time that the sun started to get low.
"I will leave everything in your hand then, Yanli. If you have any urgent news, please use the messenger bird to send me the encrypted message, and I will get back to you shortly." Wei Wuxian then stood up and prepared to leave. He was starting to feel the low tremor on his hands – a sign that he had exceeded his stamina and needed to take a rest before he passed out from exhaustion.
"By the way, where's A-Ling? I didn't see him around."
"He's playing with some kids his age from the Blue Orchid. They had a lot of young children there and I think A-Ling had a crush on one of them."
Blue Orchid was the other courtesan house with the best reputation and even longer waiting list. But although they were rivals, they also helped each other in times of need – given that they were all women and children and people who did not have any family left in this world.
"Hmm, good for him. Just tell him that I miss him and will see him next time I come here."
"Of course Childe. Have a safe trip and I will give you an update as soon as possible regarding your request."
Wei Wuxian nodded and he left the room to go back to where his aides were waiting for him, when he saw A-Ling outside in front of the front door – talking to a tall gentleman in all black.
He smiled and called the boy, and when he turned around, his face was beaming with happiness to see Wei Wuxian. He ran back to him and gave him a hug that made Wei Wuxian remember what he was doing this all for.
And it was worth it.
"Childe, that gentleman was looking for you." A-Ling pointed at the man with an all black attire that was talking with A-Ling before and Wei Wuxian frowned.
No one was supposed to know that he was out here, and if anyone suspected, he was after all the useless Crown Prince, and he was already living the life of debauchery anyway.
But when he looked closely at the man in all black, his heart stopped for a second there.
What was he doing here of all places?
The man's fiery golden eyes met with his own dull gray lifeless ones, and Wei Wuxian saw that they lit up and the man himself quickly approached him with fire in his intoxicating golden eyes.
It took him only a few long strides to be on Wei Wuxian's side, and he smiled so softly when he called his name. The name that he couldn't even remember since no one ever called him that ever since this man went away three years ago.
"Wei Ying. I'm back."