Chapter 91: A Life Where Only Sneaking Around Leads to a Late-Night Snack

The guild master keeps saying this pastry was a terrible bargain.

“Shut up. You make it sound as if I don’t know that already.”

Luo Gan and Yan Shan left the Red Peace Residence and went out in search of something to eat.

There is a saying: a beauty’s smile is a blade wrapped in silk. How true that is. Only after taking Jun Tao’s pastries did they realize she had not eaten any herself, and now, one way or another, they had no choice but to go out and buy her something in return.

“Miss Jun Tao is really clever,” Yan Shan muttered, sounding a little resentful.

“What do you mean by that? We ate her pastries; returning the favor is only right, isn’t it?” Luo Gan asked, genuinely puzzled.

“What’s clever is that it all seems so right and proper. She never even asked, yet here we are, running ourselves ragged on her behalf.”

Yan Shan scratched his head, feeling oddly uncomfortable.

Luo Gan put an arm around his shoulder and said carelessly, “At this rate, you’ll be old and lonely before you know it! If you can’t even do a little something for a woman, then if you’re afraid of ever taking a loss, you’ll never win yourself anything better.”

That said, if Jun Tao had sent the pastries without much thought, then she was simply a kindhearted girl who knew how to care for others. But if she had done it on purpose, hoping to get something else in return, then she was truly formidable, someone who understood what stirred in a man’s heart.

As he thought on it, he suddenly found himself amused. Jun Tao was a courtesan, after all. She spent her days among men, making merry with them; how could she not understand what men were thinking?

Across the street, a foreign dancer in exotic dress was twirling before the pastry shop. Inside, a bearded man from the western regions, bare-chested, kept the rhythm and called out to customers. Night had fallen, yet the streets still buzzed with noise and life. People did not wander far along the great avenues, but stayed within the lanes of their own wards. Now and then, a rustle could be heard, and one could not tell whether some bold fellow was scaling a wall in search of wine and dalliance.

With a sway of her body, the dancer caught the firelight and shimmered in a blaze of color. She was the reason men loosened their purse strings and drank deeper than they ought; a breath of fragrance drifted out, ensnaring souls, selling pastries, selling wine, until one surrendered heart and mind alike.

Yan Shan stared without blinking, entranced by the dancer’s movements, clapping in time as though he were the leader of a modern fan club.

Luo Gan waved a hand before his eyes, but there was no response. He shook Yan Shan’s shoulder to rouse him, and only then did Yan Shan return in disappointment from his little reverie.

“Guild master!”

Luo Gan lifted his chin and looked down at him.

“Why are you always like this? Always patting people and shaking them around. Can’t I just space out for a while in peace?”

“No, you can’t,” Luo Gan said. “We came out to do proper business. We don’t have time to go chasing skirts.”

Yan Shan looked aggrieved and said with a long face, “That’s hard to say. Aren’t we also chasing skirts by coming out with Miss Jun Tao?”

Mentioning Luo Gan’s weakness, of course, revealed the double standard. If Yan Shan so much as glanced at a western dancer, Luo Gan would accuse him of neglecting his duties and loafing about. Yet when Jun Tao was involved, Luo Gan’s own tireless pursuit suddenly became perfectly reasonable. What a strange business.

“Ah, Yan Shan, you really need to learn to think things through. Jun Tao has a favor to ask of us! That’s not the same as seeing some random woman on the street.”

“What’s the difference? We’re just acquaintances passing in the night.”

Knowing he had no answer, Luo Gan did not want to keep arguing. The western merchant was deft with his hands, warming flatcakes over a fire-heated pan in one smooth motion, and just before they were done he sprinkled on sesame seeds. The fragrance filled the air, impossible to resist.

Luo Gan strolled forward and bought two cakes from the foreign vendor. The western dancer thanked him, which made Yan Shan terribly jealous.

Luo Gan split the cakes in his hands and handed one to Yan Shan, only to find that the boy refused it, going up to buy another cake for himself. Luo Gan was quite surprised.

“I already bought them. Why won’t you eat it and insist on buying another?”

“This one is different from that one.”

After the purchase, the dancer bowed to Yan Shan in greeting. Their eyes met, and Yan Shan’s face lit with springtime warmth. Then, in an instant, he became shy and looked away.

Luo Gan smiled knowingly and said nothing more.

Winter in the northern capital was bitterly cold. Though it was dry and snowless, the wind cut like knives, and after only a short walk one wanted to turn back home.

When they had set out, Jun Tao had seemed somewhat frail. Luo Gan had thought she ought to eat something nourishing, something to strengthen her blood and restore her spirits. But he could not show too much concern for her, nor make it too obvious, lest he lose authority and the brothers no longer heed him. After much deliberation, he finally managed to force out a suggestion.

“Everyone’s been worn out from all the traveling. Let’s buy something warming.”

The two of them wandered the streets from one end of the ward to the other, but found nothing suitable.

A city patrol officer rode by on the main street, and Luo Gan was greatly disappointed.

“Let’s go back. We’ve reached the end ahead.”

Luo Gan was unwilling to give up. He felt that returning empty-handed would be too shameful, and that in the future he would not be able to hold his head up before Jun Tao. Looking around, he noticed that the walls between wards were not high. At a glance they seemed to be made of packed earth, and when he slapped one, it proved sturdy enough.

A bold idea suddenly took shape in Luo Gan’s mind.

“I have an idea.”

Yan Shan hurriedly waved his hands. “Guild master, absolutely not.”

Luo Gan frowned in confusion. “I haven’t even said what it is yet. Why are you refusing already?”

Yan Shan pointed up at the sky. “It’s already dark, and the whole city is under strict curfew. Security is tight, and I don’t want to go making trouble and dragging us into something messy.”

Luo Gan laughed heartily. “I didn’t realize you were such a coward, Yan Shan! True, the patrols are heavy, but this wall still looks sturdy enough. Climbing over it shouldn’t be a problem.”

Yan Shan crouched down, pinched a corner of the wall with his fingers, and scraped off a little chunk with a sigh. “Isn’t this basically the same as the fences in our village? Besides, does the guild master even know where to buy the things we need?”

“I don’t.”

“Hah? Then we’re going to carry food back and forth all night?”

By then Luo Gan had already vaulted onto the wall of a nearby house. Yan Shan struggled to follow, only to be met with Luo Gan’s open scorn.

They crossed two more ward streets and found a shop selling lamb. Roasted lamb was the best thing for keeping warm. At the end of the street there was also a confectioner’s shop, where they found some clear, delicate-looking pastries that, drizzled with cane syrup, would surely delight a girl.

They packed up the food and began another round of wall-scaling. A stray alley cat, drawn by the scent, kept pestering them, making the two of them extremely nervous.

“That damned cat just won’t leave us alone,” Luo Gan muttered.

“We’d better leave quickly. When we bought the meat, I heard that each ward has its own patrol post. We can’t alert anyone.”

“What? In a place made of mud and rough earth, they still station that many neighborhood officers? Incredible.”

Yan Shan, not understanding what he meant, kept urging him to hurry. Then, after clumsily climbing the wall himself, Luo Gan handed him the packages, and he scrambled over.

But when Luo Gan climbed up, the hole Yan Shan had made with his overzealous ascent gave way beneath his feet. Luo Gan stumbled, the earthen wall collapsing with a crash. The noise instantly alerted the nearby patrols. Lantern light drew near from the distance, accompanied by rapid footsteps. Luo Gan’s eyes widened, and as countless possibilities flashed through his mind, he hastily prepared to flee.