The First Venerable of the Prosperous Age

Chang'an and Lianxue both fell silent, listening intently, and could only hear a "squeak squeak squeak" sound coming from the corner.

Chang'an made a slight gesture, indicating that he would go and see for himself, and Lianxue nodded in understanding.

So he carefully made his way to the corner, taking each step very lightly.

From a distance, it looked like a black object. The object seemed to hear Chang'an approaching and made a "squeak squeak squeak" sound as it quickly fled. It turned out to be a mouse.

"Rat!" Chang'an rushed to catch it, but missed on the first try, so he scrambled after it again.

He used to catch mice at home when he was a child, so he has a lot of experience and passion for it.

Lianxue, looking worried, called out, "Be careful..."

Chang'an blocked and blocked the rat from the left and right, finally forcing it under the bed.

He then gestured to Lianxue, indicating that she should go to the other side of the bed. Lianxue looked uneasy and only took one shaky step before daring not to go any further.

"Is she afraid of mice?" Chang'an wondered.

Then Chang'an said, "Sister Lianxue, you can find other people to help catch the mice."

Lianxue looked troubled but remained unmoved. Chang'an had no choice but to stay by the bedside, and the stalemate continued.

After waiting for a long time without seeing the mouse come out, Chang'an could no longer contain himself. He bent down and slipped under the bed, searching and feeling around, but the mouse was nowhere to be found.

"Strange?" Chang'an crawled out from under the bed, looking unwilling.

Chang'an asked doubtfully, "Sister Lianxue, have you seen any mice come out?"

Lianxue shook her head, looking as if she still had lingering fear.

Seeing how terrified she was, Chang'an thought that if she had really seen it, she wouldn't have been completely unresponsive, so she asked softly, "Sister Lianxue, why don't you go find someone to help you?"

Upon hearing this, Lianxue frowned slightly, turned around, and slowly said, "It's not that I don't want to get rid of this rat, it's just..."

Lianxue bit her lip before saying, "If others find out I have that...that kind of thing in my room, then..."

Then I heard her sigh helplessly, "You're still young, you don't understand the implications..."

After a long silence, Chang'an finally whispered, "I understand..."

For a courtesan like Lianxue, who is at the top of the brothel, reputation is the most important thing. If this matter gets out, people will inevitably gossip behind her back, causing great damage to her reputation.

"It's good that you understand," Lianxue said slowly.

“If you don’t mind, I’ll look for it again for you. I think it should still be inside the house.”

Lianxue kept her back turned and nodded slightly.

So Chang'an searched around the room again, but since it was a young girl's boudoir that looked like it had mice, he didn't dare to rummage around. He only searched briefly and naturally returned empty-handed.

“Let’s just forget about it…” Lianxue sighed.

She turned around and saw that Chang'an's forehead was covered in sweat and his face showed resentment, so she said, "Do you... really want to help me that much?"

Chang'an nodded. "I'd rather believe I brought the rat in from outside..."

Lianxue smiled with relief and said gently, "I understand, but this kind of arrest can't go on forever."

"Then... what should we do?"

Lianxue slowly walked to the window again, staring blankly out the window, lost in thought.

After a long pause, the blue-clad figure by the window said softly, "Use poison."

"poison?"

"Hmm, prepare some of its favorite food, and then add some poison..."

Chang'an, somewhat worried, fell into thought, "Poison..."

"What are you thinking?"

Chang'an smiled and shook his head. "It's nothing."

Chang'an wanted to say it was cruel, because he caught the rats entirely with his own two hands, and even if he caught one, he wouldn't kill it.

But after much thought, Lianxue's method was indeed precise and wouldn't cause too much of a stir or arouse suspicion, making it the best choice.

"Then... I'll go to the kitchen and get some food."

"and many more…"

Chang'an stopped in his tracks, and then heard Lianxue turn around and say, "Bringing food here at this time would be too conspicuous, and besides... I don't have any poison right now."

"Then...?" Chang'an asked.

"When you deliver lunch tomorrow, just bring an extra dessert here."

"Then...do we need to go out and buy that poison?"

Lianxue nodded. "That's the only way. The key is who will go and buy it."

She lowered her head and pondered for a moment, then shook her head. "No, there's no one in this building whom I trust and can show my face in public, not even Yu Lei."

“I can do it,” Chang’an readily volunteered.

"I will go out and buy some poison before noon tomorrow."

Lianxue looked somewhat excited. "Then...then I can only ask you for help."

Chang'an nodded. "Don't worry, just watch me."

"Remember, you mustn't let anyone else see you..."

After saying that, Lianxue picked up the pipa again and walked to Chang'an. "Take this pipa back and familiarize yourself with what I taught you. You'll probably have to perform on stage tomorrow."

Chang'an accepted the pipa, feeling grateful, but couldn't help asking, "Then... what about Sister Lianxue tonight? What about the rats..."

Lianxue smiled gently, "It's alright, I can have Yulei come and keep me company."

"Then...is it okay for her to know?"

Lianxue smiled and shook her head. "She's my sister, one of the people I trust most in this world, but... she can't be of much help with this. In the end, it'll have to be up to you, Xiaomei."

Hearing the word "Xiao Mei" make Chang'an's bones melt. He hurriedly said goodbye to Lianxue and left the house with his pipa.

Seeing that it was getting late and there were only a few people left in the building, Chang'an greeted them and returned to the kitchen.

In the kitchen, Lu Xiaosan found the pipa novel, and the two played it together for a while until Lu Xiaosan's illness subsided, at which point he finally went to sleep.

The next morning, after taking care of Lu Xiaosan, who was suffering from a relapse of her illness, Chang'an chose a time when no one was in the building and went out to buy a bag of "highly toxic" arsenic.

When I returned to the kitchen, I saw Lu Xiaosan leaning over the stove, facing a jar of unsealed wine, sniffing it with a very intoxicated expression.

"Big brother, what are you doing?" Chang'an asked, his eyes wide open.

"Oh my god!" Lu Xiaosan was so startled that he almost knocked over the wine jar.

"You fucking scared the hell out of me! Oh my god!" Lu Xiaosan said, patting his chest.

"Big brother, you...you're not doing something bad, are you?"

After hearing this, Lu Xiaosan suddenly grinned mischievously, "Little beauty, do you know what the most important thing about drinking is?"

"I don't know..."

"You're so stupid, but you don't believe me. The most tempting thing about this wine is the aroma when it's first opened. Wow, that aroma, tsk tsk tsk..." He said, his face completely absorbed.

"So you just stood there sniffing the smell of alcohol, but didn't dare to drink it?"

Lu Xiaosan patted him on the shoulder, "Don't worry, I'll seal it back. You have to keep it a secret for me, your big brother."

Lu Xiaosan turned around to continue smelling the wine, but then suddenly seemed to remember something, turned back, and said in a serious tone, "By the way, where did you go so early in the morning? Why are you only coming back now?"

"Wasn't my older brother still having convulsions when I left? How did he know I went out?"

"Twitching doesn't mean you're paralyzed. Of course you're still conscious. Tell me, where have you been?"

He couldn't lie to Lu Xiaosan, so he started to avoid eye contact and said, "No... I didn't do anything."

Lu Xiaosan narrowed his eyes, took two steps forward, and pressed, "Really?"

Chang'an realized he couldn't hide it from him, and thought that Lianxue would dare to tell her sister Yulei, "As long as it's someone you absolutely trust, you should be able to tell them, right?" Chang'an comforted himself.

So he told Lu Xiaosan everything and instructed him to keep it a secret.

Lu Xiaosan promised to keep it a secret, but couldn't help but complain: "Tch, why bother with all this nonsense? If you ask me, wouldn't it be more straightforward to just burn this dilapidated building down?"

Lu Xiaosan looked at the white arsenic granules again and laughed, "Is this the highly poisonous type? Just a little bit will make the person you hate suffer to death. Tsk tsk tsk."

Lu Xiaosan then asked Chang'an for some arsenic, claiming it was for fun.

At noon, Chang'an picked up some leftover desserts from the guests and sent them over along with Lianxue's meal.

As he reached the second floor, a seductive voice called out to him, "Oh, Xiao Mei, which sweetheart is this dessert for?"