This made Li Shimin anxious, and he wanted to trade one for one with me.

Cheng Chuliang said with a grin, "This is what he looks like today."

Cheng Chumo nodded and added, "They'll switch back tomorrow."

"..."

"These young people these days, it's getting harder and harder to understand what they're saying..." Xu Niang muttered to herself, then asked:

"Then I shall call him Cheng Sanlang?"

Cheng Chumo solemnly said, "We still need to distinguish them. His surname is Li, so you can call him Li Sanlang."

The woman answered "yes," and then asked:

"What would you three like to eat?"

Cheng Chumo waved his hand and said, "Bring up all the best wine and dishes."

"Also, please have Miss Ruyan come here for a moment."

Xu Niang nodded and said, "Please wait a moment, gentlemen."

After a long while, the food and wine inside the house were ready. Li Dejiang looked at the sumptuous feast and clicked his tongue in amazement:

"I never expected that my eldest and second brothers would order so many dishes when they come to Leyunlou."

"Does my brother order food like this when he comes here?"

Cheng Chumo grinned and said, "That's right."

"Not only did he order the food like that, but he also didn't pay for it."

Li Dejiang asked curiously, "Without paying?"

"If we don't pay, the shop owners here won't let us leave, right?"

Cheng Chuliang laughed and said, "That's my third brother's skill."

Cheng Chumo looked at Li Dejiang with a serious expression and said:

“Dejiang, you are now my third brother. According to the rules, my third brother never pays when he comes to Leyunlou to eat.”

"So you have to think of a way to get this meal without spending any money."

"..."

Li Dejiang realized this might be a test they were giving him, and immediately began to ponder. After a moment's thought, he still couldn't find a clue, and couldn't help but ask the question that had been bothering him:

"I don't understand. Paying for a meal is a matter of course. How can you eat without paying? Surely the owner of Leyunlou isn't some great philanthropist?"

Cheng Chumo thought for a moment and said, "That's not quite right. To be precise, every time my third brother comes over, someone pays the bill for him. The person who pays the bill is the lady Ruyan I just mentioned."

"So, when Miss Ruyan arrives later, you need to find a way to get her to pay."

So that's how it is... Li Dejiang breathed a sigh of relief, finally finding a breakthrough, but then he felt something was wrong.

The prostitutes are paying? Then who exactly is there to spend money...? Li Dejiang asked疑惑地:

"How did Brother Chuxia persuade this young lady Ruyan to contribute money?"

Cheng Chumo chuckled and said, "I remember it very clearly. The first time I brought my third brother here, he had a drinking contest with Lady Ruyan. Whoever lost had to pay the bill."

"Of course, their drinking contest wasn't about drinking jars of wine one by one. Instead, they wrote down how much they could drink on a piece of paper, and the one with the highest number won. The loser paid the bill, and the winner had to drink the same amount of wine as the number written on the paper..."

After patiently listening to him finish speaking, Li Dejiang said in a deep voice, "If it were me, I would have asked them to pay the bill directly."

Cheng Chumo asked in surprise, "Will they agree?"

Just then, the door suddenly opened, and Xu Niang walked in carrying a tray, looking worried and saying:

"Brother Cheng, Second Brother Cheng, I'm so sorry, my Ruyan isn't here..."

Cheng Chumo asked in surprise, "Not here? Where did you go?"

Xu Niang leaned closer to him and whispered, "She's in some trouble... someone's causing her trouble, so she's gone into hiding."

Cheng Chuliang asked in surprise, "Who else dares to cause her trouble? Who's so bold?"

Xu Niang sighed and said, "Even an upright official finds it hard to settle family disputes. Let's not talk about this matter to avoid spoiling the mood of the three of you."

Cheng Chumo frowned, pondering who to ask to settle the bill since Ruyan was not around.

At this moment, Xu Niang's voice rang out again: "Miss Ruyan is not here today, Brother Cheng. Should I find another courtesan to keep you company while you drink, or should I stay?"

Cheng Chumo looked at her and said, "You stay."

Xu Niang smiled, and on the tray in her hand were six wine cups, one for each of them as an apology. She sat up straight and said:

"I toast to the three gentlemen."

After she finished speaking, she handed the wine cups on the tray to the three of them one by one.

She then picked up the other three wine glasses on the tray and drank them one by one.

After finishing their drinks, Cheng Chumo leaned close to Li Dejiang and whispered, "Third Brother Li, things have changed. Did you bring any money?"

Li Dejiang whispered, "No."

It seems we have no choice but to call for reinforcements... Cheng Chumo muttered to himself, then said to Xu Niang:

“Xu Niang, we didn’t bring any money. Could you send one of the waiters from Leyunlou to the Cheng residence in Huaide Lane to get the money from my steward?”

Upon hearing this, Xu Niang put down her wine cup and remained silent for a few seconds.

Seeing this, Cheng Chumo raised an eyebrow and said, "What's wrong? Don't you trust me?"

Xu Niang shook her head repeatedly and said, "That's not what I meant. I was thinking that if Ruyan were here, knowing that Cheng Sanlang's older brother didn't have any money, she would definitely pay for you without hesitation... Sigh."

Hearing this, Cheng Chumo was somewhat moved and asked, "What exactly happened to Miss Ruyan?"

The woman looked worried and said, "As I just said, what she's going through is a family matter that even an upright official would find difficult to resolve..."

"Ruyan was good in every way, but she was born into the wrong family. She had a gambling father, a sick mother, and an immature younger brother... She was originally a good girl, but what good could she have if she was born into such a family? In the end, her father sold her to Leyun Tower. I felt sorry for her, so I took her in and treated her like my own daughter."

Cheng Chumo asked in confusion, "How come I remember you telling me that Miss Ruyan came from the Jiaofangsi (a government-run entertainment brothel)?"

Xu Niang explained, "That's just a gimmick, it's not real."

Then Xu Niang continued:

"Le Yun Lou owes its current success to Ru Yan. She is the face of Le Yun Lou, and I take good care of her. With me around, no one can touch her. I also made a three-point agreement with her: once she has money, she can redeem herself and leave."

Xu Niang sighed, "To tell you the truth, Ru Yan had actually saved enough money to redeem herself several years ago, but she didn't go and chose to stay at Le Yun Lou instead."

Li Dejiang asked, "Is it because of her gambling father, sick mother, and irresponsible younger brother?"

Xu Niang nodded and said, "Yes, it's because of them."

"Since Ruyan came to Leyunlou, I haven't paid much attention to news about her family."

Xu Niang said in a deep voice, "But, I don't know why, a few days ago, Ru Yan's younger brother suddenly came to Le Yun Lou to look for her. I don't know what her brother said to her, but that afternoon, Ru Yan came to me and told me that she was going to hide for a while."