The man who came out of the stairs was not very tall, and even a little thin, but his steps were steady. Yang Ning only took one look and knew that this man's martial arts was not weak.
The man was in his mid-forties, wearing a black cotton robe and a fox fur hat. He stood at the top of the stairs and glanced at the tall-nosed man who was lying on the ground and dared not move. When he saw the person coming, he got up and greeted him. He stepped forward and shouted: "Chief escort, this guy started beating someone...!"
"Snapped!"
Before the tall-nosed man finished speaking, he was slapped hard on the face. The slap was so powerful that half of the tall-nosed man's face swelled up in just an instant.
"Chief escort...!" The tall-nosed man was a little shocked, and didn't seem to understand why he slapped himself with his palm.
The middle-aged man said coldly: "I asked you to invite Miss Pearl, how did you do it? Since there are guests here, we should discuss it carefully, why should we offend?"
"Chief escort...!"
"Shut up!" the middle-aged man scolded sternly: "Am I still unclear about what you are doing? You must be rude and unruly here, so you will be taught a lesson. Mr. Yuan is here, he is a well-educated person , Birds of a feather flock together, and of course his friends are also very reasonable people. If you hadn't acted so recklessly, how would they have done anything?"
The tall-nosed man lowered his head and did not dare to speak.
The middle-aged man then strode forward, cupped his hands and said with a smile: "Mr. Yuan, these insignificant things have disturbed your elegance. I apologize to both of you here." He raised his hand, and a money bag was thrown to Yuan Rong. Next to him, "This is a small thing. There are countless girls on the Qinhuai River. This little money is enough for you, Mr. Yuan, to spend tonight."
Yuan Rong frowned and said, "Mr. Ding, head escort, what do you mean?"
The middle-aged man was Ding Yitu, the chief escort of the Rising Sun Escort Agency. He smiled and said: "I have caused trouble to you two by accepting a few worthless things, so this is considered an apology. And Ding has a visitor from afar today." My friend, he hasn’t been to the capital much. He came this time just in time for tonight’s Flower Queen’s Selection. My friend likes to listen to the piano and have fun. I heard that Miss Pearl’s piano skills are good, so I want to invite Miss Pearl to come and play. A song.”
Yang Ning glanced at Zhenzhu, only to see Zhenzhu lowering his head, her delicate body trembling slightly, but she did not dare to look at Ding Yitu, and was even filled with deep fear of Ding Yitu.
Yuan Rong frowned and said, "But I came here today because I also want to listen to Miss Pearl playing the piano."
Ding Yitu smiled and said: "Young Master Yuan comes from a scholarly family, and he is good at playing music, chess, calligraphy and painting. It is understandable to appreciate Miss Pearl's piano skills. Moreover, Mr. Yuan boarded Miss Pearl's ship earlier than me. Ding Mouben You shouldn’t win over people’s love, but my friend can’t stay in the capital for a few days. He only has some free time tonight and may leave tomorrow, so..." He took a step forward with a sincere expression, "Please also invite Mr. Yuan. Give Ding some face and ask Miss Pearl to come over. All the expenses of Mr. Yuan and this friend tonight will be borne by Ding. If Mr. Yuan can give Ding this face, I will definitely thank you very much another day."
Yuan Rong hesitated slightly and glanced at Yang Ning. He saw that Yang Ning was holding a wine glass, calm and composed. He seemed not to be aware of Ding Yitu's presence, nor to look at Ding Yitu.
"Miss Pearl, can you give Ding this face?" Ding Yitu looked at Pearl who bowed his head and said nothing, "If you can go, I will be grateful."
Pearl finally raised her head, glanced at Yuan Rong, and said with a bitter smile: "Mr. Yuan, Pearl is rude. I can't serve you two tonight...!"
The corners of Ding Yitu's mouth curved slightly.
"Miss Pearl, go and clean up first and dress up nicely." Ding Yitu seemed to be sure that Pearl would go with him, and said: "My friend is an extremely elegant person, don't neglect me, I will let you go." I'll wait for you below." After saying that, he cupped his hands to Yuan Rong and said, "Mr. Yuan, I'll thank you another day!" He turned around and left.
After only taking two steps, I heard a calm voice behind me: "Is this Mr. Ding, the head of the Rising Sun Escort Agency?"
Ding Yitu paused, turned around, and looked at Yang Ning. He saw Yang Ning shaking the wine glass in his hand, very leisurely, and said with a smile: "Yes, Rising Sun Ding Yitu, I haven't asked you for your name yet." !”
He obviously didn't know Yang Ning, but since he was with Yuan Rong, he was naturally not an ordinary person.
"It doesn't matter who I am." Yang Ning said calmly: "I asked people to come to you, not to ask you to take Miss Pearl away, but to ask you to come and apologize. Your attitude is pretty good, and you took the initiative to admit your mistakes, so I will let this be bygones. , you can take your people away, and remember to go back and educate them more, so as not to bother others to help you discipline them next time."
Ding Yitu frowned slightly, but his tone was still gentle: "This young master is right." After a pause, he said: "But you have also seen Miss Pearl's attitude. She seems to be willing to leave with me."
"I'm sorry, not to mention whether Miss Pearl is really willing to go with you, even if she is really willing, I'm afraid you can't take her away." Yang Ning reached out and twisted a piece of pastry and said leisurely: "I want it too. Listen to Miss Pearl playing the piano, so you can leave now."
Ding Yitu was startled for a moment, then smiled and said, "Is this young master joking?"
"The way you look at me, am I joking with you?" Yang Ning suddenly turned to look at Ding Yitu, his eyes sharp, "I don't have time to talk to you more." He turned to Pearl and smiled: "Miss Pearl, you can here we go."
Pearl frowned slightly and stood there, not knowing what to do for a moment.
Ding Yitu's face was slightly cold, and he said calmly: "I said that I will thank you again another day, and I will cover all the expenses for the two of you tonight. There are so many girls on the Qinhuai River, you can choose as you like."
"This is the only pearl on the Qinhuai River." Yang Ning said: "Since there are so many girls on the Qinhuai River, you can choose as you like, and don't disturb my elegance here."
Ding Yitu suddenly laughed and asked, "What if I have to take her away?"
Yang Ning also smiled and said: "That's what your subordinates said just now, but you also saw their fate."
"Are you threatening me?" Ding Yitu said with a smile: "Do you think Ding will be threatened? I admire your courage very much, but it is not a good thing for young people to be too arrogant."
"Aren't you still a young man if you are not full of energy?" Yang Ning also smiled and said: "You said you have guests, what does this have to do with us? You said let us give you face, your face is really that big, if I don't give it , what will happen to you?"
The corners of Ding Yitu's eyes twitched slightly, he turned to look at Yuan Rong, and said calmly: "Master Yuan, I gave you face, how do you think this matter should be handled?"
Yuan Rong sat down, picked up the wine glass, and said, "Mr. Ding, I may be able to persuade others, but this person's temper is too weird. Whatever he wants to do, I can't persuade him."
Ding Yitu looked at Yang Ning carefully and frowned slightly. Yuan Rong thought he was about to have a seizure, but saw that Ding Yitu just cupped his hands and turned around to leave without saying a word. The two men under him also followed.
Yuan Rong was a little surprised and said softly: "This is not like Ding Yitu's temper."
Yang Ning seemed to be a little surprised, and chuckled: "He is smarter than you think, and he can hold his breath more calmly...!" But he knew in his heart that Ding Yitu was not a reckless and courageous man. Simple role.
Pearl sighed quietly and sat down beside him.
"You seem to be afraid of him." Yang Ning asked, "Why are you so afraid? Has he hurt you?"
Pearl hesitated for a moment, then forced a smile and said: "Master Hou, let's have a drink. When we get to the Qinhuai River, just be happy. Don't worry about anything else."
Yuan Rong also looked at Pearl, frowned and asked, "Zhenzhu, are you hiding something from me?"
"No... no!" Pearl's eyes flashed and she lowered her head: "Sir, please don't ask any more questions."
Yang Ning sighed: "You were already afraid before you saw him. After you saw Ding Yitu, you didn't even dare to look at him. Of course, it couldn't be because he is the chief escort of the Rising Sun Escort Agency, and there are naturally many people behind him. There are other reasons. If you don’t want to say it, I won’t force it.”
"Pearl, Young Master Xue asked me to take more care of you back then, but in the past two years I...!" Yuan Rong looked sad, "Although I promised him, I failed to do it. I always wanted to help you, but...!" He smiled bitterly and shook his head, with a look of helplessness on his face.
There was a hint of gratitude in Pearl's eyes, and she said, "Sir, you have actually taken care of me a lot. Pearl is grateful."
"I know you must have suffered a lot in the past two years, but you have never taken the initiative to make any demands on me." Yuan Rong sighed: "I know your intentions, and I know that you don't want to burden me too much, but if you really If you have any unspeakable secrets and need my help, no matter what, you have to tell me." His voice turned cold: "Tell me, what happened?"
Pearl's delicate body trembled, but her eyes were red. She hesitated for a moment, and finally gently pulled up her sleeves. Her skin was very white, and her wrists were as crystal clear as jade. But when her sleeves were rolled up, the original snow-white skin was revealed. On top of it, there were several scars, criss-crossing and shocking.
Yuan Rong's expression changed drastically, and Yang Ning also frowned.
"This... what is going on?" Yuan Rong suddenly stood up, "Where did you get the scar on your hand?"
Pearl smiled bitterly and said: "Not only on my arms, I have more scars than this. Wherever you can see people, you can't see anything. Wherever you can't see people, they are all scars."
Yang Ning's eyes flashed coldly and asked: "Are these scars of yours all caused by Ding Yitu? Is this the real reason why you are afraid of him?"
"Tell me what exactly happened." Yuan Rong was usually an extremely gentle and elegant person, but at this time he was furious and his expression was ferocious.
Pearl said softly: "Ding Yitu is just a beast. He...he makes fun of abusing people. Every month he will send someone to pick me up, and then...!" But she did not go on. There was no one to complain about this sad thing. Speaking of it at this time, I felt sad and tears were already streaming from my eyes.