At this time, Mei Niang, Cui Xi and Cui Si had already slipped out of the Hou Mansion and came to Cen's residence in the east of the city. She and Lin Runan changed into men's clothes in the room. The beautiful woman turned into a handsome young man in the blink of an eye. Lin Runan was used to dressing as a man, and she didn't think anything of herself when she looked at herself in the mirror. She turned around and looked at Mei Niang, slowly walked around her, and said:
"You've grown taller and stronger. You look really handsome in this outfit... Mei Niang, if you were a man, you'd be bad!"
Mei Niang asked nervously, "What's wrong?"
Lin Runan chuckled: "I will go and snatch the person from Xu Junying!"
Mei Niang pushed her away: "Go away! If I were a man, he wouldn't marry me... Hey, don't tell me there are really men who like men. I had the bad luck to meet one before the New Year. Zhang Jingyun came all the way to warn me not to dress like a man anymore. I broke the rule for you tonight. You like to wear men's clothes. You have to be careful when you go out in the street in the future. Don't let that man bump into you. He will definitely like you and take you back as his male concubine!"
Lin Runan sneered: "That's called the homosexual habit. How come you always get involved with strange people and things? If the man you mentioned dares to mess with us again, I'll show you how I deal with him!"
Mei Niang whispered in her ear: "That person... that person is of noble status, we can't afford to offend him. If you meet him, just tell him that you are a woman and don't argue with him!"
Cui Xi came in, checked their clothes again, helped Mei Niang put on the ice spider mask, and then went out. Mei Niang didn't know how to ride a horse, so Lin Runan had to accompany her in the carriage. He held her wrist and smiled, "Before, when I pinched your hand like this, you cried out in pain. Now that you've grown stronger, when the weather gets warmer, find a docile pony and I'll teach you how to ride. It's boring to sit in a carriage all the time!"
There were few pedestrians on the street at night. Lin Amao drove the carriage smoothly and briskly, leading the way in front. Behind him followed a carriage from the Lin family, with Cui Xi and other maids sitting in it. Soon they arrived at the Xiankelai Restaurant.
The first to fourth floors of the Xiankeliao were brightly lit, and business was already extremely prosperous during the day. With the singing and dancing adding to the fun, it was even more lively. Every day until late at night, the hotel was still packed with guests and friends, including literati, princes and sons of the rich, who either sat in the private rooms on the upper floors or occupied the scattered seats in the lobby, drinking wine and tea and watching the singing and dancing. The group of singing girls and dancers led by Li Qiuge and Su Yunu and Su Yulang, siblings, have all practiced since childhood. They have beautiful voices and superb dancing skills. With the help of some ideas provided by Mei Niang, they added modern techniques to ancient dancing skills and modified modern songs to teach the boys and girls to sing. She also drew patterns and asked Li Qiuge, who was good at tuning musical instruments, to make a set of alternative drums. Although it was a bit weird, it was usable. They picked a handsome boy with nimble hands and feet to teach him how to play. The boy was very smart. He was originally a drummer and loved to play drums. Mei Niang's new method opened his eyes and he studied hard. After ten days, he was almost as good as before, which made Mei Niang feel a great sense of accomplishment. It was her first time to take in an apprentice, and she got a very talented one, and she was not a very professional drummer. It was all thanks to Li Qiuge who made a strange-looking drum set, which was missing several parts. Mei Niang only said that it was called a multi-sided drum set, and did not dare to point it out as the drum set in jazz, for fear of embarrassing the performance. However, it was much better than the original multi-sided antelope drum operated by multiple people. The whole show of song and dance was presented, and the graceful and free-flowing drummer was a highlight.
The rich and noble sons of the capital were deeply attracted to it. For a time, Li Qiuge's singing and dancing troupe became a new school in Kyoto. Every day, countless noble sons came to the Xiankelai Restaurant to serve the musicians and dancers. Mei Niang initially asked Li Qiuge to deal with the gold, pearls and silver ingots as rewards, but Li Qiuge refused and insisted that the hotel accountant collect them all. After the settlement, they would divide the money equally, with him taking one share and Xiankelai keeping one share.
The two carriages still entered the compound from the back door. After getting off the carriages, Mei Niang asked Cui Xi to lead the maids to the lounge to sit and wait, and told them that if they wanted to eat or have anything, they could cover their veils and go to the kitchen to get it, but not to leave the front hall easily, for fear that someone from the Xu residence might be there and recognize them, which would be difficult to explain.
After walking through the corridor of the back building, passing through the square patio between the twin buildings and entering the painted screen door, you will arrive at the luxuriously decorated front hall. In order to add singing and dancing performances, the first floor of the front hall was re-planned and adjusted. Many carved baffles were removed to increase the viewing angle from the inside of the second and third floors. A lot of thought was put into this. Mei Niang didn't know much about the pure wooden structure of ancient buildings, so she didn't dare to move at first. When she was at a loss, Zhang Jingyun and Lingxuzi came to help. They invited senior people in this field, and it took several days to get it done.
On the uniquely designed circular stage, more than a dozen young women in colorful clothes sang and danced to the accompaniment of soft string music, with charming postures.
Shopkeeper Lu had received the news in advance and arranged a table for them that was not too conspicuous and had a clear view of the stage. Without any instructions, the delicious food and wine were served in the blink of an eye. Mei Niang asked Shopkeeper Lu:
"Aren't Master Zhang and Master Xia coming tonight?"
Lu Xiangfeng said: "Master Zhang and Master Xia haven't come for a few days. I wonder if they will come tonight!"
Mei Niang said to Lin Runan, "I recognized these two friends when I was outside. It would be great if we could invite them to come drink with you!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he heard Lu Xiangfeng say with a smile: "The two young masters are here!"
Mei Niang turned around and saw Zhang Jingyun and Lingxuzi walking towards them.
Seeing that Zhang Jingyun and Lingxuzi had strange expressions, Mei Niang couldn't help but get nervous. Could it be... She raised her eyes and looked towards the door again, but saw nothing.
The four of them greeted each other and sat down, drinking a glass of wine together. Mei Niang formally introduced Lin Runan to Zhang Jingyun and Lingxuzi. To thank Zhang Jingyun for finding her in time and bringing her into the city, the two of them toasted him a glass each. Zhang Jingyun smiled and said:
"If you keep drinking like this, you'll be drunk again in no time!"
Mei Niang said, "Are you drunk again? We've had a few drinks together, have you ever been drunk? I'm not drunk!"
Lingxuzi laughed: "Are you trying to show off? You have to fall down to be drunk."
Mei Niang picked up the wine jug and filled the cup: "Come, Lingxuzi, I'll drink with you and see if I can fall!"
Zhang Jingyun looked at Mei Niang and said, "Why are you wearing men's clothes again today? Aren't you afraid of being recognized? He has never stopped looking for Qin Er."
Mei Niang bit a piece of beef jerky and said, "Didn't you tell me last time that he lived in a village outside the city, not in the city?"
Lingxuzi said: "He was originally going to stay for a while, but he suddenly decided to come back today."
Mei Niang was stunned for a moment: "You're back? What a surprise. I was thinking about accompanying Runan to have a good time at Xiankelai!"
Zhang Jingyun smiled and said, "It's ok tonight. He just returned to the city, so I don't think he will come out to hang around. Starting tomorrow, you can't do that. He often comes to Xiankelai. You are a woman, so he won't pay attention to you. If you dress like this, the only difference between you and Qin Er that day is your face!"
Mei Niang felt that the piece of beef jerky in her mouth was hard to chew, and frowned, "Don't mention him! Since he won't come tonight, let's drink and have fun. I won't wear this dress tomorrow!" (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation.) (To be continued)