Xuyu felt as if she was walking in an illusory world.
In this early summer evening, enveloped in the vast evening light, the evening drums of Chang'an sounded, and passers-by hurried home, but she was heading to the past world she had left. The door to that world was originally locked, but from this moment on, she would be led back to the dusty old days behind the door.
It was dark, the gate of Pingkangfang closed behind her, and she was taken to Jinfeng Tower.
The famous brothel in Chang'an was brightly lit and filled with distinguished guests. Xuyu was led around the gate of Jinfeng Tower, approached a winding alley next to it, quietly entered from an independent small side door, passed through a deep courtyard planted with flowers and trees and dotted with strange rocks, climbed a long lacquered ladder, and came to a hidden pavilion.
Although the few most famous Qiu Niangs in the neighborhood were also under the jurisdiction of their fake mother, they not only had their own private residences, which were spacious and luxurious, with exquisite utensils and daily supplies that were no less than those of wealthy ladies. In order to facilitate meeting guests, they often had side doors that led directly to the inside and outside.
The servant led her here, bent down and went downstairs, and his figure disappeared in the shadows of the flowers and trees in the courtyard.
At this time, the surroundings were silent, with only a few faint sounds of singing and laughter coming over the wall from the direction of the front building with the wind, adding to the tranquility.
Xuyu calmed herself down, knocked on the door several times, but heard no response, so she slowly pushed the door open and walked in.
Facing the front is a small hall, with sitting beds on both sides, each surrounded by embroidered cabinets, writing brushes, inkstones, and elegant arrangements. It should be a place for meeting guests. After passing through, there is an inner corridor leading to the bedroom.
In front of the bedroom, there was an embroidered curtain. When the curtain was opened, one could see a bright candle burning on a silver lamp branch, illuminating the surrounding area. Next to the four-panel mica screen was a pot-door bed, which was popular at the time. It was covered with a mattress and an embroidered pillow. There was a table in front of the bed, on which there was a silver pot for storing incense. Next to the pot, incense was simmering in a silver duck stove. The fragrant mist slowly spread out from the opening on the duck's back and rose into the air.
From the moment she pushed the door open and walked in, Xuyu's nose was filled with a scent that she was very familiar with. She followed the scent and finally found the source of the scent.
This is the smell produced by ambergris borneol fumigation.
Ambergris is rare, and even in the inner palace, it is even more difficult to find outside. In the past, it was distributed to the royal palace as a reward during festivals. In the summer, A-niang liked to mix ambergris with borneol to make fragrant pills. The fragrance of the scent lingered for many days, and it was refreshing and refreshing.
Xuyu stood in front of the incense burner for a moment, then slowly turned around.
A beautiful lady holding the painting that Xuyu handed to her that day quietly came out from the small side pavilion connected to the bedroom and stopped in front of the cloud screen.
She was about 28 or 29 years old, with her hair in a lazy bun, and no other decorations except for a few plain hairpins. She wore a dark jade purple jacket and a goose-crowned red long skirt. Her face was as bright as the spring moon, and her pair of charming and demure eyes were staring at Xu Yu without blinking.
Xuyu recognized it at a glance.
She was Wei Yinniang, the elder sister of the Wei family who had accompanied her for several years and took her to eat sesame cakes.
She turned herself completely around, facing the beauty, so that she could see her eyebrows, eyes, and her entire appearance clearly.
"Sister, it's me."