Chu Hanjin rose from his chair, hearing the commotion from the other side.

It sounded like someone was enthusiastically trying to coax Yue Lin into sitting down to drink and listen to music.

Amid the barrage of flirtatious voices, Yue Lin could be heard rejecting, “No, no, I’m just sitting here,” yet the overwhelming clamor seemed to almost swallow him.

Chu Hanjin sat down but stood up again.

Something wasn’t right. Something wasn’t right. Something wasn’t right. He was getting tense because of Yue Lin. Chu Hanjin pressed his lips together and asked, “How do you want me to save you?”

Yue Lin lowered his voice, “I’m pretending to be a customer at the brothel. If I don’t want to raise suspicion, I need to find someone to sit with, drink a bit, and keep up the act.”

Chu Hanjin hesitated. “So…”

“I…” Yue Lin paused for a moment, then continued, “I can’t sit with anyone else. Touching them makes me uncomfortable.”

For the first time, Chu Hanjin felt lost, unsure of what to do. He stayed silent.

He then heard a clear male voice from the other side.

“Where are you from, big brother? I’ve never seen you before. Are you new here?”

Yue Lin responded, “Yes, it’s my first time.”

“Wow, you’re so pure, huh? I don’t believe it~” The voice was playful and syrupy, filled with teasing flirtation. Even Chu Hanjin found his ears heating up just listening to it. He hadn’t expected someone to speak in such a tone.

Yue Lin paused briefly before replying, “I’m not lying.”

“Hmph~ I knew it. Big brother would never lie to me~”

The overly seductive tone made Chu Hanjin frown.

Men liked the coquettish type. Even if they didn’t show it normally, they preferred soft, teasing behavior in private. Just one sweet phrase could make their bones melt. This was the norm among brothel courtesans.

To outsiders, though, it sounded excessively lascivious.

Yue Lin clearly couldn’t stand it anymore. “I’ll have to use a little trick.”

Chu Hanjin asked, “Hmm?”

His doubt didn’t last long. Yue Lin seemed to lift his wine cup, “Here, have a drink.”

Not long after, the boy stood up, “Oh dear, I need to go somewhere. I’ll be right back.”

Chu Hanjin hadn’t expected him to leave so suddenly and asked, “What did you do?”

Yue Lin replied, “I put some medicine in his drink. He’s got an upset stomach now.”

“…”

Just as Chu Hanjin nodded, he heard another playful giggle, “Big brother, why are you sitting all alone? Let me keep you company~”

Yue Lin sighed, “Another one.”

Chu Hanjin started to find the situation a bit tricky.

Yue Lin couldn’t make every person have an upset stomach, right? That would be far too suspicious.

“Big brother, what kind of music do you like? Should I play for you? Is it because I’m not pretty enough? You haven’t even looked my way. Your standards must be really high~”

Yue Lin responded, “…Just play whatever.”

As Yue Lin dealt with the woman, Chu Hanjin’s cool voice came through the bell, “I’m coming to get you.”

With that, Chu Hanjin stood up.

Knowing someone was probably watching, Chu Hanjin didn’t extinguish the lights. He disguised himself and stepped out into the street, heading towards the red-lit brothel. Disguised as a regular passerby, he followed the procedure Yue Lin had mentioned—first ordering a pot of tea upon entering.

Not long after, he overheard someone speaking nearby, “That man earlier was so handsome, one in a hundred. But he didn’t even look at me, just kept drinking. What a shame…”

Chu Hanjin turned his head and recognized the voice. It was the same boy from earlier.

The boy was gossiping with others, cracking melon seeds and shaking his head, “If I could sleep with him, I’d do it for free.”

After he finished speaking, he noticed others staring at him.

Chu Hanjin’s voice was serious, but he used the brothel’s jargon, “Drink with me.”

“Oh~ Coming, coming~ When did you arrive, sir? I didn’t even notice! It’s so hot today…” The boy led Chu Hanjin to his private room.

As soon as the door closed, Chu Hanjin said, “Forgive me,” before swiftly knocking him out with a strike to the back of the neck. The boy went limp in his arms, and Chu Hanjin gently laid him down on the bed.

He listened for any movement outside, then disguised himself as the boy.

Opening the door, he walked out confidently.

—

Not far away, behind a curtain, someone stood watching from a distance. It wasn’t hard to guess that this was one of Luo Yang’s informants.

“Big brother~ What kind of music would you like to hear? I can play anything for you~ We have so many pretty girls here. Why are you so quiet?”

Several flirtatious faces surrounded Yue Lin, their voices cloyingly sweet. With Yue Lin’s good looks, all the idle courtesans flocked to him, teasing him non-stop. But Yue Lin remained calm and unmoved, which only made them tease him more enthusiastically.

Yue Lin sighed, setting his wine cup down on the table, and heard Chu Hanjin’s voice through the bell, “I’m here.”

Looking up, he saw the same boy from earlier, but with a completely different demeanor. The face was the same, but the posture and air were dignified, and when he sat down, his voice was stiff, “I’ll drink with you.”

Yue Lin looked up.

A familiar scent filled the air. He nodded, his shoulders relaxing as he pulled Chu Hanjin’s wrist into his arms, his tone suddenly becoming playful, “I’ve been waiting for you. Why did you take so long?”

“Oh, so you were waiting for someone?”

“No wonder you weren’t interested in us.”

“Alright, girls, let’s go, let’s go.”

The group scattered like birds.

Chu Hanjin felt somewhat uneasy as Yue Lin pulled him onto his lap, holding his shoulder as he furrowed his brow, “Stop…”

“Everyone here does this,” Yue Lin replied.

Chu Hanjin glanced around. Brothels really lived up to their reputation—people were sitting on laps, kissing openly, and some even had their hands roaming to inappropriate places.

Chu Hanjin turned his gaze away, only for Yue Lin to cup his face, shielding his eyes, “Don’t look at such indecent things.”

“…”

Yue Lin’s palm was warm, and Chu Hanjin’s face reddened slightly as he turned his head away.

If we’re talking about indecent, what he’d seen in his dreams was far more inappropriate than this.

Although Chu Hanjin had disguised himself, his scent was unmistakable. Yue Lin leaned closer, breathing in before Chu Hanjin pushed him away, warning, “Don’t try anything.”

“I won’t, I won’t,” Yue Lin said, “It’s just part of the act.”

Occasionally, people would glance their way.

But at that moment, Chu Hanjin, sitting on Yue Lin’s lap, gently resting his hand on his shoulder, appeared like the perfect picture of a loving couple, raising no suspicions.

After a while, Yue Lin wrapped his arm around Chu Hanjin’s waist and said, “You’re too tense.”

How could he not be tense?

They were in public, holding each other so intimately.

And Yue Lin wanted him to relax?

Yue Lin hugged him tighter and reassured him, “It’s fine. Just relax.”

To any onlookers, they appeared to be whispering sweet nothings to each other.

But what Yue Lin actually asked was, “Do I smell like alcohol?”

Chu Hanjin replied, “A little.”

“I’ll air it out so it doesn’t bother you or the baby.”

“…”

Hearing this, Chu Hanjin couldn’t help but notice the scent on him. The alcohol wasn’t strong, mixed with a warm, dry smell and a hint of powder. But beneath that, there was something else—something unique.

It wasn’t like the incense, medicine, or alchemical scents that other cultivators carried.

Yue Lin’s scent was clean, like sun-warmed skin.

It conjured images of taut muscles under smooth skin, a chest slick with a thin sheen of sweat, radiating warmth.

It even… made Chu Hanjin recall the intimate moments they shared in the forest when Yue Lin had lost his memory.

Just thinking about it made Chu Hanjin’s eyelids burn.

As they talked, a voice came from behind them.

“Daoist friend?”

Yue Lin looked up. Sure enough, it was Luo Yang.

Luo Yang’s face was all smiles, “Enjoying the music?”

As expected, this man was persistent. Yue Lin replied, “It’s quite good.”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. What kind of beauty could have caught your eye? Let me take a look…” As he spoke, Luo Yang reached out to lift Chu Hanjin’s chin, but Yue Lin grabbed his hand before he could, pushing it away, meeting his gaze with cold eyes.

Yue Lin said, “I don’t like other people touching my things.”