"Hey, hey, did you hear about them?" a man asked his friend who was sitting across from him.
"Yeah," his friend answered loudly, not caring at all that he may be disturbing the other diners.
"Gosh, eight people and two of them are even from big noble families," the man sighed as though he could not believe that such a thing could happen in the capital.
"That's not the only thing! I've heard that three of them were actually disciples to masters!" the friend exclaimed before also sighing at the deprivation of life.
"What do you think's going to happen now?" the man questioned with curiosity.
Then, someone who wore black clothes and was sitting on the table next to them jumped in to say, "I heard that the imperial family is going to host a funeral for all eight people at the same time."
"Wow… Are the families going to be happy?" the friend asked with shining eyes as they would finally really go into the good gossip.
"Definitely not," the person in black clothes answered. "Nobles do not like to be associated with commoners."
"Ah, yes, the last three were commoners, huh…" the man remarked with bitterness. "Such act of division…"
"I think that the fact that nobles do not like commoners are quite normal," the person in black commented honestly. "Think about how they were raised differently from commoners… Our lives are so different from each other that the way we think is different from each other, too."
"Well, since the nobles won't be happy, then what about the masters?" the friend suddenly questioned with confusion.
"I heard that the masters are planning to bring monks to the funeral to bless all eight people since they all left this world at the same time," the person in black said.
"Look at how different the masters are from the noble families…tsk tsk…" the man reacted with a distasteful look.
"I also heard that one of the nobles murdered was the youngest son of the Han Clan," the person in black suddenly commented.
"Eh? Doesn't the Han Clan only have two young masters?" the man asked with a confused face.
"The sister of Master Han gave birth to a son, but died after giving birth and thus Madam Han raised the boy as her adopted son," the person in black explained.
"Why did no one know about this adopted son?" the man questioned, surprised at the new knowledge. "Especially considering the fact that he's from the Han Clan."
"Apparently the sister of Master Han didn't die from childbirth, but was actually murdered," the person in black spoke in a whisper that allowed only the two men at the table to hear.
Quite done and bored at the long conversation in which they were not listing the names of the eight dead people, Peng Mingzhu finally sat up from her table with the intention to walk over to the table of gossiping men.
However, before she could move away from her table, five men suddenly appeared in front of her.
"Hey, miss, what is your name?" the man who was standing in the front and middle, seemingly the leader of the group asked with a grin on his face.
"Apologies, I do not tell my name to strangers," Peng Mingzhu straightforwardly shot the leader down with a humble but irrefusable tone.
"Come on! We are not strangers! Right, brothers?" the leader cheered, guiding the rest of the group to follow after him. "Miss, how could we be strangers? I am sure that you have heard of me before!"
Peng Mingzhu wanted to say that she really did not know him and that she was a foreigner in this country. However, she suddenly heard the nearby gossip from the other missus that were dining in the same room as her.
"Goodness, just yesterday this Young Master Yao was flirting with one of the noble miss. Thank goodness she had her people nearby or else, she would be meeting the same fate as this young miss here," a middle-aged madam whispered to her friend in a hushed voice.
"Truly, beauty is not a good fortune in this day and age," the friend of the madam commented with a sad sigh.
"She can only blame herself for being too beautiful," a young lady from another table not too far off remarked.
"Yes, you are right Miss Xiang," a young lady that could easily be seen to be her maid responded in a quiet voice.
"She knows just how beautiful she is and still does not cover her face. Is she asking to be molested?" the lady that was addressed as Miss Xiang scoffed.
Hearing the gossip and remarks of the people nearby, Peng Mingzhu finally knew who this person was that was standing in front of her.
He was Young Master Yao, the only son of the Yao Family, a huge salt trading merchant. Since merchants did not share the same status as nobles, Young Master Yao was unable to assault the noble ladies who brought along guards and maids everywhere they went.
Young Master Yao was famous for being a flirtatious boy who loved going to the red light district and despite his young age, already has lots of children due to his many flings with women. If someone were to ask how many ladies from the red light district have been ruined by this young master, they would find the answer to be over 20 ladies.
Not only that, due to his fame, many noble families no longer allowed their daughters to go out with a group of guards and maids following.
At just the age of 17, Young Master Yao managed to get himself a very noble wife from one of the big clans because he raped her. Well, at least that was the rumor that went around. However, was the rape nonconsensus?
Actually, was it even rape in the first place?
No, the act of doing such an intimate activity was consensual between both people. Everyone who was a big star in the circle of nobility also knew the inside story themselves of what truly happened, but just never spoke out the truth.
Young Master Yao while consummating his relationship with the noble lady was also in multiple relationships with the ladies from the red light district. At the same time, he was not yet super famous since the Yao Family was not powerful, having only a good financial status that was much better than others.
The noble lady did not know that Young Master Yao had been lying to her on multiple occasions and when she did find out, she only knew when she met the children that were born by the prostitutes in the red light district.
Once she knew, she immediately cried to her father and mother, who punished her for her recklessness and married her off to a man of lesser power than them; but very much in love with her. Her marriage was so quick and abrupt that rumors ran rampant that the noble family decided to just tell the capital that their daughter was raped by a monstrous man who claimed himself to be Young Master Yao.
Even though this story seemed to be a sad story, the truth was actually different.
The noble lady fell in love with her husband on their wedding night and after the first year of their marriage, she already gave birth to a pair of very cute twin boys. In the second year of their marriage, she gave birth to another pair of very cute twins - the only difference was that they were girls this time.
Many people would say that her story started out as a lie, but the ending that she got was much better than others. In fact, many other noble ladies would be jealous of her.
Her husband may be lesser in power compared to her maternal family, but he still held a reputation of some sort and was very rich.
Young Master Yao on the other hand…
After being beaten up by the servants of the family of the noble lady and almost dying from his wounds, he found out that now he could no longer target the very innocent and beautiful noble ladies. His love for blackening something white could no longer continue and he could only settle for the prostitutes that he considered to be "second-hand goods."
However, seeing Peng Mingzhu brought back the feeling of tainting something to be his color once again.
From experience, Young Master Yao knew that Peng Mingzhu was not a young lady that has yet to experience life and is spoiled by their family. At the same time, he knew that she was a person of nobility and is just an old spinster, not a divorcee.
How did he know the difference between someone who has never married before and someone who is divorced?
Well, Peng Mingzhu after reading the books on etiquette and the structure of the society of the country, she learned that if you were a young unmarried lady, you would have your hair down. If you were a young miss of 18 or under, you would have braids in your hair. Once you were over 18, you could no longer braid your hair.
If you were divorced or widowed, you would have your hair half up and half down. If you were married though, you would have your hair up in a bun of some sort.
Since Peng Mingzhu styled her hair based on what she read, Young Master Yao was able to learn that she was not only old and not at the best age to marry anymore, but also that she was not a divorcee or widow.
Naturally, the older, the spicier. Peng Mingzhu was the girl that he dreamed of everyday. He would never let her get away.
After all, after being thirsty in a desert for so long, he was now able to drink water from a beautiful oasis.