The hired carriage brought them to a lavish, three story building. Light and music poured from every open window and doorway even in the dead of night. From the eaves, rows of festive red paper lanterns swayed softly in the breeze.
Xie Bian took it all in through the gap in the carriage's fine curtains and turned to Fan Wujiu with a frown. "This is a brothel."
"Stunning powers of observation." Fan Wujiu adjusted the hairpin securing half of his hair in a ponytail. It was the neatest Xie Bian had ever seen his usually loose hair.
It wasn't just the hair. Neither of them had worn anything so luxurious and finely made as the heavy silk robes they were wearing now. Even their General robes paled in comparison.
Xie Bian wore light teal robes that for some reason put him in mind of Xin Rufei, because they came with white fur hand warmers. His own appearance under the yellow pill's influence reminded him of a doll. He'd looked at himself in the small copper mirror while doing his hair according to Fan Wujiu's instructions and was shocked whenever he caught a glance of his own reflection.
The peach blossom eyes with the seductive cinnabar beauty mark on the lower corner were the most distinctive feature. But it perturbed Xie Bian that whenever he attempted a smile he now looked coy and beguiling. A complete departure from his usual imperious reflection.
Xie Bian wasn't sure he cared for the change.
And now Fan Wujiu was bringing him to a brothel.
He was so absorbed in his misgivings that he didn't even notice Fan Wujiu going out the carriage first and walking around to help him out of the door.
"I can climb down on my own!" He said, holding the hems of his robes to jump down.
Fan Wujiu prevented him by grabbing him unceremoniously and depositing him at his side. "It's almost as if I'm doing all this for a reason."
"It's almost as if I'd cooperate with whatever this is if you told me that reason," Xie Bian said, hissing under his breath.
Fan Wujiu said nothing and wrapped an arm around Xie Bian's shoulder, guiding him towards the brothel's open doorway.
Inside the atmosphere was no less festive. There was live music and dance in a centre stage and all around it there were private tea rooms where people watched the entertainment or were waited upon by courtesans. Xie Bian tried not to stare at anything or anyone for too long.
Fan Wujiu flagged down an attendant in bright pink silks and said: "We'd like a room."
The woman curtsied prettily and smiled: "Of course, how long are the young masters planning on staying?"
"A week," he said, looking around with an air of cultivated boredom. He took a silk pouch of gold pieces from the inside of his sleeve pocket and gave it to the attendant. "This should cover room and board."
The woman's eyes widened in shock at the amount of gold. She curtsied again, "Certainly. Young masters, right this way."
The attendant guided them to the brothel's most expensive room and left them there with promises of having a hot meal delivered in the morning, after Fan Wujiu told her they didn't want anything for now.
Xie Bian turned to Fan Wujiu in shock as soon as her back was turned.
"If we had money all along, why did you have us stay at such a plain inn before?"
Fan Wujiu was in a hurry to get out of his stuffy robes. He pulled out the hairpin securing his hair with a sharp tug and threw it carelessly in the direction of the dressing table. "Because it makes such a big difference. You couldn't taste their average food any more than you can taste this place's fine dining."
Xie Bian couldn't believe him. "I could have slept in an actual bed instead of on a straw mattress on the floor."
Fan Wujiu kept undressing, his back turned to Xie Bian. "You've slept in worse places."
He wouldn't have noticed it if it wasn't for the sudden tension that stole across Fan Wujiu's shoulders.
"How do you know where I've slept?"
When Fan Wujiu turned around Xie Bian expected a confrontation but instead of that he walked right past him and towards the canopied bed. "Aren't you dead? We all sleep forever somewhere in the ground," he said, lifting one corner of the sheets and folding his long legs under the covers.
Xie Bian watched him with narrowed eyes. He didn't believe his convenient answer, that flicker of tension was the recoil of someone who'd realized they had said more than they should.
There was no point in discussing it now. Fan Wujiu was more impregnable than Youdu's walls. He would slip up again, and Xie Bian would remain vigilant.
The sun was going to rise in just a few hours and Xie Bian was tired. The room was large, but it obviously didn't come with a second bed.
"There's only one bed," he said, looking around as if it might spring from the floor on account of his desperation alone.
Fan Wujiu chuckled, sharp and smoky. "Do you think brothels have much use for twin rooms?"
Xie Bian colored in embarrassment. Of course he knew what people came to brothels to do. He stomped towards the candle holders and snuffed out all the lights before taking off his robes and climbing into bed next to Fan Wujiu.
The bed was large enough that their bodies didn't touch, but Xie Bian could still feel Fan Wujiu's body heat across the distance and their two layers of inner robes.
It made him restless; he couldn't stand the silence.
"Why did we come here? You can't keep me in the dark if you want your plan to work."
"I didn't intend to," Fan Wujiu said, his voice rough with a hint of tiredness. "We're here to meet Wei Meiqi's younger brother. To his family's chagrin he's a regular patron."
"Are we going to just approach him?"
"No. According to my investigations your current appearance is just his type. He'll approach us first."