The bewitchingly beautiful courtesan lord.
Stripped of every last piece of clothing, striking such a shameful pose to entice her—who could possibly withstand that?
Had Pei Liang not prided herself on her astonishing self-control, she did not know what state she would be in by now.
To be fair, she was indeed a scummy, lecherous woman. Yet since transmigrating here, she had been able to devote decades—perhaps even centuries—to honing her skills and martial prowess.
That alone showed just how formidable her restraint was.
So although she currently had no desire to behave like a decent human being, and even the tip of her nose was growing warm, Pei Liang still sheepishly averted her gaze.
She cleared her throat and said with feigned propriety, “Put your clothes on.”
As though she were entirely unmoved by masculine beauty.
If any of the pretty young men she had kept in the past were present, they would probably stare at this shameless woman as though she were someone new.
But Fang Jiu did not listen. The ropes bound tightly around him had begun to leave red marks on his skin, lending him a fragile air—skin like ice and bones like jade, as though he might break at the slightest touch.
After all, doing it alone had its limitations. The tightness and pressure were never quite right.
Still, Fang Jiu was certain that Prince Liang would like it.
Before others, she could still restrain herself, maintaining the appearance of a tolerant and magnanimous person.
But before someone as lowly as him, she spared no effort in humiliating and degrading him. The lower he bowed his head, the more she seemed to enjoy it.
Fang Jiu did not believe that he had yet reached the point where her affection had faded. Prince Liang coveted Little Shi’s youth and freshness, as well as the anticipation of watching him grow up before her very eyes.
But when it came to allure in the bedchamber, Fang Jiu believed he could still hold her attention for the time being.
He could not provoke her into anger, nor could he let her see his reluctance or rejection. Once she was truly enraged—
Given her violent temper, the consequences would be unthinkable. Especially today, when she had just lost her chance at becoming Crown Princess.
She was already suppressing her fury while enduring humiliation to keep the Crown Princess company. Fang Jiu did not dare test what would happen if that fury were ignited.
So he lowered his head slightly, his hair spilling down like a waterfall. Every movement was a work of art.
Wherever his hair swept aside, the knots of red cord could be seen clearly. He had tied them himself. They were not particularly exquisite, yet against his jade-like skin, they radiated a forbidden, irresistible allure.
Fang Jiu’s voice seemed touched by a hint of tears. “Your Highness, A-Jiu has made himself like this already. Can I not have even a little of your pity?”
His words pleaded for mercy, yet the sight before her only invited someone to humiliate and ravage him.
It was not as though none of Pei Liang’s pretty boys had ever played this sort of game before.
But those were mostly performances for amusement. What stood before her now was the real thing.
The fact that Pei Liang could still endure it made even her think she was practically a saint.
This man did not speak much, nor did he make many movements. He never deliberately acted coquettish or clung to her sweetly, yet every minute detail—even the fall of a strand of hair—served his purpose.
This was what it meant to be a true specialist!
Pei Liang felt that this could not continue. If it did, she was going to make a mistake.
So she could only step forward herself, pick up the robe from the floor, and drape it over him, tying the sash as well.
Then she patted his chest. “Don’t catch cold.”
But when she looked again, the sight was still more than she could bear.
Though his body was covered, he now looked as though he were wearing nothing more than a loose bathrobe.
The front hung wide open, revealing glimpses of the knotted cords beneath—
“Damn it, how could this get any more exciting?”
Fang Jiu smiled. “Does Your Highness prefer it when I wear less?”
That made sense. Half-hidden, half-revealed was always the most enticing.
Though Fang Jiu had only ever served Prince Liang, living in a place like this meant there was little he did not understand.
In this whole red-light district, Little Shi was the only one who remained untouched by its grime. Everyone else mocked Fang Jiu for raising someone destined to sell smiles and favors to be so innocent and foolish.
Wouldn’t Little Shi be the one to suffer in the end?
But Fang Jiu could not let go of the obsession in his heart.
He took the initiative, leaning over Pei Liang. Lifting one long leg, he was about to straddle her—
Pei Liang hurriedly pressed him back down. “I don’t require your service today. Let’s discuss business.”
“You asked to see me of your own accord today. Has there been progress on the matter I assigned you a few days ago?”
Faced with such strictly businesslike conduct, Fang Jiu felt no relief whatsoever. Instead, his heart sank straight to the depths.
His movements became even more forward, his entire body winding around Pei Liang.
The poised, seductive tone he had been rigorously trained to maintain seemed to crack beneath fear and urgency—
His movements grew so frantic that even his breathing turned uneven. “Your Highness, are you saying that whenever this servant reported to you before, I delayed in serving you?”
What was this? Why had he suddenly started forcing the issue?
Pei Liang was desperately trying to restrain his restless hands and feet, while also worrying that if she used too much strength, she might leave frightening red marks on his delicate, flawless skin.
The result of her holding back was that he only became more emboldened. He truly looked as though he would not stop until he had had his way with her today.
Pei Liang might have been shameless enough to rotate between an ex-boyfriend and a current boyfriend with barely any gap in between, but she could not bring herself to enjoy someone’s service while standing atop their blood and tears.
Thus, one was desperately offering himself, while the other was desperately avoiding him.
In the end, Fang Jiu fell into despair.
Prince Liang was unwilling to let this matter slide. The fate awaiting him and his younger brother was all too easy to imagine.
Yet even as despair filled his heart, the fierce spirit he had suppressed for so long rose to the surface.
He stared at Pei Liang for a long while.
Then, with a mocking expression and voice, he said, “Pei Liang, are you impotent?”
Pei Liang abruptly raised her head and met Fang Jiu’s gaze.
To Fang Jiu, directly speaking a royal prince’s name and humiliating her like this meant he was unlikely to survive the day.
But to Pei Liang, those words seemed to strike at a taboo she had carried for far too long.
How was she the one who was lacking? If she had not been born at the wrong time, she would have been in the heavens every morning in every world. Who were these men to question her capabilities?
Now this was no longer her fault. Anyone with ears had heard it: not only had this man failed to appreciate her repeated restraint, after pawing at her unsuccessfully, he had even insulted her outright.
She could hardly be blamed for not giving him a warning.
Sure enough, Fang Jiu saw Prince Liang’s gaze deepen at once.
His heart skipped a beat. Then he heard her say with a half-smile, “I’m rather pressed for time today, so I have no leisure to linger here.”
“For the next several days, I likely won’t be able to spare attention for this place. Therefore, I can only save time.”
She stood, walked over to the door, took hold of the bolt, and pushed it to the left. The door locked with a click.
As Pei Liang walked back, she continued, “Besides, the spy we caught today has a very tight mouth. Without some special methods, he won’t be made to talk. I can only handle him personally.”
At first, Fang Jiu looked confused. But when Prince Liang shut and bolted the door, his expression changed, fear surfacing on his face.
Prince Liang had always been arrogant and uninhibited. Even when resting in her own room, why would she bother with something as trivial as locking the door?
Everyone in Ripple Tower knew he was here. Let alone a person—she would not allow even a mosquito inside.
The fact that she had personally locked the door placed immense pressure on Fang Jiu, leaving him to imagine all manner of possibilities.
Prince Liang drew closer and closer, the oppressive force emanating from her enough to make him suffocate.
Then, in an instant, his body was lifted off the ground. The next moment, he was hanging in the air.
Prince Liang said, “Who interrogates a spy on a bed? It’s utterly improper.”
“A spy ought to be tied up, hung from the ceiling, and properly questioned.”
Fang Jiu finally understood what Prince Liang was playing at.
He had merely been reporting intelligence to her, yet she refused to listen in a normal fashion. Instead, she had to arrange this farce of interrogating a spy, as though she were forcing those pieces of information out of him under torture.
Even Fang Jiu, accustomed as he was to such scenes, could not help feeling humiliated and helpless.
So he really had angered her just now. He had no idea how she intended to torment him next.
He could only hope she would leave him half his life when it was over.
Yet she made no move to fetch any instruments. She merely reached toward his back.
In the position Fang Jiu had been suspended in, his back faced upward and his body tilted forward.
He wore only a thin outer robe. When Prince Liang’s hand came to rest on him, he could even feel the warmth of her fingers through the fabric.
Fang Jiu could not see her fingers moving over his back. He could only feel her tracing along the places where the ropes lay.
Then she gave a soft laugh. “What an unusual sort of spy. While gathering intelligence, you even tied a layer of rope around your own body.”
“Who taught you that? Or did you discover it all on your own?”
Fang Jiu’s expression grew even more mortified. He pressed his lips together and said nothing.
Honestly, he had expected being suspended to be painful. Yet he did not know how Prince Liang had managed it, but even now he felt none of the discomfort of pressure concentrated on a single point.
It was surprisingly easy to bear.
Which made it impossible for him not to focus all his attention on her hand.
She was not even touching his skin directly, yet she still made his heart race.
Fang Jiu’s upper arms shifted involuntarily, and his legs rubbed uneasily against each other.
Seeing this, Pei Liang adopted the tone of someone reproaching her subordinates for doing a poor job.
“This won’t do. How can a prisoner still move his hands so freely? What if he escapes?”
With that, she picked up the ribbon Fang Jiu normally used to tie his hair from a nearby table and bound his wrists with it.
Fang Jiu caught sight of the glazed mirror beside him. In its reflection, his entire appearance looked even more humiliating.
He bit down on his lower lip, and then the interrogation began.
Prince Liang asked, “Name.”
“Y-Your Highness already knows—ahh…”
Before he could finish, a swelling, aching sensation came over him, as though something invisible had been forced into his body. Fang Jiu’s whole body jolted as if struck by lightning, and even his voice warped.
What had just happened to him? He stared at the mirror in terror.
Nothing. Prince Liang had done nothing at all.
But his line of work had trained his eye, and he knew a little of ordinary medicine as well.
No—Prince Liang’s fingers were currently pressed precisely against a vital acupoint on his back.
Just as he was trying to make sense of it, Prince Liang said, “Prisoners have no right to ask questions. Do you understand?”
“When I ask, you answer. Do you understand?”
There was still a trace of defiance in Fang Jiu’s eyes, but the next instant, that irresistible sensation returned.
It was like needles pricking him, like an electric shock. Yet it was not entirely pain. It simply made him lose all control, leaving him desperate to stop this sensation—whether agony or pleasure pushed to its utmost extreme, he could no longer tell.
“I understand. I understand. This slave understands.”
“Name,” Pei Liang asked.
“Fang Jiu,” he replied in a low voice.
“Your background, and the circumstances of your family.” What she had learned from Hongxiu earlier had only been a few hurried, indirect answers; the information was far from complete.
Fang Jiu’s expression changed at once. But before Prince Liang, what was there left to conceal—either the pride of his former days or the wretchedness of his present state?
Perhaps this was precisely what she wanted: to grind him down here, to make him remember whose mercy had allowed him to retain even the modest circumstances he now possessed, rather than falling completely into the mire.
So Fang Jiu closed his eyes and said, “I was born into the Fang family of Yanyun. There were originally thirty-six members in my household. Later, we were implicated in a witchcraft case, and the entire family was confiscated. The women were executed, while the men... the men were reduced to slavery.”
As Fang Jiu was being “questioned,” he realized that Prince Liang had not withdrawn her hand.
On the contrary, her fingers continued to move over his acupoints. Though the physical sensation was not especially distinct, he could clearly feel warmth and fire kindling throughout his body, as if he had been immersed in warm water.
She had disciplined him twice already, yet he found the sensation intoxicating—he was even beginning to sink into it. That made him feel particularly ashamed.
Pei Liang continued, “Other than you, how many members of your family are still alive?”
Fang Jiu fell silent again. Then he gave a bleak smile. “The others are doing reasonably well.”
Though they no longer enjoyed their former wealth and status, they could at least survive. The Fang family had once been prominent; even if the imperial edict made it impossible to help them openly, the families they had married into and their relatives would surely offer some assistance.
As for the Fang family’s servants, having served in the household of a second-rank official, there were naturally many minor officials and wealthy merchants eager to take them in.
“This slave has fallen to such a place and can barely look after himself. I would not go near them and stain the eyes of those who were once my kin.”
“Only the foster father who raised me and his son, my milk brother—whom I regarded as a true brother—sometimes remained in my thoughts. I do not know where those father and son have ended up now, or whether they have been able to stay together.”
Seeing the grief in his expression, Pei Liang showed no mercy.
She asked, “In that case, whom do you serve?”
Fang Jiu gave Pei Liang a strange look. What was the purpose of this question?
Could it be that even in humiliating him, she intended to test his loyalty?
For a moment, Fang Jiu could not decide how to answer. He pressed his lips tightly together and turned his head away, refusing to look at her.
Pei Liang smiled. “A remarkably loyal spy. Even after being reduced to this state, you still want to protect your master?”
“It seems the lesson just now was not enough. The punishment will have to be increased.”
As she spoke, she pressed her index and middle fingers together and poked them against the hollow of his waist, guiding a stream of true qi into his body.
Fang Jiu had intended to endure it. Based on what he had felt before, he had even prepared himself mentally.
But this time was utterly different from the first two. It was like a flood, instantly sweeping away the frail defenses he had managed to build.
A cry escaped Fang Jiu. The sound was soft and strained with unbearable sensation, and his entire body moved helplessly, as though he needed to collide with something—anything.
But helplessly suspended in midair, there was nothing he could do.
Fang Jiu even felt as though a flash of white light had passed before his eyes. His toes curled tight, and his whole body seemed to have been sent soaring into the clouds once.
Then beads of sweat, large and small, covered his entire body, gathering together before falling to the floor one drop at a time.
Before he had even recovered his senses, that sensation surged toward him again.
Prince Liang’s voice came: “Tell me. Whom do you serve?”
Fang Jiu was terrified. He felt that if it happened again before he had calmed down, he might die.
He hurriedly cried out, “Prince Liang! The one I serve is Prince Liang!”
Prince Liang gave a soft laugh, sounding as though she were quite pleased.
Could it be that she was not testing his loyalty again? Was she merely enjoying seeing him humiliated into saying such shameful things?
Fang Jiu wanted to think, but his mind gave him no chance. A powerful aftershock swept over him.
He had just been tortured to the point of wishing for death, yet now every part of his body shamelessly began desperately savoring the lingering sensation.
Prince Liang placed a hand on his face. Her fingers traced the contour of his cheek to his lips, then slipped between his teeth and stirred around.
It was as though she were teasing him—or perhaps checking whether he had bitten himself.
The very thought struck Fang Jiu as absurd. Since when had Prince Liang cared about anyone else?
Prince Liang continued, “Go on.”
This time, Fang Jiu did not dare resist. While the strange sensations in his body continued to torment him, he stammered out everything he knew.
Pei Liang was essentially giving him a “full-body treatment” with her inner energy, leaving him no room to think.
Under these circumstances, the information he gave was not guaranteed to be entirely true, but at least eighty percent of it was reliable and useful.
Within Prince Liang’s intelligence organization, Fang Jiu ranked fairly high. His advantages were especially apparent, so he naturally received a greater share of the original owner’s resources.
As a result, he possessed a thorough grasp of the original owner’s intelligence network.
As Pei Liang learned about the original owner’s covert forces, she also considered the weaknesses within them.
The original owner was indeed capable, but there were also plenty of loopholes to exploit.
For instance, from what Pei Liang had heard so far, several openings could easily be used to place her own people inside.
No wonder the planned coup had been exposed so swiftly and cleanly. The intelligence department had already been infiltrated by quite a few planted agents.
The original owner’s arrogance, excessive confidence, and assumption that everyone ought to be unwaveringly loyal to her were all serious faults.
There was no loyalty without reason, nor was there loyalty that remained unchanged no matter how much one was worn down and consumed.
Take the Fang brothers, for example. Fang Jiu had originally been utterly loyal to Prince Liang.
He was highly capable, yet his desires were simple: he wanted nothing more than to secure a future for his younger brother.
If the original owner had not been so self-righteous and had simply arranged a respectable home for Fang Shi, she could have won Fang Jiu’s lifelong loyalty. But she refused.
She even believed deeply that this was an honor for the two brothers. Had Fang Jiu never begged her for such a favor? Of course he had.
If this was how she treated Fang Jiu, one could only imagine how she treated everyone else.
Someone like that deserved to have her people poached. It was hardly unfair.
After learning the detailed state of the original owner’s intelligence department from Fang Jiu, and branching out into several important related questions—
Pei Liang gave his head an approving pat, as though rewarding him. Fang Jiu felt as if he had only just been buffeted in that debauched space, yet now he was so comfortable it was like a fetus floating in amniotic fluid.
Then Prince Liang asked him, “Over the past few months, you have been meeting Prince Liang quite frequently. Have you been plotting some major undertaking?”
Fang Jiu’s eyes flew open. This was not something he dared reveal so casually.
A look of terror appeared on his face, utterly different from before.
At some point, Prince Liang had leaned close to his ear. “What’s wrong? Weren’t you being quite sensible just now?”
“Why have you stopped talking now? Do you want to experience an increased punishment?”
Fang Jiu turned his head away in shame. As he did, he happened to face the glazed mirror.
Then, to his horror, he discovered that the shamelessly wanton man in the mirror truly wore an expression of hesitant, half-spoken anticipation.
Was that really him?
Fang Jiu knew this could not continue. If it did, he would be completely ruined.
So he pressed his lips together, looking determined not to speak even if beaten to death.
Just then, a sound came from the window.
The two of them turned to look, only to see a round embroidered ball roll in through the window.
Pei Liang picked up the ball and stepped to the window to look down. It turned out that the Third Imperial Daughter and Fang Shi were playing in the courtyard and had somehow wandered over here.
The rear courtyard of Ripple Tower was vast, its pavilions and flower beds breathtakingly beautiful.
As the tower master, Fang Jiu’s residence naturally had the finest view, taking in all the scenery at a glance.
The two children ran over and looked up, only to see that their embroidered ball had been kicked into the room where Prince Liang was.
The Third Imperial Daughter quickly waved. “Elder Sister, have you seen our ball?”
When Su Shi saw her, he remembered the uncomfortable looks she had given him in the past, along with his brother’s repeated warnings to stay far away from her. His expression immediately darkened.
Pei Liang smiled and called down to them, “I’m not sure. Master Fang was applying medicine for me just now. I’ll call him over, and you can ask him.”
It was such an obvious lie. If not for the sound of the ball, why would she have come to the window to investigate?
Yet the two children present actually believed her.
The Third Imperial Daughter would have believed her elder sister even if she said the moon was square, convinced that she herself must simply have remembered wrong. And upon hearing that her brother would be called over, the other child thought no further of it.
So they watched Prince Liang turn away from the window, seemingly going to summon Master Fang.
Behind the screen, Fang Jiu heard Prince Liang speaking with the children, and panic appeared on his face.
When Prince Liang returned, he looked even more terrified.
“Your Highness—”
Pei Liang untied him and smiled. “Go on. They’re looking for something; as the owner of this room, you ought to show yourself.”
Then she added mischievously, “You wouldn’t expect this prince to return the embroidered ball for you, would you?”
“That would hardly be appropriate. After all, it would not be proper for this prince to make decisions on your behalf in your own room.”
“Go on, say a few words to them. Don’t let the children worry.”
Fang Jiu had no idea what malicious scheme she was plotting, but the sense of foreboding in his heart had never been stronger.
He glanced at the embroidered ball, which was clearly still in Prince Liang’s hand, and pleaded, “Then I beg Your Highness to give me the ball.”
“I’ll throw it back to them and then return—return to cooperate with Your Highness’s interrogation.”
Pei Liang said, “No rush. They’re playing in the courtyard so late at night. Though it is as bright as day here, you should still give them a proper warning.”
“If you keep running around like this without a care, kicking the embroidered ball into another guest’s room again, the embarrassment would be one thing—but if you fell and hurt yourself, that would be serious.”
Fang Jiu approached the window with his heart in his throat.
The window to his room was only half open. With his back to the light, it was difficult for anyone below to see that his clothes were in disarray.
The moment Fang Shi saw him, his eyes lit up. “Brother, are you all right?”
He wanted to ask whether Prince Liang had bullied him, but with her still inside the room, Fang Shi could only swallow the question.
Fang Jiu replied, “I’m fine. I was just applying medicine to Prince Liang’s wound. What could possibly be wrong?”
“Did your embroidered ball roll in here? I’ll help you look for it.” As he spoke, he started to turn away from the window, hoping to avoid those two pairs of bright, blinking eyes.
But before he could turn around, a hand came to rest on the small of his back.
Fang Jiu’s body went rigid. Prince Liang was leaning against the wall behind him, while the Crown Princess and A-Shi below could not see her.
She said, “That’s hardly the way to treat a guest. What was it I told you just now?”
“Talk to them a little. Don’t let the children worry.”
Sure enough, when Prince Liang finished speaking and Fang Jiu remained motionless by the window, the Crown Princess grew concerned.
“Master Fang, what’s wrong?”
“Did your foot go numb?”
Fang Jiu nodded along and was just about to answer when Prince Liang’s hand moved to the small of his back. That mischievous current of energy began to roil and stir through him once more.
Fang Jiu suddenly seized the edge of the bed, his knuckles turning white. Only with great effort did he manage to keep the shameful sounds from escaping.
He forced a smile down at them. “Y-yes! My foot is a little numb indeed. I just need a moment to recover.”
“Really?” The Third Imperial Daughter and Su Shi nodded. Then the Third Imperial Daughter said obediently, “It must be because you’ve been standing so long while applying medicine to my elder sister.”
“Master Fang, is my elder sister’s hand all right?”
“Y-yes… it’s fine.”
That hand was on his body, after all. It was doing very well.
