Xu Kang saw everyone as Ye Anling, kissing this one, touching that one, spouting endless flirtatious words.
At first, the girls didn’t think much of it, just assuming he was drunk.
To earn some rewards, they happily played along, pretending to be Ye Anling.
Left and right, he whispered sweet nothings and declarations of love.
Xu Kang was completely lost in his fantasy, wanting to put on a live performance of passion.
Though the girls sold their bodies, they wouldn’t do so openly in public.
“Young Master Xu, no, please, take it to the flower room,” they pleaded.
Xu Kang was burning with desire, losing all reason, unable to hold back for even a moment!
“Ling’er, I love you, come to me,” he begged.
“Rip!”
The sound of tearing fabric rang out.
The girl, her clothes ripped apart, screamed sharply.
“Young Master Xu, no!”
Her resistance ignited Xu Kang’s fury, and he raised his hand, slapping her hard.
“Smack!”
“Ling’er, be good,” he coaxed with a crazed smile.
The other girls finally sensed something was wrong and rushed to pull Xu Kang away.
“Young Master Xu, you can’t do this.”
Xu Kang laughed like a madman. “So many Ling’ers, come and play with me!”
The guests at the Yingchun House followed the commotion and looked over.
They saw Xu Kang stripped bare, tearing at the girls’ clothes, trying to force himself on them.
The disheveled girls screamed in terror and scattered in all directions.
Xu Kang, naked, chased after them wildly.
“Xu Kang usually just comes to have a little wine, why is he going mad today?”
“He’s infatuated with Miss Ye, but her heart belongs to the eunuch De. No wonder he’s upset.”
“Hmph! What is he? Even if Miss Ye isn’t marrying Eunuch De, she’s not for him.”
As the crowd whispered, the Yingchun House’s enforcers sprang into action.
They dared not confront the son of the Grand Historian directly and instead shielded the girls.
Xu Kang was about to explode, his eyes bloodshot, completely losing his mind.
“How dare you take my woman! I’ll kill you all!”
He grabbed a chair and swung it wildly.
Ye Chutang saw Xu Kang reach the edge of the stairs.
Seizing the moment when the girls were distracted, she flicked a peanut at him.
The peanut struck Xu Kang’s injured knee.
His leg buckled, and he tumbled down the stairs.
Just then, Qi Yanzhou arrived and witnessed the scene.
Xu Kang had broken his leg and bruised his head, passing out from the pain.
Only then did everyone realize something was seriously wrong.
His pale body looked as if it had been boiled—flushed a deep red.
That swollen, hardened area was far too pronounced.
“Did Young Master Xu take an aphrodisiac? Did he take it himself, or did someone give it to him...?”
“Yingchun House is open for business; they wouldn’t be foolish enough to ruin their reputation.”
“Maybe Xu Kang just went mad thinking about Miss Ye!”
A young servant quickly draped a sweat towel over Xu Kang’s waist.
The madam hurried out from the back room, holding a long robe.
She covered Xu Kang with it and instructed, “Take Young Master Xu to the rear chambers. Have Physician Qin treat him. Under no circumstances can he come to harm.”
“Yes, madam.”
“Quickly notify the Xu family. This incident is suspicious; see if they want to report it to the authorities.”
After giving her orders, the madam approached Qi Yanzhou and knelt in respect.
“Your servant pays respects to Prince Chen!”
At her words, the onlookers suddenly realized Qi Yanzhou had arrived and hastily bowed.
Qi Yanzhou had come straight from the Supreme Court.
Dressed in official robes, his right hand behind his back, he carried an imposing presence, looking down on the world.
“Rise,” he said.
Then he looked at the madam. “What happened here?”
The madam knew that Qi Yanzhou was asking about "that person’s" whereabouts.
She glanced toward the elegant seats on the second floor.
But to her surprise, the man who had been surrounded by admirers was nowhere to be seen!
Following the madam’s gaze, Qi Yanzhou looked over and saw only the brightly adorned girls.
Immediately, he realized—the person had fled.
Without hesitation, he leapt upstairs and began questioning the girls.
“Where is he?”
Only then did the girls notice that the witty, charming young master had vanished.
“The young master was just here a moment ago…”
Qi Yanzhou didn’t wait to hear the rest. He hurried to the window nearest the seating area facing the street and flung it open.
A familiar shadow disappeared around the corner.
He was about to give chase when something caught his eye—a small red cloth bundle hanging from the eaves.
The red cloth fluttered in the breeze, and the bundle began to slip downward.
Faced with the choice between chasing the man and catching the bundle, Qi Yanzhou chose the latter.
With a sharp slap on the window frame, he vaulted down, catching the bundle smoothly as he landed.
Unwrapping the red cloth, he found a narrow, three-inch-long box made of golden-threaded nanmu wood.
White lime powder dusted the seams of the box’s lid.
Without opening it, he already guessed what it was.
The offspring root of Eunuch De!
Why had the “Ghost Thief” left this behind for him?
Qi Yanzhou’s suspicions deepened.
His investigation into the “Ghost Thief” had made no progress.
Once the three-day deadline passed, Eunuch De would surely seize the opportunity to hold him accountable.
But with this offspring root as leverage, he could turn the tables on the eunuch.
The “Ghost Thief” was helping him!
Glancing at the empty street corner, Qi Yanzhou wrapped the wooden box back in the red cloth and slipped it into his sleeve.
Returning to the Yingchun Courtyard, he learned about Xu Kang’s sudden madness.
It was clear—he had been drugged.
It couldn’t have been the Yingchun Courtyard, nor Xu Kang himself; the only other possibility was the “Ghost Thief.”
Qi Yanzhou frowned as he looked at Hongluan, dressed in a flowing red gauze dress, her eyes sparkling with charm.
No matter how he looked, she bore no resemblance whatsoever to Ye Anling.
“Are you sure the young master said your eyes look like Ling’er’s?”
“I’m certain, and all my sisters heard it too.”
After speaking, Hongluan added with a sly smile, “Your Highness, there are plenty of girls named Ling’er.”
The implication was clear: Xu Kang had misunderstood and was making trouble where there was none.
Qi Yanzhou felt the coincidences were too many—it was far from a simple misunderstanding.
“The ‘Ghost Thief’ deliberately mentioned ‘Ling’er’—he’s targeting Xu Kang!
But why would he want to go after Xu Kang?”
While he pondered, Old Master Xu arrived with the officials from the Jingzhao Prefecture to investigate his grandson’s injury.
Seeing Qi Yanzhou, he immediately dropped to his knees, tears streaming down his face.
“Your Highness, this wicked brothel has harmed Kang’er! You must seek justice for him!”
The Xu family was completely unaware that Xu Kang frequently visited the Yingchun Courtyard, piecing together the girls to resemble Ye Anling.
So Old Master Xu believed his promising grandson had been ruined by the brothel.
Qi Yanzhou had no time for such trivial matters.
“Old Master, you should go see Xu Gongzi first.”
With that, he called the madam and instructed her to cooperate fully with the official investigation.
Meanwhile, he summoned a renowned painter from the capital.
He arranged for several girls who had entertained Ye Chutang to give detailed descriptions of the “Ghost Thief’s” appearance, assisting the artist in creating a likeness.
By the time darkness fully settled, the painter had completed the portrait of the “Ghost Thief.”
Qi Yanzhou paid the artist and left with the sketch in hand.
On the way back to the Dali Temple, everyone was buzzing with gossip about Xu Kang and Ye Anling.
“The young master Xu is truly reckless—how dare he set his sights on Eunuch De’s fiancée!”
“That’s not all! He even stripped naked, imagining the courtesans as Miss Ye, wanting to indulge in wild passions with them!”
“They say Xu Kang is a man of deep feelings, but I think he must hate Miss Ye; otherwise, how could he do such disgusting things!”
Qi Yanzhou listened intently as he walked along.
A sudden spark lit up in his mind—he had just connected a crucial clue about the ‘Ghost Thief.’
Without hesitation, he changed direction and headed toward the Minister’s Mansion.
