Chapter 192: Amusement District
Huang Xiaolong was amazed. Barely an hour had passed since the incident in front of Wind Facing Hall happened, yet the news had already reached Xie Puti? It seems the Xie Family’s influence in Duanren Institute was deeper than it looked on the surface.
“Anyhow, be on your guard when dealing with Yao Fei.” Xie Puti added some advice as an afterthought. Huang Xiaolong nodded, he thought the same thing.
“Xiaolong, let’s go for a drink!” Xie Puti said in the next moment, changing the subject.
"Drink?” Huang Xiaolong repeated blankly.
“You probably still don’t know right? Duanren Institute has its own amusement district. There’s a place called Sapidity Wine House that serves a kind of wine called Sapidity Wine, even more memorable than the Beauty Allure Wine from Unforgettable Intoxication Restaurant!” Xie Puti laughed with anticipation.
“For real?” Huang Xiaolong grinned, “Then we really must go so I can experience it.”
After coming to this world, Huang Xiaolong noticed he had a growing penchant for good wine. He didn’t have many other interests, wine could be considered his biggest vocation.
And so, the group of three led by Xie Puti headed to Duanren Institute’s amusement district. The so-called amusement district was not that far from Huang Xiaolong’s new student courtyard dormitory. Thirty minutes later, they reached the destination.
Seeing the amusement district for himself, it was bigger and livelier than Huang Xiaolong had imagined. Pedestrians moved up and down the streets akin to the scene one would find in a prosperous small town.
Within the amusement district area, shops lined along wide streets that were more spacious than some of the infrastructures within royal cities. Students wearing Duanren Institute’s gold-colored robes could be seen everywhere, and there were teachers too.
“Come, let’s go in!” Xie Puti guided Huang Xiaolong and Chen Cheng through the amusement district streets.
As he walked, Huang Xiaolong observed the external design of the surrounding shops.
The style of buildings here was vastly different from the grand structures of Duanren Institute. For instance; Wind Facing Hall exuded a vicissitude of ancient time whereas the buildings here in the amusement district emanated vigor, vibrancy, and progress.
“The shop fronts in the amusement district are mostly opened by the Duanren Empire’s big families. Whatever you can buy outside, you can get the same thing here, and what you cannot get outside, you can get them here.” Xie Puti explained to Huang Xiaolong as they maneuvered through the crowd, “For example, a grade seven pellet that you can’t get on the outside, you can get here!”
“Grade seven pellet!” Huang Xiaolong was a little dumbfounded.
Xie Puti nodded, “Yes, that’s right. There’s a place called Bright Radiance Exchange that is handled by the three biggest firms in the empire. If they were to hold an auction, they would likely be the group to offer a grade seven pellet, however it is not guaranteed. In general, a grade seven pellet only appears once every few years.”
Huang Xiaolong nodded.
It was unexpected that the three biggest firms of the empire would cooperate and develop a trading market like Bright Radiance Exchange that was capable of auctioning a grade seven pellet.
Suddenly, Xie Puti who was leading in front stopped abruptly. One finger pointed at a certain tall building decorated in a variety of reds and pinks, he chuckled devilishly, “Next time I’ll bring you there. There are many fun things inside.”
Huang Xiaolong’s eyes trailed in the direction Xie Puti was pointing at and saw that the entrance of the building was quite vibrant. There were streams of people coming and going from the premises. After observing for a while, Huang Xiaolong finally noticed what was wrongㅡall the customers were men.
A red house! The term flashed in Huang Xiaolong’s mind; he never imagined Duanren Institute’s amusement district would have this kind of ‘facility!’
In other words, a red house was a brothel.
“Aren’t you curious why such a place exists within the Institute grounds?” Xie Puti continued without waiting for a reply, “In fact, there’s nothing strange. Of the tens of thousands of Duanren Institute’s students and teachers, eighty percent of them are men. Men right, all of us has physiological needs, thus a red house existing here is actually quite normal. Furthermore, it was allowed by Duanren Emperor.”
Duanren Emperor allowed for it!
Huang Xiaolong shook his head inwardly.
“There are many beauties in this red house, and each one is an expert in that aspect.” At this point, Xie Puti suddenly suppressed his voice as he spoke to Huang Xiaolong, “That Zhao Wuji is the big boss behind this red house!”
Huang Xiaolong’s eyes widened in surprise.
Zhao Wuji!
“You couldn’t have guessed it, right?” Xie Puti quipped.
Indeed, this was also something Huang Xiaolong did not expect.
Zhao Wuji was actually the person who controlled the red house behind the scene.
“What’s Zhao Wuji’s relation with Yao Fei?” Huang Xiaolong suddenly asked.
Xie Puti blanked for a moment before answering in a solemn voice, “On the surface, there isn’t any connection between them other than business related benefits. The force behind Zhao Wuji is not weak. That little tramp is a thorned rose, just like that Yao Fei, both are not good characters. If you come across them, be careful.”
Business related benefits? Huang Xiaolong nodded at Xie Puti.
Chen Cheng followed quietly behind the two of them, not uttering a sound.
He had visited the amusement district area a couple of times in the past. The expenses here were high, not something a student like him could afford.
Take the Sapidity Wine from the Sapidity Wine House Xie Puti mentioned; the price of one jug was ten thousand gold coins!
And it was a very small jug, one could barely taste ten sips and all was gone.
Moments later, the three of them arrived at Sapidity Wine House. Although they had yet to enter, an aromatic wine fragrance wafted out, rousing their intrigue.
Walking into the restaurant, they found a table near the window on the ground floor and sat down.
There were three floors to the restaurant. The ground floor was for ordinary students below Xiantian Third Order, the first floor catered to elite students of Xiantian Third, Fourth to Sixth Order, whereas the second floor was reserved for the Xiantian Seventh Order and above, usually the inner division Institute students.
Sitting down, Xie Puti called out to the restaurant’s waiter.
“How many jugs of Sapidity Wine left for today?” Xie Puti asked.
The waiter blanked for a while, and then answered, “There are one hundred twenty-three jugs remaining.” The daily sales of Sapidity Wine were limited to one thousand.
“Bring everything here.” Xie Puti ordered.
“Everything?!” The restaurant waiter was greatly shocked as he looked at Xie Puti suspiciously, wondering if he had heard wrongly. One jug of wine cost ten thousand gold coins, and one hundred twenty-three jugs meant one million two hundred and thirty thousand gold coins. Not even some of the big families’ younger generation could afford to throw out so much at one time.
At this time, Xie Puti withdrew a purple-gold card and threw it towards the restaurant waiter, “Go, bring the remaining wine here.”
The restaurant waiter was stunned as he looked at the purple-gold card. Moments later, he nodded quickly and said, “Please wait for a while Young Noble, I’ll go prepare everything and send up the remaining Sapidity Wine.” The restaurant waiter hurried off after he finished saying that.
But at this time, another two people walked in. Just as they sat down, one of them ordered crudely, “Lil’ waiter, go and bring all the remaining Sapidity Wine here!”
The restaurant waiter went over, smiling apologetically he said, “Apologies to the two Young Nobles, all the remaining Sapidity Wine for today has been taken by the Young Noble over there just now!” His eyes indicated Huang Xiaolong’s table.
Both of the young men turned their heads to look.
“Xie Puti!” Both of them exclaimed the name in unison.
Xie Puti nodded at them both, saying in a laid-back tone, “Pardon, I’ve bought all the remaining Sapidity Wine for today.”
Evidently, Xie Puti knew them, but they were not close. However, for these two people to have the capability to reserve the remaining Sapidity Wine without so much as a blink, it showed their identities were not simple.