My Husband Became the Most Powerful Minister - Chapter 65

“Aiyo, Young Master Cao, you’re here! I’ve missed you to death! Please, come in…”

Mama Li hurried forward to greet the debauched noble guest, her brows and eyes full of flattering smiles. When she saw the delicate little beauty in his arms, she subtly felt like her business had been stolen—but not a hint of it showed on her face.

“Your usual spot, I’ve kept it ready for you. Shall I bring up the wine you didn’t finish last time…?”

As she spoke, she even tossed a flirtatious wink.

Excessively exaggerated.

Catching a glimpse of it from the corner of her eye, Helan Ci immediately felt goosebumps rising, instinctively clutching Lu Wuyou’s robe tighter.

Lu Wuyou gently patted her arm in a soothing manner.

He looked every bit the seasoned frequenter of such establishments, responding smoothly in the oily voice of Ji Wangfei’s nephew—Cao Xian’an. Helan Ci hadn’t expected he could change his voice like changing a face: the tone, cadence, even the rhythm of speech were all completely different. If not for the faintly familiar air about him, she really might have thought it was someone else holding her.

“Bring it all up. Anything fresh or fun, don’t hold back.”

He casually tossed down a silver ingot.

At the sight of silver, Madam Li’s smile bloomed like a flower. She hurriedly tucked it into her sleeve as if she had been waiting for those words: “Certainly! I guarantee you’ll be satisfied.”

Being held in Lu Wuyou’s arms, Helan Ci followed behind the servant boy. Along the way, the sound of flirtation and laughter echoed all around, the air thick with the scent of powder and rouge.

Everywhere, people were toasting, indulging, seeking pleasure.

Cao Xian’an’s usual spot was on the second floor near the railing, overlooking a platform below where three or four scantily clad dancers performed exotic dances. Nearby were women playing the pipa and qin, accompanying the music.

Lu Wuyou gently set Helan Ci down beside him and casually removed her veiled hat.

Though she knew she was in disguise, Helan Ci still felt nervous, instinctively lowering her head.

Lu Wuyou leaned in to whisper into her ear, “That one playing the pipa—that’s Ye Niang.”

Only then did Helan Ci lift her eyes to look. This was a good vantage point, not too far from the stage. The woman plucking the pipa had a refined, delicate appearance, likely in her early twenties. Her brows were drawn together, giving her a gentle, graceful look—completely unlike a courtesan. She looked more like a daughter of a noble family.

No wonder that rigid and principled Censor Shen would fall for her.

Before Helan Ci could speak, wine was already being placed on the table. Two beautiful girls approached, giggling as they offered drinks.

“Young Master Cao…”

“Greetings, Young Master Cao…”

The voice was so sweet and sultry, it made her shiver.

Helan Ci felt goosebumps again, but then she suddenly feeling a hand clasp hers under the table. She instinctively turned her head—only to see Lu Wuyou, wearing Cao Xian’an’s face, lounging with an utterly relaxed expression. He casually propped both legs up onto the table, his body draped over the chair in a boneless sprawl, and gestured lazily to the two beautiful young women, saying, “Come, give me a leg massage.”

Helan Ci: “…?”

You’ve adapted way too fast!

The two beauties didn’t sense anything wrong at all. They immediately came over, one to his left, one to his right, and began massaging his legs.

Lu Wuyou took advantage of the situation to pull Helan Ci over again, continuing to whisper, “Later, I’ll call Ye Niang over to play a tune, and while I’m at it, I’ll bully you a bit. You pretend to be weak and pitiful to gain sympathy. After we leave the table, see if you can strike up a conversation with her and subtly test if she really knows nothing.”

Helan Ci half leaning on his chest and said very softly, “I’ll try my best.”

Lu Wuyou pressed her shoulder and said, “Why are you still so stiff… try to imagine, you are a femme fatale like beauty, and I am a tyrant.”

Helan Ci couldn’t help but say, “Is the country going to perish?”

Lu Wuyou said, “Pretty much. If there’s wine today, get drunk today¹ .”

Helan Ci pondered aloud, “…Then shouldn’t I be thinking about how to escape?”

Lu Wuyou was speechless at her sense of crisis at such a moment. After a moment of silence, he said, “No, you should be thinking about clinging desperately and indulging in pleasure until the very last moment before the fall of the country.”

Helan Ci couldn’t quite understand: “……? The country is about to fall!”

Shouldn’t we try to do something first?

This chicken-and-duck type of conversation didn’t help much, but at least it made Helan Ci less tense about being near that face.

Lu Wuyou casually called over the madam and instructed her to summon the pipa player from below.

Before Ye Niang could arrive, a voice rang out: “Isn’t this Brother Cao? Let me offer you a toast… Is this the new beauty you’ve just gotten your hands on? Why does she look a little familiar…”

Across the way approached a man who, at first glance, was clearly a hedonistic dandy.

Helan Ci immediately started to feel nervous again. Although Lu Wuyou had tinkered with her face for quite a while—altering her features and making her appear far more plain—and although she didn’t look like herself in the mirror, still, what if… what if someone recognized her…

Lu Wuyou raised an eyebrow and lazily replied, “Stop thinking everyone looks familiar. She’s still fresh. Don’t even think about it.”

“Ai, how could I dare say that? But now that I think about it—this one here does look a bit like that Lady Helan… Just not quite as elegant in the face… Still, not bad! I mean, a woman like Lady Helan, with her noble birth and looks—you can admire from afar, but not take liberties with. But maybe Brother Cao here…”

Lu Wuyou lifted a leg and gave him a kick, saying, “Always talking nonsense. My little beauty is going to be heartbroken when she hears this, thinking she’s just a substitute”

Helan Ci: “……”

You really got into the role.

However, the very next moment, Lu Wuyou sent a glance her way, and Helan Ci understood. She immediately began to sob and sniffle, putting on a sorrowful face.

The debauched person across the table, realized he had caused offense and hurriedly said, “Oops, my bad. Here, little beauty, let me drink a cup to make it up to you…”

As he spoke, he handed over a cup.

Lu Wuyou casually took it, downed it in one go, and said, “Get lost.”

“Brother Cao, that’s not right! I was toasting the beauty, why are you drinking it? Come, little beauty, don’t make me lose face…”

He extended another cup.

Lu Wuyou’s brows lifted ever so slightly, just about to speak, when Helan Ci had already taken the cup and tilted her head back, draining it clean.

“Hahaha, now that’s bold! Beauty, you’ve got spirit! Brother Cao, you’re being too chivalrous and protective of the fairer s3x, this isn’t like you… Hahaha.”

As soon as the man left, Helan Ci stuck out her tongue and coughed twice.

Due to the presence of others, Lu Wuyou only patted her back and said, “You don’t even know how to drink?”

The burning sensation passed, and it wasn’t so unbearable after all. Helan Ci steadied her breath and replied, “Uh… this humble girl…” —stealing the phrase from the other women around them— “is still learning.”

It seems like Cao Xian’an is truly a well-known wastrel.

They hadn’t been seated long before several more groups came over, chatting and offering toasts. Amid the clinking of cups and exchange of pleasantries, most of the drinks ended up in Lu Wuyou’s stomach, though Helan Ci had her share too.

As Ye Niang finally arrived, Lu Wuyou noticed her flushed face and immediately pressed on her shoulder, speaking softly: “If you really can’t manage, we’ll just call it a night.”

Helan Ci shook her head, signaling that she was still fine.

At most, just a little dizzy.

As Miss Ye sat across from them with her pipa and began to pluck the strings, another wave of guests arrived. One of them joked, “Brother Xian’an, why’s your little beauty just lying there? Doesn’t she know she should be feeding you the wine?”

Perfect timing.

Lu Wuyou and Helan Ci quickly exchanged a glance. He then pinched her delicate chin and said flippantly, “She is a bit disobedient, sometimes I am quite dissatisfied. You are something I bought at a high price, you know?.”

Helan Ci turned her head away from his face, not needing to act much, just showing a very disdainful expression.

The crowd was slightly surprised.

“Brother Xian’an, it’s true that the more fiery the beauty, the more flavorful she is—but if she doesn’t listen to you at all, that’s not ideal…”

“Even if she’s a new favorite… you shouldn’t spoil her too much, right?”

Lu Wuyou said leisurely, “That’s true.”

As he spoke, he pinched her chin and turned her face back. After taking a sip of wine, he leaned in and pressed down.

Helan Ci’s eyes widened as she stared at the approaching face, silently mouthing:

—Didn’t you promise not to kiss me with that face?!

A flicker of resistance made her instinctively reach out, pushing at Lu Wuyou’s shoulder, struggling as if very unwilling.

Just before his lips touched hers, Lu Wuyou swallowed the wine, merely keeping up the act by hovering there for a moment. At the same time, he held both her wrists with one hand, while the other continued to lift her chin.

But in the eyes of the onlookers, it was Young Master Cao forcing wine upon the beauty against her will. The beauty looked stunned, disbelief welling in her tear-filled eyes. She whimpered and struggled under his pressing weight, even raised her fists to beat him, yet was still forcibly taken advantage of.

When Young Master Cao finally released her lips, the beauty appeared utterly distraught, filled with grief and indignation, her body slumping weakly to one side. Silky black hair cascaded down her smooth cheeks, hiding half her face, as though tears were about to fall.

“It was just a kiss, and you’re acting like it was the end of the world.”

“…”

You’re really committed to this performance.

Helan Ci hung her head, catching a glimpse out of the corner of her eye at Ye Niang still playing the pipa. The woman, evidently seasoned, didn’t bat an eye.

This kind of scene, clearly, wasn’t nearly scandalous enough to raise her brow.

Lu Wuyou must’ve noticed too, for he leaned in and whispered in her ear, “Want to go a bit harsher? You could curse me out.”

“…Fine.”

Partially because she was genuinely a bit annoyed, Helan Ci immediately made a retching gesture and raised her voice, “Yes, I, I am unwilling! I don’t want to be in a relationship with someone vulgar like you, a beast…”

Lu Wuyou’s tone turned sharp in return: “What’s wrong with me? You dare call me a beast!”

Helan Ci gritted out, “You’re disgusting! Don’t touch me—”

Everyone was shocked!

They thought the little beauty was simply courting death!

Sure enough, Young Master Cao roared in fury: “You really need to be taught a lesson!”

With that, he yanked her up by her sleeve and carried her off in broad strides toward the side rooms of the Misty Rain Pavilion. With a kick, he kicked open the nearest room, and he stormed in with her in his arms. Before long, sounds of ripping fabric, interspersed with the beauty’s screams and sobs, came drifting from within—disjointed, but unmistakably suggestive.

Occasionally, they could also hear:

“Don’t touch me!”

“Get away!”

“Don’t—”

And so on.

Along with Young Master Cao’s cold, cruel voice: “You look down on me! Now look who’s at whose mercy…”

Inside the room—

Lu Wuyou was fumbling clumsily with the many layers of Helan Ci’s skirts, knees pressed to the bedframe, rocking it deliberately. At the same time, he pulled out a bl00d pack and smeared traces of it onto the pale fabric beneath her hem.

Helan Ci blushed furiously as she fake-sobbed, reciting the lines Lu Wuyou had provided. Not doing it in front of a crowd made it all feel slightly less humiliating.

Lu Wuyou whispered, “A little louder.”

Helan Ci lifted her leg—genuinely tempted to kick him.

She really was trying her best!

Her head was still spinning slightly from the alcohol.

Lu Wuyou grabbed her embroidered shoe and, taking advantage of the moment, smeared a few bloody streaks on her cloth socks and calves. He then spoke loudly and with a fierce tone, “Today, I’m going to teach you a lesson, so you know who you really are…”

Once that was done, he began to tousle her hair, disheveling her temples and strands, then wrinkling the collar and sleeves of her clothes.

Helan Ci vaguely felt things were a little unfair—why was it always her doing the crying? Lu Wuyou barely let out a sound.

With eyes slightly misted, she cast a sidelong glance at Lu Wuyou.

Lu Wuyou took off the mask, revealing his handsome face. He gave her a soft smile and said gently, “Just one more detail. I’ll call Ye Niang in shortly.”

“One more detail… what—”

Before she could finish, Lu Wuyou had already leaned in and began marking red impressions along the curve of her shoulder and neck. Helan Ci let out a sharp yelp—a genuine one—then gasped, breathless, and whispered, “Bite softer…”

****

Not long after, Cao Xian’an emerged from the room. Straightening his clothes, he wore a cold, sneering smile.
“Overestimated herself, that one.”

The beauty’s voice had faded into silence, with only faint sobs lingering from within.

He gestured toward the woman playing the pipa nearby and barked, “You. Go in and clean her up.”

Ye Niang, caught off guard at first, paused briefly before rising with her pipa in hand.
“Yes.”

Inside the room, the girl who had just been fully clothed now appeared utterly disheveled and pitiful.

She lay collapsed on the bed, hair tangled, ornaments crooked and askew, clothes barely holding together. The skirt was torn, faint traces of bl00d visible, her face and neck covered in red marks. She looked barely able to sit upright, her eyes lowered, devoid of spirit.

Ye Niang put down the pipa and softly asked, “Miss, are you alright?”

She had previously looked at her with indifference, but now there was a hint of genuine sympathy in her voice.

Helan Ci worked hard to push past her embarrassment and the dizzy spell lingering in her head. After all, it wasn’t her real face, and being seen like this by a woman wasn’t too bad. She continued pretending to sob quietly, looking heartbroken.

Ye Niang let out a light sigh. “I’ll have someone bring you water.”

Helan Ci sniffled and shook her head. “No need… please don’t let anyone else in…”

Ye Niang hesitated. “But, miss, then how…”

Helan Ci, struggling to recall the social skills she’d sharpened recently, said in a low voice,
“Could I… rest on your shoulder for a moment?” She cautiously added,
“I had a sister…” leaving the sentence hanging.

Ye Niang’s expression shifted ever so slightly.
“Alright.”

Helan Ci leaned against her shoulder and fell quiet for a while, trying hard to summon up the proper emotion.

Ye Niang gently patted her back.

Lu Wuyou hadn’t prepared her for details like this; most of today’s plan had been improvised on the spot.

She remembered Lu Wuyou had told her Ye Niang had come to Misty Rain Pavilion only after her family fell into ruin. She had a younger sister and a widowed mother at home. Educated, literate, able to play and sing—Ye Niang had met Shen Yiguang when someone brought him to hear her perform. That was how feelings had slowly grown between them—though he’d been far too poor to buy her freedom.

Helan Ci bit her lip for a while, then pinched her own thigh to stay alert. Forcing herself to pull it together, she waited until she had stirred up the right emotions, then lifted her head, tears brimming in her eyes, and said, “I feel so awful. C-could I… talk to you for a bit?”

Ye Niang was briefly stunned, then replied in a warm voice, “If you want to talk, then go ahead.”

At this moment, she absolutely cannot fail.

Getting a response, Helan Ci forced out a half-truth, half-lie: “…Actually, I was once a daughter of a decent family. After our fortunes fell, I was passed from hand to hand until I ended up in Cao Xian’an’s possession. My mother passed early, my father is never home all year round, my elder sister was sold off long ago… only a useless older brother remains. When I was young, I always worried that the sky would fall, but I never expected that one day…” Her emotions weren’t entirely fake; her voice grew a little blurred, as if truly unguarded. “…I have read books, I know characters, I understand what ‘shame’ is. I really didn’t expect to end up like this…'”

She had taken quite the roundabout route to this, her lips dry from speaking so much, before she finally added,
“…There was once someone who wanted to treat me well, who tried to buy me out. But in the end, he couldn’t resist the pressure of the powerful. And he didn’t have enough silver to begin with…”

As she spoke, she kept an eye on Ye Niang’s expression—it was odd. Though her face showed sympathy, there was no trace of reminiscence, no flicker of shared emotion or understanding.

Helan Ci couldn’t help but feel puzzled. Could it be that she really had no feelings for Shen Yiguang?

According to Lu Wuyou, even if she had chosen self-preservation, it wouldn’t make sense for her to be so cold, so untouched by the past. Especially since she didn’t seem like a heartless woman.

So Helan Ci probed further, faltering deliberately:
“Sister, have… have you ever met someone like that?”

Ye Niang shook her head. “Never.”

Helan Ci kept up the act for a while longer. But not only did she fail to extract any information, but she also found it increasingly strange.

Eventually, the waves of dizziness and fuzziness in her mind became too much to bear, and she crushed a small pouch Lu Wuyou had given her—he’d told her to use it if anything went wrong.

It didn’t take long before Lu Wuyou, still wearing Cao Xian’an’s face, walked in. His voice was still laced with irritation as he barked,
“Took you this long just to clean up? I’m about to leave! Forget it…”

He tossed his outer robe over Helan Ci and scooped her up in one motion.

Helan Ci made a show of struggling, flailing lightly a couple of times before going limp in his arms.

Once they left the Misty Rain Pavilion, the laughter and flirtation behind them fading into the distance, Helan Ci no longer had to act. Her body finally began to relax—but almost immediately, the dizziness in her head worsened, and her limbs felt weak and uncooperative. She quickly told Lu Wuyou everything she had seen and the doubts she had.

Lu Wuyou had originally intended to tease her a bit, but upon hearing her, he fell into brief contemplation.
“Then maybe… there’s another possibility.”

Helan Ci, her tongue no longer quite under control, slurred,
“W-what possibility?”

Lu Wuyou had just set her down and was about to explain when Helan Ci’s knees gave way, nearly sending her to the ground. Startled, he reached out to catch her, only to realize her speech was slurring, her pupils slightly unfocused, and her consciousness teetering.

He hesitated and asked, “You… you aren’t drunk, are you?”

Before the words were even out, Helan Ci slapped a hand against the side of the carriage and shouted loudly,
“I’m not drunk!!”