Chunlan's body was almost touching Lu Heng as she poured him a cup of wine.
She could tell Lu Heng disliked being touched by women, but she had seen plenty of men who acted reserved at first, only to be rolling around with women in the blink of an eye.
Chunlan felt a hint of disdain. She subconsciously glanced at Lu Heng's waist before speaking softly, "Young master, please have some wine to moisten your throat. This is a new batch of fruit wine, brewed with plums, it's very delicious."
Lu Heng pushed the wine cup away. He wasn't in the mood to drink with this woman.
"Answer my question first, or I'll smash this place and have your owner come out to talk to me."
Lu Heng wasn't afraid of causing trouble in Jinyang City. With Zhu Di as the city lord, as long as he didn't kill people without reason within the city, he figured Zhu Di would be able to handle it.
"My lord, you jest with me. Touch my chest, my heart is beating very fast..."
Seeing Lu Heng's expression change, Chunlan sat up straight and quickly changed her address to Lu Heng.
"My lord, please sit for a moment. Chunlan will call the madam to speak with you."
Chunlan stood up, bowed slightly to Lu Heng, and quickly left the room.
In a short while, footsteps could be heard outside the room again. Lu Heng looked up at the doorway, and a middle-aged woman in heavy makeup walked in.
"Hehehe, apologies for keeping the guest waiting. Hmm! Why do you look so familiar to me?"
"Yes, that's right. Your appearance is exactly the same as the portrait hanging in the hall."
"That silly girl Chunlan didn't tell me in advance, she just said someone wanted to see me."
"Alas, why hasn't the guest touched the food? Are the dishes and wine not to your satisfaction? I'll have them replaced immediately."
As the woman spoke, she waved her hand, signaling the two burly men behind her to call for a young servant from outside the room.
The table full of dishes was quickly cleared, and the door was closed again.
The woman sat down opposite Lu Heng and looked at his face again carefully. "Guest, you truly look exactly like the person in that portrait."
"Who hung this portrait up? And who painted it? I wonder if this madam can tell me."
"This isn't impossible, but the guest must promise us secrecy."
Seeing Lu Heng nod, the woman said again, "Actually, it's not a big deal. This portrait was specially hung by our owner. As for who painted it, I don't know."
"Who is your owner?"
The madam put on a mysterious expression and leaned forward across the table. "Our owner is the new city lord of Jinyang City, Lord Zhu."
After speaking, the madam looked at Lu Heng with an expression of pride.
"Zhu Di!" Lu Heng felt a headache coming on. What was Zhu Di doing, hanging his portrait in a place like this, and in the main hall at that.
"Oh dear, please don't say his esteemed name out loud. If someone were to hear..."
Although her pleasure house wasn't something shameful, and such businesses were everywhere on the Divine Origin Continent.
Many pleasure houses had strong backing behind them, but it was rare for the city lord himself to be the owner.
"Take down the portrait. I'll go talk to Zhu Di myself."
"This... this isn't very good. When it was hung up that day, the owner said it couldn't be taken down, saying it would bring wealth..."
Lu Heng gave the madam a sideways glance and got up to walk out. If they wouldn't take it down, he would take it down himself.
The madam behind him realized what Lu Heng intended to do and quickly got up to follow.
But how could one woman be as fast as Lu Heng? By the time she went out, Lu Heng had already circled around to the main hall and leaped up to take down the portrait.
Amidst the exclamations of everyone in the hall, Lu Heng put the portrait into his spatial storage and left without looking back.
Behind him were various noisy voices, including the madam's shouts, seemingly calling for someone to stop Lu Heng.
There were also the sounds of men and women flirting. Lu Heng's actions hadn't affected the guests here at all. Beside the soft bodies of women, they quickly forgot what had just happened.
Lu Heng smiled self-deprecatingly. Most men were like this, largely thinking with their lower halves.
Leaving the small building adorned with red lanterns, Lu Heng quickly navigated the streets and soon disappeared into the bustling crowd.
It seemed that canceling the curfew did have some benefits.
After passing through several streets, Lu Heng arrived outside the City Lord's mansion.
At night, the City Lord's mansion had large braziers placed at intervals along the stone steps.
The flames burning within illuminated the steps clearly.
Lu Heng strode up the steps and soon arrived at the main gate of the City Lord's mansion.
There were no longer any guards at the gate, nor was the annoying old man from the pavilion in sight.
He must have finished his shift and gone to rest.
However, there should still be guards inside the City Lord's mansion. Lu Heng walked up a few steps and knocked on the bronze ring on the gate.
"Who is it? Coming here so late."
A rough male voice sounded from inside the gate, and the gate creaked open a crack.
A sleepy-eyed man peeked out.
Seeing Lu Heng standing outside, the man asked impatiently, "What do you want? It's so late, don't you know the City Lord's mansion doesn't handle official business at night?"
"Is Zhu Di here?" Lu Heng asked impatiently.
"What did you say? How can a mere commoner like you casually speak the City Lord's name..."
"Ah... what are you doing? You... someone, someone is trespassing... Aaaahhhh!"
Lu Heng couldn't be bothered with the man. He should have just flown in on the eagle-beaked beast earlier.
Lu Heng had a thought, took out the alien's flying device, and as soon as he opened it, he quickly flew towards Zhu Di's room.
He had been here once before, and Lu Heng had a good memory, remembering the location.
In a short while, he arrived there.
From high above, the courtyard here was illuminated, but the rooms were completely dark.
Was Zhu Di not here?
"Zhu Di! Come out."
Lu Heng floated in mid-air. He was too lazy to enter the rooms and decided to shout here.
If Zhu Di wasn't here, he would leave for now. The matter of the portrait wasn't particularly urgent anyway.
As expected, Lu Heng shouted loudly twice.
The soldiers of the City Lord's mansion, disturbed from outside, were almost at the courtyard, but Zhu Di still didn't come out.
Lu Heng also didn't hear Zhu Di's thoughts. He glanced at the approaching crowd again and left from another direction.
In a short while, Lu Heng's figure disappeared from the City Lord's mansion.
Returning to his own small courtyard, Lu Heng took out paper and brush and wrote two letters.
One was for Zhu Di, and the other was for Lu Daniu.
He asked a disciple of the Danyang Sect to deliver the letter to Zhu Di.
The one for Lu Daniu was left directly in the small courtyard.
After doing this, Lu Heng left the Divine Origin Continent and temporarily returned to Wuming City.