Last night, the city of Zhenjiang welcomed the last rainstorm of this summer. The torrential rain that lasted all night washed the entire city clean. However, the hidden dirty things in the corners cannot be cleaned up overnight.

  Early morning clouds dispersed, and the sun shone through. In the gaps between the green stone slabs, fragments of leaves and remaining raindrops hid. A farmer pushed a wheelbarrow, rumbling over the stone road. From afar, vendors carrying poles on their shoulders hawked their wares: spicy powder, fragrant oil. The breakfast stalls along both sides of the street opened one after another, steaming large pots simmering with scarlet flames, boiling up the day's thoughts for the city dwellers.

  This quietness is filled with warmth, the hustle and bustle of a desolate morning was broken by an exquisitely decorated carriage.

  The carriage was extremely large and occupied half of the stone road. Its speed wasn't slow either, and pedestrians on the road were dodging left and right to avoid it.

  "What a wealthy family, everything is so arrogant!" A vegetable farmer nervously pulled his carrying pole to the side of the street, afraid that it would be scratched by the speeding horse carriage.

  Just as everyone was complaining that the carriage and its occupants were being too arrogant, the speed of the carriage suddenly slowed down. And what happened next really scared everyone.

  That carriage was so tall and spacious that it suddenly split open in the middle of the street! The carriage wall collapsed, rolling down to the ground with a loud crash, and some even hit several pedestrians.

  What's even more unbelievable is that there are people in the carriage, oh no, it's several people, both men and women!

  "Goodness gracious, don't look!" A passing elderly woman quickly covered her child's eyes with her hand and blocked their view with her body. However, she herself couldn't help but sneak a few glances at the car, and those few glances were enough to make her face contort in disgust.

  The carriage burst open, and the noise was extremely loud. Not only did people passing by on the street stop to look, but also those busy in the shops and drinking tea in the wine house all curiously stuck their heads out.

  Under the open sky, on that thin carriage, a man and two women were lying. The women's clothes were half-open, revealing their beauty. The man was almost naked, his private parts barely covered by the woman sitting on top of him.

  Everyone with eyes can see that the three of them were just doing something shameful in the carriage. Just now, the carriage suddenly stopped and encountered a broken wheel, and the three people were shocked. In the chaos, they searched for something to cover themselves, but unexpectedly, under the gaze of everyone, they completely lost their composure, and their already thin clothes were torn beyond recognition as the three of them pushed and blamed each other.

  "Hey, isn't that Zhang... Lord Zhang?" someone in the crowd shouted in a shrill voice, causing everyone to turn and stare at the naked man.

  Magistrate Fu is after all a local parent official, and Zhang Certain considers himself diligent, often appearing in some occasions to show his closeness to the people, earning him some good reputation.

  But today it has become his nightmare. Eight or nine out of ten people on the street recognize him, and now his reputation is really going up day by day.

  At this moment, Zhang was covering his lower body and hastily asked the young servant to take off his outer garment and put it on himself. He also picked up a folding fan to cover his head, wanting to leave in a hurry.

  At this time someone else shouted: "Oh my goodness, aren't those Ruhua and Ruli from the Yingchun Pavilion?"

  White daylight debauchery, officials consorting with prostitutes, is already quite unseemly. And to make matters worse, it's the usually dignified and elegant official Zhang, who normally puts on a show of being refined and cultured, that this huge disparity has left the onlookers staring wide-eyed and bewildered.

  This farce didn't last long enough for those who were eager to watch, as the main characters were soon surrounded and escorted away by the servants of the Zhang family. During this time, the people from the Zhang family were like they had performed a silent play, not making a single sound, nor even threatening anyone, but just hastily cleaning up the scene.

  Before long, the street vendors were packed up. But such explosive gossip was enough to keep the onlookers chatting spontaneously for a good half day.

  Everyone was chatting too enthusiastically and naturally didn't notice the two handsome young men whispering to each other on the second floor at the edge of the scene.

  Xie Xuan put away the bamboo fan and tapped Qin Miao's head: "Be careful, you've been staring for too long, you'll get a long needle eye!"

  Qin Miao rolled her eyes and said with a folding fan, "What's there to see about those cheap men? I've seen better-looking ones. You're lucky, though - those twin sisters are truly deliciously beautiful."

  ……

  "Oh, spare me the disdain. It's not like I'm worthy of your attention anyway." Xie Yun muttered in a wronged tone. "I'm so pure and refined, yet I deign to look at such common, vulgar women? How they sully the eyes of our noble lord. Hmph!"

  How can this phrase sound so strange? Shouldn't it be used to describe a young lady's family, how did it end up being used on this rough fellow?!

  "How did you use the word, how did your teacher teach you when you were young? Don't misuse it, be careful not to teach my child wrongly!" Qin Miao habitually scolded him, he was as calm and composed as ice and jade, what am I then.

  As soon as the child was mentioned, Xie Yun immediately covered her mouth and randomly fanned a few times in front of Qin Miao's belly, causing Qin Miao to burst out laughing.

  How stupid!

  The two of them didn't stay for long and soon parted ways at the foot of the wine tower, one going to the military camp outside the city and the other returning home.

  As Qin Miao had expected, Huo Zijian had already nodded in agreement, and rumors spread like the April wind, reaching a prairie fire scale in an instant. One person tells ten, ten people tell a hundred, and during gatherings under the flowers or by the moon, after tea or after meals, were all good times for rumors to fly about.

  In less than three days, the news of Zhang Fuchu's tryst with two courtesans on the street had spread in dozens of versions. Those two courtesans became even more famous, and seemed to be on the verge of becoming the queen of flowers in Chuan Yang City.

  However, our refined gentleman Zhang was in a difficult situation. Not only did he spend several days investigating and still couldn't figure out the reason for the carriage splitting open, but also used many methods to try to suppress the rumors spreading throughout the city, yet they just kept getting more and more exaggerated and sensationalized.

  Inside the prefectural governor's residence.

  Mrs. Zhang looked at the gilt invitation in her hand, feeling like it was burning her skin. She gritted her teeth secretly: It's really a misfortune for eight lifetimes, how did she end up marrying such a lustful and unfaithful man? Usually, he would just indulge in his romantic affairs behind closed doors, but now he had to take this shameful thing outside, and it was said that he even did it in public.

  Mrs. Zhang is a narrow-minded person, and she was also from a rural gentry family, it's really disgusting to even think about it. How can she go out in the future, how can she see guests, and how can she still have the face to call herself Mrs. Zhang?

  The letter in her hand, which made her feel embarrassed, was exactly the one sent by General's mansion this morning. Because of the sudden appearance of Old Lady Wei Yuan Hou, now Lady Wei Yuan Hou wanted to invite people with identities in the city to gather at the mansion, under the name of Osmanthus Fragrans Banquet.

  This is a place of great importance for Confucianism, and although the noble families in the city cannot compare to the Yu Zhang Fu, they have also gathered many famous scholars and officials. Therefore, this kind of banquet has been held every year, with different names each time. As the wife of the local official of Xiangyang, Mrs. Zhang had also often hosted elegant banquets in previous years, all of which were attended by wealthy and noble families.

  Nowadays, a marquis from the capital and an old lady with a first-class imperial edict have come to the city. If it were in the past, Mrs. Zhang would definitely accept the invitation. But under the current circumstances, she doesn't even have the face to go.

  So on the day of the Osmanthus Flower Banquet, the prefectural government and the prefect's residence didn't send the hostess, saying she had caught a chill and wasn't feeling well. However, in order to save face, they sent someone else to attend the banquet instead.