Chapter 1: The Miserable Transmigration

  "Heaven is above, earth is below. Thinking of Jiang Xia and Zhu Shou, although we have different surnames, our aspirations are the same, so today we become sworn brothers. From now on, the two of us will definitely share good fortune and bad, not seeking to be born in the same year, month, and day, but seeking to die in the same year, month, and day. Heaven and earth, witness this oath, if I betray trust and abandon righteousness, heaven and man will punish me together!"

  "Big brother!"

  "Old Second!"

  Under the witness of Zhang Yong, Jiang Xia and Zhu Houzhao became sworn brothers in a room at Qunfang Pavilion after beheading a chicken, burning yellow paper, drinking blood wine, and making incense offerings to heaven.

  Jiangxia Zhengzhong wrote down the Jinlan Spectrum, keeping one copy for himself and giving another to Zhu Houzhao.

  The Jinlan spectrum is written with the oath of the two people who previously recited, and it is considered to be a written record of the vows of the two.

  After the two stood up, Jiang Xia grasped Zhu Shou's hands and said excitedly: "Old Two, from today on you are my Old Two..."

  "As of today, you're my second-in-command." Jiang Xia suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. He even subconsciously glanced at his lower body before shuddering all over, with goosebumps constantly emerging.

  Jiang Xia coughed twice and said, "Since we've become brothers, the older brother can't even give you a little gift to celebrate our meeting." After finishing speaking, Jiang Xia took out two $100 bills from his pocket and handed one of them to Zhu Houzhao.

  These two dollars were the only things Jiang Xia brought with him when he crossed over, and the rest of his belongings had long since disappeared into who-knows-which time and space.

  Zhu Houzhao took over the dollar bill and looked at it, suddenly feeling a little surprised.

  "The person in this painting may be a bit ugly, but it's painted very realistically, just like a real person. And the brushwork of this painting is truly vivid and lifelike, I'm afraid only an exceptionally skilled painter could create such a work."

  "That's for sure." Jiang Xia nodded calmly, "This painter is incredibly talented, and he has gained untold wealth just by painting this one piece. And the pinnacle of his life's work are these two paintings... they're identical."

  Isn't this nonsense? How can a $100 bill be different from another one?

  Zhu Houzhao took the $100 bill from Jiang Xia's hand and carefully compared it. In an instant, Zhu Houzhao's eyes widened, he nodded and said: "It's exactly the same, really exactly the same. Amazing, truly amazing! Who is this painter? I want to meet him."

  Jiang Xia shook his head and said: "Actually, I also wanted to see him before, let him paint a few more paintings like this for me. But later I found out that he had already passed away."

  "Is he dead?" Zhu Houzhao shook his head and said: "What a pity."

  He carefully handed over the $100 bill to Zhang Yongdao beside him: "Keep it safe, and after going home, mount it on my study wall."

  "Yes, sir." Zhang Yong nodded in response.

  It is said that courtesy demands reciprocity. After receiving Jiang Xia's gift, Zhu Houzhao couldn't just ignore it without giving anything in return. He patted himself and said: "Big brother, I don't have anything good on me to give you. If I give you silver, you'll say I'm humiliating you. So this time, let's just consider the gift owed, and I'll make it up to you next time."

  Jiang Xia raised an eyebrow and shook his head, saying: "Second brother, you don't have to bother, big brother is now brothers with you, where would he still care about what insults or not, just give big brother a thousand or two hundred taels as a meeting gift."

  "Ah..." Zhu Houzhao took out all the Da Ming Bao Chao from his body and said: "Big brother, you gave me such a valuable gift, but I only gave you this little trivial thing, brothers are really..."

  Jiang Xia took the stack of Da Ming Bao Chao from Zhu Houzhao's hands and put it into his own bosom, then made a calm gesture with his hand and said: "Nothing to worry about, big brother won't bother you with these things."

  "Big brother......" Zhu Houzhao was deeply moved.

  Zhang Yong couldn't bear it anymore, he walked over and whispered in Zhu Houzhao's ear: "Your Majesty, it's getting late, we should head back to the palace. Tomorrow morning, Li Dongyang from the Imperial Cabinet will come to pay his respects."

  "Li Dongyang?" Upon hearing this name, Zhu Houzhao was visibly startled. He picked up his brush and wrote an address on the rice paper, then nodded slightly at Zhang Yong.

  Zhang Yong reluctantly took out a token from his bosom and handed it to Jiang Xia. Zhu Houzhao said, "Big brother, I have something to do tomorrow, so I'll take my leave first. This is the token of my mansion, and I've written the address on the rice paper. If you're free, feel free to come to my mansion anytime."

  "Alright, if I have time, I'll definitely come find you for a drink."

  Zhu Houzhao made a fist at Jiang Xia and said: "Big brother will take his leave now."

  Jiang Xia also made a fist and returned a courtesy to Zhu Houzhao: "Brother, take care of yourself. If you have time, come to the Qunfang Pavilion to find me for a drink."

  "It's settled." Zhu Houzhao said with a smile, then left with Zhang Yong.

  Jiang Xia escorted Zhu Houzhao out of the main gate of the Gongfang Pavilion, and only after seeing Zhu Houzhao and Zhang Yong get on their carriage did he turn around and return to the pavilion.

  As he walked along the Jiangxia, he took a glance at the waist card in his hand. The waist card was made of brass and was quite exquisite for this era. The content on the waist card was simple, just a few words: "Leopard House Tianzi No. 1".

  Although he didn't quite understand what "豹房天字一号" meant, Jiang Xia guessed that this brother must be the young master of a wealthy family. He carefully put away the token and then unfolded the rice paper with Zhu Houzhao's home address written on it to take another look.

  Jiang Xia's memory was naturally different from that of ordinary people, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that he never forgot anything he saw. After glancing at the address on the rice paper a few times, he simply tore up the rice paper, since he could remember the address anyway, and there was no use in keeping the paper.

  After returning to the Gongfang Pavilion, Jiang Xia's first thing was not to go to the main hall of the Gongfang Pavilion, but to run to the thatched house and hide to count how much silver was in Zhu Houzhao's stack of Da Ming Baochao.

  While Jiang Xia was counting the silver, Zhang Yong and Zhu Houzhao were sitting together in the carriage. Zhu Houzhao had a smile on his face and muttered to himself from time to time: "Interesting, this Jiang Xia is really interesting."

  Zhang Yong sat aside and couldn't help but say, "Your Majesty, that Jiang Xia is just a small account in the brothel, why must Your Majesty lift him up like this? And even make him a sworn brother."

  Zhu Houzhao shook his head and said, "This statement is wrong. Where did I make a sworn brotherhood with Jiang Xia? The one who made a sworn brotherhood with Jiang Xia was Zhu Shou, my name is not unknown to you, isn't it called Zhu Shou?"

  Zhang Yong finally understood that Zhu Houzhao and Jiang Xia had sworn brotherhood just for fun, and he smiled and said: "Your Majesty is wise."

  Zhu Houzhao smiled, "However, although I didn't really become sworn brothers with him, I do think this person is quite interesting. When you have time, take care of him for me. If he's indeed a talented individual, then I won't mind promoting him to see how far he can go. After returning to the Leopard House, tell the people in the Leopard Guard that when someone comes looking for me with the Tianzi No. 1 token, they are not allowed to reveal my identity and must immediately bring that person to see me."

  "Yes, Your Majesty!" Zhang Yong replied.

  In the Wenyuan Pavilion of the Qunfang Pavilion, Liu Jin, who had witnessed everything earlier, said to Kang Qingyan: "Qingyan, this young man you recommended is not bad. However, I am not suitable for him to meet now, so remember to stabilize him well and cultivate him into our own person as much as possible. His current identity is also not suitable to be a bookroom master anymore, go talk to him and advise him to join the Qunfang Pavilion."

  "Join the Fragrant Pavilion?" Kang Qingyan was shocked beyond measure.

  To know that the Quanfang Pavilion in Shuntian Prefecture is one of the top brothels, where every night high-ranking officials and nobles gather, it's not an exaggeration to say that they make a fortune. Jiang Xia has only been at the Quanfang Pavilion for less than half a month, yet he's already allowed to...

  Liu Jin nodded and said, "I have a premonition that this child will be of great use to me in the future. When you let him join the company, don't be stingy, give him half of the shares. As for the capital, just go through the motions."

  "Yes, sir." Kang Qingyan suppressed the surprise in her heart and responded. She was very familiar with Liu Jin and knew that he was a person who would never do business at a loss. Since Liu Jin was willing to pay such a great price to win over Jiang Xia, then Jiang Xia must have had value worth winning over.

  Kang Qingyan secretly decided in her heart that she must bring Jiang Xia down.

  "Achoo!" Jiang Xia, who had just finished counting the silver tickets in the outhouse, let out a loud sneeze. He rubbed his nose and said, "I don't know who's thinking of me, but if it's Cui Nianslave, that beautiful woman, then that's okay. But if it's Kang Qianyan, that female wolf, then I'm in big trouble, may the gods protect me!"

  Taking stock of tonight's harvest, Jiang Xia didn't even bother to count the miscellaneous items, in short, he now has more than 2,000 taels of silver on him.

  Twenty thousand taels! Even if I were to ransom myself twenty times, it would be enough.

  Finally going to escape the sea of suffering. Jiang Xia Zhi exclaimed with satisfaction, he had just walked into the hall when he saw Han Yu coming up to him, and upon seeing Jiang Xia, Han Yu said: "Brother Jiang, you've made me search for you everywhere, quickly go to Wanyun Pavilion, Mother Kang is looking for you."

  "Oh? Mom Kang looking for me? Coincidentally, I was also looking for her."

  Jiang Xia walked to the Wanjun Pavilion, just as he was about to knock on the door, he hesitated for a moment, looked around the corridor to see if anyone was there. Jiang Xia quickly tightened his belt and tied a knot.

  Facing Kang Qingyan, this wolf-like and tiger-like color-hungry ghost, Jiang Xia felt that he had to guard against her a bit.

  Knocked on the door.

  A voice came from inside: "Come in."

  Jiang Xia pushed open the door and entered, and as soon as he came in, he saw Kang Qingyan sitting beside the round table in the room. Jiang Xia took a look and suddenly understood that there was someone else in this room just now.

  Because there was another stool placed irregularly next to the round table, and on the table surface, there was an empty teacup that wasn't in front of Kang Qingyan, it was clearly not hers.

  Jiang Xia looked around the room and finally confirmed that there was only Kang Qingyan in it, apparently the person who had been in the room earlier had already left.

  Jiang Xia's face hung with a habitual flattering smile and said, "What instructions does Mother Kang have for me?"

  Kang Qingyan smiled brightly, "Jiang Xia, you sit first. I came this time because I have a huge wonderful thing to tell you."

  PS: Everyone, please help, the tiger has not yet been on the new book list, wuwuwu...