The women in the palace are unscrupulous for the upper position, and there are also those outside the palace.

Every year in May, it is the time when the major folk song and dance workshops, green buildings and opera gardens are customary to elect oirans or pillars, and it is also the most prosperous time of the year. As soon as May entered this year, major entertainment venues were busy opening for the election, and Joy Square was no exception.

Since Hua Mai's death, Joy Square has been immersed in fear and sorrow for a long time, and even last year's Oiran election contest was not held. After more than a year, everyone gradually came out of the shadows and began to fight for the battle for the Oiran.

The rules of the Joy Shop are that any girl who has signed a death contract in the Joy Shop can compete for the Oiran throne. But there is also an unwritten rule, that is, it is Qingqi who wins the Oiran laurel in the end, so the women who have sold themselves in the workshop generally give up automatically.

Yingge and Butterfly have always been popular candidates for Oiran, and the last Oiran was captured by Butterfly with a well-choreographed song "Butterfly Loves Flowers"; This year, Yingge is about to regain the throne of Oiran, so he specially united Ling Bu, Light Yarn, Wind Chimes and Yingjue to arrange a dance called "Blue Snow and Wild Sand".

Dieyu is not alone, Yiren and Shui Se also actively helped her rehearse the songs and dances of the competition. Dieyu prepared a pas de deux this year and invited Shui Se to partner with her. After a few rehearsals, the two sat down to rest.

"Shui Se, your dancing skills have improved a lot, and your dancing is more beautiful than mine! It's a shame not to participate! "The dance style of the water color in the past was tender like water, gentle and warm, but now Dieyu feels that her dance steps have a little more firmness that she did not have before, and she is tenacious and charming. It was a risky change in her dance style, but I have to admit that she made a successful transition.

"It's a pity that I've never been a contestant in the Oiran competition." Who in the workshop doesn't know that the water color is the most indisputable to the world, which is like her sister Hua Wu who does not miss any opportunity to come out, and returns every year after running for election, but she has been defeated again and again.

Since Hua Wu's death, although the color of the water has not changed greatly, it is much colder than before. The sudden departure of her sister did cause a huge blow to her, and the flower dance used to be the center of gravity of Shui Se's life, but now Shui Se, who has lost this center of gravity, is not interested in everything around her. Butterfly can understand the change in water color, but as a friend, she still hopes that water color will cheer up.

Dieyu wanted to persuade her again, but Shui Se smiled and said goodbye to her: "Dieyu, let's practice today's dance here." I'm going to perform on stage in a while, the competition is the competition, and the business in the workshop still has to be done. ”

In the evening, Shuise's performance was applauded by the audience, and several guests in the private room wanted to invite Shuise to accompany the wine, but they were all rejected by Shuise, she insisted on only selling her art and not selling herself.

"Aqua, wait." Fang Shi Su stopped the water color who wanted to go back to the room to remove his makeup.

"What does the owner command?" The water smiled and seemed to be the same gentle and kind as before, but only she knew that she could never go back.

"Shui Se, I'll discuss something with you...... Go to the plum fragrance room to accompany a guest. After Tassel finished speaking, Shui Se looked at her with an incredulous look, Tassel knew that he was a strong man, but he had to do it, so he began to take advantage of Shui Se: "I know this is against principle, but this guest is not small, and we can't afford to offend." Besides, I need you to find out if there's any valuable information...... This person is Yu Zitao, the son of the servant of the Criminal Department, although he is a gentleman, he is not an indecent person, but he just asks you to drink two glasses with him. I have made a pact with him that he will not behave in a deviant manner towards you. ”

"These are all things that Hua Wu did before, aren't they? It's a pity that I'm aqua and I don't accompany guests. You've already killed Hua Wu, do you still want to destroy the water color? The water laughed angrily.

"Aqua, it's for the sake of the flower dance that you should go! Only those who climb to a high position can live with a little dignity, otherwise they can only be picked by others. At Joy Place, you can only find a way out by making yourself the backbone of the organization, which you won't understand. I won't force you, you can decide for yourself. If you don't see you in a quarter of an hour, I'll send someone else. Just now, the wind chimes took the initiative to ask for it. The tassel took a deep look at Shui Se and was about to turn away, but was stopped by Shui Se: "I'll go!" The corners of her mouth curled slightly with her back to the water-colored tassel, and she turned back and said with relief: "That's right." Shui Se, you have been in the workshop for many years, I can trust you. There are some things that I can trust you to do, but I have to guard against some wind chimes, do you understand? ”

"I can go, but I have the conditions...... I'm going to compete in the Oiran Tournament. "Tassel is right, she can't let Hua Wu sacrifice in vain, she can only be worthy of Hua Wu and herself by climbing to a higher position.

"Changed your mind? Didn't you insist on not participating in the competition at first? No problem, there is no limit to registration. Tassel readily agreed.

"I'm not just going to race, I'm going to win! I want you to make me an oiran. "She is determined to win the position of Oiran.

"You want me to cheat? The Oiran was voted for by the guests, and I can't help you with that. "The Oiran competition is fair and open, and the tassel never interferes.

"Okay, if you don't help me, don't get in the way of me......" Shui Se's expression became cold, and he straightened his clothes and walked in the direction of Mei Xiangjian. Tassel looked at the back of the water color in the distance, her eyes couldn't help but narrow, and she asked herself in her heart whether she should believe in such a water color?

Shui Se came to the door of the plum fragrance room, took a deep breath and pushed the door in. I saw two richly dressed sons and brothers in the house pushing cups and changing lamps there, and every time they drank a glass, they had to chant a poem elegantly.

"It's too late, please forgive me." The water color gently blessed the blessed body and gave the two of them a salute.

"Why is it so slow? Ben Gongzi's wine is almost finished. Yu Zitao was a little unhappy, and Gao Gongzi, who was with him, hurriedly started a round: "Brother Yu, don't be upset, isn't the water girl here!" I have to give people some time to dress up. Then he said to Shui Se: "Don't care about the Shui Girl, Brother Yu is this straight temper and has no malice." Brother Yu and Zai admired the girl's dancing, so he specially invited the girl to have a few drinks, and hoped that the girl would not give up. "This Gao Gongzi has done enough courtesy, and he doesn't seem to be a lewd womanizer, which makes Shui Se feel a lot more at ease.

"Where are the two sons? The two of them do not abandon the posture of the slave family, and the slave family respects the two sons with a cup! "The color of the water is dry first.

"Good amount of alcohol! I didn't expect the water girl to be such an informal person, come, our brothers will also toast you! Gao Gongzi and Yu Zitao admired Shui Se's personality and toasted her together. The three of them drank a glass of glass, Gao Gongzi and Yuzi Tao Tiannan Haibei chatted, and after a while, several people were a little drunk.

Yu Zitao drank too much wine and talked more: "Senior brother, do you know? Last year's drought in the south, our army's disaster relief money was robbed, do you remember? ”

"Of course I remember, wasn't this matter investigated by your father and Lord Yang from the Criminal Department later? What, there's a result? "Gao Gongzi has no official position with him, but he is still very concerned about the current affairs of the imperial court. This is probably also the so-called valuable information of the tassel, and the water color silently pricked up his ears.

"Isn't it! My dad found this in the hands of one of the dead escort officers! As he spoke, Yu Zitao took out a string of tassels from his sleeve and showed off: "Look, this is it!" I stole it from the study while my father was away, and I heard that this is an important clue, it should be that the officer and soldier ripped it off the bandit during the fight with the robbers......" After that, Yu Zitao babbled a lot, but Shui Se didn't pay attention to it, just stared at the familiar string of tassels in his hand.

"Yu Gongzi, this Yingluo slave family looks familiar, can you take a closer look at the slave family?" Shui Se needed to confirm whether this tassel was the other tassel, and Yu Zitao didn't say anything and brought the tassel to Shui Se's eyes to show her clearly. The water color was carefully observed, and it was really similar to the one Dieyu was wearing! Because there is a very rare multicolored glass bead under these two strings. The reason why it is rare is not because of the value of the glass bead itself, but because of its cutting process, a small glass bead is evenly cut into no less than 80 facets, which can be described as the top technology in jewelry production at the time, and this skill is said to be unique to Snow Country.

"Aqua girl, what have you discovered?" Yu Zitao couldn't wait to find out if she had seen such a tassel anywhere.

"This ......" Seeing that Shui* stopped talking, Yu and Gao were both in a hurry, and they both urged her to hurry up. A plan suddenly flashed in Shui Se's heart, so he said: "The slave family has indeed seen it, but it is ......"

"What else could it be? Say it quickly! This is related to the handling of the case by the imperial court, if you don't report it, I will arrest you and send you to the prison of the Criminal Department! ”

"Don't be a childe! The slave family said that it was it, but the son had to promise not to tell others that I said it. "Shui Se doesn't want to get into some unnecessary trouble. Seeing that the two of them swore that they would not reveal any information about her, she was relieved to tell the truth: "The slave family has seen a string of ...... similar to this one in the hands of the son on the butterfly girl in our workshop."

As soon as Yu Zitao heard the butterfly language, he also had a string of similar appearances, and without saying a word, he immediately took Gao Gongzi out of the Appreciation Shop and went straight home to find Yuhai, who was in charge of the case.

Shui Se sat by the window of the plum fragrance room and looked at the two figures running away, and a weird smile bloomed on his lips. In fact, she knew that the tassels of Butterfly Language were also given by others, and the one who gave her tassels was a bewitching Maiko named Qiu Xin. Qiu Xin came to Joy Place at the beginning of last year and signed a living deed, but she only worked for two months and left for unknown reasons. Shui Se thinks that this Autumn Heart may be a mysterious person from Snow Country, and Butterfly is likely to have some unknown connection with her. Regardless of the facts, Mizuse intends to use this opportunity to make Butterfly miss out on Oiran's campaign, but she doesn't expect the consequences to be much more serious than she thought.