Chapter 313: Jade Courtyard

Riding a horse and leaning on the sloping bridge, red sleeves waving in the building.

The green screen and golden curves, drunkenly sleeping in the flowers.

……

The most beautiful and prosperous place in Hengshan City is Hongxiu Street.

It is said to be a street of cosmetics, but there is only one brothel for hundreds of steps from the beginning to the end. There are hundreds of houses on both sides, with terraces and pavilions on every level, which are lined up one after another, almost occupying one third of the street. If it were somewhere else, only the mansions of kings, dukes, nobles and aristocrats could have such grandeur.

There were still fifty or sixty steps to the gate, and the streets along the way were already filled with cars and horses.

There was a five-story building in the middle. It was not like an ordinary brothel. There were a lot of vulgar women there, holding handkerchiefs and shouting at the door in a shrill voice, "Sir, come in and play!", "There are many girls in the building, I guarantee you will be satisfied", "If you are not satisfied, don't give me money" and other vulgar words.

Outside the gate of this brothel, there were only eight women in goose yellow palace dress. They had fair skin, tall figures, and long skirts trailing on the ground. They stood on both sides with lanterns in their hands. There was no frivolous expression on their faces, as if this was not a brothel, and the guests were students who were about to enter the examination room.

"Hengshan Qunyuyuan is indeed worthy of its reputation!"

There were foreign merchants, scholars, and wanderers who had just arrived here, and they came here in groups at night to have fun. When they saw this scene, they felt their eyes had been opened, and their hearts were full of expectations, thinking that the reputation was not false.

"Just the one who greets guests outside the building, if she were in an ordinary county town, her beauty would be worthy of being an Oiran."

"Hunan women are passionate and beautiful women are born in Hunan. What the book says is indeed true."

"Brother Huang, today let's not talk about what's in the book. It's in the book, so as not to offend the beautiful lady. The saints said that what you learn from books is always shallow. You must practice it yourself to know it. How about you and I go into the building and study things to gain knowledge?"

"Brother Bai said, that's exactly what I meant. It's a good opportunity to take a break from busy life. Although you and I are readers of the Spring and Autumn Annals, we should also understand the world and have fun with the people."

"It's as it should be!"

The two sour scholars were already three-quarters drunk before they even drank any alcohol. They hesitated at the gate for a while, and only entered the building after being urged by the people behind them.

Zhang Yu easily walked through the crowd, came to the gate, and looked at the magnificent golden plaque.

"Qun Yuyuan!"

What a huge brothel.

In the eyes of the righteous, the Sun and Moon Sect is of course a demonic cult that commits murder, arson, and all kinds of evil. However, within the sect, there are relatively strict rules, and one of them is not to commit adultery.

However, with the passage of time, all those religious rules have been forgotten, and only four words "the strongest is respected" remain. Therefore, the martial arts skills of the sect leaders of all generations are impeccable, and even if they are not the best in the world, they can always be among the top five.

What happened at Liu's mansion during the day was finally revealed. Zhang Yu did not bear the infamy of being a rapist, but he was still a little depressed. He had heard of the reputation of Hengshan Qun Yuyuan a long time ago, and wanted to come and see it on the eve of the storm.

"In my previous life, I lived like a lackey until my death for twenty years, and never saw the prosperity of the world. Now that I have changed my world, I can see the beauty of this heavenly world."

Zhang Yu laughed at himself and followed the crowd into the Qun Yu Courtyard.

What comes into view is a circular platform, about five or six feet square. In the air, long colorful silk ribbons crisscross each other, like a rainbow bridge in the sky. A blind girl sits alone on the platform, playing the piano.

The space in the Qun Yu Building is spacious, with 72 eight-person tables distributed in the lobby on the first floor. More than half of them are occupied by guests. Those who come with friends can book a table. Those who come alone can either pay more money to go to the private room on the second floor, or have to share a table.

This Qun Yu Tower is just the residence of eight courtesans who are selected once a year. They all sell their art but not their bodies. Even when inviting wealthy guests who spend a lot of money to the embroidery room for a chat, one has to be extremely careful. If one is not careful, the value of these cash cows may be reduced.

Five or six years ago, there was a young man from a noble family who came to Hengshan City. After returning to Changsha Prefecture, he boasted to everyone that a certain courtesan in the Qun Yu Courtyard let him stay overnight in her embroidery room, which made everyone very envious.

Unexpectedly, a few days later, he was found drowned in Laodao River. After being fished out, the coroner of Changsha Prefecture found no other scars on his body, but... his entire tongue was missing.

There were rumors that it was the work of Qun Yuyuan's men.

That family had some influence in Hunan, and had produced two fifth-rank and four sixth-rank officials. The family had three generations of male descendants and only had this one child, who had been pampered since childhood. How could they let it go? Not long after, the two leading officials in the family were dismissed from office for various reasons, and the rest dared not make trouble anymore, and were willing to swallow this loss.

Since then, at least in the area of Sanxiang, jokes about Qun Yuyuan are not something that can be made easily.

Since Qun Yu Yuan is called a courtyard, it has more than one building.

There are hundreds of houses on half of the street, where women other than the courtesans live. They are divided into four grades, A, B, C, and D, and are served by maids and servants of varying specifications. It is entirely up to the A, B, and C grades to accept customers, but they need to pay a fixed monthly salary to the building. If they fail to pay the full amount for three consecutive months, they will be demoted in level until they become the fourth grade prostitutes, which are the largest in number and have the lowest status.

"Why don't you let us go up?"

"Sir, there are rules in this building. You need to pay extra money for the private room on the second floor."

"How much silver? My family has been officials for generations, how could we be short of this little money from you!"

Two men who looked like scholars were blocking the stairs and shouting loudly.

"Five hundred taels!"

"How much? How much did you say?"

The black-clad servant stood at the stairs and repeated it with a smile.

The scholar surnamed Huang was stunned for a moment, then laughed in anger, pointing at him and said, "You dog slave! Do you know that five hundred taels can buy a three-story mansion in Changsha Prefecture, or a hundred or eighty acres of top-quality paddy fields along the Laodao River? You...you want money, are you crazy?"

The black-clothed servant smiled but said nothing.

"Brother Huang, don't worry. I'll talk to him."

The scholar named Bai walked slowly forward to the stairs, with quite the demeanor of a talented man.

"Little brother, do you know who I am?"

The black-clad servant shook his head.

The scholar surnamed Bai looked as if he had expected nothing. He smiled and said, "I am Bai Qinglian, a student of Yuelu Academy in Changsha Prefecture. I am good at reciting poems and writing couplets. My friends in the academic world think highly of me and give me the nickname... Little Poet Saint!"

The scholar surnamed Huang also said, "Did you hear that? Open your dog eyes and look. This is a famous talent in Changsha Prefecture. It is your honor that he can come to Qun Yu Yuan. If you serve him well, we will be happy and leave a few masterpieces to be passed down through the ages. Isn't that better than tens of thousands of taels of silver? You dare to charge us 500 taels of silver. You are really a dog eye..."

Bai Qinglian interrupted him with a smile, "Hey, Brother Huang, this little brother is also loyal to his duty. We are scholars, how can we be like those martial arts men who wield swords and sticks, right, little brother?"

The black-clothed servant reached out and scratched his ear, sighed, looked sideways at the two scholars Huang and Bai, and sneered.

"I say, two poets, you have been talking for so long, can you not come up with the money?"

The two men's faces turned ugly in an instant. They were about to continue arguing when they saw a man in a black robe coming up from behind. He walked around them, stuffed a silver note of five hundred taels into the black-clothed servant's hand, took the wooden sign from him, and went upstairs.

"Private Room No. 3, a distinguished guest!"

The black-clothed servant became delighted and shouted, attracting hundreds of eyes in the hall, but they could only see his back.

The two scholars, feeling bored standing at the stairs, had no choice but to leave angrily, cursing under their breath as they walked.

"How ridiculous! How ridiculous! My brilliant writings are worth less than five hundred taels of silver!"

"The world is deteriorating, and people's hearts are not as old as they used to be!"

(End of this chapter)

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