Chapter 40

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The tortoise slave would understand and trotted down to summon the beauty out of the courtyard to serve the benefactor. As one of the top luxury brothels in Yunhuang, Star Ocean Cloud Pavilion was naturally expensive. No matter which girl the customer liked, they had to pay thirty golden baht before they could even look at one. If they were to meet, they could only drink a cup of tea and play a song, but they could not even touch their hands. If they wanted to have a night out, they had to pay hundreds of gold baht for a chance to have an intercourse.

Zhu Yan was guided by the turtle slave, ascending one level after another, looking at the hundreds of beauties in the courtyard below from different angles, and the more she looked, the more curious she became; she couldn’t help

asking in amazement: “What, are there all sharks here?”

“Of course! The turtle slave who led her in, smiled when he heard this, “Naturally, it is full of sharks – this must be your first time in Yecheng, right?”

“Ahem.” Zhu Yan coughed and rubbed awkwardly the mustache on her lip nodding in a pretentious manner, “I’m glad to see you laughing.”

In order to have a good time on this outing, she has temporarily changed her appearance with a spell. She looked like a young scholar in his early twenties, her hair was oiled, her clothes were luxurious, and she had a large jade thumb ring on her right hand, which she had temporarily retrieved from her father’s chamber before leaving, and which she will have to put back immediately afterwards – if he came to know that she had stolen his clothes and gone out to visit a brothel, he will break her legs.

“Which means that Master has come to the right place!” The turtle slave boasted with a smile, “To come to Yecheng and not visit the Star Ocean Cloud Pavilion would be a waste of effort – the sharks here are among the most beautiful in the entire Yunhuang, even in the harem of the Jialan Imperial Capital one cannot find better ones.”

“So impressive?” Zhu Yan, who was straightforward by nature had a moment of curiosity and couldn’t help but ask in a more serious tone, “So, a shark like the Autumn Water Singer, you guys also have one around here?”

“Well, this…” The tortoise slave was a bit embarrassed by her question all of a sudden, “The Autumn Water Songstress is only a legendary beauty, but in terms of authentic beauty, it may not be even close to our Ruyi here!”

“Is that so?” She was so innocent in nature that she actually believed it, “Then isn’t this Ruyi very unlucky? She could have been in the Emperor’s heart, yet she has fallen into the dust?”

“Hehe… this is not exactly a bad thing.” The turtle slave chuckled somewhat with embarrassment and hurriedly changed the subject, “Although the Autumn Water Songstress was a favored lady in the harem for a while, didn’t she end up extremely miserable? She was poisoned to death, and even her eyes were said to have been gouged out! How can it be compared to being free and at ease here with us?”

“Is this true?” It was the first time Zhu Yan ever heard of this, so she couldn’t help but stammer, “Poisoned by who?”

“Who else could it be? The White Queen!” The turtle slave was talking about the past events that happened in the inner palace, but it seemed like he was speaking about the gossip of the neighborhood next door with the same familiarity, “Bei Mian Emperor returned from the Heavenly Festival rituals to find his favorite concubine killed, and in a fit of rage almost abolished the Empress; if it wasn’t for the Six Kings who all came together to intervene… Alas, the world was in an uproar at that time, your Excellency doesn’t know?”

“I don’t really know about that.” Zhu Yan shook her head. Fifteen years ago, she was only three or four years old, so how could she know?

Watching the two of them digress further and further, the steward next to them coughed and stepped forward to round the things off, saying: “Our Gongzi* came from the Midlands to deal in goods in Yunhuang, this time he transported a wagon full of Yao grass, all of which was sold out in the Eastern Market, and intends to stay in Yecheng for a few more days and have a good time before leaving – our Gongzi is not short of money, he just wants to see a truly stunning beauty.”

The steward’s words dripped with emotion, and immediately the tortoise slave was beaming with joy. A cartload of Yao grass! Could this young gentleman be from the Murong family? Those were some of the biggest money makers in Yecheng!

“Does your Excellency set eyes on any beauty?” The turtle slave immediately changed his expression and said flatteringly, “If you don’t like any of the ones in this courtyard, we have better options!”

“There are better ones?” Zhu Yan looked dazzled and was amazed, “Where are they?”

“Yes, that’ s right,” laughed the turtle slave, “the sharks here are for the casual visitors from outside, but these are just the ordinary ones. The real beauties are hidden in the building, how can they just show their faces casually?”

“That is also true, the good jade resides in the deep mountains.” Zhu Yan carefully looked all over the courtyard at the sharks, all of them were unfamiliar faces, and could not help but sigh. Although this was the place with the most sharks in Yecheng, how could Yuan be in such a place? When she came here to inquire about Yuan’s whereabouts, she was not expecting to be able to fulfill her plans. Yet now that she was here, her curiosity could not be contained, thus she said, “Well then, why don’t you show me a truly stunning beauty!”

She glanced at the steward, who then tossed a golden baht to the tortoise slave.

When the turtle slave saw the money, he smiled happily and lowered his voice: “In terms of stunning beauty, the top name in the Star Ocean Cloud Pavilion is naturally Ruyi! Last night when the Governor came here, he asked specifically for her to serve him.”

“The Governor in Chief?” Zhu Yan was taken aback, “Bai Fenglin?”

“Hush…” the turtle slave hastily gestured at her to keep the voice low and whispered, “The Lord Governor is a regular visitor here, but every time he comes, he is dressed in civilian clothes and doesn’t like to announce himself.”

“Hey,” Zhu Yan sneered, “that guy who looks like a humble person is actually a regular customer?”

The housekeeper’s heart suddenly thumped, remembering that the Governor of Yecheng had the intention of joining in marriage with the Red King’s daughter, but at this moment the Princess just learned that he often frequents the prostitutes, so he was afraid that the marriage would be ruined; he hastily interrupted, asking, “How can we see the flower girl, Ruyi?”

“Mistress Hua Luo, who is in charge of the Star Ocean Cloud, went to the two Markets early in the morning to buy some of the shark girls she fancied at the auction,” laughed the turtle slave, “Ruyi is the head girl here, and she won’t come out to see the guests without her Ladyship’s orders.”

Zhu Yan couldn’t help but be a little discouraged and muttered, “How come, her attitude is quite strong?”

The tortoise smiled, “Ruyi is very beautiful, she is a good dancer, and has a lot of influence. Even the governor of Yecheng is her guest when he comes here, and even Mistress Hua Luo is polite to her in the Star Ocean Cloud Garden.”

“Then it makes me want to meet her even more.” Zhu Yan couldn’t help but get curious, “Name a price!”

“This…” The tortoise slave showed an expression of embarrassment.

The steward, experienced in the ways of the world, immediately took out a pouch of money without making a sound and placed it in the turtle slave’s hand, weighing probably a dozen pieces of golden baht; The turtle slave took it and said with a smile, “Your Excellency, follow me.”

Zhu Yan followed him and watched at the huge courtyard below as she walked along – countless sharks walking in the shade of the flowers, swimming in the pools, full of beautiful songbirds and chirping girls, it was like heaven on earth. But as she watched, she felt somewhat uncomfortable.

“Surprisingly, all of them are sharks! No wonder that little fellow flipped out as soon as he heard I was coming to Star Ocean Cloud Pavilion.” She murmured, turning her head to ask the tortoise slave, “What sort of people are most of the guests that come to your place?”

“Most of them are powerful and wealthy people from Kongsang, while some are rich merchants from the Middle Kingdom.” The tortoise slave smiled and replied, “If you want Mistress Hua Luo to be cited as your guest, apart from pouring a lot of money, you must also be a person of honorable status.

Zhu Yan couldn’t help but sneer, “What? Now even when visiting a teahouse, one has to depend on the lineage? No wonder the Governor has also become a guest here – he’s from a prestigious family!”

The steward listened on, unable to help but frown, slightly regretting not having fought to the death to stop the Princess from coming here. Even if the Governor really goes to propose marriage to the Red King, the proposal now will most likely be in vain. If the Red King learns about this, I wonder if he will be happy or angry?

Zhu Yan looked at the sharks along the way and couldn’t help but sigh, “These sharks are so miserable…”

Seven thousand years ago, the Great Emperor Xingzun marched his troops into the sea, imprisoned the Dragon God, destroyed the Sea Kingdom and brought a large number of shark captives back to the land of Yunhuang. Since then, these people, who had been living in the Blue Sea, have been prisoners of the Kongsang people and have become slaves and prostitutes for generations, never to be free.

“Success and defeated, that’s all.” The steward on the other hand was not impressed, “If we, Kongsang people, had lost the war in their place, wouldn’t all of the Six Clans have been reduced to slaves of the Sea Kingdom?”

“Nonsense!” When Zhu Yan heard this kind of speech, she raised both her eyebrows and couldn’t help but retort loudly, “The sharks don’t even have legs, how could they dominate the land? Even if it was a momentary feud between the two races, thousands of years have passed, what does it have anything to do with these sharks now?”

The steward did not expect the Princess to become suddenly so vocal, and hurriedly said, “Yes, yes.”

But the tortoise slave laughed in disbelief and said, “If everyone in the world was as kind-hearted as Gongzi, our Star Ocean Cloud Pavilion would really have to close the business…”

“Well, closing down would be preferable,” she grunted, “it’s a sinful place to begin with.”

The tortoise slave did not dare to retort, just obediently complied and led them all the way to an elegant room – the pavilion stretched, the corridors circled around, it was impossible to tell how far they had walked in. It was a long way from the large courtyard, and the noise outside was nowhere to be heard.

Zhu Yan looked around the private room and found that it was actually arranged to look like a snow cave for bathing, and the furnishings were much more elegant than those on the outside. However, a desk and a couple of seats that might have appeared to be insignificant, were made of sunken agarwood from the Blue Sea, which value was priceless, only the Royal Palace could afford to own one.

The most beautiful flowers are the ones that are growing in the most extreme condition. The most expensive woman in the house was originally a peony, but now she has to pretend to be a frosty blossom?

“Where’s the flower girl?” She asked, somewhat impatiently and bluntly.

The turtle slave offered her a cup of tea and smiled, “Don’t be in a hurry, it’s only midday… The flower girl has just woken up from her beauty sleep and is probably freshening up.”

“So delicate?” Zhu Yan’s temper was always impatient, “How much longer do we have to wait before we can meet our host?”

“It couldn’t be helped, there were so many patrons out there who wanted to see Ruyi, that the flower girl was overwhelmed, so she set a rule down that she would only see one new guest a day, except for those arranged by Mistress Hua Luo, to save some of her personal treasure.” Here, she lowered her voice and held up a finger, “One thousand golden baht, paid to her privately, without going through the books of the Star Ocean Cloud Pavilion.”

“So expensive?” Zhu Yan was taken aback and couldn’t help but blurt out, “If one sleeps with her for a few nights, wouldn’t they be able to buy a new shark with that cash?”

The tortoise slave could not help but blush slightly when hearing that she disliked the price, but laughed under his breath, “Your Excellency is a bit inexpert to say so, isn’t he? How can you compare Ruyi, the flower girl of Yecheng, a first-class peerless beauty, with those freshly broken, bloody girls coming from the hands of dragon slayers? If this is too expensive for you…”

“Who’s too expensive?” Zhu Yan froze for a moment and quickly sneered, “But one has to be allowed to take a glance first, right? Who knows whether a mere smile is worth a thousand golden baht?”

The tortoise slave had probably seen this kind of reaction from his guests before, so he gave a laugh and said, “Well then… the gentleman has a point, this way please.”

“What?” Zhu Yan was led by him and walked to the side of the chamber.

The tortoise slave pulled the thin paper-glazed window open and raised his hand, “Please look.”

Zhu Yan looked out of the window and was stunned for a second – the ground floor outside was actually another courtyard. It was only three feet square, and inside it there was only pure white, as if it had just snowed. Looking at it, one could notice that fine white sand was spread out all over the courtyard, gently swept with a bamboo broom to create a ripple water pattern. The only splash of color in all that pure white, was a tree with red flowers. That was, surprisingly, a six-foot-tall red coral plant!

The coral was exquisite, with its branches and ramifications slanting across the ground. It must have taken three hundred years for such a tall coral to grow, it was retrieved by a boat from the bottom of the sea, over ten thousand feet deep, without a single bump or flaw on its circumference, making it of such perfect quality that it could not be found even in the Red King’s Mansion – this single tree of red coral alone was worth one hundred thousand golden baht!

*Gongzi – 公子 – Pinyin gōngzǐ – Historical term for the son of a feudal prince, vassal king or duke.

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