Lin Jue cupped his hands and said, "I went back to Hangzhou to take my wife back to Beijing. Before I left, I was entrusted by Qianqian to come and see the two girls. Qianqian wrote a lot of letters to you, but they all turned out to be useless. She was worried, so I came to check for her.
"
Chu Xiangxiang raised her head and said softly: "Oh, that's it. Qianqian... is she doing well?"
"She is very good. She is already the leading actor in our Jiangnan Grand Theater in Nancheng, Beijing. She already has many loyal fans. Qianqian is smart and studious, and she works hard herself. She has never forgotten the kindness of the two of you in nurturing her.
She keeps talking about how good you two are to her." Lin Jue said softly.
"That's good, that's good. Then we can rest assured. Finally, Qianqian will not fall into this world like us and suffer a lifetime of misery. Mr. Lin, thank you so much. Thank you very much for taking Qianqian in."
Chu Xiangxiang gathered his train and bowed.
Lin Jue hurriedly stopped him and said, "Girl, please don't say such things. What does this mean? There is no need to thank you."
When Lin Jue was describing Qianqian's current situation, Gu Panpan, who had her head lowered, raised half of her face to listen carefully. When she heard that Qianqian was fine, she seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. Lin Jue looked out of the corner of his eye.
Gu Panpan seemed to have a scar on half of his face covered by his messy hair, and he was filled with doubts.
"Miss Chu, tell me what is going on? Aren't you the oirans of Wanhua Tower and Qunfang Pavilion? How did you end up in this situation? You two girls, please don't treat Lin Jue as an outsider. Tell me, maybe I can
Give me help." Lin Jue asked.
Chu Xiangxiang pondered for a moment and sighed: "Forget it, it's okay to tell the young master. The Wanhua Building and Qunfang Pavilion have changed hands. The prince has sold the two buildings to Dongcheng Qian Zhongze. Does the young master know?"
Lin Jue nodded and said: "I just found out today, and I was very surprised."
Chu Xiangxiang smiled bitterly and said: "Yes, we didn't expect it. In the early winter of last year, the prince suddenly announced the news after returning from the capital. My sister and I originally thought that the prince would exclude us and make other arrangements. We even
I made a request to the prince to redeem myself and become a good person and escape from the flower world. But... we were wrong. In the eyes of the prince, we are just two vases in the Wanhua Tower and the Qunfang Pavilion. With us, the two towers
The house can be sold for a good price. Qian Zhongze also proposed that he and the house must be bought together, so our sisters had no choice but to be sold."
Lin Jue sighed softly and thought: The most tragic thing for people is to be bought and sold like commodities, without any right of autonomy. Chu Xiangxiang and Gu Panpan are naturally very important in the brothel flower world, but in the eyes of outsiders,
, but they are just two vases. The prince will not take them seriously at all, they only regard them as things that can make money.
"Even if the brothel is exclusively owned by Qian Zhongze, it won't end up like this. Is Qian Zhongze crazy? You two are leaders in the flower industry in Hangzhou. He should treat you kindly." Lin Jue said.
Chu Xiangxiang shook his head in pain and said: "Qian Zhongze is just a businessman. He bought Wanhua Building and Qunfang Pavilion just to make money. He doesn't understand what rules and respect are at all. After he took over, he told us that he bought Wanhua Building
He Qunfang Pavilion cost him 600,000 taels of silver, and all his family property was tied up in it, so he had to earn back the money as quickly as possible. He had abolished many of the rules in the building before, just to make money, regardless of
Others. In the past, we sisters rarely received guests. Even if we served guests, it was our own choice. We would welcome those who were willing to receive them, and the building would never force us to do so if we were unwilling. But Qian Zhongze... he actually told us sisters not to do so.
Pick and choose, we sisters will accept anyone who can afford the money."
Lin Jue was stunned and speechless. This Qian Zhongze was probably crazy. There were rules in the flower world, and oiran ladies could not be slept with if they were rich. Could it be that he was doing this just for the sake of money, risking all his fame to his wife?
Hualou and Qunfang Pavilion have completely turned into a place for funless flesh-trading. This kind of practice is very inappropriate.
"...My sister and I naturally do not agree to do this. It is a great insult to us and an insult and violation of the rules of the entire flower world. Last winter, a guest came to Guangling and asked my sister for three thousand taels of silver.
I went to spend the night with him, but my sister naturally refused. When Qian Zhongze learned about it, he was furious. He had been polite to my sister before, but that night, he ordered someone to forcibly tie her up, give her aphrodisiacs, and send her to the guest.
In the room..."
"Sister, don't say it, don't say it, please, please don't say it." Gu Panpan screamed tremblingly at the side.
Chu Xiangxiang shed tears and put her arm around Gu Panpan's shoulders, hugging her and whispering comfort. Lin Jue frowned and didn't know what to think. What Qian Zhongze did was too much. Although these two women were prostitutes,
They are middle-aged people, but they are not impersonal people. They are treated politely even outside. Qian Zhongze has completely trampled on their self-esteem.
Chu Xiangxiang wiped her tears and continued softly: "The next morning, my sister woke up and made a fuss. She smashed the guest's head with a teapot and stabbed the guest with scissors. The guest was naturally furious and asked for money.
Zhongze's theory. In the end, the money was not given, and Qian Zhongze even paid hundreds of taels of silver to settle the matter. Qian Zhongze was so angry that he ordered people to tie up his sister and beat her until she was covered with bruises. He threatened that if there is a next time, he will let me
The sister received ten guests in one night and cursed a lot of unpleasant things. She was a stubborn person, so how could she agree to him? After returning to the room, the sister scratched her face with a knife, completely ruining her appearance.
I want to put an end to his idea of making money based on my sister’s appearance.”
Lin Jue was horrified and looked at Gu Panpan next to him. Gu Panpan's eyes flashed with stubbornness and he suddenly raised his head, revealing the left half of his cheek. Only then did Lin Jue see clearly that a scar spanned half of his face from his ear to the corner of his mouth.
, although it has become scarred, it still looks like a giant centipede lying on the face, which is terrifying and disgusting.
Gu Panpan sneered and said: "Master Lin, are you scared? Hehe, this is what I want. Doesn't he want my face to make money for him? I'm not what he wants.
If you have this face, teach him to draw water with a bamboo basket, but he will get nothing. If the dog doesn't treat us as human beings, then he will get nothing."
Lin Jue was surprised but admired. In his previous impression, Gu Panpan was just more stubborn and domineering. But he didn't expect that this woman could be so fierce. How much would it take to destroy her appearance in order to have dignity?
Courage and determination. Even people who have been crushed in the dust and mud still have self-esteem and personality. People with low status are still human beings. The power these people burst out is sometimes shocking and admirable.
and fear.
Lin Jue said softly: "Miss Gu, I admire you with admiration. But other than that, is there no other way?"
Gu Panpan sneered and said: "Do you think there is anyone else like us who can't rescue us? We can only rely on ourselves and use the most drastic means to protect ourselves from being humiliated. Mr. Lin, you don't understand."
Gu Panpan burst out coughing, and Chu Xiangxiang hurriedly patted her thin back and whispered to her not to get excited.
Lin Jue breathed a sigh of relief and continued to ask: "But will Qian Zhongze just give up? Miss Chu, didn't he force you?"
"Of course he refused to let us go. After learning that my sister had been disfigured, Qian Zhongze was furious. He ordered people to keep a strict watch on us and also sent people to force me. I told him that if he continued to force me to do something I didn't want to do,
Qian Zhongze naturally didn't want me to be disfigured. You know, our sisters are his money-spinners. As long as our sisters are in Wanhua Tower and Qunfang Pavilion, many people will
If he comes here because of his reputation, his business will be prosperous and he can make more money. If he forces my sisters to be disfigured or even die, he will get nothing." Chu Xiangxiang said quietly.
Lin Jue nodded, that is indeed the truth. Chu Xiangxiang and Gu Panpan can be said to be the most expensive products in Wanhua Tower and Qunfang Pavilion. Ruining these two products will not do Qian Zhongze any good. Gu Panpan has a strong temper.
He has already disfigured himself. If Chu Xiangxiang disfigures his appearance again, the loss will be too great. Without the two courtesans, Wanhua Tower and Qunfang Pavilion will lose their souls, and their business will plummet.
"In order to make us surrender, Qian Zhongze sent people to persuade and threaten us, and tried all possible means. In the end, he had no other choice, so he ordered people to put us in the backyard kitchen and make us do the crudest work. He forced us to chop firewood.
People do jobs like washing dishes and digging excrement, beating, scolding, and bullying us at will, trying to force us to change our minds. Unfortunately, he made a wrong calculation. Even if he dies here, we will never let him get his wish. We live here.
For several months, my sister has been sick. The cough was caused by the cold water in winter. They would not even boil a bowl of ginger soup for my sister to drink. How cold-blooded these people are. Back then, I and I
How nice the girl is to these people, and how much reward she gives them. Of course, she occasionally gets beaten and scolded, but it's just a moment of anger, and she has never been mean to them. But these people are so unkind and unlucky, it's really chilling.
If we didn't still hold on to some hope and didn't plan to die here, we would have been unable to hold on long ago."
Chu Xiangxiang's tears were filled with tears, and they fell down, wetting the messy straw on the ground.
Lin Jue felt extremely heavy in his heart, and now he has figured out the whole thing. After Wanhua Building and Qunfang Pavilion changed hands, the business strategy also changed dramatically. In the past, Wanhua Building Qunfang Pavilion was a high-end romantic place, a place of elegance.
But after Qian Zhongze, a businessman, accepted it, he only wanted to make money and take care of other things. In addition to forcing oiran ladies like Chu Xiangxiang and Gu Panpan to pick up customers for money, he naturally refused to let go of the other women in the building.
However, he abandoned some previous practices and only used the most direct skin-flesh transactions to attract customers. This can also explain why when he came during the day, the woman who greeted him at the door said extremely explicit words, because this was already Wanhua Tower.
He Qunfang Pavilion's business policy is just simple and direct skin-flesh trading, and there is no need to behave like before.
