In ancient times, there were many types of brothels.
Some brothels will accept you no matter what your virtues are, as long as you can collect enough prostitution money for three melons and two dates.
Places like that are the lowest-level brothels. They are usually located in alleys and are renovated from several ordinary houses connected together. There is no signboard at the door.
The women who live there are extremely miserable. They are forced to work for more than eight hours almost every day. They cannot eat well, sleep well, and are particularly prone to getting sick; because the customers who go to that kind of place are basically poor. There are workmen, entertainers, and even beggars. Many people even have problems with personal hygiene. It is normal for them to have infectious diseases or other diseases... Therefore, most women who enter such brothels will not survive more than a year and a half.
A place that is a step above the bottom-level brothels is the brothel that we often see in many movies and TV dramas - a restaurant with several floors and a private courtyard. You can drink and eat on the first floor, and there are also private rooms upstairs. There are more rooms, they are cleaner, and there are naturally more girls in them.
This kind of brothel serves those who have a little spare money.
Among them, most of them are scholars, especially those who have failed. Every one of them... feels that they are far superior and underappreciated. Outside, they were just literati, looking down on each other and hearing nothing good. But it was different when they arrived at the brothel, where all the good words poured into their ears, which made them very happy.
Of course, this kind of treatment must be exchanged for money...
If you have money, you are the boss. When you use up all the money, you will not hear those words. At that time, who the hell will care whether you are talented or not? The unpleasant words from the old bustard's mouth can make these sour scholars doubt their life.
Then, there is a kind of brothel called Jiaofangsi, which can be regarded as an "official brothel". It is affiliated to the Ministry of Etiquette and is responsible for celebrations and welcoming distinguished guests to perform music. It is also an official brothel.
Most of the women here are the female relatives of officials who have committed crimes and were punished, including their wives, concubines, daughters, maids... There are also some wives and daughters of the defeated who were captured in the war, or Robbing civilian women during wars and so on.
Women who join the Jiaofangsi as prostitutes will be included in the lowly status, sit together for generations, and be treated inhumanely. The imperial court also regards the Jiaofangsi as a business without capital and profit, and takes away the female family members of corrupt officials. Come and make money as a cash cow to make up for the losses caused by those officials.
Such well-known prostitutes as Dong Xiaowan, Liu Rushi, Chen Yuanyuan, who are proficient in music, chess, calligraphy and painting, were basically taught by the music officers in the Jiaofang Department; in fact, there are not that many people who read them in folk brothels. Most of the talented women who read books are girls sold by poor families, and there are also women who have been abducted or even raped by traffickers. They don't even have the opportunity to receive education, let alone other things.
No matter what, these women living in the world are miserable and helpless.
They may be tied up with their husbands because of an arranged marriage that they have no right to decide, or they may be sold as goods and become slaves just because of bad luck. Even the rules of society are on the side of those who exploit and bully them. side.
Socrates once advocated - "Even if it is a bad law, it is a law that should be obeyed", and then he obeyed the judgment of the Athenian nobles and took poison.
I think this philosopher said a lot of right things in his life, but this obsession before his death was so stupid that even poison could not cure it. He should be sent to the Jiaofang Department for a period of time. , I think that would change his opinion.
Of course, you can also say that as a negative example, he inspired the world's understanding of "evil laws and illegal laws."
Back to business...
After the above-mentioned heavy science popularization of the flesh and blood industry in feudal society, let’s take a look at the brothels in the martial arts world of Dashu, a parallel universe...
Here, there is a rather exaggerated folk brothel.
Its grade is higher than any of the three brothels mentioned above. According to today's terms, it is roughly a high-end club.
Its background is unfathomable, its financial resources are strong, and it takes both black and white... Although it is a place of fireworks and romance, not everyone can enter.
Qiliu Youlan is just such a place.
Young masters from wealthy families, famous masters in the world of martial arts, famous heroes from the Green Forest Road, or big shots who cannot be named but look like they are rich and powerful can enter.
But ordinary people... Suppose you have sold all your family property and want to come here to fight for a shot, and then starve to death... Sorry, we will not accept you.
There are also those who are disheveled, smelly, and look bad and look like they are sick... These people don't do business either; you know, the girls in this brothel are very valuable, if they are What kind of disease have you contracted? Who should I ask to compensate you?
In short, this is a place that only welcomes "respectable people."
Today, Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai behaved in a decent manner; therefore, as soon as they walked to the street where Qiliu Youlan was located, the madam sitting by the railing on the second floor of the brothel stared at them.
The madam of this brothel has such poisonous eyes. When she saw the faces of these two people, they were clean and rosy. When she looked at their eyes, it was already night and they didn't look tired at all. Then she understood - -The living conditions of these two people must be very good, and they are definitely not the kind of people who have to work hard during the day.
Looking further down, the two of them are well dressed, and they both hold a decent paper fan in their hands. This outfit alone is worth the annual income of a poor family.
Also, the way they walk seems to be swaggering and leisurely, without being in a hurry, which is also a characteristic of wealthy people.
The Madam just looked them up and down and was 100% sure that these two must be young men whom she had met before; and their Qiliu Youlan, a high-end brothel, wanted to do business with such people. This kind of people can often come and go in places with their consumption level.
So, when Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai strolled to the door of Qiliu Youlan, before they even entered the threshold, the old bustard came out to greet them like a hungry tiger pounced on food.
"Ouch--"
Accompanied by a howl that sounded like a pig being killed, the heavily made-up madam flashed in front of Sun and Huang with a single stride: "You two gentlemen! Why are you here!"
The voice sounded loud and the tone was affectionate. I'm afraid she wouldn't be so enthusiastic even if her own ancestors came.
I don’t know if I got Mama-san’s secret signal. As soon as I heard this roar, four women suddenly poured out of the lobby on the first floor of the brothel. They were whispering; the clothes they wore were all silk-bottomed with gauze and white flowers on the neck... No woman on the street would wear such clothes where shoulders, arms and even collarbones could be seen through the gauze, but in this brothel It's different here.
"Come on, come on, why are you so polite? Please come inside~" When the old madam said this, the women were already pushing and pulling Brother Sun and Brother Huang into the door like they were holding hostages.
The two of them felt that their arms on both sides were being hugged by someone, and they were being wrapped and rubbed by something fleshy. They were dragged into the lobby of the brothel in a moment of distraction.
The lobby on the first floor of Qiliu Youlan does not entertain guests. Apart from some expensive screen furnishings, it is basically just an open space connected by stairs.
Most of the guests who come here don't want to be in the same room with other guests they don't know, let alone be disturbed, so they go directly to sit in the private room upstairs.
This elegant room is naturally divided into grades, but it is not arranged according to "Heaven", "Earth", "Xuan" and "Huang" like most places. As I said before, the people who come here are all decent people. , if you arrange it like that, everyone will choose the one with the word "Heaven", and no one will even enter the one with the word "Earth", let alone Xuanhuang...
Therefore, each of the elegant rooms in Qiliu Youlan has its own name, and they are all named with four characters. Some are called "High Mountains and Flowing Waters", some are called "One Leaf Knows Autumn", and some are called "Blooming Flowers" ", there are also those called "Chaoyun Muyu"... Today, Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai were pulled into a room called "Le Bu Si Shu".
The above-mentioned private rooms with four-character names are all considered to be of the same grade. The furnishings in the room, as well as the wine and food served are all the same. In addition, there is another grade, which generally only caters to the real big shots or regular customers. Only those who are eligible to enter, there are only four such elegant rooms in total, all with the same name, namely "Spring", "Summer", "Autumn", and "Winter", which correspond to the most prestigious of the Seven Willows. The four beauties are Chunyu, Xiayang, Qiuye, and Chuxue.
These four are undoubtedly beauties who are as beautiful as gods, with both sex and art, and the top one among them is Miss Chuxue.
Even though Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai had just arrived, in fact, they already knew all the above information - because Dong Wan told them everything before they came.
As the saying goes, the county magistrate is not as good as the current one. Although Dong Wan is just a small head catcher, in this Xuzhou territory, who can't give him a little favor? Besides, he is also a respectable person, and the catcher's family is also very wealthy. Although his gray income is not as good as that of the county magistrate, it is still considerable. Maybe he is a little richer than Zheng Mukai and Ge Shi; even that Both Zheng and Ge were able to become frequent visitors to Qiliu Youlan, so naturally Dong Wan could do the same.
With the cautious characters of Sun and Huang, they wanted to squeeze out all the information Dong Wan had about this brothel before they would give up. Dong Wan was also tortured to the point of numbness by the two of them. I can almost tell you all the postures I have used...
In short, Shuangxie came tonight fully prepared, and his main purpose was to find out from Chuxue the hidden story before and after the duel between Zheng Mukai and Ge Shi.
…………
Not long after, Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai took their seats in the "Le Bu Si Shu" room, and the food and drinks were quickly served.
However, the four girls who came to greet them at the beginning have all left. I think those four people were responsible for welcoming guests. They sent the guests into the private room and then went back to the first floor.
"You two young masters, please forgive me for my blindness..." After the guests sat down, the madam became less exaggerated and just said in a normal voice, "I think you two are a bit unfamiliar. Could it be that... we are coming back to you first?" Play here?"
"Hehehe..." Sun Yixie didn't show any stage fright. He immediately started with a lustful laugh, his mouth was as sweet as honey, "Sister, you have such good eyesight, we are just back here."
"Hey~ look at this young master, he is so good at talking, haha..." The old madam said this on the surface, but in his heart he was saying, "I can't tell that you are still a veteran. When you hear this, you are a veteran." Come to a place like this."
"Sister, please stop teasing me. I'm very stupid. This brother Huang next to me is a talented man with extensive knowledge and excellent speech." Sun Yixie's next sentence turned around and pushed his brother out.
"Really~! That's great. The girls here like talented people the most. Mr. Huang will definitely have a lot of fun tonight." The old madam also followed his words and praised him.
Huang Donglai was a little stupid when he saw the two people singing and singing in front of him. He didn't care about the presence of the madam and immediately complained to Sun Yixie: "Brother Sun, you look like a fish in water. You can tell that you have a life."
"Huh? Ah... Hahaha." Sun Yixie did not respond to these words. He just made a haha and walked over. He kicked Huang Donglai under the table and told him with body language to "shut up."
"Then... I wonder if you two young masters are particular about girls? Sister, I can arrange it for you..." On the other hand, the madam started to get down to the topic. She might have been brought in by Sun Yixie. The shameless atmosphere was contagious, and from this sentence she really called herself sister.
"Heh... that's easy to say." Sun Yixie said with a smile, "Sister, how many girls are you here who are not accompanying the guests? Call them all to me first and let me pass by..." He paused. "Oh, by the way, the four people at the door just now don't need to come. I've already seen them."
When the madam heard this, she felt a little displeased. She thought to herself: "What's the matter? You have a big appetite, right? If any of the girls I pull out here are pretty enough to compete with the top ones in other places, you You actually want to call them all here to pick and choose for you? What do you think my Qiliu Youlan is? Do you think it’s one of those miscellaneous shabby brothels you visited before?”
I think so in my heart, but I won't fall out because of this. After all, people have said that it's the first time and it's normal to not understand the rules.
"Hey, Mr. Sun, you don't know something..." After a few seconds, the madam deliberately looked embarrassed and said tactfully, "The girls here are all very delicate, and I don't have the heart to be a mother. They are soft and reluctant to discipline them, which makes them look like this now... They are all holding their own airs, let them go, and push them back and forth, asking for this or that..."
This is no longer a hint, but a clear statement. If you still don't understand, it would be pointless to ask "what do you mean?"
The rules of Qiliu Youlan are: even if you only ask the girl to come over and give you a look, you don't need her to accompany you after the show. If you choose someone else, you have to spend money, and you can't make the trip in vain.
"Oh~ I understand, I understand." Could it be that Sun Yixie didn't understand this? He took out a piece of gold from his body and put it in front of the old bustard, "Sister, you are really good at caring for people, no? It's easy... Haha, come on, this is my gift for meeting you, don't be too little, use it to buy some delicious food for the girls to replenish your health."
Usually the amount of money taken out at this time can roughly indicate the financial resources or the degree of generosity of the customer, but Brother Sun's move immediately made the madam judge him as the highest one.
"Hey~ Young Master is too outspoken, cackle..." The old bustard was overjoyed when he saw the gold. He giggled on the spot, grabbed the ingot of gold and walked out of the house, "Wait a moment, you two, I'll go right away." Call the girls.”
