Jinlou is located in the east of Wujiang City and stands along the river.
It is a long-established romantic place in the city. It is said that it has been in business since the first year of Jiahe. It has changed six owners along the way, and now it has a history of a full century.
The word "Jinlou upstairs" was mentioned by the calligrapher Liu Tanzhi himself.
There are even rumors that when Zhaozong went to the south of the Yangtze River, he also disguised himself and climbed to the Jinlou, where he drank flower wine and listened to small singing.
Although it is difficult to tell whether it is true or not, Jinlou's business has indeed become better since then, and it is deeply loved by dignitaries.
And this place is not just famous. In the past twelve years, Wujiang City's flower list has been judged for six periods, and the top picks in two of them came from Jinlou.
In addition, there are many top picks and second place winners in Jinlou.
The strength is evident.
However, Lu Jing has never been to Jinlou in the two years he has been in Wujiang City. It's not that he doesn't want to go, it's mainly because he didn't have money in his pocket when he wanted to criticize the dregs of feudalism, and when he got rich, he had the baggage of an idol.
In addition, I have been busy solving the problem of my Dantian, so I forgot about this matter.
So this is actually his first time coming to Jinlou, and the person traveling with him is... Xia Huai.
The latter had already changed his clothes and put on a simple disguise, dressing up as a young hero.
When he walked outside the door of Jinlou, Lu Jing said, "If you don't want to go in, you can wait for me outside."
Xia Huai shook his head, "Then what other case should I investigate? It's clear that this incident is related to the location of these fireworks. I can't just wait outside, right?"
While the two were talking, they saw a middle-aged woman coming out. It could be seen that she was also a beauty when she was young. Even though she is now in her thirties or forties, she still has her charm, and she can express herself with every frown and smile. It has a mature flavor.
Paired with the light pink on her cheeks, it's easy for people to ignore her age.
And unlike those colleagues who tried their best to attract customers, this woman seemed quite calm from beginning to end, making people feel polite and courteous, but not making people feel noisy.
This sense of proportion is something not everyone can master.
However, when she saw the two people outside the door, she became a little pale.
The most accurate thing to say is that after seeing Lu Jing, a look of surprise appeared on her face, "Lu, Master Lu?"
"Eh……"
Lu Jing was a little embarrassed. For the first time, he discovered that being too famous was not a good thing, especially when the brothel madam recognized him at a glance and thought he was a regular visitor here.
Seeing the look on Lu Jing's face, the woman thought that he didn't want anyone to find out that he, a great hero, had come to the Jinlou to play secretly, so she understood and immediately stopped talking.
Lu and Xia were let in first.
However, he took the two of them all the way to the private room upstairs.
After Lu Jing and Xia Huai sat down, he spoke again with a smile, "I wonder which girl upstairs Lu Daxia and this young hero have their eyes on?"
"We are not here to drink wine." Lu Jing shook his head and said, "There is a girl named Shishi in your building. Oh, there is also a Qiu Niang... One of them was born two months ago, and the other is six years old. He fell from the building a few days ago."
The woman's expression couldn't help but change when she heard this, and then she knelt on her knees and said to Lu Jing, "Master Lu Mingjian, although we are in the flesh business, we are by no means cold-blooded and ruthless. None of the children sold here are suffering. Naturally, we cannot bear to abuse them anymore.
"Even if we are a little strict when teaching them how to play and sing, it is for their own good. I hope they can find a good home in the future."
"Really?" Lu Jing asked again, "Has anything similar happened in Jinlou in front of Miss Shishi?"
"Never," the woman answered simply, "Master Lu can ask anyone in the building at will. I have always treated my daughters very well. There was a girl who wanted to run away before and stole something before she left. I had two gold hairpins, but she was caught by an official. After she was sent back, I just kept her in the room for half a month.
"Three meals a day and even rouge and gouache didn't stop her. I released her after she vowed not to run away again."
"Then why did Shishi and Qiuniang die?" Xia Huai couldn't help but ask.
She deliberately lowered her voice to make her voice sound deeper.
The woman shook her head, "I don't know either. I originally suspected that an outsider had sneaked in and harmed them, but the official came to check before and saw no traces of other people in their room.
"By the way, it's not just us. During this period, there were also incidents of girls falling from buildings in other places. It made everyone panic, and some hook bars even temporarily closed their doors."
"Why didn't you close the door?"
The woman smiled bitterly, "The Jinlou family has a big business, and there are hundreds of mouths waiting for food. Those small households may be able to rest for a while, but we can't close the door for a day.
"And because of the deaths, Jinlou's business has been a lot bleak these days. The top names in the building are okay, but the lives of the less famous girls are not so easy.
"Master Lu, are you and your friends planning to investigate the death of Shishi and Qiuniang? If the murderer can really be found, then from now on, all the brothels in Wujiang City will have to accept your favor. , no matter which girl you order, we can charge you nothing."
After hearing this, Xia Huai felt his cheeks get hot.
Lu Jing was also a little dumbfounded. Could this be true prostitution for free?
But now that the women around him are all stunning in the world, he naturally doesn't like these vulgar fans very much, so he shook his head and said, "That's not necessary. Let's talk about the case first. Who of you here is interested in poetry?" Shi and Qiuniang are the two girls you know best?"
The woman quickly found three people, one of whom was Shishi's maid, and the other two were prostitutes in the building.
Lu Jing and Xia Huai first separated the three of them, then asked them questions one by one, and then compared their answers with each other.
I found that except for some differences in details, they are generally similar.
This means that the three of them probably did not lie. As for the differences in details, the same person is inherently different in the eyes of different people.
Closeness, stakes... Everyone has their own filters when looking at people. This is why Lu Jing and Xia Huai have to ask many people.
After that, the two went to Shishi and Qiuniang's room.
Among them, because Shishi fell from the building two months ago, her room had been tidied up, new people had moved in, and all her personal belongings were missing.
Qiuniang's room, however, remained the same.
After Lu Jing and Xia Huai finished reading, they asked random people in the building to ask a few questions, then said goodbye to the woman and went out.
