Chapter 42: End of the Drinking Party "The madam is generous and you are honest. Aren't you afraid that you will offend the customers?" "Don't worry, I'm not as pretty as my sisters, and I don't dress as beautifully as they do, so few people choose me." After saying that, he stole a glance at Mei Chengan and added another sentence. "Except the young master." Mei Cheng'an was stunned. What did this mean? He got the first blood for no reason? He immediately shook his head to get rid of this extremely dirty thought. He felt worse than an animal. Mei Chengan quickly changed the subject. "Have you met your boss?" Sang Wen nodded. "Our boss is Mother Liu."
"she?" This was indeed beyond Mei Cheng'an's expectations, but then he felt that it was impossible. There must be a financial backer behind this, otherwise how could the madam have so much money to open a brothel? If she was really a wealthy family, she would not come here to be a madam and bow her head in public. Besides, anyone who could open a brothel on the banks of Liujing River must have a backer. Those without backers all went bankrupt. This doesn't make sense. I guess Sang Wen has never seen the boss behind the scenes. It has always been Mother Liu who has been in charge, so he thought Mother Liu was the boss. Seeing that Mei Cheng'an didn't believe what he said, Sang Wen became anxious for some reason. Then Sang Wen told an ordinary, vulgar, bloody, and inspiring story. "What I said is true. Mama Liu is really the boss. When she was young, Mama Liu was a famous courtesan in Jiangnan. The number of young men who spent huge sums of money on her ranged from here to Northern Qi. She soon saved enough money to redeem herself, but she did not leave. She continued to stay in the building as a courtesan and saved a large sum of money. Later, she fell in love with a young man at first sight. She knew that the young man had a wife, but she still wanted to be his concubine without hesitation. However, his family said that the family rules were strict and they did not allow prostitutes to enter the house, even if they redeemed her. In the end, she was kept in a farm outside the city. Mother Liu didn't go into detail about what happened afterwards, but he broke off all ties with that young man. Afterwards, she left that sad place and came to Kyoto. She bought a yard outside the city and began to collect orphans everywhere, some who sold themselves voluntarily and some who were forced to sell themselves. In total, she collected dozens of girls, and I was one of them. Mother Liu was very kind to us. She destroyed all our indentures and gave us freedom because she didn't want us to be bound by this contract. She also taught us to read and write and taught us skills. She was very good and knew everything. So many years have passed, we have grown up, and Mother Liu doesn't have much money left. At the end of last year, I heard that a brothel here had closed down, so Mother Liu used the remaining money to buy the brothel, and brought us together to decorate it, renamed it Miaoyinfang, and it has only been open for a month." Although the story is vulgar, Mei Cheng'an still has a new respect for the madam after hearing it. From the story, it seems that Mother Liu is a loyal and loving person. After her relationship was broken, she began to concentrate on her career, which is quite inspiring. Even to the girls under his command, perhaps because he has been hurt emotionally, he does not allow the girls to sell their bodies, only their art. This is a clear-headed person. What surprised Mei Chengan the most was that the girls here were all free, without any constraints of indentures, and yet they all stayed here. Their cohesion was extremely strong. It's just that his business skills are a bit lacking, but the girls under him are quite capable. The business has been open for more than a month, so it shouldn't be so bad. Thinking of this, Mei Cheng'an had an idea. Should he take over Miaoyinfang?
Since Sang Wen is obsessed with folk art performances and is very close to the people in the neighborhood, there is no need to consider taking her away. It is also impossible to leave her alone. It is better for their group of people to be unknown now. Once they become famous, they will probably be targeted by the powerful and taken advantage of. Since they have decided to protect her, it seems appropriate to take over this place. As for whether he would be impeached if the news of him running a brothel spread, Mei Chengan didn't care at all. What brothel? Who is a brothel? This is obviously just an ordinary music house, and the girls inside are all decent women with clean backgrounds. Mei Chengan felt a little excited when he thought that if he took over Miaoyinfang, he would become the boss of so many beautiful and talented girls. The only trouble is the madam. She seems to be determined and won't give in easily. I have to think of a way to persuade her with both emotion and reason. But there is no rush at this moment. Mei Chengan smiled and said to Sang Wen: "You described it in such detail that I have to believe it even if I don't want to." Only then was Sang Wen satisfied. Mei Chengan raised his glass and looked at Sang Wen. "Have a drink with me?" Sang Wen shook his head. "I can not drink." Mei Cheng'an sighed. "Can you be more dedicated? I know you've never been a waitress. If you can't do it, can't you learn? Look at how your sisters do it." Sang Wen looked to the side. Her sisters were seen snuggling in the man's arms, with the man holding them around the waist and passing wine to them while saying nice things. The scene was really indecent. Sang Wen's face turned red again, this time completely red. "I, I can't learn it." Mei Cheng'an whispered like a devil. "If you don't learn, you will offend me. If you offend me, I will cause trouble for your mother Liu. Please think about it." Sang Wen looked in disbelief at the handsome young man who had been chatting with him happily just now. He could never have imagined that he could say such a thing. Mother Liu was right. Men are indeed fickle and not a good thing. The more handsome they are, the better they are at disguising themselves. Sang Wen's eyes were red, he bit his lips, and leaned over reluctantly. Mei Chengan dodged to the side. "What are you thinking? I want you to learn how to talk from your sister, be more humorous, and liven up the atmosphere. Otherwise, drinking like this will be too dry." Sang Wen was stunned, stepped back, blushed, and finally became angry and glared at Mei Chengan. "Then why don't you explain it clearly?" Mei Cheng'an sighed. "I didn't expect you to be so savvy." Sang Wen was so angry that he stopped talking.
Mei Cheng'an curled his lips and wondered why he should do such a shameless thing. After enjoying the singing and dancing for a while, Mei Cheng'an decided to ease the atmosphere. "Sorry, I was sick just now, don't mind it." Sang Wen glanced at him and said nothing. "Let's talk about something, otherwise it will be so awkward." Sang Wen still didn't speak. "Give me a way out, please." Sang Wen curled the corners of his mouth and almost failed. While Mei Cheng'an was happily chatting with Sang Wen, the music and dance in the venue stopped and another song ended. This time, there was no need to wait for Xin Qiwu to speak. They automatically began to rest and adjust their state and perform the next song later. The music suddenly stopped, attracting the attention of Xin Qiwu and Wang Sicheng. Well, the drinking game has entered the fourth stage, the drinking game stage. Xin Qiwu and Wang Sicheng were drunk by the girls, so they couldn't play drinking games, but they had no problem playing finger-guessing games. "It's an emergency. Let's put aside our grudges and fight the enemy together. Thank you for pouring the wine." After saying this urgently, Mei Chengan turned around and joined the finger-guessing game. Embarrassingly, he lost the first round. When he turned around and looked at the wine glass, he found that it was full of wine. Mei Cheng'an glanced at Sang Wen who was still in the same posture as before, and suspected that it was his illusion. After drinking the wine, he went back to playing finger-guessing games. I lost again, turned around, and found my glass was full. The case has been solved. It wasn’t an illusion just now. Mei Chengan’s mouth curled up. After rowing with Wang Sicheng for a long time and losing more than he won, Mei Chengan smiled bitterly to himself, thinking that he was really not good at this. Wang Sicheng drank too much and started to yell, "Can you please help me? You lost so fast that you didn't even have time to turn around. Let the girl you ordered feed you." Just as Mei Cheng'an was about to say no, he saw a glass of wine handed to him. Mei Cheng'an was stunned for a moment, opened his mouth slightly, and Sang Wen poured the wine into his mouth. Sang Wen forgave him, and Mei Chengan was in a good mood. The situation of the battle with Wang Sicheng began to reverse, with more wins and less losses. But gradually Mei Cheng'an realized that something was wrong, especially when he was playing finger-guessing games with Xin Qiwu and Wang Sicheng. He found that no matter whether he won or lost, Sang Wen never stopped feeding him wine. During the truce, Mei Chengan turned around to look at Sang Wen, but was interrupted by a glass of wine just as he was about to speak. Just as I swallowed it and was about to stop myself, the wine came again. It was not until Mei Cheng'an covered his mouth and refused to let go that Sang Wen finally couldn't help but burst out laughing. The drinking party came to an end unknowingly. Wang Sicheng actually went out several times during the period, but he came back quickly. Xin Qiwu was also busy holding the girl to drink, and it was not known whether he remembered that they had agreed that if there was not enough money, they needed to find a chance to go home to get money. When the show was over, the only one who was still sober was Mei Cheng'an, the other two were already drunk.
When the bill came, it was naturally Mei Cheng'an who paid. The banquet cost twenty-five taels, the music and dance cost thirty taels, and there was eleven taels as reward, a total of sixty-six taels. Mei Cheng'an took out a silver note worth one hundred taels. "Mother Liu, you don't need to give me the change. Please arrange for someone to send these two to the inn and book a room for each of them. Instruct the waiter to wake them up at 3:30 am tomorrow. The rest of the money..." Mei Chengan looked at Sang Wen beside him and said softly, "Give it to her." As soon as he finished speaking, the girls in the room all looked at Sang Wen, and Sang Wen was so embarrassed that he almost buried his head under the table. Mother Liu's expression froze for a moment. Could it be that this young man had taken a fancy to her little Sang Wen? He was so generous to her. She reached out and took the banknote with a charming smile. "I will definitely take good care of those two masters, what about you, young master?" Mei Chengan had a calm expression. "You go and do your work first. I'll have something to discuss with you when you come back. The other girls, except Sang Wen, can leave." After the girls left, Mother Liu hesitated and said. "So that you can know, Master, we are all prostitutes in Miaoyinfang. We sell our art but not our bodies. Master..." "I know. You don't need to remind me. I'm not a sex-hungry ghost. I won't do anything excessive to Miss Sang Wen." Mother Liu resumed her charming smile and patted herself lightly on the face. "Look, I've been too nosy again, sir, please do as you please, I'll arrange for someone to do the job right away." Mei Cheng'an waved his hand and Mother Liu retreated. After a while, several servants came in and helped Xin Qiwu and Wang Sicheng away. Mother Liu came over personally and gently closed the door. (End of this chapter)