May I ask where the wine tavern resides? Even scholars point to where the Supreme Beauty Pavilion presides! [1. A poetic line saying that even gentlemen and scholars would visit the Supreme Beauty Pavilion, a high-class brothel. I tried to make it rhyme.]
At this time, the twilight basked in the glow of the setting sun painted the clouds red over the distant city walls, giving one last trace of warmth before nightfall. The evening breeze blew into the faces of bypassers.
Feng Feiyun and the four bandits were right outside of the Supreme Beauty Pavilion at this time!
“I heard the sixth beauty of the Godly Jin Dynasty had played the ‘Frontier Tune’ at this place. At that time, many famous people from the cultivation world came to admire her beauty, and they only wished to listen to her ethereal strings. From then on, the Supreme Beauty Pavilion was renowned throughout the Grand Southern Prefecture and was ranked second among the houses with red doors.” Liu Qinsheng lifted his head to look at the golden and jade pavilion with seven stories. The hall was magnificent, it was truly not inferior to a royal palace.
Is this really just a brothel? There was an even higher display of extravagance and prideful grandeur than the City Lord’s mansion.
On the grand street where the pleasure quarter sits east; the place where jade fences and immortal apricots pushing the roses meet!
TN: This is part of a poem describing how a brothel did not have the lustful appearance of one at all. What I’m thinking is the roses symbolize sex and wine while the immortal apricots are suppressing/pushing the sins away.
This place did not resemble a location for a social romantic outing nor a night outing of wine and sex. It had the appearance of a chamber that belonged to the scholarly young misses and royal daughters.
“Then where is the number one brothel located?” Feng Feiyun didn’t believe that there was a more stunning brothel compared to the Supreme Beauty Pavilion.
“Godly Capital, Beauty’s Smile Pavilion!”[1. This name just sounds so much better in Chinese. A more literal translation would be Thousand Gold One Smile Pavilion. However, Thousand Gold 千金 also means a well-educated/favored beautiful daughter from a noble/rich family. The one here can also mean one smile or number one, meaning that they are number one]
Liu Qinsheng continued on: “If you want a woman from there to smile once for you, you have to spend one thousand gold coins. Moreover, sometimes, even if you give them money, they will not necessarily pay attention to you.”
Making a brothel into such a high level could be considered a miracle. As long as it was number one in the world, there was no need to care about other people’s opinions.
“I’m more curious about why the sixth beauty of the Godly Jin Dynasty is still staying at the Supreme Beauty Pavilion.” With his back hunched and head almost touching the ground, Luotuo Zi asked with laughter.
Liu Qinsheng shook his head and replied: “Two years ago, she already paid for her freedom and no one knew where she went. Only later did rumors say that someone saw her appearing at the Beauty’s Smile Pavilion on stage to — once again — play her strings as she sold cheap laughter. However, there was sadness in her smile and pain in her songs.”
Feng Feiyun slightly frowned and spoke: “If she redeemed herself, then this would be indicative of her hating this dirty lifestyle and wanting to escape from such a tainted place. Why is it that she joined the Beauty’s Smile Pavilion right after?”
No matter how beautiful and famous one was, there was another hidden facet that was filled with bitterness in their heart.
Liu Qinsheng shook his head to say: “No matter whether it is the Supreme Beauty Pavilion or the Beauty’s Smile Pavilion, to be able to stand strong and become famous in the cultivation world at the Jin Dynasty, there must be a monstrous backing behind them. The sixth beauty is a golden egg-laying hen in such a lustful place. Once she entered, how could she completely escape?”
“Even if she wants to escape, there will be those who will take her back.”
Even though these bandits were not hesitant when committing heinous acts, they still had a trace of morality. At this moment, they all sighed in lamentation and understood why there were tears in her smile along with pain in her songs.
“Do you see the red jade plaques hanging on top of the beam by the ceiling?” The five of them went into the main hall of the Supreme Beauty Pavilion, and Liu Qinsheng pointed at a red beam hanging horizontally above them with different red jade plaques hanging off of it. Each jade plaque was carved with the name of a woman.
“The nearer the jade plaque is to the front, the more popular the women is. If you want to see them, you must pay a higher price.” Liu Qinsheng explained.
Feng Feiyun and the three other bandits directly stared towards the jade plaque displayed at the front with the number one position.
“Nangong Hongyan.” Feng Feiyun murmured her name.
“Nangong Hongyan’s jade plaque has been hanging at the number one position for two years, and no one has been able to change this.”
Liu Qinsheng sighed many more times as he slammed his chest in exasperation: “Last year, I brought along ten thousand gold coins to the Supreme Beauty Pavilion just to meet her once. However, after all my gold coins disappeared, I didn’t get my wish. I didn’t even get to see one of her fingers.”
He was disappointed without end!
“Why is that?” Feng Feiyun was perplexed as to why one couldn’t even see her after spending ten thousand gold coins.
Paying money to see her was not anything unfair for a woman of a brothel.
“Nangong Hongyan is extremely arrogant. She made a rule that one must satisfy three conditions if they wanted to see her. However, even if these three conditions are met, they still wouldn’t necessarily be able to see her.” Liu Qinsheng replied.
Feng Feiyun initially wanted to arrange for these four bandits to stay at the pavilion before leaving in secret because he wanted to find the person named Zuo Qianshou. But at this moment, his curiosity was piqued by Nangong Hongyan, so he immediately asked: “What are the three conditions?”
“First, one has to be young and handsome.”
After hearing the first criteria, Luotuo Zi and Wu Jiu immediately turned their heads and coldly scowled with an uncomfortable feeling. They secretly cursed her for being “shallow,” and how she could not see the beauty of the heart!
“Second, they have to be young with a lot of money.”
After hearing the second criteria, Wu Jiu also turned around and cursed: “Women are all motherfucking realistic.”
“Third, they must be a king among the younger generation.”
After hearing these three conditions, Feng Feiyun was in silent contemplation for a bit while gently touching his nose before he opened his mouth without any sense of shame: “She has to be talking about me, right?”
The expressions of the four bandits immediately sank; they wanted to ask whether Feng Feiyun has enough money or not. If he claims to be young with a lot of money, then he better have enough gold coins for them to spend.
The truth was that it was not only Feng Feiyun, the other bandits were very excited as well for they wanted to see Nangong Hongyan with their own eyes, to see just how beautiful she was to have such outrageous standards.
“How about this? We will first go to the Three Mysterious Gate to buy some Spirit Stones. Then we will have enough gold coins and won’t have to worry about Nangong Hongyan not wanting to see us.” Wu Jiu’s face was blushing; it was clear that he was very tempted. He wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight without seeing Nangong Hongyan.
The other three bandits were surely thinking the same thing!
Feng Feiyun looked at the sky for a bit and shook his head to say: “It is not that easy to mess with the Three Mysterious Gate. There are thirty-eight elders of the God Base realm along with countless murderous formations. It would not be wise for us to recklessly enter.”
Feng Feiyun’s eyes suddenly turned bright as he stared at the opposite direction of the Supreme Beauty Pavilion. There was an extravagant tall wooden building that was absolutely comparable to the Supreme Beauty Pavilion. At the top was a hanging green wooden sign with the three words, “Yin Gou Ward.”
Feng Feiyun slightly smirked, then he smilingly said: “I have an idea. All of you wait here for a moment while I go and get one hundred thousand gold coins.”
“One hundred thousand gold coins!” The four bandits shockingly exclaimed. This was a large enough sum for someone to spend for ten lifetimes. Liu Qinsheng had been saving for more than ten years just to have ten thousand gold coins.
The bandits became startled with horror as they saw Feng Feiyun running towards the Yin Gou Ward.
He shouldn’t be stupid enough to rob the Yin Gou Ward, right?
Was there a need to take such big risk just for them to play with prostitutes? The four bandits felt that Feng Feiyun was too kind. He was not only loyal, but also courageous as well.
“Clang clank!”
Feng Feiyun tapped on the wooden door of the Yin Gou Ward several times before entering.
“Shopkeeper, I have something I want to pawn at this place. You tell me the price and I will come back in three days for it.” Feng Feiyun took out a drop of Spirit Spring Water and wanted to pawn it temporarily at this place. He would come back for it after robbing the Three Mysterious Gate in the future.
The old shopkeeper, who was buried in accounting papers, slowly raised his head and slightly glanced at Feng Feiyun. Suddenly, his pupils widened as a wide smile curved to his ears. This smile was a bit too exaggerated; it was as if he had just seen a god of wealth.
Only extraordinary people could become a boss of the Yin Gou Wards. His eyes were sharp and discerning; with just one glance at his customers, he would be able to remember them even dozens of years later.
Feng Feiyun was quite perplexed. The shopkeepers of the Yin Gou Wards were people with extremely high standards. He shouldn’t be so surprised even after seeing a divine treasure like Spirit Spring Water, nor should he be carrying such a strange smile. ‘Oh, why does this old man look so familiar?’
“Haha! Young Master Feng, it has been a long time.” Zheng Dongliu smiled happily and quickly commanded servants to bring out the best tea, then they respectfully handed it to Feng Feiyun.
This respectful attitude was quite abnormal, it was like a servant serving tea to his master.
“You are Shopkeeper Zheng, shouldn’t you be in Spirit State City? Why are you here at Fire Beacon City?” Even though Feng Feiyun recognized Zheng Dongliu, he was still quite puzzled. At this moment, he was dressed quite shabbily; moreover, many people and great powers within the Grand Southern Prefecture wanted to kill him.
The Yin Gou Wards specialized in intelligence so there was no way it wouldn’t know his current circumstances. Why was it that even after recognizing his identity, Zheng Dongliu was still so respectful towards him? This greatly alarmed Feng Feiyun because the Yin Gou Wards was a business that placed interest above all else. If Zheng Dongliu sold his location, then the people who wanted to kill him would madly rush to this place.
There were too many people in this world with the mouth of a buddha while having knives hidden in their stomach.
“Haha! Because of the fourth young miss’ recommendation, I was able to leave a small place like Spirit State City. Did the fourth young miss not tell you about this matter, honorable son-in-law?” Zheng Dongliu answered back with a question.
“Phoosh!” Feng Feiyun immediately spat out all the tea he just drank all over Zheng Dongliu’s face while asking in shock: “What did you just call me?”
“Honorable son-in-law!” Without any sign of anger, Zheng Dongliu used his sleeves to wipe the tea on his face. He was still blooming with a smile while speaking: “At this moment, all the branches of the Yin Gou Ward know about the story between Young Master Feng and the fourth young miss. Even Young Master Dongfang has accepted this matter; if anyone could find news of honorable son-in-law, then they will have a chance to go to the Main Yin Gou Ward to work. My karma must be exploding; I can’t believe I’m actually meeting honorable son-in-law in an endless sea of people. If the fourth young miss knows about this matter, I’m sure she will be extremely happy.”
Feng Feiyun was frozen on the spot while contemplating out of his mind. ‘This damn Dongfang Jingyue is really petty. Even though she said that all grievances are erased, she is still searching for information about me. Don’t think I don’t recognize your schemes; if you truly know my location, then you will send who knows how many experts to kill me.’
Feng Feiyun naturally would not tell Zheng Dongliu about their grudges!
“Haha! So that's how it is, that's how it is…” Feng Feiyun laughed in a slightly unnatural manner before speaking: “Shopkeeper Zheng, how much do you think this drop of Spirit Spring Water is worth? How about I leave it here for now to trade for some gold coins?”
“Honorable son-in-law is in need of money at the moment?” Zheng Dongliu’s eyes slightly shifted as if he had just understood something.
“Yes!” Feng Feiyun naturally wouldn’t tell him that he was going to a brothel.
“Honorable son-in-law, in the future, you will be the half-master of the Yin Gou Clan. How could servants like us take your items? Don’t worry about money, leave such a small matter to this old man.”
Zheng Dongliu knew the status of Dongfang Jingyue more than anyone else at the Yin Gou Clan. Sucking up to Feng Feiyun couldn’t be a mistake.
Soon, two servants carried a huge steel chest out from inside.
Zheng Dongliu opened the chest as a dazzling golden brilliance suddenly erupted from within, painting the entire room into a shade of gold.
“There is paper money and gold in this chest; the total amount is twenty-eight million gold coins. Honorable son-in-law, is this enough? If not, I will find people to get more!” Zheng Dongliu — with a happy expression — bowed down respectfully with endless pandering.
Feng Feiyun stared at the glittering golden color from the chest filled with paper money and gold. After spending a long time in a daze, he finally took a deep breath. Motherfucker, the Yin Gou Clan is truly the richest clan in the world; only one ward of theirs was enough to come up with so much gold like this.
There might be more than ten thousand Yin Gou Wards across the Godly Jin Dynasty. How much gold do they actually have?
Even if they completely emptied the treasury of a large immortal gate, there wouldn’t necessarily be twenty-eight million gold coins.
“This should be enough…” Feng Feiyun swallowed his saliva while replying. He did not add this next sentence: “I’m only going to a brothel.”