The private room in the teahouse was decorated in an elegant, understated style.
While waiting for the courtesan, Shen Tang toyed with the teacup on the table. As a child with mild ADHD, she wasn't used to such a quiet environment. Seeing the shopkeeper killing time by staring into space, she couldn't help asking a question that had been bothering her for a while.
"Shopkeeper, I have a question. I wonder if you could answer it."
Hearing her, the shopkeeper's thoughts snapped back into his body before they could drift any farther. He joked, "Is there anything I can't answer? Just don't ask this old man about the goings-on between me and my wife."
Shen Tang: "..."
It wasn't her fault she understood that instantly.
(╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻
Who wanted to hear about the bedroom antics between you and your wife?!
Seeing the strange, complicated look on Shen Tang's face, the shopkeeper suddenly realized that the painter before him was only eleven or twelve. No matter how skilled her brushwork was or how practiced she might be at drawing erotic illustrations, he shouldn't have made such a risqué joke. He quickly changed the subject and asked, "What was it you wanted to ask, miss? You have a question, right? Go ahead. I'll tell you everything I know."
Shen Tang asked, "Why would the Prefectural Government encourage this kind of business? Shouldn't public officials avoid any appearance of impropriety?"
They were even taking the lead in developing this industry. She'd never heard of anything like it.
The shopkeeper had thought she'd ask something serious.
When he realized it was just a simple question about common knowledge, he was a little surprised by Shen Tang's "innocence." Everyone knew this. Then again, the young lady was pretty, had an unusual air about her, showed no signs of having done hard labor, and was a talented artist. She must have come from a wealthy family before falling on hard times. It was only natural that her relatives had shielded her from such sordid matters.
Thinking this, he looked at Shen Tang with a little more pity. The young lady must be so hard up that she'd gone out looking for work drawing erotic illustrations. If this job went well, the bookshop could save some other illustration commissions for her in the future.
He took a sip of tea and sighed. "Well, that's a long story. There have been a lot of natural disasters and wars these past few years. The common people can't make ends meet. Those with land don't dare farm it, afraid bandits will rob them. Those without land are starving to death. Tell me, if even adults can't get enough to eat or keep warm, how can they afford to raise a lot of children?"
Shen Tang shook her head. "Of course they can't."
"Exactly," said the shopkeeper. "If they can't afford to raise them, they either abandon them or sell them. The Prefectural Government saw this couldn't go on, so they said to build more brothels and entertainment houses, where people could sell songs, dances, and smiles. That would attract merchants from outside and bring in money; it would also give these children somewhere to go; and with taxes so heavy, it would help make up the shortfall. Otherwise, when the higher-ups demand tax silver, the Prefectural Government won't have enough to hand over. They called it...killing several birds with one stone."
Shen Tang's face changed as she heard this.
She held back again and again, but the whole thing made her sick.
She asked, "Is that really what the Prefectural Government had in mind?"
The shopkeeper pointed toward the center of Xiaocheng.
Lowering his voice, he leaned closer and said, "Of course it is. That's what the notices say. What can ordinary people like us say about what those nobles think? To be frank, if there weren't wars, none of this would be happening! Now, with things so tangled up, selling their sons and daughters to brothels and entertainment houses has become a favor those nobles are doing for them."
Because of the unusual times and the Prefectural Government's enthusiastic encouragement, business was bad everywhere else in Xiaocheng. Only the brothels and entertainment houses were making a killing, with crowds pouring in every day.
The people who couldn't survive were forced to sell their children. The money they got wasn't even enough to cover a month's expenses for the family, while the traffickers and the managers of the brothels and entertainment houses pocketed the profits. With more children for sale, these people had more to choose from and could afford to be picky, so they joined forces to drive down prices. The children's parents could only sell them off cheaply through tears.
A decent-looking child could be taken away for, at most, a hundred or two hundred copper coins. What happened to them afterward was left to fate.
After finishing, the shopkeeper sighed in deep frustration. Catching sight of Shen Tang lost in thought from the corner of his eye, he abruptly realized that he'd said things he shouldn't have to a child. He hurried to make amends. "Sigh, that's all in the past now. In this world, just staying alive is hard enough."
Whether they starved, wandered from place to place, or stayed in the brothels and entertainment houses, greeting one customer after another, the poor had no say in the matter. Their lives were cheaper than grass. What choice did they have?
At least in the brothels and entertainment houses, they were alive. If Heaven smiled on them and gave them a face like a flower, they might become a top courtesan and live in comfort. Even if they died young, they'd at least have "enjoyed a good life." The real fear was being slaughtered by thugs, dragged onto a battlefield as cannon fodder to die for someone else, or forced to tend a few barren fields in constant fear, working all year and trusting the harvest to the weather, only for the whole family to starve to death anyway.
Shen Tang felt the weight of it all.
Seeing her saddened expression, the shopkeeper tried to change the subject. "Take a guess. Out of the brothels and entertainment houses lining these five long streets, how many are male brothels and how many are women's brothels?"
Shen Tang had no idea.
She answered at random, "Half and half?"
The shopkeeper shook his head. "Male brothels make up this much!"
He held up seven fingers.
He meant seventy percent.
Shen Tang: "..."
The shopkeeper launched into answering his own question.
"You must be wondering why, right? The answer isn't hard to guess. Do you know that the man on the throne now used to be Xin Country's 'favored concubine'? He had the childhood name 'Nü Jiao.' The moment he burst onto the scene, he made countless people envious. Male brothels became more and more common, and their business kept getting better. Just look at him—now he's the ruler of a whole country." He slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "What a man!"
He might as well have handed Zheng Qiao the "Most Inspirational Male Consort in History" award.
What man wouldn't call him incredible after becoming the male lover of a ruler and rising this far?
Zheng Qiao had become the idol and heartthrob of male-brothel courtesans everywhere.
Shen Tang: "..."
Before long, a rhythmic knock sounded from outside the private room.
The shopkeeper rose to open the door. Three strangers stood outside, two tall and one short. The one in the middle wore a veil, black gauze covering his face. Two tall, fierce-looking guards flanked him.
There was no need to ask. The one in the middle was the client.
Only after entering the private room did he remove his veil, revealing a fair, delicate face that looked rather severe. He seemed less like a man than a somewhat green young boy. His eyes swept over Shen Tang. Seeing no one else there, he asked the shopkeeper, "Where's the painter?"
Shen Tang raised her hand. "Right here!"
He didn't even spare Shen Tang a glance. Instead, he directed his anger at the shopkeeper. "Did you pay too little? Is that why you sent some wet-behind-the-ears little girl to fob me off? Do you have any idea how important that illustration is?"
The shopkeeper hadn't expected the courtesan to have such a temper, but for the sake of business, he could only bend over backward to appease him and vouch for Shen Tang. "Don't let her age fool you. Her skills are no worse than those of the painters we've hired before."
Shen Tang nodded along.
After all, she'd made a living with this skill before.
She trusted in her professional abilities!
Hearing this, the young man studied Shen Tang carefully.
Shen Tang had already risen to her feet. The Literary Heart seal at her waist swung with her movements, its transparent surface shimmering with faint rainbow colors in the light. The young man paused, then changed his tune. "Fine. Let her give it a try. If I'm not satisfied, I'll replace her! But I have one condition!"
Shen Tang replied confidently, "Name it."
The young man said, "You have to use the brush, ink, paper, and inkstone I provide."
Shen Tang thought that was a good thing and readily agreed.
The sky was dark, and the stars were boiling.
Qi Shan had felt all day that something was missing.
Hearing the thumping footsteps next door again, he knew Young Master Shen had returned. He looked at the new books he'd gathered on his desk, thought for a moment, then picked them up and knocked on Shen Tang's door.
Shen Tang had just finished her rough draft and was about to let her brush run wild.
"Just a moment. I'll be right there."
Shen Tang got up to open the door.
"Did you need something, Yuan Liang?"
As she spoke, she stepped aside to let Qi Shan in.
"I borrowed a few manuscripts from a friend. See if there's anything you need..." Before he could finish, or even put down the books, he saw the work spread across Shen Tang's desk and exclaimed, "Young Master Shen, who was this 'master' who taught you the 'painting' in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting?"
The paper showed a person with a big, round black head and a body sketched in a few crooked strokes, like a twisted-up cruller, lying on what might have been a "reclining chair."
A lump protruded from the top of the head; he couldn't tell if it was a bun or a flower pinned into the hair. The figure's "right hand" clutched a round fan, while the left hung down... It was probably someone lying on a chaise longue and trying hard to strike a pose, with all the right parts pushed out and tucked in.
The drawing was crude and bizarre, with an inexplicable lasciviousness wafting off it.
The worst part was that this "person" wasn't alone on the page. Looking at the pictures in sequence, the figure went from shedding clothes to climbing onto a bed and striking a pose. The scene that wasn't finished yet seemed to show a second strange "person" arriving... He could sense an inexplicable air of "urgency."
Qi Shan...
It was truly hard for him to call this a "painting" with a straight face.
Something happened today, and I had to go out to take care of it. I left the window open, and the rain and wind blew into my study, soaking my computer and ruining my mouse. I had to write on an unfamiliar gaming laptop, so I couldn't finish in time. I'll add the remaining few hundred words in a little while.
P.S. If you're reading this, I've finished revising it. I added another five hundred words so Tang Mei's drawing would make an appearance, which is why the update was a little late.
Before you continue