Just as Wang Lang and Su Yao returned to Listening Waves Mountain Manor and began dealing with that four-meter tiger demon,
eighty li away, an entirely different scene was unfolding inside Drunken Spring Breeze in Black Stone City.
My name was Huang San.
Of course, the girls in the city's major brothels preferred to call me Huang San Gui.
That nickname came from my outstanding abilities in a certain department—I was enduring, durable, and had plenty of tricks.
Though the reputation was not exactly elegant when spoken aloud, in certain situations, it worked better than the Huang Family's gilded signboard.
Over the past year, nobody knew what madness had seized City Lord Tang Hao of Black Stone City.
He suddenly wanted to develop the western district on a grand scale, saying he would build a Star Gazing Platform.
Heh. He really had eaten his fill and had nothing better to do.
In a place like Black Stone City, how could starlight shine brighter than dice on a gambling table?
How could it shine brighter than the girls' flesh?
But for our Huang Family, this was a heaven-sent blessing.
City Lord Tang and our old master were as close as sworn brothers, so every bit of stone, timber, and other material needed for the Star Gazing Platform was purchased through our family.
The Huang Family owned thousands of acres of farmland, dozens of estates, and shops spread everywhere, yet we alone did not produce construction materials.
But what did that matter?
We simply subcontracted it to the little merchants below us.
We only acted as middlemen, but the cut we took was the biggest share.
After passing through our hands, the profits were even richer than producing the goods ourselves. We were eating until our mouths dripped with grease.
Though the Star Gazing Platform had not yet been completed, its interior was already decorated seven or eight parts out of ten.
Thinking of this, Huang San found the daylight especially fine today. He brought several drinking-and-gambling companions to Drunken Spring Breeze once more in search of pleasure.
Drunken Spring Breeze had opened within the past year and was considered a rather unusual brothel in Black Stone City.
The girls greeting guests at the entrance were dressed elegantly, in moon-white blouses and pale blue skirts, unlike the heavy makeup and gaudy dress found elsewhere.
When guests arrived, they merely gathered their sleeves and curtsied, softly saying, "Greetings, young master." That restrained air only made people's hearts itch all the more.
Crude words like, "Third Young Master, you've come to play! This servant has missed you to death!" could not be heard here.
Huang San could not say why, but he happened to like that very thing.
The group of five or six passed through the front hall amid laughter and chatter.
Though it was daytime, quite a few guests were already seated in the hall, and the sounds of drinking games and shouting never ceased.
But someone of Huang San's standing naturally would not loaf around in the main hall.
The attendant wore a smile piled high across his face as he led them into Listening to Rain Pavilion, the finest private room.
The moment they sat down, seven or eight warblers and swallows filed in, each pressing close beside one of them.
After three rounds of wine, the men began boasting and talking nonsense.
"Speaking of business, my father recently came up with a new method."
Fatty Zhao, seated opposite Huang San, took a sip of wine and said:
"Doesn't our family deal in cloth? We used to mix thirty percent inferior silk into every bolt of brocade. Now we mix in fifty percent!"
"Those country bumpkins cannot tell anyway, so we still sell it at the original price."
Dwarf Li sneered beside him. "What is that supposed to be? Our grain shop is the real masterpiece."
"Mixing old rice with new rice is ancient history. Now we spread a layer of sand and dirt at the bottom of the rice sack, then cover it with good rice."
"One sack gains two or three extra jin in weight!"
"When those miserable wretches take it home, are they really going to pick it out grain by grain? Besides, eight out of every ten grain shops in this city hang our family's sign. If they do not buy from me, where else can they go?"
"Sand and dirt? No class at all." Young Master Qian took over, waving his fan. His family dealt in medicinal herbs.
"My family is far more clever. Of the herbs we collect, the fine-looking ones are kept for officials and nobles."
"As for the inferior ones, we dry them, spray on some scented powder, and make them look glossy and smooth. The price can double!"
"As for whether they work... who cares whether they are effective? As long as they do not kill anyone, it is fine."
Everyone burst into laughter and began discussing the tricks of their respective trades.
Young Master Zhou, whose family ran restaurants, also said, "My family reheats yesterday's leftovers, adds extra chili and strong seasonings, and the customers cannot taste the difference. They even praise it for having enough flavor!"
Hearing this, everyone laughed and cursed the Zhou fellow for being unscrupulous, declaring that they would never eat at his establishments again.
If you can't find a book by its title, try searching for the author—it may simply have been renamed!
Young Master Zhou panicked and hurriedly defended himself. "That is all prepared for those mud-legged nobodies! If you gentlemen come, everything will definitely be cooked fresh at the stove!"
Only then did the others laugh. "You really are a clever one!"
Huang San listened to them, took a sip of wine, and said blandly, "All of yours are child's play."
"My family contracted the construction materials for the western district's Star Gazing Platform. That is what you call making money while lying down."
"City Lord Tang specifically demanded bluestone, but what I bought from the quarry outside the city was clearly ordinary granite. The prices differ fivefold!"
"Once it is built into the walls, who is going to pry them open to inspect it?"
"Third Young Master is brilliant!"
"How else could the Huang Family be called the richest family in Black Stone City?"
Another round of flattery followed.
Afterward, the topic gradually turned to domestic gossip.
Fatty Zhao lowered his voice, lust gleaming in his eyes.
"Speaking of that, I have a distant cousin who got married just last month."
"That bride was truly tender and lovely—willow-leaf brows, apricot-pit eyes, and a waist so slim one hand could grasp it."
"What a pity. My cousin has no luck. He fell ill on the second day after the wedding and is still lying in bed now."
As he spoke, he unconsciously swallowed.
Dwarf Li caught on and gave a sly grin. "What, Fatty? You have ideas about your sister-in-law?"
"Get lost!" Fatty Zhao laughed and cursed, though he could not hide the smugness on his face.
"I only feel sorry for my cousin. Such a beauty, guarding an empty room alone..."
Qian Chuanzi chimed in, "Now that you mention it, I remember my third great-uncle. He is over sixty, yet last month he took a seventh concubine. She is only sixteen, so tender you could pinch water from her."
"Tell me, can the old man still manage? Or did he bring her home as a decoration?"
"Decoration or not, you are not getting to think about her!"
Everyone roared with laughter, and the private room was filled with an air of merriment.
Listening to their filthy words, the little heat in Huang San's heart was stirred up as well.
He waved a hand. "Enough. The nonsense ends here. Time to get down to business."
The others immediately understood. Grinning lewdly, they rose to their feet, each wrapping an arm around a favored girl before leaving to seek pleasure on their own.
For Drunken Spring Breeze to become Black Stone City's foremost brothel, it naturally had its own unique strengths.
Its greatest attraction was the rule of the twenty-four top courtesans.
Every year, twenty-four peerless virgins were gathered from all over and placed on display for a year.
During that year, each top courtesan served only one patron. Put plainly, she was kept by him for a year.
Only once new top courtesans were selected would the old ones be demoted to ordinary girls and put on display to receive guests.
This rule had thoroughly whetted the appetites of the city's powerful and wealthy.
After all, who would not want to taste the pleasure of monopolizing a flower queen for an entire year?
To fight for a single spot, no one knew how much silver was spent in secret or how many connections were pulled.
Given Huang San's status in Black Stone City, he naturally had the qualifications to keep one...
This year, he had chosen Miss Zhi Lan. She was proficient in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, but especially those autumn-water eyes of hers—one look was enough to melt a person's heart.
At that moment, a girl in a pink blouse supported Huang San as they headed toward Zhi Lan's Orchid Fragrance Pavilion.
Huang San's hand wandered dishonestly around her waist. She dodged shyly, adding even more charm to the moment.
With drunken eyes, Huang San said, "You little minx, call Zhi Lan over later. The three of us can do it together, and I'll let you witness Third Young Master's skill at one dragon battling two phoenixes..."
The girl in pink giggled foolishly as she supported Huang San through the winding corridors.
A gust of cool wind swept past. Huang San shivered, and two parts of his drunkenness faded.
When he looked up, this path did not seem to lead toward Orchid Fragrance Pavilion.
"Where are we going?" Huang San asked thickly.
"Third Young Master is drunk. This is a shortcut," the woman replied softly.
Huang San did not think much of it, assuming the girl was being sensible and wanted to bring their good affair to fruition sooner.
After rounding an artificial rockery, a secluded little courtyard appeared before them.
The courtyard gate stood half-open. Though it was broad daylight, the inside was pitch-black, with only a faint yellow candlelight filtering through the lattice window of the main room.
The girl in pink pushed open the gate. "Third Young Master, please enter. The young lady is already waiting in the room."
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