So What If I Have Prostitute Status?

Fortunately, the constable did not speak to Lin Ke. He gave the merchants a few instructions and left.

He seemed less like a constable and more like an urban enforcement officer.

Besides, Lin Ke had other things to do that night, so he paid little attention.

Lin Ke glanced at the sky. He guessed it was a little past ten, perhaps around eleven. Feeling that the time was about right, he hurried out.

Looking left and right, he quickly made his way to the end of the street and stopped. Along the way, he noticed that most of the shops on Chaoyang Street had closed, and he breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

Not a single one of the neighbors on Chaoyang Street was someone to trifle with!

They actually quieted down at night.

And the place where he now stood was a shop at the end of the street-the Song-Listening Entertainment House.

What was he doing at an entertainment house at night?

Earlier that evening, while chatting with the restaurant owner, Lin Ke had sounded out whether the fat owner was some kind of expert.

Who would have thought the restaurant owner would say that he had no abilities whatsoever and was just an ordinary proprietor?

So Lin Ke settled for the next best thing and asked the restaurant owner to recommend someone who could teach him the coordination involved in hand-to-hand combat.

Then Lin Ke was dumbfounded.

At the time, the restaurant owner had put it this way: "The people with the best coordination, if you ask me, are those dancers next door! What are you asking me for?"

Only after hearing the restaurant owner's words did understanding suddenly dawn on Lin Ke.

Coordination?

Coordination!

Right! In the twenty-first century, weren't dance, gymnastics, and martial arts performances the best ways to train coordination?

Coordination certainly mattered in disciplines such as sanda, but offensive and defensive abilities-or the ability to fight-mattered more.

With dance, however, coordination and visual beauty were naturally the most important things.

He was an actor, after all. Dance was one of an actor's fundamental skills!

Not to mention that he had won plenty of awards, both large and small!

But Lin Ke had other considerations as well.

Had there been many modern dances in his previous life?

Plenty!

And the sheer complexity and richness of their varieties were almost unimaginable!

Leaving aside Eastern and Western dance, all sorts of dance organizations, universities, theaters, folk associations, and so on had their own distinctive dances.

But however many modern dances there were, Lin Ke could not casually display what he had learned in his previous life.

This was the Great Wei Sacred Dynasty, after all!

If he introduced something like the swan dances and ballet reserved for girls, he could guarantee that, after having someone dance in the morning, a band of Great Confucians would arrive that afternoon to condemn him with tongue and pen, and the Lin Residence would be holding his funeral feast by evening.

Serves me right!

The women here were all conservative. Even baring their legs might be considered a disgrace to refinement and a ruinous stain on family propriety, let alone dancing in miniskirts and white stockings with their thighs flashing away!

Besides, Lin Ke had grown up confined to the Lin Residence's courtyard and had never been exposed to dance, so he had to understand the characteristics of this world's dances first.

What if he made a move one day that was too uninhibited or offended someone, and a bunch of unknown Daoists, monks, or Great Confucians chased him all over the world?

In a world like this, with so many rules and such rigid social hierarchies, the dances that emerged could hardly be especially free-spirited or bold.

So...

Learn!

Learn the dances here!

Learn the characteristics of the dances here!

Then he could combine them with the dances from his previous life and develop dances that would astonish people while still fitting the current era.

Of course, that would require him to reveal some talent for dancing.

After all, nobody would teach him anything for no reason. He would have to become someone's disciple.

He would show his talent, take a teacher, then learn this world's experience and principles of dance.

Only by combining the characteristics of both worlds could he astonish everyone with a single brilliant debut!

But from now on, he would be at Old Man Li's in the morning, Wang Lin's in the afternoon, and the restaurant at night. He would be far too busy.

He only had a little free time in the small hours. He had to settle the matter of coordination training now, or he might not even have time at night in the future.

So after the constable left, Lin Ke returned to the courtyard and began reacquainting himself with his old dance moves.

He shut the courtyard door and practiced the dances many times, also recalling plenty of other moves along the way. Only after familiarizing himself with them one by one did he head out.

Yet now, standing at the entrance to the Song-Listening Entertainment House, he hesitated.

Come to think of it... at the tender age of sixteen, I'm actually visiting an entertainment house at this hour?

What if someone sees me?

Won't Old Man Qi and Wang Lin needle me to death?

Thud...

While Lin Ke stood there wavering, the left-hand door beneath the Song-Listening Entertainment House's sign was shut.

He promptly stepped forward and instinctively reached out to hold the other door, which was about to close.

The person inside pushed hard a couple of times, but it would not budge, so she poked her head out to look.

It was a woman!

When she saw a young gentleman with delicate, handsome features, she looked a little confused.

As she studied the visitor, wariness appeared on her face. After all, there were no men in the Song-Listening Entertainment House right now. If this man came inside, she would have no way to stop him.

She watched Lin Ke warily. "Young master, the Great Wei Code stipulates that women in entertainment houses sell their artistry, not their bodies."

The Great Wei Code stated: entertainment houses sold artistry, not bodies; brothels sold bodies, not artistry; courtesan houses could sell both.

In other words, courtesan houses could choose their services according to their own circumstances, but the services of entertainment houses and brothels were fixed and could not change.

Given the strictness of the Great Wei Code, if the Song-Listening Entertainment House opened its doors to receive customers at this hour, it would probably be shut down the very next day.

At that thought, Lin Ke smiled faintly and said, "Sorry for the trouble, but please let someone know that the restaurant owner next door sent me. I have something important to discuss!"

The woman inside considered it, her brows furrowed, then said warily, "Stay right here, then. I'll go tell our madam."

Lin Ke took a step back to show that he would not barge inside, then nodded for her to go pass on the message.

Thud!

The other door slammed shut as well.

Lin Ke remained where he was, feeling somewhat puzzled.

Although the Song-Listening Entertainment House was an entertainment house, why did it close so early?

At the same time, though, he felt a little excited at the prospect of taking up dancing again.

Just then, the door opened, and the person inside caught sight of Lin Ke's excited expression.

She was an elderly woman, short and plump, with thickly applied rouge.

She was not as fat as the restaurant owner next door, but her face instantly brought Lin Ke to full alertness.

Her face was covered in folds of flesh and wrinkles, like a peony on the verge of withering.

If not for her neatly arranged, graying hair coiled into a bun, it would have been difficult to tell whether she was a man or a woman.

Her face was also smeared with bright red rouge and cosmetics in various other colors. She wore a bright red floral outfit, her hair bristled with all manner of hairpins and ornaments, and she stood about half a head shorter than Lin Ke.

Lin Ke's first thought was Nanny Rong-an enhanced, upgraded version, at that.

The plump woman stood in the doorway, with several girls behind her holding brooms, chairs, and the like, all watching Lin Ke warily.

Lin Ke even spotted a familiar face among them, though she was holding a vase.

At the sight, he did not know whether to laugh or cry.

Their response was hardly strange at this late hour. They were all defenseless women, and a man had come knocking in the middle of the night. It was understandable that they feared he might have wicked intentions.

Then Lin Ke retreated another half step to show his sincerity, cupped his hands in greeting, and asked, "My name is Lin Ke. And you are?"

The woman's eyes and brows curved as she studied Lin Ke with interest.

After Lin Ke greeted her, she took two steps forward and said gently, "Young master, you're quite amusing. You come knocking on my Song-Listening Entertainment House's door in the middle of the night, yet you don't know who I, the madam, am?"

Then, without waiting for Lin Ke to answer, she smiled. "Just call me Matchmaker."

With that, she fluttered her eyelids and shot Lin Ke a flirtatious look.

Lin Ke's smile stiffened. "Ah! Matchmaker... dear sister, forgive my intrusion so late at night. I've come to the Song-Listening Entertainment House to ask for instruction..."

Lin Ke had no idea how to address her. Although it went somewhat against his conscience, it seemed to work quite well.

At the word "instruction," a flicker of speechlessness crossed Matchmaker's eyes.

A man knocking on an entertainment house's door in the middle of the night-it hardly took much thought to guess what he wanted instruction in. Still, Matchmaker quickly concealed that trace of speechlessness.

If not for the shoes on Lin Ke's feet that were already fading pale, and his clean, simple white clothes, he might have looked more like a young gentleman with a feather fan and silk headscarf.

As he was, however, Lin Ke looked more like an impoverished young man from a humble family who had fallen on hard times.

But...

Dear sister?

Matchmaker smiled and fluttered her eyelids. With her smile and wrinkles, the red rouge on her face drifted down to the ground.

"Dear sister?" Matchmaker's smile broadened. "What would this young master like to learn from my Song-Listening Entertainment House? We do run an entertainment house, you know..."

Lin Ke smiled helplessly. "I've come to ask for instruction in dance."

Even as he said it, Lin Ke felt that his words sounded terribly fake.

If Old Man Qi had not forbidden him from leaving the street, he would have turned and fled long ago to find somewhere else to learn dance.

Asking someone at an entertainment house to teach me dance?

What kind of instruction-a dance for two?

At his words, Matchmaker looked behind Lin Ke. Seeing that no one else had accompanied him, she turned a somewhat surprised gaze on him.

Although she had already guessed the answer, she still had to confirm it. "Are you alone, young master?"

Lin Ke remained where he was, smiling and nodding, neither servile nor overbearing.

When Matchmaker saw him nod, she was still a little surprised, even though she had already suspected that this young gentleman was alone.

Then she shook her head in refusal. "I'm afraid I must disappoint you, young master. I haven't danced in years. Could we try another kind of instruction instead? For instance, we could go upstairs and have a lesson on the big bed in my room?"

Lin Ke: Smooth.

Seeing the red rouge scattered across the ground by her smile made his scalp prickle. Hearing Matchmaker suggest going upstairs made him instinctively retreat another step.

Why are all the women on Chaoyang Street like this?

Am I too handsome?

Lin Ke felt helpless.

Seeing Lin Ke step back, Matchmaker's eyes gained a measure of contempt. Then she smiled and said:

"Young master, you should go home. At this hour of the night, I wouldn't mind sharing a quilt with you, but my girls cannot. What if they can't find husbands afterward?"

Although Lin Ke felt that women with prostitute status would have a hard time marrying in an era like this, he did not say anything more.

"Besides..." After a moment's thought, Matchmaker continued with a smile, "Young master, you seem very courteous, so you must know something of propriety... We are merely women with prostitute status who learn skills to earn a living. We wouldn't dare instruct you!"

This Matchmaker doesn't want to give me a chance!

But he had no time during the day tomorrow, so he had to compete tonight, no matter what. After all, most of his future time might no longer be his to control.

Try a little harder to win her over.

After thinking for a moment, Lin Ke said to Matchmaker, "Dear sister Matchmaker, I came to trouble you late at night because I know a little dancing myself. Besides... I have my reasons."

Matchmaker said, "Hmm?"

So Lin Ke continued, "Because my mother was a woman with prostitute status, I also have prostitute status... I learned dancing from my mother as a child. Now she has passed away, but under her influence, I grew very fond of dancing. Prostitute status cannot stop me from dancing, nor can it stop me from loving dance. But..."

At that, Lin Ke turned his back to Matchmaker and gazed up at the bright moon in the sky. Then he said in a firm, forceful voice, "But so what if I have prostitute status? Does prostitute status mean we cannot achieve great things? Does prostitute status mean we cannot hold righteousness in our hearts? There's no such rule, is there?"

"So I want to study dance systematically, and... and let other people know that what makes those with prostitute status astonishing is certainly not just their flesh!"

"Oh? Hee hee..." At his words, Matchmaker narrowed her eyes, then gave a mocking laugh and said disdainfully, "Those of us with servile status can dance too? Young master, hee hee, you must be joking..."