A full ten days had passed since the lords of the Southern Office had been forced to declare their positions, and Gentlemanly Ward was as noisy as ever.
Worshippers thronged the Azure Emperor Temple in the ward, then dispersed among its various quarters. Customers in the lower quarter saved for a month for a single night of release; those in the middle quarter laid out lavish banquets to celebrate turning an untouched courtesan into a practicing one, exchanging their money for a night of bound firewood and three stars shining overhead; in the reception halls of the upper quarter's du zhi, laughter and merriment never ceased. Often, one night's bill for drinks equaled half a month's earnings from selling bodies in an entire lower-quarter establishment, or the highest price a middle-quarter courtesan could command in half her lifetime... yet places there were limited: one person had to leave before another could enter...
Bai Yousi had lost her wager, so naturally she had to pay for the entertainment. Neither Du Zhi Xiao Lin nor Du Zhi Da Lin had been driven out of the market, either, so she simply booked Madam An's entire establishment and invited both to perform. They had come once in the previous ten-day period, once five days ago, and once again today, finally entertaining the entire Crouching Dragon Guard, whose official complement had only just reached over a hundred and whose actual numbers, including logistics staff and clerks, might total a hundred and fifty.
Even so, it was really just a formality; recognizing everyone was difficult.
Nor was it merely a question of numbers. The Crouching Dragon Guard had clearly split into four or five blocs... the clerks and proofreaders operating independently in the White Pagoda formed one; the logistics apparatus, which effectively belonged to the Northern