Chapter 95 Part 1
Chapter 95 Part 1: Qiong Zhi
Jiang Li and Tong’er, the two people walked into Xi Hua Lou.
Bai Xue was simple and honest. Whenever Jiang Li called her to do something, she would immediately do it with no question asked. However, Tong’er felt that doing this was somewhat inappropriate and had a suspicion that everything was just her dreaming. Think about it, how could her miss visit a brothel? It’s more understandable if the one she was serving was a young master.
Just as they stepped inside the beautiful brothel’s door, a smiling woman in the prime of youth welcomed them. She said: “Is Miss looking for someone?”
A superbly familiar look, to speak of, Xi Hua Lou’s boss could be considered as rather clever. The men entering from the front door were greeted by amorous and flirtatious women with alluring clothes. While the women welcoming the visitors at the back door had on proper clothes, appearing very much from a “good family”.
This was natural, the males coming from the main entrance seeked pleasure, naturally had to be enticed to the maximum. And the person welcoming the visitor from the back door was specially there to welcome those females coming to catch a couple in the act. If they were dressed too charmingly, they would provoke the anger of the legitimate madams.
Tong’er opened her eyes wide, saw that this woman was not licentious like a brothel’s woman and couldn’t help having doubts in her heart. She thought Jiang Li said just now that this place was the brothel only to deceive her when it was actually just a decent restaurant.
As Tong’er was sizing the woman up and down, the woman was also sizing them up. With a glance, she could tell that Jiang Li was the master. However, she didn’t understand, Jiang Li clearly looked like an unmarried young lady, so why did this lady come to look for someone today? Could she be looking for her fiance?
But this kind of thing was a common occurrence to the people of Xi Hua Lou.
Jiang Li smilingly said: “I’m looking for Miss Qiong Zhi.”
The expression on the face of the greeter changed slightly. She paused for a moment before politely showing a smile and said: “Miss, in our Xi Hua Lou, the flower girls do not see female guests.”
Hearing that Jiang Li looked for Qiong Zhi by name, she thought that Jiang Li was looking for trouble because her fiance visited Qiong Zhi. So naturally she had to obstruct.
Jiang Li smiled, fished out a banknote from her sleeve, and let Bai Xue stuffed it into the woman’s palm. She said: “Don’t worry, I’m not coming here to look for trouble. I just have some matters to ask Miss Qiong Zhi. I will not cause problems for you, just facilitate this for me, is it okay?”
The woman looked at the banknote’s amount in her hand and her heart couldn’t help jumping. Even those many male benefactors who came to play were not as generous to the woman welcoming guests at the front as this young lady. She took another look at Jiang Li’s delicate features and gentle speech, the most important thing was there was no disdain in her eyes. Her last sentence carried the meaning of asking, clearly respecting her very much.
The woman was somewhat emotional. Doing this kind of job undoubtedly had no dignity. She was stationed at the back door to receive those madams who came “looking for trouble”. The madam inherently detested them bitterly, so although they were dressed very much like someone from a “good family”, they still could not erase the loathing of those madams towards them. Those madams would say unpleasant words at every turn and they no longer knew what dignity was.
At this time, this pampered young lady seemed to be treating her like an ordinary person and the woman could not say a word of refusal. Just as she was about to reject her, she saw that Jiang Li was generous in giving, and the idea immediately vanished.
She smiled and said: “Please wait a while, miss. I’ll see whether Qiong Zhi has any guests at the moment or not. If there is…….”
“No problem,” Jiang Li smiled: “if there is, I’ll just wait for her over here. I’ll go in when she’s free.”
The woman was stunned, thinking that this young lady was truly unusual. She no longer delayed, at once giving Jiang Li a cup of tea before she went inside to ask someone.
After the woman walked inside, Tong’er asked: “Miss, What kind of person is this Miss Qiong Zhi? She wouldn’t be a…… a……” “prostitute”, no matter how, Tong’er could not speak this word out. Jiang Li was the chief assistant’s daughter, if she stood together with a prostitute and known by outsiders, it’d be unknown how many tongues would chew until broken.
Jiang Li said: “She is.”
Tong’er: “Ah!”
Though she was astonished and puzzled, Tong’er didn’t dare to continue asking. She looked at Jiang Li’s rare expression of solemnity, at times Tong’er thought her young lady, after leaving Mount Qingcheng, seemed to have changed into a different person. Many times Tong’er had no idea what her young lady was thinking about. And she also didn’t intend to explain the things she did.
Don’t mind it, who asked her to be her own young lady. In this life’s mountains of daggers and seas of flames, she still has to recognize.
Not long after, the woman who took Jiang Li’s banknote returned. She laughed and said to Jiang Li: “Miss, Miss Qiong Zhi has no guests at the moment, do you want to go over now?”
Jiang Li smiled slightly: “Okay.”
The road that the female greeter took Jiang Li and her two servant girls on was probably not the same as the road taken by the guests. All the way, no scenes that were unbearable to the eyes could be seen. This made Tong’er greatly relaxed her breath.
After bypassing several long hallways and going up several storeys, the woman stopped. She smiled and said: “This is Miss Qiong Zhi’s room.”