To call this "Liu Garden" in Jiangning City a haunted house would be a mistake; it was more like a gold mine.
The crumbling walls and debris had been forcibly cleared by several hundred hired laborers, leaving a patch of open ground. The scent of ancient rotting leaves mingled with freshly turned earth, fermenting in the damp air. Even before the sun had fully set, a sinister chill was already creeping up one’s legs.
At this moment, this eerie, ghostly place was packed to the brim with a flutter of "orioles and swallows"—delicate young women.
There were dozens of them. Some wore thin, gossamer silks; others clutched pipas to their chests. The rouge on their faces had long been streaked by tears, looking for all the world like fallen spirits who had accidentally wandered into the Halls of Hell.
They huddled in the corners, watching the dark-faced laborers carrying shovels. To them, this looked like the legendary Shura Fields, a place for murder, robbery, and the disposal of corpses.
Xu Wuyou sat atop a fine Western steed that was foaming at the mouth from exhaustion. He snapped his folding fan shut—though he didn't really need it—and then reopened it with a hint of guilt.
He cleared his throat, trying to strike the pose of a "wicked young master" to intimidate the crowd, but his flirtatious peach-blossom eyes couldn't help but dart toward the back hall.
The thick stack of silver notes and redemption contracts in his hand felt as hot as glowing coals fresh from the furnace.
Thousands of taels.
If the old man found out, he’d probably fill that dry well back up, dig it out again, and bury his son inside.
"Stop... stop crying!" Xu Wuyou barked with false bravado. "What are you crying for? I pulled you out of those smoky willow lanes so you could enjoy a good life! This is called 'going straight!' Do you understand?"
In the corner, the pipa girl trembled like a leaf in the autumn wind. A good life? Enjoying herself in this ghostly manor? She feared that before the night was through, she would be rendered down into lamp oil.
"Young... Young Master..." the pipa girl said in a trembling, desperate voice. "I... I ask for nothing else, only to be left with a whole corpse..."
Xu Wuyou choked, nearly gagging on his own spit.
Just as he was about to explain further that he was actually a "good person," a piercing, blood-curdling scream erupted from deep within the corridor. The sound was three times more wretched than the combined wailing of the dozens of girls.
"What a sin—!!!"
Following that roar, a round figure rolled out like a ball of meat.
Xu Youde was still clutching a half-bitten gold bar—he had kept it out specifically to test its purity with his teeth earlier. Now, he used it like a magistrate’s gavel, slamming it violently onto a newly moved purple sandalwood table.
The table didn't break, but Xu Youde's heart did.
His beady eyes were fixed on the stack of redemption contracts in Xu Wuyou’s hand, his eyeballs nearly popping out of their sockets. His chest heaved like a bellows pushed to its limit.
"Thousands of taels... thousands of taels?!" Xu Youde’s finger shook as he pointed at the courtyard full of girls, his voice shrill and cracking. "You spendthrift brat! Do you think your father has lived too long, or do you think the gold at the bottom of that well is too heavy?! So many mouths! Huh? So many mouths! Is this just eating? This is eating my flesh! Drinking my blood!"
Xu Wuyou shrunk his neck. The bravado he’d had earlier, acting like he could punch a hole in the sky of Jiangning, instantly vanished by half.
"Dad, let me explain..."
"I’m not listening!" Xu Youde hopped around, his spit flying three yards. "I told you to go show those noble families some attitude, not to bring a whole nest of money-losers home!
Are you trying to open a brothel or a charity house? What kind of situation are we in right now? We’re living with our heads tucked into our waistbands! What can you do with a group that only knows how to apply powder and rouge? Can they carry cement? Can they dig for gold?"
He spun around abruptly and roared at the butler, Li Sheng, "Sell them! Sell them all! Before it gets dark, before they eat a single grain of our rice, go find a matchmaker or a labor broker! I don't care how much silver we get... no, as long as someone wants them, sell them all off!"
At these words, the girls in the courtyard completely broke down.
Out of the wolf’s den and straight into the fire? In these chaotic times, the fate of a woman sold off second-hand was often a hundred times more miserable than life in a brothel. For a moment, the crying reached the heavens, and a few of the more faint-hearted girls collapsed on the spot.
Xu Wuyou grew frantic. He lunged forward, stiffening his neck to block his father.
"No! You can’t sell them!"
"You rebellious son, you dare stop me?!" Xu Youde was so angry he raised the gold bar to strike, but at the last second, he couldn't bear to damage it. He wrenched his arm to the side and slammed it into his own thigh instead. "Ouch... you're killing me! Why can't I sell them? Are we keeping them to breed?"
"It’s... it’s about face!" Xu Wuyou’s face turned beet red as he shouted. "I already gave my word! From now on, the girls of the Drunken Red Pavilion are under my, Xu Wuyou’s, protection! If I bring them back and sell them immediately after, where will I hide my face? How will our Xu family survive in Jiangning? Those noble families will laugh themselves sick!"
"Face?" Xu Youde gave a cold laugh, the sharp shrewdness of a miser bleeding through. "How much does a pound of 'face' cost? Can 'face' buy back thousands of taels of silver? Don't talk to me about that nonsense! In this house, aside from your sister, no one can make me take a loss on a deal!"
Xu Wuyou was speechless. It was true; in this household, only Xu Qinghuan’s words were imperial decrees. At best, he was the eunuch delivering the message, and occasionally the scapegoat.
He glanced at the trembling girls. The flame of his inner "hero" hadn't been extinguished yet, but it was dampened by the shame of his own powerlessness. He stood there frozen, caught between a rock and a hard place.
"Father is right. This deal certainly cannot be a loss."
A clear, cool voice, like a bowl of iced plum soup in the middle of summer, cut through the noise of the courtyard.
The curtain to the back hall was lifted by a slender hand.
Xu Qinghuan walked out slowly. She wasn't dressed in elaborate palace robes, but rather a moon-white everyday outfit suited for movement, her sleeves cinched with silver-thread wrist guards. She was even holding a half-peeled tangerine.
She didn't walk fast; every step was steady. Yet, that air of leisurely calm caused the chaotic courtyard to fall silent instantly.
The crying stopped.
The gold bar in Xu Youde’s hand was lowered.
Xu Wuyou looked like he had seen a savior, but also as if he had seen the King of Hell. He instinctively took half a step back, hiding the stack of redemption contracts behind his back.
Xu Qinghuan didn't look at her father or brother. Instead, she walked straight to the corner.
She stopped in front of the pipa girl.
the pipa girl was so terrified she didn't even dare look up, curling into a ball like a frightened quail. Rumor had it that this County Princess Anguo was ruthless, daring to even scheme against her own father, and had once tormented a noble family’s butler until he frothed at the mouth. Falling into her hands, the girl feared she would have her very skin peeled off.
A hand reached out.
The fingers were long and slender, the tips carrying the faint, fresh scent of peeled oranges.
The hand gently tilted the pipa girl’s chin upward.
the pipa girl was forced to look up, meeting a pair of clear, piercing eyes. There was no disdain, no disgust, and even... a hint of appreciation?
Xu Qinghuan studied the girl from left to right, reaching out to pinch the pipa girl’s cheek. The skin felt delicate, brimming with youthful collagen.
"Tsk," she let out an ambiguous sigh before turning around to face Xu Wuyou, who looked as if he had forgotten how to breathe.
"Brother."
Xu Wuyou’s entire body stiffened. "Present!"
Xu Qinghuan suddenly smiled. It was a smile as refreshing as a spring breeze, yet it carried an unpredictable hint of mischief.
"Job well done."
A deathly silence fell over the room.
Xu Youde dug at his ear, certain he had misheard. "Daughter? Have you gone mad with rage? This... you call this a job well done? Thousands of taels of silver! Spent on a bunch of... a bunch of..."
"A bunch of what?" Xu Qinghuan’s gaze swept over him, cool and sharp.
Xu Youde forced himself to swallow the words "money-losing goods" and changed his tune. "A bunch of girls who can do nothing but sing and dance!"
"What’s wrong with singing and dancing?" Xu Qinghuan popped the last segment of her orange into her mouth and brushed the pith from her hands. Her tone was the height of nonchalance as she leaned in to whisper in Xu Youde’s ear, "Father, have you forgotten? Our family isn't exactly short on cash. You could chip your teeth trying, and you still wouldn't be able to bite through all the gold at the bottom of that well."
"Still... you can't just squander it like this!" Xu Youde said, looking heartbroken.
"This isn't squandering; it's called having vision."
Xu Qinghuan walked to the center of the courtyard and surveyed the group of pale, frightened women. Her voice wasn't loud, but every word was crystal clear.
"Who decreed that in this world, only men are allowed to spend money to hear music and frequent brothels? Who decreed that these beautiful sisters must force smiles for nothing but bloated, foul-smelling men?"
The more Xu Qinghuan spoke, the more energized she became. she planted a foot firmly on a gold brick, looking more like a bandit chief than even Xu Wuyou.
"As County Princess Anguo, I have more money than I know what to do with! I was just worrying about how to spend it all before it burned a hole in my pocket! I want to hear music! I want to see dancing! I want to be entertained!"
"Keep the music playing! Keep the dancing going!"
Xu Wuyou and Xu Youde could only stare, their mouths hanging wide open.
