The capital, Hall of Mental Cultivation.
The pile of memorials stacked on the imperial desk was half a foot higher than usual.
Outside, thunder rumbled faintly, casting the hall's interior in a dim, gloomy light.
Emperor Tiansheng casually picked up one memorial, read only the beginning, then snorted with derision and tossed it aside.
"Disgrace to the scholarly class... Virtue not matching position... Corrupting public morals..."
Leaning back on his soft couch, Emperor Tiansheng lightly tapped his fingers on the desk. The sound echoed clearly in the vast, empty hall.
"These censors from Jiangnan—where was their talk of 'disgrace' when they were embezzling, taking bribes, bullying men, and seizing women? Now they all pretend to be saints."
Eunuch Li shrank to the side, not daring to breathe too loudly.
He knew that when his master smiled like this, someone was about to be in serious trouble.
"Your Majesty," Eunuch Li ventured cautiously, "There are simply too many of these memorials. Even people at the Imperial College have begun discussing it, saying County Princess Xu's actions are... truly rather improper. Perhaps... issue an edict to reprimand her?"
"Reprimand?"
Emperor Tiansheng raised an eyebrow, reached into the pile, and pulled out a different memorial—a secret report sent by Shen Lian of the Imperial City Department.
It detailed Xu Qinghuan's process of buying the building, down to the detail of Shopkeeper Qian taking five thousand taels of silver and fleeing overnight.
"If she went to Jiangnan and behaved like all those well-bred young ladies, never stepping foot outside the inner chambers, only doing embroidery and playing the zither all day, then what use would I have for a blade like her?"
Emperor Tiansheng closed the secret report, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes.
The waters of Jiangnan had been stagnant for far too long.
The four great families had been entrenched there for a century, a solid, impenetrable block—no needle could pierce it, no water could seep through.
Officials sent by the court were either assimilated, rendered powerless, or died mysteriously of "illness."
Now, at last, a mad dog that didn't play by the rules had been let loose among them.
"If she wants to open a brothel, let her open it. If she wants to confront the great families, let her do it."
Emperor Tiansheng stood up and walked to the window, looking out at the overcast sky.
"These families care most about their prestige and face, don't they? I want to see if they can maintain that lofty demeanor when their face is torn off and trampled into the mud by the daughter of a mere merchant."
"Deliver my oral decree."
Emperor Tiansheng turned around, his voice cold and hard as iron.
"All these impeachment memorials are to be kept at the palace, without issuing a response."
"Tell the Imperial City Department's people in Jiangnan: as long as that Hundred Flowers Pavilion isn't raising a banner in rebellion, no matter how much she stirs things up, no one is to touch it. Anyone who dares to trip up the Xu family at this critical juncture is crossing me."
Eunuch Li's heart tightened. He quickly knelt and kowtowed. "Your servant obeys the decree!"
Was this lending support to Xu Qinghuan, or handing her a knife?
Once that knife was delivered, Jiangnan would likely run red with blood.
The capital's largest teahouse, the Rain Listening Pavilion.
In a private room on the second floor, the fragrance of tea swirled gently.
Heir Pei Ji of the An Guo Duke household sat by the window, holding a white porcelain teacup. His gaze fell on the bustling crowd outside the window, his expression somewhat distant.
Sitting across from him was Song Yubai, a Compiler from the Hanlin Academy, who was currently fanning himself with a look of utter dismay.
"Moral standards decline daily, human hearts are not as of old."
Song Yubai sighed and slapped a newly received letter from home onto the table.
"Brother Zi'an, have you heard? Everyone is saying—Miss Xu has gone completely mad! In Jiangning City, she not only spent a fortune to redeem those courtesans, but now she wants to become a madam and run a brothel herself! This... this is nothing but self-degradation!"
Pei Ji withdrew his gaze, glanced at the letter on the table, and his brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.
"Degradation?"
Pei Ji set down his teacup, his voice cool and clear.
"In your opinion, then, what constitutes nobility?"
Song Yubai was taken aback. "Why, maintaining one's purity and integrity, adhering to propriety and teachings. As a woman, and a County Princess enfeoffed by the court, she should be a model for all women under heaven. Such behavior now—does it not make her a laughingstock for the entire world?"
Pei Ji didn't reply. Instead, he reached into his sleeve, pulled out a copper coin, and set it spinning on the table.
The coin buzzed as it spun, finally toppling over with a crisp clink.
"You only see her opening a brothel, but you don't see why she is opening it."
Pei Ji's mind flashed back to that rainy night in Taoyuan County.
That woman standing at the entrance of the dilapidated temple, facing a group of desperate refugees intent on robbery. Instead of retreating, she had people bring out pot after pot of steaming hot braised pork.
The look in her eyes then held no condescension, only a kind of almost ruthless compassion.
"Those courtesans, their bodies like duckweed, their lives as cheap as grass. In those pleasure quarters, they can only rely on their looks to serve others. Once their beauty fades, it's a dead end."
Pei Ji's voice lowered slightly, carrying a convincing certainty.
"Xu Qinghuan is saving people."
Song Yubai's eyes widened as if he'd heard some fantastical tale. "Saving people? Opening a brothel to save people? Lord Pei, have you been fed some potion by that enchantress?"
"You don't understand."
Pei Ji shook his head, a flicker of understanding in his eyes that only he could comprehend.
"She uses the name of commerce to perform acts of chivalry. She pulls those women out of the fiery pit, gives them a place to settle and make a living, where they no longer have to sell their looks, but can rely on their skills to eat. How is this opening a brothel? This is clearly holding up an umbrella for those wretched souls in this muddy, turbid world."
The more Pei Ji spoke, the more he felt he had glimpsed the truth.
That woman who seemed greedy, shrewish, even somewhat mad, actually possessed a heart softer than anyone else's.
She was willing to tarnish her own reputation to fight against a world that devours people.
Such breadth of mind was beyond ordinary people.
Song Yubai's mouth hung open. He stared at his usually aloof and proud friend, unable to speak for a long moment.
Was this still the same Heir Pei, known for keeping women at a distance and being rational to the point of cold-bloodedness?
This was turning black into white, calling running a brothel an act of charity!
"Zi'an... you..."
After struggling for a long time, Song Yubai could only finally raise a thumb and force out the words: "Your perspective... is truly unique."
Pei Ji paid no heed to his friend's astonishment.
He looked out the window again, the corner of his mouth lifting in an extremely faint arc.
Xu Qinghuan.
Just how many more "surprises" do you have in store for this world?
Jiangning City, the Hundred Flowers Pavilion preparation site.
Xu Qinghuan stood on the second floor, watching the craftsmen working busily downstairs, and let out a loud sneeze.
"Achoo—"
She rubbed her nose and muttered, "Who's cursing me?"
Li Sheng, who was directing workers hanging lanterns nearby, sidled over with a fawning expression. "Miss, how could anyone be cursing you? They must be talking about your goodness! When Shopkeeper Qian left earlier, he was moved to tears, snot and all, saying you were the parent who gave him a second life."
Xu Qinghuan rolled her eyes.
Moved?
He was just dizzy from being hit with five thousand taels of silver.
"Enough, stop the flattery."
Xu Qinghuan pointed at the tightly shut doors of the Drunken Red Pavilion across the street, a calculating glint flashing in her eyes.
She pulled a long-prepared blueprint from her sleeve and slapped it onto the table.
"Take this to the carpenter. Tell him to build me a stage according to this design. It must be large, it must be tall. It must be visible to everyone, even to those standing on the rooftops of the next street over, so they can see what's happening on it."
Li Sheng looked down at the drawing in his hands. It depicted a bizarrely shaped stage, with annotations around it for things like "reflective panels" and "amplifying copper pipes."
The pipes looked rather like horns.
He didn't understand it, but that didn't stop him from sensing the air of grand spectacle this blueprint promised.
"You got it!"
Li Sheng tucked the drawing into his robe and took off at a run.
Xu Qinghuan leaned over the balcony railing.
Below, a carp leaped from the water, then dove back down.
The water grew murky.
