South of Jiangning City, the Haozailai Teahouse.
This place was a melting pot where people from all walks of life gathered, making it the most well-informed spot in town. Smoke curled through the main hall, mixing with the bitterness of tea dust and the roasted scent of fried sunflower seeds.
A waiter had just placed a plate of flavorless sunflower seeds on a table when the storyteller behind the front desk slammed his shiny, well-handled wooden gavel heavily onto the table.
Smack!
This crisp sound managed to suppress half of the buzzing discussions below.
The storyteller was an old hand in the business, his eyes and brows hanging with shrewd worldliness. He wasn't in a hurry to speak. First, he slowly took a sip of strong tea to moisten his throat, then with a swish, he flicked open his folding fan to cover half his face. His triangular eyes rolled around before he pinched his throat and struck up the tune of a prologue poem.
Gold bricks pave the ground, glazed tiles on the roof, that is the immortal cave and the emperor's house. Where in this mortal realm is there a ladder to heaven? It is nothing but a fool's dream, a flower in the mirror!
These few lines were recited with a rhythmic cadence and full of flavor. The audience below heard the cue and pricked up their ears.
Picking up from last time!
The storyteller leaned forward, pointing his folding fan straight toward the south of the city. Let's talk about a noble person who recently arrived in our Jiangning City. This noble person, ah, was born with a silver spoon in their mouth, their feet not touching the dust, their eyes not looking at the common people. Feeling superior, they look down on our mortal parasol trees, insisting on building a castle in the air by a muddy pond, using those glazed tiles that shatter in the wind and melt in the sun!
He paused deliberately, his tone full of mockery and exaggerated amazement.
Dear guests, tell me, which god or Buddha is worshipped in this pavilion, and whose divine nectar are they selling?
Someone below jeered, It must be dragon liver and phoenix marrow, the Queen Mother's peach banquet!
Wrong, wrong!
The storyteller shook his head rapidly, his face wrinkling with a smile. She sells neither meat and wine nor worships gods and Buddhas. She wants to sell the northwest wind, which wouldn't even be worth a single tael of silver! And she wants people to fork out one hundred taels of shining white silver just to enter the door and drink a mouthful of this wind!
One hundred taels?!
Even though they had heard the rumors long ago, being vividly described by the storyteller now, the main hall still exploded in an uproar.
Seeing the time was ripe, the storyteller suddenly folded his fan and tapped it rhythmically against his palm, his speaking speed suddenly accelerating.
One hundred taels, everyone! In the west of the city, you could buy a two-courtyard house with a sweet water well. In the countryside, you could buy twenty acres of top-grade paddy fields, the foundation of a family heritage. Even here, eating pickled vegetables and drinking thin porridge, it would be enough to feed a family of five for eight to ten years!
But in the eyes of this noble person, this one hundred taels is just an entry fee, just a sound! This is exactly like Jiang Taigong fishing—those who are willing take the bait. It's just that Taigong fished for princes and generals, while this noble person is fishing for fools with too much money who will just stretch out their necks to be slaughtered!
Pfft!
A fat merchant drinking tea below spat it right out, slapping his thigh in wild laughter: A fool? I think she's a madwoman! This is a good story. Did that noble person get water from the Qinhuai River in her brain, treating our Jiangning elders like country bumpkins who have never seen the world?
Heh, that's what you don't know.
The storyteller pretended to be mysterious and lowered his voice, as if about to reveal some massive secret. That is called elegance! We feel the pinch because we are vulgar, incredibly vulgar! What they want is that elegant thrill of throwing silver into the water just to hear the splash!
Hahaha, we can't afford this kind of elegance!
A few copper coins clattered onto the stage, accompanied by the laughter filling the hall.
A reward for you! Keep talking! I really want to see how this noble person ends up out of luck!
The air inside and outside the teahouse was filled with merriment, as if the whole city was waiting to see a joke, watching how that unopened Hundred Flowers Pavilion would collapse into a pile of ruins in this one hundred taels of northwest wind.
Naturally, Tongbao Casino, the biggest money-squandering den in Jiangning City, would not miss out on this kind of excitement.
As soon as the two vermilion doors opened, a stifling smell of sweat, foot odor, and the copper rust of money hit the face. On the blackboard directly facing the door, the hottest new betting odds of the day were written in red cinnabar.
Hundred Flowers Pavilion closing down within three days pays one to one; lasting a month pays one to five; if it can last three months, one to ten!
The casino worker rolled his sleeves up to his elbows, standing on a stool and shouting at the top of his lungs: Place your bets! Place your bets! Those betting on the Xu family going bankrupt, step right this way. Those betting on them lasting... Yo, sir, are you trying to throw your money away to our casino?
Those gamblers who were usually stingy were acting today as if their money had blown in on the wind, scrambling to throw their broken silver into the bankruptcy pool. In their eyes, this wasn't gambling; it was clearly picking up free money.
I bet five taels! If that broken building can stay open past three days, I'll chop off my own hands and stomp on them!
This wind of mockery drifted along the waters of the Qinhuai River all the way to a private room on the second floor of the Drunken Red Brothel.
Zhao Tai was in a rather good mood today. He wore a Suzhou-embroidered front-buttoned long gown, holding the softest and most popular courtesan in his arms, and grasping a pair of ivory chopsticks in his hand.
In the center of the table was a newly served dish, crystal clear and emitting traces of cold air.
Young Master Zhao, please try this.
The madam of the Drunken Red Brothel had a flattering look on her face, covering her mouth with a handkerchief as she laughed charmingly. This is a fresh novelty the kitchen just came up with, called Deep-Fried Glaze.
Zhao Tai raised an eyebrow and picked up a piece.
It was actually just an ice cube coated in a thin layer of batter, quickly rolled through a hot oil pan. The outer skin was fried golden and crispy, but the inside was still a rock-hard block of ice.
Zhao Tai sneered, holding the thing up in front of his eyes and shaking it. The name is quite fitting. It looks glamorous, but when you eat it, you get nothing but freezing teeth and a bellyful of cold water. Isn't this exactly like the invitation from that Xu family girl across the street?
A few wealthy young dandies sitting nearby immediately understood and slapped the table in laughter.
Brilliant observation, Brother Zhao! That glaze is just a useless snack that looks pretty. One hundred taels? I bet even if she paid people one hundred taels, no one would go suffer that torment!
Zhao Tai threw the piece of deep-fried glaze onto the floor. Listening to the crisp sound of the ice shattering, his eyes turned ruthless. Just wait and see. The day that Hundred Flowers Pavilion opens will be the day Xu Qinghuan rolls out of Jiangning.
However, unlike the clamor outside waiting to watch a good show, the atmosphere in the backyard of the Hundred Flowers Pavilion at this moment was strangely baffling.
Inside the accounting room, the clattering sound of abacus beads colliding rang out incessantly.
Xu Youde sat in the grand armchair, his bottom shifting restlessly as if sitting on nails. He flicked the golden abacus in his hand—which he treated as dearly as his own life—so fast it seemed to spark. His small eyes were wide open, and he muttered continuously.
One to five... one to five...
He stopped his hands, his eyes glowing green, and turned to look at Xu Qinghuan, who was flipping through the renovation blueprints. "Daughter! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! The fools outside are all betting on us going bankrupt. The odds at Tongbao Casino are about to skyrocket!"
Xu Youde gulped, rubbing his fat hands together as he leaned in.
"How about we have Li Sheng go place a bet? Let's bet our entire fortune on us winning! We'd make five times the profit back and forth—it's faster than robbing people!"
As he spoke, he reached into his robe for his silver notes, looking as if he couldn't wait to rush to the casino and buy out the entire betting pool right that second.
Smack!
Xu Qinghuan didn't even lift her head, nor did she put down the scroll in her hands. With a backhand motion, she slapped Xu Youde right on the back of his head.
The blow wasn't heavy, but it made Xu Youde shrink his neck, his face full of grievance. "Daughter, what did you hit me for? Only a fool turns down easy money!"
"Dad, are you going out to make money? You're going out to throw your face away."
Xu Qinghuan spread the blueprints flat on the table. "What is our status? We are the house. Since when does the house personally step down to fight over pocket change with a bunch of degenerate gamblers?"
She turned to look out the window at the main building, which was tightly covered in black cloth, a sharp glint flashing in her eyes. "The higher the odds, the better. They are building momentum for us. When opening day comes, I want Tongbao Casino to spit out everything they've eaten, with interest. But we won't rely on gambling; we'll rely on this."
She pointed to the room next door. Its doors and windows were shut tight, yet muffled, low roars continuously echoed from within.
"Come on, let's go see how our cash cow is growing."
The two walked through the corridor. Before they even reached the door of the side hall that had been temporarily converted into a special training room, Xu Youde instinctively covered his nose.
"This smell... did we open a bathhouse?" Xu Youde muttered.
Li Sheng was guarding the door. Seeing Xu Qinghuan approach, he immediately straightened his back and pushed open the thick wooden doors.
Roar!
As the doors opened, a wave of sound rolled out like thunder.
Xu Youde only took one look inside, and his already small eyes widened to their absolute limit. His jaw practically dropped to his feet.
Inside the modestly sized room, there were no delicate beauties or melodious instruments. Instead, there were two rows of standing men.
A full twenty men stood there, uniformly shirtless and wearing only very short loincloths. The muscles on their bodies bulged, slathered in some unknown grease that gleamed with a bronze luster under the lamplight. Sweat rolled down their pecs and dripped onto the floor, forming puddles of water.
"One! Two! Down! Up!"
Standing at the very front was the former Xu Zijin.
By now, he had completely shed his previous scholarly demeanor. Although his frame still looked a bit thin compared to the burly men behind him, he was giving it his all.
Xu Zijin gritted his teeth, the veins on his neck bulging, as he led the men behind him in a strange squatting exercise. With every downward squat, the muscular men let out a low roar, shaking the roof so hard that dust cascaded down.
This scene looked nothing like a brothel rehearsal; it was more brutal than a death squad training in a military camp.
"This... this, this, this..."
Xu Youde pointed a trembling finger at the group of men frantically flexing their muscles, his speech stuttering. "Daughter, where on earth did you dig up these things with so much excess yang energy?"
Xu Youde considered himself a man of the world, but he had never seen a spectacle like this. In his mind, men were either wealthy merchants with protruding bellies or emaciated laborers. Even the armed escorts at the security bureaus weren't this massively built.
"Every single one of them is sturdier than the black ox we use for plowing back in our home village!"
Xu Youde wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, feeling as if the sheer masculine energy in the room was giving him a headache.
Xu Qinghuan crossed her arms and leaned against the doorframe. Watching Xu Zijin's teetering figure that stubbornly refused to collapse, she nodded in satisfaction.
"Dad, what did you think I had Li Sheng running to the docks and martial arts schools for every day recently?"
A smirk tugged at the corner of Xu Qinghuan's mouth. Her gaze swept over the muscular men doing burpees, her voice ringing with certainty.
"In this region of Jiangnan, these men are the strong medicine I've prepared for those secluded noblewomen and sheltered young ladies. As early as our first day stepping into Jiangning City, I had people scouting for candidates among the refugees outside the city and in the declining martial arts schools."
"These men have plenty of strength but lack a bowl of rice. I merely gave them full stomachs and taught them a few special display techniques, that's all."
"But..."
Xu Youde watched as the men, following Xu Zijin's commands, uniformly executed a highly tense back-flexing pose, their bulging lats radiating power. "Will anyone actually watch this? Won't those ladies and misses be scared to death?"
"Scared to death?"
Xu Qinghuan chuckled lightly and turned to walk out. "This kind of wildness is exactly what's most attractive."
"Xu Zijin, add another set!"
Her voice pierced through the heavy panting filling the room. "If you don't want to eat plain porridge tonight, then hold your breath and push through!"
Inside the room, upon hearing this, Xu Zijin's body trembled. He let out a desperate roar and, leading the pack of beasts, started moving once again.
