Unless their backer is the Shaoxing Prefect, who can surpass Han Xiao, the second-in-command of Shaoxing Prefecture?
Even if their backer is the Shaoxing Prefect, it doesn’t matter—would the Shaoxing Prefect tear faces with his colleague over a courtesan in a brothel who hasn’t even entertained guests yet?
Most likely, they wouldn’t even want the ransom money, and would just release Song Shiyin directly.
The skinny bouncer went upstairs, and in no time, someone shouted from the stairs: “Who dares make trouble on laoniang’s turf? Did you eat bear heart and leopard gallbladder?”
Wang Mama was short and fat, her voice was quite domineering, but her way of coming down the stairs was extremely laborious, looking like a bear, and the imposing aura instantly vanished.
Jiang Chun nearly burst into laughter, biting the inside of her cheeks hard to barely hold it in.
When Wang Mama finally reached the first floor, seeing the two troublemakers, she was momentarily stunned. The harsh words at the tip of her tongue were swallowed back.
Truly, this man and woman’s appearances and figures were a bit too outstanding—especially that man, his face could be called stunning, with a clear and cold temperament. If placed in the neighboring male brothel, he’d definitely be the top courtesan.
Jiang Chun saw the old procuress staring straight at Song Shi’an, immediately stepped forward to shield him behind her, and said with a bad tone: “Wang Mama, words can be spoken recklessly, but people can’t be stared at recklessly. If you keep staring at my husband, I’ll get angry.”
Before Wang Mama could react, the bouncer slumped on the floor stretched out his hand, pointed at Jiang Chun, and complained: “Wang Mama, this niangzi started beating people over a disagreement, my waist must have been broken by her throw! You have to get justice for me, at least make her pay the medicine fee!”
Jiang Chun sneered coldly: “Your waist’s broken? I’ll carry you to the medical hall for the doctor to take a look. If the doctor says it’s not broken, I’ll break it for you on the spot, then pay you for the medicine. How about that?”
The bouncer and Wang Mama were both stunned.
Such a ferocious niangzi!
In Shaoxing Prefecture, they’d never heard of such a tigress—it had to be someone from out of town.
Wang Mama thought for a moment, didn’t put on airs anymore, and directly asked: “Don’t know for what reason, why did langjun and niangzi come to Hongxiu Tianxiang?”
Didn’t seem like good folk—better to ask clearly and quickly send them away, so as not to delay the evening’s business.
Jiang Chun looked at Song Shi’an.
Song Shi’an said calmly: “We have a relative who was sold into your place. We came today to redeem her. May I trouble Mama to grant convenience.”
Wang Mama’s heart gave a thump—could it be they wanted to redeem one of the currently popular courtesans? Or perhaps even their top courtesan, Hong Xiu?
She didn’t say yes or no, just cautiously asked: “What’s the name? How old?”
Song Shi’an replied: “Called Song Shiyin, fourteen this year.”
Wang Mama let out an “ah,” suddenly realizing: “No wonder I thought langjun looked somewhat familiar—turns out you’re Ah Yin’s family.”
Both their eyes had a slight upward slant, those phoenix eyes weren’t common.
She couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief—it wasn’t one of the popular courtesans or the top courtesan Hong Xiu, that’s good. Otherwise, it’d be troublesome.
She said with a false smile: “Our Hongxiu Tianxiang has always been about buying people, never about selling. But seeing you two come from afar seeking family, so pitiful, it’s not like we can’t make an exception. However, I spent a large sum of money to buy Ah Yin, and hired three or four female teachers to teach her skills, provided good food and drink—spent a sea of silver on her. If you want to redeem her and take her away, you must repay all this silver. Otherwise, no matter what you say, I absolutely won’t release her.”
Jiang Chun let out a cold laugh: “Then I’ll trouble Mama to calculate—how much silver do we owe you? But I’ll say the ugly words first—if Mama opens your lion’s mouth and deliberately sets a sky-high price, we won’t let it slide. I, this person, fear neither heaven nor earth. If you really piss me off, in the dead of night, I’ll set a fire and burn this Hongxiu Tianxiang to the ground!”
Wang Mama: “……”
Heaven-damned, where did this sea-patrolling night-demon come from, actually even wanting to set fire and burn down their place—was there still any law left in the world?
The fierce fear the rash, the rash fear the ones who don’t care for their lives. Wang Mama really did fear this kind of don’t-care-for-their-lives rash youth, who might actually do such a foolish thing like setting fire to the building.
She originally wanted to ask for a price of one thousand taels, but the words at the tip of her tongue were directly cut down by half: “Five hundred taels, not a single coin less.”
Jiang Chun and Song Shi’an exchanged a glance.
Only five hundred taels?
Their psychological estimate was one thousand taels; if the other side truly wouldn’t budge, even fifteen hundred taels wasn’t impossible.
Never thought this Wang Mama would actually be so easy to talk to.
It seemed that Song Shi’an’s plan of letting her come in strong had worked—this person operated by the principle of more trouble is worse than less trouble, casually quoted a price where she wouldn’t lose out, and quickly sent them away.
Jiang Chun put on a pained expression, haggled: “Five hundred taels is too much; we’re poor folk, it’s not easy to scrape together some money. Mama, you could at least lower it a little.”
Wang Mama said with cold ruthlessness: “Minimum five hundred taels. If you don’t have enough silver, hurry back and gather it. I’ll give you three months’ time—if after three months you still haven’t gathered it, Ah Yin will have to hang up a sign and receive guests.”
Song Shi’an spoke indifferently: “Five hundred taels, we do have. Have Ah Yin come out first for us to see—confirm that she’s here, not missing an arm or a leg, then we’ll hand over the redemption silver.”
Wang Mama swept a glance around the main hall, then shouted at a middle-aged woman who was squatting on the stairs wiping down the stair railings: “Pan Niangzi, go call Ah Yin down to meet her people.”
That middle-aged woman followed the voice, looked over, nodded and bent at the waist, saying: “Yes, Wang Mama, I’ll go call her now.”
But Jiang Chun was completely dumbfounded.
If she hadn’t seen wrong, this person seemed to be Liu Pozi’s daughter, Pan Xing—also her maternal aunt.
Only, compared to the Pan Xing in the original host’s memories, she had aged a lot, and even had quite a few strands of white hair.
The most crucial thing was, it seemed half of her face had been branded by something, leaving a hideous scar, looking rather terrifying.
Didn’t Pan Xing elope with a man surnamed Zhou from Jixui County who came to Hongye Town to do labor? How could she appear in Shaoxing Prefecture, a thousand li away, working as a sweeper in a brothel?
Seeing Pan Xing was about to leave, Jiang Chun quickly stepped forward a few steps and shouted loudly: “Pan Xing? Is it Pan Xing Maternal Aunt?”
Pan Xing’s footsteps suddenly stopped, she turned back in disbelief, voice trembling as she asked: “Who are you? How do you know me?”
It seemed she hadn’t recognized the wrong person.
Jiang Chun didn’t know whether to breathe a sigh of relief or to sigh. She hurriedly said: “Maternal Aunt, I’m Chun Niang, the eldest granddaughter of your Maternal Aunt Li Shi. When I was little, you even held me and made me a tiger-head cap.”
Pan Xing was dazed for a moment, then in disbelief said: “It’s Chun Jie’er? It’s Chun Jie’er from Eldest Male Cousin Jiang family? How are you here?”
Jiang Chun sighed, said: “This matter is hard to explain in a short while. You come down first, tell me what’s going on with you.”
But Wang Mama grew impatient and spoke up: “Enough with the nonsense, I’ll say it. This Maternal Aunt of yours is blind as a bat—she eloped with someone and ran away, but met a bad man and got sold into our house to be a ‘jie’er’ [“big sister,” a euphemism for a courtesan]. Told her to receive guests, she would rather die than comply—threw herself headfirst into a charcoal brazier. If I hadn’t been quick to pull her out in time, she would have been burned to death long ago. How could she still be working here doing some light cleaning work?”
Jiang Chun curled her lips—cleaning work could be considered light? Did she think she’d never done household chores before?
But thinking that Wang Mama had indirectly saved Pan Xing’s life, she didn’t retort, and instead spoke in a good-tempered tone: “Wang Mama, please calculate my Maternal Aunt’s expenses, I’ll redeem her together as well.”
This maternal grandaunt Liu Pozi was truly pitiful—her son, working as a sailor, died in a shipwreck; her daughter eloped with someone and from then on had no news; the adopted son she raised grew up and ran back to his own original family.
She would redeem Pan Xing and at least have someone who could provide for Liu Pozi in her old age and send her off when she passed.
Wang Mama pondered for a moment, then said: “This Pan Niangzi, a woman who has lost her virginity, I did buy her cheap, but she was burned on the face by the charcoal brazier, and to seek doctors and medicine for her, I spent no less than forty taels of silver. Speaking of it, she’s also a pitiful one. I won’t ask you for much—give me one hundred taels of silver, take her away, and save me from seeing her ugly face every day and having nightmares at night.”
Pan Xing let out a cry: “One hundred taels of silver? Mama bought me for only twenty taels of silver, and adding the forty taels for treating my face, it’s only sixty taels altogether.”
Wang Mama glared at her, impatiently said: “You’ve stayed in my brothel for more than ten years—didn’t eat, didn’t drink, didn’t wear clothes? Did those not cost money?”
Pan Xing didn’t speak anymore.
After a moment, she weakly said: “Chun Niang, if you don’t have that much silver, then forget it. Anyway, I’ve stayed here for more than ten years already; Wang Mama hasn’t treated me harshly. It’s not like I can’t continue staying.”
Though she said so, her pair of eyes still looked at Jiang Chun with hope.
In her dreams, she wanted to go back to Hongye Town, back to her own mother’s side, but it was only a dream.
Someone doing rough work like sweeping and cleaning, only earning a monthly wage of one hundred wen—if she didn’t spend a single coin and saved it all, in a year it’d only be one tael and two qian of silver.
One hundred taels of silver—she’d have to save for almost a hundred years. She’d never save enough in her lifetime.
But Jiang Chun smiled and said: “Maternal Aunt, you don’t need to worry about silver money. Please go call Ah Yin over.”
Pan Xing was stunned for a moment, then, after realizing, her joy was such that her teeth were no longer visible—her half-disfigured face looked hideous and terrifying.
She threw down the broom, hurried upstairs, shouting: “Ah Yin, Ah Yin, Ah Yin, hurry and come out!”
Wang Mama was so angry she cursed loudly: “Pan Niangzi, shut up, don’t shout around, be careful not to wake the other jie’er!”
Pan Xing rushed into a room, and a moment later, dragged a young little niangzi downstairs in a hurry.
This young little niangzi was exactly Song Shiyin. She didn’t understand the situation, stood still and looked at Wang Mama, with a dazed face asked: “Mama, did you call me for something urgent?”
Wang Mama pointed in the direction where Song Shi’an and Jiang Chun were, and said: “They say they’re your relatives—see if you know them?”
Song Shiyin followed her hand and looked over, instantly stunned.
After a moment, she said in disbelief: “Big, Big Brother?”
Song Shi’an nodded: “Third Sister, it’s me.”
Song Shiyin’s pair of phoenix eyes that were quite similar to Song Shi’an’s immediately filled with tears, and she choked out: “Big Brother…”
She wanted to say something, but for a moment didn’t know how to open her mouth.
Song Shi’an glanced at her sideways, gestured with his eyes for her not to speak carelessly, then reached out to pull Jiang Chun over, and introduced: “This is your Big Sister-in-Law.”
“Big Sister-in-Law?” Song Shiyin was stunned.
Big Brother actually married another—then what about Sister Cheng?