Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
If one didn’t know much about Feng Zhen, they would assume he was a well-mannered and refined character… but how was he in reality?
Even the audience in the livestream could see what he was up to.
Uncle loves Loli: This is the funniest joke I’ve heard all day. Feng Zhen is refusing to take the delicious meal being offered to him?
Young boy likes older women: That young lady is gorgeous. In another year or two, she’ll be a good competitor for little Miss Hui Jun. Is Feng Zhen saying he doesn’t like her? Hey host, is the sun rising from the west over there? Did Feng Zhen change personalities?
Zuizhan Baishe Geng: I’d believe the sun rose from the west before I believe that Feng Zhen changed his interests.
Guicai Guofengxiao: A loafer is a loafer. I don’t believe he’d turn back against his own principles. He must be baiting something here to catch a bigger fish.
Facing all the questioning and mockery in the livestream channel, Jiang Pengji gave a taunting smile to Feng Zhen.
“Weren’t you complaining that you didn’t have someone close to you before?” Jiang Pengji ripped off his façade mercilessly and said, “I’m offering to find you someone right now, so why are you acting so conservative and turning into a saint that won’t even touch a woman? I’ll let you know right now that once we leave this town, we won’t be going to another shop like this. I’m in a good mood today, so if you want the young woman up there, I’ll buy her for you. If you change your mind, don’t complain about it later.”
Feng Zhen frowned. He knew Jiang Pengji and understood that her heart was completely black. When had she ever been this generous before?
She was so stingy that she wouldn’t even give him the monthly holiday off. How could she possibly reward him with a beautiful courtesan now?
Feng Zhen’s brows pressed together as he realized this wasn’t a simple matter.
“Do you want her?”
Jiang Pengji leaned against the table with a smile on her face. Her chin rested on her arm, her other hand holding her wine cup. There was a hint of amusement coming out of the corners of her eyes.
Feng Zhen suppressed his suspicion and secretly bit ground his teeth. Finally, he accepted the offer with a smile on his face.
“I can’t possibly refuse when my lord is being this generous. However, I’m afraid the price of combing will not be cheap for such noble beauty.”
He was willing to see what plan his lord had under her belt!
Jiang Pengji lazily replied, “Zi Shi did an amazing job for me, so it’s natural for me to want to reward you. It is only one young courtesan! How much could she be? Even if you wanted all nine girls on the stage, as long as you felt like you could handle them, I would buy them all for you. One girl is practically nothing.”
Feng Zhen was stunned.
He was already giving the cold-shoulder to one young girl, now she was talking about nine of them!
Even though his private life seemed to be very open and free-roaming, he still had his own morals.
He shook his head sternly and said, “Please do not joke around, my lord. I still need to be mindful of my body. There is no way I could handle the labor.”
To avoid Jiang Pengji’s underhanded tricks, he started putting himself down and saying he couldn’t do it.
Jiang Pengji took her offer back when she saw that he was taking her up on the initial proposal. She pointed towards the beautiful young courtesan in the middle and said, “Looking at them all, this girl has the best face. What kind of man wouldn’t like a pretty face? Zi Shi is my right-hand man and naturally deserves a woman with the best of looks. Shall we choose her?”
Feng Zhen accepted the offer with a smile, contemplating hard inside his mind and feeling a little uneasy the entire time.
How could he not know what kind of person his own master was?
The more generous and kinder she acted, the more worried he became.
The unknown always sharpened a person’s senses. Feng Zhen couldn’t guess Jiang Pengji’s intentions. He could only resort to being extra cautious and staying on high alert.
He wasn’t a dumb child! Why would he believe anything Jiang Pengji said?
If she really cared about her subordinates and wanted to reward them, she could simply offer holidays for everyone. Why bother gifting a courtesan?
The only thing he was scared of was that this was an evil demon disguised as a beautiful courtesan!
“Of all nine courtesans, only the one in the middle has a beauty that outshines all the others.” Shao Guang was unaware of the situation and added his thoughts to the discussion, secretly awed by the good relationship between Jiang Pengji and Feng Zhen. He grew much more satisfied and said, “Master sure has good eyes to be able to pick out the best one at a glance.”
Jiang Pengji laughed and asked Shao Guang, “Does Chongming want to choose one too?”
Chongming refused with a bitter smile as he realized that the torch was being passed to him.
“I have a wife and concubine at home who has been with me for many years. I cannot bring in another one.”
Shao Guang knew that if he couldn’t bring in more people now, perhaps he wouldn’t be able to bring in more in the future either.
His new lord was a woman. How could she enjoy seeing her subordinates keep a harem of wives and concubines?
Feng Zhen’s situation was special. He had no wives or concubines at home, so it was normal that the lord would grant him a special someone.
As they spoke, the courtesans on stage began making their appearances.
Aside from the most beautiful one, the other eight girls weren’t too bad looking either. Each was unique and followed a different type, earning a lot of attention from the audience. Cute and jolly, sweet and shy, quiet and reserved, modest and generous, elegant and dignified… While their looks were still limited by their age and the fact that they had not yet fully developed, it wasn’t hard to see how dazzling they would be in a few years. To make a firm statement, even the courtesans of the imperial palace were on the same level to these girls.
One young courtesan with a braid in her hair was wearing an ink-black wedding dress. Whoever made the highest offer would be her groom for the night.
Aristocrats, government officials, and the assorted rich men battled each other while the madam of the brothel watched from the stage with a jovial grin on her face.
The courtesans were lined up based on price and appearance from lowest to highest. The most average looking girl was first, and the most beautiful was last in line.
It was clear that the spotlight young courtesan would be the most expensive jewel of the night. Her auction would surely cause a bloody brawl between the bidders.
Feng Zhen frowned as he watched the first few courtesans’ deals close. Something wasn’t right!
“Looking at the prices of the others, the last young girl will cost at least 200,000, my lord…”
While Jiang Pengji was generous towards her subordinates and offered them some good rewards, she didn’t like to waste money.
She was only generous to her subordinates because they deserved that kind of reward from their sacrifices. It was almost like an equivalent exchange.
But what about this girl before them?
Besides her face, what else about her was worth Jiang Pengji buying her for such a large sum of money?
If his lord was a man, he could understand. To throw away a huge amount of money for a gorgeous beauty was considered a refined act.
But his lord was a woman and throwing a fortune away only to reward her subordinate strategist with a courtesan sounded too ridiculous to be true.
“Wait… Just be patient.” Jiang Pengji chugged down a cup of liquor with a grin as she told Feng Zhen to not worry. “I promise I’ll let you be a groom for tonight. The young girl will not fall into another’s hands. Your master is quite reliable at times like these, so don’t fret…”
Feng Zhen was speechless. He’d prefer that his lord not be reliable right now.
After a few rounds of heated auctioning, the atmosphere of the combing ceremony reached its climax.
The madam on stage was in full makeup. She looked as joyful as if she was marrying off her own daughters.
To the madam of a brothel, arranging combing ceremonies for her young workers was almost considered a different kind of marriage for her daughters.
The strange thing was that, after the other eight courtesans had been auctioned off, the ninth girl didn’t move. A small wave of unrest began to erupt within the audience.
The madam explained, saying, “Little Huan’er here is a young woman I personally raised as my daughter. She was first raised in the boudoir and doesn’t normally make public appearances. She is now 28 years old and is ready for marriage. However, because of my background, I cannot offer her a proper partner, so I thought I would take this opportunity to bring her out while the others receive their combing. Today, I will grant her hand in marriage to whoever she chooses among the crowd and offer a bundle of dowry. I do not ask much, only for a kind man to provide for her and protect her for the rest of her life.”