Chapter 9: Nianjing Pavilion (3)

When the group of three entered the Hall, the servants close to the door went to kneel or bow. As soon as the others in the room noticed, they also did the same. The courtesans who were happily chatting among themselves stopped abruptly, hurriedly got up and bowed. Sung Ming, who was at the forefront of the group raised his right hand.

"It's fine. Get up. There's no need for such courtesy among us."

"But as the Manager of Lavender Pavilion, we must pay our respects." A courtesan replied without looking up, seemingly the head of the group.

"It's fine. Get up, get up. Master has already ordained that the workers at the Pavilion are to be treated as friends. If Master finds out about this, I might lose my little head!" Sung Ming's raised hand started sweating. After all, the Master was right behind him! 'I really never told them to do this ah! They just always pay their respects regardless of how many times I reprimand them. I really value this little life of mine, ah! Don't make Master angry with me will you?'

He cautiously glanced behind to his right at the red-robed girl who was smiling as if without a care in the world and sighed internally as he turned back around. 'I really can't tell if Master is angry. Even after so many years or working under her, she's still so hard to read.'

At Manager Sung's behest, the women in the room slowly rose. Flashes of quickly concealed surprise could be seen among the majority of them as they more closely observed the people by the Manager's side. 'What was that girl doing beside the Manager and Sir Mu. Who was she?'

Ignoring the repeated glances at his Master and the quick questioning looks, Manager Sung retracted his raised hand and cleared his throat. "Ahem. We have a new sister joining us today. Some of you may know her as the Ministry of Justice, Minister Shen's daughter, Shen Tianyu."

As she was introduced, Shen Tianyu stepped forward with a wide smile and waved her hands at everyone and gave a somewhat modern day work greeting from Japan, "Hello, sisters. I am Shen Tianyu, I have yet to be given a courtesan name, but I look forward to working with everyone from now on." and bowed.

The leader of the courtesans, who was wearing a floor-length greenish-turquoise robe with varying shades of pink flowers, came forward and welcomed her. "Sister Shen, no need for such formalities. Despite our earlier greeting, the Master of Lavender Palace has ordered that everyone be treated as close to equal as possible considering our positions. We don't even necessarily need to pay respects to the Managers! Though, of course, we do need to respect our superiors."

As she put her hands on Shen Tianyu's shoulder and helped her straighten up, the young girl asked her a question, "Elder, sister, you are?"

The woman put her delicate snow white hand over her mouth and gasped. "Oh! Silly me, where are my manners? My birth name is Ruo Mingyue, my courtesan name is Yue Luo. You can call me by my courtesan name."

"Yue Luo, such a pretty name! Then, I'll call you Elder Sister Yue!"

Sung Ming interrupted them and continued his earlier talk. "Miss Shen here has suggested inviting everyone to eat at Nianjing Pavilion for dinner tonight as a welcome party. She wanted to ask everyone whether it'd be better to go out to eat or have the food delivered here. What does everyone think?"

Shen Tianyu and Yue Luo looked at everyone gathered there for their answer.

"I'd like to go outside during the day for once." A courtesan replied.

"The sun's almost starting to set. It's not daytime anymore." Another retorted her.

"It's not truly night until the sky is dark and lanterns are lit!" A cheerful maid intercepted.

"I also want to go beyond the flower district more often." Yet another maid responded.

"What are you saying? You're able to go out more often than us." A courtesan standing next to her, apparently her charge, pinched her cheeks.

"It looks like almost everyone wishes to eat out tonight." A mature-looking courtesan wearing a golden yellow robe with yellow flowers and birds said, with her left sleeve over her mouth and smiling eyes peeking above the sleeve.

Shen Tianyu happily ran over to the woman. "Elder sister, what's your name?"

The woman's eyes squinted in a smile and responded "My courtesan name is Luo Hua."

Shen Tianyu made an amazed face. "Whoa... The #1 beauty in the capital!"

"That's the the most famous title they call me by outside. But you can just call me by my courtesan name."

"Sexy Sister Hua!"

Luo Hua gave a mirthful giggle. "Why am I called sexy and Yue Luo is called elder?"

"Because Sexy Sister is sexy!" Shen Tianyu responded childishly.

CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Wen_Yue

I need to work on my update schedule. Please stick around. Also, I changed "prostitute" to "courtesan" because it was getting redundant. I'll be using the 2 terms interchangeably from now. Please rate the novel.

comment 9 comment

Vote

SEND GIFT

next chapter

Load failed, please RETRY