章 28: Keeping Him Company (1)
As she walked down to the Lobby Hall again, most of the gazes shot to her. She looked around for an empty spot at some of the designated spaces to sit at as she waited for someone to call her over to them. However, before, she could walk towards one, a cacophony of voices assaulted her.
"Hey, beauty! You just debuted yesterday right? Come her, I'll buy you a drink!"
"Beauty, you were bullied by Young Master Wen yesterday, hoed about I make you feel better today?"
"Beauty, how about you keep me company?"
"Come here, girl, I'll gift you whatever you want!"
Many customers called out to her, some had just arrived while others already had a few women in their arms. Seeing as she basically had her pick, Shen Tianyu looked around with an expressionless face and found a masked man wearing a soft blue robe with silver rivers embroidered on it tied by a cloth belt showing a silver mountain. Over his robe was a light blue overcoat decorated by some silver crest. His mask covered half his face, showing only his eyes and a square-like hole for his mouth and chin. There was a simple silver painting of leaves on the side. He was seated alone in one of the seats. She slowly walked over to him, a smile blossoming on her elegant face. When she had reached his seat, she opened her seductive red lips.
"Did young master call for me?" She asked as she looked closer at him.
He looked at her, amusement flashing in his eyes. "I didn't but you are welcome to stay." He replied.
'Of course I knew that. Even if I was only in Yaodu for a few years, I still trained my ears all those years with experts.' She thought as she unflinchingly sat down next to him with an air of elegance befitting a woman of a high position.
Surprise flashed across the eyes behind his mask. 'Has she not been neglected and abused her whole life? How can she have such an aura reminiscent of a noblewoman after only staying in Lavender Palace for two days?'
Even though Shen Tianyu has her pick, she had picked this guy. The reason was nothing more than that he looked interesting and stood out. After all, one does not see a person coming to enjoy himself at a brothel wearing a mask, at least, not often. 'Besides, it's my second day of work, I don't want to seem like I'm already fighting for patrons. Sing Ming had never mentioned such a customer to me so he must be new. In addition, most of the men that called out to me most probably wanted to bed me. Even if I'm working at a brothel now, I'll stay a virgin just like my last life!'
Patrons were different from customers in the sense that they focused their spending on one courtesan or prostitute instead of taking whoever was available or constantly switching. In other words, a patron was more or less like the modern day version of a sugar daddy (1).
"Young Master, would you like to order some wine? Or some food?" Shen Tianyu asked him with a smile. Lavender Palace, let's it's customers order whatever food or drink they want as long as they had it. Naturally, the price is much higher than if one bought them outside, but the customers are paying a bit more for the drinks in addition to the company of the courtesans. Lavender Palace is a business after all, it has to make a profit. Of course, Shen Tianyu had mostly worked out the appropriate pricing for everything when she had first started the business so there weren't many complaints about it.
Besides, a lot of their wines were Shen Tianyu's "originals", which she had brought over from her original world, so they weren't available outside the Palace. Some of the sweets were the same. Because they people of this world were so concerned with spiritual power, Shen Tianyu has researched, in her free time, how to make the wines into spiritual wine. Luckily, Shen Tianyu found a spiritual spring near Yaodu's headquarters. All of Lavender Palace's "Specialty Spiritual Wines" were buried at it's banks before they were colleccted to be sold at the Palaces.
"What would you recommend?" He asked her in return with a slight smile.
"Mm... our 'Emperor's Smile' (2) is very good but it's quite expensive. If you want something cheaper, then, I'd recommend our 'Baijiu Blend'." Shen Tianyu replied with a hand stroking her chin. "By the way, I heard our most popular wine is our 'Silver Heights Baijiu'," she added.
'This girl...' the man thought. 'Did she deliberately say "cheaper" to make me look like a money hog?' Though the man's robe was somewhat simple, anyone could tell at a glance that it was of high quality. Naturally, it follows that one who could afford to wear such high quality clothes to play at a brothel would be very rich. If they ordered a "cheap" wine, they'd be the topic of scorn for years to come! How would He dear to show his face outside?!
'It seems like this girl isn't so simple. She's completely different from the rumors, yet, if this was really her true self, how come there were no whispering of this side of her? Was Jie Cheng's investigation not thorough enough or has she been hiding it all along? If it's the latter...' the man felt cold sweat drip down his back. 'Women are scary, ah...'
"Haha... since Miss mentioned it first, I presume Miss wants some Emperor's Smile?"
Shen Tianyu put her sleeved hand over her mouth and giggled playfully. "Heehee, young master saw through me."
"Well now. How could Inrefuse such a beautiful maiden such a sad yourself. Someone come! Get me a jar of Emperor's Smile!" The man ordered with a playful smile on his face. A short while later, a servant came over with a jar of wine and two wine glasses and placed them on the table in front of the couple. She then went back to her position on the side of the Hall where it was linked with chairs for them to sit on. After all, these servants had to be ready to serve the whole night and not everyone was a martial artist. They couldn't possibly stand the whole night, not to mention it wasn't healthy.
"Beauty, since we are here, how about you tell me your name?" The man asked as he put his arm around her waist.
Shen Tianyu pretended to pout. "I just debuted yesterday, am I so unremarkable you'd forget my name after one day?"
The man's heart skipped a beat and his cheeks took on a faint blush, though it was not seen because of the mask. Ignoring the beating of his heart, he laughed. "Haha. Beauty, that was introducing you to everyone. Since we are so intimate, with just us two here, how about you reintroduce yourself to me?"
"Then, if I reintroduce myself, young master has to introduce himself too or else Ali will take offense!" Shen Tianyu peeked at him from below, her pouting cheeks still evident.
Unnoticeable to the man, his eyes shine when he saw that. He patted her waist and nodded. "Of course. That would only be fair."
"Then, I will begin. Young Master, my courtesan name is Tian Feng. You are not allowed to ask for my real name, though I'm sure it's easy to find out if you just asked around."
クリエイターの想い 
Wen_Yue
Wen_Yue 1: a rich older man who lavishes gifts on a young woman for her company or sexual favors.
Female counterpart- sugar mommies.
Pray I don’t get some warning for this.
2: Aaaayyy! Obvious references. Hopefully, I won’t get copyright striked. Does anyone know where it’s from? Anyone? No one? Oh, just me? Oh, ok. *goes to crouch and draw circles with my fingers in some gloomy corner*
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