After Mu Shenchou walked out, Shen Tianyu walked around the table and sat down on the bench sofa next to Sung Ming. She put her hands on the back of it and indicated to the seats aross from her with her chin.
"This is my seat now. You sit over there." Sung Ming looked at her with a wronged expression as he got up and sat in her previous seat.
"By the way, I didn't stop your excitement before but, how do you plan on explaining to the others?" Sung Ming asked in a serious tone as he lazed on the chair.
Lavender Palace was founded by Shen Tianyu, and behind them was the organization she inherited from her Master, Yaodu, the Demonic Underworld. The reason it became so popular was because of the unique things she integrated into the brothel. Because she was unsure of the way brothels worked in this world, she implemented some basic rules of respect for all the workers, including the prostitutes. The world has the basic setup for brothels and prostitutes as the brothels during the ancient world she came from, largely due to cultivation. However, partly because of that, women aren't as valued for their intelligent and other talents as the prostitutes back in ancient China. In order to counter that, she set up a system of education, not only for the prostitutes, but also for all the workers at the brothel. The problem was, even with cultivation supporting gender equality, women are still just expected to be "white lotuses".
Therefore, to not go out of business because of the intelligent and some assertive women, she also introduced some services from the modern world. For example, patrons can request one of the prostitutes to do a strip show or pole-dancing. If she agrees, she will perform and he will have to pay for it. Due to resources and the inconvenience, there is only one stage, with a pole in the middle, for such performances in the center of the reception hall. So, almost all of those performances are public. Sometimes, one of the girls can ask for permission to perform on a certain night to earn extra money as tips, or just for enjoyment.
The Lavender Palace works in a way similar to a host or hostess club, from modern Japan. Unless a guest or prostitute requests to go to the prostitute's room or palace, everyone is in the reception hall, where the tables, chairs, and chaises are arranged around the pole-dancing stage. Also, due to the underground popularity of gambling in the capital, patrons can play small gambling games with their hostess or hostesses and other patrons. Nevertheless, if one gambles too much money, they will be suggested to stop by the prostitutes, less they aren't able to pay for their company at the end of the night. Yet, some young noblemen always go too far and end up nearly loosing everything. In that case, the guards will throw him out and a bill will be sent to their residence the next day. If they can't pay by a certain time, they will be reported and retaliated against, if need be. Though, brothels are publicly frowned upon, it is still a business, not to mention all the connection that the various prostitutes have acquired throughout their time at Lavender Palace.
The Master rarely has to show up. In fact, the Master has never been seen at all. All business of all the branches of Lavender Palace are usually handled by the Managers assigned by the Master. Unless they are found to have broken the rules or been a participant of unfavorable conduct, and the Master needs to get rid of them. The only reason the people know, or think they know, the Lavender Palaces are founded by one person is because they all have the same name and rules. In addition, the Managers have only called the person "Master", not "Masters".
Therefore, it would be hard to believe that such a young girl can be in charge of all of that. In addition, this daughter of Minister Shen's is known to be a beauty without talent. If it's hard to believe for such a young girl to be in charge of such a big and successful business then it's simply and completely unimaginable for a talentless girl like her to even be in the management body of it!
"Just say... I'm a special new member...," She replied nonchalantly.
"A special new member? That is certainly... ambiguous," Sung Ming furrowed his brows as he replied.
"Just let them keep guessing. It'll make me mysterious without revealing much. Plus, it'll be easier for me in the future...," Shen Tianyu narrowed her eyes as she smiled.
Hey guys! Here's a (slightly longer) chapter celebrating the end of the contest. Congrats to Dark_Flower, BowMeaw, xephyre, Plums, and Vanael_Aerin for the Top 5 in the Goddess of Revenge prompt! Congrats to SnoozySloth, LawCol, Novel_X_Hunter, Mr_Dokar, and Furusawa for Top 5 in the Steampunk prompt! If you haven't seen their work yet, go check it out! (You probably already have though.) I'll be updating less frequently because college classes are starting to speed up.