Qiliu Youran

In ancient times, brothels came in many kinds. Some were the sort where, so long as you scraped together a paltry sum of whoring money, they would take you in no matter what sort of wretch you were. Places like that were the lowest class of brothel, usually set up in alleys, converted from a few ordinary houses knocked together, with no signboard hung at the door. The women who ended up in such places were utterly miserable. They were forced to work more than sixteen hours a day, ate and slept poorly, and were especially prone to falling ill; for the men who went there were mostly poor too—laborers, street performers, even beggars. Many of them had trouble with basic personal hygiene, so carrying some infectious disease or other was perfectly ordinary... and so most of the women who entered those brothels did not last more than a year or two. One tier above those bottom-rung brothels were the houses we often see in films and TV dramas—a several-story tavern with its own gate and courtyard. The ground floor served wine and food, the upper floors held private rooms; there were more rooms, they were cleaner, and naturally there were more girls. That kind of brothel served those who had a little money to spare. Scholars made up most of its clientele, especially the failed examination candidates, each and every one of them fancying himself immensely gifted and simply never recognized. Out in the world they were men of letters who disdained one another, each looking down on the rest and hearing little that was kind; but at a brothel it was different—their ears were filled with nothing but glowing flattery, which pleased them greatly. Of course, such treatment had to be bought with silver... With money you were the honored master; once your silver ran dry you'd hear a different tune, and by then who the hell cared whether you had talent or not? The vile abuse out of the madam's mouth could make those sour, pedantic scholars question their very existence. Then there was another kind of brothel, called the Court Entertainment Bureau—the "official kilns," so to speak. It belonged to the Ministry of Rites, was in charge of musical performances for celebrations and for welcoming distinguished guests, and at the same time was an official brothel. The women there were mostly the female relatives of officials who had committed crimes and been punished—their wives, concubines, daughters, and maids—along with the wives and daughters of defeated enemies taken captive in war, or ordinary women seized by force amid the chaos of war, and the like. A woman forced into prostitution at the Court Entertainment Bureau was entered into the debased register, the stigma extending to her descendants through collective guilt, and she was treated as less than human. The court regarded the bureau as a business that turned nothing into a fortune, a money tree of sorts, using the women of corrupt officials' households to generate wealth and offset the losses those officials had caused. As for celebrated courtesans like Dong Xiaowan, Liu Rushi, and Chen Yuanyuan—household names skilled in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting—they had basically all been trained by the music officials of the Court Entertainment Bureau. The ordinary folk brothels actually had no great number of educated, talented women; most were girls sold off by poor families, or women abducted by traffickers and even seized outright. They had never even had a chance at an education, let alone anything more. In any case, these women who had fallen into the dust of the pleasure quarters were all bitter, and all helpless. They might be implicated along with their husbands by an arranged marriage over which they'd had no say at all, or through nothing but bad luck be sold like goods and reduced to slavery—and even the rules of society stood on the side of those who exploited and bullied them. Socrates once argued, "Even an unjust law is still a law that must be obeyed," and then he submitted to the judgment of the Athenian aristocrats and drank poison. I think this philosopher said a good many right things in his lifetime, but this one fixation of his before death was so stupid that even poison could not have cured it. He should have been sent to the Court Entertainment Bureau for a spell; I imagine that would have changed his views. Of course, you could also say that as a negative example he enlightened the world to the truth that an unjust law is no law at all. But back to the main story... Now, after that heavy little lecture on the flesh trade of feudal society, let us turn to the brothels of the martial world in this parallel universe, the Da Ming... Here there existed a rather ostentatious sort of private brothel. Its standing was higher than any of the three kinds described above—in modern terms, roughly a high-class club. Its backing ran too deep to fathom, its wealth was formidable, and it held sway over both the underworld and the law... Though a place of blossoms and moonlight, of wine and romance, it truly was not a place just anyone could enter. Qiliu Youran was exactly such a place. The masters and young lords of great households, renowned fighters of the jianghu, the greenwood way's heroes who had earned themselves a name, or bigwigs who could not reveal their names but were plainly rich and powerful—these could enter. But ordinary folk... suppose you sold off your family's entire ancestral estate, came here to make one last desperate gamble, and then simply starved to death for all anyone cared—sorry, we don't receive your kind. Nor did they do business with the sloppily dressed, those who carried a foul odor, or those whose poor, sickly complexions plainly marked them as ill; after all, the girls of this brothel were precious, and if one of them caught some disease from you, whom would the madam go to for compensation? In short, this was a place that received only "respectable people." And today, Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai had groomed themselves to look quite respectable. So no sooner had the two of them stepped onto the main street where Qiliu Youran stood than the madam, sitting by the railing on the brothel's second floor, fixed her eyes on them. The eye of this brothel's madam was sharp. One look at these two men's complexions—clean, neat, and glowing with health—and at their eyes, which even now that evening had come showed not the slightest hint of weariness, told her everything: these two surely lived very well, and were certainly not the sort who had to sell their muscle in hard labor by day. Looking lower, their clothing was nothing shabby either, and each held a paper fan with an air of propriety; that outfit alone was worth a poor family's income for a whole year. And then there was the way they walked—swaggering, strolling as unhurriedly as if in a quiet garden, without the least haste—another mark of the wealthy. With a single up-and-down glance, the madam was completely certain: these were plainly young gentlemen who had eaten fine food and seen the world. A high-class brothel like Qiliu Youran did business precisely with such men, and only such men could come and go regularly at a place with its price. And so, when Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai strolled up to the entrance of Qiliu Youran, before the two of them had even crossed the threshold, the madam came out to meet them like a starving tiger pouncing on its prey. "Aiyo—" With a shriek like a pig being slaughtered, the heavily made-up madam darted forward in a single bound and appeared right before the two men, Sun and Huang: "Young masters! What took you so long to come!" That shout was ringing loud, her tone so warm and intimate that even if her own ancestors had arrived, she could hardly have been more enthusiastic. Whether or not it was on some signal from the mama-san, at that bellow four women came swarming out into the ground-floor hall at once—each with a face like a peach blossom, a graceful and alluring figure, slender and swaying, with soft, delicate voices. Their garments were silk beneath a layer of light gauze, the flesh below their necks a dazzling white... No woman on the street would wear such clothes, through which one could glimpse shoulders, arms, even collarbones; but inside a brothel it was a different matter. "Come in, come in—why stand on ceremony? Please, this way~" As the madam spoke, the women had already, as though seizing hostages, flanked Brother Sun and Brother Huang on both sides and, pushing and tugging, dragged them through the front door. The two men felt their arms on either side wrapped in someone's embrace, pressed and rubbed against something soft and fleshy, and in a single moment of distraction they were hauled into the brothel's main hall. The ground-floor hall of Qiliu Youran was not for receiving guests; apart from a few folding screens and ornaments that plainly cost a fortune, it was basically just an open space connecting the various staircases. Most who came here did not care to share a room with other guests they did not know, and still less to be disturbed, so they went straight up to sit in the private rooms on the upper floor. Those private rooms were of course also graded, but not ranked by the tiers "Heaven," "Earth," "Mystery," and "Yellow" as most places did. As said before, everyone who came here was respectable; if you arranged them that way, everyone would choose the "Heaven" tier, no one would even enter a "Earth" one, let alone Mystery or Yellow... So each private room at Qiliu Youran bore its own name, every one of them a name of four characters—"High Mountains and Flowing Water," "A Single Leaf Heralds Autumn," "Flowers Like Brocade," "Morning Clouds and Evening Rain"... Today, Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai were dragged into one called "Too Happy to Think of Shu." All these four-character-named rooms were of the same tier; the furnishings within, and the standard of the food and wine served, were identical. Beyond them was another tier, into which generally only truly great figures or regular patrons were qualified to enter. There were only four such rooms, each with a one-character name: "Spring," "Summer," "Autumn," and "Winter," corresponding to the four most celebrated beauties of Qiliu Youran—Chun Yu ("Spring Rain"), Xia Yang ("Summer Sun"), Qiu Ye ("Autumn Leaf"), and Chu Xue ("First Snow"). These four were undoubtedly beauties of otherworldly loveliness, flawless in both charm and art; and among them, the foremost courtesan above all others, was Miss Chu Xue. Do not be fooled by the fact that Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai had only just arrived; in truth they already knew all of this by heart—because before coming, Dong Wan had told them everything. As the saying goes, a distant magistrate is no match for the man on the spot. Never mind that Dong Wan was only a minor constable head; here in the territory of Xuzhou, who did not have to show him a measure of respect? Besides, he was a respectable man too; a constable head's household was quite well off. Though his gray income could not match the county magistrate's, it was no trifle, and he might even be a little richer than Zheng Mukai and Ge Shi. If even those two, Zheng and Ge, could become regulars at Qiliu Youran, then naturally Dong Wan could as well. And given the cautious natures of Sun and Huang, they would not be satisfied until they had squeezed dry every scrap of information Dong Wan held about this brothel. Dong Wan had been grilled so hard by the two of them that his scalp went numb—he had come within a hair of confessing even the positions he had once used... In any case, the two of them had come fully prepared tonight, and their chief aim was to worm out of Chu Xue the hidden circumstances surrounding the duel between Zheng Mukai and Ge Shi. * * * Before long, Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai were seated in the room called "Too Happy to Think of Shu," and the food and wine were quickly brought in. The four women who had welcomed them at first, however, had all withdrawn; presumably those four were responsible only for greeting guests, and once they had seen the guests into a private room they had gone back down to the ground floor. "Young masters, forgive this old woman's poor eyes..." Once the guests were settled, the madam spoke with less exaggeration, at a normal volume. "You two look a little unfamiliar to me. Might this be... your first time coming to enjoy yourselves here?" "Heh heh heh..." Sun Yixie, for his part, was not the least bit shy. He opened at once with a lecherous laugh, his words sweet as honey: "Sister has a good eye. We are indeed here for the first time." "My, my~ Look at this young master, so smooth with words, heh heh..." Outwardly the madam said this, but inwardly she thought, "Who'd have guessed you were such an old hand, kid? Just from the way you talk, you've frequented this sort of place plenty." "Don't tease me, Sister—I'm clumsy with words. The one beside me, Brother Huang, is the real talent, learned enough to fill five carts and every word out of his mouth a finished composition." With that next line, Sun turned his face and stoked the fire, thrusting his brother into the light. "Is that so~! Well, how splendid. The girls here love talented scholars above all; tonight Young Master Huang is sure to enjoy himself to the fullest." The madam played along, flattering in her turn. Watching these two sing in harmony, Huang Donglai was left a little dumbstruck. Never minding that the madam was present, he at once shot back at Sun Yixie: "Brother Sun, the way you're so at ease here, like a fish in water—anyone can tell you've really lived this kind of life." "Huh? Ha... hahaha." Sun Yixie did not answer that; he only laughed it off vaguely, and under the table kicked Huang Donglai, telling him with body language to shut up. "Then... may I ask, young masters, do you have any particular preferences for the girls? So I might arrange things for you..." Meanwhile, the madam had gotten down to business. Perhaps infected by the shameless air Sun Yixie had stirred up, from this line on she truly did call herself "Sister." "Heh... that's easily said." Sun Yixie smiled. "Sister, however many girls you have here who aren't with guests right now, call them all over to me first and let me have a look..." He paused. "Oh, right—those four at the door earlier needn't come; I've already seen them." Hearing this, the madam felt a touch displeased. She thought, "What's this? Quite a big appetite you have, kid? Any one of my girls, if she went elsewhere, would have looks to rival a top courtesan—and you actually want them all summoned so you can pick and choose? What do you take my Qiliu Youran for? Some ramshackle third-rate brothel like the ones you used to frequent?" That was what she thought, but she was not about to turn hostile over it; after all, they had said it was their first time, so not knowing the rules was perfectly normal. "Ai, Young Master Sun, there's something you don't know..." After a few seconds, the madam deliberately put on a troubled expression and spoke in a roundabout way. "The girls here are all quite delicate and precious, and this mama's heart is too soft—I can't bear to discipline them, so now every one of them... puts on airs. Ask them to come out once, and they hem and haw, demanding this and that..." This was no longer a hint but an outright statement; anyone who still could not understand it, and had to ask, "What do you mean?," would only be spoiling the fun. The rule of Qiliu Youran was this: even if you only had a girl come over for you to look at, and after looking decided you did not want her company and chose another, you still had to spend money—you could not make her come for nothing. "Oh~ I understand, I understand." How could Sun Yixie fail to catch that? He casually fished a gold ingot from his person and set it before the madam. "Sister, you truly do have a tender heart—it can't be easy... haha. Here, take this as a little gift from me for our first meeting. Don't mind that it's not much; use it to buy the girls something good to eat, to build up their strength." Usually the amount of silver a guest produced at such a moment gave a rough measure of his wealth or generosity, and Brother Sun's move at once made the madam rank him in the highest tier. "Aiyo~ Young master, you're far too formal with me, heh heh heh..." At the sight of the gold the madam, of course, lit up with delight, chuckling away on the spot, and snatching up the ingot she headed for the door. "Wait a moment, the two of you; I'll go and call the girls over right now."