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Pei Mianman couldn’t help but sigh emotionally within her private room. “That woman actually had such a soft heart underneath that flirtatious exterior. No one wants to make someone like this an enemy
”
In the other private room, Xie Daoyun quietly wiped at the corners of her eyes. As she looked at that fair and graceful figure behind the pearl curtains, she couldn’t help but release a deep sigh. “If we are purely talking about guqin technique, I might still be slightly above her. However, in terms of imbuing emotions into the guqin, to move the soul through music, I am instead far inferior.”
Xie Xiu also said with a sigh of admiration, “I’ve heard many courtesans play the guqin before. In the past, I’ve always felt like they weren’t bad, but only now do I realize that compared to her, the others aren’t even worthy of carrying her shoes.”
He immediately changed the topic. “But sis, you don’t have to put yourself down too much on this matter. You’ve always lived an extravagant life, grew up in a warm and blessed environment, your emotional experiences even more so a blank sheet of paper, so it’s not shameful at all to be inferior to another on this aspect. She really has experienced far more in this place of romance. She still looks like a sweet and innocent young lady on the surface, but her heart has long become full of holes.”
His tone didn’t carry the slightest bit of disdain, instead filled with praise.
“Only this type of person could bring out so much emotion through a song.”
Xie Daoyun gave his brother a look, not expecting him to be so knowledgeable. Father was usually always cursing him for not doing what he should be doing, but it seems like his curses were unfounded.
When the song ended, everyone felt a bit disappointed and frustrated. They were totally unaware that their faces were already drenched in tears.
“Excellent!”
No one knew who was the first, but a group of people immediately rose up in applause and cheers. They were all trying to outdo the other, as if they were scared the goddess on the stage wouldn’t see them if they were too quiet.
Qiu Honglei also stood up by the guqin table. She walked over to the railing in a graceful manner.
Two pretty girls helped her pull the pearl curtains to the side ahead of time.
A beautiful face that could overturn the heavens appeared before everyone’s faces. She bowed slightly and said with a smile, “This humble girl Qiu Honglei greets everyone.”
Only now when she was standing by the edge of the railing did everyone notice that her arms were covered in a layer of snowy silk. Her snow white, jade-like arms were faintly visible.
“This woman really is good at using her physical assets.” Pei Mianman could see through her tricks with a single look.
It was a pity that the men below weren’t as sharp as her. When they saw this scene, their breathing immediately became rough, their mouths extremely dry. If only they could drag Qiu Honglei into their embrace, tear apart her snow silk dress and ravage her body

Unfortunately, these would forever remain fantasies. Under everyone’s eyes, who dared offend public anger and do this type of thing?
Zu An curled his lips. Mister Lu Xun[1] really was right after all. One’s ability to make associations really was too rich, thinking of the naked body just from seeing an arm. Who would have expected that this world was the same.
At this time, Chen Xuan stood up in a bold and confident manner. “I am Xuan Cheng. I greet the lady!”
He had always lived a blood soaked life, so he was much bolder than others, also lacking as many misgivings. He spoke while sizing up the other party in an unrestrained manner.
This face, this chest, this waist, that butt
 even if you added up all of the girls I seized together, they couldn’t even compare to a single one of your toes!
I must obtain this woman!
A certain voice continuously repeated within him.
Even when faced with his provocative expression, Qiu Honglei didn’t seem fazed at all. She had already long grown accustomed to this type of gaze.
A faint smile appeared on her face. She bowed slightly. “I greet Sir Xuan.”
Xuan Cheng laughed heartily. “I never thought the day would come when I would be called a sir! I am the type of person who hates this type of sissy address. If others called me like this, I guarantee you that his head would be gone. However, when Lady Qiu calls me like this, it instead feels extremely comfortable.”
The others all glared at him, feeling offended.
However, at this type of crucial time, none of them had the attention to spare him. They were all striving to be the first to strike up a conversation with Qiu Honglei and leave her with a good impression.
“This humble one is Du Chunfeng, my family runs a fur business. I greet Lady Qiu.”
“This humble one is Zhao Dezhu, my father is the city’s
”
Before he even finished, his voice was drowned out by another’s.
“This humble one is Yuan Junhui, I greet Lady GU.”
“Hello Lady Qiu, my name’s Wu Yun. My father is Wu Gang.”


Introductions rose and fell in succession. Many people didn’t even have a chance to finish their sentence before they were dragged to the back by someone else. Everyone was trying to leave the deepest impression possible in the shortest amount of time.
There were even some people who smashed some teacups to get Qiu Honglei’s attention.
Unfortunately, she had already served as a courtesan for so many years. She has already seen every trick in the book, so she wasn’t shaken at all.
Moreover, this place was too noisy. The sound of a teacup shattering was quickly covered by the endless introductions.
Even Wang Yuanlong, Chu Hongcai, these young masters couldn’t afford to keep up their appearances anymore, all of their faces red as they crammed their way through to introduce themselves.
Chu Yucheng even directly threw aside that bear girl he stuck to like glue before, shoving his way forward while mumbling his shouting his own introduction.
Zu An watched all of this with great disdain. Didn’t he just say he liked well developed and stronger women, that he didn’t care for those slim ones?
Even though Qiu Honglei’s chest could be considered well developed, she didn’t have any fat to speak of. If she had a bit more meat then she would seem a bit chubby, a bit less would look too skinny.
This type of figure should definitely be a stick in Chu Yucheng’s eyes.
Yet who would have thought that he would go completely mad right now.
In the end, aren’t we all only looking at the face?
Zu An really was looking down on them.
“Young master, why aren’t you heading over to introduce yourself?” Next to him, Leng Shuangyue blinked her eyes, asking with a bit of curiosity.
After they returned to their seats, these girls naturally had to tend to their customers.
“What kind of introduction is this? It’s basically putting on a monkey show!” Zu An snorted in contempt. “Look at that Qiu Honglei. She looks cheerful and engaging, nodding towards all of these people, she hasn’t spared an ounce of interest for any of them.”
“All of them say they came to a brothel to pick a girl to have fun with. Why does this scene now instead seem like the girl is picking them?” Zu An’s tone was full of disdain. It wasn’t that he had anything against Qiu Honglei, but rather that he couldn’t stand these men who seemed like they had never seen a girl before.
All of you are really losing face for us men!
Even if she is pretty, you guys don’t need to simp that much, right?
Even someone like me, even if I am living off a woman, I have to do it resolutely!
Can’t all of you learn a bit from my example?!
Leng Shuangyue didn’t know what he was thinking inside, only assuming that he was dissatisfied with Qiu Honglei. She looked towards the second floor and quietly explained, “You know, it’s not easy for Lady Qiu either. Even though she doesn’t care much about them, she will still remember everyone’s names. It is really hard for girls here to achieve this.”
Zu An stared blankly. He couldn’t help but sigh with amazement, “Turns out becoming the queen of courtesans isn’t something you can achieve with just looks
”
Leng Shuangyue nodded in an extremely moved manner. “Correct! Our trade never lacks pretty girls, but it’s not easy to become the queen of courtesans! Let alone someone like young miss Qiu.”
Zu An gave her a strange look. “Seems like you’re quite close with this Qiu Honglei.”
“We aren’t that close,” Leng Shuangyue hurried explained, “but all of us are in the same brothel after all. With all of us so close to each other, we’ll still hear some things.”
“Oh.” Zu An didn’t think too much about this either. “By the way, since all of you are from the same place, you should know quite a few things about her right? Can you tell me some?”
“I don’t actually know that much
 what does young master want to ask about?” When she saw that he was no longer bothering her about her physiology, Leng Shuangyue inwardly released a breath of relief.
However, she was also scared that he might remember again, so if she could, she would definitely choose to distract him by answering questions.
As for the questions she couldn’t answer, she would just claim to not know.
“What I ask are things you definitely know about.” Zu An said with a chuckle, “Has she ever had a boyfriend before?”
“Boyfriend?” Leng Shuangyue blinked her eyes, not immediately replying.
“You know, like partners.” Zu An explained.
“Of course not! Everyone knows that Lady Qiu is perfectly pure. How could she have a partner?” Leng Shuangyue was given a fright, immediately saying while waving her hands.
“Don’t be scared, it’s just the two of us here. There’s no need to be scared of harming her reputation.” Zu An still wasn’t convinced.
Leng Shuangyue hurriedly said, “She really hasn’t! I can guarantee this with my life! Lady Qiu has never had any partners, and she has always remained a virgin
”
“Is that so?” Zu An couldn’t help but look towards that second floor beautiful figure. This really was quite strange.
Second floor’s Pei Mianman was currently watching the scene below. When noticed the shameful display of those fawning men, she immediately felt contempt.
Men weren’t good for anything, only good for being toyed by women.
Suddenly, her heart shook. She turned around to find another figure.
When she saw that Zu An was leisurely sitting down, not embarrassing himself like the others, she couldn’t help but nod in satisfaction.
“You didn’t end up disgracing Chuyan, not like all of these uncultured rotten men.”
However, when her smile just went up, she noticed that Leng Shuangyue was currently peeling grapes, feeding them to him one by one.
Zu An ate them until his entire mouth was dripping with juices, yet he never forgot to tease the girl, messing with her until her pretty figure shook.
Pei Mianman’s smile immediately turned cold, saying with a snort, “Men aren’t good for anything after all!”
At this time, Qiu Honglei’s vermilion lips opened slightly. “Thank you everyone for all your love. However, Honglei has recently reached a bottleneck in my guqin skills, so I need everyone to give me some pointers. Please help me see if there are any areas that can be improved.”
When they heard her speak, this hall that was originally rowdy with noise instantly became quiet. No one wanted to make her unhappy.
When they heard what she said, their minds all trembled.
It’s happening!
Everyone previously excitedly guessed that Qiu Honglei would use the guqin song to test everyone, to choose the one she admired. Sure enough, it was now starting!
“Lady Qiu must be joking! The song you played just now was truly sonorous and resounding, the lingering notes unending. This type of guqin skill is already at the highest level! How could there still be any issues?” Almond them, someone named Zhao Dezu hurriedly said. His introductions had been cut short previously, so he was looking for a chance to redeem himself.
“Idiot!”
Everyone immediately gave him the same assessment. Qiu Honglei was clearly trying to test everyone. What is your stupid bootlicking going to accomplish?
As expected, Qiu Honglei revealed a faint smile. “Young master has praised me too much. Only, I wish to hear more about some concrete opinions to make up for my inadequacies.”
After saying this, she turned to the others, her eyes filled with encouragement and expectation.”
Meanwhile, her gaze quietly swept over the private rooms above, inwardly releasing a sneer.
1. Lu Xun (1881-1936), one of the most well-known modern Chinese writers