Volume Two: The Adult and the Petty One Chapter Thirty: Am I Still No Match for You?

As Lu Renjia stepped out of the House of Gentleness, he felt as light as a feather, as if he were dreaming.

He had never imagined that this bold venture would truly allow him to meet the Miss of Silken Robe whom he had longed for day and night. She even smiled at him with rare tenderness and thanked him with a gentle bow.

She had even invited him to sit for a while in her private chamber and served him a cup of fragrant tea...

Such an opportunity to grow close to so lovely a lady as she would once have cost even a hundred taels of silver and still been impossible to obtain. Yet now it had been accomplished with only ten taels?

Those ten taels spent on a gift were far too worthwhile!

Coming back to himself, Lu Renjia quickly felt for his purse again, and then once more rushed toward the shop outside South Fragrance Lane.

Only this time, the shop was already crowded with many patrons like him, some buying embroidered handkerchiefs, some flowers, some sachets... The shopkeeper and the assistants were so busy they could scarcely keep up, yet they were overjoyed all the while...

It was obvious that someone had already done as Lu Renjia had done: after offering a gift to a beauty, he too had received her private thanks, and once the matter spread, it naturally caused everyone to rush to buy gifts, all for the sake of catching a glimpse of the beauty’s true face.

Of course, all of this was only the beginning. The customers sending gifts now were still merely making a small stir, like Lu Renjia himself, and the gifts they offered were only worth a few coins. The real profit was still to come.

Even so, when the news gradually reached the proprietors of the Twelve-Storied House, they could not help rejoicing, and at last let out long breaths of relief.

During this period, though they had whipped the courtesan contest into a fever pitch and seemed to have reaped great gains, in truth they had not profited much at all, apart from making the officially run brothels increasingly difficult to manage.

What they had spent, on the other hand, came in one wave after another. More than a hundred thousand taels of silver had already been poured out, yet they had seen little in the way of returns.

Now, as the courtesan rankings truly took hold, the effect had at last appeared, and they could finally sleep soundly that night.

...

When some are at ease, others are in anguish.

In the Office of Music and Courtesans where Gu Yunxiao sat, all was already a scene of lamentation.

Under the Twelve-Storied House’s sustained and overwhelming campaign of publicity over the past months, the officially run brothels under their control had completely lost their influence.

Though they had tried to launch a similar campaign themselves, the results had been meager.

The methods they had relied on in the past, when compared with the Twelve-Storied House’s all-encompassing, multi-layered publicity, were simply not worth mentioning. They could not draw in more than a handful of customers.

By now, Gu Yunxiao had to admit one fact: he had judged everything utterly wrong. What he had taken for luck was, in truth, the other side’s strength.

Just as he was once again agonizing over whether he should ask Zhang Bi to carry words to Huang Ming and soften his stance, one of his subordinates brought him another piece of news that left him greatly shaken.

“You mean South Fragrance Lane is already in complete uproar now? All because they put up such a courtesan ranking?”

“Y-yes. My lord, they did not merely put up a list and leave it at that. They also assigned people to publicly update the courtesans’ scores, and they announced in front of everyone who had given gifts to which young lady.

“Just around that ranking board alone, even after more than two full hours, there were still several hundred people gathered there, all for the sake of watching the changes in the score of the courtesans on the list.”

Gu Yunxiao drew in a sharp breath. This maneuver was even more direct and stimulating than their previous publicity tactics. He only had to imagine himself in the situation to know how many people would be willing to spend a fortune just to raise the score of the girl they had set their hearts on.

“So that is it... so that is where they hid their method of making money...”

He was truly somewhat regretful. If only he had known Huang Ming possessed such a move, back then he should have agreed to the second request that had seemed like nothing more than a scheme to swindle money. Then his own girls could now be making a killing from this ranking board as well.

After a long while, Gu Yunxiao finally recovered himself, only to see that his subordinate still seemed reluctant to speak.

“If you have something else to say, then say it.”

“And also, I heard that in these next two days, the Twelve-Storied House’s courtesan ranking will be placed at several important intersections such as Gate of Proclaiming Culture, Gate of Displaying Martial Valor, and Gate of Pure Sun. I heard the scale will be about the same as the one in South Fragrance Lane, and they will also assign people to make updates to the courtesans’ scores and rankings...”

This time, Gu Yunxiao could no longer even draw in a cold breath. He sat there, stunned for a long while, before saying in a distant voice, “What a vast undertaking. Their courtesan ranking is likely to shake the whole capital for months to come.

“No, not just the capital. With this method and this influence, I am afraid even people outside the capital will hear of it and come running to join the excitement.”

Even at the thought alone, he could only feel as though endless streams of wealth were flying straight into the hands of the Twelve-Storied House.

“How can they dare do such a thing? My lord, why don’t we send word to the Prefectural Office and the Five-City Military Patrol so they can step in and properly suppress this...”

Faced with this suggestion, Gu Yunxiao could only give a bitter smile. “Useless. Did we not already try that before? They had already seen to all the yamen in advance.”

“But this time they have made such a huge disturbance. They may well draw interference from the Censorate and other offices. If we add fuel to the fire, would those public-order offices dare put private interest above public duty?”

“Have you forgotten one thing? The Twelve-Storied House has powerful backers behind it.

“For ordinary little matters, of course those people will not intervene. But given the present situation, so long as one is not a fool, one can tell that the Twelve-Storied House is about to make a great deal of money. Which nobleman would dislike money too hot to hold?

“If it were one or two, we might still manage. But now there are more than ten of them. If things truly get out of hand, I am afraid even the department chief may not be able to handle it. If something goes wrong then, will you take the blame, or shall I?”

Once he had made things clear, the subordinate instantly fell silent.

Indeed. In the capital, especially in a business as lucrative as a brothel, only the high-born nobles of uncommon rank could snatch a share of the profits from the government’s mouth.

“My lord, are we truly to do nothing at all, and just watch them seize all the money that ought to belong to us, only for us to be punished by our superiors afterward?”

Gu Yunxiao swept his gaze over the subordinates before him and knew he could not continue like this. If the hearts of his men scattered completely, his own prospects would be in grave danger.

After a moment of contemplation, a resolute look finally appeared on his face.

“Of course I will not do nothing. The Twelve-Storied House has backers, and all levels have already been placated. We truly have no means of dealing with them.

“But that does not mean I have no means of dealing with anyone at all. That Huang Ming is the very source of this calamity. His status is lowly; he is nothing but the adopted son of a palace eunuch, and merely studies at the Imperial Academy!

“Since he has done such a thing, then for the sake of setting things straight and restoring order, I naturally have reason to ask the Ministry of Rites to punish him properly. The first step is to strip him of his title as an Imperial Academy student!”

He spat the last line out savagely. This thought had actually been forming for a very long time already, and now at last he had made his decision: if I cannot deal with the Twelve-Storied House, can I not deal with you?