Walking the Path of a Workaholic in Cliché Novels (QT) Chapter 92

The Shen family establishment was called “Good Luck Inn”. When An Yinong arrived, he directly booked a fancy room. Because they were at the Shen family’s inn, and An Yinong was a juren, Zhao Wu was in no mood to cause trouble, so the following days were relatively peaceful.

He continued to stay in Zhanghua County, strolling around during the day, managing his local network at night, and writing storybooks when he had some time. When writing a story, one could not make it up completely out of thin air. It would be more touching if it had some sense of reality. He wanted to go to the Zhao family’s “Xiaoyao Pavilion” for a walk.

‘Xiaoyao Pavilion’ was the most high-end ‘entertainment/playground’ in the local area: integrating food, drink, entertainment and other projects. One needed to show sufficient financial resources to enter. An Yinong disguised himself as a bearded, black-faced merchant and went there.

According to the dynasty’s regulations, government officials were not allowed to visit prostitutes or gamble, so he could not go against the rules and commit such crimes. Coincidentally, Xiaoyao Pavilion was on the street where Good Luck Inn was located. It was originally a prince’s villa in the northwest. Now it had been renovated and became Xiaoyao Pavilion.

“It’s still a little lacking in mystery. What if the guests had to be introduced at a special cemetery, and then lie in a prepared coffin and be sent all the way to a hollowed-out mountain? Wouldn’t that be more interesting?”

Gu Zhengzhong was looking at the magnificent Xiaoyao Pavilion and reminiscing about the past. When he heard An Yinong’s words, he laughed and said, “I’m afraid no one dared to go there.”

“Have you been here, sir?” An Yinong asked again.

“I had when I was a kid. It’s been so many years, I can’t remember it clearly.”

As they were talking, they had already arrived at the pavilion entrance. The place was filled with luxury cars and all of them were either rich or noble. An Yinong, who was walking alone, looked extremely down and out. Touching his beard, An Yinong swaggered towards Xiaoyao Pavilion, and was stopped by the guard at the door as expected.

“If you want to come in, you have to pay ten taels of silver as a gate fee.” The guard raised his chin and glanced at him.

Ten taels? When he was fleeing from famine, few people could afford two taels of silver as the entrance fee to the city. An ordinary family could not earn more than ten taels a year, and the cost of getting married was only ten taels. In the northwest, it was even less. One can see what kind of figure this was.

“Why don’t they need it?” He pointed at the guests who got off the carriage and went straight in.

“They are regulars with respectable identities. What about you?” The guard looked him up and down and sneered, “Are you here to broaden your horizons in Xiaoyao Pavilion? If you want to broaden your horizons, you need this (rubbing fingers)… Do you understand?”

“Oh…” An Yinong rolled his eyes, “Okay, I understand, just think of it as buying a ticket.”

He took out two ingots of silver, still looking a little reluctant, and held them for a while before handing them over to the guard. The guard let him go, but pouted behind his back, “Poor bastard.”

Gu Zhengzhong paused while fanning himself, and a dark ghost emerged from the ground and grabbed the guard’s calf. The guard shuddered, thinking it was because the wind was too cold.

An Yinong didn’t look back, so he didn’t see anything. He was just curious. What were these guards complaining about? How much silver could they have after being exposed to the cold wind all night and having an empty stomach? How could they despise the poor man who took out ten taels to broaden his horizons? Could it be that after watching the dignitaries coming in and out for so long, he felt that he was superior to others?

An Yinong took note of this image and prepared to write it in the book: The Zhao family, and the Zhao family’s dogs…

After passing the outer gate, there was another gate inside. Between the two gates were some exquisite and gorgeous sedan chairs, and the chair bearers dressed in clean and decent clothes were waiting there. An Yinong was curious, what was this? There were rows of sedan chairs, all decorated with colorful flowers and greenery, looking festive.

“These are the sedan chairs used by the girls in the building to walk outside.” Seeing his curiosity, a man walked over with his hands in his sleeves.

“Hello, brave man.” An Yinong greeted him.

“You’re welcome. Look at your attire, are you from the Western Regions? Why doesn’t your accent sound like a local?”

An Yinong looked down at himself. Oh, his accent was exposed. The dialect of Dingsha County was slightly different from Zhanghua’s, and only locals could hear the difference.

He immediately answered: “From Dingsha, where are you from?”

“Me? I’m a local. I followed the Shen family caravan to make a living and just came back. You can call me Tian San.”

It turned out that he followed the Shen family to the Western Regions. An Yinong laughed and said, “What a coincidence, my last name is also Tian, Tian Xi. We were from the same family three hundred years ago.”

Because of this fate, the two of them quickly became familiar with each other and became brothers.

“Brother, are you here to broaden your horizons? Then you’ve met the right person. I’ve been here no less than a hundred times. Although I’m not a big client, I can show you around.” When Tian San heard that An Yinong was here to see Xiaoyao Pavilion, he patted his chest and agreed to the job of tour guide.

This saved An Yinong a lot of trouble.

“Brother, going out on the field, does this literally mean that the girls in the building go out and play music and sing at other people’s banquets?”

Tian San shook his head: “It’s not just for playing music, don’t we have to keep them overnight?” He winked, took his hand out of his sleeve, and gestured: “The cheapest one costs this much.”

“Ten taels?”

“You underestimated me, one hundred taels.”

An Yinong followed the old-fashioned Tian San inside, and before he even got close to the door, he could smell the strong fragrance inside. He sneezed several times in a row, making everyone around him laugh.

“Where did this young man come from? He hasn’t even entered yet and he’s dying?”

“Go, go, go,” Tian San waved his hand, “This is my new acquaintance, his last name is Tian.”

“So it’s your family, Tian San.”

Tian San did not refute and took An Yinong into the large yard.

The courtyard was decorated with lanterns and even without electric lights, it was as bright as day. Zhang San and Li Si were hugging young women with exquisite makeup. They were not flirting, but the way the girls swung their hips was quite charming, which made the inexperienced men’s eyes widen.

“Hey, isn’t this Tian San? I heard that you went out with the Shen family caravan. You must have made a lot of money, right? Cuicui has been waiting for you for half a year.”

“Hey,” Tian San directly changed the subject, “I won’t look for her. Let her wait for her Mr. Zhang. I heard that there are a few new girls in the building. They are in their prime.” He was indeed an old customer. As soon as he entered the door, he greeted the madam and learned the latest news.

The madam’s eyes flickered and she smiled, “Yes, I’m keeping it for you. They are all children from good families, and they are very sweet.”

The prime of life, thirteen or fourteen years old… An Yinong took a deep breath. Suddenly, he felt someone was looking at him above his head, and when he looked over, he saw a young girl leaning on the railing on the second floor, biting her handkerchief and looking at him with resentment.

“Pah!” Before he could come to his senses, the girl was slapped to the ground. From the sound, it was obvious that the slap was very strong, but the charming woman still smiled and said, “This girl is new and ignorant. It’s wrong for her to make the Third Master angry. I’ll have someone take her away and teach her a lesson.”

“Change to someone who’s obedient.”

“Yes Yes Yes.”

An Yinong watched these scenes, tightening and loosening his fingers.

“Aunt Mei, I have an older brother here. Can you introduce me to a sensible and well-behaved one?” At this time, Tian San introduced An Yinong out again.

The madam, Aunt Mei, took a quick glance and calculated the value of this body. Her smile faded a little, and she continued, “Yes, there are well-behaved ones. I guarantee he will be satisfied.”

“I don’t need that,” An Yinong quickly refused, “I just came here to gain some experience.”

“How can that be possible? Is it because there is not enough money?” Tian San asked.

“No, I just like the one at home. I’m not interested in anyone else.” An Yinong said as he held the hand of ‘the one at home’ tightly. ‘The one at home’ also extended her hand back to hold his, but she was not showing affection but out of love for him.

Gu Zhengzhong could already see the suppressed anger beneath An Yinong’s smiling face. An Yinong’s words not only shocked the madam and Tian San, but also the passers-by couldn’t help but stop to see who was this weirdo who actually said such words as “I love my wife, and I won’t look at anyone else” in a brothel.

You know, even if there are two people who come only for business and don’t want to visit prostitutes, it’s not because they love their wives. At most, they cared about the hard work of their family members and don’t visit prostitutes out of responsibility.

“My sister-in-law is so lucky.” Seeing this, Tian San stopped persuading him.

An Yinong breathed a sigh of relief and continued to look around. It seemed that most of the guests here were businessmen.

Yes, there were few officials here, but there were many businessmen. These businessmen earned money with their lives, and they could earn back the money that ordinary people earned in a lifetime in one go. This feeling of licking blood on the edge of a knife made them want to seek excitement, and even spend a lot of money to enjoy it.

Because An Yinong didn’t want to find a girl, Tian San lost interest as well. He took An Yinong to another place where there was a casino, singing and dancing performances, acrobats, and storytellers who were telling the story of “The Heroes of the Desert”.

“This isn’t the best place yet.” Tian San looked at An Yinong without blinking and laughed, “The best place is at the back. There, you have to show your identity with 20,000 taels of silver before you can enter.”

Even Tian San couldn’t enter such a place, let alone An Yinong.

“Well, Third Brother, people have urgent needs. I’ll be back soon.” An Yinong used the excuse of peeing to go to the inaccessible backyard.

Tian San didn’t realize and was still drawing cards at the gambling table: “Go ahead, go ahead. Just remember one thing: listen more, watch more, talk less and do less.”

An Yinong left. As soon as he left, Tian San also got down from the gambling table. He hesitated for a moment, took out a gilded and gem-inlaid hairpin from his arms, and turned to walk out.

With the help of his “good wife”, An Yinong successfully entered the backyard which was supposed to be the inner house of the palace. There were even fewer people here, with only one girl and guest in each courtyard, and some supporting musicians and dancers. It was very suitable for two people to stay together and communicate with each other spiritually or physically.

Compared with the prostitutes in front, the top ones inside were obviously high-end and luxurious. They not only have beautiful looks, but also have outstanding talents and attractive personalities. This routine was actually similar to the routine in the Central Plains. It was better to be intangible than to be tangible. The clients loved this kind of tune, but as for the ones being forced, who cared?

He and Gu Zhengzhong walked all the way to the back, where the servants lived. The rooms were very small and the doors were very low, so people of their height had to lower their heads to get in.

“Do you have any impression?” An Yinong asked Gu Zhengzhong.

“I have forgotten it a long time ago, and I don’t want to remember it. If you look at it from a different perspective, you will see that the royal family was extremely extravagant and lustful, and they can’t blame others for the fall of their country.” Gu Zhengzhong looked at An Yinong, “You are the one who taught me this.”

“Ah?” When did that happen?

Gu Zhengzhong just smiled and said nothing.

The door to the backyard suddenly opened, and two sneaky men holding small lights came in, dragging something that made rustling noises. They didn’t ‘see’ An Yinong and the other man, and walked past him dragging the cloth-wrapped object.

“Ouch.” One of them tripped over a stone, and something wrapped in cloth rolled out. It was a naked female corpse. Under the cold moonlight, one could see her frightened and pained expression, as well as her lower body that had been damaged by something.

An Yinong’s eyes widened slightly, and Gu Zhengzhong raised his hand to cover him with his sleeve, then pulled him into his arms: “Don’t be afraid.”

The servant spat and said, “What bad luck.” He then wrapped the woman’s corpse in a cloth and dragged it along.

An Yinong clenched his fingers into fists, his face was pale, but he still followed behind silently, all the way to a forest. The servants had already started digging a hole to bury the body. Their movements were so skillful, as if they had practiced them hundreds of times.

“I want to see.” An Yinong pulled Gu Zhengzhong’s sleeve.

Gu Zhengzhong understood what he meant. He turned his head to look at An Yinong’s pale face and couldn’t help but hold his hand tighter: “Don’t be afraid.” He was here for support.

A gust of wind came out of nowhere, and many gray shadows appeared in the dark woods. There were more women than men. They had no intelligence and just stood there in a daze. One shadow for each tree, and there was no end in sight.