3 I Am a Female, Not a Male! (I)

The middle-aged woman who was in charge of the Hundred Flower Brothel was having bad business today— not that business was ever bad in a popular place like this, but since it was the start of the day, it was expected not to have many customers. She didn't have much to do, so she was only awkwardly lurking around the front of her brothel, waiting for anyone to possibly come in. Whether they came in during the day or at night, customers were still customers, after all.

It was during these thoughts that a young man, with delicate feminine features, stumbled into the 'store', ducking against one of the tall pillars inside the building, eyes squeezed shut. Staring at the young man, the brothel's manager sized him up, deciding that the clothes he had on definitely looked like fine material, nothing worse than the material imported from the palace. Although in his right hand, he held a stick of candy, and in the left hand, an amulet dangled, she assumed that the young man was still here to do what all the men did. A fat pouch of coins hung on the belt tied around his robes as well, and hungrily, the middle-aged woman stared at the pouch like a predator eyeing its prey.

He did look somewhat nervous as he looked around the brothel frantically, almost like he didn't know why he entered the building, but the manager dismissed it.

She was about to approach the young man, reeling him in as a customer, but the young man took one last look at the dancers on the stage and spun around, ready to run away.

Oh no, this customer was not leaving.

The middle-aged woman had a reputation going on that once she had her eyes set on a customer to stay at the Hundred Flower Brothel, there would be no way for the customer to escape.

Quickly, she dashed over to the young man, grabbing him by the shoulder. As the manager did so, she realized that this young man had such a slender, bony frame. It would most likely be because he was some sort of young master of some wealthy family that he had such pale, milky-white skin that was even smoother than half of the girls in the brothel.

The young man turned around, thin eyebrows furrowed, but the middle-aged woman continued speaking in a compelling tone. "Gongzi, where are you going?"

Flinching as if someone had smacked him, the young man threw his hands up, and the stick of candy in his right hand flew out of his grasp. He didn't seem to notice however, and only looked at the woman while a look mixed with aversion and perhaps discomfort appeared on his face as he stared at the woman. The manager looked down at herself, wondering if there was something wrong with her clothes or if the heavy makeup she caked on herself was smeared for the young man to look at her in that way.

The young man blinked twice, and finally spoke after a lengthy, awkward moment of drawn out silence. "Gongzi?" There was another tense moment of silence after he repeated her words. The middle-aged woman narrowed her eyes, frowning. Was this young man mentally impaired as well? He didn't even know what a term as simple as 'gongzi' meant?

"Oh, right. Um, I just, stumbled to the wrong place. I'll get going now, then." Before the manager could certify her worries, the young man replied.

Well, since the manager had already set her sight on this young man, she was not going to let him go now. Her reflexes, surprisingly quick for situations like this, immediately caused her to reach out and pull the young man to a stop, preventing him from leaving. "Gongzi, with someone as dressed as fine as you, how could you possibly mistakenly enter here? Besides, you must've seen our signboard in the front before entering. Didn't you read it? Our 'Hundred Flower Brothel' isn't called 'Hundred Flower' without reason."

"Brothel? Hundred Flowers?" A perplexed look came onto the young man's dainty face. He seemed to take everything in slowly.

The manager of the brothel seriously doubted if this young man could even act like a normal person. How could he not understand a single thing that she was saying?

But still… the woman eyed the pouch of coins dangling from the young man's waist. The satchel was so full of coins, and with clothes as extravagant as what he was wearing, there was no doubt that the coins filled inside would be at least silver or gold. If she could get a few gold coins within a short hour or so of convincing, that would be quite a wonderful deal…

The manager decided that a golden opportunity like this one couldn't be let go. This young man was a fat fish in a pond, and as long as she gave him the right bait, he would obviously take it.