5 This Dead Man? (I)

Against all of Xueying's protests, the middle-aged woman, still clutching the gold coin Xueying handed her a moment ago, pulled her with superior strength up one of the exaggerated staircases of the brothel. The other women crowding around Xueying dispersed earlier at the words that the manager was taking Xueying to go see the 'camellia flower', making Xueying very hesitant at what exactly the camellia flower was for them to all leave so quickly.

By the time they were up the stairs and down a hallway lined with magenta red lanterns, Xueying could almost feel her arm being pulled off by the woman. How much strength did the middle-aged woman have in the first place?

They arrived at a room in the end of the hallway, slightly concealed in the back yet surrounded by many decorations of camellia flowers and lanterns. At this moment, the middle-aged woman finally loosened her grip on Xueying's wrist, reaching over to knock on the door of the room.

"Camellia flower, camellia flower! We have a guest for you."

Xueying frowned at the woman's words. Was the woman… asking permission from a flower? This woman had to be crazy, loving this flower so much that she even talked to it.

To Xueying's surprise, a voice, soft and pleasant to hear, traveled out of the room after the woman's words. "It's too early. Tell the guest no."

The camellia flower could talk? Or…

Oh.

She was stupid. Camellia flower— Chahua— was clearly a name for one of the girls working in the brothel. Of course it would make sense for those in the Hundred Flower Brothel to be named after flowers.

While Xueying was reaching this revelation, the woman worked on persuading Chahua. "The guest brought gold coins. Let's make a special exception, alright?"

At the word of 'gold', the door of the room swung open, and an elegant woman, wearing clothes much lighter and less saturated than everyone else in the brothel, stood in the doorway, eyeing Xueying and certifying Xueying's discovery that 'camellia flower' was simply a name for this person. Chahua was certainly beautiful enough, making Xueying a little jealous when she thought about herself— she always thought that as a princess, she was the most beautiful person in Danyan, yet standing in front of this flower, something about Chahua's demeanor just made her more… beautiful.

"He has gold?" Those three words escaped out of Chahua's parted coral lips.

"Yes, yes, he has gold. You'll serve him then, right?"

Chahua cast another look, her large eyes narrowing as she observed Xueying. Her eyes dropped to the satchel of coins tied around Xueying's waist, lingering there. Subtly, she nodded her head, coming to a conclusion. "Alright."

"Good." The woman turned around to Xueying, letting go of Xueying's wrist completely. "Xue Gongzi, I knew that the moment you stepped in, you were here for my Chahua and Chahua only. She is the most popular flower here, after all, so someone of your status would obviously only fit her. Now, since Chahua is picky and doesn't accept much customers because beauties must keep themselves withdrawn, you should pay me a hefty sum of gold coins for arranging your session with her. Around fifteen, perhaps? And another fifteen for Chahua herself."

The manager spoke fast, the collection of words spilling out like an uncontrollable ocean's waves. All that Xueying truly caught from her mouth were "fifteen gold, fifteen gold", and that didn't seem acceptable to Xueying.

Chahua also looked at Xueying, holding out her hand expectantly for the fifteen gold. A hint of greed flashed in her eyes.

Xueying backed away a step, uncertain. She just wanted to skip a few lessons from Tutor Zhang, so how did it come to the point where they were trying to get her, Princess Su Xueying, to sleep with some camellia flower lady? She wasn't going to pay a total of thirty gold to a brothel! She would not.

Carefully, Xueying pointed to herself, trying to explain. "I'm actually…"

Halfway through her words, the middle-aged woman nodded, thinking of Xueying's explanation as hesitation to pay that sum of money. "I can see that fifteen gold may be a little bit of a high price for even someone of Xue Gongzi's status. How about twenty gold in tota—"

"—STOP!"

Anger boiled inside of her, forcing her to raise her voice and shout at the two women.

These people, they couldn't even properly wait for her to finish with her words, could they? It was to the point where Xueying was frustrated— back in the palace, there wouldn't be a single person who would interrupt her, and even though she knew that this wasn't the palace but some brothel, it still bothered her.

There was no need to try to reason with them anymore.

Xueying held her hands up, grabbing the rod in her hair that was keeping her 'masculine disguise' together. Pulling it down in rough movements, she threw the hair pin down onto the floor, letting her long hair cascade over her shoulders.

Do they see now?

She was done with dealing with these impatient and greedy people in this Hundred Flower Brothel. It seemed like she couldn't explain herself properly, she would have to destroy her disguise to get these people to stop. She couldn't care less for all those rumors that brothels enslaved any girls who stepped in.

"I'm not a man," Xueying pointed to herself, "and I have no interest in this Chahua or any other flower. I told you from the start that it was purely a mistake when I first entered this brothel, but you didn't listen."

There was a long, very, very awkward moment of silence.