Formal Meeting

As everyone kept throwing glances at Sung Ming and Shen Tianyu, Sung Ming finally opened his mouth for the first time since they came into the room.

"Miss Shen, I'm sure you don't know a lot of us so, let me formally introduce you to everyone..." He proceeded to "introduce" everyone to Shen Tianyu as she played along.

'As the Master of Lavender Palace, if I can't even remember the names of my people, how would I be able to show my face to the world?'

As he finished naming everyone, he proceeded to formally introduce her as Minister Shen's daughter. A few curious cats decided to ask her some questions, led by Elder Sister Yue Luo.

"Everyone knows Minister Shen's first daughter as a timid and shy trash. However, your current optimism and cheerfulness certainly don't match the rumors..." She trailed off, intending to imply something, or perhaps that Shen Tianyu would deny something. However...

"Of course everyone does! That's what I made them believe after all! Even that bastard father of mine thinks so!" Shen Tianyu unexpectedly admitted to her stellar acting quite easily.

Luo Hua followed up with a graceful smile. "You seem awfully happy for someone that was just sold to a brothel... Are you not worried about your future or about your reputation?" After all, no matter her talents, Shen Tianyu was still a Minister's daughter, being reduced to a courtesan overnight, Luo Hua imagined even other Misses from ordinary households would never take it as well as her, solely based on the impact it had on their reputation as women in a society that valued women's submissiveness and purity. 'Perhaps she just doesn't understand the true consequences?'

"I don't mind! Besides, the mastermind who put the idea of selling me into his head was me anyway. I'd rather live freely in Lavender Palace than stay a second more in that hellhole." She Tianyu calmly sipped her tea. "Besides, it's not like all women in this line of work get married, some just fade from fame and become managers or something. If I really wanted to find a lover, my first requirement is that he loves me. Not, my body. Not the power I might be able to bring him. Not my looks. Not my talents. Not my connections. He has to love ME. I am not a soulless, walking corpse nor a gold mine. I am me. With my own values and beliefs, my own likes and dislikes, my own hobbies. I am a person, not a servant, nor a slave, nor a thing. If I can't find a man like that in my life, that just means I'm not meant to have a man and that's fine."

The large crowd was stunned for a while as they quietly puzzled over her words. Of course, even in the modern world, Shen Tianyu's view could be considered quite liberal, after all, even there, where gender equality has made considerable advancement, women were still expected to be wives and mothers sometime in their lives and those that didn't would be reproached by strangers and ostracized. Much less the shock it'd bring to the people living in this ancient society where women are expected to follow three men, at least, their whole lives: their fathers, their husbands and their sons; along with the many restraints surrounding women and the lack of those for men. Mainly put, the gender inequality of this time would make Shen Tianyu's view on women's later lives seem like the crazy gibberish of some demented alien from another universe.

"The Mutton Stew is here..." the voice of the waiter jolted them back into reality as Shen Tianyu told the waiter "Come in".

The slightly confused waiter carrying a big pot of stew was followed by a younger servant carrying a tray with many soup bowls. This was a big group of over a hundred, including the guards and maidservants, after all. Shen Tianyu started worrying in her heart. 'Did we bring too many people tonight? I hope the wait and kitchen staff won't work themselves to death tonight. I hope they're not being scolded by other customers because of the vast quantity of food we require...' After a few moments of fretting she sighed and thought somewhat guiltily 'Oh well, we're here anyways and leaving in the middle of a meal would leave a bad impression for Nianjing Pavilion. Besides, this is just how many people work at my Palace, leaving anyone out of dinner would be rude and somewhat unjust. We already left the late risers and our own kitchen staff behind already...'