SMALL ROOM AT THE BACK OF THE QUARTER

The west wing of the Tiantang building was the place where Duan Shuchun usually welcomed guests who wanted to meet her in person, while the east wing was Duan Shuchun's quarter which consisted of three rooms. The large Tiantang hall was right in the middle, and just behind the hall was where the courtesans would be resting at night.

There were nineteen courtesans in Tiantang right now, but Yi Xue had her own room in Duan Shuchun's quarter because she was the main star in Tiantang. The boss of Tiantang purposely gave the star a big room, and that was why the star didn't have to share a room with other girls.

So, only eighteen girls needed to share four rooms in Tiantang House, and that meant four to five girls needed to squeeze themselves into one room.

Xia Qiao was no exception as she also had to share a room with four other girls. Her room was in the back corner of the courtesan's quarter, and it seemed the location was the least ideal compared to other rooms.

No wonder the young girl got the least ideal room because He Ehuang was the one in charge of the affair at the courtesan's quarter, and when the veiled girl joined Tiantang a month ago, the older girl purposely assigned that room for her.

Not only was the location not ideal, but even the room size was smaller than other rooms in the courtesan's quarter, and there were even five girls in the small room.

The room was indeed small, and five people were crammed into the room, so it was no wonder the beds were small too. If the ones sleeping on the beds couldn't control their movements at night, then they would surely fall to the ground.

However, Xia Qiao never complained even if she had to live in such a place. It was still fresh in her memory when she had to live in a place much worse than this place, so she didn't complain and just accepted everything. Even when Yi Xue invited her to live with her in her room, Xia Qiao said no while continuing to live in the small room with the other girls.

The room was not only for her because she needed to share it with the other four girls, but because they used to treat her like the plague, she also didn't care about them and also treated them as if they were invisible.

She had never seen the situation where she had to share a room with other girls as a problem, but today she was quite annoyed by the girls because they kept throwing death glares at her.

After Duan Shuchun asked them to leave the hall, the girls immediately returned to their quarters and could only wait until their boss summoned them to continue training in the hall. Without needing to ask, they already knew that the boss wanted to have a private talk with Yi Xue, and that was why they could only patiently wait at their place.

Xia Qiao didn't even do anything, and she just sat quietly on her narrow bed, but the other girls who were also sitting on their beds kept glaring at her.

Of course, the girls were probably annoyed by her attitude in the hall earlier. They probably thought that she was arrogant and too proud of herself, and the hatred in their eyes became clearer than before.

However, Xia Qiao didn't say anything and just pretended as if she was blind and couldn't feel the cold treatment from the girls. And maybe the situation wasn't that bad since the girls didn't even bother her verbally, so she was still grateful for that.

The small room was engulfed in silence, but then the door to the room was suddenly opened from the outside, and five pairs of eyes immediately turned to it. The owners of the eyes were surprised to see Yi Xue as the person who had just opened the door without bothering to knock.

The girl's expression was cold and dangerous like usual, and the girls in the room did not even dare to scold the person who dared to barge in.

"If you all have some spare time, you better use it to train because we don't have much time until the event at the Imperial Palace," Yi Xue arrogantly broke the silence in the room as her cold eyes scanned the girls' faces one by one.

The girls gulped nervously, but they didn't say anything because they knew that it was a signal for them to continue practicing in the hall. Yi Xue was in the courtesan's quarter now, so that meant her conversation with Duan Shuchun was over, and indeed it was time for them to continue their training.

After all, Yi Xue was right that they didn't have much time to prepare before the celebration of the Lantern Festival in the palace.

Without saying anything, the girls got up from their beds before walking toward the door. Xia Qiao had also gotten out of bed, and as usual, she chose to walk behind the other girls while trying to stay calm.

However, before she could even walk through the door, Yi Xue suddenly stopped her movements by saying, "You don't have to join the practice in the hall. From today on, I will personally teach you to be a solo dancer so you can perform by yourself in the Imperial Palace."