prosperous age

Chapter 125 Chapter 124
Wei Guangde's eyes were a little straight, and he stared blankly at the slim figure.

The upper body of the woman is a blue emerald green smoked sweater, a pleated skirt scattered with water mist and green grass, and a thin light blue emerald water veil.

Although it is common to see a hollowed-out gold hairpin inserted obliquely on a falling horse bun, adorned with dots of purple jade, tassels are sprinkled on the green silk, the eyes contain spring water, clear waves of hope, and the mouth contains Zhu Dan, with a frown and a smile, touching the heart and soul.

As the woman stepped onto the stage, she placed her right hand on top of her left hand towards the audience, clenched her fist lightly, and placed it on her abdomen, then bent her knees and said blessings, then turned back to the stage and sat down slowly behind the Yaoqin that had already been placed on the stage.

Except for the "Wanfu", the woman didn't make a sound, and after sitting down, she began to tune the strings slightly.

This is naturally the girl Xiang Ning they talked about. From the stage to playing the piano, she only saw her dress fluttering and looking forward to her beauty.

Wei Guangde looked at Xiang Ning who was adjusting the strings, and felt a little crazy.

"No wonder, it's really beautiful."

Wei Guangde who came back to his senses said to Zhang Hongfu and the others.

"That's right, Nanchang Mansion wants Miss Xiangning to go there, but they don't want to, haha"

A boy next to him said with a smile.

"I also went to a few houses with the others in Nanchang Mansion, and I saw the two top names, which are far away."

Wei Guangde thought about the two oirans he saw in Nanchang before, and felt that at this time, they were no longer suitable to be called oirans.

Indeed, in a place, I am afraid that only the most beautiful one can be called the oiran.

When Wei Guangde was talking, he saw a few beauties beside the table staring at the beauties on the stage, showing a picture of brother pig. At this time, the melodious piano sound had already sounded, and Wei Guangde consciously shut up and listened attentively.

Well, after listening to it for a while, Wei Guangde just thought the tune was good, and it was only his fault that he was not well educated and couldn't understand what was being played.

However, in the sound of the zither, Wei Guangde unconsciously thought of Bai Juyi's "Pipa Xing", the phrase "chattering and mixed playing, big pearls and small pearls falling on the jade plate" is very appropriate.

It seems that "Pipa Xing" was written by Bai Juyi in Jiujiang Mansion. The first sentence is "seeing off guests on the Xunyang River at night", isn't Xunyang just Jiujiang?
Afterwards, Miss Xiangning played a few more pieces, and at the end of each piece, there must have been continuous applause from upstairs and downstairs.

"Cousin, is Miss Xiangning a Qing Dynasty lady?"

Wei Guangde remembered what he had heard before, and asked in a low voice.

"Why, you still want to sleep, haha."

Zhang Hongfu replied with a smile, causing several people around him to laugh.

"There are a lot of ideas, but I haven't seen any successful ones. You are really going to succeed. My brother, I congratulate you."

The young man next to him answered with a smile.

"It's not worth it. If you really want to get started, if you don't spend thousands of taels of silver, you might not be able to get your hands on it. Why don't you just order it, take out 1 taels to redeem yourself, and go back and play slowly."

"1 taels may not necessarily let go."

"I don't think it's enough."

Soon, Wei Guangde just asked casually, and several people at the table began to whisper about Miss Xiangning's worth.

What Wei Guangde refers to as a courtesan is actually a kind of woman who lives in a brothel.

The brothels in the Ming Dynasty were actually different from the brothels in the eyes of the Qing Dynasty and later generations.

Those who sell their bodies are prostitutes, those who perform but not sell their bodies are pure courtesans, and those who do both are red courtesans.

Most of the women in the brothels in this era were high-spirited men who were entertainers but not their bodies, and some of them were prostitutes, but the number was relatively small, so the grades were relatively high, and the receptionists were all dignitaries and romantic talents.

A kiln that is purely engaged in skin and meat business is of no class, and the young masters at this table will not go to that kind of place.

"Forget it, even if you can afford the money, they may not go with you, don't dream."

At this moment, after playing a few pieces, Miss Xiangning had already got up and left the stage, and the whispered discussions over there also stopped.

Wei Guangde felt a little wrong. Shouldn't these young masters in ancient times take it by force?
When did you start negotiating the price, can't you just grab it by force?
Feeling different from the ancient times in his impression, Wei Guangde said curiously: "Why don't you just grab it back if you pay?"

"hiss"

What greeted Wei Guangde was the sound of gasping around him.

"Hehe. It should work in Madang Town."

Zhang Hongfu stared at Wei Guangde for a long time, wondering how a person who is so good at reading would think of going there.

"Why, no?"

Wei Guangde continued to pretend to be confused.

"Go and try, the two tables over there are still your classmates, and see who dares to do it at the next few tables?"

Zhang Hongfu chuckled and shook his head, "You really robbed someone, what do you think the boss behind Cuixiutang will do?
This Xiangning girl is now the cash cow here, look at how many people have come down here upstairs?
Stealing people's money is like killing their parents. So many people dare not take action, so you should think that whoever takes action will be unlucky. "

"Also, there are a lot of people here who want to take advantage of Miss Xiangning. You snatched her away. Think about what they will think. There are many rich families here in Jiujiang Mansion. There are not many people in the officialdom. Just talk about it. There will be someone who will help you to know the master, not to mention that you are only a scholar, even if you are the prefect of Jiujiang, you must guard against being attacked by others."

"No one will say anything to you face to face, and they will play the book to judge you when they turn around, and they will be sure of each reference."

"Guangde, even if you go to be an official in the local area in the future, you should first clarify the relationship, so as not to provoke people and families that you can't afford. Men, you have to be able to bend and stretch, don't you think?"

"How big is the family, what can be bent and stretched."

The young masters next to Zhang Hongfu immediately took up the conversation after Zhang Hongfu finished speaking, and you said it one by one. As for the performances in the audience, after Miss Xiangning stepped down, no one seemed to pay attention.

Wei Guangde understands that in this day and age, there is a backstage when opening a business. The bigger the business, the bigger the backstage. These sons and daughters all know this truth.

In addition, it seems to have revealed that these days, no matter whether you are an official or something, you have to judge the situation when doing things, and you can't do whatever you want.

Well, what people participate in is their personal morality.

After sitting for a while, Wei Guangde got up and went to the next two tables after saying a few words. They were classmates from the government school. They also came here to play.

In the past few days, Wei Guangde took half a month's leave from his school because he moved. This time they met unexpectedly in Cuixiu Hall.

"Brother Shen, why didn't you see Senior Brother Lao when you came here?"

After sitting down, Wei Guangde asked while watching them play cards.

What he asked was Shen Liangdong, who was a senior from the government school. Naturally, he was also a failure in the provincial examination. They came to Cuixiu hall, but they didn't see Lao Kan.

In Nanchang City, Wei Guangde discovered that Lao Kan was quite proficient in brothels and gambling, and it was hard to imagine a reason for him not to come.

"Hey, something happened to one of his classmates, and he went to help deal with it in the past two days."

Shen Liangdong replied.

At this time, a person next to him answered again: "It's a crime to be a scholar after you're over 50."

"You can't say that. It's true that you are dedicated to learning. It's just that the family conditions are not good."

As they chattered, Wei Guangde knew that it turned out that a former classmate, an old boy in his 50s, failed the college entrance examination, and because of his high debts, he finally chose to commit suicide.

(End of this chapter)