Notes on Longevity

Chapter 2: No guests at the Drunken Flower Pavilion, Xiu Yi encounters Ping An in the snow.
"Ying'er, let's get ready to close. We don't think we'll have any customers today."

As night deepened, beneath the Drunken Flower Pavilion adorned with colorful lanterns, a woman in white addressed the drowsy figure before her.

"Okay, Sister Xiuyi."

Ying'er, dressed in a black dress, sat lazily on the doorframe, yawning. After hearing Xiuyi's words, she slowly stood up and stretched: "This year is strange too. In previous years at this time, it was just a light snowfall, but tonight it suddenly turned into a heavy snowfall, and all the guests left at once."

Upon hearing this, Xiuyi looked at the sky outside where snow was falling heavily and the few pedestrians on the road. "Alright, stop complaining. While it's not too late, Qingyou and I will go to the nearby charcoal sellers and get more tomorrow."

Ying'er hugged Xiuyi's arm with a coquettish look, and looked up at her with her face full of worldly dust: "Fine, I'll have someone follow you."

"Okay, go ahead."

Xiuyi patted her head and smiled slightly.

A moment later, Ying'er came over with several tall, strong young men dressed in black: "You will follow Sister Xiuyi in a bit."

"Yes!"

Several young men bowed and replied.

"Qingyou, let's go."

Xiuyi pulled the girl beside her, who hadn't spoken a word and looked only sixteen or seventeen years old, along with her slightly nervous expression, towards the street.

"Stinky bitch!"

As Ying'er watched the group walk away, she cursed.

"If your father hadn't been the former General of Shengjing, I would have dealt with you long ago. Why would I let you swagger around here?"

After finishing her sentence, Ying'er stormed into the building, only to see the madam with a fierce face and furrowed brows. She quickly knelt down and apologized to the madam: "Madam, Ying'er was wrong."

Unfortunately, the madam wouldn't listen and slapped her across the face, shouting angrily, "Let me tell you, if Xiuyi hadn't pleaded with me to let you become a geisha, you'd still be rolling around in bed with someone right now."

After the madam finished speaking, she turned to leave, but then stopped, bent down, lifted Ying'er's face, and said sternly, "I'll tell you one last time, if I ever hear you gossiping about her behind her back again, I'll cut your tongue out. Also, her father was wronged, and that official has already pleaded for him before the Emperor. Don't be ungrateful."

"Yes."

Zuihualou is the largest brothel in Fuyang City. The vast majority of the women who appear here are daughters of disgraced officials, and those who come here for pleasure are mostly high-ranking officials and nobles. Ordinary commoners cannot enter.

A high-ranking official's daughter like Xiuyi, sent to a brothel, would surely attract many noblemen. Fortunately, she was secretly protected by someone for the past ten years, thus avoiding the fate of having her lips tasted by thousands.

There is another type of woman in the Drunken Flower Pavilion, who is different from Xiuyi. They are neither women of disgraced officials nor women from wealthy families, but women who have been abducted and sold, and even changed hands several times.

Just like Qingyou, who is now walking closely in the snow, clinging to Xiuyi, she was sold to Zuihualou after being changed hands several times and suffering all kinds of torment.

As the number of pedestrians on the road gradually decreased, Xiuyi and her group, carrying umbrellas, walked from Zuihualou towards the south gate of Fuyang City.

Fuyang City is the capital of the Yan Dynasty. The river outside the city is the moat, and the south gate is located upstream along the moat. Because the south gate connects to many trade routes, most of those who use this gate are merchants or peddlers.

"Sister Xiuyi, it seems like all the shops are closed."

The group walked through several alleys and arrived at the place where they usually mined coal.

Go knock on the door and see.

Xiuyi spoke to a man behind her.

Upon hearing this, the man bypassed Xiuyi and the other woman, walked straight to the door, and began banging on the wooden door.

"Coming, coming!" Upon hearing the response, the man turned and walked to Xiuyi's side, staring at the wooden door.

"Who is it? Why are you knocking so late? Can't you be quiet? Oh, it's Miss Xiuyi. Please come in."

"no need."

The door was opened by a disheveled old man. After seeing the woman holding an umbrella in the snow, he immediately put on a fawning smile and said, "It's so late. I wonder what brings Miss Xiuyi to my old home?"

"Do you have any extra coal?" Xiuyi didn't mince words or pleasantries and went straight to the point.

"We do have some coal, but not much," the old man said, shaking off the wind. "How much do you need, Miss Xiuyi?"

“I’m afraid it will be more,” Xiuyi smiled. “The sisters in the building are all afraid of the cold, so it will probably be more than in previous winters.”

"This one……"

Upon hearing this, the old man looked clearly troubled, but he didn't try to be brave. He began to explain his difficulties to Xiuyi: "Miss Xiuyi, it's not that I don't want to help you, but I really can't do it all. My son is away doing business, and my daughter-in-law is a girl and can't do any heavy work. It's just my wife and me. We have to work harder than usual, and I really don't have the strength."

"Okay, you only need to provide the usual portion, and I'll find someone else for the extras."

After Xiuyi finished speaking, she bowed to the old man, who returned the bow with his own hands clasped, saying, "Take care, Miss Xiuyi."

"Let's go back. We'll talk about the coal tomorrow."

Xiuyi pulled Qingyou back the way they came. They hadn't taken more than a few steps when a figure emerged from an alley.

Upon seeing this, several men immediately surrounded Xiuyi and her companion.

The figure bent over and put a child down from his arms. Just as he stood up to get up, he turned around and saw Xiuyi and the others.

Seeing this, the figure was so frightened that it scrambled and rolled through the snow and turned into the alley.

"Go and see."

Xiuyi spoke to the men while following behind them, wanting to see what the figure had placed.

As they approached, they discovered that the person lying on the ground was a child, and that child was Ping An.

"Let's take it back first..."

"I'm afraid we can't take it back." Before Xiuyi could finish speaking, the man who had knocked on the door said to her.

"Why?" Xiuyi asked, puzzled. She didn't understand why she couldn't take a child back with her.

“Look at his pants.”

The man pointed at Ping An's pants, but Qingyou glanced at them and didn't find anything special about them.

“He is a member of the Taoist sect.” But Xiuyi recognized him at a glance.

"That's right. It must have been that thief who mistakenly captured the Taoist priest, knocked him unconscious, and then put him on this snowy ground."

"Sister Xiuyi, what should we do?" Qingyou asked, holding Xiuyi's hand with some fear.

Xiuyi patted Qingyou on the shoulder to comfort her, and at the same time said to the man, "It's okay, take her back first, saving lives is the priority. If anything happens, I'll take responsibility and won't implicate you."

Upon hearing this, the men couldn't refute it and could only carry Ping An towards the Drunken Flower Pavilion.

(End of this chapter)