The cruel little princess

A light knock at the door interrupted Shen Youyou's thoughts. "I'm coming!" she replied softly, gathering her clothes once more before heading to open the door. Passing by the table, she saw two cups of herbal tea from last night, only one remaining. The other had been buckled and placed in its original place, as if no one had been there. She couldn't help but sigh inwardly: Chu Huaijin truly is observant!

Shen Youyou went over and opened the door. Chuntao came into the room with water for washing her face. "Miss, you must have slept as deeply as I did. Are you too tired from the journey? So you don't want to get up this morning?"

"Little Chuntao, you are so bold! You dare to make fun of me!" Shen Youyou pretended to be angry and tickled her, making Chuntao beg for mercy. After washing up and having a meal, Shen Youyou took Chuntao to change into men's clothes. They first went to find Zeng Bo and asked about the customs and prosperous areas of the capital. If she lives in the capital in the future, she will have to prepare her own business territory. First, see if there is any business in the capital that she can get involved in! Zeng Bo said that he could arrange for someone to take the young lady out for a walk, but Shen Youyou waved her hand to refuse, saying that she didn't want anything, just strolling around the street. And she wouldn't cause trouble. Zeng Bo thought about it and thought that as a little girl, she might just want to go shopping at a jewelry store or a clothing store. It was really not the right thing for her to follow a rough guy. After understanding this, he no longer insisted on sending someone to follow the young lady. But if someone is so foolish as to provoke the young lady on the street, she must announce the name of her general to intimidate the other party first. Generally, if the powerful lord sees that they are officials in the same dynasty, he will not make things too difficult for his young lady. Shen Youyou nodded in agreement.

Shen Youyou took Chuntao and wandered aimlessly around the street, "Master! Master! There are candied haws over there, let's buy two to eat!" Chuntao was so excited when she saw the vendor selling candied haws that she almost revealed their secrets.

"Buy!" Shen Youyou proudly pulled out a handful of copper coins. She had asked the accountant for some small change before leaving. Chuntao skipped over and bought two skewers. Since Shen Youyou didn't want any, she happily devoured them with a candied haws in each hand.

"Hurry, hurry! Today is the day! If you go too late you won't be able to see it!" a middle-aged man said to another man.

"Really? Are you sure it's today?" Another overweight man with small eyes tried to open them wide, but his eyes were dark and swollen. Shen Youyou glanced at him and knew it was caused by excessive indulgence. "What are you waiting for? Hurry up! Miss Peony, I'm coming!"

"Hurry up! Today, Miss Peony from Chunmanlou is on the list! If you're lucky, you can even get the top spot!" Another man also said as he rushed in one direction.

"To die under the peony flowers, even as a ghost, I will be romantic!" Another scholar-like man, shaking his head, also walked towards that side with square steps.

As expected, the brothels of the world are full of spring, and the top girl is Peony! This saying applies to the border as well as the capital!

Shen Youyou saw many people rushing in that direction, and thought it must be Chun Man Lou. Where there are many people, there is more news. It just so happened that today they were both women dressed as men, so why not go over and see what was going on? As soon as they thought about it, they did it! Shen Youyou pulled Chun Tao and ran over there with the crowd.

When they arrived outside Chunmanlou, they saw a massive crowd of people, three layers deep. Someone was even shouting, "Miss Peony! Miss Peony, here I come!" Just then, the door opened, and out stepped a graceful old procuress dressed in purple. The crowd outside fell silent, waiting for her to speak. "Oh, gentlemen, you've arrived incredibly early! We, Peony, won't be out until the evening! Please don't disturb us, dear guests! I'll have the door opened immediately! Anyone entering must pay a registration fee of ten taels of silver! Those without the fee won't be allowed in!" The procuress said, smiling as she gestured to two burly men on either side to guard the entrance. Then, a few men resembling accountants appeared, followed by several burly men, each carrying a sturdy bamboo basket. Shen Youyou looked at this situation and thought about what the madam had just said. This meant that anyone who wanted to go in had to pay a protection fee of ten taels of silver first!

"Will this ten taels of silver registration fee be refunded later?" someone in the crowd asked weakly. Shen Youyou immediately nodded in agreement.

The madam sneered, "Oh, my guest, if it were any other time, you would spend ten taels of silver and still not be able to see Miss Mudan! With these ten taels of silver, you can not only see our Miss Mudan today, but also make her smile. Do you think your ten taels of silver are worth it? Do you think these ten taels of silver can be refunded? Besides, these ten taels of silver are also to confirm whether you are qualified to compete for Miss Mudan's virginity tonight! If you are not willing to spend even ten taels of silver for Miss Mudan, then you might as well not come to see us..." The madam took out a handkerchief and wiped the tears from her eyes, pretending to be sad that Miss Mudan's true love had been wasted.

When the men around heard this, they all shouted, "Peony! I'm willing to spend money for you!" "Peony! I'm willing to lose everything I have for you!" "Peony! A poor guy who can't even afford ten taels of silver is not worthy of even mentioning your name!" "That's right, anyone who is not willing to spend ten taels of silver on Peony is not even qualified to see Peony!" Everyone shouted.

Shen Youyou: ...Oh my god! Is this madam so good at playing games and talking? As soon as this toxic chicken soup of "I'm crazy about Mudan, I'm banging my head against the wall for Mudan!" came out, everyone was furious about spending ten taels of silver!

Following these words, many people in the crowd left. Perhaps they had never seen Miss Mudan before, but they wanted to take advantage of the fact that today was the first day of her official debut and Chun Man Lou was auctioning off her virginity. They all wanted to see the excitement and meet Miss Mudan, the most famous courtesan in the capital! However, they hadn't expected that even a single meeting would cost ten taels of silver! They shook their heads and left.

The rest of the people shouted even more happily, "Huh! A bunch of poor bastards, you're not worthy of seeing Mudan!" "That's right, just ten taels of silver! I'm in!" Everyone took out their silver and threw it on the table, and one person was allowed in. There were also those who had no money but wanted to sneak in during the chaos. When the strong man found them, they grabbed their collars and threw them out. Shen Youyou finally understood what the bamboo basket in the strong man's hand was used for: it was used to hold money!

Chuntao tugged at her mistress's sleeve. They were both young women, after all. Were they really going to a brothel? If her mistress's true identity were discovered, would she be dead? So Chuntao wanted to pull her mistress away from this place of trouble. But she had limited strength, and her mistress didn't want to leave, wanting to watch the fun, so Chuntao was forced to stay.

As the two of them were pushed by the crowd to the table, Shen Youyou took out twenty taels of silver and placed it on the table. She pointed at herself and Chuntao, "The two of us!" Her voice was deliberately low and hoarse, like a boy going through voice change. The strong man waved his hand to let them in, but they hadn't taken two steps when they heard his sneer, "You little brat who hasn't even grown all his hair yet wants to buy Miss Mudan's virginity! You're dreaming!"

Shen Youyou: ...Maybe I just want to come in and see the excitement...It’s useless for me to buy Peony’s virginity!