“Sister Qin, don’t be anxious. You’ll understand soon!” I held her hand to comfort her, then turned to the crowd, slowly curving my lips with an extremely seductive smile: “It depends on which gentleman is most interested in Qinhuai’s appearance!”
Qin Jie was stunned, looking at me questioningly. The audience was buzzing with discussion. Soon, a rough male voice called from the crowd: “I’ll pay twenty taels to see Miss Qinhuai’s true face!”
Qin Jie, being extremely shrewd, immediately understood, putting on a smiling face and waving her handkerchief: “Good, good! Master Wang offers fifty taels.
The bidding continued, escalating quickly, with prices rising from fifty to one hundred, then to five hundred taels.
Just when it seemed the bidding was over, a new voice called out: “I’ll offer one thousand taels…”
“O-one thousand taels?” Qin Jie’s jaw dropped. The crowd gasped and turned towards the entrance.
Qin Jie took a moment to recover, asking the newcomer: “And you are?”
The man replied seriously: “Madam doesn’t need to know who I am. Just tell me if these thousand taels are enough to see Miss Qinhuai.”
Qin Jie laughed, her eyes narrowing: “Enough, of course it’s enough. I believe no one will offer a higher price. You are the first guest Miss Qinhuai will see today!
Who would have known that the man would shake his head and say, “Mother misunderstood. The person paying is not me, but our young master. I’m just here to help him pay. My young master had something to do tonight and has already left. He specifically instructed me to leave the silver and hand it to Mother. As for meeting the Qinhuai courtesan, it can be postponed until he has time!”
Qin Jie, hearing that money was involved, didn’t care about what else was said and just kept nodding, “Good, good, good! Your young master can come see our Qinhuai courtesan whenever he wants!”
The man nodded, stepped forward, and directly handed the thick stack of silver notes to Qin Jie’s hand, then turned to leave…
“Wait a moment!”
I couldn’t help but call out to stop him: “Who exactly is your master?”
The man smiled mysteriously and said, “When the lady meets him, she will naturally know!”
“Can’t you tell me now?” Subconsciously, I still thought it was Xi Linyan.
