Chapter 2669: A Song of Red Silk

Everyone who comes here says they aren't here to find girls. 'Old Quan,' the turtle pimp, happily welcomed the young man at the door.

"Ah, everyone who reads books, they're all about gathering the wind, this old slave understands!"

Guarding a thriving flower building, doing the work of welcoming and seeing off guests, the choice between holding high and stepping low isn't a moral dilemma, but a professional one. Personal energy is limited, and so are the resources for treating guests. You need to know how to quickly screen valuable customers and offer them twelve points of enthusiasm.

Old Quan was outstanding in his field. He knew early on that "holding high is never too much, stepping low must be cautious." He smiled at everyone he met, almost wanting to "use his clothes as a foot cloth, and his body as a horse stool."

Of course, that doesn't mean he would let beggars in.

The young man who came today looked somewhat simple, but he was definitely no ordinary character.

After enduring wind and rain, his fine upper garment still had a restrained style.

This person's edges were not sharp, and his features weren't particularly outstanding, but he had a kind of calmness from the inside out.

The young man, dressed not quite decently, stood in an especially luxurious place of wind and moon, yet showed no awkwardness.

This wasn't the young man not knowing the height of heaven and the depth of the earth, but a huge sense of security cultivated from a young age!

To put it simply—this kid had a background.

Old Quan was certain of his sharp eyes, so he smiled especially diligently, using his own silk robe sleeve to wipe the dust from the young man's body, not caring how expensive his new clothes were.

"Young Master, this way please. This old slave will arrange for you..." As he spoke, he went to take the broken cloth-wrapped long strip object behind the young man; its sword shape was too obvious. According to storytelling routines, under this simple cover, there was definitely a world-renowned treasure sword.

So his hand, towards that dirty, broken cloth strip, also expressed great respect, welcoming it with a posture of holding.

The young man's hand pressed down on his: "Uncle, I'll carry it myself."

For that one moment, Old Quan was stunned.

Working in the building for so many years, watching it become more and more lively, this was the first time someone had called him "uncle."

The Song Dynasty was a country of Confucianism, emphasizing elegance.

Baihua Street was the wind and moon street of Shangqiu City, and Sandianxiang Building was the leader of wind and moon here.

The people who came here were generally not short of money. Among them, naturally, there were those who knew books and understood etiquette, treating people gently.

But he also understood that kind of politeness; it was condescending, the little sentiment of noble young masters and great writers pitying heaven and showing mercy to people, an accidental overflow of sympathy after spring flowers and autumn moons.

The young man in front of him, however, was equal and natural, like a greeting between neighbors, with a kind of down-to-earth self-view.

Old Quan's stunned expression, of course, was not due to being moved. A turtle pimp who worked in a brothel, if he were moved by this little bit of respect, would be too naive. He was doubting, doubting his earlier judgment... Could he really have welcomed in a poor egg?

That voice, "uncle," was too natural.

How could lords born above people look up at the sky with muddy boots?

"I understand, I understand." Old Quan still led the way ahead, still enthusiastic. Even though he was already a bit uncertain... At least the incense wasn't burned and the Buddha wasn't offended.

"A sword guest's sword must never be touched by others. That will break the wonderful realm of the unity of heaven and man."

He spoke words he didn't understand, showing a kind of clumsy eagerness to please mixed with genuine incomprehension, trying to make the guest feel more superior: "Come, this way, Young Master, what kind of wind do you want to gather today?"

"There's 'Still Holding the Pipa,' 'Jade Horizontal Spring Ridge,' 'Quiet Spring in an Empty Valley,' and 'Cherry Pointing to Water'..." Old Quan meticulously listed the building's treasures, quite self-satisfied in his words: "All are top-notch scenery in Shangqiu City."

Looking at his face, smiling like an old chrysanthemum, Chu Yao didn't know what he understood. But he knew he wasn't here to gather the wind. He waved his hand and said: "Uncle, the scenery is not for looking at. I'm here to find someone."

Old Quan's smile suddenly became much more natural. This was a familiar scene.

"Oh dear, this old slave has eyes but failed to see, neglecting a familiar guest!" Old Quan lightly fanned his own face: "Earlier I said those scenic spots were all for others to see, you definitely wouldn't care... Da Huang, go play on the side!"

He reached out and waved away the old yellow dog sleeping in the corner, his face wrinkled with a smile: "I'll first help you arrange a good elegant room... Who does Young Master want to find? Young Master?"

Chu Yao was just looking at the old yellow dog.

"Truly sorry, this old dog is ignorant and offended your eyes—this old slave will drive it away now." Old Quan used his foot to kick: "Da Huang, get lost!"

"No matter, Uncle." Chu Yao reached out and blocked him: "I just feel this dog is quite spiritual. Just now when I came in, it kept staring at me."

Old Quan didn't really want to kick it either.

Last winter, he saw this panting, dying old dog by the roadside and inexplicably felt a surge of kindness, giving it something to eat. Unexpectedly, the old dog, after chewing for a bit, just stood up and followed him all the way.

Thinking this old dog didn't have many days left to live and wouldn't waste much grain, he just raised it. He didn't expect that after a winter, the old dog's breath hung on and wouldn't stop.

It squatted there napping every day, not doing anything proper, yet its fur became more and more oily and smooth.

Later, he even brought Da Huang to the building to guard the door. A turtle pimp raising a guard dog also counted as having a companion.

Da Huang was spiritual; he always felt that whatever he said, Da Huang could understand.

He was a turtle pimp who welcomed and sent off guests with a smiling face, but he also had his sorrows, a belly full of bitterness with nowhere to tell it. Sometimes, he would close the door and talk to Da Huang. Da Huang's dog eyes would stare round and round.

He always felt Da Huang understood him.

Last month, a thug raised in the building shouted that he wanted to stew Da Huang for meat.

It was the first time in his life he had a heated argument with someone.

Finally, it was Qiong Zhi girl who spoke up, and then no one dared to have ideas about Da Huang again.

Qiong Zhi girl was beautiful and kind, with a somewhat cold appearance, but her heart was soft and gentle.

"This old dog also knows how to welcome noble people!" Old Quan grinned, revealing his gapped teeth: "Your noble aura goes straight to the heavens, mortals with fleshy eyes can't see it, but a dog is very spiritual."

His teeth were knocked out by that thug with broad shoulders, a thick waist, and a scarred face. It didn't hurt, it was just a bit troublesome that they were gapped.

But recent guests would all laugh several times because of these gapped teeth, so this was considered a very good thing.

"Uncle, don't embarrass me. If there's truly any aura that goes straight to the heavens, it's definitely my poor and sour air." Chu Yao smiled simply.

He indeed didn't lack money to spend. Although Master didn't give much, when he went out, Uncle Bai and Aunt Yu Chan both stuffed him with a lot, and usually Little Master Aunt still gave him pocket money.

But he forever remembered his mother, with her grey head and dusty face, working in the tile kiln all day.

The book said, "Every bowl of porridge and every grain of rice, remember that it comes from hard work." Growing up picking up broken tiles with her, he saw the process of sweat dripping into the bowl to become white rice.

He didn't pay excessive attention to one dog. Before coming, he had carefully investigated the military strength of this brothel, the speed of the supernatural support for Sandianxiang Building, and the response speed of the martial arts office on Baihua Street. He basically had a good understanding in his heart.

While facing the old yellow dog, he again carefully probed the supernatural aura and guard layout inside this brothel. He thought he already had an eighty percent grasp. Even in the worst-case scenario, where he had to resort to force, he could still properly resolve this matter.

"Don't arrange a room, Uncle. Just take me to find someone." He had the appearance of an honest child, speaking dutifully.

Old Quan, on the contrary, didn't feel anything was wrong.

Many guests with identities didn't like to "gather the wind" in the building. Walking out to ride a carriage through mountains and forests, or rowing a boat down a long river, that's what was considered elegant.

"Who do you want to find?" he asked.

He knew clearly in his heart the appearance and special skills of every girl upstairs and downstairs. If the noble guest found a familiar scene inconvenient, he would quickly arrange a better one of the same type.

"I want to find Little Cui," the young man said.

"What?" Old Quan didn't hear clearly. Where did such a rustic name come from in Sandianxiang Building?

"One hundred and fifty li west of Shangqiu, in Big Wind Village, Heyang Town, a person from Old Zhang Village. She is six years old this year. When she left the village, she was wearing a flower jacket and had one braid. She has a small round face and loves to smile. There is a black mole on the tip of her left eyebrow, and she has two dimples when she smiles..."

Chu Yao spoke seriously about the girl's situation, then looked at Old Quan and said: "Uncle, please trouble you to take me to find her."

Old Quan put his hand behind his back and quietly made a hand signal. His face was wrinkled, his eyebrows furrowed: "I didn't hear clearly. You said this Little Cui... how is she here with us?"

"Sorry, Uncle, I didn't speak clearly." Chu Yao, of course, noticed his action, but just honestly and sincerely apologized, explaining: "Little Cui was born without a mother. Her father also died the year she was three. When he went hunting in the mountains, he was chased by a blind bear... Little Cui was raised by her grandma. She also has an uncle, who is a gambler. His wife ran away, his child was lost, and he is idle all day. When he has no money, he goes to his old mother's house to scrounge for food. Last month, a tooth peddler went to Old Zhang Village, and her uncle secretly sold her, changing her for money to gamble. I heard... she was sold here."

"Young man." Old Quan was no longer smiling. Facts proved that the business he imagined did not exist, and the person he had invited was both poor and naive.

Only a bit of goodwill remained, causing him to speak: "If you don't like gathering the wind, why not just go home?"

Chu Yao wasn't a snow-skinned young man, but he also wasn't as dark as he was in his childhood. He didn't know how he had grown, his face was slightly sallow, appearing a bit more mature than his actual age.

He had a pair of slender eyes, which should have looked cunning, but now, seriously opened, they showed a kind of childish sincerity. "I said I'm not here to gather the wind, I'm here to find someone."

He took out a money bag: "You all spent five taels of silver to buy Little Cui. I'll pay twelve taels to buy her back. You all won't lose."

"Eat what? What to eat? This old man is hungry!"

The thug of Sandianxiang Building, "Old Dao," strode over, snatched the money bag from the young man's hand, and weighed it in his hand. He nodded his chin towards Chu Yao: "Get lost."

He was half a head taller than the young man.

The young man looked up at him: "You have received my money, which means you approve of this deal. Please call Little Cui over. I want to take her with me."

"Old Dao's" face had a huge knife scar running from the center of his brow to his left cheek; this was also the martial achievement he boasted about daily. His eyes suddenly widened, becoming fierce: "Did you not understand what this old man said?"

"Let it be, let it be. He's an ignorant country boy, let him go." Old Quan somehow kept thinking of the word 'uncle'. After thinking about it, he still came up to advise.

Old Dao slapped him, knocking him to the ground: "Let it be, let it be, my foot! What do you know?"

Before, he just wanted to taste some fragrant meat, but this old fellow dared to talk back to him, so they got into a dispute, and he knocked out one of this old fellow's teeth. He had been lenient enough! But this old bastard still reported him to Qiong Zhi girl... When did he, Old Dao, not know that he was being played for a fool!

Today, he wanted to be a good person here again, but if things blew up, Qiong Zhi girl would blame him again. Why was this old rabbit so troublesome!

But Old Quan fell down under the slap, and that country bumpkin from who knows where still stood in front.

"I understood what you said. I can leave. But you must call Little Cui over first, then I can leave." The young man was very stubborn: "You have already received the money."

"Are you leaving or not?" Old Dao grinned and laughed, his hand on the handle of his knife.

Chu Yao calmly looked at him: "Hand over the person, and I will leave."

"Old Dao, if you don't want to die, back off." A gaze fell from the second floor. The pale-faced, beardless Fengxiang Shi from Shangqiu, Cheng Jiliang, leaned on the railing and looked down: "The person in front of you is a martial arts practitioner."

Sandianxiang Building didn't have cultivators near the gods in every branch building; the one in Jidu City was considered top-tier. But Cheng Jiliang's cultivation in the outer building realm could still handle matters on Baihua Street.

"Playing with sticks, huh?" Old Dao glanced at the long, strip-shaped weapon on the young man's back and didn't think: "I'm also a martial arts practitioner."

"He's a cultivator," Cheng Jiliang said with a chuckle.

Old Dao, however, didn't speak, nor did he retreat.

Because Cheng old big was also a cultivator, a very strong one.

Dragons fight dragons when they come, mice fight mice. He was a fierce character among mortal thugs, and Cheng old big was strong among supernatural cultivators.

The distance between him and a cultivator was not insurmountable, but this level of trouble wouldn't require him to handle it.

"Boy, where are you from?" Cheng Jiliang, high up, asked.

"Old Zhang Village, Big Wind Village, Heyang Town," Chu Yao said.

"Go back," Cheng Jiliang waved his hand: "Sandianxiang Building is indeed a place to teach boys to become men, but not in the way you want now."

At this time, many onlookers had already gathered in the front hall, all laughing.

Cheng Jiliang himself also laughed: "I'm not a good person, but I do proper business. Sandianxiang Building is a happy place. I hope you find happiness here, not hardship."

He dug his ear: "Young man, go back now, and I'll pretend you just went to the wrong place."

"Cheng Fengxiang Shi!" Chu Yao said: "Old Zhang Village is a very small village. There is an old Zhang tree in the village. When the weather is good, the children play under the old Zhang tree. Little Cui was born without a mother, and her father also died the year she was three. She was raised by her grandma... Her grandma has already cried herself blind."

Cheng Jiliang patiently listened to him talk for a long time. When he heard about Little Cui's grandma, he finally became impatient: "Talking about her mother, her father, her grandma, what do you want to do with all this talk?"

"I want you to know that she is very pitiful," Chu Yao said.

"Then what?"

"Then you can let her go home and accept this money from me."

There was a kind of something in the young man's eyes that was hard to describe, perhaps naive or clumsy.

It made people want to laugh, but also not quite able to laugh out loud.

"You know we bought this person legally from a tooth peddler, not spending a single wen less," Cheng Jiliang said.

"I know," Chu Yao said.

"You know that we, Sandianxiang Building, do business openly and honestly. We never cheat, we always win guests with real service."

"I know."

"Then what reason do you have to come and ask for the person?" Cheng Jiliang asked.

Human tooth peddlers shouldn't exist in this world, that was Chu Yao's idea.

But human tooth peddlers existed everywhere.

He understood that his idea was not the law of this country. The world was so big, with different customs every hundred li. Each place had its own order.

There were many things he didn't understand. Just as many people didn't understand him.

Master told him to look more.

He had seriously understood Old Zhang Village, understood Big Wind Village, and understood Heyang Town. Now he had come to understand Shangqiu City.

He didn't have particularly amazing wisdom; he only had a pair of eyes that seriously looked at the world.

Of course, there was also the sword he carried on his back.

Master said—"You must always remember the spring of your life with its lush grass and chirping orioles, remember your youth. True honor comes from guarding beautiful things."

He carried this sword, and he thought now was his youth.

Little Cui's grandma's love for Little Cui was a beautiful thing in the world.

So he very clearly stated his reason, using the way of Shangqiu City: "Little Cui's uncle did not raise Little Cui for a single day. He has no right to sell Little Cui. Therefore, the deal between the tooth peddler and him should not be established. Little Cui's grandma asked me to bring back her granddaughter. I have received her entrustment and have the right to take Little Cui away myself."

He seriously finished these words, telling all the cold-eyed bystanders his reason.

Cheng Jiliang burst into laughter.

Chu Yao didn't know what he was laughing at.

After a long segment of laughter, Cheng Jiliang said: "What you say has nothing to do with us. If there's a problem with the tooth peddler's deal, then go find the tooth peddler."

"It has something to do with you all," the young man said seriously.

He half-squatted on the ground and took out a red wooden box from the storage bag he was holding.

He opened the red wooden box, and inside was an ice-sealed head.

The ice was very thin and transparent, so the expression on the head was very clear.

The onlookers all scattered back.

"I have already reasoned with the human tooth peddlers who bought Little Cui. They admitted that the deal in Old Zhang Village did not comply with the rules. This head is the price they paid for their mistake."

The young man slowly said, and then took out a contract book from a hidden layer in the wooden box. He held it with both hands and politely handed it forward: "They should not have sent a child who did not comply with the rules here to you. According to the contract, after compensating for your losses, I can take this child away."

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