Xuanqing Guard-Chapter 54: Li Garden

Brocade Pavilion, top floor, private chamber: Li Garden.

Li Garden was the most luxuriously decorated room in Brocade Pavilion, and naturally the most expensive too. It was only open to the most special guests—regular laugh-buyers had no right to even step inside.

Still, there was no shortage of people flush with silver eager to spend their coin just to sit in Li Garden.

For Brocade Pavilion had a rule: only clients who spent money in Li Garden could enjoy Brocade Pavilion’s most exquisite services, including the privilege of listening to the Fifth Grade Gongmo Songstress "Wen Xiuyun" sing, face to face.

Songstresses in the Jingjiu Dynasty were divided into nine grades; unlike noble ranks, songstresses were highest at First Grade, lowest at Ninth. In all the Flower Houses of Li City, the highest grade a songstress could attain was Fifth Grade "Gongmo".

In truth, the grades of songstresses weren’t some official creation by a Government Office of the Jingjiu Dynasty—the officials had better things to do. Rather, they were awarded by a private study called the "Baihua Workshop".

It all started as a joke, idle bookworms amusing themselves, publishing the grades in a picture book so obscure no one cared. The Baihua Workshop was, at the time, truly just a tiny operation for self-indulgent fun.

But then that picture book for personal amusement caught the eye of a wealthy merchant from the capital. As it happened, this merchant owned a massive Flower House. The gears in his conniving brain turned, and he threw all his promotional skills behind that previously ignored picture book. Predictably, his only motivation was to hype up the songstresses in his own house.

And with that, women who once just sold laughter in the pleasure quarters were instantly reborn as "songstresses" chased by scores of men. There even began to circulate colorful romance tales with them as protagonists.

So absurd it would make your scalp tingle.

But as time went on, this grotesque phenomenon became convention. Any large Flower House in the land would go to great lengths to get the Baihua Workshop to assign their songstresses a grade.

It was said the grading process was extremely harsh, cost a fortune, and—best of all—didn’t always succeed.?!

Whenever Shen Hao heard people gossiping about songstresses, he couldn’t help but laugh out loud, like listening to a string of comic sketches.

"General Flag, your reputation really pulls weight! When I tried to book this ’Li Garden’ chamber, the madam wouldn’t let me. But as soon as she heard you were hosting tonight, she nodded right away—and even asked if you wanted Wen Xiuyun to pour you some drinks! Tsk tsk."

Shen Hao grinned, taking a sip of tea and looking around. He’d long heard of this "Li Garden" but never been in before. The décor truly showed care: luxurious but not gaudy, with a cozy, relaxed atmosphere. The sandalwood incense wafting through the air was particularly soothing, putting people at ease.

"The ambience really is quite nice here."

"Of course, General Flag. Just the room fee here is a full one thousand taels of silver coins—and that’s just for a single night. Tsk, with that kind of money you could play with girls outside for half a year."

"The price is justifiable, up to a point. But it’s still overblown—let’s see if this Gongmo Songstress really lives up to the legend and makes us dizzy with delight."

"Heh heh, General Flag, you should try your luck seeing if you can stay overnight in Wen Xiuyun’s boudoir. I hear she hasn’t even been deflowered yet!"

"Stop dreaming. How much has Brocade Pavilion invested in her? Letting some guy walk off with her just like that—they’d lose their shirts! I’d bet Brocade Pavilion’ll have this Gongmo Songstress bring in the profits for a few more years, then throw a courtesan contest and auction off her first night. So tonight, let’s stick to drinks, music, and a bit of business talk. You don’t cause trouble for me, got it?"

"Hehe, don’t worry, General Flag, I won’t mess anything up."

Wang Jian was in high spirits today. He’d long heard of Brocade Pavilion’s "Li Garden" but this was his first time inside, not to mention a chance to see Wen Xiuyun perform live. So he’d tidied himself up thoroughly, even following Shen Hao’s example to wear casual dress and tie his hair stylishly, imagining himself the "handsome youth to charm beauties". He completely overlooked the reality that even with all the grooming in the world, he couldn’t get anywhere near "handsome youth".

Just after the bell rung for 5 p.m., the chamber door was knocked, and the madam walked in, ushering in two burly, middle-aged men.

Wang Jian stood to greet them, smiling broadly, "Households Commander Li! Households Commander Zhang!"

The newcomers laughed and, after Wang Jian welcomed them, clapped him heartily on the arm. "Haven’t seen you in years, boy! You’ve gotten sturdier!"

"Is the old man still keeping well?"

"He’s fine. Grandfather often talks about you two Commanders—sometimes, when the mood takes him, he’ll go on about those old days at Zhuo Huo Pass, fighting side by side, and drink down half a jar of wine before he’s done reminiscing."

"Hahaha, the old fellow still drinks like a fish? Once we’re finished here tonight, we absolutely must pay the old man a visit and share a few cups."

"Absolutely." Wang Jian replied with a laugh, then stepped aside to introduce Shen Hao. "Commander Gan, Commander Zhang, this is our Li City Black Banner Battalion’s General Flag, Shen Hao. General Flag Shen, these are Gan Lin and Zhang Qian from the Fengri City Garrison Thousand Households Station."

Shen Hao smiled openly and gave a respectful cupped fist. "I’ve long admired your names, Commanders, please, sit, sit!"

"Hahaha, no, it’s us who’ve long admired your reputation, General Flag Shen. That big case of rebellion made your name resound all across Jingxi!"

"Yes, indeed! We just didn’t expect General Flag Shen to be so young—a prodigy!"

After some pleasantries, everyone took their seats in order of rank and guest.

Gan Lin and Zhang Qian were both Deputy Thousand Households at Fengri City Garrison’s Thousand Households Station—through and through military men. Thirty years ago, they’d served under Wang Jian’s grandfather, fighting on the battlefield together.

On top of that, Gan Lin and Zhang Qian were old comrades of Jiang Cheng, the Thousand Households at Fengri City Xuanqing Guard Thousand Households Station; the three were still fairly close. This time, it was Shen Hao who had asked Wang Jian to act as host and bring Gan and Zhang together.

If you want someone over, you need an excuse; "women" always works best—especially a Fifth Grade Gongmo Songstress. Makes everyone look good.

Of course, the songstress was just the pretext. Shen Hao had his own reasons for wanting to connect with these two.

Hardly had they sat down before the madam ordered the food to be served. Taste aside, the presentation alone was stunning enough to get mouths watering. Combined with the rich aroma of liquor, the entire chamber soon brimmed with contentment.

And it wasn’t just delicacies and drinks—teams of beauties trailed in, too. All songstresses, all graded, though the highest among them was only Eighth Grade.

These songstresses were the backbone of Brocade Pavilion’s high-end service. As long as you could pay, you could take them into the Warm Pavilion or even their chambers for private fun.

Given that the Gongmo Songstress, no matter how tempting, simply wasn’t for sale—look but no touch, not ideal for one’s health!—these Eighth- or Ninth-Grade birds, lovely in face and figure, served as stand-ins, appetizers of sorts.

Wang Jian played host, spinning dirty jokes as if they cost nothing—crude, yes, but perfectly to Gan and Zhang’s tastes. The military was wall-to-wall men; shooting the breeze like this was par for the course.

Each man embraced two songstresses, who handled all the pouring and serving, and the men pinched, fondled, or squeezed to their hearts’ content. Whispered endearments only fanned the flames of lust.

Of course, this was all the power of silver—pay enough, pay plenty, and you could get down to business right here in the chamber if you wished.

With three rounds of drinks and five plates of food, introductions had been made all around.

"Forgive me for being direct, Commanders—I truly wished to meet you both, and second, I do hope you can help me with a matter."