Madam Jin was utterly bewildered by her smile. With a cold face, she began reciting the lines she had spoken countless times, "Once you enter my Lingyan Pavilion, you are under my care, Madam Jin. But don't worry, as long as you behave, I will certainly not mistreat you. With your beauty, with a little training, you could even become a courtesan queen."
Feng Xin Yao let out a cold snort, "How much did you pay for us? I'll pay triple the silver to buy our freedom."
Hua Qian Yue exclaimed, "My, my, this girl certainly talks big. Madam Jin, where did you find these two?"
Madam Jin's face remained grim, "A gambler brought them, said they were his daughters. I saw this one's potential, and the other wouldn't be too bad with some nurturing, so I bought them."
"Ha! Sold by your own father, and you still dare to talk like that. You girl, are quite the braggart." Hua Qian Yue was beautiful, but her mind, honed by the arts of pleasing men in the brothel, was not particularly sharp. Otherwise, with her looks, if she had seized an opportunity in her youth, she wouldn't be in her current age, still struggling to make a living in this establishment.
Of course, the joys and sorrows of people varied, and the blood and tears stories behind the women of Lingyan Pavilion were even more diverse, not to be generalized.
Hua Qian Yue dismissed Feng Xin Yao's words as bluster, but Rong Si Liang and Liu Ru Mei had already realized something was amiss.
A country girl, a gambler's daughter, reacting like this upon learning she was sold into a brothel? Madam Jin took Lu Nian Fu's hands. Her touch was incredibly smooth, her slender fingers like green onions peeled, not even a hint of a calluse.
It was evident she was accustomed to a life of luxury.
Having been in brothels for years, they knew intimately the machinations within the inner courtyards.
A mere guess told them these two girls had been framed by someone, they just didn't know the depth of the feud. Killing was one thing, but to deliberately bring someone to a brothel to ruin them?
Even if a girl from a respectable family merely passed through a brothel, even if nothing happened, her reputation would be irrevocably destroyed.
Lingyan Pavilion desperately needed a stunning young girl to be their cash cow. This was why Madam Jin had immediately decided to buy Lu Nian Fu upon seeing her face, without a second thought. But now, Madam Jin hesitated. The demand for triple the redemption price was not something an ordinary family would offer. Ruining these two girls was easy for Lingyan Pavilion, but if they faced retaliation from the forces behind them, how could the helpless Lingyan Pavilion protect its older courtesans?
Madam Jin quickly made a decision, "Triple the redemption price is not enough. At least ten times."
Feng Xin Yao breathed a sigh of relief, about to agree, when she heard Lu Nian Fu say, "Buying freedom, such a small business, what's the point? Madam Jin, why don't we strike a bigger deal?"
"Madam!" Feng Xin Yao panicked. If she weren't bound, she would have already rushed to cover Lu Nian Fu's mouth.
What business? The most important thing now was to escape this hellhole before anyone noticed.
Madam Jin eyed her suspiciously, "What kind of business do you want to do?"
"Aside from Lingyan Pavilion, do you have other dealings with me, Madam Jin?"
In her past life, after losing her father, she had drifted through life in a daze until she was sold to the capital. If it hadn't been for Lingyan Pavilion, she didn't know what horrors she would have endured. In a way, Lingyan Pavilion was her benefactor.
Later, using Lingyan Pavilion as her foundation, she had built an empire. Although the fruits of her labor were stolen by Situ Jue, without Lingyan Pavilion, her past life might have been even more miserable.
Reborn, she was determined to avoid the path of her previous life. Therefore, even after arriving in the capital, she had not sought out anyone from Lingyan Pavilion.
But fate was like that.
It was like an intricate, invisible thread. No matter how one twisted and turned, the connections destined to be made remained, and then one day, they met unexpectedly.