Chapter 102: Flower Thief (II)

“Langjun, that glib tongue of yours truly makes me happy.”

While they were talking, an old woman’s husky voice sounded outside the room. Jiang Pengji frowned when she heard the voice, and Chun’er thought that Jiang Pengji was unhappy with her.

“At this time, who would still come bother us?”

Nothing had happened, but from an outsider’s view, the two girls had entered the room with Jiang Pengji to serve her. Under normal circumstances, no one would have the sense to bother them. No one would want to scare their customers away.

Xia’er got up and smiled sweetly. “Langjun, don’t worry. I’ll go see what’s wrong.”

After she finished speaking, she folded her sleeves and pushed open the doors. After that, the sound of Xia’er’s confused voice carried into the room.

Xia’er re-entered the room after a while with a grim smile and sofly announced, “That was the cleaning lady. She said that a girl escaped and the pimps have not caught her. Someone suspects that she may be hiding in one of the rooms.”

“They plan on entering your room to check?” Jiang Pengji frowned. If there was anyone else in the room, she would be aware.

“If we don’t let them search the room, there will be some gossip later.” Xia’er sighed.

Because of her clean history, she was selected to serve her mysterious patron, Wuma Jun, and her days in the brothel since then were much better than the other girls. Due to that, she had angered the star courtesan of the brothel. She had her suspicions that that courtesan was trying to tarnish her reputation.

“The brothel keeper agreed to the search?” Jiang Pengji raised her brows and sneered. “Even though she knew I’m in this room, she still sent someone here? Is she purposely trying to anger me? I’m all right with this and I won’t fuss over such a thing with an old brothel keeper, but you two will be at a disadvantage here.”

The two girls wore an awkward expression.

“Let that woman in. The both of you stay here and don’t move. Don’t let anyone bump into you,” Jiang Pengji said happily.

Once they were granted access, the cleaning woman and two men dressed in grey hemp clothes entered the room. They messed up the room in their search.

The two girls started panicking as the noise from the search grew louder.

“Don’t panic. Nothing’s wrong.”

After a long while, the noise died down and Jiang Pengji got up from behind the folding screen. She faced the humpbacked woman and asked, “Have you found anyone?”

The old woman gave a slight bow and smiled. Her tanned face looked oily under the candlelight and she had a huge mole on the side of her lips. She gave off a wretched feeling when she said, “We have bothered Langjun. We did not find anyone and I’ll be leaving now.”

Jiang Pengji nodded her head in a gesture for her to leave with the pimps.

“This woman is exceedingly rude. To think she would mess up our room…”

Chun’er normally had the best temper, but when she saw how messy her dressing table was, she got angry. Her makeup was in a disarray and was touched by the others during their search. Some of her makeup was contaminated and she felt ill with disgust.

“Check if there’s anything missing,” Xia’er calmly replied. “Mama always suspects us for secretly stashing away money. She might use this chance to let that old woman take away anything.”

Chun’er did not dare get up to check as Jiang Pengji was still in the room.

“Don’t worry, nothing is missing.” Jiang Pengji smiled when she took a look around. “But there is something else added in instead.”

Chun’er blinked owlishly. “There’s something else hidden here?”

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“Yes.” Jiang Pengji circled the room twice and withdrew two green sachets from a place even the two girls were unaware of.

“Those sachets belong to which filthy man?” Xia’er stepped forward to take a look then threw it aside when she felt that it was something disgusting.

“That’s not important. The content is much more interesting.”

Jiang Pengji opened the sachet and found a dried plant. She took it out and brought it to her nose for a sniff. She suddenly frowned and asked, “Lady Chun, you know how to create your own cosmetics and medicine. Do you know what this is, or its drug effect?”

Before Chun’er was sold to Yingchun Mansion, she was the daughter of a physician. Due to her father’s work, she slowly picked up some things along the way and was somewhat knowledgeable about medicines. She looked at Jiang Pengji and then moved forward to check the sachet’s contents. The items looked familiar.

“Don’t smell it for too long. It’s not good for you.” Jiang Pengji lifted a hand to hold Chun’er’s fair wrist. “I have no idea what that medicine is, but it has some bewitching quality to it. If you smell it for too long, you will become dazed and your thoughts will become muddled. You won’t be aware of your surroundings.”

When Chun’er heard that, she threw the dried plant to the floor. She then suddenly thought of something and her face flushed with anger.

“Which shameless man brought this here? The girls here not only have to serve their patrons, but now those castrated men dare to take advantage of us?” Chun’er spat.

Jiang Pengji finally understood what that dried plant was: It was this era’s version of a date-rape drug.

Xia’er grit her teeth and was obviously distressed when she said, “It’s definitely planted by those two pimps!”

Once a girl entered a brothel, their life was degraded by others.

Sometimes, Chun’er heard the other girls talk about how the pimps would bully them on the sly.

Jiang Pengji smiled. Did the pimps really plant those drugs? Perhaps not.

Host V: “Seems like something interesting came up. Are you guys still sleepy? Do you want to watch something fun?”

Yimi Yangguang: “Eh, what have you discovered?”

Yiqihua Sanqing: “I watched until I was dumbfounded and the host is still trying to keep us guessing! You’re so mean!”

Hongjun Laozude Juhua: “I have a feeling the host is up to no good. Count me in. There’ll be no sleep for me tonight.”

Fangkai Naduo Juhua: “The host is definitely up to something.”

Hongjun Laozude Juhua: “Tsk. I think the host is killing that something.”

Jiang Pengji came to a decision when she noticed that her audience was getting rowdy.

She turned to the two girls and said, “You two should rest early––especially lady Xia. Be mindful these few days and keep away from cooling foods. When I’m free, I will come back and bother you girls again. If you have any problems, you can come by the Liu residence to look for me.”

Fanghuajiu: “I feel like these two girls are your type. Why aren’t you saving them from this place?”

Jiang Pengji noticed the comment and met Xia’er’s eyes. The other girl looked like she had something she wanted to say. Jiang Pengji then gave a slight nod and bid her leave.

Why am I not saving them?

Host V: “Because I can’t save them. There are many girls far more pitiful than them. If I saved every girl who was my type, how many would that be? To save them is not just bringing them away from this place… You would still need to help them build their foundation and help them survive. To really save them is to change what brought them to their current circumstances.”

Maybe Jiang Pengji could do it.

Fanghuajiu: “Even though I don’t really understand what’s going on, I feel like you’re really kind.”