Chapter 25: Unusual

Miss Liuyun blushed and kept an ambiguous posture with him. Neither of them dared to make a sudden move. If any roof tile fell, it would wake others. If people saw the two of them on the roof, no amount of explaining could hide their ambiguous relationship. It was like a rabbit eating the grass near its own burrow — a major taboo in the Pleasure House.

They held each other in a deep embrace for a long while. After making sure their footing was secure and no one had woken up, Liu Liwa slowly let her go. Miss Liuyun felt a bit lost and could only repeatedly thank him. However, her voice was particularly hoarse, like an owl hooting softly, or even more like two sheets of sandpaper rubbing together. Hearing it made one’s skin crawl.

Every word was a struggle for Liuyun. Liu Liwa quickly waved his hand to stop her, signaling her to sit down, and said softly, “You’re welcome. Please take good care of your voice.”

Liuyun shook her head, her face flushed red, which only made her look more beautiful. She spoke with difficulty, “It doesn’t matter anymore. My voice is probably ruined for good. It doesn’t matter if I protect it or not. Thank you so much for today, young master, otherwise…”

Liuyun didn’t finish, but Liu Liwa knew that Wang Meng had charged up at that time, and a beating and humiliation were unavoidable. As for her future fate, when women in the Pleasure House grew old or fell ill, the lighter punishment was being kicked out, while the heavier one was being eliminated. This rule continued until before liberation.

What frustrated Liu Liwa was why these women were so pessimistic. Qin Wan’er was like that too — before anything even happened, she was already thinking about killing herself. Miss Liuyun was the same; even though things had passed safely, she still acted half-dead.

Liu Liwa smiled and said, “You mustn’t underestimate yourself. I clearly heard when you sang the first song that your voice was just strained. This means it’s not hopeless. You’re just overusing your voice, causing it to become tired and hoarse. At most, it’s a mild case of vocal nodules. May I ask, Miss, do you often practice your voice continuously and frequently sing high notes?”

Although Miss Liuyun didn’t understand some of the words, she grasped the general idea. She nodded, looking somewhat surprised. Liu Liwa immediately smiled and said, “Then there’s no problem. This situation is very common. But please forgive me for saying something improper. From my observation, your vocal range isn’t wide — that’s your natural characteristic — and your lung capacity isn’t sufficient either. You’re not suited for songs with high notes or frequent changes in pitch and tone. Otherwise, it will harm your voice greatly.”

Liu Liwa, as an Agent in a performing arts company, had seen this too many times. Many singers went to great lengths to have their own unique style. For example, some men imitated women’s voices to sing, and some women sang rock with a hoarse voice. In reality, they didn’t have the vocal cords or range for it. To put it bluntly, they weren’t cut out for it. But to become famous and climb the ladder, they spared no cost. Many young people developed vocal nodules and had to undergo surgery, resulting in a lifetime of difficulty speaking. Actually, people should be down-to-earth. For example, Brother Zeng started running from the beginning and never intended to run back, instead creating his own style!

But at this moment, these words were basically wasted. Miss Liuyun didn’t understand a single word. For the sake of her voice, Liu Liwa wasn’t afraid of hurting her self-esteem and said directly, “Miss, I advise you, if you want to speak normally in the future, stop singing. Singing really isn’t suitable for you.”

How many KTV hostesses and song attendants sang worse than a dog whose tail had been stepped on, yet they still made loads of money!

But Miss Liuyun kept shaking her head. She forcefully cleared her throat, feeling as if a huge rock was lodged in her throat. Her hoarse voice made one’s whole body tingle: “I can’t stop singing. Young master, you saw what happened to me today. If I can’t sing anymore in the future, I’ll definitely be forced to receive guests, and then I’ll end up just like Sister Caixia…”

Before she could finish, the tears that had been welling up in her eyes began to fall again. Seeing Liu Liwa’s confused expression, Liuyun explained, “I remember when I was first sold to Intoxication Pavilion, Sister Caixia was the top courtesan here. Back then, she told me that I must protect my purity; only then can a woman have a future!”

Wow… Liu Liwa was stunned for a moment. Who exactly was this Sister Caixia? What she said was so profound. Sister Caixia should have been a teacher in a later-era art school, sharing her views with the female students there!

Due to her voice condition, Miss Liuyun briefly recounted the guidance and help Sister Caixia had given her at that time. She told Miss Liuyun that in the Pleasure House, all women, regardless of beauty or plainness, couldn’t escape their ultimate fate. But if you had extraordinary skills and could continuously protect your purity, when you met the right person, there was still a chance to escape the fiery pit. So, back then, Miss Liuyun began learning musical skills and singing from Sister Caixia, step by step, until today.

However, during that time, Sister Caixia also developed a hoarse voice and couldn’t sing anymore. This showed that not everyone lacked talent, but the songs of this era were too wicked. As Bai Juyi said, the large strings boomed like pelting rain, the small strings whispered like secret confidences. Sometimes fast, sometimes slow, sometimes high, sometimes low — these were the most prominent features of guzheng performance, capable of expressing different moods and states of mind. Therefore, the songs of this time were generally written directly for the qin melodies. Singers naturally had to sing with varying pitches and constant changes in tone. Without having studied formal music knowledge with Teacher Li Shuangjiang, any singer would develop vocal nodules.

Tragically, because Sister Caixia had vocal nodules and couldn’t sing, she went directly from being a star to a courtesan, forced to receive guests. Since Sister Caixia was exceptionally beautiful, Intoxication Pavilion only arranged for her to entertain noble guests from the Capital City. However, Sister Caixia refused to comply, even at the risk of death, sticking to her principles, guarding her purity, and waiting for her destined one.

Not long after, Sister Caixia disappeared, as if evaporated from the human world. Miss Liuyun said that Sister Caixia once appeared in her dream, and in the dream, she looked utterly miserable.

Liu Liwa didn’t pay much attention to the dream, and Sister Caixia’s fate was predictable. What concerned him now was that Miss Liuyun had mentioned noble guests from the Capital City again. Why did Intoxication Pavilion care so much about people from the Capital City? If they were currying favor, they didn’t need to be so deliberate! Like today, when Liuyun, as the star performer, made a temporary mistake and it wasn’t even certain she could never sing again, they immediately wanted to punish her severely just to appease Young Master Ye. Additionally, with Sister Caixia, because she didn’t serve the guests from the Capital City, she vanished without a trace. To cater to Capital City guests, they wouldn’t hesitate to take lives — wasn’t that going too far? What hidden reasons were there?