Chapter 115: Heartless and Ungrateful

The full assembly of the Intoxication Pavilion officially started with an order from Wu Liniang.

The atmosphere in the entire meeting place clearly became tense. The girls were silent as crows. Some looked radiant, some seemed gloomy, some were listless, and some had fallen asleep, carrying on the usual meeting habits of our vast Celestial Empire.

Wu Liniang was no exception. Although she wasn’t holding a script, she had the meeting speech memorized by heart. First, she fully affirmed the recent performance of the Intoxication Pavilion and greatly praised the girls’ responsible work attitude and diligent, enterprising work methods. Then, she looked ahead to the future of the Intoxication Pavilion, set the work focus for the next stage, and once again mentioned new personnel appointments: Yang Xiaosi, Liu Liwa, as well as the addition of new girls and Leftover Warriors…

In short, the assembly followed the consistent style of Celestial Empire meetings. No meeting was not grand, no speech was not important, no resolution was not passed, no applause was not enthusiastic, no hearts were not uplifted, no leader was not attentive, no progress was not smooth, no problem was not solved, no task was not exceeded, and no achievement was not tremendous!

This Wu Liniang might have had an addiction to power, or maybe it was just force of habit. Her long-winded speech was like later-era leaders’ meetings: international, domestic, local, out-of-town, last year’s, this year’s, last month’s, this month’s… endless and mumbled.

Just as everyone was about to fall asleep, Wu Liniang suddenly changed her tone, and her voice turned cold: “Next, let’s talk about yesterday’s incident—namely, girls like Qiao Yun and Ying’er, who left the Intoxication Pavilion without permission to benefit themselves, severely damaging the image of our Intoxication Pavilion…”

Damn it! Liu Liwa was almost asleep, but hearing this, he immediately perked up. ‘Severely damaged the image of the Intoxication Pavilion’? Isn’t the Intoxication Pavilion just a brothel? Was this image even afraid of being damaged? And then Wu Liniang’s words shocked him even more, leaving him stunned.

“Although girls like Qiao Yun and Ying’er made serious mistakes, after criticism and education, they have deeply recognized the severity of their errors and actively accepted the criticism, promising not to repeat similar mistakes. With an attitude of learning from past mistakes to prevent future ones and curing the sickness to save the patient, we decided to forgive their faults, cancel the original punishment, and only fine each person thirty silver taels. The punishment of closing their doors and refusing guests was also canceled.”

Liu Liwa dizzily applauded this humane decision along with the girls. Still, Wu Liniang’s words made him both laugh and cry—a brothel madam talking about learning from past mistakes, curing the sickness to save the patient, and saving fallen women. It was like city guards helping peddlers hawk their goods.

But the girls all expressed support for this decision. After all, it showed the humane side of the Intoxication Pavilion. With today’s example, they wouldn’t face harsh punishment if anything happened in the future.

As the applause died down, Liu Liwa felt the atmosphere in the meeting place change again. Shen Zuijin took out a small booklet from somewhere and quietly handed it to Wu Liniang. Liu Liwa noticed that many girls around him clenched their hands, extremely nervous.

Wu Liniang flipped through the booklet in front of her and said in a somewhat sorrowful tone: “As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. And as another saying goes, the pleasure house is iron, but the girls are flowing water.”

Pfft… Liu Liwa had just picked up his tea to take a sip but spat it all out upon hearing this, nearly spraying it onto Wu Liniang’s face. She, Shen Zuijin, and Wang Meng all glared fiercely at him. Liu Liwa quickly waved his hand and said, “Go on, I won’t drink anymore.”

If he drank again, who knew what other hard sayings were waiting? He would surely choke to death.

Wu Liniang shot him a glare, then looked down and flipped through the small booklet, reorganizing her thoughts. This greatly surprised everyone present. Their eyes toward Liu Liwa were full of doubt and awe. Who in the Intoxication Pavilion dared to be so insolent in front of Wu Liniang? The nicknames “Black and White Impermanence” for Shen Zuijin and Wang Meng weren’t for nothing. Yet, when Liu Liwa acted this way, no one said a word, showing his extraordinary status.

Wu Liniang sorted out her thoughts and gave Liu Liwa a fierce warning look before saying: “Everyone knows that our Intoxication Pavilion holds such a big meeting every year just before the Spring Festival. But this year, because of yesterday’s incident, we’re addressing it together. First, to warn everyone not to act recklessly, and second, to resolve this matter. The weather hasn’t turned to winter yet; it’s not very cold. If handled properly, it can save the sisters from suffering.”

Huh? Liu Liwa frowned. He had understood the earlier parts about saving fallen girls and “the pleasure house is iron, but the girls are flowing water.” But now he started to get confused; he didn’t understand a single word. Looking around, he saw many girls wore expressions of tension and panic, as if doomsday had arrived.

Then Wu Liniang spoke again: “We’ll still follow the old rules. This roster in my hand has already listed the names of sisters who meet the criteria. As per the old rules, if you are willing to step forward now, each of you only needs to pay one hundred silver taels. If there’s no word after three days, then I’m sorry.”

Wu Liniang spoke lightly, acting as if it were no big deal, but Liu Liwa was completely baffled. What did it all mean?

The meeting place first fell into a deathly silence, then became chaotic. Sighs and sobs started small but grew, rising and falling one after another. Liu Liwa hated feeling clueless; it made him feel particularly powerless. He secretly poked the gloomy-looking Miss Yanhong beside him and asked, “What’s wrong with everyone? What does the madam mean?”

Yanhong sighed softly and said, “Didn’t you hear it earlier? ‘The pleasure house is iron, but the girls are flowing water.’ They say prostitutes are heartless, but actually, it’s them who are even more heartless and ungrateful…”

Yanhong whispered, glancing at the lofty trio of Wu Liniang and the others, who seemed to be looking down on all from the clouds, and said bitterly: “We’re young now, have good looks, and men like us, so we can earn silver for them. That’s why the earlier scene happened: even after making big mistakes, they still forgave us—all because they value our worth. But now they turn on us in an instant. The Intoxication Pavilion has a rule: girls over twenty-eight are automatically dismissed. Every year, some sisters reach that age. Before the New Year, they can pay one hundred silver taels and pack their bags to leave. For those popular girls, people rush to redeem them before they reach that age. Even if they do reach that age, they might be taken as mistresses by lords and wealthy men, or even become concubines. Those on the second and third floors came to the Intoxication Pavilion in their teens; after more than ten years, they can save up a thousand or so silver taels. Besides the one hundred taels, the rest is enough for their later years. Only we older girls suffer. After more than ten years of scrimping and saving, we’re lucky to have two to three hundred taels. After paying them one hundred, what’s left barely lasts long. And by then, we’re old and faded—even old widowers wouldn’t want us. In previous years, some sisters were dismissed and soon after froze or starved to death in the icy snow. So every year at this time, for people like us, it feels like receiving a summons from the King of Hell…”