Pei Lin was completely bewildered. How did he end up running into Yun Ling out of nowhere?
He touched his nose and immediately shifted the blame to the person next to him, saying, "It was my senior brother who wanted to come, so I'm accompanying him."
Shen Changliu choked on his words, nodded in agreement, but then, remembering that this person was Yun Chu's sister, he quickly shook his head and said, "It's not me."
Yunling didn't care about their little schemes. Seeing that she had been recognized, she was afraid that the stall owner would guess what was going on, so she quickly picked up two books from the stall, flipped through a couple of pages, and paid.
Pei Lin was stunned. It was one thing for this person to come to such a small stall, but to look through things in front of everyone without blushing at all was quite another. What an amazing person!
What are you doing here?
"Buying books? Didn't you see?"
Pei Lin lowered his voice, "I'm asking you why you bought these books? And how did you even know about them?"
"Of course it's useful."
"What's the use? Did some other young master send you here to buy this?" Pei Lin pressed on relentlessly, showing no intention of backing down. The thought of this person looking through these books with other men made him feel uneasy.
Yunling thought about it carefully for a while, and finally decided to reply with four words: "None of your business."
"I...I'm just afraid you'll get scammed. You're young, and those older men are good at lying. They'll use sweet words to coax you, deliberately get close to you, and even give you some money. When the time is right, they'll use some excuse to ask you out, and then you'll be in trouble."
Yunling didn't take it to heart, shrugged, and replied with the same four words, "Thanks for reminding me."
Pei Lin felt like he'd punched cotton. This person was always like this, always managing to infuriate him, yet he found it amusing. Then he thought, if she could be this infuriating even though they were so close, what would happen if she were with other men?
Thinking this way, his bad mood completely dissipated, and he just kept playing with Yunling's little tuft of hair. Even though his hand was slapped many times, he was happy to do it.
**
Yunling naturally dared not let Yun Shenghua and her family know about the books she bought, as it would have been very difficult for her to hide them. However, Yun Ruoxia, knowing that she used them to find inspiration for briefs, helped her cover for herself.
Therefore, Yunling could stay in bed and study every day after Yun Chu went to class. Perhaps because she had seen more exciting things, these ordinary scenes could no longer stir any waves in her heart.
However, this was also a good thing, as she could concentrate more on drawing. She planned to follow the madam's advice and combine the styles she had seen in the book to embroider peonies, osmanthus, and camellias on the front of her panties, or perhaps embroider the words of the young ladies in the building, or even embroider rabbits and nine-tailed foxes.
Yunling drew all three styles on paper, and two days later, she took them to Fengyue Tower along with menstrual cloths and cotton pads.
The madam couldn't help but imagine the entire brothel filled with guests just from seeing the blueprints. In just a few days, the number of young men coming to see the courtesan was twice as many as usual, and they stayed for two or three days at a time, spending very lavishly. She even complained that Yunling was too slow.
"Young lady, just do it according to your drawings, the sooner the better."
"Mom, this can't be rushed. It's good to let those people wait. As the saying goes, what you can't have is the most delicious and the most desirable. Also, what do you think of this menstrual cloth?"
The madam naturally understood this principle, but the sooner the item was in her hands, the sooner she could feel at ease. She then put down the blueprints, picked up the menstrual cloth beside her, and its appearance instantly captivated her.
"Is this really more absorbent than a menstrual belt?"
“It’s more than just a little,” Yunling said, untying a cotton pad and laying it flat on the table. She then poured the tea onto the pad. “Mother, just look. I’m just telling the truth.”
The madam watched in surprise as the tea was instantly absorbed. After all, she had worn briefs before, and even with such a thin layer inside, it wouldn't be uncomfortable. This was indeed more convenient and comfortable than a menstrual belt.
How much does this cost?
This time, Yunling learned her lesson. She directly took out the price list she had set for upper-middle-class families and showed it to the madam:
"Mom, look at the price here. But these cotton pads are selling very well, and we might have to wait for delivery in the blink of an eye."
The madam wasn't stupid. She felt the paper's texture, looked at the exquisite pictures and the price, and figured it was meant for the upper-middle class in the city; its popularity was understandable. So, she didn't dare to be careless and began to quote the price:
"I think it would be better to give each of the young ladies in our building a gift box. That way, they'll have a box to put them in. As for the panties in the gift box, they don't have to be plain. Just the ones from the pattern, one of each style, and they all have to be medium size."
"For menstrual cloths, I'll get three of each style. For cotton pads, I'll just buy the minimum quantity for now. You and I can calculate how many coins it will cost in total so I can pay the deposit first and you can deliver the goods as soon as possible."
"I wonder how many young ladies live in this brothel?"
As Yunling asked this question, her eyes were already scanning the area outside. This brothel had four floors in total. Except for the top floor, the rooms on the other three floors were all adjacent to each other. But before she could finish counting, the madam spoke up:
"When you come here, it's common to live a life of debauchery, so there are quite a few young ladies. Look, there are thirty-six rooms on this floor, and one hundred and eight rooms on the third floor. Our twelve most beautiful courtesans live on the top floor."
Yunling's mind raced, and she blurted out, "That's one hundred and twenty."
Upon hearing this, the madam covered her mouth and laughed, "You, you, you haven't been to places like this enough. I said there are thirty-six rooms, not that there are only thirty-six people inside."
Yunling couldn't help but rub her forehead. It seemed she was still too conservative. The ancients were their ancestors, of course they would be more adept at having fun than they were.
Seeing this, the madam laughed even harder. She fanned herself and said leisurely, "There are 140 visible ones, and 28 more waiting to be trained in the backyard. That makes a total of 168. You do the math."
After the madam finished speaking, she had someone bring the notebook, picked up a pen, and copied the names on it onto a piece of paper so that Yunling could take it back later.
Yunling didn't pick up a pen; she just calculated in her mind that she first needed to make the gift box deeper so that she could put in the panties, menstrual pads, and a small amount of cotton padding.
If the carpenter were to redo these, it would probably cost around 300 coins each, so she would just use 300 coins as the estimate.
As for the briefs, the embroidered pattern is key. As far as she knows, both Old Lady Fan and her eldest daughter-in-law are skilled embroiderers; embroidering a word or a flower shouldn't be a problem. And as for the price, the brothel isn't short of money.
Let's say it's sixty coins each, so a pair of embroidered briefs would cost ninety-two coins.
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