Old Mrs. Li then left first, but Mrs. Cui was worried about leaving and hurriedly went into the house to find Jiayin.
Jiayin rubbed her eyes, still a little dazed from being woken up.
Madam Cui quickly helped her get dressed, muttering under her breath, "Who on earth is it? Why come here to cause trouble instead of enjoying a peaceful life? Senior Brother Wen isn't here, and neither is the Marquis. If something really happens, what if the village suffers?"
She didn't expect Jiayin, a little girl, to understand, but Jiayin did understand anyway.
Someone is causing trouble!
Her drowsiness vanished instantly, and she clung to Madam Cui's back, urging, "Master, let's go!"
Madam Cui gave her a hand and hurried to the mouth of the valley.
At this moment, a hundred or so people had gathered at the mouth of the valley, including not only villagers of all ages, but also guests from the valley and their servants and drivers.
Surrounded in the center were more than twenty women, each dressed in a light gauze dress, with flowers in their hair, and their eyebrows and eyes drawn, making them look alluring and beautiful.
Especially the one in the middle, wearing a light blue long dress, with her hair styled in a flower bun and adorned with a jade hairpin, and small pearls subtly hidden in her hair bun, echoing the pearl necklace around her neck and the beaded bracelet on her wrist.
This made her features appear even more gentle and her demeanor even more elegant, like a fairy descended to earth, making people dare not profane her, yet unable to resist wanting to get closer...
Needless to say, this is Hua Ruyue and her Flying Dance Troupe.
The village chief and Old Lady Li stood opposite the women, while the rest of the villagers stood behind them.
The men in the village, in particular, were pulled to the women's sides and dared not utter a word. If they even looked up at the women, they would be glared at fiercely.
But the male guests in the valley were in high spirits, their eyes lingering brazenly on the women's fair necks...
The village chief and Old Lady Li watched with growing disgust for these women.
The village chief spoke directly, "You say you are guests of the Marquis, invited by him to stay for a while. Do you have any letters or tokens from the Marquis?"
The women all frowned and complained in their soft voices, "The Marquis is in a hurry to go to war. He only told us to come here and that we would discuss the details when he returns. How could he have time to write letters and give tokens?"
"Yes, we're not bandits or thieves. Do you think we'd kill or set fire to the village? It's just that the Marquis couldn't bear to see us arrive in Jiangnan and have nowhere to stay, so he invited us to stay for a while."
Some women spoke rudely, saying, "You are nothing but servants. Do you dare to question your master's decisions? You are blocking the guests invited by your master from entering?"
The village chief's face darkened upon hearing this, but Old Lady Li spoke up, "We just returned from the docks. The Marquis had already gone to war by then, so there was no way we could have seen you again. Even if we had seen you, and invited you, there would have been some personal guards to escort you without any tokens or letters. It's impossible for you to just ask to stay at the Marquis's residence without even a personal guard!"
“Yes,” the village chief also came to his senses, “what if we’ve let a wolf into the house? What if you’ve plotted against the Marquis? How are we supposed to explain this to him?”
The women stomped their feet in anger, looking helpless and aggrieved. "You... why can't you reason with us? Can we lie?"
Unfortunately, no matter how much they pleaded or threatened, the villagers simply wouldn't let them pass.
Hua Ruyue frowned, clutching her handkerchief tightly in her hand.
Having failed to find an opportunity to "meet" the Marquis of Xinting at the dock, she decided to take a shortcut and find the Marquis of Xinting's hot spring resort.
As long as she stays in the Marquis of Xinting's courtyard as a friend, let people spread the word in Xindu.
When Marquis Xinting returns, he will have no way to explain himself.
Then, she can use some tricks to win him over, and they will have a place to stay in Jiangnan.
When she becomes the new Marquis of Xinting's woman, her position will be even more secure if she can have a child.
The sisters in the troupe would design a new dance in the hot spring valley, and occasionally perform a fairy bathing routine. Countless men would flock to them with their money.
With a man to protect her, a child to rely on, and a money-making machine to continuously earn gold and silver, she no longer needed to travel around or do those dirty things...
She had planned it all out, and when she arrived at Broken Gold Beach, she was extremely satisfied.
But to my surprise, these peasants were so unreasonable and hard to fool.
She suppressed her anxiety and dissatisfaction, her face still smiling gently. The villagers bowed gracefully and she said, "Fellow villagers, the Marquis has gone on an expedition and has not had time to make many arrangements. We also arrived suddenly, so these misunderstandings are inevitable. We have caused trouble for you all, and it is all our fault. Please do not take offense."
Being overly polite is never a bad thing, and her demeanor did indeed put the villagers at ease.
Even the village chief waved his hand and said, "You don't need to do this. Take your men and leave quickly. You can come back when the Marquis returns."
Hua Ruyue bit her lip, seemingly in a difficult position. "Uncle, we just came from Jiangbei, and we have no relatives or friends here. We only came because of the Marquis's kindness in taking us in. If we leave, we really have nowhere to go. As a group of women in such a chaotic world, if anything goes wrong, we might lose our lives. How about this, I have a compromise, what do you think, Uncle?"
Before the village chief could speak, she directly stated her plan.
“We are the Flying Sky Dance Troupe, and I am the troupe leader, Hua Ruyue. Our specialty is singing and dancing. I see that the hot spring valley in the village is welcoming guests, and there are so many courtyards and wooden houses. Village chief, could you please give us a place to stay temporarily? We are willing to choreograph songs and dances every day to entertain the guests and add some liveliness to the valley. How about that?”
"Great! Soaking in a hot spring while watching a song and dance performance, just thinking about it makes me happy!" a male guest in the valley exclaimed in agreement.
Hua Ruyue quickly turned around and bowed to the man, smiling with gratitude and shyness. "Thank you for your appreciation, esteemed guest. Our Flying Sky Dance Troupe was only famous in the North before. Now that we have just entered the Jiangnan region, we will rely on your support in the future."
"Of course, of course!"
The guest responded, prompting the other male guests to chime in as well.
"Everything in the hot spring valley is great, except it's boring. But with the addition of a song and dance troupe, we won't be lonely anymore."
"Yes, haha, you should come more often in the future."
Hua Ruyue and the women in the song and dance troupe were probably used to such teasing and didn't think much of it, but the village chief and Old Lady Li and others turned pale.
Is this perfectly good hot spring resort going to turn into a prostitution business?
"No way!" Li Lao Er was also annoyed. He took a few steps forward and interrupted Hua Ruyue and the other guests from exchanging glances with the male guests in the valley with a stern face.
He said loudly, "Our valley has more than just male guests; we also have many female guests. They come here to soak in the hot springs and enjoy the beautiful scenery and delicious food of the valley. For the time being, we don't want to change our business model, nor do we want to let the dance troupe in."
"Of course, if our distinguished guests wish to see a song and dance performance, we will immediately refund the ticket price, and they are welcome to return to the city and stroll around the flower market."
Li Lao Er was usually tactful, but his blunt and harsh words showed he was furious.
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