Then he ignored the woman's surprised expression and drank his tea.
The woman realized that she was being humiliated and had to leave reluctantly.
"Brother Zhou is really straightforward. Most people who come here attach great importance to their reputation." Yun Li sighed when he saw this.
Zhou Zhilu chuckled and said, "How much is this kind of vanity worth? Brother Yun, how come you are so familiar with this process?"
Yun Li was stunned for a moment, then lowered his head and sipped his tea while explaining naturally, "My cousin often comes to my house, and I've heard him describe the procedures here. Seeing him today, I didn't expect it to be true."
"Oh, I see." Zhou Zhilu nodded. It made sense.
In the center of the hall, there were several women playing the piano and some graceful women dancing to the music.
From time to time, she would move closer to the guests around her, and her long sleeves would gently brush across their faces, leaving behind a gust of fragrant breeze.
Zhou Zhilu sipped his tea and sighed, "This lobby is just the outermost area of Acacia Garden. Back home, it's like a booth. I heard that if you order a pot of wine, you can go upstairs to the private room. I wonder how much a pot of wine costs?"
"Twenty taels."
Zhou Zhilu glanced at Yun Li, who was pursing his lips, and asked, "Did my cousin say that?"
Yun Li wiped his forehead and nodded, "Brother Zhou is very smart. That's exactly what my cousin said."
Zhou Zhilu touched his purse, which was the same bag of money that Tu Qing had given him when he killed the demon moth in Wanghai County.
"Let's go, since we're here, let's go upstairs and take a look!" Zhou Zhilu slapped his thigh and immediately decided to buy some wine and go upstairs!
Seeing this, Yun Li was about to say something, but after hesitation, he held back.
This step of buying wine is also called paying for the wine, which means that you have to pay the wine fee in advance before drinking a glass of wine.
However, Zhou Zhilu overlooked one thing. Since the upstairs is equivalent to a private room, there must be a minimum consumption fee!
These twenty taels are just the money for the wine, and in addition to the meal expenses, there are also entertainment expenses.
The fee here is naturally the fee for inviting a prostitute from the brothel to provide services and performances specifically for you.
All in all, Zhou Zhilu spent sixty taels of silver.
You have to know that even though the income of the people in the capital is generally high, an ordinary family can only earn ten taels of silver a month, and the cost of a private room in Xiangsi Garden is equivalent to half a year's income for an ordinary person.
While eating grapes peeled by the beautiful woman beside him, Zhou Zhilu sighed that Acacia Garden was really making a lot of money. He thought he would open one himself when he made some money.
However, the girls in this private room are indeed more outstanding. Not only are they beautiful, but they are also well-educated and well-mannered, and they even have some knowledge of the local news.
Everyone was chatting happily when music suddenly sounded outside the window.
Before Zhou Zhilu could react, he saw Yun Li skillfully open the wooden window and look out.
Seeing this, Zhou Zhilu didn't want to say anything more, so he opened the window and looked out.
I saw that there were more than a dozen private rooms around with their windows open, and in the center surrounded by many private rooms, there was a circular stage.
There was a screen on the stage, through which one could see a graceful figure playing the pipa.
"Who is this?" Zhou Zhilu asked Yun Li.
Yun Li came back to his senses and said with a smile, "Brother Zhou, you've asked the wrong person. This is my first time here, how would I know?"
Zhou Zhilu curled his lips and said, "Your cousin hasn't told you this?"
Yun Li turned his head away awkwardly when he heard that.
The prostitute beside her explained, "This is our Acacia Garden's top courtesan, Sister Yaqin.
"We're having tea now. Someone will come and ask questions soon. If any gentleman can answer them brilliantly, he or she will have the opportunity to go to Sister Yaqin's room and drink and have fun together~"
As expected, a woman walked out from the stage below and said loudly, "Thank you all for coming to Acacia Garden. I would like to thank you all on behalf of Sister Yaqin. The title of today's poem is: Acacia Garden."
Yun Li pondered after hearing this and said, "Xiangsi Garden? Choosing this place name as the title is quite difficult."
However, as Zhou Zhilu looked at this scene, a poem suddenly came to his mind, and he recited it softly: "Back then, I was young, wearing thin spring clothes, riding a horse and leaning against a slanting bridge, with red sleeves waving all over the building."
Everyone in the room looked at Zhou Zhilu in surprise. Yun Li exclaimed in amazement, "I didn't expect Brother Zhou to have such talent. The idea of this poem is quite unique. Although the title is 'Acacia Garden,' the normal interpretation would be to praise the beauty and beauties of Acacia Garden, but Brother Zhou took a different approach and put himself first. And this 'Red Sleeves All Over the Building' directly addresses the theme. It's really wonderful."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Zhilu quickly waved his hands and said, "No, no, I was just saying it casually."
Yun Li asked curiously, "Brother Zhou, why don't you join us? After all, this courtesan is hard to come by."
Zhou Zhilu smiled calmly and said, "I don't want to participate in this kind of competition. Look around here, the people in these private rooms are basically accompanied by guards and attendants. Who can be here without background?
"Now they are arguing fiercely over a brothel girl, and I am just here to watch the fun, so why should I get into trouble just to show off?
"Compared to the Oiran, I'm more curious about who that guy is? He looks so weird!"
Looking in the direction Zhou Zhilu pointed, I saw a young man arguing loudly with someone in a private room.
What attracted Zhou Zhilu's attention was that the young man had gray skin, light yellow eyes, and even square pieces of rock-like keratin growing on his forehead.
Yun Li explained, "Brother Zhou, this is your first time seeing a foreigner. That person must be from the Rock Tribe, west of the Great Song. I heard they've lived in the mountains for generations. They can see clearly even at night, and their bodies are incredibly tough. Everyone in this tribe is a natural born martial artist. However, because they're small in number, they don't pose much of a threat to the Great Song."
It was the first time that Zhou Zhilu had seen such a strange foreigner, and he couldn't help feeling curious.
The competition among the elegant ladies soon came to an end, and a young man dressed in silk and satin happily followed the courtesan and left the place.
After watching the excitement for a while, Zhou Zhilu and Yun Li saw that it was getting late, so they left Xiangsi Garden.
However, just as they reached the lake and were about to get on the boat, they suddenly saw a figure jumping down from a tall building not far away and directly falling into the lake, disappearing without a trace, causing everyone on the shore to scream in shock.
Then I saw a group of gray-skinned Rock Tribe people surrounding me in panic, shouting some incomprehensible words.
Zhou Zhilu was surprised and asked, "He's drunk, and he's performing a diving show?"
Yun Li was also stunned and said, "Maybe there was a conflict due to jealousy and he got beaten up. This kind of thing is quite common."
Zhou Zhilu sighed when he heard this: "Your cousin really does talk about everything. Let me introduce him to you later."
Yun Li gave a bitter smile. "Of course, of course... My family has strict rules. You must not let them know that I've been here. I hope Brother Zhou will forgive me and not tell anyone about what happened today."
Zhou Zhilu patted Yun Li on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry, you just accompanied me to visit my sister today."
Then he touched his empty wallet and said regretfully: "But my sister can't be that expensive, so I'd better not come here next time."
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