Since the Gu family bought and integrated Jieyou Pavilion, the girls there no longer need to sell their bodies; they only sell their talents.
Hua Shiyi Niang was the highest earner among them. She managed these girls and was also responsible for selecting people and adding fresh blood.
The other girls also earn about ten taels a month, not to mention the tips given by those generous customers.
The Jieyou Pavilion originally had twelve girls and thirteen maids, all of whom had their talents discovered.
Now, all twenty-odd people have saved enough money to buy a house.
They had all booked small houses in the new city, the kind with a courtyard, two bedrooms, a main room, a kitchen, and an outhouse, for a total of only one hundred taels of silver.
The Gu family also provided them with conveniences; as long as they bought a house, they could pay in full over three years. Now, everyone in Jieyou Pavilion has their own house and is just waiting to move in.
The girls in Jieyou Pavilion, apart from Hua Shiyi Niang, ranged in age from 13 to 29.
The younger ones were all maids; they were still young women, and longed to get married.
Most of the other girls who had worked as prostitutes thought about living alone, raising a child to support them in their old age if the opportunity arose, and getting married. They never considered that.
...
This night was unforgettable for the people of Kuncheng.
The second lantern festival was much more lively than the first, and they also earned more money than in the first year.
Gu Xin, who usually calculates her family's income, didn't think about it at all tonight. After returning to her room, she took out her large suitcase.
This is a large trunk that Uncle Gu specially made for his daughters to store their favorite things. It is divided into compartments, making it more flexible than a regular large trunk.
Gu Xin didn't even turn on the lamp; she simply opened the small box, and the room lit up.
This is a whole box of luminous pearls!
She picked up a luminous pearl, squatted down next to the large box, and giggled to herself, her mind filled with images of Lu Zheng playing the zither that evening, as if she could still hear the music!
When Cai Xiaolian came in, she saw her little daughter squatting there looking silly, and she couldn't help but laugh: "Xinxin, why aren't you turning on the light?"
Gu Xin ran over with the luminous pearl to help Cai Xiaolian: "Mother, why are you here? Does Father know? It's so late, why aren't you asleep? If Father finds you in my room, I'll get scolded."
Cai Xiaolian: "...You heartless brat, your mother comes to care about you, and all you care about is whether you get scolded?"
Gu Xin chuckled foolishly, which made Cai Xiaolian laugh along, as if the generous and gentle girl in the center of the lake just now was Gu Xin's twin sister.
Cai Xiaolian sat down at the table and pulled Gu Xin to sit down as well: "Our little Xin Xin has grown up and is getting more and more beautiful!"
Gu Xin grinned and said, "My mother has grown younger and younger!"
Cai Xiaolian was amused: "You little rascal, you're getting better and better at sweet-talking people! Your sister is already eighteen this year, and your mother is still young!"
Gu Xin nodded seriously: "Mother's youth has nothing to do with how old we sisters are. Mother has always been young and beautiful, the most beautiful mother in the world. If you don't believe me, ask Father."
Cai Xiaolian: "..."
Gu Xin shook her head: "Oh, no, no, you have to ask my sister and Xiao Ba. If you ask Dad, he'll say that Mom is the youngest and most beautiful lady in the world. But no matter who you ask, they can't escape the fact that Mom is young and beautiful."
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