Lin Hai looked at the flowery clothes, then looked at Shi Zhen'er, and motioned Shi Zhen'er to sit next to him.
"Xue Tao, can you sing?" Lin Hai asked seriously.
"Sing a song? Lord Lin, do you want to hear some music? I can sing many kinds of music, I wonder which one Lord Lin would like to hear?" The girl in the flowery clothes, that is, Xue Tao, bowed again and asked.
"A variety of songs? Tell me about them." Lin Hai didn't expect that Xue Tao was so versatile. However, Lin Hai himself didn't know much about the entertainment programs in this world, and couldn't say what kind he wanted to listen to, so he could only let Xue Tao talk first.
"But what I want is the kind that can be sung in public. If it's just a song used in brothels to please customers, then forget it." Lin Hai added quickly, worried that Xue Tao would just sing Seventeen Plus One Touch. Otherwise, Lin Hai could bear it, but Shi Zhen'er would be a little embarrassed.
"Don't worry, Lord Lin. Even in brothels, there are many scholars and literati. We brothel girls don't sing obscene songs and lyrics day and night." Xue Tao even looked a little proud when she said this. "Although the southwest is not as prosperous as the central region, it has its own elegance. Even in brothels, we sisters can sing some good songs. For example, "Apricot Blossom Sky", "Jade Tower Spring Dawn", "Long Gate Lament", and "Listening to the Spring" are all common songs. Although they all came from the south of the Yangtze River, they are also widely circulated in the southwest."
"Tell me the lyrics to these songs." Lin Hai didn't ask Xue Tao to sing, but only to say the lyrics. This stunned not only Shi Zhen'er, who had no idea why she was there, but also Xue Tao.
Could it be that this Lord Lin likes to recite poetry?
"To answer Lord Lin's question, let's take 'Apricot Blossom Sky' as an example. This wasn't a poem written by the sisters in the brothel, but a posthumous work left by an unknown poet from a previous generation. The poem consists of eight lines and fifty-four characters. The full text is: In my dreams, my soul flies across the mountain screen. I see it still, as beautiful as a flower or jade. The sky is cold, but my green sleeves lean against the bamboo. Two spring spots compete for green on the mountain. I get up, and my worries are endless. The first month is pale, and the plum blossoms illuminate the room. I revisit the embroidered quilt and its fragrance. I don't care if the painted candles burn brightly."
Xue Tao was talking eloquently, but Lin Hai, who pretended to be very cultured, could only remain calm and pretend to be very tired, holding his forehead and wiping the cold sweat from it.
Hey...
I didn't expect that Xue Tao was also a cultured person. I underestimated the heroes of the world.
But think about it, these days, if you don't have some cultural background, even if you're a prostitute, you probably won't be able to become an oiran. After all, there are many people who use their beauty to entertain people, and those who can really consume oiran are not those who are purely based on looks. To use a saying that Lin Hai heard back then, "You don't know what rich people like because you don't have money."
"Well, the poem is naturally good." Lin Hai couldn't deny the literary works handed down from generation to generation, but he still had to say what he had to say: "But I think even if this poem was sung in the county, few people would understand it."
Xue Tao laughed and said, "Lord Lin, that's natural. There were only a handful of people in the county who knew this tune, and only three or five families could afford to play it on a daily basis. Even if ordinary people heard this tune, they would just say it was beautiful. If you really asked them what it was singing, they probably wouldn't know."
"I want you to sing something they can understand, the kind of song that even illiterate farmers who have never left the village in their lives can understand." Lin Hai said.
"Although they can understand the kind of music your Excellency is talking about, I'm afraid it's not suitable to be sung in public. Singing it might damage your Excellency's reputation."
"Well... I'm not talking about those erotic songs. Have you never sung or heard songs for ordinary people or even poor people before?"
Lin Hai regretted his words the moment they left his mouth. Bah, what were he saying? If he could enter a brothel and listen to music, what kind of ordinary person was he? It was even more impossible for him to be a poor person. The only chance for a poor person to get close to a brothel was probably to deliver food and firewood to the kitchen and pour out night incense.
"Forget it." Lin Hai waved his hand. "Tell me about yourself. When and why did you enter the brothel? What happened later?"
Xue Tao hadn't expected the topic to change so quickly, but it was obvious she had practiced the topic of why she ended up in a brothel many times. As the saying goes, "My father gambles, my mother is sick, and my younger brother is studying. We've only been here a short time and aren't familiar with each other yet. My brothers and sisters all rely on me, and business is bad and I have debts to pay. My ex-husband is abusive and a gambler, and I have no income to raise the children. From now on, I'm on a path of no return. I hope you can take care of me. I just want to make money to pay off my debts, redeem myself, and open a tofu shop." Xue Tao had at least eighteen versions of her resume in her repertoire. Just as she was trying to figure out which version to use today, Lin Hai said, "I won't talk about the versions commonly used in brothels. We've also investigated your background. Be honest."
Xue Tao hadn't expected that the young Lin Hai was so familiar with the common language used in brothels. She couldn't help but look at Lin Hai with new eyes and said seriously, "Yes."
Shi Zhen'er, who had been watching the excitement from the sidelines, was lost in thought. She recalled Master Shi's instructions to her and felt a surge of emotion. However, Lin Hai, absorbed in his work, was unaware of the growing murderous aura around him. He continued to speak to Xue Tao, "Then tell me."
The story of Xue Tao is a very old-fashioned story that is often told in brothels. In other words, as long as the person does not sell himself to a brothel for his hobby, everyone else has had such an experience to a greater or lesser extent.
Xue Tao's original name was not Xue Tao. In the countryside, girls generally did not have names. She was the third child in the family. Xue Tao remembered that everyone called her the Third Girl of the Xue Family, or just the Third Girl.
In Xue Tao's memory, life has always been poor but happy.
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