Today, Yihong Courtyard was indeed lively, with guests coming in droves. The last time Hua Street was so bustling was because of the amazing Oiran competition held by the Hua Man Lou!
At the last event, Hua Man Lou didn’t disappoint. With the great presence of Ah Lian, Hua Rao, Qing Lei, and Yi Ling as their top courtesans, it caused quite a sensation.
It was precisely because of Hua Man Lou’s example that Yihong Courtyard adopted their previous promotional methods and announced the upcoming debut of ten new beauties. From the beautiful painting alone, the stunning looks of these ten girls could be seen, and the onlookers were naturally very excited. They all felt that these ten girls will surely rival Ah Lian and other popular courtesans introduced by Hua Man Lou.
Because of this, the courtyard was packed with people.
Even Hua Man Lou’s business had cooled down a lot today. After all, people were more attracted to novelty and excitement.
Sun Yaowen stood on the second floor of Yihong Courtyard, looking at the guests coming and going downstairs, and couldn’t help but laugh loudly: "Indeed, the charm of my Yihong Courtyard is extraordinary! How can Hua Man Lou compare? Ha ha ha! Tonight, I’ll make Hua Man Lou go bankrupt!"
Of course, bankruptcy was impossible. No matter what, Hua Man Lou still had Ah Lian and others. The most difficult situation would be a balance of power between the two brothels.
Although Sun Yaowen wasn’t very smart and self-important, he had the servants catering to his whims. They flattered him, saying: "Yes, young master! I just came from Hua Man Lou, and there are hardly any guests there tonight. Young master, you completely overshadowed them! What does Hua Man Lou amount to in front of you?"
Sun Yaowen laughed and waved his hand: "You are very clever! Go and get your rewards later!"
The servant showed even more diligence: "Thank you for your generosity, young master! After tonight, Young Master will have completely revived Yihong Courtyard, and you will surely be the most successful of the Sun family. No one can compete with you, not even the Eldest Young Master! You will inherit the entire Sun family business, and no one can say anything about it!"
This was a beautiful picture painted for Sun Yaowen, and it made him grin from ear to ear.
At this moment, a middle-aged woman suddenly rushed over with a worried look on her face: "Young Master! Young Master, something terrible has happened!"
Sun Yaowen glared at her unhappily, obviously dissatisfied that an old woman had dragged him back from his daydreams. He scolded: "On such a good day, what are you making a fuss about? With so many guests downstairs, why aren’t you attending to them? What are you doing here, looking for me?"
This old woman was Madam Zhao, the madam of Yihong Courtyard.
"Young Master, it’s a disaster!" Madam Zhao tried to calm down but couldn’t hide her panic.
"What’s the matter?" Sun Yaowen was obviously impatient.
"The ten girls... they have all disappeared!" Madam Zhao stomped her feet anxiously.
Sun Yaowen felt a sudden explosion in his head, almost collapsing to the ground. He pointed at the guests downstairs and shouted at Madam Zhao, "With so many guests downstairs, are you telling me that the ten girls are gone?!"
His emotions were unstable, and his voice suddenly rose. Fortunately, Yihong Courtyard was crowded and noisy, so it didn’t attract too much attention. Still, some people heard and looked over.
Madam Zhao was so frightened that she fell to the ground with a "plop," trembling as she said, "I, I, I don’t know what happened! They were still here during the day, trying on clothes and rehearsing as usual. When the evening came, I went to greet the guests and left a few servants to watch them. They were usually well-behaved, so I didn’t think anything would go wrong. Who knew...who knew that as the performance was about to begin, I went to find them only to discover that they were not in their rooms! Those servants watching them were also knocked out."
Sun Yaowen took a deep breath, but it was stuck in his chest. He was so angry that he wanted to smash the place, but remembering that it was his home, he couldn’t. Besides, he was in an eye-catching spot, so he swallowed his anger and slammed his sleeve before turning away and leaving.
He rushed to the rooms of the ten girls, only to find them empty, not a single person in sight!
On the ground were several trembling servants, all crying and begging for mercy.
Sun Yaowen kicked one over and cursed with red eyes, "You useless beasts! You can’t even keep an eye on a few people! What purpose do you serve?"
The kicked servant cried out, "I don’t know! The girls never had any intention of resisting, and they were obedient ever since they were bought here. Madam Zhao didn’t specifically assign someone to guard them because the girls themselves were looking forward to becoming famous. We didn’t expect that they would run away tonight..."
What the servants didn’t mention was that the girls’ escape was really strange.
The sudden change in their attitude had already puzzled them.
Moreover, their escape was so silent and unexpected that all ten of them disappeared at once!
How could Yihong Courtyard allow people to come and go so easily? And with so many people today, how could the ten women easily escape while also stealthily knocking out the servants watching over them? He would never believe that this happened without someone’s help.
But who could have helped ten poor and helpless girls who were sold into this place?
Sun Yaowen gritted his teeth and angrily kicked the servants on the ground again. He yelled, "Go find them! If you can’t find them, I’ll kill all you good-for-nothings!"
Seeing Sun Yaowen’s fury, Madam Zhao was trembling in fright. She hurriedly nodded and said, "Yes, yes, yes, I’m going right now!"
"Get lost! All of you! How far can these ten girls get? Go find them immediately and turn them over! If this ruins my plans, none of you will die a good death!" Sun Yaowen seemed to be going crazy, cursing and kicking Madam Zhao.
Yihong Courtyard was even more lively at this moment.
Guests continued to pour in, and both the main hall and the second floor were bustling. Servants from Yihong Courtyard and some of the Sun family’s own servants were all dispatched. They searched every alley of Lian’an Town’s main street, to no avail.
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