Chapter Sixteen: The Azure Mist Tower

  Pang Luoxue took Qi Yao and entered the room, with Lian Ye and Lian Ou attending to her (The Poisonous Concubine 16th chapter). Although she had lived a lifetime, even the elegant and refined Pang Luoxue felt a bit awkward. So she composed herself and said: Today I came here to talk to Mother, I want to buy this, Mother please name a price.

  As soon as I opened my mouth, everyone was shocked and looked at me: "May I ask, miss, why do you want to buy this? This is the most prosperous fireworks alley in the capital, just afraid that Miss can't afford this price."

  She gazed at me with a slanted eye, I knew that someone who had managed all sorts of people would also want to know where my bottom line was.

  I smiled lightly and said calmly, without losing my dignity: "Director's family affairs are known too much, people often don't live long. Mother can rest assured, I'll pay 5,000 taels of silver to buy this."

  Smiling, his face was a bit pale. Miss wants to buy this, five thousand two is also too...

  "Hehe" I laughed and said "I also think 5,000 taels is a bit too much. After all, in this Smoke Flower Lane, although it's been a long time, it has been replaced by others. As far as I know, Mother's hard-earned flower crown was poached by others, now only a rotten stall remains, to put it bluntly, just an empty shell. Since Mother doesn't want to sell me, then wait for them to take over and drive us out of here."

  Her heart skipped a beat, she was well aware of her current situation. Business had long been struggling to make ends meet, and the remaining mediocre girls couldn't keep customers, what's more infuriating was that Liu Mama from Yiyuan had snatched away her four top courtesans who were about to switch allegiance. So she gritted her teeth and said: I can sell them to you, miss, but I have a condition.

  "You said"

  "This old body has been surnamed Xue since childhood, and I hope the young lady can give me a place to settle down. If so, this old body will sell it to you. Otherwise, our humble home would rather die defending it, and absolutely cannot be sold."

  "This is fine, if you're willing, you can still be the mother of this place, but from now on, you have to listen to me. Here's a 5,000 taels silver note, take it well. For these days, just close the door first and let out the air, saying that we are rectifying."

  "Wait a moment, miss. I'll go get the deed."

  The three of them couldn't sit still anymore after this.

  "Why did Miss buy this shop that's about to close down?" Lian Ye asked discontentedly "And spent so much silver on it too"

  Qī Yáo also looked puzzled. I shook my head and said: It's the best place to gather information, although it's not well-managed, its position is stable, and it's an old brand. We need more capital, just the first one, later there will be more places under our name, Qī Yáo, my identity is inconvenient to show up, you are also a noble lady, so doing this is still a bit of a burden on you.

  Qī Yáo shook her head, "Miss is speaking nonsense. Qī Yáo has been Miss's person for this lifetime, even if Miss were to tell Qī Yáo to die immediately, Qī Yáo wouldn't frown once."

  "Don't mention death, from now on you're not allowed to call me 'Miss' in private. Since you're older than me, I'll call you Sister Yao from now on. In the future, I'll put all my assets under your name, and I hope you'll take care of them with diligence. Recently, please be careful when selecting songstresses, dancers, and courtesans - it's absolutely not allowed to investigate them thoroughly."

  Qī Yáo was deeply moved, I will definitely take care of Miss's arrangements.

  Before long, he brought out the deed to the house and land. I said to him, "Call out all the girls and young servants in the courtyard to meet their new master."

  "Yes, I will arrange it now. Please proceed to the main hall, sir. With respect, I take my leave."

  I went out with Qi Yao to let the lotus leaves and lotus roots return to the mansion to handle matters, I was still covering my face with a silk scarf at this time, but Qi Yao took it off. I took a look and knew her mind. We sat down on the imperial concubine's couch in the main hall, and called out all the girls and young maidservants in the courtyard, there were over a hundred people, indeed the dead camel is bigger than the horse. The rouge and powder of the girls mixed together had an extremely strange smell, I coughed lightly.

  Everyone be quiet, from now on this will be our new master. Come and pay respects to our new master.

  "We have seen our master" everyone said in unison

  "No need for formalities, from now on we are one family. In the future, Aunt Xue will still be in charge of you all. The young lady beside me, Qi Ya, is the mistress here. We will be closed for renovations during this period. You have half a stick of incense time to remove your heavy makeup and change into your simplest clothes, then come see me."

  Everyone was stunned for a moment. Madam Xue shouted: "Didn't you hear the master's words? Why aren't you leaving quickly?" The crowd dispersed in an instant. Madam Xue personally brought over tea and water. I discussed with Qi Yao while waiting, about the issue of names. Before half a stick of incense had burned, they all came back with plain faces, and there were even several clean-looking girls and young maidservants. I nodded my head in satisfaction, and again proposed a few as leading ladies to be trained, saying: "From now on, the monthly allowance for the girls will be doubled. Those who don't want to sell themselves, we absolutely won't force you. If you want to redeem yourself, you can tell Madam Xue or Qi, if you meet someone with whom you have a deep emotional connection, I myself will personally take care of your dowry. Everyone can rest assured."

  These girls mostly came from poor families, and upon hearing this, they were all moved to tears, kneeling down and kowtowing non-stop. I and Qi Yao were also shocked. Xue Mama smiled: Young Master is truly kind-hearted, the old servant did not follow the wrong person.

  I said again. Later changed to Cuiwei Building, Qi Niang is the hostess, her words are like mine.

  Just after finishing speaking, a man dressed in lotus leaf attire came over and whispered a few words in my ear. I nodded and smiled, saying "Bring all the things inside, remember to enter quietly from the back door."

  Lotus leaf nodded and went to make arrangements.

  "In the future, I hope everyone will get along and love each other. Lady Xue will re-educate you all, and our Cuimiao Building will become the number one building in the capital. From now on, don't buy those low-quality cosmetics, the owner will personally select them for you."

  The lotus leaf soon instructed the servants to bring in the goods, and the hall was filled with beautiful fabrics, exquisite clothes, jewelry, guqin, and famous Xiao. The value of these items was worth a city. Everyone's eyes lit up, but they didn't dare move, which showed that Madam Xue's teachings were effective. I nodded my head in satisfaction. From the box, I took out a jade bangle with a uniform green color, high-quality jadeite, and no impurities. I personally put it on Madam Xue's hand, and she was suddenly shocked. Seeing the color of the bangle, she knew that this bangle was much more valuable than the entire building. She immediately knelt down to thank me. I helped her up and said, "Everyone sees that although you are tempted, you don't move, which shows that Madam's teachings are effective. This is your well-deserved reward. These things are the dowry prepared by the master of the building for everyone. From now on, these things in our Weimiao Building will not be considered precious. Don't be tempted by small gains. I'll say it clearly: whoever has a second heart, I will not tolerate him. Did you hear that?

  Everyone said "yes"

  Kindness and severity must be applied together in order to manage people effectively. Qi Yao gave different rewards to each of them according to their differences, and then said that from now on, she would be the owner of this Cuimiao Building, and for the next few days, they would temporarily close the door and rest. She would have someone make new clothes for them, and when they reopened, she would let them show off their talents.

  Everyone was full of expectation. After a stir for the whole afternoon, I followed Qi Yao back to the Qi Mansion and told her to come to my room at night. Qi Yao's skillful mouth naturally agreed. I then took lotus leaves and lotus roots back to the Pang Mansion first.