Chapter forty six

"If you want to get soil, you have to have money. To have money, you must have a job," Lantian said.

"I don't have a job," Caihong stated.

"I help you to find it, but I have a condition."

Caihong rolled her eyes, "Old trick."

Lantian extended her lips as she heard the words from the youngster. "Agree or not?" She asked.

"How many days do you want to add?"

"No." Lantian shook her head. "This time I won't add."

The speech of the elder sis made the girl freeze her eyes. With her breath holding, she waited for the clarification.

"You go with me this evening, but it does not count. You will still owe me four days."

Caihong chuckled and said, "No different."

"Do you agree or not?"

The feeling was not good since she didn't have any idea what kind of job this high lady would bring to her, but as she wanted to save her blossoms, she had no choice but to nod her head.

It was good news and without waiting the daughter of Wu told the young girl to change to be a man and collect her embroidery then hurriedly pull her out of the house.

Because it was still early in the evening, Wan Hau Lou didn't open yet. Hence, Lantian could bring her female friend to meet with Yang Ying in the room.

On the table, Caihong presented all her achievements and Yang Ying scanned them one by one. As for Lantian, she was walking around with her eyes viewing the room but her ears were kept on the discussion between the two women.

"May I say honestly," Yang Ying said. "Your embroidery is simple. It does not suit our house's style."

"I know," Caihong said and collected her stuff. "I didn't study with any teacher, just from my wet nurse. She just knew how to do common embroidery, so the same as her, I can produce only the common works."

"You can do other things besides this," Lantian inserted her comment. "Yang Ying, what else does Wan Hau Lou need?"

"Now, we seem to have everything. Except, food. In general, in three months, we have to add a new menu," Yang Ying said.

Lantian spun to Caihong, "You can cook a few dishes and bring them to Yang Ying to taste."

"I just know how to cook simple food," Caihong said.

"It's okay, young lady Yang. Just bring it. Sometimes simple food might work. The sea corals and the snow river is an example," Yang Ying told.

"But about the ingredients…" Caihong was worried since she had only a few things left inside her kitchen, and now her expenditure was cut, she could not get any addition.

This point Lantian sensed it. "Don't worry. Everything counts on me," she said.

Cauhong shrank her eyes, "What do you want in return?"

The daughter of the governor smiled her lips. "You are clever," she stated. "The same as today. It doesn't count."

At least she didn't take a big advantage from her; Caihong was at ease to accept this deal.

Though the discussion was halted, the high lady didn't intend to leave the campus of flowers soon.

Since Yang Ying was still on day off, due to mother Wang wanting her to get well, Lantian booked the visual flora of Wan Hau Lou coming to her beloved friend's room.

Inside the lodge, the daughter of Wu Guang had a fun time with the four pretty women while Yang Ying sat on the chair, waving fan in her hand gently, and watching smilingly along with Caihong staying next to her but with a boring expression. Once in a while the younger gal blew wind from her nostrils.

In the middle of the room, Lantian was showing her brush talent and the sisters of Yang Ying were competing to get painting.

"Young lady Wu, I want to have a picture."

"Young lady Wu, I want too."

"Don't worry. I paint for all of you. What do you want? Tell me."

"I want to have a picture of a mermaid with a lotus."

"Where?"

"Here." The lady opened her robe showing the top of her chest.

Lantian grinned from ear to ear. "Um…" She sucked her lips. "Your skin is so smooth."

After saying that, the female scholar began to paint her brush on the rosy layer of the female entertainer. As she made the tail of the mermaid, she poked the brush to pull her cloth down a little bit showing a small line of her cleavage then she swept the brush into that line to create a part of the back end of the fish.

"Young lady Wu, you are mischievous," the woman said.

"Do you like it or not?" Lantian said.

"Can you make the tail longer?" The woman said and showed eyes of seduction.

"Sure," Lantian stated and mopped the brush deeper along her chest line.

Seeing the flirting action between the two females, Caihong rolled her eyes and shook her head. For her it was not a pleasant view, it was a boring scene.

After getting the picture, the courtesan came to exhibit her sisterhood.

"Yang Ying, is it pretty?"

Yang Ying nodded her head, "Yes, it is pretty."

"How can all of you open your dress for her to paint a picture?" Caihong said.

"Why not?" The woman said. "We can open the dress for a man to draw. Why can't we open for a woman to draw? Furthermore, young lady Wu drew beautifully and she was so caring about us. Not like those men. They pinned us like our flesh is a stone, not a human meat, and they painted ink over our whole bodies and faces. If it is not because of money, I would not allow them to paint even on my hand."

"It is true," Yang Ying mentioned to Caihong. "All women in Wan Hau Lou experience such a thing, even I. Some guests use the brush handle to stab over our body, some pour ink over our face and our hair, and they laugh."

"No one helps you?" Caihong said.

"No." Yang Ying shook her head. "What we can do is to tolerate. Even though we go to report, there is no intervention because we are prostitutes, they say it's our jobs, so we have to accept it."

Hearing such a thing, the rich second daughter felt sorrowful for the women in the entertained house.

"Since young lady Wu arrived, the rate of abuse has decreased," Yang Ying added. "You see that young lady Wu does this, but she does not have any bad intentions. Just to have fun with us only and she already asked our opinion if it is okay to play like this. If we don't agree, she will not do it."

"Is she?" Caihong said.

"Um." Yang Ying nodded her head.

It was hard to believe that the rude high governor's daughter had a gentle behavior like this. However, Caihong saw there was no reason the Wan Hau Lou's geishas needed to lie to her.

After finishing painting, the girls began another activity.

Lantian blindfolded her eyes then went to catch the woman. Once she caught any of them, she had to call their name. If she called incorrectly, she would be punished for drinking a cup of wine.

It was a huge fun as when she caught the ladies, she could hug them and smell their cheeks, before she guessed their names.

"Mudan."

"Young lady Wu, you are good." The female named Mudan swayed her handkerchief over the face of the great woman, then took a cup of wine to drink.

"Yang Ying, come to play," a lady called.

But Yang Ying shook her head. Instead she invited Yang Fu's daughter, "Young lady Yang, you go to play."

"No," Caihong said.

"Yes, young lady Yang, come," the ladies called.

"No, no." Caihong shook her head while her eyes peeked at Lantian who was standing in the middle of the room, in hands holding the blindfold cloth, with lips smiling and eyes looking at her.

"Come, young lady Yang." Two women walked towards the girl. "Don't sit like this. It's boring."

"No, no," Caihong said and quaked her head like a cow was bitten by a bee.

However, the women didn't allow her to refuse. They pulled her until she got off the seat.

"No, no."

"Come on. Come to play with us."

At last the daughter of Yang Fu stood together with the women group.

"Young lady Wu knows all of us. It's not fun. Let's change to young lady Yang," a woman suggested.

"Good idea," another woman said, then she put the blindfold over the eyes of Caihong.

In this situation, the young lassie was not able to argue. She agreed to the cloth blocking her sight with a few small beatings inside her belly.

"Already. Now start."

All women began to run away and called Caihong to catch them.

Within the darkness, the young woman enlarged her arms and stepped slowly as she didn't sense any direction. Around, she heard only the laughing sounds; however, she didn't have a clue how to catch the participants of the game; she just walked blindly and forwardly.

Unlike the sisters of Yang Ying, Lantian didn't go anywhere. She stood still with her hands clasped behind her back and her lips smiling nonstop. As the blindfold gal was coming closer and closer, the elder sis's grin became larger and larger.

Caihong didn't know who was standing before her. When she reached closely, her hand touched the sleeve, she guessed she caught one of the gamers, so without thinking, she grabbed the arms of that person. This action made the standing woman very happy. She smiled her lips widely and wrapped her arms around the waists of the catcher. The touch made the girl able to guess who she was grabbing, so she hurriedly removed her blindfold. When she saw it was Wu's girl and her face was closer to hers, also she sensed her waists were in her arms, she hurriedly shoveled her body out of the clutch.

"Young lady Wu, you are naughty," one of the women said.

"Right. You didn't run. You stood for young lady Yang to catch you," another woman said.

However, Lantian didn't make any statement. She kept smiling towards the younger colleen who was standing before her with a behavior of shyness.

"But young lady Yang didn't call the name, so she should be punished," Mudan said.

"I drink instead of her," Lantian stated.

Hearing that, the entertained women unlocked their eyes and lips.

"Young lady Wu, you care about young lady Yang."

"Right. Young lady Yang, you are lucky. Young lady Wu never did that to me."

Listening to the claims from the women, including the glancing from the high governor's daughter, Caihong felt embarrassed. Hurriedly she made an excuse, "I want to go to the bathroom." Then she walked out of the room with her head low under the chuckles from the flowers of Wan Hua Lou.

"She is shy."

"Yes, she is shy. Look at her face, it is red."