15 Sir Yang's return

When Liu Yang opened her eyes, she was blinded by the light that passed through the curtains.

She slowly sat up and looked around her in confusion. Oddly, she had no recollection of getting in bed.

But when she saw she was wrapped tightly in a towel, Liu Yang understood she had probably fallen asleep in her bath and that Xiao Peng must've carried her to bed without waking her up.

Wow, that little girl was stronger than she seemed... Even if Liu Yang was very light, she still weighted like a sixteen years old girl!

Her heart unconsciously softened. Xiao Peng was such a sweet girl. Actually carrying her to bed so that Liu Yang wouldn't wake up.

At that moment, Liu Yang swore to herself to always protect Xiao Peng and care for her.

As she thought that, Xiao Peng entered quietly in the room with a tray of food.

When she saw her miss was awake, a wide smile bloomed on her lips.

"Good morning!" She said cheerfully.

"Good morning! Could you tell me what time it is?" Enquired Liu Yang.

"It's a bit past lunchtime, I was going to wake you up so that you could eat but I guess there's no need for that." Replied the young girl.

Liu Yang was surprised. She usually didn't sleep past ten o'clock even when she was extremely tired. This body was really weak!

Liu Yang quickly ate her lunch, which consisted of a light soup and a few side dishes, Liu Yang got ready to head out.

After having put on her black coat, black eyepatch and of course her usual makeup under Xiao Peng's disapproving gaze, she headed off towards the brothel.

When they arrived at their destination, the courtesans were already moving around preparing for the night.

When they heard footsteps coming towards them, they all raised their eyes to see who it was. As they saw the handsome owner, their eyes all started to sparkle and beautiful smiles bloomed on their lips.

While that happened, Chen Ning was in the next room cleaning it to prepare for their customers' arrival.

When she couldn't hear the women in the neighboring room work anymore, her brows knitted in a frown.

Were the taking a rest? But the preparations for the night weren't done yet, and in wasn't like them to slack off before everything was ready. Did something happen?

Getting increasingly worried, Chen Ning hurried to see what was going on. When she saw the owner, she was instantly relieved.

"Sir Yang!" She exclaimed joyfully.

Honestly, she thought he would've come sooner to see how the brothel had done for their first nights after having been reformed. But to her surprise, he hadn't shown the slightest sign of life so she had started to get anxious.

After all, what would happen to the brothel without its owner? In addition, he was their savior so to was natural for her to worry about him.

Thankfully, he seemed fine. Maybe a bit tired, but fine.

"Good afternoon, how have you been?" Said Liu Yang with a cheerful smile.

"I've been well, thank you. How about we go talk in private, your presence is distracting the girls." Replied Chen Ning with a helpless expression.

The owner was truly too handsome! With a single smile, he could turn those courtesans used to handling men everyday into love-struck fools!

Only then did Liu Yang realize the women were all staring at her smiling face in a daze.

She coughed lightly to hide her embarrassment.

"Of course, after all, we have many things to discuss!" She said.

Chen Ning the proceeded to guide Liu Yang and Xiao Peng out of the room.

She led them through many corridors that all resembled each other and finally, they arrived at a very spacious room.

"This is where we hold public performances and contests. They are both very appreciated by nobles as well as commoners given that they are cheap for people who don't have the money to get a private performance, but nobles can also pay more to have an independent room that allows them to have a better view of the performance as well as flaunt their money, since are pretty expensive."

"I see... It's a very clever idea. You managed to open public performances to commoners but still make nobles assist them without them thinking it would be equal to lowering themselves to commoners. Good job! And excluding that, has the brothel been doing well?" Asked Liu Yang.

Honestly, she thought the whole "reorganizing the brothel" idea was a pretty good one but was still quite risky.

She didn't know much about this world except that it was very sexist like Ancient China, and there was still a possibility that men wouldn't be interested in women's talents if they couldn't even touch them.

Chen Ning's eyes started to sparkle.

"We've been doing even better than I had imagined! At first, I believed we would've attracted a few important figures but who would have thought it would become so popular!

We became the second most visited brothel in the capital when we weren't even in the top ten before! In addition, the only brothel that is better than us is the Pleasure Pavillon, but they're at least twice as big as us, yet we still managed to get nearly as many custommers as them! This proves we're actually better than them in all aspects except size!"

Liu Yang was taken aback. She didn't think the brothel would've been received so well by the public! This was great news!

"What about the contests, have you gotten enough candidates?" She asked again.

The contests idea was also a risky one from her point of view. In truth, given this world's harsh separation between the rich and the poor, she wasn't sure they would be able to meet in harmony in the same contest. After all, there were lots of prideful nobles who would probably not want to mix with commoners. Moreover, commoners would probably be scared of not being talented enough to beat nobles in a contest when nobles had been trained since they were young by great teachers.

It was possible there wouldn't even be enough enteries to launch the contest.

"Actually, I was surprised about that too." Said Chen Ning.

"What do you mean?" Asked Liu Yang a bit nervous.

"Well, I thought it would be hard to mix commoners with nobles, because nobles are prideful and that commoners would be too scared to join the contest, but as it turns out, there were too many enteries!

I think commoners think of that as a great way to finally be able to showcase their talent in front of many people and most importantly powerful people who might consider sponsoring them if they are talented enough.

Contrary to them, I think nobles believe that if they don't compete against the commoners to show their superiority, it would be a sign of weakness and fear, which they can't tolerate." Explained Chen Ning.

"You're right, it's quite logical. But then how did you decide who to keep for the contest if you had too many demands of participation?"

"I kept the people who asked to join the contest first, and as for the rest, they'll compete in the next contest."

"Good. What'll be the theme of the contest? And when will it take place?" Asked Liu Yang.

She was like a curious child and her gaze reflected a large interest in the topic.

Chen Ning laughed slightly after comparing her handsome employer to a curious child, but quickly hid her smile in case Liu Yang saw her amusement.

"If you're so interested, why don't you stay here tonight? That's when the contest will happen. It will be an instrument competition and contenders will be allowed to demonstrate whatever instrument they want. The jury panel will be composed of three renowned musicians, famous in the whole Ming kingdom. It will be a big event and many powerful people will be coming. If you wish to assist to the contest, you can stay in one of our few VIP rooms, what do you say?" Offered Chen Ning.

Liu Yang thought for a moment. She didn't have anything to do this night, so it would be the perfect opportunity to have some fun. Besides, she hadn't had time to relax since she had transmigrated, and music had always been important to Liu Yang. She liked all kinds of music and really enjoyed live performances, so she was really interested in tonight's contest.

"I'd love to stay!" She said.