I

  Chapter 920 916 [Orchid's Belly Dance]

  The Qinhuai River today is different.

  As the imperial court allowed prostitutes to practice freely, coupled with the perfect immigration system, many men and women engaged in the **** industry went north to start their new lives. Anyway, when I went to the north, no one knew about my past and could live like a normal person.

  As far as Qinhuaihe is concerned, a strict investigation will be conducted every two or three years to see which business is not in compliance with the rules and restricts women's personal freedom.

   Coupled with the criticism of Tian Zheng, many bosses and courtesans were implicated. After the boss was exiled, other merchants took over and simply changed the brothel into a washhouse.

   It is necessary to define Washer, which can be understood as a comprehensive commercial place.

   There is a stage for performing talents, and there is also an area for selling goods. After watching the magic show here, you can go to the shopping area for consumption after walking a certain distance.

  Washer, there are meat and vegetables.

  The meat ones also run brothels, while the vegetarian ones are more formal.

  The brothels on the Qinhuai River have been converted into cottages one after another, which is a manifestation of the prosperity of the citizen economy. There are more and more citizens with spare money, and the number of consumers continues to grow. Operating a comprehensive house can make more money than a pure brothel.

  With the increase of the number of washrooms, merchants inevitably get involved.

  At the beginning, tickets are required, and you can only enter after paying money.

   Gradually, a free admission model appears, and you don’t need to pay a penny, you can just stroll around. The performance makes you enjoy watching, and you can tip it on the spot. Tired of watching the show, I went to the shopping area. Even if I don’t buy gold and silver jewelry, I can still buy three melons and two dates.

  Zhao Han went out for an outing in the city and returned to the palace in the middle of the afternoon. Many ministers invited him to go to Washe together.

   Zhang Tieniu, as the Duke of the country, is still so stingy. Instead of going to the high-end villas that require tickets, he dragged a few generals and friends into a free resistance place.

   It was not evening yet, but Washe was already full of people.

   There are even older girls and younger daughter-in-laws who follow their families to the Washe for entertainment. Many children sit on the shoulders of adults, pointing to a certain stage and yelling excitedly.

  Because Washer is relatively low-end, there are no audience seats around the stage, and everyone stands in place to watch the performance.

  Zhang Tieniu happily stood in the crowd, performing acrobatics on the stage. I saw a man wielding a sword, playing with it, and then began to swallow the sword. The two-foot-long sword was thrust into his mouth suddenly, causing the audience to scream.

"it is good!"

  Zhang Tieniu applauded and clapped his hands.

  Fei Ruhe rolled his eyes. He was forced to come here. He was not interested in this kind of performance. He knew that Swallowing Sword was a fake.

  Suddenly a young man came and squeezed through the crowd holding a wooden sign: "Peanuts, melon seeds, cheese, pastries, sesame candies, honey water..."

   "Here are some packets of peanuts." Zhang Tieniu shouted.

"okay!"

  The boy left happily, and soon brought the peanuts.

  Fried peanuts are wrapped in straw paper, and the price is more expensive than outside. But the audience is enjoying themselves, and they don't care how much it costs. They eat snacks while watching the show, how comfortable and enjoyable they are.

   Another hawker came over with a shelf. The so-called shelf is the straw tied on the top of the bamboo pole. All kinds of toys and snacks are inserted on the straw and sold exclusively to children.

   "Windwheel (windmill), Dad, I want a windwheel." The child really couldn't stand the temptation, begging his father to buy something.

   "Jewelry, jewelry!"

   There are also jewelry vendors wandering around, all of which are low-end goods, and the target group is women from ordinary families.

  Women and children's money has always been the best money.

  These hawkers enter the market to sell things, and they need to pay the Washe, usually on a monthly basis.

  The fixed stalls in the shopping area are more expensive, and the goods are also more high-end.

   As night fell, the lights were turned on, and the tourists in Washeri also reached the peak period, and several places around the stage were directly overwhelmed.

  This kind of washhouse often consists of several brothels under the market, which are then repaired and merged together, covering a very large area. The original brothel building, of course, continues to operate, there are food and entertainment, and the consumption is higher than that of the open space outside.

  Zhang Tieniu and others watched the performance for a while, and then went to eat and drink together.

   There is also a small stage inside, and they are telling stories.

  The generals ordered some food and wine, and while they were changing glasses, Wu Song finished talking about fighting the tiger.

   Then a dwarf came out and made all kinds of antics, making the guests laugh. There are also reverse actors dressed as matchmakers, who come out to interact with the dwarves and tell some nasty jokes in the market. As we talked, we talked about interesting things overseas, and then led to the next Orchid performance.

  The so-called Orchid is actually an Indian Brahmin woman.

  There have been wars in India for years, especially the rebel Sivaji, who has occupied half of Bijapur's land. This guy likes to sell the captive pagan nobles as slaves to the Portuguese, and many Brahmin women are sold to China in this way.

   Cheerful Indian dance music sounded, and "Orchid" wore exotic costumes, with her snow-white belly exposed. For the sake of retro, a lot of rotating movements have been added. The merchant said that this is the restoration of the Hu Xuanwu of the Tang Dynasty.

  The audience couldn’t figure it out either, as long as the dance looks good anyway.

  Especially the white belly, the belly button is still wearing a navel ring, how exciting it is to twist and turn, Chinese women are not so out of line.

"it is good!"

   Looking excitedly, some guests started tipping and throwing money directly on the stage.

  Zhang Tieniu is almost fifty years old, and his whole body is hot from being hooked. He asked in a low voice, "Where did this kind of orchid come from?"

   "It must be the Western Regions." Fei Ruhe said.

Yang Zhan had led troops in Guangnan Province for several years, so he was quite clear about this kind of thing, so he explained: "Some came from Persia, and some came from India. They were all slaves. They were shipped to Macao for bulk cargo, and then sold by traders to Inland. The orchid in front of me is of top-notch figure and appearance, and must have been trained for a few years, at least worth hundreds or thousands of taels of silver."

   "So expensive?" Zhang Tieniu widened his eyes.

Jiang Dashan has been back to Nanjing for two or three years. He said with a smile: "Last year, there was an orchid who was sold to China at the age of nine and trained for several years. Not only can she speak fluently, but she is also proficient in all aspects of piano, chess, calligraphy and painting. Listen to those scholars say , even the poems and articles are decent. A wealthy businessman bought it, guess how much money it cost?"

   "How much?" Fei Ruhe couldn't help asking.

  Jiang Dashan gestured.

   "Eight hundred taels?" Zhang Tieniu muttered, "It's not expensive either."

   "Eight thousand taels!" Jiang Dashan said.

  Zhang Tieniu was stunned and said, "Eight thousand taels? How many cattle is that worth?"

Yang Zhan said with a smile: "Grandpa Zhang, you don't understand this. There is no shortage of orchids in China, and there is no shortage of orchids who are good at poetry and painting. But they are beautiful and know everything, but they are rare. This Wealthy merchants bought them home, and ordinary people came to visit, so they asked Orchids to dance and sing; literati came to visit, and let Orchids write poems and lyrics. Think about it, how much face does that have? Merchants have no status, what they lack is face ?"

   "That's true." Zhang Tieniu nodded repeatedly, and then looked at the dancing orchid, eager to buy an orchid too.

  He already won many rewards for his military exploits. After winning the battle against Khalkha Mongolia and obtaining the right to operate a mine, there is really no shortage of money in hand.

  Old Zhang is going to fall too, and it’s not long since he returned to Nanjing.

   Fei Ruhe wondered in his heart whether he should also buy an orchid. Although he has no interest in orchids, he has to buy them for the sake of face, otherwise everyone else has them, but his family doesn't have them.

  Zhang Tieniu pointed to Jiang Dashan: "Do you have an orchid in your family?"

  Jiang Dashan smiled without saying a word.

   "Hey, you're still hiding it. I didn't see you last time I went to your house!" Zhang Tieniu scolded with a smile.

  The generals were having fun in Washe, while Qian Qianyi and a group of civil servants were listening to music in the painting boat on Xuanwu Lake.

  Qian Qianyi is already old, and he is powerless about female sex, mainly communicating and discussing art. But today I'm not in a good mood, drinking in silence while listening to the music.

   Others don't bother, knowing that he is unhappy.

  As for the reason, I flattered the emperor and accidentally slapped it on the horse's leg, which misinterpreted the meaning of the emperor's poem.

   Although Zhu Minghao is young, he is only 50 years old this year. But he and Zhang Pu are good friends, he was dragged into the Hanlin Academy by Zhang Pu to compile history, and he has a good friendship with Qian Qianyi, so he whispered at this moment: "Master, your Majesty has a broad mind, and you won't get angry just because of a few words." .”

   "It's not because of this." Qian Qianyi said.

Zhu Minghao said with a smile: "Your Majesty's mind, you and I both understand, and you can do things according to the holy will. Look at those officials who committed crimes, wealthy businessmen and powerful people, all of them were dispatched to Heilongjiang and Tibet. But the peasants and soldiers who killed officials in Yunnan clearly committed crimes He was sentenced to death, but he was only exiled to the Pingnan Military and Civil Affairs Division. Is that also called exile? To put it bluntly, he is an immigrant!"

  Qian Qianyi sighed: "Your Majesty treats ordinary people so kindly."

  Yunnan peasants and soldiers are good at killing the town mayor, which is tantamount to rebellion, but they are only exiled in Myanmar. How far is the distance between Yunnan and Myanmar? That's called fart exile.

   Zhao Han published the ins and outs of the incident in detail in "Datong Monthly". The news spread to all provinces across the country, and many grassroots officials who oppressed the people were frightened, fearing that the peasants and soldiers under their rule would also kill them to vent their anger.

   "Drink, drink." Zhu Minghao said with a smile.

   Zhu Minghao's father was a martial artist in the Ming Dynasty. Because of his father's early death and the rapid decline of his family, he had to give up his studies and become a teacher to support his mother and younger brother.

   Before Chongzhen died, Zhu Minghao was appraised as "the first person to restore society". Not only because of his talent and learning, but also because of his filial piety.

   Moreover, although all his friends have wives and concubines, Zhu Minghao insists on not taking concubines. After entering the Hanlin Academy as an official, a businessman asked him to write an epitaph. He didn't charge money if he had a good reputation, but he refused directly if he had a bad reputation. Nowadays, living on dead wages, life is plain and ordinary.

  Zhu Minghao is very satisfied with Datong Xinchao. Isn’t the current stable situation what he pursued when he joined Fushe?

  He often wrote articles praising the new dynasty, and also wrote a novel, which recorded the social changes in the late Ming Dynasty from the perspective of a down-and-out literati. But this novel is not popular in the circle. Many of the old friends from Fushe secretly ridiculed him as a sycophant.

  President Wu of "Datong Monthly" resigned many times because of old illness, and rumors spread faintly that the emperor wanted Zhu Minghao to take over the "Datong Monthly".

  (end of this chapter)