"..." As expected, the madam wasn’t so easy to deceive. Otherwise, she would not have thought to announce the artistic name right away. It was the only way to get the name out, but she hadn’t expected so few visitors, which greatly reduced the opportunities.
Seeing that Xiaoxiao did not respond, the madam continued, "I have already changed your artistic name for you. It’s Xiaofeng now."
"..." Xiaoxiao almost spat out blood. The artistic name Xiaofeng was too terrible, even worse than her original, Xiaoxiao.
Xiaoxiao was not afraid, though surprised by the madam’s contingency. Tomorrow, if more people came, she would continue to announce herself as "Ailafuyou," and she refused to believe she wouldn’t manage to silence that many mouths.
"Stay here honestly and don’t try any tricks. You two, keep an eye on her." Leaving these words behind, the madam departed. She had to check where this girl had come from and couldn’t let any information leak for now.
After the madam left, those two maidservants really obeyed and kept a close watch on her. No matter what Xiaoxiao did, the two maidservants were always by her side making her quite uncomfortable. "You two don’t need to stare at me like that. There are guards outside. I can’t escape."
"Miss, just stay here quietly. If you run away, we will be punished too."
"..." Xiaoxiao was speechless. Did she look like she was trying to escape? She wasn’t stupid. Running away now would only get her beaten. She could only wait for Yang Ming to rescue her. After all, there was still time. It wouldn’t be too late to run at the last moment. "Don’t worry, I’m not running. Go, fetch some water for me. I want to wash up."
The two maidservants looked at each other; then one of them went to prepare the water. Resigned, Xiaoxiao let them watch. After they brought the water, she washed up by herself and finally threw herself on the bed. She needed to think thoroughly about what to perform tomorrow.
Wondering how her performance had been today and whether people would come to watch tomorrow, she had a long-standing question and thus asked the maidservant, "Is business at Yixiang Courtyard really that bad? Why did only a few men come tonight?"
When asked this, the maidservants did not hide the truth, "Miss, it’s because Chunfeng Pavilion opened across from us and took away many of our clients. Now, we hardly have any visitors."
"Chunfeng Pavilion? Why did it take our business?"
"Because the girls at Chunfeng Pavilion are all new arrivals. Everyone is looking for novelty, and they are indeed younger and prettier than the girls here at Yixiang Courtyard."
"Does that mean Yixiang Courtyard is going to close down?"
The maidservants nodded, "If things keep going , it might not last much longer."
"Is the madam your owner, or is she hired?"
Upon mentioning that Yixiang Courtyard might close, the maidservants talked more, revealing everything they knew, "The madam was originally a pillar of Yixiang Courtyard, and only became a madam after she got older. Ever since Chunfeng Pavilion came up, Yixiang Courtyard has been struggling. The madam used all her savings to take over Yixiang Courtyard, just so that everyone would still have something to eat."
"..." Xiaoxiao was puzzled by this logic. Wouldn’t it be good if the brothel disbanded? Then those people wouldn’t need to sell themselves and could live a normal life, right?
After hearing the explanations from the maidservants, Xiaoxiao somewhat understood why the madam had bought her and agreed to her conditions. She was just trying desperately to save the situation. However, given the current state of the brothel, her chances of getting away seemed even greater, after all, she was not without her wits.