Chu Lian’s words made Wang Xiangxiang’s heart pound incessantly. What was he going to say to her? Could it really be as Guo Feng had said?
By this time, everyone in the hall had left, and Xiaoxiao had also taken everyone inside the house.
Upon entering the house, Wang Xiangxiang immediately hugged Xiaoxiao and cried, "Xiaoxiao, you were lost, we were all so worried. What exactly happened? Weren’t you lost at the Marriage Fate Temple? How did you end up being the owner of Yixiang Courtyard?"
"Yes, I was kidnapped by human traffickers at the Marriage Fate Temple and sold here," she replied.
"What?" Wang Xiangxiang asked as she examined Xiaoxiao anxiously, "Did they hurt you, huh?"
"Sister, don’t worry, I’m fine, and I own Yixiang Courtyard now."
"..." Seeing Xiaoxiao’s condition, it was clear she was doing quite well. "Come on, tell me exactly what happened."
Xiaoxiao chuckled and continued, "At first, I just wanted to send you a message to tell you I was here, so I thought of a performance to begin with, ’selling virginity, prostituting nightly.’
"I hoped that by making a big splash, more people would come to know, and then they could help carry my stage name out. That way, Yang Ming would hear my stage name and come to rescue me, but none of you seemed to notice."
"With that stage name of yours, so unpleasant, what does it even mean?" Wang Xiangxiang complained.
"Oh, never mind that; my husband understands it." Xiaoxiao pouted, deciding not to explain further, and then continued, "Later, when they saw how well I performed, and I had some tricks, they pleaded with me..."
Xiaoxiao rattled off the whole story to them. After she finished, Wang Xiangxiang said, "So you bought this brothel for one thousand taels of silver?"
"Yes." Xiaoxiao nodded.
Clutching Xiaoxiao’s hands excitedly, Wang Xiangxiang exclaimed, "Xiaoxiao, do you realize just how lucky you are?"
Xiaoxiao looked puzzled. "What do you mean?"
"What do you mean, what do I mean? Don’t you know, even a brothel that’s nearly bankrupt is worth tens of thousands of taels, and you managed to snag it for just a thousand?"
"..." Xiaoxiao truly hadn’t known that.
"And the girls in the brothel are also valuable. I’ve looked, and there seem to be dozens of them. Just buying them all would cost thousands of taels."
"..." It then dawned on Xiaoxiao, right, even she was bought for fifty taels, and she would need to ask the madam about these matters later.
"And then you just earned two thousand taels in one night, with each girl fetching fifty taels. You’re truly getting something for nothing, Xiaoxiao."
"Hehe." Xiaoxiao laughed awkwardly; was this fortune borne from misfortune?
Chu Lian stood by, utterly admiring Xiaoxiao. Others sold into a brothel might only end up as its prostitutes, but she had directly become the owner.
The group continued chatting in the house, with Xiaoxiao describing everything she had seen and heard in the brothel over the five days.
Later, they also summoned the madam and only then learned that the girls were now free. Xiaoxiao grew even more admiring of these women. Such good girls would surely find their own happiness, get married, and have children one day. Xiaoxiao always believed that kind people would have good fortunes.
With everything clear, they planned to return to Chu Lian’s residence. Before they could leave, however, some thugs hurried in to report.
"Madam, there are people causing trouble at the store, and our men can barely hold them off."