Flat Rabbit looked at the men before him with furious disappointment. "Look at you all! As heroes and champions destined to save the world, how can your bones turn to jelly from a single call from a woman? Useless, all of you are useless!"
Shouted at like this, the men in front jolted awake. Their gazes instantly cleared. Straightening their backs and marching in step, they escorted Gao Yiye past the front of the brothel without a backward glance.
Li Daoxuan shook his head with a smile. Not bad. This guy becomes useful at times like these. Full of flaws, but also full of merits—a very complex fellow. Humans are truly fascinating creatures.
After the group had walked half a street away, Li Daoxuan sighed. "Yiye, go handle this situation..."
So, Gao Yiye turned back, but the militia soldiers did not.
Only Gao Yiye stood alone at the brothel's entrance.
She didn't dare go inside—ordinary girls wouldn't dare enter such a place—so she just stood at the door, calling out loudly, "Are you truly starving?"
A brothel girl cried, "We truly have nothing to eat. It's been so, so long since we had any business."
Another also wept, "No customers come anymore."
Gao Yiye asked, "Do you know music, chess, calligraphy, and painting?"
The several brothel girls looked at each other. After a few seconds, they awkwardly replied, "We know a little of each."
That question… came far too abruptly. Who goes to a brothel to ask the girls if they know such things? These were their basic skills. How could they survive in a brothel without them? They'd only be fit for low-class establishments.
Gao Yiye said, "It's good that you know. Follow me."
A middle-aged, plump woman pushed open the door on the first floor and walked out, giving Gao Yiye a strange look. Though Gao Yiye wasn't dressed in silks, her cotton clothes were clean and neat, her whole person exuding the three big characters: I am not poor.
The plump woman didn't dare be rude to Gao Yiye and spoke politely, "Young lady, I know you are a kind-hearted person. But these girls have sold themselves to this establishment. They can't just leave with you."
Gao Yiye listened to Li Daoxuan's instruction and replied, "You are the madam?"
The plump woman nodded. "Yes."
Gao Yiye said, "I want to buy out all the girls in this building. How much would it cost?"
The madam was taken aback. "They are not ordinary girls. Each is skilled in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, with many talents. They are worth a… a very large sum of money…"
Gao Yiye asked, "Is ten shi of flour enough?"
One shi equals ten dou. One dou is a thousand qian. Ten shi of flour was worth one hundred taels of silver.
In this famine year, brothel girls had no business at all. The madam couldn't make money from them and had to feed them to keep them from dying. To hesitate even a second would show disrespect for market conditions. "Sold! From now on, they are your people."
The several girls leaning by the window were stunned. They truly hadn't expected that dozens of jin of living people—four of them, totaling several hundred jin of flesh—could only be exchanged for ten shi of flour.
They had known their lives were cheap, but not this cheap.
Gao Yiye said, "I'll send someone with you to the Chengcheng Bookshop. We'll exchange the people for the flour on the spot. Wait for me at the bookshop; I'll arrange things for you when I return."
The madam was overjoyed and hurriedly led the four girls, following a militiaman to the bookshop.
Gao Yiye sighed and continued leading the militia toward the City God Temple.
When they reached a quiet, deserted stretch of street near the temple, Gao Yiye finally couldn't hold back. She looked up and asked, "Tianzun, you… bought those brothel women back to… reward the militiamen?"
"Pfft!" Li Daoxuan nearly spat out a mouthful of chilled tangyuan. This girl's thoughts have taken a strange turn. Where did that come from? "Of course not."
"Whew! That's a relief. You scared me." Gao Yiye said, "I thought Tianzun wanted to… ahem… this…"
Li Daoxuan said gently, "Most of these brothel women ended up there against their will, sold by their parents. They are all unfortunate women. They studied music, chess, calligraphy, and painting from a young age and actually possess many skills. It's a great pity for such skills to be buried in the world of pleasure. It's better to take advantage of their low market value, buy them out at a low price. This way, they can play a more important role."
Gao Yiye asked curiously, "An important role?"
Li Daoxuan said, "I plan to have them serve as your female secretaries!"
Gao Yiye was greatly puzzled. "Huh? What is a 'female secretary'?"
Li Daoxuan laughed. "A female secretary is like a private advisor—someone who helps their employer with tasks, just with a different name. We can't very well call a woman 'advisor,' that would be strange, right? So, there's the term 'female secretary.'"
Gao Yiye was enlightened. "But I don't have much to do. I don't need others to help me."
"No, you do need them." Li Daoxuan said, "In The Tale of the Daoist Mystic Tianzun Vanquishing Demons Volume Two, when you drew the scene where I struck down the Limitless Bright King, you drew his arm broken."
(Ming Context: In traditional Chinese society, a private advisor or secretary (幕僚) was a crucial, highly educated assistant to officials and gentry, handling correspondence, accounts, and strategy. They were exclusively male. The concept of a "female secretary" was virtually non-existent, making Li Daoxuan's idea both practical and subtly revolutionary for the era.)
Gao Yiye's pretty face flushed slightly. "My… my drawing skill… is still…"
Li Daoxuan said, "They can paint. They can help you with such matters. You just need to focus on the plot; they can help refine the specific illustrations."
Gao Yiye understood.
Li Daoxuan continued, "They can also write. They can help you add notes and text to the picture-books. Also, you led the village women to set up a cotton cloth shop in the Gao Village commercial district, right?"
Gao Yiye nodded. "Yes."
"Isn't the shop's sales records, profits, and such a complete mess?"
Asked this, Gao Yiye's face flushed again.
Indeed, this cloth shop, spearheaded by the women, was truly a mess of accounts, never properly sorted out from start to finish.
Li Daoxuan said, "The village lacks literate women who can do accounts! Only Third Lady has learned a bit more, but she has more important tasks and can't handle miscellaneous duties. These brothel women can. They will be very useful in the future."
Now Gao Yiye finally understood.
Perhaps Tianzun is considering things from a longer-term perspective? It's just that a country girl like me doesn't understand. In any case, listening to Tianzun is definitely not wrong.
Thinking further, seeing those women crying by the window earlier had also made her feel very bad. In this world of suffering, if she could save a few, she would save them.
Ai!
Li Daoxuan instructed, "After taking them back to the village, don't let others know about their former profession. The militiamen in today's squad must also be sternly warned not to speak of this. First, we must respect them; only then will we earn their respect."
Gao Yiye quickly said, "I understand."