Chapter 156: The Four Wealthy Female Merchants (10)

Li Lingjing called out for a long time without getting any response, but her calls eventually drew out a neighbor from next door.

The neighbor said, "Stop shouting. It's useless no matter how loudly you call. Only a sick woman lives in there, and she can't even get out of bed. How could she possibly open the door?"

Li Lingjing anxiously asked, "What kind of illness does she have? Is there no one taking care of her? If she can't even get up, how does she manage her daily life? What does she do when she's thirsty or hungry?"

The neighbor replied, "Sometimes people come to see her—all young girls, each one prettier than the last... But I haven't seen anyone come by these past couple of days."

Hearing this, Li Lingjing turned her head and said to Shi Xianyu, "They must be the girls from Mother Lan's place. They were all trained by Mistress Yao, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration for them to call Mistress Yao their master's wife. Now that Mistress Yao is gravely ill, logically they should take turns coming to take care of her. However, since Mother Lan is trying to transfer the ownership of the brothel, those girls are struggling to protect themselves, so I'm afraid they've all gone their separate ways to find a way out."

"Don't panic," Shi Xianyu said. "If all else fails, we can bash the door open, or else we can find someone to borrow a ladder from and climb over the wall."

Just as the words fell, that door creaked open.

A terribly emaciated woman stood at the threshold, one hand supporting herself against the doorframe while the other covered her mouth with a handkerchief. Her long hair was disheveled and her face pale, with a massive scar on the right side that extended down into the collar of her robe. If it weren't for the broad daylight, she truly would have looked like a female ghost.

Li Lingjing cried out in shock, "Mistress Yao?"

The woman forced her eyes open and looked weakly at Li Lingjing. "... Why are you here?"

"Mother Lan said you were ill, so I came to see you." Li Lingjing stepped forward to support her. "Why are you living in a place like this? What kind of illness do you have? Have you had a physician come to look at you? Mistress Yao, you might as well come and live at my place; I will take care of you."

"What nonsense are you talking about... Cough, cough, cough!" The woman was racked by violent coughs, leaving her breathless, and Li Lingjing frantically helped her inside.

After taking only a few steps, Mistress Yao felt lightheaded and collapsed toward the floor. Shi Xianyu stepped forward to help Li Lingjing support her, guiding her to the bed to rest. After quite a while of catching her breath, Mistress Yao finally regained a bit of strength to speak.

Her very first words were a reprimand to Li Lingjing: "Go back. Why on earth did you run over here to my place? If anyone sees you, how will you hold your head high in your husband's household in the future..."

Li Lingjing's eyes instantly turned red. "What kind of peace and quiet? How can you talk about peace and quiet? You've fallen ill to this extent—am I not even allowed to come and take a look?"

Mistress Yao leaned against the head of the bed and gently waved her hand. "Is there anything worth seeing... It's just dragging out a worthless existence, living one day at a time."

Li Lingjing asked, "Mistress Yao, what sickness do you have? How is it supposed to be treated? I remember you had some savings. How could you end up living in a place like this? The dye workshop next door fills the air with choking fumes all day long; how can you hope to recover your health living here?"

She paused mid-sentence, suddenly arching her delicate brows as she said indignantly, "I know what happened—did Mother Lan strip away your savings?! She has always been a greedy and insatiable wretch! Mistress Yao, I'm going to go find her and settle accounts!"

Mistress Yao grabbed her hand and let out a long sigh. "Alas... She isn't as bad as you think. My illness has shown no signs of improvement for several years now, and nowadays I can only rely on medicine to keep myself alive. No matter how many savings one has, it wouldn't be enough to cover these expenses."

Just as she finished speaking, another fit of coughing seized her. Li Lingjing was beside herself with worry. "Why are you coughing so severely? Is there any medicine left in the house?"

Mistress Yao was coughing too hard to speak and reached out a hand toward the table, where several paper packets of medicine were piled up.

Li Lingjing flipped through the medicine packets, never expecting that Mistress Yao would need to take so many medications on a daily basis. A bitter feeling welled up in her heart. When she looked around and saw that this place was practically stripped bare of any furnishings, let alone any decent ornaments, not to mention the complete absence of the pearl hairpins and jewelry Mistress Yao used to wear, Li Lingjing felt even more distressed.

She instructed Zhier to go and boil the medicine. While waiting for the decoction, Mistress Yao, lacking the strength to stay awake, drifted into an exhausted sleep.

Li Lingjing stayed by the bedside, looking around the crude and impoverished room with her brows tightly knit. "We cannot let Mistress Yao continue to live in a place like this. Even a healthy person like me would have their head spinning from the fumes next door, let alone someone as sick as Mistress Yao."

"There are still quite a few vacant guest rooms on the back mountain of the temple; we could rent another one," Shi Xianyu suggested.

Li Lingjing frowned and shook her head. "Mistress Yao would never agree. In this profession, there are unwritten rules—for instance, those pure Buddhist sanctuaries are places they are strictly forbidden to enter."

Shi Xianyu thought for a moment. "Then I suppose we have no choice but to wait until the brothel is acquired, and then move Mistress Yao out."

After all, since Li Lingjing had been cast aside by the Xie family, she didn't even have a proper residence of her own. How could she possibly take Mistress Yao in?

Yet, at the mention of the brothel, Li Lingjing's expression grew even worse. She bit her lip and looked at Shi Xianyu. "Taoist Priest, I... I'm afraid I have to reconsider my plans."

Shi Xianyu was slightly startled. "Why?"

Li Lingjing felt deeply apologetic. In order to help her acquire the brothel, Shi Xianyu had even given the madam such a precious gift, yet she was getting cold feet at this moment. It truly was lacking in loyalty.

"My full confidence in setting up a unique brothel stemmed primarily from my trust in Mistress Yao. Within the capital of Shengjing, eight or nine out of every ten top courtesans from the major brothels, flower boats, and singing houses were trained by Mistress Yao herself. But now..."

Li Lingjing turned her head aside to look at Mistress Yao, who was suffering immensely on the bed, her expression filled with melancholy.

"Now... Mistress Yao is gravely ill and I'm afraid she won't be able to help me. Right now, I must first find a new place for Mistress Yao to live..."

Shi Xianyu raised her eyebrows slightly and also looked at Mistress Yao. It was hard to imagine that the haggard, sickly woman lying on the bed had once trained so many legendary courtesans.

"The Taoist Priest might not know this, but when Mistress Yao was young, she was once the most renowned courtesan in the capital of Shengjing. She was proficient in the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting, and when it came to poetry and prose, even the top imperial scholar of the current dynasty might not have surpassed her," Li Lingjing said, looking at Mistress Yao with a sigh. "She was weighed down by her own fame. Two wealthy young noblemen competed fiercely in bidding for her, driving the reward for spending the night up to millions of taels of silver. Those two young lords became enemies because of this, and the one who lost the bidding could not swallow his anger. On the spot, he threw a pot of boiling tea right into Mistress Yao's face. From that day on, Mistress Yao was disfigured, and the other nobleman abandoned her as well."

Shi Xianyu felt a chill hearing this. A dispute between two men, yet in the end, a woman had to pay the price. How innocent was she?

Li Lingjing continued, "Later, Mother Lan took Mistress Yao in, letting her stay in the brothel as a female tutor specifically responsible for teaching courtesans the arts of deportment and talent. That is how I had the opportunity to become acquainted with Mistress Yao."

She paused, exhaled softly, and her voice grew quieter. "Mistress Yao... has had a hard life. If she had been born into a wealthy and influential family, with her talent and appearance, it wouldn't have been unusual even for her to be selected for the imperial palace. If she hadn't crossed paths with those two frivolous young noblemen, she should by now be the undisputed queen of Shengjing's pleasure quarters... No matter what, it shouldn't have ended like this—lying on a bed, waiting desolately for death."

Shi Xianyu pondered for a moment and softly asked her, "Since you are opening neither an inn nor a brothel, what... what are your plans for the future?"

For a moment, Li Lingjing did not know how to answer. Looking down at her own feet, she suddenly felt a sense of bewilderment, as if she had run out of paths to take.