The Elixir is for You, The Poison is for Me

#680 - Is this... freeloading?

Golden House is located in the east of Wujiang City, standing by the river.

It is an old-fashioned pleasure place in the city, said to have started operating as early as the first year of Jiahe, changing six owners in the process, and now has a full century of history.

The words "Golden House" upstairs were personally inscribed by the Sage of Calligraphy, Liu Tan.

There are even rumors in the streets that Emperor Zhaozong once disguised himself and visited Golden House when he went to Jiangnan, drinking and listening to songs here.

Although the truth is hard to discern, Golden House's business has indeed gotten better since then, deeply loved by dignitaries.

Moreover, this place is not just famous; in the past twelve years, Wujiang City's flower rankings have been held six times, and the top scorer in two of them came from Golden House.

In addition, there are many Tanhua and Bangyan also in Golden House.

So this is actually his first time coming to Golden House, and the person accompanying him is… Xia Huai.

The latter had already changed her clothes, made a simple disguise, and dressed up as a young hero.

When walking to the outside of the Golden House, Lu Jing opened his mouth and said, "If you don't want to go in, you can wait for me outside."

Xia Huai shook her head, "Then what case am I investigating? This matter is obviously related to these brothels. I can't just wait outside all the time, right?"

While the two were talking, they saw a middle-aged woman had already greeted them. It could be seen that she was also a beauty when she was young. Even though she is now in her thirties or forties, she still has a mature charm between her smiles.

Coupled with the faint powder on her cheeks, it is easy to make people ignore her age.

Moreover, unlike those peers who try their best to solicit customers, this woman appears quite calm from beginning to end, making people feel polite and courteous, but not noisy.

This sense of propriety is not something everyone can grasp.

However, when she saw the two people outside the door, she was rarely somewhat discolored.

To be precise, after seeing Lu Jing, a look of surprise appeared on her face, "Lu, Hero Lu?"

"Eh…"

Lu Jing was a little embarrassed. It was the first time he discovered that being too famous was not a good thing, especially being recognized by a brothel madam at a glance, it was unknown if people would think he was a regular here.

The woman saw the look on Lu Jing's face, and thought he didn't want people to find out that he, a hero, came to Golden House to play secretly, so she understood and immediately stopped making a sound.

She led Lu and Xia into the door first.

Then she took the two all the way to a private room upstairs.

After Lu Jing and Xia Huai sat down, she smiled again and reopened her mouth, "I don't know which girl in the building Hero Lu and this young hero have taken a fancy to?"

"We are not here to drink and have fun." Lu Jing shook his head and said, "There is a girl named Shi Shi in your building, right? Oh, and there is Qiu Niang… The two of them fell from the building, one two months ago and the other six days ago."

The woman's expression changed upon hearing this, and then she knelt on both knees and said to Lu Jing, "Hero Lu, please be aware that although we are doing flesh and blood business, we are by no means cold-blooded and unfeeling people. Which of the children who are sold here is not a miserable person? We naturally can't bear to abuse them again."

"Even if we are stricter when teaching them to play the zither and sing songs on weekdays, it is also for their own good, hoping that they will have a good home in the future."

"Is that so?" Lu Jing asked again, "Before Shi Shi, has anything similar happened in Golden House?"

"Never," the woman replied very simply, "Hero Lu can find anyone in the building to inquire. I have always been very good to the daughters under my command. Before, a girl wanted to escape and secretly took two of my gold hairpins when she left. After she was caught by the government officials and sent back, I only locked her in the room for half a month."

"Every day, there were three meals, and even rouge and powder were not short of her. After she swore that she would never run away again, I released her."

"Then why did Shi Shi and Qiu Niang die?" Xia Huai couldn't help but open her mouth.

She deliberately lowered her voice to make her voice sound lower.

The woman shook her head, "I don't know either. Originally, I suspected that outsiders had sneaked in and killed them, but the government officials came to investigate before, and they didn't see any traces left by other people in their rooms."

"By the way, not only us, but also other places have had girls falling from buildings during this time, which has made everyone panic. Some brothels have even temporarily closed their doors."

"Why didn't you close the door?"

The woman smiled bitterly, "Golden House has a big family and a big business, and there are hundreds of mouths waiting to eat. Those small households may be able to rest for a while, but we can't close the door for a single day."

"Moreover, because of the dead people, Golden House's business has been very bleak these days. The top cards in the building are okay, but those girls who are not very famous are not having a good time."

"Hero Lu, are you and your friend planning to investigate the cause of Shi Shi and Qiu Niang's death? If you can really find the murderer, then from now on, the brothels and brothels in this Wujiang City will have to owe you a favor. No matter which girl you choose, we can give you everything for free."

Xia Huai felt a burst of heat on her cheeks when she heard this.

Lu Jing was also a little dumbfounded. Is this the real thing of whoring for free?

However, the women around him are already peerless beauties, and he naturally can't see these mediocre vulgar women, so he shook his head and said, "That's not necessary, let's talk about the case first, who here is the most familiar with Shi Shi and Qiu Niang?"

The woman quickly found three people, one of whom was Shi Shi's maid, and the other two were prostitutes in the building.

Lu Jing and Xia Huai separated the three first, and then asked them questions in turn, and then compared their answers with each other.

It was found that except for some differences in details, the general situation was indeed similar.

This shows that the three of them should not be lying. As for the differences in details, the same person is originally different in the eyes of different people.

Closeness, interests… Everyone will bring their own filters when looking at people, which is why Lu Jing and Xia Huai want to ask many people.

After that, the two also went to Shi Shi and Qiu Niang's rooms.

Among them, because Shi Shi fell from the building two months ago, her room has been cleaned up, and a new person has moved in, and her personal belongings are gone.

Qiu Niang's room has been kept as it was.

After Lu Jing and Xia Huai finished watching, they randomly asked a few questions in the building, and then said goodbye to the woman and went out.