Jiang Wangzu listened to the song for a while and found it boring. He wanted nothing more than to doze off.
The dance halls of this era could not compare with the bars of later generations.
That female DJ covered in runes.
That fiery, explosive figure.
Now that was something.
Then he looked at this so-called Xianle Gate.
Was that all?
All he could do was peek at a pair of legs through the slit of a qipao!
“What terrible singing. If this is all it takes, I could do it too!”
Jiang Wangzu shook his head.
However, it was only the early years of the Great Xinmin Republic.
The West had introduced this modern style of music only recently.
Only a major metropolis like Shen City offered the chance to hear it.
People in other small and medium-sized cities had probably never even heard of it.
Opera and shadow puppetry were still the main forms of entertainment elsewhere.
“This is Shen City’s most popular song this year. Do you think it sounds terrible?”
Then, a clear, crisp voice rang out.
“Who the hell are you? What do you know about singing and dancing?”
Jiang Wangzu heard this and turned to her with an impatient look.
He saw a pretty woman in a floral, short-sleeved, high-slit qipao. Her long hair fell in loose, voluminous waves, and she gazed at him with a radiant smile.
He was stunned. Sister-in-law Xu Zhenzhen was already a peerless beauty, yet this woman surpassed her by three points.
Two burly bodyguards in black suits stood behind her like iron towers, making anyone who saw them feel intimidated.
“Kid, watch your mouth.”
“The woman standing before you is Miss Rumeng, the Golden-Voiced Queen of Xianle Gate.”
“Singing and dancing are her specialties, yet you said she knows nothing about them?”
One of Rumeng’s bodyguards stared coldly at Jiang Wangzu and spoke in a deep voice.
“Looking at your ragged clothes, you do not seem to have entered through the main gate.”
“Who are you, and what are you doing here?”
“If you sneaked in, then you have broken the rules!”
The other bodyguard looked Jiang Wangzu up and down, then spoke sternly.
Xianle Gate had an extremely high admission threshold. Apart from Shen City’s Powerful Officials and Nobles, even members of the middle class rarely came here to broaden their horizons.
Jiang Wangzu was wearing an old gray long gown covered in dust. How did he look like a wealthy man?
“What?”
“Does Xianle Gate discriminate against people?”
“《Admonitions for the Ages》 records that the Oil Seller painstakingly saved ten taels of silver to visit the Courtesan Queen he had long yearned for at a brothel.”
“I, Jiang Wangzu, painstakingly saved One Thousand Silver Dollars to come to Xianle Gate and see my own Courtesan Queen. Is that not allowed?”
“You look down on me because my clothes are shabby. Is that not judging a person by appearance?”
“Have you not seen these gleaming silver notes in my hand?”
Jiang Wangzu pulled a hundred-dollar Silver Note from his robe and waved it before them.
His gaze calm and his confidence unwavering, he looked at the bodyguard who had spoken earlier.
“You!”
The bodyguard behind Rumeng frowned upon hearing this and was about to lose his temper.
“Ah Hu, do not be rude!”
Then Rumeng spoke up.
“Jiang Wangzu, is it? I wonder whether you have seen your Courtesan Queen yet?”
Rumeng looked Jiang Wangzu over with great interest before smiling and speaking.
“I had not seen her before, but I have now.”
A faint smile curved Jiang Wangzu’s lips. He met Rumeng’s gaze and spoke with sincerity.
“Hee-hee-hee.”
Upon hearing this, Rumeng let out laughter like tinkling silver bells.
Ignoring Jiang Wangzu’s rustic attire, she looked him over once more with care.
Jiang Wangzu was exceptionally tall, with swordlike brows, starry eyes, a handsome face, and a sunny air about him.
The sight made her heart flutter.
Seeing Rumeng’s pure yet charming appearance, Jiang Wangzu knew his Succubus Talent had taken effect.
His Succubus Talent had also helped him win over Sister-in-law Xu Zhenzhen more than half a month earlier, while he was weeding and tending the courtyard at Boss Chen Tai’s home.
However, his Succubus Talent worked mainly on women and had little effect on men.
It could even make men hostile toward him because he was exceptionally handsome.
“But I am interested only in people with great attainments in singing and dancing. Do you know much about them?”
Rumeng leaned close to Jiang Wangzu, her breath sweet and fragrant, and whispered beside his ear.
A fragrant breeze brushed across Jiang Wangzu’s face. Rumeng’s flawless, exquisite features were so close that his heart began to stir.
“I know a little, I know a little!”
Jiang Wangzu nodded upon hearing this.
“Good. Write me a song, then.”
“If it is good, I can grant you one request within my ability.”
“If it is not good, I will have A-Long and A-Hu break your limbs, cut out your tongue, and throw you out of Xianle Gate.”
“What do you think?”
Rumeng looked at Jiang Wangzu and spoke in an even tone.
Yet Jiang Wangzu sensed a trace of piercing chill.
This woman did not sound as though she were joking!
“All right.”
“If my song is good, you will spend one night with me and give me one thousand silver dollars as a composition fee.”
At this point, Jiang Wangzu could not back down. He stared straight at Rumeng and spoke.
“Little man, that is two requests!”
Rumeng cast him a coquettish glance and said irritably.
She could not help marveling at how bold Jiang Wangzu was.
Even when the Chief of the Shencheng Patrol Bureau invited her to dinner, she usually could not be bothered to attend.
Many Powerful Officials and Nobles of the Upper City District had fallen at her feet, yet not one had won her over.
And this little man before her thought he could have her?
It was pure wishful thinking!
“I write you a song, and you give me a composition fee. That is only right and proper.”
“As for you, you yourself are the one request within my ability that you spoke of.”
Jiang Wangzu spoke with complete seriousness.
“Fine.”
“I would like to see what you can do, little man!”
The chill in Rumeng’s eyes deepened.
If another man had dared speak to her like that,
she would have had A-Long and A-Hu attack him long ago.
However, Jiang Wangzu was exceptionally handsome.
She was more patient with good-looking people.
“Give me a quiet room, and then bring me paper and a pen.”
“I will prove it to you!”
“Just do not go back on your word and refuse to pay me afterward!”
Jiang Wangzu spoke with a calm expression.
Even the terrible song that woman was singing onstage counted as Shen City’s most popular song.
So impressing Rumeng by plagiarizing a few classic songs in the style of the Republic era from his past life did not seem difficult.
“Fine. Go to my room and write it. I will watch you write it myself.”
“Follow me!”
Rumeng gave A-Long and A-Hu a look.
“Hey, hey, hey!”
“What are you doing? What are you doing? What are you doing?”
“Men and men should keep their distance.”
“I can walk by myself. Stay away from me!”
“Somebody help! Assault!”
“……”
A-Long and A-Hu hoisted Jiang Wangzu up from either side as he continued spouting shameless remarks.
Then they followed behind Rumeng up to the third floor.
Xianle Gate had three floors in total and occupied more than three thousand square meters.
The front hall on the first floor was the dance floor, with the kitchen behind it.
The second floor contained a small banquet hall and a small private dance hall.
The third floor was an inn.
Generally, Dancers and attendants could not stay on the third floor.
However, Rumeng was one of the four queens of the Xianle Gate Dance Hall and had an extraordinary relationship with its owner.
That was why she had her own residence on the third floor.