Martial culture flourished in the Wuji Kingdom. There were no fewer than a few martial practitioners, though there were also scholars, most of whom were impoverished youths hoping to pass the imperial examinations and change their fate.
After all, to the poor, cultivation techniques and martial skills, spirit stones, and pills were all prohibitively expensive and entirely unaffordable, making it nearly impossible to practice martial arts.
However, most of those who could come to the brothel to indulge and spend money were crude martial artists. Quite a few of them had read poetry and literature extensively; having them recite a few poems by others was no problem, but asking them to compose poetry themselves was rather difficult.
The qin sisters on the second floor, disguised as men, had taken an interest. They felt that they had come to the right place and encountered something entertaining.
Gu Yi merely frowned slightly, then simply rose and quietly left to search for the Taisui Spirit on the third floor.
When he arrived outside the room on the third floor and was just about to push open the door, a crisp voice came from inside: “Who is it?”
Gu Yi pondered for a moment and did not act rashly.
The Taisui had developed sentience and could be considered a person. Since it was a young woman, it would be improper to simply push open the door and enter.
He replied, “I have business with Miss. Please open the door and allow me to see you.”
The woman inside said, “young master, please follow the rules. As long as young master wins the bidding, Yingying will naturally treat you well.”
Gu Yi was slightly startled. So this Taisui Spirit was actually Miss Yingying, the woman whose First-Night Auction was being held tonight?
Just as he was about to speak, someone downstairs shouted, “Hey, how did that man end up outside Miss Yingying’s room?”
In an instant, everyone in the brothel looked up.
The qin sisters stared with their eyes wide open. Qin Murong spat viciously, “That lecher! While everyone else is still discussing the rules, he’s trying to get ahead of them!”
Qin Muwan chuckled. “Young Master Gu is not an ordinary person, so naturally he does not do ordinary things.”
The brothel madam called out with an unpleasant expression, “young master, please come down!”
Gu Yi rubbed his nose, coughed softly, turned, and went downstairs, returning to his seat.
“All right, I have explained the rules to everyone. Without further ado, let us begin the bidding!”
The brothel madam glared fiercely at Gu Yi, who had returned to his seat, then clapped her hands and said, “The starting price is one hundred taels. Each increase must be no less than one hundred taels.”
“Two hundred taels!”
The moment the brothel madam finished speaking, someone called out a bid.
“Five hundred taels!”
“Eight hundred taels!”
…
The fierce bidding soon began to rise and fall in rapid succession.
When the bid reached twelve hundred taels, Gu Yi immediately raised his hand and said, “ten thousand taels of gold.”
“Damn!”
The crowd immediately erupted, and everyone turned to look!
Ten thousand taels of gold? Was this a mistake?
The brothel madam was overjoyed. Ten thousand taels of gold was worth three Red Flower Pavilions!
The wine cups in the qin sisters’ hands clattered onto the table.
Xu Santong’s expression changed drastically. In a low voice, he said, “Gu Yi, although the one hundred thousand taels of gold between us came easily, you can’t flaunt your wealth like this!”
“Eleven Thousand Taels of Gold!”
Just as everyone was overwhelmed by Gu Yi’s extravagance, a handsome young man at the second-floor railing casually called out another bid.
The man clearly enjoyed the attention directed at him. He looked coldly at Gu Yi and sneered, “Gu Yi, the useless son of the Gu Family—do you really think you can compete for the First-Night Auction?”
“That’s Ma Wenyuan of the Ma Clan!” Xu Santong’s brows furrowed.
Among the Nine Great Families of Dinggong City, the Ma Clan ranked near the top and possessed abundant wealth.
Ma Wenyuan was a leading figure among the younger generation of the Ma Clan. Not only was he exceptionally talented in literature, but his cultivation was also far beyond that of his peers. He was even a level above Gu Feng, having reached the fourth layer of the true essence realm.
A man seated beside Ma Wenyuan looked at Gu Yi contemptuously, then swept his gaze across everyone present and said in a deep voice, “Brother Wenyuan has won the champion of today’s clan grand tournament and has come to the Red Flower Pavilion to celebrate. Today, no one should even think of competing with him for the First-Night Auction!”
Gu Yi glanced at them expressionlessly, tapped the table, and said, “Twenty Thousand Taels of Gold.”
Ma Wenyuan’s face darkened, gloomy enough to drip water. Gu Yi’s attitude clearly showed that he had no intention of giving him face!
“Twenty-One Thousand Taels of Gold!”
Ma Wenyuan sneered. “As long as you dare to bid today, I dare to raise the price!”
Gu Yi stopped bidding and looked toward the brothel madam. “Didn’t you say you would select the top ten bidders? I doubt anyone else will bid now. You can announce the result.”
The brothel madam nodded repeatedly. Setting aside everyone else, Gu Yi and Ma Wenyuan alone were enough. No matter which of them won, her brothel would make a fortune!
Ma Wenyuan upstairs had originally prepared to fight Gu Yi to the bitter end. He had never expected Gu Yi to raise the price so high and then let it go so easily, leaving him extremely uncomfortable. He said resentfully, “That useless Gu Yi of the Gu Family is truly despicable!”
After registering the ten bidding candidates, the brothel madam said, “Next, let us invite Miss Yingying to come out and give everyone the literary test question.”
The room on the third floor opened, and a woman dressed in a red gauze skirt, as beautiful as a celestial maiden, walked out!
Everyone felt that such a woman could only exist in the heavens.
Looking at her, everyone felt as though their hearts had skipped a beat. Affection arose within them, and they could hardly control themselves.
Miss Yingying rested her hands on the railing and said in a crisp voice, “Yingying has loved admiring the moon since childhood, so let the moon be the subject. Please compose an appropriate poem, young masters. You have half an incense stick. The poem of the highest quality…”
At this point, her pretty face flushed red. Shyly, she said, “Shall become Yingying’s husband tonight.”
The moon?
Upon hearing this, everyone fell into deep thought.
Those without talent stared wide-eyed and looked around at the others.
Those with talent silently muttered to themselves, or simply wrote on the tabletops with their fingers.
Gu Yi thought of a poem he had heard on a high-level plane in his previous life. In all he had seen and heard throughout the Myriad Heavens and Ten Thousand Realms during his tens of thousands of years of life, that poem contained the most beautiful and profound description of the moon.
Moreover, that poem held extraordinary significance for him, because it had once been shared between him and Red Butterfly…
Gu Yi sank into contemplation.
As time passed, the deadline of half an incense stick gradually drew near.
A middle-aged man who had once read extensively and was having a sure plan rose to his feet and was the first to recite a poem.
However, its quality was truly nothing worth mentioning. It could only barely be considered to have met the requirements for a poem.
Several more people recited poems one after another, but none of them were particularly impressive.
Ma Wenyuan glanced at the unmoved Gu Yi and smiled contemptuously, believing that Gu Yi was incapable of composing poetry. He rose and said, “Miss Yingying, please hear my poem.”
“In dreams, I repeatedly journey to the Xie residence,
where the winding corridor meets the slanting balustrade.
Only the moon in the spring courtyard is truly affectionate,
still shining upon the fallen flowers for one who has departed.”
“Good! What a fine poem! What a fine poem!”
The brothel madam was the first to clap loudly and lead the applause. Though she could not recognize a single character, she nevertheless wore an utterly intoxicated expression and immediately said to Miss Yingying:
“Yingying, young master Ma’s poem is wonderful! More importantly, young master Ma is handsome, young, and wealthy. I think you might as well choose him!”
She was not rushing toward the poem at all; she was clearly rushing toward the money!
However, no one present could say that Ma Wenyuan’s poem was poor.
His wording was refined and his imagery vivid, stirring sorrow in those who heard it and evoking deep empathy for the pain of separation.
Miss Yingying was also somewhat moved. She opened her mouth and said, “young master Ma’s poem is indeed excellent. Hearing it, Yingying also feels sorrow in her heart. Since no one else has composed a poem, then…”
“Wait!”
Gu Yi returned from his ancient thoughts. Hearing that Miss Yingying was about to determine the candidate for the First-Night Auction, he immediately called out to stop her!
What a joke. Once the Taisui Spirit shared a bed with someone and became contaminated, how could there still be pure Taisui essence blood to harvest?
Everyone turned to look. Ma Wenyuan sneered, “Gu Yi, you useless fool—can you even compose a poem?”
The person beside him mocked, “I heard that his father, Gu Chengjiao, was a dissolute genius who used despicable means back then to seduce the biological younger sister of the current Marquis Wuting, junior guardian Li, causing the Gu Family to remain in turmoil for more than a decade. Could it be that he inherited the fine tradition of that foolish father of his?”
Gu Yi cast them a cold glance and did not respond.
Just now, all his thoughts had returned to scene after scene from ten thousand years ago with Red Butterfly. His longing for the woman he loved had arisen naturally, and he did not wish to let these two vermin affect his state of mind.
He rose to his feet, his eyes filled with recollection and his expression desolate. The poem he had remembered for ten thousand years gradually surfaced in his mind.