Her mind was wandering when she heard the Princess's voice again: "It's more comfortable to look at you like this. But your eyes seem to have a problem. It seems necessary to find a doctor!"
"Or perhaps I am too ugly, and looking at me will tarnish your eyes!"
With a thud, the brothel madam was once again so frightened that she knelt on the ground, on the verge of tears: "Princess Consort, please spare this old servant. This old servant is a person of the wind and dust, inherently inferior. How dare I look up and stare at the Princess Consort? That is a great disrespect!"
This was a sad thing. In ancient times, women of the wind and dust indeed had a bad reputation!
Let alone ancient times, even in her previous life, such people had a terrible reputation!
Zhao Jiaqi wiggled her finger slightly, gently tapping the tabletop twice: "Get up. Today, you can treat me as an ordinary person. I forgive you!"
The brothel madam tremblingly got up. The Princess Consort had spoken, and she dared not disobey, yet she dared not truly comply. She merely glanced quickly at the Princess Consort, then lowered her eyes slightly, staring at the teacup on the table!
Zhao Jiaqi could say nothing more to such a person. She glanced at Bai Lu beside her: "You two chat, I'll go take a look around the brothel!"
Bai Lu wanted to stop her, but saw the Princess Consort flick her sleeve and leave, truly strolling leisurely through the brothel!
She felt a flush of embarrassment. The Princess Consort visiting a brothel was as casual as going shopping!
The brothel madam was even more terrified. Her eyes kept darting towards the Princess Consort. She had a mournful expression, worriedly hoping that nothing would happen to the Princess Consort!
Bai Lu, cutting straight to the chase, explained the reason for their visit: to borrow some girls to wear clothes with less fabric. The brothel madam immediately let out a sigh of relief!
"Madam, let alone wearing clothes made with less fabric, it's fine even if they are naked. Oh my, so this is why the Princess Consort is here. You truly scared this old servant to death!"
Seeing her relief and patting her chest repeatedly, Bai Lu smiled: "Could it be that you've really been doing something illegal here? The Princess Consort is such a good person, how did she scare you into looking like you've seen a ghost!"
The brothel madam chuckled and secretly grumbled, the Princess Consort was scarier than a ghost!
She saw ghosts every day and talked to them, but those lecherous ghosts couldn't do anything to her.
But the Princess Consort was different; she could perhaps make her see a real ghost!
"Madam, please stop joking with this old servant. Although I do this kind of business, I am indeed a law-abiding citizen. I will absolutely not tarnish the reputation of the inner city!"
Bai Lu did believe her. Crimes were rare in the inner city; mostly petty theft. Major crimes were very few!
The brothel madam continued sincerely: "To tell you the truth, I have worked in other places before. I earned money, yes, but some people felt they had connections with officials and often got free services. Once I heard that the inner city was good, and that the King of Zhenguo was here, such incidents rarely happened. That's why I came here!"
Bai Lu was curious and asked: "How long have you been here? How is it, is it as the customers say!"
When asked about this, the brothel madam's smile widened: "I've been here for more than half a year. This place is truly good. The customers are generous and never force the women to entertain them. Moreover, there are many customers here, and most importantly, there are far more wealthy people here than in other places. That's why I decided to bring my girls to live here permanently!"
Bai Lu smiled. Before she could speak, the sound of smashing and the screams of girls came from the back of the building!
Bai Lu looked towards where the sound was coming from: "Oh no, Princess Consort!"
The brothel madam, whose expression had just relaxed, immediately turned pale with fear again. What evil had she encountered today!
It was truly a case of disaster striking while sitting peacefully at home!
The two rushed towards the back of the building, only to find that the Princess Consort had merely sprained her ankle!
The brothel madam was relieved. As long as she was alright, she wouldn't even care if the customers smashed the entire establishment!
At that moment, the noise from upstairs continued. In a short while, all the girls in the building poked their heads out from the second floor, looking towards a particular bedroom, murmuring softly amongst themselves!
Bai Lu followed Zhao Jiaqi: "Madam, please sit there. I'll check if your foot is swollen!"
She tested her ankle, which could move. This indicated no bone fractures and no serious problem. She waved her hand: "I'm fine. I was just startled by the screams from upstairs and sprained my ankle!"
While they were talking, the brothel madam had already gone upstairs to deal with the situation. Unexpectedly, in the short time it took for them to sit down, the brothel madam's body plummeted from the second floor like a kite with a broken string!
Crash!
The brothel madam lay on the ground, twitching a few times. Her eyes were wide open, and blood slowly oozed from the back of her head. Blood also spilled from her mouth. After a few more twitches, she died with lingering resentment!
In her final moments, her eyes were not closed, truly dying with regret!
"Ah... someone's dead! Madam is dead, Madam is dead...."
Almost instantly, the girls in the building cried out in panic, scurrying around!
Zhao Jiaqi looked up at the second floor and saw several burly men, their clothes disheveled and hair messy, leaning on the wooden railing of the second floor. Looking at the brothel madam on the first floor, who had just breathed her last, they smirked with contempt!
"Bai Lu, tell the servants to lock all the exits of this building. No one is allowed to enter or leave. You go and report this to the local magistrate immediately!"
Zhao Jiaqi, her face pale, immediately ordered the people beside her!
If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, she wouldn't have believed that the person she was just chatting with had her life end so abruptly, and that she had been murdered!
What was even more absurd was that they had thrown her down the stairs in front of her, killing her outright!
She couldn't tolerate it, and her policy was zero tolerance!
Bai Lu immediately set off to carry out the order, but she couldn't go to report it. She couldn't bear to leave the Princess Consort alone here, especially with these villains present!
She ran outside and called out to Wangcai: "Quickly go and report to the authorities. There's been a murder in this building. Tell the magistrate to bring people to investigate quickly!"
Upon hearing that it was a murder, Wangcai immediately asked: "Where is my mistress? How is she!"
"Madam was startled, but she's fine for now. Hurry up and go, don't be late, or the killer will escape!"
Hearing that his mistress was startled, Wangcai whipped the horse and galloped away at full speed. On the bustling and crowded roads of the inner city, he charged through, momentarily breaking the inner city's peace!
Inside the building, Zhao Jiaqi limped towards the brothel madam on the ground. She wanted to personally check if she was dead. Even though she already guessed the outcome, her heart couldn't help but ache as she tested it herself!
Four men descended from the second floor, their collar buttons undone and hanging askew, revealing thick chest hair. Their hair cascaded down their backs as they slowly walked down the stairs, looking down at Zhao Jiaqi!
They spat towards the staircase.
"Yo ho, there's someone like this in this brothel!" the leader said contemptuously, his eyes scanning Zhao Jiaqi from head to toe.
Her figure was good, her skin fair, and her clothing and accessories were elegant. Although she wasn't a young girl, her mature charm possessed a different kind of confident allure!