Three Major Shopping Malls

When Lingran considered her own circumstances, she realized that, in terms of background, only the young woman who had just mocked Xu Shanquan was truly her equal. That one was named Mo Han; her grandfather had been a minor official in the Hanlin Academy, implicated when he supported Zhang Ning’s impeachment and fell from grace. Xu Shanquan and Shen Zhu both carried themselves with an air of superiority, their faces practically etched with pride. Wang Biting, on the other hand, was the daughter of a once-wealthy merchant who had squandered the family fortune on gambling and even sold his own daughter. As for the remaining girls, they had been brought from all over the country—two were daughters of officials whose families had fallen on hard times, while the last three were respectable young women purchased for a high price.

Those modest girls and the daughters of ruined families all harbored dreams of becoming concubines in wealthy households, for at best they might have hoped to marry a commoner or serve as a concubine to a minor official. Xu Shanquan and Shen Zhu, feigning aloofness, tried to hide their true thoughts, though both seemed somewhat melancholy—perhaps they, too, felt the bitterness of soaring phoenixes forced to mingle with common crows. Mo Han, aside from her earlier clash with Xu Shanquan, kept her head bowed in silence, while Biting seemed unable to envision her future at all.

“Truly, officialdom is a battlefield: while the old men wage their power struggles above, their delicate daughters suffer disgrace as collateral damage!” Lingran found herself drifting into such thoughts, already growing dissatisfied with her new identity.

The beauties gathered from every province had clearly been in this line for some time. They were used to this life, bantering easily about who might become a lady or a favored concubine one day. The most exuberant of them was the woman who, upon boarding, had refused Lingran a seat—she spoke with lively charm, her every glance brimming with allure.

As the caravan moved through the streets, Lingran considered the possibility of escape. But when she peeked out from behind the curtains, she saw guards flanking the carriage at every turn. If she made any attempt to flee, the other girls would likely alert their captors before she even had a chance to run. She reluctantly set aside the idea for now.

After traveling for half a day, they finally arrived at a place called the Jin Family Compound. It was a sprawling residential area, with the Jin estate standing out for its grandeur—blue bricks, whitewashed walls, towering gates, and a labyrinth of inner courtyards and pavilions, much like an official’s mansion.

The ten girls were led by two women—one stout and imposing, the other small and sharp-faced, resembling a character from a Hong Kong drama—into side rooms flanking a secluded courtyard. The larger woman was called Mother Liang, and the thinner, sour-faced one with a pointed mouth was Mother Shi. Each took charge of five girls, settling them into large dormitory rooms. Lingran, who had been standing with Biting, was assigned to Mother Shi’s room.

Though the sleeping arrangements were communal, the conditions were not bad: lined up before the windows were six glass mirrors—real glass! Had glass mirrors already become common by the mid-Ming Dynasty? Lingran wondered. She thought glass mirrors were not widely used in China until the Qing era, but she couldn’t be sure; the question felt too out of place to ask, so she accepted it as normal for now.

Before each mirror stood combs and silk flowers, costume jewelry one could find at any street stall, and a full supply of rouge and scented powders. At the head of each bed lay a set of brand-new clothes, neatly folded.

Lingran couldn’t resist another look in the mirror and soon saw she was far from the most beautiful among them. By features and figure alone, she was only a little below average—petite and delicate, while most of the others were tall and graceful, with curves that made her own figure seem modest by comparison.

Mother Shi stopped before Lingran and didn’t bother to hide her disdain: “This year’s been bad for the harvest—we searched up and down the country and still came up one short. You’re here to make up the numbers, even if you’re not the best. Try not to embarrass yourself. Go wash up properly.” With that, she pinched her nose and called for a maid.

“She should bathe last—she’s so dirty, the others wouldn’t want to follow her into the water,” said Shen Zhu, dressed in pale yellow.

The two girls with her weren’t as brazen but chimed in with sweet voices, nodding in agreement and calling out to Mother Shi.

Mother Shi replied, “Understood.”

Just then, Shen Zhu shrieked, “Ah! She has natural feet!”

Lingran looked down in irritation—her feet were perfectly fine. You’d think she was a monster from their reaction! Clearly, these ladies all had bound feet.

By the time she turned around, the other three girls were staring as if she were some strange beast. They snatched up their clothes and hurried out.

Biting came over and tugged Lingran’s sleeve gently. “Don’t be upset. When I was little, I was afraid of pain, so I’d secretly unbind my feet at night to let them breathe. That’s why mine aren’t very small either.” She lifted her skirt to show her.

Lingran didn’t care in the least about the size of her feet. In fact, she was deeply relieved that this body’s feet weren’t bound, though she had no idea why “she” had escaped the practice in this era.

She was so taken by Biting’s kindness that she beamed, deciding then and there that she had found her first friend in this world.

It must cost a fortune to keep so many women.

It seemed the man behind all this was no ordinary lecher; he hadn’t even bothered to show his face or select a beauty for himself. The very next morning, all ten girls, dressed in their finest, were herded onto a high platform set up on the main street at the entrance to Yanyue Alley.

To be paraded and sold like livestock—Lingran found the idea utterly dehumanizing.

But when they arrived at the marketplace, she realized their treatment wasn’t the worst. While waiting behind a blue curtain at the back of the stage, she saw that the lower-priced servants were being sold first—most were girls, but there were also a few handsome boys, all with humiliating straw markers tied in their hair.

Buyers from the city’s great families purchased whole groups of maids and boys, while others bought only one or two women. After the bidding, buyers would go to the back to pay, sign contracts, and complete the sale.

Judging by the sun, it was a little after nine in the morning when it was finally time for the auction of the “thousand-gold courtesans.”

Lingran and the other nine were lined up in two rows on the high platform. She and Wang Biting, both the smallest in stature, stood at the back. When Biting saw the dense crowd below, she nervously clutched Lingran’s hand.

The crowd erupted with whistles and shouts, cheering for the group of girls—though not in the most civilized manner.

A servant boy, his head wrapped in a cloth, struck a gong with a “dang-dang-dang-dang,” and a middle-aged man in a dark blue silk robe patterned with golden coins stepped to the center of the stage. He raised his hands to quiet the crowd, and at once, all fell silent.