My Fantastic Chef Wife

384. Red House

Translator: Tracycbj

In the following days, Xiao Baocheng hung out with the young men frequently.

Not only did they go to Red House together, but they also went to other places in the Capital City.

At first, they didn’t let Xiao Baocheng spend any money. One day at the end of August, when Xiao Baocheng woke up in Little Red’s bed, the procuress came to ask him to pay her two hundred taels of silver.

Xiao Baocheng was wide awake in a panic.

Two hundred taels of silver?

“Why do you ask me to pay? Don’t my friends always pay for my expense?” Xiao Baocheng asked as he put on his clothes.

The procuress laughed. “Pay for your expense? No. Those misters are our regular customers, and they don’t pay for anyone’s expense. They take turns to pay for the bill, and it’s your turn today.”

Xiao Baocheng was so scared that his legs went weak.

“Where are they?” he asked.

His friends didn’t mention that he should pay for the bill. There must be a misunderstanding.

“They are gone. They told me that it is your turn to pay.”

Xiao Baocheng felt cold all over.

Two hundred taels of silver?

This brothel was unreasonably expensive!

“I don’t have that much money!” Xiao Baocheng said.

“It’s fine. You can pay me later. After you get the money from home, you bring it here.” The procuress said with a smile, “You are a Xiao, so two hundred taels of sliver mean nothing to you. I heard that General Xiao is popular in the court, and many people give him presents. The gifts from the emperor are so valuable that he can’t spend them all for the rest of his life.”

Xiao Baocheng went out of Red House on weak legs.

He couldn’t understand why he had to pay for the bill.

There must be a misunderstanding.

Xiao Baocheng wanted to look for his friends instead of going home.

However, his friends had gone home, and they lived in big houses. It would take him ages to find them.

He knew about their routine after staying with them for a few days. They went out last night, so today they would sleep at home and come out at night.

Therefore, he went back home.

When he returned to the restaurant, he saw his parents busying in the kitchen and felt regretful. He blamed himself for the mistake.

However, he felt unfair when he recalled that his friends spent two hundred taels of silver for a night while his family struggled to earn thirty taels of silver in one month.

Xiao Tieshu asked Xiao Baocheng when he saw the latter was back, “Why didn’t you come back last night? If you continue to do this, you will become a worthless man.”

Xiao Baocheng ignored him and waved, “Father, I’m sleepy. I’ll go to sleep for a while.”

“You…”

…

Xiao Baocheng slept until it was dark.

He would look for his friends when it got dark.

They would go to the ship by the river instead of Red House.

As expected, when he went to the riverside, they saw the luxurious ship chartered by his friends. He shouted on the shore, and one of his friends came out and beckoned him to get on board at the sight of him.

When Xiao Baocheng got on board, he found the cabin was in a mess. There were several women with chains on their necks, their clothes were in disarray. Small pieces of silver were scattered on the table. His friends were disheveled.

Xiao Baocheng had never seen such a scene before.

He suddenly wanted to throw up.

After he entered, his friends ignored him and continued to have their own fun.

Xiao Baocheng managed to get a chance and asked one of his friends, “Mr. Chen, why did you ask me to pay for the bill in Red House last night?”

Chen was playing with a woman. He said, “Do I have to pay for the bill? We take turns to pay. Why can’t you pay for it?”

“But you didn’t tell me that.”

“Did we have to tell you that? There’s no free lunch. Are you out of money? You can ask General Xiao for help.” Following that, Chen ignored him and continued to play with the woman.

Xiao Baocheng got uneasy.

He looked at the cabin, where everyone went mad and played animal games. His stomach was churning.

Afraid that they would ask him to pay for the bill, he quickly disembarked and went away.

…

Xiao Baocheng didn’t go home. Instead, he went to Red House.

The brothel was magnificent at night. Some girls in flashy clothes were soliciting the customers. They were not in the same league as Little Red, who was much prettier than them. In fact, Little Red didn’t need to come out on the street. She had many customers.

Xiao Baocheng felt ambivalent. He liked Little Red and wanted to see her, but he didn’t want to spend the money.

He owed two hundred taels the day before. If he went to Red House again tonight, he would owe more.

At this moment, the procuress chanced to come out and saw Xiao Baocheng. She swayed her waist and went up to greet him with a smile. “There you are, the brother of General Xiao. Why do you come alone? Are you here to pay me back or to see Little Red?”

They all knew that Xiao Baocheng liked Little Red.

Xiao Baocheng didn’t have any money on him, but he said, “I…come to see Little Red.”

“No problem.” The procuress called a girl, “Flowery, take this mister to Little Red.”

Xiaohua came over and led Xiao Baocheng inside the house, saying, “Mr. Xiao, I’m sorry, but Little Red is entertaining a customer. You have to wait.”

Xiao Baocheng said, “It’s fine. I’ll wait for her.”

Xiaohua led him to a table and brought him a plate of peanuts, a cold dish, and a small pot of wine.

Around one hour later, Xiaohua came to ask Xiao Baocheng to go to Little Red’s room.

Xiao Baocheng got bold after he drank the wine. When he entered Little Red’s room, he found her tired, not as energetic as usual.

All men were possessive. Xiao Baocheng knew what Little Red had experienced before and he felt upset, saying, “I hope you only belong to me. I don’t want other men to lay their hands on you.”

Little Red said, “Then you can redeem me.”

Xiao Baocheng asked casually, “How much does it cost to redeem you?”

Little Red stuck out two fingers.

“Two hundred ingots of silver?” Xiao Baocheng asked.

“You are dreaming. At least twenty thousand. Do you know how much I earn for the house?”

“How much?” Xiao Baocheng asked.

“At least one hundred,” Little Red said, Red said, “if you want to redeem me, you need to pay twenty thousand ingots of gold.”

Xiao Baocheng gasped, thinking he couldn’t afford it.

At the same time, he thought, “Why does it cost so much? She’s only a whore.”

When Xiao Baocheng was about to grope Little Red, she suddenly asked, “Are you going to have me for a whole night or two hours?”

Xiao Baocheng asked, “Is there a difference?”

“Five taels for two hours, and twenty taels for a whole night.”

Xiao Baocheng suddenly recalled that he owed the procuress two hundred taels.

He said, “So expensive?”

“What, do you want to play or not? If not, I’ll serve the next customer,” said Little Red sulkily.

Xiao Baocheng suddenly felt that Little Red had changed. She didn’t care about him but money now.

Xiao Baocheng stayed with her for two hours. When he came out of her room, the procuress asked him to pay ten taels of silver, five for spending time with Little Red, and five for the drinks. He said he didn’t have the money.

The procuress got suspicious. “You don’t have the money? You owed me two hundred taels of silver last night. Are you going to owe me ten more? When are you paying me back?”

Xiao Baocheng mumbled, “Next time, I’ll give it to you.”

“When is the next time? Mr. Xiao, you should know that we don’t usually allow late payment. We allow you to pay later because you are the family of General Xiao. Don’t sleep and dash. If you don’t pay us, we will go to General Xiao.”

Xiao Baocheng said with feigned composure, “Take it easy. I’ll give it to you tomorrow.”

“Okay. Write me an IOU and include the two hundred taels of silver. Sign your name.”

Xiao Baocheng did that in order to get away.

When Xiao Baocheng returned to the restaurant, the first thing he did was to go to the counter.

He was the accountant of the family. He read the accounts and found that the family had only forty taels of silver.

Forty taels of sliver.

It was the money that the restaurant had earned in the past two months. They had to buy ingredients and pay the waiters with the money as well as the expense of the family.

How could the family survive without the forty taels of silver if Xiao Baocheng took the money?

Besides, even if he took the money, it was not enough to pay off his debt.

He decided not to pay back his debt. He would wait and see how the procuress dealt with him.

…

Xiao Baocheng did not go to Red House for a long time, nor did he go to see his rich friends.

Once, his friends came to ask him to go out and have fun with them, but he didn’t dare to go.

His family was poor, and it was costly to have fun with them. His family came from a small city, unlike his rich friends, whose families were powerful and wealthy.

His friends thought he was a wet blanket when he refused them, saying they would not come to him and accusing him of being cheap.

Xiao Baocheng was relieved.

The days went by uneventfully, and the procuress didn’t send anyone to ask him to pay back the debt. He occasionally thought of Little Red and reckoned that she was not worth spending money because she only cared about money.

He was even grateful that the procuress had forgotten about his debt.

…

As the children grew up, Ye Xiaoxian started to work on the education of Dongdong and Xiaoxia.

In modern times, children went to kindergarten at the age of three, learned dancing at four, and learned piano at the age of five. She felt that it was time that her children received some good training.

In this era, commoners didn’t pay much attention to education. They were satisfied if their children grew up without hunger and learned a few words.

However, the dignitaries attached much importance to children’s education. Boys went to private schools at the age of five or six and learned riding and archery at the age of seven or eight. Girls had to recite the traditional books on women’s morals and learn calligraphy, as well as embroidery and dancing.