My name is Chang An, your name is Gu Li

Chapter 124: Bloody Skirt and Wine

Yuqi walked in, came to Su Meng, and shouted, "Madam, I'm back."

Su Meng smiled and said, "You are back just in time. Go find two assistants and sell these gifts for silver."

"Yes, ma'am." Yuqi agreed and turned to leave.

At this time, Gu Li was a little confused again and asked, "Sister, why do you want to sell these gifts?"

"These gifts are nothing more than some jewelry and useless toys. What's the point of them?" Su Meng said, "If these things are useful, they can only be exchanged for some silver."

"I think it would be better to exchange these things for silver and save them up." Su Meng explained, "When you have saved enough silver, you can redeem yourself and do what you want."

After hearing this, Gu Li did not say much. After all, at this time, if the singing girls in Pingkangfang wanted to redeem themselves, they would have to spend a lot of silver. Some singing girls were not like Su Meng. Sometimes they might not be able to save enough silver to redeem themselves in their entire lives.

"So what do you want to do after you redeem yourself, sister..." Gu Li wanted to change the subject, but he seemed to think of what happened between Chang An and Gu Li before, and felt that something was wrong, so he stopped talking.

"What do you want to do?" But Su Meng did not shy away from the topic. Instead, she answered the question openly, "Actually, what I want to do is quite simple. Our Datang is so big, I want to go and see it."

"I was picked up by my mother when I was very young. I have lived in this courtyard since I can remember. The farthest place I have been was when I went to Qujiang to perform for a banquet. I have never even left Chang'an City."

"I heard that the territory of our Tang Dynasty is very vast, so I want to go and see it."

Gu Li nodded, and then said: "Chang Lang and I are not far from Chang'an City. If my sister really goes to travel around the Tang Dynasty, please write a letter to tell Chang Lang and me."

Su Meng smiled and said, "Of course."

After talking for a while, Yuqi came in with two servants, came to Su Meng and asked, "Madam, are we going to the same place as before?"

"Well, you can go with the carriage. There are a lot of things."

"Okay, ma'am." After saying that, Yuqi and two servants carried the boxes and left the courtyard.

At this time, Su Meng looked at the sky again, and then said, "It's almost time. The restaurant will open soon. Why don't we go downstairs and talk inside? I'll treat you."

"Treat us? That's not necessary, right?" Chang An said.

"There are only three of you. Am I afraid you will bankrupt me?" Su Meng said with a smile, "I'm going to go get dressed. You guys wait for me here for a while."

Chang An and Gu Li nodded, and then they heard Su Meng say to Gao Shi: "Don't just stand there like an idiot. You two are friends too. Sit down and chat for a while."

Gao Shi nodded, then sat on another stone bench, and then Su Meng got up and went into the house.

At this time, Chang An also asked: "Brother Gao, how did you come to Su Meng's place as a guard?"

"To be honest, I have been idle since I passed the Spring Imperial Examination. I wanted to find something to make a living while waiting for the imperial examination. I happened to hear that Madam Su Meng was looking for a guard, and I know some martial arts, so I came here." Gao Shi said.

"But for some reason, as soon as Madam Su Meng saw me, she rejected everyone else and only hired me."

Chang An looked at Gao Shi and said, "I guess it's because you look more reliable, and Madam Su Meng knew you before, so she chose you."

Gao Shi nodded and said, "I guess so."

"Then Brother Gao, how long have you been a bodyguard?" Chang An asked again.

"It's been about ten days, what happened?"

Chang An said: "During this period of time, have you discovered anything? Do those young masters and students have any reaction to Madam Su Meng?"

Gao Shi also held his chin up at this time, thought for a while, and said: "Reaction? It can be considered very enthusiastic. Every time, Madam Su Meng drinks at this table, and then goes to the next table. She is very busy."

"Sometimes, there would be several young masters who would spend a fortune just to get a piece of 'Spring River Moon Night' from Madam Su Meng. When it was Madam Su Meng's turn to go on stage to play the piece, at the end of the piece, many young masters would throw colored silk and red ribbons to Madam Su Meng."

Chang An held his forehead helplessly and said, "I knew it..."

After a while, Su Meng came out, holding the pipa that had accompanied her for a long time. Then she said to Chang An and the other two, "I'm dressed up, let's go to the restaurant now."

Su Meng's yard was not far from Xinluan Restaurant, and it didn't take them much time to walk there. When they entered Xinluan Restaurant, it had just opened. The interior was still being cleaned and decorated, but a lot of young men had already poured in. This was rarely seen in the past.

Needless to say, these people sitting at the table are probably here to find Su Meng, and then spend a fortune just to ask Su Meng to sing "Spring River Moon Night".

"Madam Su Meng!"

"Meet Madam Su Meng."

When the gentlemen saw Su Meng coming in, they also stood up and saluted. Some even came up to Su Meng and the others to salute, trying to make an impression and make their presence felt.

But Su Meng simply nodded in return, then passed them by and took Chang An and the other two to their old seats on the second floor. Then she called a maid and ordered a lot of food based on what Chang An and the others had eaten before.

Several people sat down, but perhaps because of Chang An's presence, no one dared to come forward and try to improve their favorability towards Su Meng.

Gao Shi was also a little confused at this time. He looked around and said in confusion, "It's strange. Why didn't anyone come forward to see Madam Su Meng today? Usually at this time, there would be quite a few people around Madam Su Meng."

Su Meng smiled and said, "Then Mr. Gao, have you ever thought that the reason why today is different from usual is actually because Chang An is here?"

At this time, Gao Shi looked at Chang An who was sitting there drinking tea, and suddenly realized something. He said, "It was my negligence. Maybe Madam Su Meng can relax a little today."

"That's not certain. Those gentlemen might do something when they get drunk." Chang An said, "Brother Gao, haven't you heard that alcohol makes cowards brave?"

"If the wine is in place, there is nothing that cannot be done."

"That's true." Gao Shi scratched his head and said.

After sitting at the table for a while, more people came into the restaurant. At this time, the mother of Xinluan Restaurant came up and said to Su Meng with a smile:

"Su Meng, there is a young man named Yang who spent a lot of silver to listen to "Spring River Moon Night". I'm going to trouble you to go up and play a song for him."

Su Meng sighed softly, forced a smile, and said, "I understand, Mom. I'll go down now."

Then she and Gao Shi stood up, and said to Chang An and the others with a smile: "I will go down and play a song for them first. I will leave for a while."

Chang An and Gu Li both nodded to Su Meng, and watched Su Meng go down to the first floor, walk onto the stage and sit on the performance stool. Chang An and Gu Li had a good seat, and could directly see Su Meng's seat. At this time, Su Meng, who was sitting in his seat, bowed slightly to the guests in the audience.

Suddenly, there was a burst of cheers and applause from the audience:

"Madam Su Meng!"

"Madam Su Meng!"

"Have a song! Come on, have a song!"

"..."

Under the shouts of the crowd, Su Meng also touched the pipa strings, slightly shaking her body and head, and her every glance was full of charm. Her fingers plucked the pipa strings and began to play the song "Spring River Moon Night".

This song is very popular among the people, but no one knows why it is so popular. It just became popular inexplicably.

Chang An looked at the audience again. The young men and ladies below were shaking their heads, not knowing whether they understood the meaning of the song or not. There seemed to be a few people humming a tune whose name they did not know, and they seemed to "know" this song "Spring River Moon Night" very well.

At the end of the song, Su Meng stood up and bowed to the audience. At this time, a bunch of young men and ladies rushed to the stage and threw colored silk and red ribbons at Su Meng. Some of the young men and ladies even took off their jade rings or hairpins and threw them at her.

At this time, Gao Shi, the guard, had to come forward, stand in front of Su Meng, and escort her off the stage. At this time, a young man came forward with two wine glasses, and regardless of Chang An sitting on the top, he wanted to toast Su Meng, and Gao Shi also dutifully stretched out his hand to stop the wine for Su Meng.

Chang An sat on the stage and said with a smile: "It seems that Su Meng made the right choice to pay Brother Gao to be her bodyguard. This money was well spent."

Seeing that they couldn't get the privilege of toasting from the courtesan for free, some young masters threw large silver ingots to the hostess of the Xinluan Restaurant and pointed at Su Meng and asked her to have a few drinks.

There was no other way. In this place, whoever paid the money was the boss. You couldn't get along with anyone but the money. Su Meng hid behind Gao Shi, looking reluctant, and slowly followed Gao Shi to the front of the young masters who had spent money.

Although she was full of reluctance and disgust when she was behind Gao Shi, she put on a charming expression when she came to the table. She picked up the wine glass and toasted the "rich" guest. She walked around for several rounds. Some guests who had a low alcohol tolerance but loved to drink were shaking their hands. In addition, there were too many guests around. When they clinked glasses with Su Meng, they accidentally spilled some wine on Su Meng's red skirt.

After finally walking around and seeing that no one was paying for her drinks, Su Meng fled back to Chang An's seat.

At this time, no more customers wanted to come forward, and Su Meng finally breathed a sigh of relief. Chang An sat in his seat and watched the whole process, and finally understood why "the blood-colored silk skirt turned into wine stains" in "Pipa Xing".

At this moment, the beautiful and charming courtesan Su Meng in front of Chang'an was very much like the best "Pipa Girl" written by Mr. Bai in that article.