“Three hundred taels…”
Upon hearing this, Mother Shen’s mouth twitched involuntarily.
Bringing out three hundred taels all at once, yet claiming it was not prepared in advance, who was she trying to fool?
But even knowing Tang Xiaobei was pulling the wool over her eyes, Mother Shen could only grit her teeth and accept it.
“Then give me thirty taels worth.”
“Mother Shen, please wait a moment, I will have someone arrange it.”
Tang Xiaobei took two steps, then turned back and asked, “By the way, Mother Shen, the scented soap comes in several fragrances, which one would you like?”
“The fragrances are different?” Mother Shen asked in surprise.
“Yes, there is osmanthus, jasmine, gardenia, orchid, plum blossom…”
Tang Xiaobei counted on her fingers as she listed all the scented soap fragrances, “The one Miss Luliu took back yesterday was osmanthus scented.”
“May I smell them?” Mother Shen’s curiosity was piqued.
“Of course,” Tang Xiaobei said to Ah Lan standing nearby, “Sister Ah Lan, please fetch one of each scented soap.”
“Yes, Miss.”
Ah Lan agreed and left.
Moments later, a row of small boxes was placed in front of Mother Shen.
“Hmm, this is osmanthus… this is jasmine, smells nice… this is gardenia, so fragrant…”
Mother Shen opened each box one by one, distinguishing the scents, her expression growing more animated.
If there were only osmanthus scent, thirty taels would suffice, but with so many fragrances, would she not want a few of each?
Women have little resistance to scents by nature, and the more Mother Shen smelled these, the more she liked them, eventually getting carried away and ordering eighty taels worth in one go.
As she left, she felt somewhat unsatisfied, thinking she had brought too little silver today, she should have bought more, ideally snapping up all three hundred taels.
Tang Xiaobei stood at the door, watching Mother Shen’s departing figure, her mouth gradually curving into a smile.
She knew her plan had succeeded!
The influence of the scented soap would spread further through Mother Shen.
But what Tang Xiaobei did not expect was that the impact formed through the pleasure quarters would be far greater than she had anticipated.
After returning, Mother Shen distributed the scented soap.
Moreover, based on the girls’ personalities, the soaps distributed were not uniform.
For the lively and cute ones, she gave osmanthus and gardenia scented soaps with strong fragrances, while for those with cooler personalities or a literary young woman vibe, she gave plum blossom, orchid, jasmine and the like, with cooler scents.
Under Mother Shen’s promotion, the news that every girl in the pleasure quarters was using scented soap quickly spread throughout the red light district.
The name of scented soap had long spread across Guangyuan County, but because Tang Xiaobei deliberately controlled it, few had actually seen it.
The more this was the case, the more people became interested in the scented soap.
In an era with scarce entertainment, everyone finally had something fun, and that night, the doors of the pleasure quarters were nearly broken by the throngs of customers who came flocking.
In just one night, the pleasure quarters’ turnover exceeded the total of the previous six days, far surpassing the cost of the scented soap.
There were only so many people in the county city who frequented brothels, so with more customers at the pleasure quarters, the other brothels had fewer.
How could the madams of the other brothels sit still?
That very night, Mother Zhou from Spring Breeze House rushed to the inn.
As soon as she saw Tang Xiaobei, Mother Zhou wiped her tears and began to wail, “Xiaobei, ever since you left Spring Breeze House, my days have been hard, and just when I was starting to recover a bit, you pull this stunt, how am I supposed to survive?”
This time, Mother Zhou was not acting, she was genuinely shedding tears.
In plain terms, she was just an employee, with Spring Breeze House backed by the county’s wealthy gentry.
She had poured all her effort into cultivating Tang Xiaobei, only for the Night Charm rumour to cause a stir, affecting Spring Breeze House’s business, and the backers were already displeased with her.
Now, just when Spring Breeze House was gradually picking up thanks to the scented soap, Tang Xiaobei turned around and sold it to the pleasure quarters.
When she first heard the news that evening, the madam nearly stormed into the inn to tear Tang Xiaobei apart.
“Mother, what has happened?”
Tang Xiaobei feigned ignorance and asked.
“Such a wonderful thing like scented soap, how could you sell it to the pleasure quarters?” Mother Zhou said through tears, “Does that old hag surnamed Shen deserve scented soap?”
“So Mother came for this matter?”
Tang Xiaobei put on a troubled expression, “Sir emptied his family coffers to redeem me, now we are almost out of money for food, I have no choice but to sell some scented soap to make ends meet…”
Upon hearing this, Mother Zhou was so furious she nearly jumped up.
Letting Jin Feng redeem Tang Xiaobei for just over a hundred taels of silver was the madam’s greatest regret, she had lost her appetite for days, and Tang Xiaobei’s words were like rubbing salt in the wound.
But now, with a favour to ask of Tang Xiaobei, the madam dared not lash out, no matter how much she wanted to bite her to death.
Wiping her tears, she asked shamelessly, “Xiaobei, how much scented soap do you have left, give Mother dozens of taels worth.”
“Dozens of taels?”
Tang Xiaobei nearly laughed coldly.
What cheek!
If it were not for needing an excuse to open the market, she would not have given even that one tael to the madam back then.
Now that the scented soap’s reputation was established, the madam still wanted it for free, sheer fantasy.
Tang Xiaobei had suffered endlessly at Spring Breeze House, not raising the price was already generous.
“Mother, you know Sir’s main wife is managing me, the materials for scented soap are too precious, giving you one tael was my filial piety, any more and I cannot account to the main wife.”
Tang Xiaobei said, “Mother, you would not bear to see me beaten to death by the main wife upon my return, would you?”
“That cannot be.”
Seeing Tang Xiaobei invoke even the main wife, Mother Zhou had no choice but to ask, “Then how much for one tael of scented soap?”
“Five taels of silver.”
Tang Xiaobei replied calmly.
“What?”
Mother Zhou could no longer hold back and jumped up, “How is it so expensive?”
Tang Xiaobei smiled, too lazy to explain.
Now that the scented soap market was open, if Spring Breeze House did not buy, they could only watch customers flock to the pleasure quarters.
So she was in no hurry at all.
“Xiaobei, you are Mother’s most cherished daughter, you must give me a discount, five taels per tael is far too expensive.”
Mother Zhou played the emotional card once more.
“Mother, I am truly sorry, this is the price set by the main wife, I cannot shortchange it by a single copper.”
Tang Xiaobei shook her head, “Mother Shen from the pleasure quarters bought at this price too, do not believe me, go ask her.”
After haggling for a long while, seeing Tang Xiaobei on the verge of anger and refusing to sell, Mother Zhou reluctantly shelled out for forty taels.
After seeing off Mother Zhou, Tang Xiaobei called for Da Liu, “Brother Da Liu, have Brother Tiezi negotiate with the innkeeper, borrow the street-facing stall tomorrow for a few days, ask how much the inn charges!”
“Ah, Miss Xiaobei, you have finally relented.”
Da Liu slapped his thigh and dashed off.
These past days, too many people had been inquiring about scented soap, but Tang Xiaobei refused to sell, he was nearly frantic.
