Chapter 44: The Five Women Compete for Supremacy

  Three days passed quickly, and it was suddenly the Double Ninth Festival. The fireworks building was crowded with people. There were four types of people: geishas, judges, spectators, and service staff.

  Geishas are one of 13,990 beautiful women from home and abroad.

  The judges are the masters of the ninety-nine palaces. Because Peony is missing, Autumn Chrysanthemum has been temporarily transferred to Peony Palace as a temporary palace master to perform the duties of the judges.

  The audience consists of people from all over the country and foreign guests who have come to pay their respects.

  The servants are 10- to 15-year-old boys from the well-trained national youth army of the Hanhai State.

  The first day of the competition was attended by 13,990 women who had been selected through preliminary selections in their local areas. They were divided into groups of twenty and walked across the stage, where they were judged by two palace masters. The palace master who liked a woman would give her a red card with the mark of his palace on it. If both judges chose the same woman, she would be kept; otherwise, she would be eliminated. If a palace master's chosen woman eventually entered the top five, he would be evaluated as a good judge and receive a special reward: 1,000 taels of gold and an additional year's salary to ensure that the judges took their responsibilities seriously.

  The next day, 1,300 women were selected from the remaining group, unlike the rough selection of the first day. This time, not only did they look at their appearance and figure, but also listened to their voices and watched their coordination. They even sang a song and danced a dance. In this way, 130 women who were selected continued to participate in the competition.

  The selected women, who have already achieved fame, will all enter the Yanhua Tower brothel to serve, with lifelong benefits for themselves and their parents enjoying the salary of a seventh-grade official.

  On the third day, the most exciting part. Divide these 130 women into groups of five, let them form their own combinations and organize a combined program. Observe all aspects of their talents. In each group, select the best one, a total of 26 people were selected. These 26 people freely performed a program, either playing or singing or dancing, as they pleased, and the winners continued to participate in the competition. Then divide them into three levels: first-class 5 people, second-class 9 people, third-class 12 people.

  In this row of five women, each entered the corresponding five-story hall of gold, wood, water, fire and earth. The guest sitting in the middle hall voted to decide the first place. This is the famous "Five Women Competing for the Queen". The woman who won the queen, the Lord of the Hanhai country personally gave her a red scarf and a flower crown, rode a horse through the streets, accepted the congratulations of all the people, was given two commandments from the Hanhai country, was given the surname Duanmu, was given the title of princess, treated as a princess, lived in the Hanhai Wang Palace, and naturally enjoyed all the benefits of the Hanhai country for life.

  In the end, only these five women were left. They were all exceptional women who stood out from the crowd. At this point, the competition had also reached a fever pitch.

  This year, the ones who entered the five major halls of Jinmu, Shuihuo and Tudou are even more outstanding. The five women are Duanmulan, Zhuofurong, Longhua, Hongshiliu and Menghudi, they will compete for Huakui.

  The lineup is strong. Compared to the previous ones, the judges' evaluation is that Guo Se's talent and beauty are unmatched. The enthusiastic cheers of the guests are endless, it was worth coming.

  The taxes collected in these three days are equivalent to the national tax revenue of Hanghai Country for a year. The King of Hanghai was overjoyed and issued an order, stating that tonight, he would personally watch the Five Girls' Competition for the Flower Crown, and the winner of the Flower Crown tonight would enter the Hanghai Palace with the guest who bid the most, to dine with the king together.

  This is an unparalleled honor, this is a supreme honor, the king's sacred decree has pushed the Qiuji Festival to a high level.

  The program performance begins.

  The first performer was Duanmu Lan in the Golden Pavilion. She is the youngest daughter of the current ruler of the Hanhai Kingdom, and from a young age, she was sent to study in the capital of Tianchao under Cao Shanzai, the greatest virtuoso of Tianchao, for 13 years. Her forte is playing the pipa, unmatched by anyone. The curtains slowly opened, revealing a yellow-clad girl with a golden mask on her face, holding a pipa and sitting upright, beginning her performance. With her hair styled high, she looked like an ethereal being from another world, her head slightly lowered, as if overwhelmed with shyness.

  As soon as she appeared on stage, she attracted men who were eager to move.

  The pipa's clear and crisp sound is like the tinkling of a spring, interpreting the romantic feelings of a young girl, slowly calming down the passionate emotions of men, gradually entering a warm and beautiful spring scene. It seems to see a group of young girls playing happily by the water, then the spring light gradually changes, entering the summer, the girl has grown up, with worries about love, there is a handsome young man singing "Guan Ju Song" beside her, the piano and se are harmonious, can be seen in love The young men and women depend on each other, until they have children, autumn arrives, the leaves wither, the woman's beauty is no longer, the man has a new love, the woman's heart is hard to calm down, scolding the man for being unfaithful, breaking off the relationship. The man begs hard, but the woman ignores him, and finally leaves him in the heavy snow.

  The pipa's sound is initially clear and crisp, like a skylark emerging from the valley. Then it becomes bright and beautiful, like the warm sunshine shining high in the sky. Next, it rises to a high pitch, as if each note is a lamentation. Finally, it becomes sorrowful and desolate, like an isolated boat carrying a lonely widow.

  Completely and integrally express a woman's every word.

  Four strings, one sound, abrupt silence. A moment of stillness, then thunderous applause filled the entire hall.

  The guests were casting their silver tickets onto the Golden Flower Pavilion, and the masters of the Ninety-Nine Palaces also raised their red cards representing first place. The hostess, Lady Lan, nodded repeatedly in approval, overjoyed that the princess had performed exceptionally well, living up to everyone's expectations, and taking the top spot, so there was no need to worry about competing for the palace masters' names anymore. It was believed that none of the subsequent contestants could surpass her. Everyone also felt that the Golden Flower Pavilion's performance was flawless and unbeatable.

  The second performer was a young girl named Zhuo Furan, the daughter of the richest man in the country of Hanhai. Her father was the richest man in Hanhai, with great power and influence, and had bribed many people to vote for his daughter. As for victory, she seemed very confident, wearing a green mask on her face, dressed in light green gauze, with a deep green cloak draped over her, her long hair hanging down to her hips, tied back only by a narrow silk ribbon at the front of her forehead. Standing on a painted boat, holding a long flute, she played a melody that was a lamentation of the beauty Wang Zhaojun's sorrow towards Emperor Hanwu. The sound of the flute was like weeping and complaining, expressing her reluctance to part with Emperor Hanwu, her resentment towards him; expressing her fear and trepidation towards life in the land of the Xiongnu; also expressing her gratitude towards the Xiongnu chanyu for his mistaken love; expressing the heroic and tender emotions of a beauty sacrificing herself for the country.

  People are once again enchanted by the scene set by Zhuo Wenjun, as if they see a Jiangnan girl leaving her hometown and entering the capital city, but not seeing the sacred face, turning to the border town, with rolling red dust and yellow sand filling the sky, the figure of a heroic woman emerges in people's minds.

  The guests were throwing silver tickets onto the wooden stage, and the masters of the ninety-nine palaces also raised their red cards representing first place. The hostess, Lady Lan, nodded repeatedly in approval, overjoyed that the performance on the wooden stage was not bad and did not disappoint everyone's expectations. She had also avoided the pain of secretly manipulating the outcome, and after accepting Zhu Fu's gift of gold and silver, she would have to put in some effort for him. This way, there was no need to worry about leaving a dark secret behind.

  The third performer was Long HuaHua, a young girl from the Water Lily Pavilion in Huajie Alley. She was sent by the 99th palace of the 130th hall of the Huafang Building, and her talents were naturally not to be underestimated. In addition to playing the pipa and flute like the previous two performers, she excelled at calligraphy and painting.

  This is considered a high-end technique in the brothel. Her method was even more extraordinary, it was the long-lost human painting of Jianghu. The so-called human painting refers to using people as paintings. The painter would cover a person's entire body with ink, grab one of their feet and splash them onto paper, creating an impromptu painting.

  This is extremely difficult and requires the painter to have a deep foundation in martial arts, with precise control over the force and direction of their strokes; otherwise, it can ruin the painting and even cost lives.

  But after a wisp of fragrance, Long Hua's painting is complete. It is precisely "The Evening Glow over the Vast Ocean".

  Everyone applauded and cheered, clapped their hands and whistled in admiration. The fireworks alley was full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers, its reputation was not exaggerated.

  The guests were throwing silver tickets onto the Water Lily Pavilion, and the masters of the Ninety-Nine Palaces also raised their red flags representing first place. The hostess, Lady Lan, nodded repeatedly in approval, overjoyed that the Water Lily Pavilion had performed well, living up to expectations. She thought to herself that if her own Smoke Flower Building had messed up, it would have been a loss of face, but today, Dragon Huahua's performance was impressive, making her feel proud and glorious.

  The performances are colorful and varied, everyone thinks that it's already impossible to surpass, but the contestants can still bring surprises. The fourth performance is at Huo Long Ge, it's Hong Shi Liu from Tian Chao Qing Lou. Hong Shi Liu was famous in Jing Hua at the age of 13. She also has a reputation in Han Hai, I don't know what surprise she will bring to everyone today. Everyone is eagerly waiting.

  The program brought by Red Pomegranate is called "Flying Sky".

  The curtain opens, and five ribbons of red, yellow, blue, white, and black hang down from the sky. Wide and long, near the edge of the curtain closest to the sky, is a large silver ring that shines brightly under the night sky.

  The music started, and a young girl with a fiery red mask slowly emerged from one side. She had double buns on her head, tied up with two red silk ribbons, and wore a bright red corset adorned with countless sequins, with a string of rubies hanging down. Her short skirt was made of red agate, forming delicate fringes that covered the most private parts of her body. It was truly captivating, and someone in the audience couldn't resist the temptation and suddenly started bleeding from the nose.

  The lively dance reveals the beauty of a young girl's vitality. The light and agile movements make people feel as if they are watching a bird in flight. What is even more astonishing is that as the fast-paced dance slows down, the beautiful girl leaps into the air, entwines herself with golden ribbons, and assumes a flying posture. With these five ribbons, she performs an aerial dance, as if a celestial maiden has descended to the mortal world, giving people a dreamlike feeling. Finally, the red pomegranate lightly leaps away, disappears into the red ribbons, and the lights fade to black, leaving no trace.

  After a moment of listening, suddenly no one's shadow was empty, leaping like a flying arrow, jumping onto the high silver ring, putting his body through the big ring, an ultimate move, flying to the sky.

  Thunderous applause.

  The guests threw their silver tickets onto the Fire Dragon Pavilion, and the masters of the 99 palaces also raised their red flags representing first place. The hostess, Lady Lan, nodded repeatedly in approval, showing her delight that the Fire Dragon Pavilion had performed well and did not disappoint everyone's expectations, which also brought honor to herself. After all, she was once the leader of the Tianchao Brothel, and the people from her hometown performing well added to her glory.

  Now that there is no performance, only our young woman Liu Qingqing is left. Does she still need to perform? Regardless of age, she is a bit older. Regardless of skill, she is a bit inferior. Lanju Palace's Chunlan and Qiujie looked at the top of their heads and asked Shi Lanji Niangniang for instructions.

  Lan Ji's grandma smiled slightly, of course, it goes without saying that the purpose of Liu Qingqing's appearance is not to contend for the title of Huakui, but to attract the wealthy men from Tianchao, whether it be Liu Fengchun, Hu Zhongren or Yue Qianshan, any one of them would do, wouldn't they?