The weather in Bianliang City in late October was chilly, and a sense of tension had begun to permeate the bustling atmosphere. This tension largely stemmed from the weather. Although winter in Bianliang wasn't as harsh as in smaller towns, most people were still reluctant to go out, and it was the time to stock up on winter supplies.

Entertainment industries like Fan Lou and Xiao Zhu Fang continued to thrive. Even if it snowed in winter, reducing outings, Bianliang's famous brothels would still burn brightly lit charcoal fires, making people feel at home in the cold weather. When it snowed, some wealthy patrons would even stay in the brothels until spring, spending money like water.

Li Shishi was taking advantage of the days before the snowfall to socialize with friends. For the woman many considered the top courtesan in the capital, she would reduce the time she spent with clients in winter, preferring to see familiar friends.

Firstly, the atmosphere in a warm house in winter could become too ambiguous, and some people might lose control and want to do or say something inappropriate. Although she had ways to deal with it, it was more troublesome than usual. Therefore, even when meeting, it was usually in a group. Secondly, she was lazy by nature and didn't want to go out in winter, sometimes not even wanting to get out of bed. In winter, unless there were unavoidable gatherings with powerful figures, it was better to rest more.

Recently, she had been bothered by people telling her outright that her prime was passing. For a brothel courtesan, the real heyday was between sixteen and twenty years old. After that, she would inevitably be seen as a woman by some. She was twenty-one now, and since becoming a courtesan, she had steadily reached her peak. Although she had experienced many things along the way, the peak would soon pass.

Although for many who already knew her, her charm continued to increase over time, and anyone who had met her was inevitably attracted to her, once she reached twenty-one or twenty-two, her age would steadily reduce the likelihood of attracting new customers who would spend a lot of money. In a sense, she had to consider retiring and getting married.

For her, this was a difficult decision, but she couldn't avoid thinking about it. Of course, many people were willing to marry her. She could choose to be a concubine in a wealthy family or marry a high-ranking official or literary giant. As the top courtesan in the capital, not everyone could handle marrying her; the background had to be high. If it were friends like Yu Hezhong or Chen Sifeng, even if she liked them and wanted to marry them, she couldn't, as it would ruin them.

People without enough background couldn't keep a woman like her, and their lives would often be fraught with hardship, and she would suffer along with them. Of course, besides marrying into extremely wealthy families, she could also choose to be someone's legal wife. Some who were willing to do so had good status, but she would have to marry out of the capital without a word, far away to some other place.

Recently, she had secretly screened potential husbands several times, considering high status, good character, good conversation, good looks, and so on, but she still couldn't make up her mind.

Over the years, she had enjoyed many preferential treatments from Fan Lou because of her status as a courtesan. Every year, she had about one or two months to freely visit other places and visit various famous people - Mother Li understood that this would cultivate her uniqueness. As a result, she had seen many things and gained insight. She vaguely felt that she could still do a lot of things, just like the Tong Shuer incident. With her and other women and scholars' efforts, the Ministry of Personnel official was finally convicted, removed from office, and exiled three thousand miles, which was very gratifying. But after this incident, things became boring again.

Recently, the popular topic in the capital was the great battle between Zhang Jue and Wanyan Zhamu in the north. This was the first encounter between the Wu Dynasty and the Jin people, and everyone was holding their breath. However, after the battle, news came that Zhang Jue's first battle after defecting to the Wu Dynasty had been lost, but it was only a small defeat. After the defeat, the two sides were still in a stalemate, and there would be a second battle. Shishi had been listening to these things recently, but she wasn't very interested.

In a year or two, this would no longer be her world. She would marry someone and live a simple but leisurely life, without having to sweep, weave, or cook. She only needed to care for her husband and please him at the right time, capturing his heart. After a few years, she would give birth to his child, and after many years, when she was old and faded, she would rely on her children to live her life.

Sometimes when she thought about it, she couldn't help but laugh sadly, feeling a rare emotion: if she weren't a brothel woman, not this courtesan named Li Shishi, how good would that be...

Besides receiving dignitaries, Fan Lou's guests were mostly wealthy merchants from other places. For these people who were rich and influential in their hometowns, seeing the style of the capital's number one brothel and spending a lot of money to meet the courtesan was the best topic to talk about when they returned home. Shishi was picky about the dignitaries who knew the ins and outs of the capital, but for guests from other places, except for some well-known talents, she usually measured their value by money. Anyway, it was often a one-time consumption, so the highest bidder got to see her.

One day, after returning to Fan Lou from a poetry gathering, Mother Li said that there was a young master Sun from the south who she could meet. It was said that his family was a wealthy clan in the Hunan South Road area. He was young, rich, and had extraordinary conversation skills. He spent five hundred taels of silver to specify that he wanted to see her. Since it was about making money, Shishi smiled and went.

As it turned out, the other party was as Li Yun had said, with extraordinary conversation skills, obviously a young master from a large family who had received a good education. He was twenty-six or twenty-seven years old and had a decent appearance. Shishi played two songs and chatted for a while. When the host and guest were both feeling good, the other party casually asked about the Bamboo Records (Zhu Ji) matter.

"I heard that the Bamboo Records in the capital was opened by the great talent Ning Liheng. Miss Shishi is familiar with him, and Shishi will go to perform at every building opening." The young master Sun ate half a piece of pastry and said casually, "I have always admired talent. I wonder what kind of person that young master Ning is, that he can have such skills, not only is his poetry good, but he can also make his business so popular."

"Not very... familiar..." Shishi replied, but her eyebrows furrowed almost imperceptibly. She didn't want to talk about Ning Yi recently. During this time, merchants had come and gone in the capital, and she also knew about the food shortage in the north and south. She knew that Bamboo Records was operating this matter and wanted to make a lot of money. This knowledge made her not want to associate with him again. Ning Yi had said that he had something to find her, and then came to Fan Lou twice to see her, but Shishi had pretended to be busy and had her maid refuse him. During this time, Bamboo Records was busy buying and selling grain to make unconscionable money, and the originally planned new branches were temporarily shelved, so she didn't have to fulfill her promise to perform.

"Oh? Not very familiar... But there are always some general interactions. In Miss Shishi's eyes, is this person a talent or a businessman?"

The other party was an extremely intelligent person, using clear and precise words. Shishi inadvertently glanced at the other party's eyes, but her heart moved. This young master Sun seemed to be speaking casually, but his eyes were extremely clear. Before, he was casually enjoying the leisure time of interacting with a courtesan, but this time it didn't seem like it. Then she remembered a wealthy family from Huainan she had met two days ago, who had also asked about Bamboo Records and Ning Yi. At that time, she had responded casually, but now that she thought about it, the situation was a little different with two consecutive groups of people asking about him in a targeted manner.

These two groups were wealthy families in their local areas, but they were thousands of miles apart. It was unlikely that they would come to the capital specifically to find Ning Yi... With doubts in her heart, she carefully responded to the other party's questions, exploring the intentions of this young master Sun. Sure enough, soon after, this young master Sun asked about Ning Yi's personality, then asked about his family, relationships, and even his residence, showing that he wanted to visit him.

That day's discovery made her feel very strange. She knew that Ning Yi was good at doing business, and she also knew that after relying on the Right Chancellor's Mansion, he could use it to his advantage. But would two large families thousands of miles apart specifically send people to the capital to cooperate with him? It didn't seem likely. That night, she asked Mother Li about the backgrounds of these two families. Sure enough, both sides had official connections and wouldn't deliberately rely on the Right Chancellor's Mansion. As for the disaster situation in these places...

"...I don't know, Shishi, you also know that everyone doing business recently is aiming for the disaster situation. It's being talked about hotly in the capital. This kind of thing isn't the first time. The court was arguing back and forth for a while, and many officials were dismissed for the sake of disaster relief. Recently, there's been a war in the north, and I heard that the Emperor is in a bad mood, so things have slowed down a bit. Daughter, why are you asking about this?"

"It's nothing, just asking..."

The next day, when she went to participate in a poetry gathering, she saw Zuo Houwen and his cousin Zuo Jilan, as well as Wang Zhizhen, a relatively famous talent from Hedong. Shishi knew that Zuo Houwen managed the commercial affairs in the capital for the Zuo family, and he also had some talent himself, second only to the great Confucian Zuo Duanyou in the Zuo family. Because of this relationship, the two sides had met many times before, but they weren't familiar. Shishi had secretly heard rumors about him, saying that he preferred women with strong and independent personalities. It was said that the two concubines he had taken were from families that had fallen into decline, and they themselves had been supporting the family business before being married by him. It was also said that he had secretly coerced several virtuous widows, but this matter wasn't widely spread, indicating that the other party wasn't completely unrestrained.

Near the end of the poetry gathering, Zuo Houwen, Zuo Jilan, and Wang Zhizhen came to see her. Zuo Jilan was in his thirties and looked like a proud but capable chosen one. He simply looked her up and down, making an indifferent expression, but Shishi could see the emotion in his eyes - the kind of thought he had the ability to possess her purity - After saying a few words to each other, Zuo Houwen actually asked about Bamboo Records and Ning Yi.

"I heard that Miss Li knows this Young Master Ning, so you must be very familiar."

"Uh... not familiar, just business dealings..."

"Hehe, it doesn't matter if you're not familiar. My cousin wants to meet him to discuss some things. Having an intermediary makes it easier to meet, and my cousin has a bit of a fiery temper. Miss Li being by his side might restrain him a bit." Zuo Houwen smiled, "How about this, tomorrow... no, in two days, Jilan will go to Fan Lou to find Miss Li, and then the two of you will go to find that Young Master Ning together, how about that?"

Although Zuo Houwen wasn't an official, the influence of the officialdom came from Zuo Duanyou. It could be said that he was Zuo Duanyou's spokesperson in the capital, used to giving orders. Although he added "how about that" at the end, Shishi could only nod in agreement at this time. Now, there were already three families from all over the country who wanted to find Ning Yi through her, and it didn't seem like they were well-meaning.

Even if Ning Yi was more powerful, and Bamboo Records was developing faster, when did it get to the point where he could offend these wealthy families? Or offend three families at once? However, there were three families looking for her, and there were probably more others...

She couldn't figure these things out for a while. Another day passed. That night, Fan Lou was as lively as usual. In the uproar, two groups of people who were willing to spend money caught Mother Li's eye and came to ask Shishi's opinion. One group was also a young master from another place, with only one person, and the other group had invited a wealthy family from the capital, probably to talk about business. Shishi didn't want to be alone with people, so she chose the latter. Soon after she made her selection, someone started arguing in Fan Lou. When Shishi went over, she vaguely heard the noise over there.

"...You bunch of black-hearted scum, you'll die and go to the eighteenth level of hell..."

"Hey, aren't you the same? How much is the difference between twenty-five taels and thirty taels... You made enough money to come to Fan Lou to find the top courtesan, and you dare to say you're kind..."

"We're better than you, this time..."

"Looking for a fight!"

"Who dares, I'll beat you to death..."

"If you have the guts, come over here..."

The noise was heard intermittently for a few sentences. Soon after, people from Fan Lou came out to mediate, and the commotion was calmed down. Later, Shishi went to the warm pavilion to accompany the banquet and realized that the voice from the side that was arguing earlier came from the host.

The host was a group of merchants from other places, led by a man in his forties named Yu, but he looked like a man who had traveled all over the place. Following him were several nephews in their twenties. Because they might be from rural areas, their words were relatively vulgar. The young masters were a little shy and pretended not to care about performing in front of her. Shishi recognized the invited side. This person was surnamed Wei and was a grain merchant in the capital. He had a good reputation and was said to be very fond of his wives and concubines, but he didn't come to Fan Lou often.

The two sides didn't talk about business at the table. Being able to come here meant that the two sides already had an intention. Shishi tried her best to liven up the atmosphere. After three rounds of wine, Mr. Wei smiled and patted the hand of the man surnamed Yu: "Okay, I understand. That's it. I understand your sincerity, Mr. Yu. I have to go back first, I have something to do at home. You... stay here and sit for a while. You must have spent a lot of money. Shishi, you arrange things for them. I'm not saying, but coming to your place is too expensive..."

Shishi smiled with some grievance: "Mr. Wei, what are you saying? The rules of the brothel are like this, Shishi can't do anything about it. Shishi will only try her best to serve everyone well..."

Mr. Wei waved his hand: "Okay, okay, I'm leaving, I'm leaving..."

Since he was leaving, Mr. Yu also had to send him off. The two had agreed on the matter and were in a good mood, so they left together, leaving Shishi and the other Mr. Yu's family members behind. The maids continued to add wine and serve dishes, and Shishi smiled and talked to them, asking about their family's situation. After playing a few songs, she casually asked about their business and learned that they were preparing to buy grain from Mr. Wei to sell to the disaster area. Then, one of the young masters opened his mouth: "I heard that Miss Shishi is very familiar with Mr. Ning of Bamboo Records, is that right?"

"Not very familiar, just business dealings." Shishi was tired of hearing this sentence these days and answered casually. However, this young master was different from the others. When Shishi said she wasn't familiar, he didn't know what to say. She vaguely heard two of them whispering to each other, seemingly because she was very familiar with Ning Yi that they chose to be at Fan Lou and spent a lot of money to entertain Mr. Wei.

Several young masters wanted to show off in front of Shishi, so they kept talking during the banquet. After a while, she heard them mention that this trip to the north was to "do good deeds." Shishi asked indirectly, and the person said that others were selling grain at thirty taels per stone, and they were going to sell it for twenty-five taels. Shishi smiled and nodded, but her heart was filled with disgust for these people. If you go to distribute grain and release grain, that's called doing good deeds. Dragging grain that usually costs two taels per stone and selling it for ten times the price, what kind of good deeds are you doing?

After the young man finished speaking, he seemed to feel that something was wrong and added a few sentences, wanting to correct himself. Shishi played with the strings and smiled as she agreed with a few sentences. The young men then spoke to each other. After a while, a young man with clearer words said something that made the strings under her fingers tremble slightly.

"...Miss Shishi also knows about this matter, after all, Bamboo Records arranged it. If it weren't for their people, I really don't know what to do. Those people in the north are really suffering..."

One person next to him said, "It's not just Bamboo Records. The Right Chancellor is behind Bamboo Records. The Right Chancellor arranged everything at the top. If it weren't for the Right Chancellor, could we get into Hedong?"

Speaking of this, the previous young man immediately became excited: "How could we not get in? If I had known there were so many starving people, I would have carried the grain in even if I died! They can kill me if they have the guts! @#￥&* (Starts cursing)"

Shishi frowned: "How is the north now...?"

"Hedong Road? I don't know if it's good or not. Both sides are working hard. We're transporting grain over there, and the damn... damn weather has dropped so much, the grain price was down a little bit, and then it went up again. Those big landlords don't allow us to lower the grain price, and they're finding fault everywhere. Last time, my third brother was beaten by them. Fortunately, Bamboo Records also had preparations. The shopkeeper Yao called a doctor, and then called the government, and they arrested their people. Hmph, this time we're going to the north, my third brother's injuries haven't healed yet, and he's clamoring to go again."

A young man stood up, his face flushed red: "That shopkeeper Yao is right, this is war!"

Others echoed: "Are they cowards? Are we short of people this time! Their territory? If I get angry, I'll kill them!"

Shishi was puzzled. What were they talking about? She knew that these young people were most easily influenced by certain things, and being irritable and impulsive was common. But it looked different now. In Bianliang City, there was a group of students, led by Chen Dong, who often worried about the country and the people and were impassioned. They even dared to scold Grand Tutor Cai and Grand Commandant Gao. It seemed that the emotions of these young people who hadn't read much were somewhat similar to those of Chen Dong and the others.

How could they sell grain like this? It seemed that they had been incited by someone.

She tentatively asked: "Did you also go to give out porridge?"

"Of course, we go every day!" Several people said almost in unison, and then someone said, "But Ning Dongjia of Bamboo Records is right, we can't just cook everything into porridge, only by lowering the price can other people have a way to survive. Miss Shishi, you know that Ning Dongjia, what kind of person do you think he is?"

Shishi looked at them and then said softly: "I never understood that... about lowering the price so other people can have a way to survive."

One of the young masters surnamed Yu who wanted to show off said loudly: "Hey, what's so difficult to understand? I'm so stupid, and I understand it. Miss Shishi, think about it, if the grain price there is thirty taels per stone, how much money can you make by selling grain? For such a lucrative business, wouldn't those big landlords and corrupt officials risk their lives? Even if the two Prime Ministers in the court risked their lives, they couldn't stop the greed of so many people. But if the grain price goes down and you don't make much money, plus there are some honest officials in the government, that can prevent those big landlords from getting involved too much. Ning Dongjia said that if the grain price continues to rise, the government's disaster relief grain, nine out of ten won't reach the people's hands. If it's beaten down, maybe half or more can be saved. Then we can go give out more porridge, and many people can survive! So, this time we made money, and we came back to transport the second batch of rice and grain up there. We also bought winter clothes... Hmph, after this time, we have to go up there a third time, every man in the Yu family has to go!"

The person babbled endlessly. One person next to him said: "I'm afraid the road will be difficult after it snows."

"Don't talk about snow blocking the road, even if I freeze to death, I have to drag the grain over there. I don't believe I can't deal with those animals whose conscience has been eaten by dogs!"

Shishi's head was buzzing. She was a smart person. Once someone pointed something out, she knew it. Then, in everyone's one-word-at-a-time conversation, she gradually, little by little, pieced together the outline of a huge "battlefield" that had been happening around her for nearly three months. She had felt the bits and pieces of this outline before, but she hadn't paid attention to it at the time. Then, at the bottom of her heart, fear welled up. She understood that the businessman who had almost been placed in the "severed friendship" position, her former friend, had touched so much interest and offended so many people in these three months...

She finally understood what those wealthy families were coming to the capital to do...