C87 (1/2)
Chapter 87 - Ryukyu, Ryukyu!
Although the Ryukyu Kingdom's royal family and citizens all worshipped the Han Chinese, and there were a lot of Han Chinese in the Ryukyu, they all lost to the Shimadzu Family in the battle to grow up. This led to the start of the Japanese colonial era that lasted for more than two hundred years. In these two hundred years, the culture and customs of the Japanese were also slowly affecting the Ryukyu Kingdom.
Take a look at the city built on the mountain. There were Japanese hot springs, dormitories, and messy taverns everywhere. Waves and merchants wearing wooden clogs brazenly held white powdered singers as they waved them through the streets. The sounds of the taverns and the singing were intertwined with the Japanese style, which sounded quite unique.
The group that Xiao Letian and the others were leading was too large, and it was simply not something that could be accommodated in a single room. Under Liang Kun's prior arrangements, all four rooms on a street were bundled up. Among them, Xiao Letian lived in the famous ”Cherry Blossom House”, where the scenery was the best. Not only did it have two hundred-year-old cherry trees, but there was also a bucket of water from the hot spring on the mountain that emitted a faint smell of sulphur.
”Take a bath, take a bath …” ”I smell like seawater. If I don't wash up, I won't have any appetite to eat …” Since Xiao Letian saw the hot spring, he had not been able to walk. The storm yesterday had poured seawater onto his body, and even now, there was still the smell of sea salt.
In terms of Japanese culture, Xiao Letian's favorite thing was their customs. Above his head was a dark blue sky, surrounded by a meticulously crafted stone platform, and warm water wrapped around his body. That kind of feeling was something that could not be described with words.
Just as Xiao Letian was staring at the towel and relaxing his body and mind, a timid girl's voice came from behind him. ”Dear guest, this is the sake that you requested, please enjoy yourself …” Xiao Letian listened to the weird sounding Chinese, and when he turned around, he saw a little girl wearing a kimono kneeling behind him with a red face.
”Mm, thank you …” Without waiting for Xiao Letian to finish thanking his, what made him dumbstruck was that the little girl had already started taking off his clothes. The kimono was originally a piece of cloth. Once worn, the little girl unbuckled the belt and went completely naked.
Xiao Letian suddenly remembered that the female servants in the ancient Japanese dormitory not only needed to work, they also needed to sell their bodies. The lives of the lower class in Japan were extremely difficult, and since Japan did not have the feudal etiquette of China, it did not have any sense of guilt.
The little girl got into the water naked and started to help Xiao Letian wipe his back. One could tell that she had trained in her cooking, while wiping and massaging at the same time, it was so comfortable that Xiao Letian almost yelled out.
”What's your name? How old are you this year? ”Where is your hometown …” Xiao Letian laid on the stone platform with his eyes closed, and asked casually.
”This humble girl … Qian Xia, I come from the distant four nations. My father, who is conducting business with me, came here … ”It's a pity that my father never came back after one trip to sea. I can only live here with my younger brother …”
Qian Xia was an eighteen year old girl, probably because the torture in her life had already numbed her. When he mentioned her father and his mother who had died from illness, his tone actually didn't contain the slightest bit of sadness, as if he was calmly narrating the matters of a stranger.
The young lady rubbed her body against Xiao Letian's skin, it seemed that Qian Xia was very experienced, she knew how to make a man more comfortable, just as she was about to help wash the sensitive parts of his body, Xiao Letian suddenly stood up from the water.
”Alright, help me get dressed, I'm hungry …” Qian Xia was a little surprised. He knew that Xiao Letian's body was already reacting, but why did this Chinese man restrain him? Am I not beautiful? Or no money?
Very quickly, Xiao Letian made her even more confused. When she knelt in the water and held onto the two pieces of eagles that were shining with silver light, the little girl started crying.
”Aligado... ”Thank you, thank you …” The naked girl knelt in the water, tears of excitement streaming down her face. She had never seen such a generous customer before. She never asked for so many rewards just because she didn't want her own body.
Xiao Letian smiled at him slightly before turning around and returning back to his room. He was very clear on how poor Minzhiweixin was before. It was an exceptionally strict country. All the wealth was concentrated in the hands of the martial family. Even the Sky Emperor needed the help of martial generals sometimes.
Among the lower-class citizens of Japan, farmers who had been squeezed under pressure for a year might not even be able to eat a mouthful of their own rice. After they paid taxes, the remaining rice would be exchanged with merchants for grains and they might not even be able to eat enough.
The girls in commoner families were even more pitiful. They had to work hard since they were young, and once they were older they could sell for money. Many of them were directly sold off.
A girl like Qian Xia wouldn't be able to earn much money from working in a room. It's just that the boss had provided him with food and daily clothes, so he might just be able to give his a little bit of money for a year or two. Normally, when Qian Xia sold himself, he would only get a meager amount of copper coins. He was the happiest when he met a wealthy merchant in the sea, as they would sometimes give him several hundred gold coins.
If she met a guest from Japan and the Ryukyu, it would be very pitiful. She could only endure giving them tens of copper coins. What? You say she can refuse? Don't even think about it. If Qian Xia dared to reject his guest, the owner of the room would kick her out immediately.
Today, Xiao Letian was actually generous enough to give her two silver coins, this kind of refined and exquisite foreign person silver coins, one of them was worth at least 1000 copper coins, at that time, Qian Xia was so happy that he was about to go crazy.