At a glance, the activity at Tiantang House returned to normal after last night's chaos. The door to Tiantang was still locked from the inside and would not welcome guests before nightfall, but activities inside the building were still normal like the previous days.
Tiantang had the principle of maintaining quality over quantity, and that was why the number of talented courtesans in Tiantang could not be compared to other brothels in Chang City.
In total, there were only nineteen girls who managed to join Tiantang thanks to their outstanding looks and talent. And even after they had successfully joined the house, their boss still prepared a daily schedule for each of them to train every day.
Duan Shuchun didn't let any of them slack off and ended up disappointing their guests, and their daily practice started at eight in the morning and would only stop two hours before they opened the door of Tiantang for the guests.
The hall was lively with eighteen girls training together. Some danced, some sang, and some played musical instruments. Xia Qiao was one of them, and she was quietly playing her pipa without paying attention to her surroundings.
She was the only pipa player in Tiantang, and maybe that made her talent look special in the eyes of the guests. However, it wasn't easy to train inside the great hall together with the other girls doing their own practices, and she stopped playing before letting out a heavy sigh.
She planned to go to the back of the building to practice alone there. There was a relatively quiet backyard right behind the Tiantang building, but it was quite an unsightly place with several large trees as well as weeds growing there without anyone to take care of them.
That was why no one went there except Xia Qiao, and the veiled girl could practice in peace without any disturbance in that dirty place.
Xia Qiao actually wanted to clean the backyard, but she didn't have time because her schedule in Tiantang was quite busy, and that was the reason why the condition of the backyard was still the same as the first day when she just joined Tiantang House.
She had risen from her seat with the pipa in her hands and was about to head to the backyard, but she couldn't even take a step forward because several people suddenly appeared right in front of her.
She hugged her pipa in front of her chest as she stared at the people. The three people looked at her arrogantly, and she recognized the one in the middle as He Ehuang.
She knew right away that she would not easily leave the hall now to get a peaceful practice in the backyard now.
"Aiyah! It is our main star last night," He Ehuang arrogantly spoke to the girl in black. "She even dared to use Ah Xue to go to Master Fang's house in her stead, and Ah Xue hasn't even returned from Master Fang's house until now. I'm not even sure if Ah Xue can still return to Tiantang after she sacrificed herself in Master Fang's house."
Xia Qiao just silently listened to He Ehuang's rambling about how Yi Xue left Tiantang House and went to Fang Delun's house last night, and she had no intention of rebuking the sharp words.
Why should she rebuke it when He Ehuang was only speaking the truth?
Last night after Xia Qiao stubbornly said that she wanted to go to the Imperial Palace along with other girls in Tiantang, Yi Xue only sighed before saying that she was going to Fang Delun's house.
At that time, Xia Qiao couldn't even stop the older girl from leaving Tiantang House because the girl's decision was final.
"Haiz! This girl was brought in by Ah Xue last month, and Ah Xue even had to beg our boss to accept this one with an ugly face. I didn't expect that Ah Xue would even have to offer up herself just because of this person last night," the girl standing by He Ehuang's right side suddenly chimed in.
Xia Qiao recognized her as Tian Cuifen, someone who was the same age as Yi Xue but had the same nasty character as He Ehuang.
"I didn't sacrifice my master last night," Xia Qiao finally replied as she couldn't stand the humiliation anymore.
The person on He Ehuang's left side snorted after hearing her return. "Ah Xue is your master, and you are her disciple. So, you should be protecting her instead of letting her protect you, right?"
She was called Shi Shan, and she was the same age as He Ehuang, and even their personalities were similar.
Everyone in Tiantang knew that Xia Qiao was brought in by Yi Xue, and they also knew how Xia Qiao always addressed the older girl as her master. She also always showed respect for the older girl, and people in Tiantang often mocked her for that.
Yi Xue was not even old, but Xia Qiao insisted on calling her master, and it was ridiculous in front of the eyes of the girls in Tiantang.
"My master said that she would return today, and I believe she would be able to handle the situation regarding Master Fang. Don't you know that Master Fang is infatuated with my master? He has patiently waited for my master for many years, and I believe he wouldn't do anything to harm my master."
That was the reason why Xia Qiao was able to remain calm even though Yi Xue went to Fang Delun's house last night. Even Yi Xue asked her not to worry, and she trusted her master more than anyone.
It seemed that He Ehuang and the other two girls wanted to provoke her, but seeing how calm she was, it was the three of them who ended up being provoked.
He Ehuang seemed to want to continue attacking the younger girl, but she had to stop herself when she heard someone suddenly clapping before shouting.
"Stop whatever you're doing and gather in the center of the hall! I have some announcements regarding our upcoming performance at the Imperial Palace!"