Dancers in a place like Tiantang House needed to be in perfect shape, and they must know how to move their bodies in order to captivate the audience.
To attract the audience, the dancers would mostly move their chest, hips, and also their long legs because those parts were men's favorites. Men couldn't even blink, and they couldn't even close their mouths and would end up drooling at the seductive moves.
It was no secret that men preferred to see women dance than to see them sing or play a musical instrument. Of course, seeing sexy body movements was more interesting than seeing a woman sitting in a chair while playing a musical instrument or singing.
That was why Tiantang House had focused more on its dancers over the years, and that was how it ended up becoming the most famous brothel in Si Long Empire. They had always managed to produce talented and beautiful dancers over the years, but this year, sadly, was not the same.
Of the nineteen courtesans in Tiantang House, there were only seven dancers there, so it was no wonder Duan Shuchun didn't look happy about that.
It was true that she had a grudge against some of the officials in the Imperial Palace, but she still didn't want to spoil the image of the place she had managed for so many years in front of the dragons in the palace.
Because of that, she was seriously trying to prepare the girls for the events at the palace, and that was why she couldn't even smile when she realized that she was in trouble right now.
However, the fact that Tiantang didn't have enough dancers at the moment was also partly her fault.
When she was young, Duan Shuchun was an excellent dancer in Tiantang House, and she was known for her perfectionist character. Thus, she was very picky when it came to recruiting new talent in Tiantang, and in the end, she only had seven dancers among nineteen girls in Tiantang.
The seven dancers were the best, so she didn't encounter any problems even though there were only seven professional dancers in Tiantang. No guest had ever asked for more dancers at Tiantang, and that was why Duan Shuchun never thought that the limited number of dancers in Tiantang would bring her trouble.
She wasn't the only one looking anxious at the moment, but all the girls in the hall didn't look relaxed either.
"Why don't we recruit a new dancer to perform at the event, jiejie?" Someone suddenly broke the choking atmosphere within the hall, and all pairs of eyes in the great hall simultaneously turned to the person who had just spoken.
It turned out to be He Ehuang who had just voiced her idea. The senior courtesan was standing at the front, quite close to Duan Shuchun, and she suddenly dared to speak as the hall was enveloped in silence.
He Ehuang had worked at Tiantang for many years, and she also had a close relationship with Tiantang's boss. Duan Shuchun did ask the girls in Tiantang to call her 'jiejie' instead of boss, but it was He Ehuang who often used the privilege while the other girls were still afraid of the boss.
"That's not a good choice," Duan Shuchun immediately rejected the idea. "Hiring a new girl will only damage our reputation. To be able to perform with Tiantang, the girls here have to train at Tiantang for at least three months, and if we hire a new girl and immediately ask her to perform without enough practice time, people will know that we are too desperate."
That one rule of Tiantang had been implemented for so many years, but Xia Qiao realized that she had the privilege of being able to perform in front of the guests last night even if she had only joined Tiantang a month ago.
The reason for granting the privilege was because the guests were curious about the composer of "Lonely Girl Walking All Night," and they specifically asked the composer to perform on Tiantang.
Having no choice, Duan Shuchun decided to listen to her 'money' and immediately provided a chance for Xia Qiao to perform even if she didn't have enough training time at Tiantang.
Duan Shuchun assumed that it wouldn't be a big deal because Xia Qiao had been training privately with Yi Xue before coming to Tiantang, and that was the reason why she had decided to grant the veiled girl an exception last night.
She didn't expect that a simple show due to her guests' requests would bring her more headaches. No one was disappointed by Xia Qiao's performance last night, and no one questioned her decision to shorten the girl's training period either.
Unfortunately, the young girl was still causing trouble despite her flawless performance last night.
Today, Duan Shuchun didn't want to recklessly recruit a new dancer to perform in the palace for that reason as well. What if the new girl was the same as Xia Qiao? What if the new girl ended up causing trouble because she didn't get enough lessons from Tiantang?
Therefore, Duan Shuchun firmly rejected He Ehuang's idea, and the latter looked discontented when she got the refusal.
"I know number eight is lucky, but I guess that number only brings us misfortune," Duan Shuchun muttered after heaving a heavy sigh, and she furrowed her brows as she tried to find the best solution to her problem.
Her narrow eyes under her furrowed brows swept over to the girls still standing in front of her, and she carefully looked at the faces of the girls one by one.
Until finally, her eyes lit up when she got an idea, "It's decided. During the five days before the Lantern Festival at the Imperial Palace, all the girls in Tiantang will practice dancing from morning to night, and I will also temporarily close Tiantang so you can focus on your practice. On the fifth day, I will choose one of the best dancers outside the dance team to join the team to perform at the palace."