Chapter 133: Windward Tower

Windward Tower is the most unique brothel in Autumn Wind City.
Ordinary brothels may also serve food and drinks, but that’s merely incidental. They might hire good chefs and use high-quality ingredients, but their staff are definitely eunuchs, who focus on selling beautiful girls to customers.
However, Windward Tower is an exception—both brothel and restaurant are its main businesses.
Any guest entering the first floor is immediately greeted by eunuchs accompanied by girls. Those who go straight to the second floor are met by staff, who never mention anything related to the brothel girls. In fact, girls from the first floor are not allowed to go to the second floor.
It can be said that the second floor of Windward Tower has nothing to do with the first floor, aside from being above it.
Logically, with such a business model, even if a building were added later for clients to visit the girls, it would surely suffer huge losses. Having a brothel on the ground floor makes it strange for serious business meetings or banquets, and women wouldn’t dare bring their families there due to concerns about their reputations. As for clients, they’d have to take girls to the back yard, where they couldn’t hear the enthusiastic calls and flirtations of the eunuchs and girls, creating a poor atmosphere.
Windward Tower manages to balance both aspects. The brothel relies on its shrewd madam and several popular girls, while the restaurant depends on its top star, Yi Yi.
In Autumn Wind City, aside from Fu Zizhou, the son of Governor Fu—a renowned all-round talent in the Great Han Dynasty—no one else can rival Yi Yi in playing the zither. Even some doubt Fu Zizhou, as he has never been to Windward Tower, and the two have never actually competed in zither playing. Most people think Fu Zizhou is better simply because of his fame as the top talent in the capital, and possibly even in the entire Great Han Dynasty. Yi Yi’s status makes it hard for people to accept that she could beat him.
Coupled with her sweet, melodious voice, 99% of the diners on the second floor of Windward Tower come for Yi Yi.
With rosewood, sandalwood, sheer silk curtains, and antiques and paintings… the decoration of the second floor of Windward Tower is no less impressive than that of Wanbin Tower. Everything glitters with gold and silver, exuding luxury without being vulgar—at least that’s what Lin Dong thought, with a faint warm hue in the air.
The staff at Windward Tower clearly have good eyesight. When they saw Lin Dong and his companion coming upstairs, they quickly glanced at their clothing and demeanor before rushing over. One of them said to Lin Dong, “Sir, I’m truly sorry, but both the private rooms and the lobby are full. How about… I help you find someone to share a table with?”

“Share a table? Sure.” Lin Dong nodded.
“Alright, please wait a moment.” The waiter immediately ran off.
Lin Dong glanced at the lobby, which was quite spacious, even larger than that of Lin Ji Inn. Aside from over twenty tables all occupied, there were rows of private booths on both sides, and directly across was a wooden platform covered with a pink curtain. Inside the platform, faintly visible was a small square table with a guqin on it.
Ma Chun also noticed the platform and exclaimed in surprise, “Isn’t Yingfeng Tower’s business entirely dependent on its star performer playing the guqin and singing? Why isn’t there anyone?”
Lin Dong smiled and said, “She’s not a god; how could she possibly stop even for a moment?”
Ma Chun felt ashamed. Singing and playing nonstop all day would likely cause her fingers to swell like radishes and her voice to go hoarse within half a month.
Looking around the lobby again, there were indeed a few tables with one or two people each, but wherever the waiter went, people shook their heads in refusal, clearly unwilling to share a table. It wasn’t until the center that a young man in a blue silk shirt nodded. The waiter quickly ran back and led Lin Dong and the other person to that young man’s table.
The young man in blue was in his twenties, with sharp eyebrows and striking features. Seeing Lin Dong nod in thanks, he politely stood up in return.
Ma Chun ordered food, while Lin Dong chatted casually with the young man. Learning that this man named Wang Bin was very familiar with the second floor of Yingfeng Tower, they began to talk more. By the time Ma Chun finished ordering, he also understood the rules of the second floor. To Lin Dong’s surprise, these dozen or so private booths also had a seating fee similar to that of Lin Ji Inn. However, Yingfeng Tower called it a “song-performance fee,” which amounted to ten taels of silver.
The so-called song-performance fee meant that guests in the booths could request which song Yi Yi should play next. Of course, in addition to this, there was also a separate “throat-soothing fee.” Which song would be played next depended on which booth was willing to pay the most. In cases of competition among booths of similar status, the fee could even reach a thousand taels of silver per song.
For the tables in the lobby, although no song-performance fee was required, to prevent people from staying for hours just to listen to Yi Yi play, a listening fee of one tael of silver was charged every half hour if the session exceeded half an hour.
“Yi Yi is here. Young Master Lin, let’s continue our conversation later.” As they were talking, Wang Bin became serious, gave Lin Dong an apologetic smile, then sat upright, staring intently at the platform.
Lin Dong looked up and saw a graceful young figure emerging from the back door of the platform through the curtain.
She walked over to the square table, bowed gracefully to everyone, and then sat down behind it.

A voice as gentle as pearls and jade slowly rang out: “Next, Yi Yi will play ‘Clear Moon Walk’ for everyone, dedicated to Lord Zhang from Lingnan Prefecture.” Her slender wrists moved gracefully, her fingers like butterflies, as the delicate sound of the zither and her melodious singing emerged slowly. At times tender, at times serene, at times fresh… In the haze, the shadow within the curtain seemed like a dream. Lin Dong didn’t understand music nor particularly liked such a slow rhythm, yet he was deeply captivated by the sounds. It was as if a quiet, winding path appeared before him, bathed in the bright moonlight, slowly lulling anyone who wanted to hurry along into relaxation. When the piece ended, the quiet hall, after a brief moment of silence, suddenly erupted in applause. Even Lin Dong, who had come to Windward Tower to gather intelligence, couldn’t help but clap. This piece finally made Lin Dong understand what it meant for music to linger in the air for days. “Great! Truly worthy of Yi Yi—she sang beautifully!” Wang Bin was unusually excited, and in the bustling hall, he didn’t stand out. “Thank you all for your support!” After a moment, Yi Yi bowed deeply once more and left gracefully. Soon, the noisy atmosphere cooled down, and the food and drinks were served quickly. The ordinary dishes at Windward Tower were exorbitantly expensive, but the magical beasts and ingredients were fairly priced. Lin Dong tasted each one and nodded in approval. The cooking was slightly inferior to that of Keli Restaurant, but it was good enough to compete with Lin’s Inn these days. Bang! While eating and chatting with Wang Bin, a loud noise came from the left—second private room. A young man in his early twenties was staring coldly at the hall, his handsome face filled with pent-up anger. “Peng Tianan!” The diners in the hall were all shocked. “Who is that?” Lin Dong asked Wang Bin, who was equally stunned. “The third young master of the Peng family!” Wang Bin said through gritted teeth. “As long as he’s here, Yi Yi plays every piece he orders. Who would have thought he’d be here today too? Yet not a single piece was for him.” “The Peng family is truly wealthy,” Lin Dong murmured. “It’s not all about money,” Wang Bin shook his head. “Peng Tianan only manages the Wanbin Tower of the Peng family, and most of the income still has to be reported to them. The amount of money he can use is only slightly better than that of ordinary merchants. It’s mainly his status as the third young master of the Peng family that counts. In Autumn Wind City, no one wants to anger the Peng family over such things. Of course, today is an exception.” Lin Dong and Ma Chun exchanged glances—they had run into another rival in Windward Tower.