Chapter 4: The Beauty Must Be Saved

  The Liuguo Restaurant is located in Dongjiaomin Lane, Beijing, which is the embassy district. The building style is mostly Western European, and with the passage of time, modern Beijing can no longer see such a style. Others can only appreciate the exotic atmosphere, but I am so lucky to have seen the Republic of China's elegance with my own eyes.

  "Sir, please make a donation for charity, we are volunteers from St. Mary's Hospital, your contribution will help those poor people who cannot afford medical treatment." A pleasant voice sounded behind him, Guo Yu turned around and felt that the colors in front of him were so vibrant and beautiful, with a tall and slender figure, a pretty face, full breasts, and those innocent eyes looking at you, making it hard for you to refuse her request.

  Kuo Yu hastily took out a handful of silver coins and threw them into the girl's chest, making a clinking sound.

  "Thank you, sir, may God bless you." The uniform of a church school couldn't hide that proud figure.

  Guo Yu's heart let out a low roar, "I like it, my heart is racing." Watching the group of girls walk away, he hastily instructed Er Zhu: "Er Zhu, follow her closely and see whose daughter she is." Er Zhu followed suit.

  Guo Yu also lost interest in shopping and walked back alone to Liu Guo Restaurant.

  "What did you just say?" Guo Yu shouted as he jumped up from his seat after hearing Er Zhu's report. He had not expected to hear such a situation after waiting for several hours.

  "Second brother, call Chen Yougong and your elder brother, we're going to rescue the beauty, bring me enough money, I'm going to show off my power today." Gu Yu said hastily.

  The Eight Great Alleys are located near Xizhimen, Guo Yu had heard of it before, there were several hundred brothels big and small, Jinghe Hall was also a top-notch brothel. Standing at the entrance of Jinghe Hall, Guo Yu felt a little excited.

  "Please come in, gentlemen." They were led into the house by two cheongsam-clad women. The interior decoration was quite exquisite, after all, it was a well-known brothel.

  "It's time to have dinner, let's go to the banquet first." Chen Yougong, an old hand, gave orders without waiting for Guo Yu to speak. "Call the best girl here to accompany our master."

  Before long, the wine and dishes were served, and four beautifully dressed girls came in. To be honest, their level was really good, but it wasn't as good as Guo Yu's cooking. No way, change, let's change again. In the end, even the madam's face changed color. How could these few masters be so difficult to serve? All the girls in the brothel had come up, and not one of them was satisfactory.

  Guo Yu gave Chen Yougong a signal, and Chen Yougong knowingly called the boss's wife out to discuss. Not long after, he walked in and quietly reported to Guo Yu: "Sir, the girl you're looking for is indeed here, but the boss's wife said that she's still a chaste unmarried woman who hasn't left her parents' home yet. If not, would you consider changing your mind?"

  "Go call her, I don't care about anyone else. At worst, I'll just buy out her contract. We're rich, after all. You handle this." His nouveau riche temperament erupted.

  Guo Yu didn't care about anything else and started eating and drinking, Chen Yougong hurriedly went to discuss the ransom with the boss's wife. As expected, having money makes things easier, in the end 16,000 silver coins were paid to redeem Hu Yunyuan, this upright official.

  Pearls rustling, wearing a bright red cheongsam, white high-heeled leather shoes, Hu Yunwen slowly walked into the hall, her hands clasped in front of her, her eyebrows and eyes slightly lowered, her face rosy and plump, her figure tall and curvy, making Gu Yu feel like he was at a modern fashion show. This girl has already matured, haha.

  Hu Yunyan bowed and made a courtesy: "Master, thank you for letting me escape from the sea of suffering. I am grateful and will definitely serve you wholeheartedly from now on." Her voice was still so pleasant to hear.

  Wishes fulfilled, Guo Yu felt refreshed and comfortable all over. After returning to the hotel, he asked the waiter to decorate it simply, light red candles, hang red curtains, and use red wine for the wedding night, making it more romantic. A few sweet words, a night of gentle humming and soft singing.

  Morning light shines into the room, Hu Yunwen's face still has a faint red glow of happiness, it is enchanting. Holding that young body, Guo Yu couldn't help but lightly kiss her cheek. The beauty slowly opens her eyes, these eyes seem to speak, with shyness, joy, and a hint of confusion.

  "Rest well here today, you've just given birth, don't move around, I'll get Xiaoni to bring you some food later." Guo Yu instructed.

  Guo Yu got up and finished his breakfast, waiting for Chen Yougong to arrive. He said to him, "Starting today, you'll be in charge of purchasing antique calligraphy and paintings. I want the best ones, preferably those from the Forbidden City. I'll have Da Zhu and Er Zhu assist you. We can spend more money, but make sure they're authentic."

  Now that the porridge incident has been taken care of by someone under Da Zhu's command, they can all return to Guo Yu's side. After finishing up, Guo Yu returned to modern times and found Zhu Guihe, who made jade carvings, to pick up the jade accessories he had ordered a few days ago. Guo Yu's money came quickly but also went quickly, and he needed to continue his counterfeit business. This time, the amount was not small, and it was estimated that selling all of them would bring in 300,000 taels of silver, which is equivalent to over 20 million yuan in later generations.

  Then it's buying books, running to Xinhua Bookstore, as long as you can pick up what you like, such as "Ten Thousand Whys", "Big Encyclopedia", physics, chemistry, engineering, mechanics, humanities, geography, resources, metallurgy, mining, etc. Is there a golden house in the book? Guo Yu wants to find his own gold mine in the book.

  Ran to the computer city and bought several high-performance laptops, a large number of high-capacity mobile hard drives, several tablet computers, video recording devices, projectors, amplifiers, high-power speakers, and many other things. As long as Guo Yu saw something that he thought might be useful in the future, he would buy it to prepare for any unexpected needs.

  He called his parents at home, and he himself was a father too, but he was very irresponsible, leaving his son to be taken care of by his parents. Guo Yu told his parents that he had been busy with work recently and would go back home after this period. His parents lived in the county town, and it took Guo Yu more than two hours to drive home, so before, he usually went back once a week or every other week.

  These few purchases have almost spent all of Guo Yu's modern money, and Guo Yu can't always sell silver dollars, so he is waiting for this time to collect antiques and make a big profit.

  As expected, Chen Yougong was still reliable in handling matters. Not long after Guo Yu returned to the Liuguo Restaurant, Chen Yougong and Dazhu came back carrying several wooden boxes.

  Three antique items: a Qing Dynasty Qianlong period pink enamel "Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea" picture plate mouth vase, a pair of glazed red peony flower sawtooth pattern bell-shaped vases, and a set of sixteen Qianlong period snuff bottles made from various materials including sheep fat white jade, crystal, turquoise, agate, carnelian, ivory, rhinoceros horn, buffalo horn, coral, cloisonné, porcelain, with even the boxes made of purple sandalwood.

  Guo Yu himself also liked antiques before, but due to limited conditions, he could only look at pictures online. Now he's seeing the real thing, and it's all top-notch stuff. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call them national treasures.

  "How much did it cost?" Guo Yu asked.

  "Master, the powder box is the most expensive, costing 3,200 silver coins. The pair of bell-shaped vases cost 2,800 silver coins because they are a pair and therefore more expensive. The snuff bottle set costs 1,300 silver coins. In total, it's 7,300 silver coins." Chen Yougong replied with his head bowed.

  "It seems that good things are not cheap anywhere, no wonder you did a great job. I like these few items very much. I brought some jade accessories for you. You can sell the jade on one hand and collect antiques on the other, still following the same rules. I only want genuine ones. In the future, we can lower the grade a bit, and also accept mid-range items. You can use one-third of this sale's income to collect goods, and I'll use the rest."

  "Yes, sir."

  Back in the room, Hu Yunyuan was wearing a cheongsam and sitting at the dinner table waiting for Guo Yu. When she saw him come in, she quickly stood up. It could be seen that although the two had been intimate, she still seemed a bit shy.

  After dinner, Guo Yu pulled Hu Yunwen's hand and sat on the sofa, saying, "Let's chat, I saw you soliciting donations on the street that day. How did you end up at Jinghe Hall? I didn't even know how old you were."

  "I'm sixteen this year, and I'll be seventeen in two months."

  "I went to the church school because there were priests and nuns coming to the Eight Great Hutongs to preach, I listened and slowly followed to learn. In fact, in the brothel, the official's homework was also a lot, piano, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, songs, etc., all had to be learned, and also had to choose their own favorite ones to study deeply, so as to retain those high-ranking officials and raise one's own value. So when I went to church school, mom didn't stop me."

  "I'm from Hangzhou, my parents were poor and had many children, so at the age of 11 I was sold. At first, I followed some older girls to learn, later as I grew up a bit, I gradually became more beautiful than others, and then I was sold again for a higher price. I arrived in Jinan, spent a year there, and then was sold again to the capital." Hu Yunyan's expression turned somewhat melancholy.

  "Don't think about those unhappy things, what did you learn in church school? Tell me." Guo Yu quickly changed the subject.

  "Learning nursing, rescuing the wounded, comforting them, and also learning to sing poetry, as well as English," said Hu Yunyuan with obvious increased interest.

  "Xiao Yun, have you converted to Christianity?"

  "I don't believe it, I believe in fate." Hmm, looks like the foreigner's education wasn't very successful.

  Kuo Yu's body, now transformed, was incredibly robust. The sweet and tender night didn't lack grandeur, and even the quiet moments were filled with longing sighs. By the end of it, Xiao Yunxuan's throat had become somewhat hoarse. Only then did I understand why Teacher Cang's voice was so husky.