My Pen Pal Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 441 Prostitute and Saint

After crossing a street, they arrived at the market, where all kinds of things were sold, including various food, daily necessities, cloth, knives, etc. The variety was so great that it was dazzling.

Although not everyone passing by was dressed in silk and satin, at least everyone was neatly dressed and had a smile on their face, which reflected their expectation and yearning for a better life in the future.

This is the national spirit of our Celestial Empire. It is unlike Castile, where the civilians wandering the streets all have bitter faces, which makes people feel depressed!

The East is still better!

Makaros sighed while observing the shops on the street. There really was everything for sale here. Their family was also in business, so they were extremely sensitive to the market.

There are many commodities here and the flow volume is also large, which shows that the Ming Dynasty had a rich variety of commodities and had whatever you wanted. This is a symbol of prosperity and strength.

What made him feel even more incredible were the numerous restaurants on the street. There were restaurants of all grades, some suitable for the common people, and some high-end. When he thought about those taverns in Castile, alas, there was no comparison!
Several people slowly moved forward. At this time, Makaros saw several men coming out of a place that looked like a high-end restaurant. Behind them were several women dressed in seductive clothes. They waved their handkerchiefs and said in a delicate voice:

"Sir, remember to come often!"

He immediately became interested and stopped to watch, while Ali and the two guards watched everything with a knowing smile on their faces.

Makaros asked curiously, "Mr. Said, can the restaurant in Daming allow guests to stay overnight?"

As soon as this question was asked, Ali and the two guards looked at the three big words "Yichunyuan" on the restaurant's sign and couldn't help but burst into laughter.

This smile left Father Makaros and Antonio confused. What was so funny? Did he ask the wrong question?
Ali finally stopped laughing, then came up to the two men and whispered, "That restaurant is a brothel!"

"brothel?"

Makaros and Antonio were both shocked. Makaros was even more incredulous and asked, "Is that a brothel?"

There are brothels in Castile, but most of them are located in civilian areas and are filthy. Some brothels don't even have a decent bed.

High-end brothels do exist, but this is the first time he has seen one as high-end as this one.

Seeing that Makaros looked like he had never seen the world, Ali decided to give this young nobleman some good science education.

"To be precise, this is called a brothel, a high-end brothel. It's not like that uncivilized little place in Castile. You can't just be rich. You also need to be well-educated to win the favor of the top girls there and have the possibility of spending the night with them."

"Ah? You can't get the women inside even if you spend money?" This time Makaros was even more shocked. In his impression, if you have money, what kind of women can't you get?

"Haha, my Lord Earl, do you think the women of the Ming Dynasty can compare to the women of Europe?"

Ali said with some disdain: "Women who can sell themselves in brothels must be proficient in the four arts, namely music, chess, calligraphy and painting. And the top girls must not only be beautiful, but also have profound attainments in art. Some of the top girls are as knowledgeable as men!"

This statement shocked Father Macaros and Father Antonio.

"You, you mean, prostitutes can read?" Makaros said in disbelief. "Of course, and many women in brothels can write poetry!" Ali said proudly: "The more talented a woman is, the higher her value is."

This was incredible to the two of them. In Castile, no, even in the whole of Europe, it was explosive information.

Women reading?

This is going to turn upside down!

Although secular schools gradually appeared in Europe today, such as some guild schools, and there were also universities, but those were only for nobles and wealthy civilians. For ordinary people, it was good enough to be able to write their own names, not to mention women.

Of course, it doesn't mean that European women don't read and write, but that is the privilege of aristocratic women. In order to cultivate aristocratic etiquette, they have to learn literacy and literature. For common people's women, as long as they can give birth to children, their parents will not let them study and write even if their family is rich.

I didn’t expect that in the Ming Dynasty, even the women in brothels could read. This is simply unimaginable. For European prostitutes, it is considered smart if they can know their own names!

"I wonder how much it would cost to sleep with a girl like this for a night!" Makaros sighed.

"Then, Lord Earl, how much does your family earn per month?" Ali asked with a smile.

"The family business plus the taxes on the fiefdom probably amount to three thousand ducats!" Makaros said with some pride.

Seeing Makaros's somewhat smug look, Ali knew that this guy was showing off by using the currency name of Ducat.

Ducat is a gold coin minted in Florence, a port city on the Apennine Peninsula. It is popular in most parts of Europe because of its exquisite workmanship, high gold content, ease of carrying and convenience of calculation.

Nobles and merchants in many countries would use Ducats when conducting large transactions, not only because of the high value of the Ducat gold coin, but more importantly to demonstrate their status. Of course, ordinary people had no chance to come into contact with Ducats. In Castile, general transactions were conducted in Pesos.

One ducat could be exchanged for about 1,500 pesos, which was enough for an average family in Castile to live for a year.

An annual income of two thousand ducats shows that the young earl's family still has certain strength, but in the Ming Dynasty, it is not enough.

One ducat is roughly equivalent to ten taels of silver in the Ming Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, there were many merchants who earned tens of thousands of taels of silver a year.

He smiled and said, "In the brothels here, the price of the most high-class and most upscale top girls can sometimes be raised to thousands of ducats!"

"Ah!" Makaros suddenly felt that his brain was not enough. The price of a prostitute was actually equivalent to one-third of his family's annual income!
This... He was speechless for a moment, and after a long while he sighed and said, "Marco Polo really wasn't lying. The East is truly a land of gold!"

As for the dream of spending a night of passion with the girl in the brothel, he gave up on it immediately. She was not a prostitute but a saint, and a small noble like him could not get involved with her!
Makaros was a little dejected, and Father Antonio was also shocked. It was not that the prices of brothel girls were extremely high, but that brothel girls could actually go to school?
Oh my God, what an amazing country this is!
They continued walking forward, and after a while, they arrived at Suzaku Street. At this moment, they saw a group of children walking into a huge courtyard in groups of two or three.

Makaros and Antonio looked carefully and found that there was a big gate in front of the huge courtyard. There were a few big words written on the gate. After carefully identifying them, they found that they could recognize the words. It was written on it:

Zhuque Street No. 1 Primary School!

(End of this chapter)