Accidentally Married A Fox God - The Sovereign Lord Spoils His Wife

Within a dimly lit room, a musky fragrance lingered in the air. It was quite an exotic sight, with silk curtains and shawls draped elegantly across its expanse. A large rosewood table stood in the middle of the room, offering alcoholic beverages and bowls of dried fruits, several low seats with comfortable cushions surrounded it.

A little stage for performances was positioned at the front of the room, with yellow decorative lanterns hanging from the ceiling to highlight it.

The burning sandalwood incense was unable to cover up the scent of sweat and human musk that filled the air.

In the middle of the room were several men, some were seated while others were standing. They were viewing the stage performance in a rather unreserved manner. A few of them were dressed in military attire, each with their hair tied up in a traditional knot. A metal ċhėst plate with an engraving of their social rank guarded their form, while a standard military sword was tucked at their side. The other inhabitants wore naught but simple garb made of cotton or hemp.

Cheers and shouts could be heard over the sounds of the pipa and flute players on the stage. The musicians, each a young, beautiful girl, were adorned in dresses made of pink, translucent material, their lips rouged and their eyes lined with colour to accentuate their natural beauty.

An elegant, mȧturė woman ascended to the stage, her body garnished in a dark, sultry red dress. Her foreboding presence made the room fell silent. She lifted her hand delicately up into the air for attention, showing her pale and dainty wrist draped with glittering jewellery.

"As you all know, my respected gentlemen, tonight we have acquired new valuables for our fine establishment," she began explaining. Cheers had already begun to sound off in the background. The folks were eager for new, nightly entertainment.

The red clad woman smiled faintly, presenting her newly acquired wares. "Many of our new girls are young and as yet untouched. A bidding will be taking place, starting with our lowest fees for our regulars, mid fees for deflowering the newcomers, and the highest fees for our courtesans." She winked playfully, getting the crowd all the more riled up.

The bidding commenced. In preparation, the musical performers left the stage and the red-clad Madam escorted ten young girls underneath the lanterns to be displayed, describing each of their merits in hopes for the men to bid a higher sum.

A young, frail-looking girl named Li Meirong peeked through the white veil covering her face. She hadn't had the opportunity to figure out what was happening before she was already fȯrċɨbŀƴ dressed by several girls in attendance and rushed to the stage with the rest of the 'livestock'.

By her side was the red-dressed woman, taking off the veil of the girl to her left, pointing out physical characteristics and describing the girl as untouched. The winning bid for that girl was high, reaching close to twenty silver taels for her first night.

The sudden discomfort brought her to a devastating realization: this was not a dream!

She spaced out while recalling the events which occurred to her in the past hour.

At one moment she was heading home from work. A regular, modern twenty-five-year-old office worker from the suburbs, and the next, she was stuck in this place, straight out of an ancient period drama.

Could she possibly have died?

She remembered it was an unexpectedly rainy day, and that everyone huddled up together waiting for the train. With each passing second, she felt herself being shoved around in the crowd until, at last, she lost her footing just as she was about to tumble onto the railroad tracks. The last thing she could remember was the beaming lights of the train rushing towards her.