Meng Yao rushed upstairs. Covering her scalp, the woman tried her hardest to pull her clothes up her shoulders. As she saw Meng Yao run over, she hurried, “I told you not to come upstairs! Go down! Go down this instant!”
Meng Yao went to peel away the client’s hands as he received a kick in the stomach and rolled down the stairs, causing a wave of exclamations.
This was the third time Wei WuXian saw him roll down flights of stairs from a kick.
With a loud scream, the woman had her hair pulled by the client again, all the way until she was dragged downstairs, stripped, and tossed onto the street. He spat on her naked body, cursing, “Hags do nothing but haggle—an old whore thinks she’s fresh meat!”
Panicking, the woman lay prone in the center of the street, scared to get up. With one move, everyone would see everything. The passersbys on the street were both astonished and thrilled, lingering as they pointed with glinting eyes. The doors to the brothel were also cramped with the women inside, chuckling as they told the story of the poor old woman to their clients just like AnXin did. Only one of the ladies squeezed through the doors. She took off the gauze robe that was so flimsy to begin with, revealing half of her full, snowy breasts enwrapped by a crimson slip, her waist was exceptionally thin as well. She was more than eye-catching and everyone hurried to take a look at her.
The lady spat, cursing, “Keep on looking, you bastards! Do you have the right to look at someone like me? With each look you gotta pay—where’s the money?! Come, where’s the money?!”
As she cursed, she reached out and asked the bystanders for money. The crowd dispersed somewhat, and she threw the robe she took off onto the woman, the two of them staggering into the main hall. She scolded as she walked, “It’s been so long since I’ve told you to change things up. What’s the pride for? You’ve had your lesson, huh? Remember it next time!”
Wei WuXian thought, The woman somehow looks a bit familiar. Where have I seen her before?
The woman whispered, “A-Yao, A-Yao…”
From the kick, Meng Yao wasn’t able to get up for a long time, still lying on the ground. The lady grabbed one with each hand and dragged away both mother and son.
A client beside AnXin inquired, “Who’s the pretty one?”
AnXin spat out two sunflower seed shells, “A famous vixen. She’s quite scary.”
Someone sighed in disappointment, “This is the talented Meng Shi from back then? How did she end up like this?”
AnXin switched up a grin, “She sure did. She was set on bearing a child. Could a woman keep up her looks after she gives birth? If not because she could manage to live off her past name of being ‘talented’, there might not be any who comes to her. I say it’s all because of the books.”
A client showed his deep understanding, “Of course. Those who’ve touched ink always have that inexplicable pride with them. They don’t want to give up the notion.”
AnXin, “If she could feed herself with the books she’s read, then I wouldn’t be saying anything, but it’s just a gimmick to attract men after all. I’m gonna be blunt here—we’re all bitches, and you’re better just because you’ve read some books? What’s the pride for? Not only do the people outside look down on her, do you think our other sisters here like her either? The clients here sometimes choose to see a young maiden keep up her modesty as a change of pace but who’d pay for an old, ugly one? It’s long since her fame dwindled. Everyone knows, and she’s the only one who doesn’t understand…”
At this point, someone patted AnXin from behind. As AnXin turned around, she saw the lady from back then stand behind her, raising her hand to slap. With a pah, AnXin took the slap. She was blank for a moment before she raged, “You whore!!!”
The lady, “You whore!!! Chit-chatting every single day—does that tongue of yours have nothing else to do?!”
AnXin screamed, “The fuck does what I say have to do with you?!”
The two women fought on the first floor of the hall, using both their nails and their teeth, pulling on each other’s hair as they cursed with “I’ll cut apart your face sooner or later” or “nobody will want you even if you give him money.” The vulgarity of their words were almost intolerable to the ear.
Many of the prostitutes came to stop them, “SiSi! Stop it!”
SiSi? Wei WuXian finally realized why he felt familiarity when he saw the lady’s face. If seven or eight scars criss-crossed over the face, wouldn’t it be SiSi, the woman who came to Lotus Pier to expose the secret?!
Suddenly, he felt a wave of heat crash into his face. The entire hall had at once sunken into an ocean of fiery red. Wei WuXian immediately pulled himself out of Empathy!
As he opened his eyes, Lan WangJi asked, “How was it?”
Lan XiChen spoke up as well, “Young Master Wei, what did you see?”
Wei WuXian drew in a breath to calm himself before replying, “I’m guessing that the Guanyin Temple was where Sect Leader Jin grew up.”
Jin GuangYao remained collected. Jiang Cheng, “Where he grew up? Didn’t he…” He was just about to say ‘didn’t he grew up at a brothel’ when he suddenly understood as well, “This Guanyin Temple used to be a brothel. He burned the place down and built a Guanyin Temple on top of it!”
Lan XiChen, “You really started the fire?”
Jin GuangYao, “Yes.”
Jiang Cheng laughed coldly, “You’re acknowledging it quite well, aren’t you?”
Jin GuangYao, “At this point, is there any difference between one thing more and one thing less?”
After a moment of silence, Lan XiChen asked, “Was it to remove the traces?”
Although many knew that LianFang-Zun grew up at a brothel, through all these years, nobody knew which exact brothel he was from. This was quite strange indeed. Everyone understood that LianFang-Zun was pulling the strings behind the scenes but not many would have expected that he burned down the whole place at which he was born and grew up.
Jin GuangYao, “Not entirely.”
Lan XiChen sighed and didn’t continue. Jin GuangYao, “Aren’t you going to ask me why?”
Lan XiChen shook his head. A moment later, he spoke, but without answering the question, “In the past, it was not that I did not know what you did, but that I believed you had your reasons behind doing them.”
He continued, “But, you have done too much. And I… no longer know if I should believe you.”
Fatigue and disappointment sunk heavily into his tone.
The storm raged on outside. Wind seeped through the slit between the temple’s doors. Amid the shrill wails, Jin GuangYao suddenly collapsed onto the ground.
Everyone paused in surprise. Wei WuXian, who’d just confiscated the sword at his waist, was surprised as well. Weakly, Jin GuangYao began, “Brother, I’m sorry.”
“…” Hearing this, even Wei WuXian felt embarrassed for him. He couldn’t help from saying, “Um, I mean, let’s fight nicely instead of talking. Can’t we just fight?”
His face changed just like that, and his legs gave out just like that. There was no dignity or whatsoever. Lan XiChen’s face was a mixture of emotions as well.