Chapter 427: Lonely and Forsaken

Why did it fall to you?

Sister Qinglan hesitated, then spoke slowly:

"I went to see Sister Yulan, and he saw me—he stared at me for a long time, his eyes like a venomous snake, sticky and repulsive…"

"I guessed he had ill intentions."

"And after Sister Yulan died, Mother also told me…"

"Mother?" Mo Hua blinked in surprise.

Sister Qinglan glanced left and right, saw no one else, and whispered: "It's the madam."

Mo Hua nodded.

The madam was the brothel's procuress, who raised the girls under her and whom they called "Mother."

Sister Qinglan continued: "Mother also told me that a client had specifically requested me… I asked who the client was, and Mother smiled faintly but gave no clear answer."

"I pressed her again and again, and she got angry—she beat and scolded me, said I'd grown too bold, daring to question her, and called me a money pit, that even if I died, I deserved it…"

Mo Hua frowned: "Your madam is cruel."

Sister Qinglan dared not speak ill of the madam, only nodded slightly.

"And then?" Mo Hua asked again.

Sister Qinglan said: "Then I realized—he must want me to accompany that gray-robed man."

"Sister Yulan is dead, and before her, several other sisters didn't survive either."

"I, I…"

Sister Qinglan couldn't go on, silently wiping away tears.

Mo Hua poured her another cup of tea and whispered comfort:

"Don't worry—you won't come to harm."

Tears streamed down Sister Qinglan's cheeks; she clung to his words like a lifeline, her eyes filled with hope:

"I won't die…?"

"Everyone must die someday," Mo Hua said honestly.

Sister Qinglan: "..."

Mo Hua's small face hardened: "But before he harms you, he will die first!"

Though the words felt slightly odd, Sister Qinglan was comforted, and slowly exhaled.

She didn't know this little sir's origins, but seeing how even Elder Su respected him despite his youth, she guessed his status was extraordinary—and a glimmer of hope stirred in her heart.

"Have you ever told anyone else these things?" Mo Hua asked curiously.

Sister Qinglan shook her head, bitterly:

"Who could I tell? Sister Yulan is dead, the other sisters are all living on borrowed time—any day they might offend a client and be beaten so badly they can't get out of bed, and Mother… isn't kind either…"

Mo Hua frowned as he listened. "Doesn't anyone here oversee you?"

Sister Qinglan gave a bitter smile. "We're lowly creatures—others only use us for amusement. Who cares if we live or die?"

Mo Hua felt a pang of unease. "What about your parents?"

Sister Qinglan's gaze dimmed. "I was sold by my parents."

Mo Hua froze slightly; Bai Zisheng and Bai Zi Xi looked at her with pity.

Mo Hua fell silent for a moment, then asked softly:

"Do you hate your parents?"

Sister Qinglan shook her head. "I don't hate them—they're already dead."

"Dead?"

"Yes." Sister Qinglan nodded. "They starved to death."

Tears shimmered in Sister Qinglan's eyes; her voice still trembled:

"My parents… sold me into the brothel because they feared I'd starve to death—they even secretly slipped me the spirit stones for my sale, telling me to live well…"

Mo Hua felt a pang of sorrow. "Were they mine cultivators?"

Sister Qinglan nodded. "Yes. My father mined for the Lu family. When the mine collapsed, he lost a leg and his heart meridians were poisoned by miasma—he could no longer mine."

"My mother struggled to support us, overworked herself, fell ill. Both knew they wouldn't live long, so they sold me into the brothel—at least I'd have a chance to survive…"

Mo Hua's gaze sharpened. "Is this brothel also owned by the Lu family?"

"Yes." Sister Qinglan said. "Not just this brothel—nearly half of Jin Hua Street, all the gambling dens, taverns, and brothels, mostly belong to the Lu family…"

"Do you want to leave the brothel?"

Sister Qinglan shook her head, her face filled with despair. "I can't leave."

Mo Hua frowned, lost in silent thought, murmuring:

"The Lu family…"

Bai Zisheng whispered to Mo Hua: "This Lu family doesn't seem like good people either."

He began counting: "The Qian family, the Sun family, the Lu family… none of these clans seem good…"

Bai Zisheng suddenly startled. "Wait—could our Bai family… not be good either?"

Bai Zi Xi's eyes flashed like swords, shooting him a glance.

Mo Hua didn't know what to say to him.

Bai Zisheng scratched his head, muttering: "That's hard to say…"

Mo Hua shook his head and asked again:

"Sister Sister Qinglan, do you know what cultivation level that gray-robed cultivator is?"

Sister Qinglan frowned. "I'm not certain."

"It's fine if you're not sure."

Sister Qinglan hesitated, then said: "I guess he's a Foundation Establishment cultivator..."

"This is what Sister Yulan told me—she said his cultivation is very deep. She's at the late Qi Condensation stage, so he must be Foundation Establishment..."

Mo Hua shook his head slightly.

If he's Foundation Establishment... it becomes somewhat difficult.

"Then when does he usually come to the brothel?"

"He comes on the fourth and fourteenth of every month, and stays for an unpredictable amount of time."

"I understand."

Mo Hua nodded and pointed at the jade bracelet in Sister Qinglan's hand: "Keep this bracelet safe. Don't let anyone see it. On the fourth, I'll come and claim you stole Elder Su's jade bracelet—we'll come to demand an explanation."

"That way, whether we succeed or not, you won't be implicated."

Sister Qinglan glanced at Mo Hua and asked softly:

"What are you... planning to do?"

"You don't need to know."

Sister Qinglan nodded, glanced at Mo Hua and the other two, yet still looked worried:

"You're all young—don't try to save me and fall into that gray-robed man's trap. He's gloomy; I bet he's devious..."

Bai Zisheng said: "Don't worry."

He pointed at Mo Hua: "Don't let his age fool you—his scheming might be just as deep as anyone else's..."

Mo Hua frowned: "Who's scheming?"

Bai Zisheng stared at the sky, pretending he said nothing.

Mo Hua muttered: "Scheming is better than being an idiot..."

"So you're calling your senior brother an idiot again?"

"And you're calling your junior brother a schemer?"

The two whispered and bickered.

Bai Zi Xi sighed, and slapped each of them once on the back.

He hit Bai Zisheng harder, and Mo Hua lightly, since Mo Hua was frail.

Bai Zisheng winced and groaned:

"Zixi, you're biased!"

Bai Zi Xi ignored him, and only said to Mo Hua: "Focus on the matter. Let's go home early."

"Mm-hmm."

Mo Hua replied.

After that, Mo Hua asked a few more details, then instructed Sister Qinglan:

"Sister Sister Qinglan, go back first. Don't tell anyone about this. Don't show any sign. We'll come back to you in a few days."

Sister Qinglan pressed her lips together and nodded solemnly, then left.

Mo Hua went to find Elder Su.

Elder Su was leisurely drinking wine, listening to music, and watching the female cultivators dance below the stage.

Seeing Mo Hua, Elder Su asked:

"Finished asking?"

Mo Hua nodded.

"Good." Elder Su didn't press further—after all, such matters were cultivator privacy; prying too much was impolite.

"Young Master, will you stay a while longer, or..."

"It's getting late. I'm going home," Mo Hua said.

The words were perfectly reasonable coming from Mo Hua, but hearing them in a brothel at this hour felt strangely odd.

Elder Su sighed with regret: "Alright."

Seeing Elder Su's lingering expression, Mo Hua whispered:

"Shall we go first, and you stay a bit longer?"

Elder Su was tempted, but quickly shook his head:

"No no no no—what do you take me for? I don't know this place well, and there's... nothing fun here..."

Elder Su spoke insincerely.

Mo Hua looked at Elder Su, his expression half-smiling, half-sardonic.

Elder Su felt a twinge of guilt under his gaze.

Then the group left Baihua Pavilion. On the way, Elder Su looked somewhat dejected.

It was the first time he'd been so "noble"—passing through a sea of flowers without touching a single petal.

To thank Elder Su, Mo Hua took out several rare arrays and gave them to him.

Elder Su was stunned: "These are for me?"

Mo Hua nodded: "Reciprocity in gifts."

Elder Su brightened immediately, forgetting all thoughts of courtesans, flipping through the array diagrams with delight.

As Mo Hua walked, he suddenly asked Elder Su:

"Elder, aren't all the girls in Baihua Pavilion quite tragic?"

Elder Su paused slightly, and the smile on his face slowly faded.

He sighed, "Yes."

"Most of them are mining cultivators who were sold into brothels, their lives like floating duckweed, rarely ending well—even if I wanted to help, I couldn't…"

Mo Hua asked curiously, "Did you ever think of helping them?"

Elder Su nodded, then blushed slightly, "I have my own desires, and sometimes I visit here, but it's always mutual—I just can't bear to see them so cruelly abused."

"But I can't help them."

"Even if I could, I'd only save one or two—there are so many brothels on Jin Hua Street, so many female cultivators—I can't save them all…"

"Besides, even if I could help them, it wouldn't matter."

Elder Su sighed.

"Why not?" Mo Hua asked.

Elder Su pointed toward the distant dark mine, his tone solemn:

"The root of these brothels isn't on this street—it's in the mine."

"As long as the mining cultivators inside the mine remain poor and are forced to sell their children, this brothel district will never fall, and it will never lack female cultivators…"

"Of course, there are some who willingly sink into depravity and don't value themselves—but they are few."

"Most female cultivators deeply despise this life and don't want to spend their days in this mire…"

Elder Su let out a deep sigh, sounding powerless:

"But this isn't a problem we Foundation Establishment cultivators can solve."

Mo Hua's eyes flickered, as if thinking deeply.

Then he praised, "Elder Su, you're a good man."

Elder Su nodded with a smile, then suddenly froze and quickly shook his head:

"No, no, it has nothing to do with me—this is all something I heard from a 'fellow cultivator'…"

Mo Hua said, "This 'fellow cultivator' you mentioned…"

Elder Su waved his hand, "Not me, not me…"

…

The brothel issue couldn't be resolved for now; Mo Hua wanted to first rescue the gray-robed cultivator.

After bidding farewell to Elder Su, Mo Hua and the other two returned to their cave dwelling and gathered to discuss.

"Should we kill that gray-robed cultivator?" Bai Zisheng asked.

Mo Hua clenched his small fist, "First capture him, then interrogate him, then kill him!"

"It's hard to capture a Foundation Establishment cultivator."

Mo Hua nodded, "With just the three of us, it's a bit difficult."

"Then what's your plan?" Bai Zisheng asked.

Mo Hua thought for a moment and whispered, "Let's report him to Dao Ting Si…"

"Report him?"

"Yes," Mo Hua said firmly, "He hired assassins and trafficked corpses—this violates Dao law, he's utterly wicked. We should report him to Dao Ting Si and let them arrest him. Why should we bother ourselves?"

Bai Zisheng said, "But if Dao Ting Si catches him, won't we lose the chance to get information?"

"No," Mo Hua said mysteriously, "There's someone from our side inside Dao Ting Si!"

Bai Zi Xi looked puzzled, "Our side… you mean Sister Situ? She shouldn't count as 'our person,' right…"

"Whether she counts or not doesn't matter—the outcome is the same."

As long as Dao Ting Si extracts information through interrogation, he could ask Sister Situ Fang and learn everything clearly.

They had such good relations; Sister Situ Fang certainly wouldn't hide anything from him.

So, whether he fell into Dao Ting Si's hands or his own, the result was the same.

Bai Zisheng asked again, "What if Dao Ting Si fails to catch him?"

Mo Hua whispered, "Then we'll just let the heron and the clam fight, and the fisherman pick up the spoils…"

(End of Chapter)