Chapter 365: Sold Every Step of the Way

Pan Yun hesitated for a moment, then shook her head. "Forget it, they're not that great of people anyway. Let's respect their fate."

So everyone turned their heads toward the shore in unison, pretending not to have seen the painted pleasure boat.

This stretch of the canal was fairly wide; the painted pleasure boat sat in the middle of the river, with enough room on either side for a small boat to pass.

As the boat passed by the painted pleasure boat, the five of them still couldn't help turning their heads to look.

They saw a group of gorgeously dressed women dancing gracefully inside the boat, their steps light and nimble. Just as a woman in red raised her hand while bending sideways at the waist, her gaze met the people on the boat.

Hong Yan got a fright, and her tail almost popped out from under her skirt.

She hurriedly turned her head away, and the movements of her hands and feet immediately fell into disarray.

Xiao Hong, seeing her mess up the dance, reached out and gave her a push, sending her straight into the arms of a young man. She giggled, "Sister, were you thinking of Young Master Zhao?"

Hong Yan shyly buried herself in Young Master Zhao's embrace.

Young Master Zhao hugged Hong Yan as well, laughing heartily. "So you were thinking of me. Then no need to dance—come and feed me wine."

Hong Yan agreed, picked up a cup, and fed Young Master Zhao a sip.

The five people on the boat stood up and craned their necks. "Little Martial Uncle, did you see clearly? Can Hong Yan tuck her tail away now?"

Pan Yun: "She must be hiding it. With her cultivation, it's not enough to retract her tail."

The boatman, seeing them craning their necks, said, "Young Masters and Young Ladies, don't be envious. The women on that painted pleasure boat live bitter lives."

Pan Yun: "How bitter?"

The boatman said, "Of the women who throw themselves into the river along this stretch every year, four out of ten are women from painted pleasure boats. If their lives were good, would they throw themselves into the river?"

"They're all pitiful people whose families couldn't make ends meet and sold them onto the boats. Only a very few can save enough money to buy their freedom back when they're older. Most either fall ill and die young, or when they get older, get sold onto the dark boats downstream."

The boatman paddled as he spoke: "I've worked this river for over twenty years, and all I've seen are pitiful people. Even if they have a moment of wealth, it's like a flower—after a while it wilts. You young girls shouldn't be envious."

Probably because their gazes just now had been too fervent, the boatman had gotten the wrong idea and hurried to warn them.

Wang Cong thanked him and said, "Old man, don't worry, I'll keep a close eye on them."

"Sigh, you really must keep a close eye. It's the Lantern Festival—lively, and plenty of human traffickers too. I see your three younger sisters are all good-looking, you have to watch them closely."

Wang Cong agreed.

The five of them finished their boat ride. Once ashore, they could reach the main street by passing through an alley, and not far ahead was the silk and satin shop Pan Yun had mentioned.

At this moment, the silk and satin shop was still open, with quite a few customers coming and going—clearly business was good.

Wang Cong went first to secure the spot.

After paying the deposit and getting the token, Wang Cong walked out the door and saw the other four craning their necks to look at the flower lantern tower hung up at the silk and satin shop.

Pan Yun pointed at the flower lanterns and said, "Here, once all the lanterns are lit at night, their light reflected on the porcelain will surely be extraordinarily beautiful. However, it has to be elevated—placed on the ground, very little light falls on the porcelain, and it can't bring out its beauty."

Wang Cong turned his head to look.

Because it was the Lantern Festival, all the major shops had lit up flower lanterns to match the festive spirit. Tonight was just a warm-up; tomorrow night, even more lanterns would be hung up.

And big shops like the silk and satin shop, to add to the festivity, had even come up with games like buying silk and satin to get flower lanterns, and guessing lantern riddles to get flower lanterns. Right now, ropes had already been strung up on both sides of the silk and satin shop's main door and above, with quite a few lanterns hung on them.

Looking at the remaining empty ropes, by tomorrow night these spots would all be covered with lanterns—just thinking about it was extraordinarily beautiful.

And the people standing beneath the lanterns would be very beautiful, and the porcelain would also be extraordinarily beautiful.

Wang Cong paced around looking, then stepped forward and pointed at the ground. "The table has to be placed right here."

Seeing Miao Zhen said, "And the table needs to be this high."

She gestured above her own waist. "This height catches the light best."

Wang Cong held out both hands, comparing a higher and a lower position, and after a moment nodded. "It really is."

Pan Yun said, "Tomorrow morning you all go make the table and set out the goods. I'll go meet the person myself."

Wang Cong and the others naturally had no objections. After discussing it, he went back to draw up blueprints, deciding to find a carpenter the next day—if there were ready-made ones, buy ready-made; if not, they could make a simple one. No matter if it looked good or bad, when the time came they'd just throw a cloth over it and no one would be able to tell.

As long as it was tall enough and sturdy, that was fine.

Pan Yun made her way back to the Fu'an Inn, leaving little markers along the way.

When the night grew deep and the people on the streets gradually dispersed to go home, and the once-bustling river surface quieted down, Hong Yan knocked Young Master Zhao unconscious, felt her tailbone, and headed out.

Xiao Hong was leaning against the outside of the room door. Seeing her like this, she slapped her hand away and whispered, "Are you afraid people won't notice your butt? Be careful."

Hong Yan twisted her waist and said, "But my tail's been tied up all day, it really hurts."

Xiao Hong: "We'll let it loose in a bit. Come on, let's go find Pan Yun."

Hong Yan agreed. One fox and one ghost slipped out of the painted pleasure boat on the sly, and with a flash appeared on the shore. Soon, Xiao Hong spotted a few grains of sticky rice in a corner of the wall. She kept her distance, her face full of disgust. "Can't she attach her aura to something else? I hate sticky rice."

Hong Yan: "I don't hate it. I'll go find it—follow me."

A fox's nose is sharp too, and she quickly found it. One fox and one ghost followed the aura Pan Yun had left and made their way to the Fu'an Inn.

Hong Yan didn't go straight into the Fu'an Inn. Instead, she sniffed the air, found the rear side, and looked up to see a room above with its window open.

In the first month of the year, besides Pan Yun who had prepared in advance, what idiot would leave their window open in the middle of the night?

So Hong Yan didn't think twice and jumped straight in through the window. Xiao Hong followed right behind, drifting straight in.

Pan Yun was sitting on the couch meditating, nearly dozing off. Hearing the commotion, she opened her eyes and saw two women in red appear in her room.

On the bed opposite the wooden couch, Seeing Miao Zhen and Miao He were already tucked under their quilts, fast asleep.

Xiao Hong, seeing this, couldn't help lowering her voice. "Daoist Priest Pan, you're still awake?"

Pan Yun: "Isn't this waiting for you all?"

The one person, one fox, and one ghost said nothing, just gazing at each other like that.

After a while, it was the guilty-feeling Xiao Hong who spoke first: "W-we didn't do anything bad."

!. Read

Hong Yan, on the other hand, didn't feel guilty at all. "We really didn't do anything bad."

Pan Yun: "I'm not planning to catch you either, but since we've run into each other, let's say hello."

She asked curiously, "How did you end up in Changzhou Prefecture?"

Hong Yan: "We didn't come on our own, we were sold and brought here."

Pan Yun: …

Though the time since the fox and the ghost left Mount Sanqing was short, their experiences had been rich indeed.

Hong Yan said, "I came down the mountain to train. My inherited memories tell me that to fully transform, I must undergo Tribulation Crossing. Tribulation Crossing requires absorbing the essence of day and night and spiritual Qi, and also tempering the heart. To temper the heart, one must enter the mortal world."

Pan Yun nodded. "I know. And then? You… you two entered the mortal world by going to a painted pleasure boat?"

Hong Yan, with an air of innocence, said, "No, I was going to marry someone like a human, then pretend to grow old and live out a whole life."

Pan Yun's gaze fell on her tailbone, her face full of unspeakable things. "You… how can you pretend to be human and marry someone with a tail? There are many ways to train, why must it be marriage?"

Hong Yan: "How would I know? My inherited memories told me. Once I live out a whole life like a human, I'll be able to attain sudden enlightenment."

"Who says you can't marry someone just because you have a tail? After getting into bed, just bewitch the man into passing out, wouldn't that work?"

Pan Yun tilted her head, thought for a moment, then said, "That is one method, but not a lasting plan. Forget it, just tell me straight—who were you going to marry, how did you end up in Changzhou Prefecture, and how did you end up working on a painted pleasure boat?"

Hong Yan sighed. "Humans are too complicated, especially human men—cunning and vicious. I thought you were already cunning enough, but I didn't expect the men down the mountain to be even more cunning than you."

Pan Yun: …How was she cunning? Hadn't she always been a good person?

Hong Yan said, "As soon as I came down the mountain, I met a hunter. Just like in the storybooks, I jumped into the trap he'd dug and pretended to sprain my ankle."

"He saved me, and I pledged myself to him in gratitude. He took me home, but it turned out he already had a wife and children. So I said I'd marry his son, and then he took me out and sold me."

Pan Yun: "…"

"Wait a moment," Pan Yun raised a hand to interrupt her and asked, "How old was his son?"

"Six years old," Hong Yan answered immediately. "But I can wait. Isn't it just ten years? For me, that's just a blink."

Hong Yan said, "I've only been sentient for three years. I'm very young too, you know!"

Pan Yun waved her hand. "Alright, please continue. Who did he sell you to?"

Hong Yan muttered, "He sold me to a scholar. That scholar also had a wife and a daughter. He wanted me to be his concubine and also his maidservant. During the day I had to sweep the floor, cook, do laundry, grind ink and air out his books, and at night I had to warm his bed…"

Pan Yun felt for her just listening, and looked at her with sympathy. "And then?"

"Grinding ink and airing books I could barely manage, warming the bed was no problem either, but sweeping, cooking, and doing laundry—I refused. I refused, so they wanted to hit me and curse me. Of course I couldn't just stand there and let them hit me, so I hit them back, and then I ran."

Pan Yun let out a breath and patted her chest. "Good, good, you ran. I see no karmic burden on you either—didn't you hit them too hard?"

"Not hard, at most ten days in bed and they'd be fine." Hong Yan said, "Before I came down the mountain, Daoist Wang taught me—if things aren't going well, just run. Don't take a life, and the Heavenly Dao won't punish me. I know my limits."

Pan Yun nodded. "What happened after that?"

"After that I was crying on the road, and a very old granny took me back to her home, and then she sold me to a passing rich merchant. That rich merchant took me all the way to Yangzhou, and sold me into a brothel."

"I worked in that brothel for over ten days. Once I drank too much and my tail popped out, so I ran."

Pan Yun's face was already expressionless. She asked, "Who sold you next?"

Hong Yan pointed at Xiao Hong and said, "Her."

(End of chapter)