auspicious time has come

Chapter 180 She Is That Beam of Skylight
In the room, a tall girl in a qian-color skirt stood with her back to the door, facing the half-opened window lattice, and blindly threw an arrow into the pot with one hand, which immediately attracted five or six beautifully dressed flower girls in the room to exclaim and cheer. .

"Go in, go in! Go in again!"

"Mistress Ji is really accurate!"

"It's been half a year since I've been to the Northland, and Miss Ji's blind shots are still so accurate." A young flower girl standing next to Heng Yu gave Heng Yu a shoulder graciously.

There was also a slender Hua Niang who rushed to bring tea to Hengyu: "Miss Ji is also tired from painting today, let's take a sip of tea and take a break."

"Miss Ji is painting for Sister Shaoyao today, when will it be my turn." Another flower girl stepped forward and grabbed Hengyu's sleeve, shaking it coquettishly.

These few shakes made Xiao Mu dizzy, and he put his hand on his lips and coughed lightly.

"Okay, don't make a fuss, haven't you seen the guests from Miss Ji? And follow me behind." The oldest woman among them seemed to be in her early 30s, wearing a moon-white veil, hugging the girl beside her. Pipa, Chaoheng Yu blessed the body.

Seeing how respectful she was to Hengyu in her speech and behavior, Xiao Mu paid more attention to this woman.

"That's right, don't delay Miss Ji's meeting friends, let's go..."

"Let's go with Lady Danrong and practice the song later."

The girls came out chattering and making a fuss, and when they passed by Xiao Mu's side, some saluted and some cast curious glances.

Xiao Mu's expression remained the same, and he nodded politely to them.

"Then Mr. Lang is so handsome, and he has a face that he has never seen before..."

"Miss Dan Rong, you have known Miss Ji for the longest time, do you know who this gentleman is?"

Lady Dan Rong, who was holding the pipa, cast a glance at them, and said, "What are you doing asking so much, just keep your mouth shut."

"Of course you have to keep your mouth shut outside, and you won't utter a single word if you're killed, but why don't you ask a few more questions in front of you."

"Yes, yes, our sisters also want to check for Miss Ji..."

The girls chatted in low voices and left, Gu Tingnan closed the door from the outside.

"Why did you come?"

"Why are you here?"

She and Wang Jingyong asked each other almost at the same time.

"..." Wang Jingyong frowned, "Of course I came to the appointment with my family's general...Lang Jun."

"I, of course, came to gain knowledge with Ah Heng."

Wang Jingyong rolled his eyes.

What kind of knowledge is this?
"I heard that this is the first flower building in the capital." Gu Tingnan moved closer to him, pointed at the direction where the flower girls left just now with his chin, and lightly poked Wang Jingyong with his elbow: "You just now See, those beauties are truly one in a million, their figure, appearance, fragrance, and voice, all seem to be soaked in honey water..."

Her voice was quite low, but she couldn't hide her excitement in admiring the beauty.

Wang Jingyong glanced stiffly at the arm that was next to her, and suddenly his face felt a little hot.

"The capital is indeed the capital, it really cannot be compared with other places." Gu Tingnan sighed: "Are you right?"

Wang Jingyong looked ahead and nodded more and more stiffly: "Yes."

Gu Tingnan noticed his strangeness, turned his head to look over, and couldn't help wondering: "Why are you blushing?"

"Where is it?" Wang Jingyong frowned greatly.

Seeing his reaction like this, Gu Tingnan let out a "puchi" laugh: "Why are you so angry?"

"Stop talking nonsense." Wang Jingyong stared fixedly at the front, just across the fence when he saw a pair of friendly men and women coming out of the opposite room, he immediately turned his eyes away, his heart beating like the music playing in the hall downstairs After the reconciliation, he explained: "...the smell of rouge and wine here is really boring."

Gu Tingnan gave a long "Oh—" knowingly, and smiled in his eyes: "So that's how it is."

In the room, Heng Yugang invited Xiao Mu to sit down.

"Why is the offer here?" Xiao Mu asked.

Heng Yu casually poured a cup of tea and pushed it towards him, saying: "This place is quiet and suitable for talking."

Xiao Mu: "...Quiet?"

"They are all people I can trust, and no one will tell about my meeting with you here tonight." Heng Yu lowered her voice and said, "Besides, even if there are various eyeliners staring at you, they know that you are coming tonight If you come here, you will only think that you are here for entertainment, it is human nature, and you will not suspect anything - but if you change it to another place, it will be hard to say."

Hearing the phrase "human nature", Xiao Mu was silent, and said: "...Then thank you for being so considerate for me."

"It should be." Heng Yu said: "I have planned everything, and you will be a regular visitor here from now on."

Xiao Mu almost choked on a sip of tea, coughed twice and looked at her: "Is that how you trust them?"

"That's natural." Heng Yu answered without hesitation.

Xiao Mu was rather curious: "How did you get on good terms with these people?"

He didn't mean to despise the women in the brothel, because he was born as a son of an official family, he was more aware of the misery and involuntaryness behind these women's depravity.

He was just curious—although he knew that she was very good at making friends, and could seduce people with a single mouth, but the so-called difference in status, and she was a girl, how exactly did she get along with these flamboyant girls?

"Where is there a dandy who doesn't visit flower houses?" Heng Yu also poured a cup of tea for herself, and said casually: "Isn't it acquainted with those who come and go once and for all?"

Xiao Mu didn't believe a word: "I still understand who you are."

Her so-called dandy behavior, after careful consideration, it can be seen that they are all purposeful, not just blindly indulging in fun.

Even if she entered the official media yamen as a painter, it was for the convenience of getting in touch with those rich and powerful people, secretly investigating the clues of the tattoo pattern back then—the name of a dude, it was convenient for her, and no matter what she did, she would not be too unreasonable. Attractive blindfold.

After all, if a girl who has been living outside for several years and her "reputation" has been ruined, if she locks herself in the back house, she will never be able to get in touch with the truth she wants.

"There is indeed an opportunity." Heng Yu then seriously answered his question: "Did you see the lady holding the pipa just now?"

Xiao Mu nodded.

"I'll call her Sister Dan Rong." Heng Yu said: "When I was sold into the Tingzhou brothel, I was locked up because I was young and tried to escape. Girls, when they reach the age of fourteen or fifteen, they will be released to pick up guests; if they are 'obedient', they can also go out to serve tea and water at the age of eleven or twelve, and serve the bridesmaids."

Holding the tea, she spoke unhurriedly: "Only when I go out can I have a chance to leave, so I pretended to be obedient and was able to leave that yard in the winter when I was 11 years old, but those turtles stared at me very much." Tight, we are not allowed to leave that flower building, if there is any sign of wanting to escape, we will be beaten and punished."

"I was Sister Danrong whom I knew at that time, and she was still the lady in the flower building at that time." Heng Yu continued: "Once, I was troubled by a drunk guest, and she saved me. Help me out."

This sentence was very short, but it made Xiao Mu's mood down.

"Afterwards, she took good care of me. It was from her that I met 'Yan Jin'. After I got to know her well, I tried to ask 'Yan Jin' to come forward to redeem me and help me send a letter back to the capital." Heng Yu recalled He said: "Shortly after I returned to the capital, my family and His Royal Highness the eldest princess investigated the matter secretly, and the flower building was punished by the government for the crime of smuggling lovers, and the old bustard was sentenced to hang and trafficked. Most of the girls were found out by the government and sent back home."

"Sister Danrong was voluntarily sold into a brothel by her biological father. She had written a document of selling her body. She was not abducted and sold, so she was not included in the return list. Later, I asked someone to inquire and found out that shortly after I left, Then a guest redeemed her and took her away from Tingzhou, where she went."

"I was worried about this matter, so I kept trying to find out her whereabouts. After wandering around for a year or two, I finally found her in the most inferior kiln alley in the capital." When Heng Yu said this, his eyes darkened Darkly: "I remember that when I saw her that night, she was beaten all over by a dirty and smelly man, and her face was scratched."

"She told me that the man who took her away from Tingzhou was not the man she thought she was. Then they gave her to someone else. After doing this several times, she was sold to the capital and entered this dark kiln alley."

"I brought her out, ransomed her, took her deed of sale, and went to the government to cancel her lowly status. I bought a house for her and left it for her to recuperate. It's just that the wound on her body has healed Qiqi Eighty-eight, the scar on her face and the knot in her heart are left behind, and she has never gone out to see anyone for almost a whole year."

"Then what happened afterwards?" Xiao Mu's voice was soft and gentle.

"Then one day, I gave her a pipa that she had wanted for a long time." Heng Yu said: "She started to pick up the pipa again and practiced the music. Then one day, she went out. And then, she was alone One person brought a pipa to the Yanchun Tower."

"She said that pipa is her only skill, she wants to be self-reliant, she doesn't want to be a drag on me, and she doesn't want to lock herself up for the rest of her life."

"Of course, it is impossible to sell yourself as a slave again, so she agreed with the shopkeeper in the Yanchun Tower to be a musician who will be here to teach the girls in the building. It has added a lot of color, and the shopkeeper also thinks highly of her."

"Over the past two years, she has paid back the money I used to redeem her body and buy the house." Hengyu said this, with a relaxed face: "And redeemed for the two little girls who were sold into this building. Now she is raised in her house."

Xiao Mu smiled slightly: "In the future, when you open an academy, you will let them go to study. With the addition of Ma's girl, there will be three students to accept."

Heng Yu nodded: "I think so too."

Immediately, after thinking about it, he smiled again: "There will be more in the future."

She also redeemed the bodies of several young children. Those whose family members could not be found, or whose family members were not worth looking for, stayed at Ji's house or in Zhuangzi outside the city.

But with her and Sister Danrong alone, there is only a small amount that can be done.

"So you draw for them." Xiao Mu looked at the pictures of beauties she had just finished drying on the tables beside her, and said, "I only knew that you were good at drawing beauties in rumors, and the pictures of beauties you drew were printed as It can be said that the album has been widely circulated.”

"Those picture albums sold for money, I am three, and they are seven. The flower girls here are either sold as slaves because they have no other way out, or they are sold in by their family members for so-called forced reasons, but in the end most of them are Private slaves, not the official slaves who were degraded to low status because of the affairs of Jin Wangfu like Mrs. Jia Yuan. According to "Sheng Lv Hu Marriage", private slaves are like assets, and can be freely bought and sold by the master. , You can also redeem yourself."

Speaking of this, Heng Yu sighed: "But after all, the girls in Yanchun Tower are all worth a lot of money, and the money for redemption is not so easy to save."

But in the past two years, there have been three or four Huaniangs who have redeemed themselves because of the income from the album.

Xiao Mu said: "Self-redemption is always the best policy, this is a long-term plan."

Those so-called redeemed by others, just like the previous experience of the Danrong lady, although they escaped from the brothel, most of them are still lowly, and their life and freedom are in the hands of others.

Most of the men who "rescued them from the prostitution" were unwilling to be "losing money" buyers and went to the government to sell the deeds of prostitution for them together to get rid of their citizenship and return to good. They often chose to hold on to their deeds of prostitution to ensure that They can never escape their control.

At this time, Xiao Mu looked at the girl in front of him and said, "Thank you for being willing to tell me these things."

He seemed to have heard a very long, very dark story, but in the darkness, he glimpsed a ray of skylight shining in.

She is that ray of light.

And all of this is not a story, it is actually happening.

People in the world say that she is playful, flamboyant, doesn't follow the so-called worldly rules, and ruins Mr. Qinghan's reputation, and they don't understand why she has such "good luck" that she is still doted on by her family after going through that experience, and what's more... Her Royal Highness Princess Yongyang indulged in every possible way, all of which seemed unreasonable——

But if you get close to her and get to know her, you won't have these puzzles at all.

He had no doubts that she was worthy of all admiration, and especially of being loved, even respected.

"It's just chatting, what is there to thank?" Heng Yu drank a sip of tea to soothe his throat, thinking that his thank you was a bit funny.

"At least you are willing to talk to me and tell me these little-known things—"

Facing those sincere eyes, Heng Yu coughed lightly, but she didn't have the conscience to see him have such an illusion, and said: "Actually... I told many people."

"..." Xiao Mu was silent for a moment, then nodded slightly, and went to serve the teacup.

Hengyu couldn't help showing a smile: "The tea is cold, let's add some hot one."

Xiao Mu: ... No matter how cold it is, can his heart be as cold as it is?
"Why don't you ask me why I asked you out today?" Heng Yu looked at him and asked, "Aren't you in a hurry?"

Xiao Mu also looked at her: "You are not in a hurry, why should I be in a hurry?"

　It is a chapter of [-] words, good night everyone!
　　(Thank you for your concern, my mother-in-law has recovered, but she swore to stay away from yoga in this life)
　　
　
(End of this chapter)