After finishing work, the two went back to the Wei family home together.

Sun Miao'er wanted to take this opportunity to find out about the Jin family, so she asked indirectly, "Yunniang, I heard that Eighth Aunt was bought by the Old Master?"

Yunniang scoffed lightly, reciting with a self-deprecating tone, "Which of these concubines wasn't bought by him?"

She then added, “Although the old man was a bit lecherous, he wasn’t a bad person at heart. He bought us into the family because he saw that we were all pitiful. If it weren’t for the money he paid back then, my sister would probably have died long ago because she couldn’t afford medical treatment.”

It's easy to see that Old Master Wei has a keen eye for people. He not only acted like a good person, which made these concubines grateful to him, but it also brought him many advantages in business.

"The eighth concubine had a hard life. She came from a poor family and suffered a lot in the past." Yunniang's face showed a hint of sympathy when she talked about the eighth concubine.

It's pitiful, of course. If nothing unexpected happens, that crazy woman in the workshop today probably didn't go crazy for no reason.

How many women could withstand being forced into prostitution?

Sun Miao'er planned to tell Yunniang the truth openly and honestly, "To be honest, the daughter of the Jin family is my second uncle's wife."

"The Jin family? Your aunt?" Yunniang looked surprised and genuinely astonished.

Sun Miao'er nodded, "Yes, but I've heard that my second aunt's family doesn't have a good reputation."

"That's more than just bad; in Dahuai Village, they're like rats crossing the street, hated by everyone." Mentioning the Jin family, even the usually kind Yunniang's eyes flashed with anger. "Which family with a daughter hasn't been targeted by the Jin family? Does he think just any family can do such a despicable thing as selling their children?"

The hidden story is certainly more complex than what I know.

“Yunniang, take me to see Eighth Aunt. My mother disappeared many years ago, and I always felt that the Jin family was involved in this matter.”

She was determined to get to the bottom of this.

This was her second visit to Old Master Wei's inner courtyard, and the gains from this trip to Dahuai Village far exceeded her expectations.

"Lao Ba was the last to enter the family and was the least favored by the old man's sons. In addition, she was unable to give birth to any children, so she lived in the easternmost room, which used to be for the servants."

Yunniang led the way for Sun Miao'er, saying, "But the old man dotes on her the most and always favors her. She's young and doesn't know how to behave properly, so we don't like to argue with her."

As soon as I stepped onto the veranda outside, I heard the faint sound of a zither drifting out from the hall.

Her piano skills weren't particularly refined; even a layman like Sun Miao'er could tell that the tone was off.

Looking through the window, one can see a woman sitting gracefully behind a beaded curtain, playing the zither.

"Fifth Aunt has arrived."

The maid outside saw Yunniang, turned around and went in to inform her.

The music stopped abruptly. The woman behind the beaded curtain straightened up, lifted a corner of the curtain, peeked out, and said coquettishly, "What wind blew our Fifth Mistress here today?"

Yunniang said, "Come in with me."

Upon entering the house, a strong aroma of incense wafted towards us.

It's very rich, and has a hint of sweetness.

Sun Miao'er couldn't appreciate this scent. She was used to the light herbal smell on Fu Yuchi, and the sudden warm fragrance made her feel dizzy.

Eighth Aunt poured herself a cup of tea and glanced at Sun Miao'er behind her. "Fifth Madam is really something. Even the secluded chambers can't hold you back. You have a skill that's truly enviable."

Yunniang replied with a smile, "I'm not here to banter with you, sister. Miss Sun wants to see you."

Eighth Aunt raised an eyebrow. "Oh? What do you want to see me for? I don't have any skills I can teach anyone."

Sun Miao'er said, "I want to inquire about the Jin family."

The eighth concubine's teacup trembled, spilling half a cup of water. She said unhappily, "Why is such a nice girl asking about his family?"

“The Jin family’s daughter is my second aunt. Several years ago, my mother was so angered by the Jin family that she lost her mind and then disappeared without a trace. I always felt that I couldn’t escape their influence.” Sun Miao’er expressed her doubts and listened to how her eighth aunt would respond.

The eighth concubine sneered, "I can tell you're from an honest family. Why did your second uncle have to marry his daughter of all people?"

"We've fallen into their trap, sigh..." Sun Miao'er sighed. If she had known that Jin would bring such a mess to the Sun family when she entered the family, she would never have agreed to it.

We were still one step behind.

Eighth Aunt's eyes flashed with hatred as she gritted her teeth and said, "Those two from the Jin family, calling them beasts would be an understatement!"

"They specialize in swindling and deceiving respectable women into prostitution, or they trick prostitutes into believing they have a way to leave prostitution, and then they make money from both sides, making a very shrewd scheme."

No wonder he has so many girls on his hands; he must be quite experienced in this business.

Sun Miao'er listened silently as her eighth aunt recounted the past, her heart filled with both hatred and anger.

"Besides, I only sold my body, not my skills. If my family hadn't been so poor back then, they would never have sent me to do these kinds of work." Aunt Ba began to lament her situation. "But there are so many girls in brothels, with customers coming and going all day long. How many of them are truly sincere?"

"Leaving aside those who sell themselves, most of us who make a living by performing arts are thinking about finding a decent person to marry when we get older, and living a stable life."

"It's true that they show their faces in public, but at least they are clean."

Sun Miao'er finally spoke, "Back then, you wanted to leave your profession, so you found someone surnamed Jin?"

"Yes, several of the women in the building found good husbands through him. He didn't care about their backgrounds and married them properly. Who wouldn't be tempted?"

“At that time I was not young anymore, and none of my clients treated me sincerely, so I took out my savings that I had accumulated over the years, hoping that the man surnamed Jin would find me a good family.”

Not all of them, but most of them were pitiful people. If they couldn't find a good man, their fate would be miserable as they got older.

Sun Miao'er didn't even need to hear the whole story to know that the Jin family had definitely swindled her out of all her savings.

At the height of her hatred, the Eighth Concubine's hand, gripping the teacup, trembled violently, and she broke down in tears, crying out, "He swindled all my money! He swindled it all!"

Without savings and without connections, it's incredibly difficult to get by in a brothel. With newcomers constantly emerging, older women like them are even less welcome.

"Not long after, I was handed over to the Jin family by the madam. He took me to the village, found a house and locked me up. Every day he brought different people to see me."

“But few of those people are interested in me, or they like me but think my price is too high.”

“I stayed in that dark, sunless room for three whole years! That bastard surnamed Jin, because he couldn’t sell me, would beat and scold me all the time!”

The eighth concubine wailed, her words broken and fragmented, "In the end, the old master took pity on me and took me back to the Wei family."