He slowly told the man what had happened, and the man listened quietly.

Even after Xiao An had finished speaking for a long time, the other party didn't say anything more, nor did they make any further moves.

Xiao An quietly raised her eyes and found that the man's face was covered with tears.

He thought the young master was wrong; how could this person be the young master's enemy?

Shouldn't an enemy be overjoyed to hear that their enemy is in trouble? Why would they be so sad?

"Anything else?"

After a long while, the man finally spoke.

"Tell me about those things again. From the day you entered Zuichunlou, tell me everything you know."

“That would take a long time to explain,” Xiao An said.

"It's alright, you can speak slowly. If you satisfy me, I'll let you continue working for him."

Xiao An's eyes lit up: "Really?"

Song Ting nodded: "Mm."

"Okay." Xiao An suddenly felt that this person wasn't so scary after all. As long as he could follow the young master, he was a good person.

He then slowly recalled the bits and pieces of the past five years: "I was sold to Mama Hua by my parents..."

Xiao An's family was poor. Besides him, he had three younger brothers, the oldest of whom was only six years old.

That year there was a famine, and the harvest was particularly bad, making life especially difficult for their family.

The parents found it difficult to support all of them at the same time, so they sold their eldest son, Xiao An, to a brothel for ten taels of silver.

He was of average appearance and a bit too old, so he could only be used as a servant.

But ten taels of silver was a huge sum of money for their family.

Madam Hua thought he was stupid and told him to follow Tongqian to learn manners so that he could serve the young masters in the building.

"Don't underestimate us just because we do such low-class things. We have different levels of social standing here, and the people here are very good at judging people based on their status."

"You'd better start praying to Buddha now so that you can be with a master who has a good temper and a great reputation in the future."

The two walked slowly. Copper Coin explained the rules of the building to him in great detail, introduced him to the people inside, and told him which ones he should stay away from and which ones he should never offend...

Xiao An held a large, white, and soft steamed bun in her hand, silently keeping the copper coin's words in mind.

Just then, the door to a room on the second floor was suddenly kicked open, and a man stumbled down the stairs.

The man bumped into Xiao An, knocking the steamed bun in his hand far away.

"My steamed bun!" Xiao An chased after him, hurriedly picking up the steamed bun.

The steamed bun was covered in dust. Xiao An's eyes reddened with heartache as she glared at the man, "You..."

"Go ahead and run! Run again!" The heavy stick slammed down on the man, making a whooshing sound. "Let's see how you run now!"

Even just watching, Xiao An could imagine how painful it would be for the stick to fall on him. He immediately fell silent, staring blankly.

"I told you to run! Today I'll break your legs and see how you run then!"

The man gritted his teeth and remained silent, only managing a few muffled groans as the stick fell.

Xiao An couldn't bear to watch and asked the copper coin beside him, "Why did you hit him?"

The copper coin, having witnessed such scenes before, sighed helplessly:

“That’s someone who was just sold into the building today. Mother wanted to discipline him, but he refused and only thought about escaping. So Mother got angry and sent someone to teach him a lesson.”

"Why did you run away?" Xiao An didn't understand at that time.

He thought this place was so wonderful, with big, soft white steamed buns, new clothes, and if he was lucky, he could even get a reward. There was simply no better place than this.

“You’re still young, you don’t understand these things.” Copper Coin sighed again.

He placed his palm on Xiao An's head and told him, "Being born into a place like this is not a lucky thing for someone who is too beautiful."

As the two were talking, the punishment over there had ended, and the person who tried to escape was beaten to the point of near death.

His white undershirt was covered in mottled bloodstains, and in some places the skin and clothes were stuck together, making it look like a bloody mess.

Xiao An couldn't bear to watch any longer and followed Tongqian to the back courtyard.

That evening, after Xiao An finished washing the young masters' clothes with several servants, he heard a few coughs coming from the woodshed as he passed by.

According to the copper coin, those who disobey will be locked in the woodshed by Mother Flower and deprived of food for days and nights.

For some reason, the image of that person from earlier that day suddenly popped into Xiao An's mind.

He was a little curious, so he quietly leaned against the window, wanting to catch a glimpse of the person locked inside.

A blurry figure was reflected in the paper window. The person was leaning against the corner of the wall, covering their mouth and coughing uncontrollably, blood seeping through their fingers.

It really is the same person from during the day.

"Hey, why don't you want to stay here?" Xiao An asked in a low voice.

The man looked up when he heard the noise, but before he could speak, he started coughing again.

It took him a long time to recover. He slowly nodded to Xiao An and said, "I'm sorry for bumping into you during the day."

Xiao An had never met anyone like this before; he was unlike anyone he had ever met.

He opened his mouth, unsure how to respond.

After thinking for a moment, he asked again, "Were you also sold here by your parents?"

“No,” the man said, “I have no parents.”

"So how did you get here?"

"I was unlucky. Someone put a sack over my head while I was walking down the street, and when I opened my eyes again, I was here."

Xiao An: "..."

That was really bad luck; even ten taels of silver were taken by someone else.

"Hurry up and leave. If someone sees you talking to me, you might get locked up together."

Upon hearing this, Xiao An ran away in a flash.

The two met again about half a month later. By then, Xiao An was already serving Jin Huan, the young master in the building.

Jin Huan is the apple of Madam Hua's eye and the top courtesan at Zui Chun Lou. She has a terrible temper and often beats and scolds her subordinates.

That day, Xiao An was severely beaten by Jin Huan for putting the wrong hairpin on her head.

Xiao An felt wronged and squatted in the yard crying.

A short while later, a loud commotion came from behind. When Xiao An turned around, she saw Hua Mama dragging someone, followed by five or six thugs.

"Trying to run away? I've been in this business for twenty years and I've never seen anyone like you."

"Once you've fallen into my Drunken Spring Pavilion, don't even think about leaving cleanly."

"Even if you die, you must die in the Drunken Spring Pavilion and become a ghost of the Drunken Spring Pavilion!"

Mama Hua raised the long whip in her hand and lashed it hard down on the man's back!

Xiao An's heart tightened; he recognized the person—it was him!

"You're asking for it! I'll beat you to death today!"

"At your age, you're too old to even be a servant."

"But I'm giving you a chance because of your face. Be a person of high status, not someone in the dust."

"You're just trying to make me miserable! What kind of tough nut haven't I cracked? You think I can't handle someone like you?"