The whip cracked down again and again, creating a whooshing sound, and Mother Flower's face looked ferocious and terrifying.
Does he still want to escape?
Do you really want to run away?
Without parents, where can they escape to?
Isn't it nice here?
But perhaps there are other relatives, such as brothers and sisters.
Xiao An thought that they must have a very good relationship, which was why they were so desperate to leave this place. They must want to reunite with their families.
Unlike himself, who was the extra person in the family and was sold to exchange for food for his younger brothers.
"What are you looking at? What are you doing here? Trying to slack off?!"
At this moment, Flower's mother noticed him and, still in a bad mood, glared at him and scolded him.
"I've fed and clothed you all, and you all still want to go against me! How did I spend money to buy you all, you ungrateful wretches!"
Xiao An was terrified of being scolded and feared the whip would strike him, so he immediately shrank back and ran away.
As he turned to the side, he noticed the person on the ground struggling to lift their head and glance at him.
Xiao An found it hard to describe the look in his eyes; it was so desperate, as if his entire soul had been whipped away by the whip.
That person had already resolved to die.
He wanted to die.
Xiao An suddenly had this thought, and his heart tightened. He hurriedly ran away.
He was barely able to take care of himself, let alone have the energy to care about the lives of others.
It's so hard for people like them to survive in this world; they can't even get a full meal.
But for some reason, that look remained etched in Xiao An's mind, making him think of it no matter what he did.
At night, he tossed and turned, his eyes filled with that person's gaze whether he closed them or opened them.
Annoyed, Xiao An sat up abruptly and sneaked to the woodshed. Sure enough, the man was still locked inside.
His white clothes were now stained with blood, torn to shreds, and some of the wounds on his back were so deep that the bone was visible.
This shows just how angry Mother Flower was.
Only his face was completely unharmed.
Xiao An hadn't been able to see clearly the previous times, but now she realized just how handsome the man was.
Even the current top courtesan of Zuichunlou, Jin Huan Gongzi, is no match for this man.
No wonder Mama Hua couldn't bear to slap this face, Xiao An thought to herself.
He crouched down, looked at the man who was almost unconscious, gently shook him, and said in a low voice:
"Hey, wake up... are you still alive?"
Before, I just thought the man's face was abnormally red, but as soon as I touched his shoulder, I immediately felt like my palm was burning up.
It's too hot.
This is... a fever.
At such high temperatures, if they keep burning like this, they'll either die or become mentally impaired.
"What should we do..." Xiao An was so anxious that she paced back and forth.
"It's you. Cough cough cough..."
The man suddenly opened his eyes and looked at Xiao An.
"Why...why are you here? Aren't you afraid of being beaten to death by that vicious woman?"
I'm about to die myself, how can I have time to care about others?
Without a second thought, Xiao An retorted, "Aren't you afraid too?"
The man coughed and chuckled, then struggled to sit up, propping himself up on his elbows.
"You're so young, why are you in a place like this?"
"Didn't Mom say that only the youngest children have the chance to be sold here? They won't take older children."
There was a large water vat in the woodshed. Xiao An noticed that his lips were chapped, so he scooped up a handful of water for him to drink.
The man frowned, looking somewhat reluctant.
“My hands aren’t dirty,” Xiao An said. “Hurry up and drink, or the water will all be gone.”
The man then lowered his head and gently drank the little water from Xiao An's palm. "Thank you."
He was seriously injured, and every movement was very difficult for him. Xiao An couldn't bear to see him like that, so she reached out and helped him up.
I received another thank you from the other party.
"You must be a rich young master, right?" Xiao An asked.
The man was clearly stunned for a moment, then shook his head and did not respond.
Xiao An remained firm in her guess: ordinary families couldn't raise such a "deity".
He had been working at Zuichunlou for half a month, and had met many high-ranking officials and nobles with Young Master Jinhuan, but none of them could match the elegance of the man in front of him.
He truly seemed like a deity fallen from heaven. Even a poor kid like Xiao An, wallowing in the mud, felt pity for him and fantasized about "saving the god."
"Do you really want to escape?" he asked.
My heart was pounding so hard because of what I was about to do that it felt like it was going to jump out of my throat.
The man paused for a moment, then said in a hoarse voice, "Yes."
Xiao An gritted her teeth and made up her mind: "I know a place where we might be able to escape, but if we get caught, Mama Hua will definitely skin us alive. Do you want to try?"
The man remained silent for a long time.
The pale moonlight shone through the window paper, gently illuminating his face. The blood-covered man seemed to glow, so beautiful that Xiao An dared not look directly at him.
"Aren't you afraid?" the man asked.
Xiao An was extremely nervous at this moment. Her already not-so-bright mind was even more unable to process what she was seeing, and she subconsciously asked, "Hmm?"
The man said, "You'll be implicated too."
"I'm scared," Xiao An swallowed, speaking honestly, "but don't you want to escape?"
“You are different from me. You must have loving family members waiting for you to go back home. If you stay here, you will die.”
“I…” he grinned, “I’m just a worthless life anyway.”
"If I'm unlucky enough to get caught, I'll just pretend I was never here. I'd starve to death at home anyway."
The immortal stared at him blankly, causing Xiao An to unconsciously lower his head.
He was actually quite timid, and it took a lot of courage for him to push open the door of the woodshed and stand in front of the man.
The longer it dragged on, the more nervous he became, fearing that all his courage would vanish and he would turn and run away. So he urged:
"Stop spacing out! Can you walk? Come with me now! If you hesitate any longer, I'm leaving you behind!"
It was almost dawn, and Mama Hua and the others were resting. It was the perfect time to escape, and Xiao An couldn't resist pulling the man away.
The man hesitated for a moment, then stood up.
But because he was so badly injured, he couldn't stand steadily and his body was wobbly, looking like he might fall at any moment.
Xiao An anxiously supported him, saying, "Hang in there, let's go quickly. Once we leave here, you can rest properly and find a doctor to treat your illness..."
The place Xiao An mentioned that might be a place to escape was a dog hole, which he had discovered by chance a couple of days ago.
Young Master Jin Huan has a mischievous little raccoon cat that is always nowhere to be found, requiring them to search for it.
Xiao An discovered the dog hole that day while looking for the cat.
He had almost forgotten about it, but seeing the "fairy brother" reminded him.
“This is it,” he said to the fairy brother, pointing to the cave.
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