At this moment, Yi Junhao suddenly sighed, his gaze becoming extremely distant. For some reason, he suddenly thought of his first wet nurse when he was a child.
His first wet nurse was a gentle, beautiful young woman who took meticulous care of him and regarded him as her own daughter.
But while he was still young and just learning to speak, his wet nurse was accused of using extremely evil witchcraft against Yi Junhao's mother in the palace of Nan'an Kingdom.
The wet nurse claimed innocence, but the soldiers found irrefutable evidence in her room.
She also believed that someone had deliberately framed her and wanted the King of Nan'an to find out the truth and clear her name. While she was hesitating, Yi Junhao's mother came out and took the initiative to plead with the King for mercy, so the wet nurse was not sentenced to death, but was instead ordered by her father to be permanently banished from the territory of Nan'an and never be allowed to return to the country.
And from then on, there was truly no further news...
Just as Yi Junhao was lost in deep thought, Lanxiang suddenly seemed to remember something with a hint of suspicion. "Actually, thinking about it carefully, our madam is really quite amazing. She seems to know medicine as well?"
Upon hearing this, Yi Junhao quickly came to his senses and asked, "Oh, what do you mean?"
Lanxiang recalled for a moment and said mysteriously, "Lanxiang often saw the madam write out her own prescriptions and decoct the medicine herself, as if she was extremely familiar with the medicine."
Yi Junhao asked curiously, "Oh? She can prescribe medicine, and she does it often? Does she take it herself? She's already so strong and robust, does she still need to take medicine so often?"
Lanxiang immediately covered her nose and chuckled softly, saying, "No, at first Lanxiang also thought it was some tonics the madam prescribed for herself. But, one time Lanxiang accidentally saw it, and it turns out these medicines were all for..."
Lanxiang suddenly stopped speaking, as if she realized that she had said something she shouldn't have.
Then, changing her mind, she continued, "Oh dear, look at Lanxiang's loose tongue. These are all matters of the bedroom between the girls in our Wanjiao Pavilion. Young master, you don't need to know the details."
As soon as Lanxiang finished speaking, she lowered her head, looking regretful. She thought to herself, "That was close; I almost let it slip."
Upon hearing this, Yi Junhao naturally lost all interest in prying into the bedroom affairs of these women of the night, and he didn't think about it any further, except that he was even more certain of his earlier guess.
It seems he'll have to find some time to properly meet this mysterious madam of Wanjiao Pavilion, who forces women into prostitution all day long, is kind-hearted and plump yet deeply secretive and seemingly far from simple. How exactly did she rise from a top-tier poison master in Nan'an Kingdom to become the madam of the most famous brothel in Xiqin Kingdom?
Then, he suddenly thought of Yi Shangyun again. He turned to look at the sky outside the window; perhaps she was already resting in Ruyi Residence, waiting for him.
So he quickly came to his senses and said to Lanxiang, "Alright, it's getting late, I'll go back and rest now. If there's anything I need to ask you in the future, I hope you won't hesitate to teach me."
However, Lanxiang hurriedly declined, saying, "Young master, Lanxiang has really told you everything she knows, and there is nothing else." She didn't want to be entangled with anyone.
However, Yi Junhao didn't think so. He just gave her a strange smile, then turned and walked out without looking back...
"Knock knock knock," just as Yi Junhao stepped out, another soft knock came at the door.
Upon hearing the sound, Lanxiang quickly walked out of the inner room toward the door, looking extremely annoyed.
With a creak, the door opened slightly, and Lanxiang's impatient voice rang out, "What's wrong with you? Didn't I already tell you everything I know? Why are you still sticking to me like a leech? If you keep haunting me, I'm really going to go find the madam to deal with you. This is Wanjiao Pavilion, after all. Dealing with unreasonable customers like you is..."
"Yan Hong, it's you?" Lan Xiang opened the door and looked up to find that the person knocking was not Yi Junhao, who had just left, but a new girl who had joined Wan Jiao Pavilion—Yan Hong.
Lanxiang was taken aback. After a moment's hesitation, she reached out and quickly pulled her inside. "Come in quickly, what brings you here?" After gently closing the door, she turned around and noticed that Yan Hong's eyes were red and swollen, as if she had just been crying.
After a moment's thought, Lanxiang pulled Yanhong to sit down at the table, poured her a cup of hot tea, and asked with concern, "Did you just cry again? Did the madam give you a hard time again?"
Yan Hong gently reached out and accepted the hot tea. Upon hearing Lan Xiang's words of comfort, she immediately began to sniffle, sounding quite aggrieved. "Sister Xiang'er, I really can't take this constant fear and anxiety anymore. Just now, you left with that veiled guest, and the madam immediately gave me another masked guest who came with him. I definitely won't be able to endure this long life ahead. Perhaps… I should just die, while my body is still clean. Waaah… waaah… waaah…"
As soon as she finished speaking, she began to cry even louder and more heartbrokenly.
"Shh!" Upon seeing this, Lanxiang immediately raised a slender finger and pressed it to her red lips, signaling her to speak softly.
Yan Hong immediately lowered her sobs. Lan Xiang looked at her pitiful appearance with tears streaming down her face and sighed deeply, her heart filled with boundless sorrow and helplessness.
The two remained silent for a long while. When Yan Hong had calmed down a bit, Lan Xiang glanced at her indifferently and said earnestly, "Since you're not even afraid of death, what's there to be afraid of in life? The easiest thing in this world is death. But can death really solve everything? Are you willing to be born into this world just to wait for this day of cowardly, incompetent, and meaningless death? I remember you once told me that you couldn't die so easily until you avenged your great enemy. Where has the Yan Hong who dared to love and hate, who was brave and strong, gone? Have you forgotten all of that? I even considered you my only friend in this filthy Wanjiao Pavilion. I was so wrong about you!"
Upon hearing this, Yan Hong immediately stopped sobbing and wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes with the back of her hand. "How could Yan Hong possibly forget such a deep-seated hatred in this lifetime? But, Sister Xiang'er, now that Yan Hong has fallen to such a state, what can I do?"
Lanxiang glared at her, seemingly disappointed in her. "As the saying goes, 'A gentleman takes revenge even after ten years.' If you truly want to avenge your mother and are willing to endure hardship for it, heaven will not fail you. I believe that day will come eventually. And I will do my best to help you."
Upon hearing this, Yan Hong excitedly reached out and hugged Lan Xiang's hands tightly, holding them close. Tears welled in her eyes as she said, "Sister Xiang'er, meeting you in this life is truly a blessing from past lives. If it weren't for you, Sister Xiang'er, I'm afraid I would have been defiled by those men and lost my virginity long ago..."
Recalling all the heartbreaking past events, and how Lanxiang always stepped in to protect her in times of danger, Yan Hong couldn't help but burst into tears once again.
Lanxiang herself didn't seem quite sure why she felt such an instant connection with Yanhong, and why she was so fond of her. She only felt that, as if by some unseen force, they were sisters with an incredibly deep bond in a past life. Their meeting in this life was a continuation of that predestined relationship.
So, when Yan Hong entered Wan Jiao Ge and was first assigned to be a hairdresser, Lan Xiang tried her best to help her get the job.
Lanxiang will never forget the request the guest made that night.
It turned out that the wealthy and powerful guest was such a perverted person, with extremely special service requests. After a whole night, Lanxiang was exhausted and covered in bruises, unable to even get out of bed, and her life was only half left.
Just when Lanxiang felt as if she had walked through the gates of hell, thinking that Yanhong would never know all this in her lifetime.
In fact, Yan Hong could see everything that was happening in the next room clearly and distinctly through the eyes of the blue fox in the blue fox butterfly painting in the next room.
At that moment, she was so frightened in the next room that she bit her own hand until it bled, but she didn't care.
From that moment on, Yan Hong secretly vowed that she would protect her older sister with her own life.
Seeing Yan Hong cry sadly again, Lan Xiang inadvertently lowered her eyes and suddenly glanced at Yan Hong's fair, delicate, and smooth hands, which seemed to have never been touched by spring water.
After a slight hesitation, he asked, "By the way, Yan Hong, what exactly is the deep-seated hatred you have for your mother? I haven't had time to ask you yet. Also, judging from your appearance and demeanor, you seem like a young lady from a wealthy family. How did you, a pampered young lady, end up as a prostitute?"
After listening for a while, Yan Hong sniffed and said to her in a low voice, "Sister Xiang'er, to tell you the truth, my grandfather was a great philanthropist in the south of the city. He accumulated good deeds and did good for his neighbors throughout his life, but he only had one daughter, my mother. In order to continue the family line, my grandfather decided to find a husband for my mother when she turned fifteen. Who would have thought that this would lead to his death?"
At this point, Yan Hong paused, seemingly haunted by some painful memories, yet even now, the mere mention of them filled her with fear and dread. Lan Xiang asked anxiously, "What exactly happened?"
But Yan Hong seemed rooted to the spot, lost in thought. Lan Xiang nudged her several times before she snapped out of it, looked at Lan Xiang, and bit her lip. "That person was a liar all along..."
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