Chapter 153: The slaves saw it clearly, all of them were hidden injuries, unless they were completely naked
Hearing this, Su Ying gently pulled Rong's sleeve. Somehow, she always had a feeling that Honghua's experience was quite similar to Lin's.
They were both from Yongjia County and were once good citizens. Lin's misfortune happened in Hangzhou, and Honghua was also sold to Hangzhou.
I remembered what the nun said when they left: "Everything has its own destiny."
Su Ying's heart tightened.
Rong turned her head and glanced at Su Ying, but her face remained expressionless, as if she didn't want to know more about Honghua's past.
She simply asked Xiuyu to help Honghua up again, and said in a slightly cold tone, "No woman in this world would voluntarily go to a place like that to suffer. That's why I just said you don't have to tell me where you came from."
"As you can see, we're not a powerful family. We can't protect you, and we can't. You can rest here for the night. I'll have someone prepare a few more sets of clothes and shoes. Tomorrow, before the students arrive, you can leave the academy."
After saying that, Rong left Xiu Yu to continue taking care of the child, and then left the guest room with her niece.
Honghua, supported by Xiuyu, sobbed silently. Seeing them walk away, she couldn't help but raise one hand, as if to hold them back, but then let it drop as if deflated.
Xiu Yu looked down at her, seeming to want to say something but hesitated, and couldn't help but sigh secretly.
She had heard everything Honghua had just said. Coincidentally, she, too, had lost her parents at a young age, and had been sold off by her brother to pay off a debt. She had been sold into the mansion as a maid, while Honghua had been sent to that dark and gloomy place of prostitution.
This girl must have suffered a lot, and now that she has finally met such trustworthy people, she can't help but want to confide in them. Unfortunately, the lady didn't want to ask further questions.
"Girl, I was in a hurry just now, so I only changed your outer clothes hastily. Now that you're awake, I'll take you to the bathroom. You'll feel warmer if you wash yourself."
Honghua finally stopped crying after hearing Xiuyu's gentle persuasion, but her voice was still slightly choked. After asking Xiuyu's name, she timidly said, "Miss Xiuyu, could you please accompany me?"
Xiuyu looked at Honghua in confusion. The Second Wife and her cousin had never let her bathe with them before.
Unexpectedly, with such a close glance, she suddenly realized that Honghua's eyes were extremely beautiful. She had never been to school, but she had learned a lot from following the Second Madam for a long time. Xiuyu couldn't find a more accurate word to describe Honghua's eyes except "beautiful."
She remembered that when she was a child, she followed her parents to the market to sell vegetables. They happened to see someone setting up a stage for opera performance. The actor on the stage who was singing the song had a pair of such lively eyes. When he looked around, his eyes moved, as if they contained thousands of words.
So, her heart softened and she agreed.
"Miss Red Flower, the water is ready, you can come in."
"Thank you, Miss Xiuyu."
I don’t know if it was the mist of the hot water or Honghua’s naturally melodious voice, but this thank you seemed to carry a lingering sound in my ears.
"Miss Xiuyu, I have a few injuries on my body. Could you please help me into the bathtub?"
At this time, Honghua had taken off her clothes and was only wearing a vest. She turned around as if she was a little shy.
Xiu Yu felt a little embarrassed as well. She walked forward through the heat and was about to lend a hand to support her, but Hong Hua screamed "Ah!" as if she felt pain from somewhere, causing her to stop.
Xiu Yu was startled and took a closer look, only to discover that there were many scars on her abdomen and calves.
The purple bruises, faintly visible in the mist, were shocking to the eye.
“You are…”
Xiu Yu said in surprise.
Honghua whispered apologetically, "Did I scare you?"
…
"I saw it clearly. They are all hidden injuries. Unless you take off all your clothes, you can't find them at all."
After Xiuyu sent Honghua back to the guest room after taking a bath, he thought about it and felt that he must tell his wife about Honghua's injury.
"Madam, that Red Flower girl is so pitiful. She said that these injuries were caused by fighting while learning to sing. She said that any girl who was chosen to go to the big city of Hangzhou must first go to the old woman to learn how to use water sleeves and sing songs. This time, she took advantage of the girl's escape and ran after her, and then she ran away!"
Coincidentally, Su Ying has been with her aunt all the time. Seeing that her aunt was indifferent to Honghua, although she had some inexplicable premonition, she still followed what her aunt said. After all, there was not much they could do.
But after hearing what Xiu Yu said, Su Ying felt that she had to speak up.
"Aunt, don't you think Honghua looks too much like Lin?" She was afraid she was being too general, so she added, "Honghua is from Yongjia and went to Hangzhou."
Rong, of course, understood her niece's meaning, and she, too, had become suspicious. Liu Xianling had said that Wei Liang was too dangerous, that he had no concrete evidence, and that it was inappropriate for him to personally go to Leqing to investigate. Thus, the investigation reached a deadlock.
Regarding Wei Liang, of course there was nothing they could do for Liu Xianling, but they didn't say they couldn't investigate the Lin family?
Since Honghua and Lin have so many similarities, Rong thought about it and finally agreed to her niece's request and asked Xiuyu to invite Honghua again.
But just as Xiuyu passed by Su Ying, a faint scent of grass leaves entered her nose. Su Ying was suddenly startled and raised her hand to stop her.
"What did you touch just now? Why do you smell like a fragrance?"
Xiu Yu was startled by her expression and was a little at a loss. He lifted his sleeve and sniffed carefully. Then he said "Oh" and suddenly realized, "Didn't I just accompany Miss Honghua to take a bath? I took away her blouse, and that's the smell from her blouse."
Hearing this, Su Ying was suddenly shocked.
At this moment, she was almost certain that the red flower must be the key.
But there are still many things she doesn't understand.
If Wei Liang was indeed the same Lin Minghui, then why did he have neither a mole nor a scar on his forehead? Over the past decade or so, how had he and the Lin family gone from being victims of the brothel to being perpetrators linked to the brothel's inmates?
But the only thing that is certain is that Xiaocao must be in the place where she teaches songs and learns dances.
No wonder my aunt sent people to find out Xiaocao’s whereabouts from Renya, but couldn’t. It turned out that she had already been sold to such a secret place by Wei Liang!
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