Even though He Fangfei tried not to listen, the sounds of talking and laughter in the room continued unabated.
Despite it being summer, he felt a bone-chilling cold.
Zuo Qiuran had been drinking and went outside for some fresh air. He turned a corner and saw He Fangfei huddled up in a ball.
Her steps paused only slightly before she resumed as usual.
He Fangfei could only sense a purple cloud drifting past his eyes.
"Wait!" he said hastily.
But Zuoqiu Ran seemed not to hear him and did not stop for him at all.
"Please wait a moment, Master Zuo..."
The purple figure then turned around.
He Fangfei nervously twisted her fingers around her sleeves. "My lord... are you out to sober up?" she asked cautiously, her voice filled with trepidation.
He Fangfei hated her current state. In the past, she could remain calm and composed in front of even the highest-ranking officials, but why did she become so absent-minded when she met Zuo Qiuran?
"What is it?" The question was as cold as that of a stranger.
He Fangfei's heart gradually grew cold.
"My lord... I congratulate you on your promotion! How have you been lately?" He still managed a forced smile.
"What's it to you?"
What does it have to do with me? Of course it does… He Fangfei suppressed her fake smile, and tears gradually welled up in her eyes.
"I miss you dearly, sir. Even though I can't see you, I still pray for you every day. Not only that, I've asked Xunxun to do the same..."
"No need," Zuo Qiuran said politely yet distantly. "My husband will take care of these things."
He Fangfei couldn't speak anymore; her lips instantly turned pale, swaying violently like a slender tree in a storm.
Zuo Qiuran glanced at him coldly, then turned and left.
He Fangfei, with a sudden burst of courage and strength, lunged forward and grabbed Zuo Qiuran's leg.
"The adults treat me coldly and beat me at will, and I endure it all; this is the adults' kindness! But don't the adults have any pity for their own flesh and blood? Xunxun is five years old and has never seen her own mother! She always asks why she doesn't have a mother! No matter how busy the adults are, they should at least look at their own flesh and blood!"
Zuo Qiuran was furious.
This was a secret all along. When she found out she was pregnant, she assumed it was her husband's child and didn't think of anything else. After all, brothels have absolute control over the people inside and would never allow an accident to happen. She just didn't expect He Fangfei, as the brothel's star performer, to be so bold.
Later, when she discovered the birth dates didn't match, she was already late in her pregnancy and had no choice but to give birth. The imperial tutor then began to pressure her. If she had been more assertive, keeping the child wouldn't have been a problem, but at that time she was the emperor's favorite and couldn't afford to make a mistake, especially since she needed the tutor's support. She had no choice but to promise that whatever she gave birth to, she would consider it dead.
Zuo Qiuran never expected that He Fangfei would dare to say this to her in public!
She kicked He Fangfei hard in the chest, and He Fangfei screamed and fell to the ground sideways.
"He Fangfei, don't think I won't do anything to you!" She stepped forward and kicked you again. "I've already been merciful enough to spare your life! If you dare to utter another word of nonsense, you and that little brat will be reincarnated together!"
He Fangfei was in pain, both physically and emotionally. Even though she tried her best to hold back, her tears still flowed like a broken string of pearls.
This is not his Qiu Ran.
His Qiu Ran would write poetry, paint, and call his name gently, instead of wanting to kill him like this.
That night, He Fangfei vomited blood.
Xiao He was terrified. The cleaning staff at the brothel heard her heart-wrenching cries and came in to check on her. They quickly called a doctor.
Every doctor said it wasn't serious, but after taking all sorts of medicine, I didn't get better, and I vomited more and more blood.
"Xunxun, bring me the things from Father's box." In just one month, He Fangfei had become so thin that she was no longer recognizable as a human.
He Xun wiped away her tears and ran to get the things.
It was a handkerchief with two lines of poetry written on it and a few flowers drawn on it:
"The beauty of the seaside is preserved. With a stroke of the pen, it soars into the blue sky."
"A gift from Qiu Ran."
His tears soaked his handkerchief, and he spat out several mouthfuls of blood, staining his clothes.
He Xun became an orphan just days before her father promised to send her to school when she was about to turn six.
People in brothels don't have funerals. They just wrap the dead in straw mats and throw them out.
Without her father's protection, how could a little girl like He Xun survive? The brothel provided her with a place to stay, but it only gave her a place to sleep, preventing her from sleeping on the streets.
When He Xun was twelve years old, the manager of the brothel found her. At that time, He Xun was graceful and beautiful. She inherited her father's good looks and was like a flower bud about to bloom.
"You want me to serve people?" Her eyes widened in disbelief.
Having grown up in a brothel, she knew all too well what was going on!
"I'm feeding you and giving you drinks, I can't be doing this at a loss, can I?" The manager said arrogantly, looking her up and down as if she were a piece of merchandise waiting to be sold.
"But I don't want to..." she said, frightened.
"Don't want to? You have no choice!" The manager gave a wink, and several strong women behind him pounced on him and captured He Xun.
He Xun knew it was because she was good-looking; she had heard others praise her more than once. So she decided to go all out, struggled to pull out one hand, took out the short knife hidden in her sleeve, and with a few quick slashes, disfigured herself.
Everyone was shocked to see He Xun's face covered in blood.
But the blood did not drown out their sparkling eyes.
Having completely broken ties with the brothel, He Xun could no longer stay there.
The brothel emptied her savings from all those years and the money He Fangfei had left her.
Penniless, she wandered alone.
Later, everyone in the surrounding area knew about that ugly woman with a face full of scars.
Because of her scars, she frightened several children who passed by and made them cry. Because of her scars, she was forced to do the lowest-paying jobs.
She asked for nothing more than to fill her stomach.
One day, she was carrying a bucket of swill when she was knocked aside by a tall white horse galloping through the market. Luckily, she dodged in time and was not seriously injured, but unfortunately her clothes were soiled by the swill.
"Miss Zuo Xiao from the Zuo family is truly impressive!"
"No wonder she's a girl raised in a wealthy family!"
She looked up, but couldn't even see the ponytail anymore.
Later, He Xun went through a lot in order to make a living.
In a Yao woman's shrine, she looked up at the Yao woman, who was draped in colorful silk and whose eyes were free of worldly dust.
"Your Majesty, please accept my bow."
She didn't want any blessings from heaven; all of that was wishful thinking. She was nothing but mud beneath her feet.
But Heaven took pity on us.
While gathering herbs, she fell into a valley.
"This book is only given to those with a predestined affinity. By cultivating this method, one can attain enlightenment...and ascend to immortality?"
From then on, there was no more He Xun in the world, only He Banjian.
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