Chapter 200 A Twist of Fate
Mu Jianjian tightened her grip on Yun Rong's hand. She knew that her beautiful sister was in a hurry to pull her away because she didn't want to argue with her, but she was still furious when she heard the words "lowly concubine".
She couldn't help but turn and look directly at the woman in the floral dress, ignoring the pity and sympathy in the woman's eyes, and said, word by word, "No one can choose their birth, but everyone can choose how they live."
"Yuanyuan!" Yunrong called softly, not expecting the girl to speak like that.
The woman frowned unhappily as she watched the woman hurriedly pull the heavily made-up girl away.
——
Mu Jianjian was quickly pulled to the backyard pavilion by Yun Rong, and then he dragged her to the bed to clean her wounds.
"Sister's technique is so skillful." Mu Jianjian blinked and smiled gently at her beautiful sister.
"I'm used to it." Yun Rong's eyes were cold as she uttered these words, which immediately made the girl feel guilty.
"I didn't mean to—" she quickly explained.
“I know,” Yunrong smiled, “but I grew up in the Red Mansion. My mother was a famous actress in the Red Mansion at the time. She became seriously ill while giving birth to me and passed away a few years later. What that person said is true.”
Mu Jianjian felt the woman's cold fingers wiping her wounds, and listened to the woman's calm tone as if she could no longer feel the pain in her forehead.
It was her heart that was aching.
"In order to survive in the Red Mansion, one can only keep learning art and painting to win the favor of others. Naturally, one cannot care about how many scars one has, and one can only suffer in one's heart."
The woman's voice was understated, yet it seemed to have narrated half of his life.
Mu Jianjian bit her lip, unsure how to comfort her. The beautiful sister had been trapped in the Red Chamber for half her life, but for the other women in the Red Chamber, this seemed to be the "optimal solution" and the best ending.
“Beautiful sister, shall I take you to see the outside world someday?” She suddenly gripped Yun Rong’s hand tightly. “Don’t listen to what she says. Someone as good as you deserves all the good things in the world.”
"Really?" Yun Rong asked softly, his originally clear voice suddenly becoming unusually deep. His upturned eyes fell on the girl's sincere face, as if trying to see through her.
Do all the beautiful things in the world deserve this...?
"Really," Mu Jianjian nodded vigorously, trying to boost her sister's confidence, and patted her chest to vouch for it, "We'll go see the vastness of the world together."
It was late at night, and the moonlight was hazy and deep, shining through the wooden window onto the girl's bright eyes, like twinkling stars.
"Moreover!" Mu Jianjian recited a high school text, her voice firm and resonant, "Therefore, when Heaven is about to place a great responsibility on a person, it will first test their will, strain their muscles and bones, and starve their body... Believe me, once winter is over, a vibrant spring will surely arrive!"
“But it’s the height of summer now.” Yun Rong gradually calmed down amidst the girl’s incessant chatter.
He chuckled, bandaged the girl's wounds, told her to rest well, and then left. When he stepped into the courtyard, his broad figure was fully revealed in the quiet and secluded courtyard.
The girl's babbling words were still echoing in his mind.
After he could remember, Yunrong always hated his mother for giving birth to him, a boy, in the Red Mansion. He felt it would have been better if he had died from the beginning, ending it all, rather than suffering all the humiliations he had endured in his childhood.
But when he saw this girl, he had this absurd thought that fate had always favored him despite his previous aversion to him.
She met him by chance, but it was at this time.
——
While Mu Jianjian was recovering from her injuries, she was constantly worried that Baili Yicheng would come to the Red Mansion to cause trouble. However, three days passed and the scar on her forehead gradually disappeared, and the other party did not set foot in the Red Mansion again.
Based on her understanding of Baili Yicheng, she guessed that he was tied up with the head of Duyunfang and couldn't get away, otherwise he would never have let go of such a small fry like her out of pity.
"What has the beautiful lady been busy with lately?"
The following night, Mu Jianjian and Yun Rong were eating hot dishes together when Mu Jianjian asked a question.
"The Red Mansion is going to hold an auction soon, and the manager needs to find someone to perform the opening dance, so they'll be quite busy," Yun Rong said softly.
While eating, one should not speak, but Yun Rong was gradually influenced by Mu Jianjian's talkativeness and stopped caring about such things.
"Will the Red Mansion still hold auctions?" Mu Jianjian raised her eyebrows in surprise.
“The Red Mansion not only deals in the sex trade, but also trades and is an intelligence network,” Yun Rong said, looking at the girl’s dazed expression. “But it’s best to keep these things to yourself.”
"What's being auctioned?" Mu Jianjian suddenly became interested and wanted to join in the fun.
Seeing her keen interest, Yun Rong lowered her eyes and said, "People."
"Clang—"
The porcelain cup beside Mu Jianjian fell to the ground. She repeated the other person's words in disbelief, "Human...who is it?"
“You heard me right, it’s a living, breathing person,” something flashed across Yun Rong’s eyes, “It’s said that a merchant guild captured a half-human, half-demon creature, but no one knows where it came from.”
Mu Jianjian lowered her head and looked at the rice bowl in front of the door, suddenly finding the rice less appetizing.
"It seems that the things on half-demons are all miraculous medicines, so naturally many people would fight to snatch them. However, these are just rumors, and we don't know if they are true or false."
"Is that half-demon currently in the Red Mansion?"
"Yes, the Chamber of Commerce sent them in and locked them up here."
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