The drunk began to speak.

She said she too was a daughter from a wealthy family, only raised outside. When she was eight years old, her birth mother died of illness and her father brought her into the estate.

She was raised in golden soup and jade water in that estate for two years before her legitimate mother sold her to an old rich man for three thousand taels of silver.

That old rich man was over sixty years old with not a tooth left in his mouth, yet every night he gnawed on her. In the end, he died on top of her.

The rich man’s two sons said she had killed their father and wanted her to pay with her life. Frightened, she smeared her face with a thick layer of soot from the bottom of a pot and fled overnight with her bedding.

In one breath, she fled from the north to Yangxian County in the south, finally collapsing at the Jiang family’s gate.

The Jiang family bought her for two taels of silver and made her a maid in the household.

Who would have thought she’d catch the eye of several young masters of the Jiang family?

Those masters acted perfectly proper during the day, spouting words about propriety and righteousness. At night, like dogs in heat, they were obsessed with her body.

She said a woman being beautiful was itself a sin.

Later she came to the Lu family as a dowry maid. On the wedding night, after the Fourth Master finished with Lady Jiang, he made an excuse about going to the privy to rinse off, then dragged this dowry maid inside…

She also said the reason the Lu family men didn’t dare drive her out was because every month, they secretly sent her in a small sedan chair to the county magistrate’s bed.

The magistrate oversaw the Lu family’s quarry. Previously they’d sent silver, but now the magistrate’s appetite had grown—he wanted both silver and women.

She said that magistrate was no good person and had never treated her as human.

As she spoke, she began crying pitifully, crying that her fate was more bitter than coptis root. Then, like performing a magic trick, she pulled out a box and fiercely threw it at him.

“Get lost, you little bastard! Get far, far away and never come back for the rest of your life.”

He opened the box and looked—inside lay several bank notes quietly. In an instant, his nose caught the scent of mother again.

“Are you coming with me or not?”

“Go with you to beg for food?”

The woman swayed unsteadily to her feet, giggling until she was breathless. “This old lady hasn’t had enough of the good life yet!”

He grew anxious. “Then tell me—whose son am I really?”

She suddenly turned around, looking at him with fierce eyes.

“You’re just a bastard, a stray dog, a complete and utter beast. You’re nobody’s son—they don’t deserve it, none of them deserve it, no one deserves…”

In the moonlight, the woman in her early thirties still had a slender waist, a long slender neck, skin white as jade…

Lu Shi didn’t know why, but his eyes suddenly felt hot. Something wanted to pour out from inside.

He said irritably, “Don’t die too early. Maybe this bastard really will have a day when he can give you wealth and honor.”

“Bah!”

The woman spat at him. “Keep dreaming your spring dreams. Why don’t you piss and look at your own reflection?”

…

Sixteen years and two months old.

On a day of brilliant autumn sun, Lu Shi strutted out of the Lu residence, hired a horse carriage at the street corner, and headed straight for Yangzhou.

“Of the world’s bright moon divided in three parts, two parts of that rascality belongs to Yangzhou.”

The men from the quarry said Yangzhou’s thin horses were extraordinary beauties. He had to test whether he was a real eunuch or a fake one.

Lu Shi didn’t know if men were all naturally gifted at this sort of thing, but he was.

He felt like a snake that had hibernated for years, suddenly awakened.

From that day on, Yangzhou’s pleasure quarters had one more young, handsome scholar.

This scholar had the sturdy physique of a quarry worker. They competed jealously for him, were willing to live or die for him.

For the first time in his life, Lu Shi was surrounded by so many people, adored by them. Here, no one called him bastard, wild spawn, or little beast. They all called him affectionately “Brother Lu.”

Brother Lu, where does it hurt?

Brother Lu, why are you unhappy?

Brother Lu, don’t leave—if you leave, I can’t go on living!

This was the so-called “gentle township”!

Lu Shi thought to himself: “The gentle township is a hero’s tomb”—well, I never wanted to be any kind of hero anyway. Even dying here would make this life worthwhile.

Until one time, he lifted his favorite courtesan onto the bed…

A bronze mirror stood beside the courtesan’s bed. When he turned his head to look, suddenly a bolt of lightning struck, scattering his soul.

Where was he?

What was he doing?

How had he become like a dog in heat?

What was the difference between him and the Lu family’s master?

Lu Shi fled in panic. In the torrential rain, he ran like a madman, roaring…

After a night of wind and rain, that universally beloved Brother Lu of the gentle township was gone. All that remained was a desolate, lost scholar.

On this day, Lu Shi had just turned twenty.

He had spent four years as a philanderer who knew only night and no day. In the end, his entire worldly possessions amounted to just two taels of broken silver.

Clutching these two taels of silver, he left Yangzhou Prefecture without a sound, heading north along the Grand Canal. His destination was still the capital.

Along the way, he wrote family letters for others, worked as a dock laborer, begged, escorted goods, and was beaten nearly to death in a bandit’s den…

When he reached Tongzhou, it was already two years later. Penniless, exhausted and hungry, burning with fever, he collapsed at the entrance to Jing’an Temple.

He didn’t know how much time passed before he felt a hand touch his forehead.

That hand was soft and warm. His heart filled with infinite grievance, and he murmured, “Mother, I’m cold.”

When he woke, he was in a meditation room. No lamp was lit in the room—it was pitch black.

Unable to see with his eyes, his ears worked especially well. He could hear the sounds from the outer room clearly.

“How come that person still hasn’t woken up? It’s been two days. This is preventing me from finding people to play with—two days wasted.”

“It’s all that Lord Tang meddling in other people’s business.”

“Even meddling has to be selective. Someone with hands and feet coming to our temple is most likely not a good person—probably caused trouble outside and came here to hide.”

“Say less. It’s just these few days anyway. Once the person wakes up, quickly send him away.”

“I’m hungry. Let’s go to the kitchen and steal a few sweet potatoes.”

“What about this place…”

“Never mind him. We’ll circle back to the west courtyard later and say the person shit and pissed in bed, giving us endless trouble. Maybe Lord Tang will soften and reward us.”

“You—scheming against people for a few taels of silver—that’s seriously lacking virtue.”

“Who works without being paid? If nobles let a little slip through their fingers, it’s enough for us to use for a year or two.”

Lu Shi’s hand hidden under the covers slowly clenched into a fist.

Once the footsteps left, he sat up with effort, put on his dirty robe, and pushed open the door to leave.

Even Buddhist grounds divided people into high and low, noble and base. A base person like him should leave early rather than pollute this pure place.

After walking more than ten steps, he stopped.

No—I should save Lord Tang those two taels of silver.

Lu Shi took advantage of the night to feel his way to the west garden entrance. Hearing someone speaking, he quietly crept over to eavesdrop.