This crack was visible to everyone. This Guihua indeed had an extraordinary relationship with Departed Waters. It just depended on how to pry open her mouth.

Yan Sanhe didn’t press further, waiting patiently.

A lowly old woman who emptied chamber pots had no opportunity to speak of past events, because her words carried no weight—who had the patience to listen?

But even the most humble person wanted to find someone to confide in about certain matters.

Who she’d known, what she’d experienced, why she’d become what she was now…

Moreover, she was an old person.

When people grew old, even scrubbing with a rag couldn’t erase certain memories. If she didn’t speak now, she’d truly carry them to her coffin.

After a long while, Guihua’s dry, cracked lips moved. “Water, Water Moon Nunnery—where is it?”

“In the western suburbs outside the city. It’s a place with clear mountains and beautiful waters.”

Yan Sanhe continued, “Departed Waters became a nun there. The nuns were very fond of her. She often lectured them on Buddhist scriptures—even the old abbess’s understanding of sutras wasn’t as good or thorough as hers.”

A hint of light appeared in Guihua’s wrinkled eyes.

Not enough.

Yan Sanhe continued casting her lure.

“Even the most profound Buddhist scriptures, once in her hands, could be comprehended. She also wrote beautiful calligraphy. The nuns all competed to obtain the sutras she copied.”

Guihua’s eyes brightened a bit more, the corners of her mouth slightly pursed in a proud smile.

“Water Moon Nunnery isn’t a place with flourishing incense offerings. Her meditation chamber was very simple—one table, one chair, one bed. Though her days were austere, she found joy in them.”

Yan Sanhe added, “Oh yes, she had an adopted daughter named Mingyue, also a little nun no one wanted. Later, she even helped Mingyue find a good family to return to secular life…”

A living, breathing person slowly revealed herself before Guihua’s eyes through Yan Sanhe’s account, and this person’s actions matched perfectly with the one in her memory.

“She was always clever.”

Once memory’s floodgates opened, the deluge came pouring forth.

The moment Departed Waters stepped into the Music Bureau, Guihua had been polishing a palace lantern.

Seven or eight guards were escorting twelve young ladies. She spotted her at a glance.

All the other young ladies hung their heads with ashen faces. Only Departed Waters straightened her clothing and quietly raised her head.

Just this one gesture told Guihua this young lady was no ordinary person.

Young ladies escorted into the Music Bureau by guards were all family members of disgraced officials who’d committed crimes.

Former daughters of wealthy families, raised in pampered luxury in the inner chambers, their ten fingers never touching spring water—arriving at this place, who wouldn’t have an ashen face? Who would still have the heart to straighten their clothing?

If not for the gleaming sabers in the guards’ hands, most of these people would probably wail aloud.

She’d even seen young ladies who, with one foot barely inside, would ram their heads against the wall.

The lucky ones died instantly, freed from it all. The unlucky ones were half-dead, not only beaten and cursed endlessly, but tortured without end.

Once young ladies entered the Music Bureau, the first order of business was to strip naked and have a mama inspect them.

The person responsible for inspecting these young ladies was called Old Woman Liu.

Guihua had always been on good terms with Old Woman Liu. Each time new people arrived, Old Woman Liu would have her watch from the side.

People—who didn’t have curiosity? Seeing what those pampered daughters of wealthy families looked like stripped bare—who wouldn’t want to look?

Actually, after seeing it many times, it wasn’t that interesting. Every woman had the same few parts.

What she really wanted to see were these formerly delicate young ladies’ expressions the instant they removed their clothing.

Some were so ashamed they wanted to die, some wept, some gnashed their teeth…

It was spectacular.

What surprised Guihua was that Departed Waters showed no expression at all. She removed her clothing in three quick motions, her gaze still level ahead.

How disappointing! Guihua thought.

Actually, with Old Woman Liu’s discerning eye, she could tell at a glance which were virgins and which weren’t.

The Music Bureau made young ladies strip not for inspection, but to strip away the last line of defense in their hearts.

There were no lofty nobles here. Your status was prostitute—prostitutes stripped naked to sleep with men.

All the young ladies in Departed Waters’ group were virgins. The twelve were taken to the Red Pavilion to be settled.

The Red Pavilion was where mamas trained young ladies.

Here they not only had to learn music, chess, calligraphy, painting, song, and dance, but also how to serve men at drinking tables and in bed.

Besides having many mamas, the Red Pavilion had one other abundance—punishments.

Beatings, curses, or starving someone for three to five days were minor punishments. The more vicious methods were things outsiders had never heard of, couldn’t even imagine. If one had to describe it in four words, it would be: living death.

The mamas had all endured this in their youth, so they showed no mercy in their methods.

Those who could walk out of the Red Pavilion alive were no longer the young ladies who hadn’t dared look at men before—they’d all been reborn as little seductresses.

Yan Sanhe asked gently, “Guihua, regarding these rules of the Music Bureau, how do you know about them? How did you come to the Music Bureau?”

Guihua answered vacantly, “I was born in the Music Bureau.”

Yan Sanhe looked at her with shock and suspicion.

Born in the Music Bureau?

Then there was only one possibility—her birth mother was a young lady at the Music Bureau who became pregnant after a spring night with a client.

Someone poked her back with a finger. Yan Sanhe turned her head, meeting Third Master’s especially deep black eyes.

Yan Sanhe understood his meaning.

Since Guihua was born and raised in the Music Bureau, she must know many old stories. She should question her thoroughly.

That spot where the finger had poked felt faintly hot. Yan Sanhe’s heart wavered as she thought to herself that she didn’t need his reminder.

“Do you want to talk about your story? If you don’t want to, continue with Departed Waters’.”

“Mine isn’t worth mentioning. My mother wasn’t from any great family—she was bought into the Music Bureau from outside. Who my father was, even my mother couldn’t figure out clearly.”

Guihua sneered. “She died of a venereal disease. When she finally went, her lower body had completely rotted, reeking to high heaven.”

Yan Sanhe drew in a sharp breath. “Then you…”

“Before my mother died, she held my hand and told me I’d rather be a servant all my life than spread my legs for that work—you won’t die well.”

“So you’ve been a servant at the Music Bureau your whole life?”

Guihua didn’t answer.

When people recalled past events, their eyes always carried a distant quality.

She stared blankly at Yan Sanhe, not knowing what she was thinking. She sneered again, then abruptly changed the subject.

“Departed Waters suffered greatly in the Red Pavilion. What use was just being beautiful? She was bullied all the same. Miss Yan, do you know whose hearts are the cruelest in this world?”

Yan Sanhe shook her head.

“Women—women with jealousy in their hearts.”

Yan Sanhe hummed in acknowledgment.

Guihua asked, “Do you know who in the entire Music Bureau was most prone to jealousy?”

Yan Sanhe replied, “Who?”