Asking about longevity

"Why is it your turn?"

Qinglan hesitated for a moment and said slowly:

"I went to Sister Yulan's place and he saw me. He stared at me for a long time, his eyes were like poisonous snakes, sticky and disgusting..."

"I guess he has bad intentions. Wingdings: ♦︎♦︎⬧︎♦︎◆︎⌧︎♦︎♦︎□︎❍︎"

"After Sister Yulan died, my mother-in-law also said to me..."

"Auntie?" Mo Hua was slightly startled.

Qinglan looked around and saw no one else, so she whispered: "It's the bustard."

Mo Hua nodded.

The madam is the old madam of the brothel. She raises the girls under her and calls her "A Niang".

Qinglan continued: "Aniang also told me that there was a guest who wanted me by name... I asked who this guest was, but Aniang seemed to be smiling, so she didn't know."

"I asked her again and again, and my mother got angry. She beat me and scolded me, saying that my wings were stiff and I dared to ask her questions. She also said that I was a loser and deserved to die..."

Mo Hua frowned and said, "What a bad girl you are."

Qinglan didn't dare to speak ill of the Madam, so she just nodded slightly.

"Then what?" Mo Hua asked again.

Qinglan said: "Then, I guessed that he must want me to accompany the man in gray."

"Sister Yulan is dead, and there were some other sisters who didn't survive either."

"me……"

Qinglan couldn't speak anymore and silently wiped her tears.

Mo Hua poured her another cup of tea and comforted her softly:

"Don't worry, you'll be fine."

Qinglan's cheeks shed tears, as if she had grasped a life-saving straw, and said with hope:

"I won't die..."

"Everyone is destined to die." Mo Hua said truthfully.

Qinglan: "..."

Mo Hua said with a serious face: "But he will definitely die before he harms you!"

Although Qing Lan felt that these words were a bit subtle, she was still comforted and slowly breathed a sigh of relief.

She didn't know where this young gentleman came from, but seeing that he was so young, even Elder Su respected him a lot. He must have an unusual status, and she had some hope in her heart.

"Have you never told anyone these words?" Mo Hua asked curiously.

Qinglan shook her head and said bitterly:

"Who am I to tell you? Sister Yulan is dead, and the other sisters are also in danger. If they offend a guest, they will be beaten and unable to get out of bed. My mother-in-law is also... not a good temper..."

Mo Hua frowned when he heard this, "Isn't there anyone in charge of you here?"

Qinglan smiled bitterly, "We lowly people, others will only make fun of us, who will care whether we live or die?"

Mo Hua felt a little uncomfortable, "Where are your parents?"

Qinglan's eyes darkened, "I was sold here by my parents.

Mo Hua was slightly startled when she heard this. Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi also looked at her with sympathy.

Mo Hua was silent for a while and asked softly:

"Do you hate your parents?"

Qinglan shook her head, "I don't hate them, because they are all dead."

"died?"

"Yeah." Qinglan nodded, "I'm starving to death."

There were tears in Qinglan's eyes, and her voice was choked with sobs:

"My parents...were afraid that I would starve to death, so they sold me into a brothel. Even the spiritual stones they sold me...they secretly gave them to me so that I could live well..."

Hearing this, Mo Hua felt a little sad, "Are they mine repairmen?"

Qinglan nodded, "Yes. My father mined for the Lu family. When the mine collapsed, he broke a leg. The foul smell eroded his heart and he could no longer mine..."

"My mother worked too hard to support the family and became ill from overwork. Both of them knew that she would not live long, so they sold me into a brothel. At least there was a way to survive..."

Mo Hua's eyes narrowed slightly, "Is this brothel also from the Lu family?"

"Yes." Qinglan said, "Not just this brothel, most of Jinhua Street, the food, drink, whoring and gambling industries, most of them belong to the Lu family..."

"Then do you want to leave the brothel?"

Qinglan shook her head with a sad face, "You can't get out."

Mo Hua frowned, thought silently, and murmured:

"The Lu family..."

Bai Zisheng whispered to Mo Hua: "This Lu family doesn't seem to be a good person."

Then he thought about it, "The Qian family, the Sun family, the Lu family...these families are not good people after all..."

Bai Zisheng was suddenly startled, "We, the Bai family, are not good people, right?"

Bai Zixi's beautiful eyes were like swords and she glanced at him.

Mo Hua didn't know what to say about him.

Bai Zisheng scratched his head and muttered: "It's really hard to say..."

Mo Hua shook his head and asked again:

"Sister Qinglan, do you know what the monk in gray is?"

Qinglan frowned, "I'm not sure."

“It’s okay not to be sure.”

Qinglan hesitated for a moment, and then said: "I guess he may be a foundation-building monk..."

"This is what Sister Yulan told me, saying that his cultivation is very profound. Sister Yulan is in the late stage of Qi refining, so he should be in the foundation building..."

Mo Hua shook his head slightly.

When it comes to foundation building... it's a bit difficult.

"Then when does he usually come to the brothel?"

"I'll come here on the fourth and fourteenth of every month, and then I'll stay at a different time."

"I see."

Mo Hua nodded and pointed to the jade bracelet in Qinglan's hand, "Put this jade bracelet away first and don't let others see it. I came over on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year and said that you stole Elder Su's jade bracelet and we are looking for you." Raise troops to investigate."

"This way, whether it happens or not, you won't be implicated."

Qinglan glanced at the ink painting and asked in a low voice:

"What...are you going to do?"

"You don't have to worry about this."

Qinglan nodded, glanced at Mo Hua and the others, still a little worried:

"You are not very young. Don't try to save me and end up being tricked by the man in gray. He is gloomy and probably acts insidiously..."

Bai Zisheng said: "Don't worry."

He pointed at the ink painting, "Even though he is young, he may not have less evil in his stomach than others..."

Mo Hua was unhappy, "Who's so upset?"

Bai Zisheng looked at the sky and pretended not to say anything.

Mo Hua muttered: "It's better to be a bad person than an idiot..."

"Okay, are you calling your senior brother a fool again?"

"You also said that your junior brother is full of evil?"

…

The two of them were arguing in low voices.

Bai Zixi had no choice but to look at the back and slap each other.

Bai Zisheng's slap was a little harder, while Mo Hua was weak, so he slapped him a little softer.

Bai Zisheng grimaced in pain and said:

"Zixi, you are partial!"

Bai Zixi ignored him and just said to Mo Hua: "Let's get down to business and go back early."

"Uh-huh."

Mo Hua agreed.

After that, Mo Hua asked for some more details and asked Qinglan:

"Sister Qinglan, please go back first. Don't tell anyone about this matter, and don't make any noise. We will come back to you in a few days."

Qinglan pursed her lips, nodded solemnly, and then left.

Mo Hua went to find Elder Su again.

Elder Su was leisurely drinking, listening to music, and watching the female nuns dancing in the audience.

Seeing the ink painting, Elder Su asked:

"Are you done asking?"

Mo Hua nodded.

"Okay." Elder Su didn't ask too much. After all, these are monks' privacy. It would be impolite to ask rashly.

"Little sir, would you like to play for a while longer, or..."

"It's getting late, I'm going home." Mo Hua said.

There's nothing wrong with what Mo Hua said, but at this time, listening to these words in a brothel, it felt a little strange.

Elder Su said regretfully, "Okay."

Mo Hua saw the unfinished expression on his face and whispered:

"How about we go back first, Elder Su, can you play for a while longer?"

Elder Su was a little moved, and after a moment he quickly shook his head:

"No, no, no, who do you think I am? I'm not familiar with this place, and it's not... nothing interesting..."

Elder Su said sincerely.

Mo Hua looked at Elder Su with a half-smiling expression.

Elder Su felt somewhat guilty when he looked at him.

Then the group of people left Baihua Building. Elder Su looked a little disappointed on the way.

This was the first time for him to be so "upright and upright", walking among thousands of flowers without a single leaf touching him.

In order to thank Elder Su, Mo Hua took out several rare formations and gave them to him.

Elder Su was a little shocked, "Is this for me?"

Mo Hua nodded, "Reciprocity is a courtesy."

Only then did Elder Su become happy, forgetting all the warblings in his mind. He flipped through a few formation diagrams and couldn't put them down.

As Mo Hua walked, he suddenly asked Elder Su:

"Elder, are the girls in Baihua Tower miserable?"

Elder Su hesitated slightly, and the smile on his face gradually faded.

He sighed, "Yeah."

"Most of them were mine repairmen and were sold to brothels. Their lives are like duckweeds and it is difficult for them to die a happy death. Even if they want to help, they can't help..."

Mo Hua asked curiously: "Have you ever thought about helping them?"

Elder Su nodded, and then became a little embarrassed, "Although I have some selfish desires and occasionally hang out here, it is still a matter of mutual consent. I can't bear to see them being abused like this."

"But I can't help them."

"Even if I can help, I can only help one or two. There are so many brothels and so many female nuns in Jinhua Street, I can't help..."

"Besides, even if I can help them, it's useless."

Elder Su sighed.

"Why?" Mo Hua asked.

Elder Su pointed to the dark mine in the distance and said solemnly:

"The roots of this brothel are not in this street, but in the mine."

"As long as the cultivators in the mines are poor and have to sell their sons and daughters to marry women, then this brothel will never collapse, and there will never be a shortage of female cultivators in this brothel..."

"Of course there are some who are willing to degenerate and don't cherish themselves, but they are in the minority after all."

"Most female nuns still hate this and don't want to live in this quagmire..."

Elder Su sighed deeply and said feebly:

"But this is not a problem that we, the foundation-building monks, can solve."

Mo Hua's eyes flickered, as if he was thinking about something.

Then he praised: "Elder Su, you are a good person."

Elder Su nodded with a smile. After a moment, he was startled and immediately shook his head and said:

"No, no, it has nothing to do with me. These are all what I heard from a 'fellow Taoist'..."

Mo Hua said: "This 'fellow Taoist' you are talking about..."

Elder Su waved his hand and said: "It's not me, it's not me..."

…

The brothel issue cannot be resolved for the time being, so Mo Hua wants to get the gray-clothed monk out first.

After bidding farewell to Elder Su, Mo Hua and the others returned to the cave and gathered together to discuss.

"Are we going to kill that gray-clothed monk?" Bai Zisheng asked.

Mo Hua shook his little hand and said, "Catch first, then interrogate, then kill!"

"It's hard to catch Foundation Establishment."

Mo Hua nodded, "With the three of us, it's a bit difficult."

"Then what are you going to do?" Bai Zisheng asked.

Mo Hua thought for a while and said secretly: "We will report to Daotingsi..."

"report?"

"That's right." Mo Hua said confidently, "This person paid to kill people, sold corpses, violated Taoist laws, and is extremely heinous. Naturally, he will be reported to the Dao Tingsi, who will arrest him. Why should we bother with this?"

Bai Zisheng said: "Then if Daotingsi catches him, won't we be unable to get any information?"

"No," Mo Hua said mysteriously, "There are people from us in the Daoting Division!"

Bai Zixi was a little confused, "Our people...you mean Sister Situ? She shouldn't be considered 'our people'..."

"It doesn't matter whether it counts or not, the result is the same anyway."

As long as Daotingsi can get information from the interrogation, he will naturally know everything clearly if he asks Situ Fang.

We all have such a good friendship, Situ Fang will definitely not hide it from him.

Therefore, if it falls into Daotingsi's hands, the result will be the same as if it falls into his hands.

Bai Zisheng asked again: "What if Daotingsi can't catch him?"

Mo Hua whispered: "Then we can only fight with the snipe and the clam, and the fisherman will pick up the missing pieces..."