Hu Liena: So the Tenth Elder Was Such a Good Man. I Was Wrong About Him

Before long.

Hu Liena finished relieving herself and stepped out of the latrine.

She shut the door, then let out a foul breath and gulped down fresh air.

"Miss, you really don't have to do that."

Watching Hu Liena, Xiao Qian couldn't help laughing from her seat in the armchair.

Realizing someone had noticed her embarrassing display, Hu Liena immediately changed her expression and composed herself.

Still, a trace of embarrassment lingered on her face.

"Actually, the latrine doesn't smell at all."

Xiao Qian stood up, entered the latrine, and pulled a rope inside.

Splash!

Water from a tank hidden in the roof of the latrine

immediately flowed down a pipe, flushing away the slightly smelly liquid in the pit until it was spotless.

Once that was done.

Xiao Qian picked up a jar from the corner, opened it, and sprinkled the powder inside into the pit.

After finishing everything.

Only then did she come out, walk to one side of the latrine, and turn on a switch.

A thin stream of clear water immediately flowed from a small bamboo tube on the wall.

After washing her hands.

Only then did she turn off the switch controlling the flow of water through the pipe.

Beside her, Hu Liena

had long since lost the trace of embarrassment on her face. She just stared blankly at Xiao Qian.

The whole procedure had left her dumbstruck.

Seeing Xiao Qian wash her hands, she remembered that she hadn't washed her own.

She hurried over and copied Xiao Qian, turning on the water pipe's switch.

A thin stream of clear water flowed from the opening.

After washing her hands, she stood directly in the doorway of the latrine.

The stench she had imagined didn't waft out.

Somewhat incredulous, Hu Liena cautiously took another sniff.

There was still no stench at all.

It was incredible!

There really wasn't any stench coming from the latrine.

Not only was there no stench.

On the contrary.

A faint, unusual floral fragrance was drifting out from inside.

Xiao Qian's series of actions had left Hu Liena staring in amazement.

Even the latrines in Spirit Hall stank.

Although someone was assigned to tend them, a faint stench still lingered.

If even Spirit Hall was like that, there was no need to mention anywhere else.

That was why Hu Liena had held her breath earlier.

As she saw it, a latrine this small was bound to have an even more captivating stench.

But the truth was just the opposite.

This little latrine before her didn't have even the slightest stench. Instead, after Xiao Qian had sprinkled a handful of unknown powder, a faint floral fragrance drifted out.

Only now.

Did Hu Liena suddenly notice something else amiss.

Latrines were filthy places, much favored by mosquitoes and other insects.

Yet when she had gone inside, she didn't seem to have seen a single one.

She knew.

That even in Spirit Hall's latrines, which had people specifically assigned to clean them, a few insects could still be seen.

Hu Liena had also seen latrines outside Spirit Hall.

Insects flew about even more wildly inside them, their buzzing enough to drive a person mad.

Most importantly.

Those insects that came out of filthy places would land on people.

That was simply unbearable!

Yet in this little latrine before her, there wasn't a single insect.

It was truly strange!

And right beside it was a device specifically for washing hands, which was very convenient.

Even in Spirit Hall, someone had to draw water and leave it nearby.

Only then could people wash their hands when they came out.

Seemingly noticing the curiosity in Hu Liena's eyes.

Xiao Qian smiled and explained:

"Actually, Master designed all these devices. He also came up with the decorations and layout inside the house all by himself."

Hearing Xiao Qian's explanation, Hu Liena was skeptical.

That elder inside who had flirted with a woman could have come up with all this?

But then Hu Liena frowned.

For she had once again heard this gentle, beautiful woman call that elder "Master."

That made her a little uncomfortable.

So she couldn't help asking:

"Sister, why do you call that stinking man 'Master'? Was it him who forced you to call him that?"

Seeing the displeasure on Hu Liena's face, Xiao Qian understood.

She smiled and explained:

"Miss, you're overthinking it. He didn't force me to call him Master. I do it of my own free will."

This time, it was Hu Liena's turn to look utterly baffled.

She asked in surprise:

"Why?"

She couldn't understand it at all.

Why would such a beautiful woman call someone "Master," a word that humbled her so?

And.

She did it willingly!

Were there really women like that? Willing to become someone else's plaything?

"Actually, this is what happened..."

Xiao Qian slowly recounted the story.

As Xiao Qian spoke, Hu Liena came to understand.

It turned out.

That the beautiful woman before her was named Xiao Qian.

Twenty years ago.

Xiao Qian had been just three years old, young and innocent.

She had known little of the world.

Yet at that very time, her family had sold her to a human trafficker.

A natural disaster had struck that year, and the harvest had been almost nonexistent.

For ordinary farmers.

The harvest was practically the family's only means of survival.

And with the arrival of that disaster, coupled with the many mouths in the family.

Two elderly people, her parents, and two older brothers.

That large family soon used up all their remaining grain.

Later, when they had nothing left to put in the pot.

So.

To keep the whole family from starving to death.

Her parents sold her, their only daughter, to a human trafficker.

It had been late autumn, with winter approaching, and bitterly cold.

Snow fell thick and fast beneath the night sky.

There had been only the little girl's piercing cries and her repeated calls for her parents.

But they had failed to stir her parents' compassion.

If they didn't sell her, her two older brothers and the two elderly people would not survive.

So.

Trading a little girl who wasn't much use for the family's survival was worth it.

"Later, the trafficker put me up for sale as a slave. Master was the one who bought me."

"Master wasn't very old then either. He was only seven.

He said he was buying a maid to look after his daily needs.

But I was barely three at the time, only just able to walk on my own. How could I have taken care of him?

I know he saw how pitiful I was, a little girl all alone, and that was why he paid so much to buy me.

Afterward, Master looked after me while he cultivated.

When I was little, he wouldn't let me do much of the housework.

He did all the laundry and cooking.

Master was an orphan too, all alone in the world, and his household wasn't well-off.

So he worked very, very hard at cultivation.

Even though he had extraordinary talent, he never slacked off in the slightest.

If he hadn't cultivated quickly enough to receive some relief funds reserved for Soul Masters, I'm afraid we would have starved to death long ago.

Later, when I was a little older.

He squeezed time out of his cultivation to teach me to read and write, and to understand right from wrong.

After that.

As I grew older.

I took over all the housework from him so he could focus on cultivation.

Even though he bought me to be a maid, I never felt like one.

He was more like family to me.

It was to repay him that I started calling him that, and that I've always looked after his daily needs."

After listening to Xiao Qian recount the past, one event at a time.

Li Mubai's figure suddenly rose in Hu Liena's estimation.

She gazed toward the room, somewhat dazed, and murmured:

"So he really is such a good man. I've been wrong about him all along."