"The Lu Family's ancestor had a nickname—'Lu the Skinner'..."
"Lu the Skinner?"
Mo Hua was startled.
Qing Lan nodded. "It meant he was greedy and selfish, and exploited the Mine Cultivators viciously, as if he'd flayed off a layer of their skin."
Qing Lan sighed. "This was what my parents... told me before they died..."
"I was still little then, and only listened to it like a story. I didn't understand all the bitterness behind it..."
"Supposedly, a few hundred years ago, the Lu Family was only an ordinary family. They occupied a few Mine Mountains, their power neither large nor small. They had a place in Nanyue City, but there were several families more powerful than the Lu Family, so the Lu Family didn't amount to much..."
"Until the Lu Family's ancestor rose to power."
"After he took power, he colluded with several other families that owned Mine Mountains, drew up Spirit Contracts, and agreed to advance and retreat together, all so they could lower the Mine Cultivators' pay."
"Originally, it was one five-fen Spirit Stone a day..."
"The Lu Family set the rules, nitpicking and making deductions in all sorts of ways, so the Spirit Stones that reached the Mine Cultivators' hands grew fewer and fewer. Gradually, it was pressed down to one three-fen stone, then one fen, and in the end, only one Spirit Stone a day..."
"The Mine Cultivators' lives became even harder..."
"But the Spirit Stones the Lu Family earned became even more."
"After earning Spirit Stones, they wanted food, drink, and pleasure."
"Nanyue City was desolate, without many places for amusement, so the Lu Family's ancestor thought of building one himself..."
"And so there was Jinhua Street."
"Lu the Skinner—that is, the Lu Family's ancestor—dabbled in eating, drinking, whoring, and gambling, every vice without