But to Cheng Yu's disappointment, Lian'er's consciousness merely trembled.
Seeing Lian'er looking somewhat at a loss, her soul still indifferent even as her cheeks flushed, Cheng Yu only smiled faintly and said,
"What I said will stand until I leave. Give it some thought."
Lian'er put on a serious expression and nodded slightly, then returned to her usual manner, chatting with Cheng Yu about anything and everything.
During this time, Cheng Yu also took a look at Lian'er's past.
It was a very cliched story. Lian'er's father had been an official of the Heavenly Dynasty. Though his rank had not been particularly high, he had at least been a local official with real authority.
After losing a factional struggle within the Humankind Heavenly Dynasty, his property had been confiscated and he had been exiled. As a woman of his household, Lian'er had fallen into prostitution.
Back then, Lian'er had still been a fiercely chaste woman, but how could a brothel lack ways to break her?
Before long, Lian'er, a girl from an official's family, had received her first patron.
He was a wealthy local man. After finishing, he had solemnly promised Lian'er that he would buy her freedom and marry her as his concubine. He had booked her exclusively for a while, but after his wife discovered it and gave him a savage beating, the matter of buying Lian'er's freedom had quietly come to nothing.
That had been Lian'er's first taste of betrayal.
Once there was a first time, there would be a second and a third.
Dashing young gentlemen, courteous scholars, chivalrous heroes brimming with spirit.
They had all made similar promises to Lian'er. The kinder ones had merely vanished without a word. The crueler ones had even said, "What right does a prostitute like you have to stay