The savory aroma of food filled the air. Yun Manman alternated mouthfuls of vegetables and noodles, beautiful zither music drifting into her ears, and narrowed her eyes in bliss.
"Ah, this really is the most satisfying meal I've had in ages."
Rice wasn't the specialty here in the northwest. Instead, it was all handmade noodles, white and pleasantly chewy.
Paired with stir-fried beef with chilies and spicy cabbage, the two dishes made the noodles impossibly appetizing.
Yun Manman felt flavor instantly flood her mouth. The northwest truly lived up to its reputation as a flour-producing region. These were the best noodles she had ever eaten.
Soon, her bowl of noodles was nearly empty.
Reluctant to finish, Yun Manman slowed down. If her stomach weren't so small, she would definitely have ordered another serving.
The zither music abruptly stopped.
A commotion followed, along with a man's coarse laughter and the clatter of chairs and stools being knocked over.
A woman's voice rang out, soft and sweet yet clear and pure.
"Master Wang, you know my rules. I sell my art, not my body. I cannot leave with you. Please let me go."
Then a man's low, weak voice sounded, his tone laced with barely restrained anger.
"You filthy whore, don't refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit! You're selling yourself, yet you still pretend to be above it all. It's your honor that I've taken a fancy to you. Take her away!"
The sounds of a struggle followed, along with a cry. "Master Wang, surely you know the rules of my Flower-Filled House! You cannot take me away!"
Master Wang turned around, his round eyes murky and lecherous in his fleshy face.
"What can the Flower-Filled House do about it? Miss Xue, Madam Qin sold your first night to me today. Didn't she tell you?"
The young woman wore a light dusting of powder and delicately drawn brows. Her eyes, limpid as autumn waters, brimmed with disbelief. She was a beauty who could topple cities and inspire pity in anyone who saw her.
Though Master Wang was already burning with impatience, for the sake of Miss Xue's beauty, he still patiently coaxed her.
"Tonight is our wedding night. From now on, you'll be the twenty-eighth concubine in my household, Miss Xue. Don't worry, I'll cherish you."
Yun Manman paused briefly, then continued eating the noodles in her bowl, with no intention of interfering.
Since the woman had entered this trade, she knew such things would happen often. Yun Manman couldn't protect her for a lifetime.
"Master Wang, why must you force me like this? I would rather die than become your concubine. Let me go!"
Accustomed to a pampered life, how could the young woman break free of the two guards' grip? She couldn't struggle loose at all, and panic appeared in her eyes.
"You bitch, you dare threaten me? Take her away! Women really are all so cheap.
"They refuse at first, but which one of them doesn't end up greeting me with a smile?
"It serves them right that women are only fit to scrape out a living beneath me. Women really are born cheap!"
Soon, the young woman opposite was gagged. The private room's door opened at that moment, and several sets of footsteps descended the stairs, gradually fading away.
Yun Manman looked at the last mouthful of noodles in her bowl and instantly lost interest.
With a crack, the chopsticks in her hand snapped.
She tried to suppress the irritation in her heart, but her anger only grew stronger!
"Fuck, fuck, fuck! That bastard actually insulted women!"
Wasn't that the same as insulting her right to her face?
That woman sounded pitiful, too. Since she had encountered her, she ought to help her this once. Afterward, it would depend on the woman's own fate.
If she didn't save her, the young woman's life might be ruined here and now. Why should a woman refuse to save another woman?
She would consider it honoring their shared fate of being women in this lifetime.
Yun Manman stood and looked out the window in the direction the carriage had left.
She waved a hand behind her, putting the emptied bowl and plates on the table into her space. After all, she had paid, and these things were clearly newer than what she used at home.
She leaped down from the back of the window and chased after the carriage. Her graceful figure in white fluttered in the wind, gradually vanishing at the end of the street.
In the neighboring private room on the second floor of the teahouse opposite,
a handsome man in white, his bearing noble, had deep-blue eyes glittering with cold light.
His gaze paused slightly when he saw the young woman flying out of the window. Then the graceful white-clad figure flashed past the corner of his eye.
The temperature in the room plummeted.
"Investigate. There must be more to my father's affair. This is not the result I want to hear!"
"Yes, Your Highness."
Yun Manman followed the carriage tracks until they disappeared at the back gate of a residence.
Yun Manman looked around. No one was standing guard.
Still, she didn't rashly enter. She had heard that, in ancient times, hidden guards lurked on rooftops and in trees.
She first sensed her surroundings with her psychic power. She detected no unusual auras, only a single person guarding the courtyard's back gate.
Yun Manman stepped back a few paces, then leaped straight into the courtyard from another side. The moment she entered, she smelled a faint scent of blood.
The layout resembled a garden, but there were no flowers or plants, only gauze curtains.
Though puzzled, she didn't spend much time examining them.
The young woman who had been abducted should be in the rear courtyard. As long as she found and rescued her there, then gave that Master Wang a beating, she figured she could settle this quickly.
This sort of thing ought to be done at night, but she worried that bastard wouldn't be able to restrain himself and would ruin the girl in broad daylight.
She could only swallow her anger and go about scaling walls and lifting roof tiles in the middle of the day.
Still, it seemed she wouldn't have time tonight, either. She had already scouted the brothels and gambling houses and would go investigate and ask around after dark,
to see which assassin pavilion was recruiting.
She needed to apply for a job killing people!
Yun Manman's thoughts wandered, but her body nimbly flew toward the rear.
That bastard had so many concubines that the rear courtyard was probably the largest part of the residence. It should be easy to find.
Before she had even crossed the second courtyard,
she heard women sobbing and pleading inside. Yun Manman paused briefly.
That voice didn't seem to belong to the girl from earlier.
Before she could think it through, she heard several different voices in succession. There seemed to be sounds of people enduring pain, pleas for mercy, and even laughter?
Yun Manman raised her delicate brows slightly and used her psychic power to sense what was happening.
A chaotic jumble of women's voices reached her ears, almost all pleas for mercy and tearful cries.
Yun Manman thought of why she had come here today. Saving one was saving a life, and saving two was still saving lives.
There was still plenty of time anyway. It wouldn't hurt to take a look first.
Just as Yun Manman approached the courtyard, filthy, crazed voices drifted out.
"Hahahaha! Well? Don't you bitches love this? Crawl over here on your knees."
"Waaah... Master, please, Master, spare Lian'er!"
"Master, Master, please stop beating me. I beg you, Master. I'll be sure to serve you well."
"Ah! It hurts! No, no! Please let me go, Master! My injuries from last time haven't healed yet!"
All manner of filthy pleas and curses reached her ears. Yun Manman was somewhat puzzled about what was happening inside.
Only after leaping onto the courtyard's roof did she discover there wasn't a single guard around.
Turning her gaze into the courtyard, Yun Manman's eyes briefly filled with confusion.
This... what was going on?
What were they doing?
The entire enormous courtyard was covered in soft red carpeting, with gauze curtains all around that concealed things while leaving them half-revealed.
In the middle of the courtyard sat a man covered in bulging flesh, with plain features and murky, lecherous eyes.
Yun Manman knew this must be that Wang Gou.
He held a jade rod studded with sharp barbs,
drawing it across the jade-like skin of the kneeling women. Their skin was tender, and wherever it passed, at best, beads of blood welled up.
At worst, their skin and flesh split open, bleeding without cease.