Chapter 548 - The Tip of the Iceberg

“What trick is Zhu Yun playing?”

Lin Mengya became even more confused. “Is it that Zhu Yun is really not afraid of me and will sneak away?”

“This man is really strange. He wants to imprison us, but what does this mean now!”

Xiu sat on the soft couch and shook her little feet while muttering something.

She had thought that Zhu Yun wanted to hurt the three of them, but she didn’t expect that he just enclosed them in a courtyard.

It turned out that she had been nervous for nothing. It seemed that their stay here had been forgotten except for the poison put in their dinner.

“I don’t know. When I was in Huichun House previously, the master didn’t frequent the place, but no one in it dared to disobey him. No one could guess the master’s thought.”

Since Hongyu, his old subordinate didn’t know what the man’s plan was, Lin Mengya was even more puzzled.

“Let’s go out and take a look. Maybe he has another arrangement, right?”

Lin Mengya was not reckless, but she had a strange feeling.

Naturally, Hongyu and Xiu would do everything as she instructed them. Since Lin Mengya had come up with this idea, they would definitely agree. Besides, they were on some else’s turf now, so Lin Mengya was more afraid. “What if Zhu Yun does something bad to them when I am away?”

They walked out of the courtyard calmly. The servants, who had been walking to and fro at the gate just now, were all mysteriously missing at the moment.

The three of them were cautious in the beginning, but they became speechless later.

The reason was that they had come across a servant in the yard a short time ago, and the servant had tried to hide, suddenly turning and going back in the direction he had come from.

If the appearance of the first person was a coincidence, the others along the way were definitely not: they had seen them, but they had turned and left with mutters as if they hadn’t seen them.

Now, even Lin Mengya, a person with quite a smart brain, couldn’t handle the situation.

“What is the man going to do?”

“This is... so weird, isn’t it?”

Xiu stared at the yard without a soul in a trance. According to Hongyu, they had almost toured half of the courtyard.

But no one had come out to stop them. Instead, they all had pretended not to see them or gone to hide as if rats had run into cats.

In this case, the various situations she had predicted seemed to be meaningless now.

“I don’t know. By the way, Hongyu, could you take us to the place where you trained those young girls previously?”

She had assumed that there would be a tough battle, but she was surprised to find something so soft that no spot was substantial for her to pouch.

It seemed that Zhu Yun was deliberately working to facilitate her move.

“This man is quite strange. First, he forced the three of us to stay here and then tested me with Sumei’s poison, but now he has asked those in the yard to treat me as something invisible.”

Although she didn’t know what his scheme was, Lin Mengya was sure of one thing: the person must be watching her in an unnoticeable place secretly.

She had more doubts, but she seemed to be a little clear about what she should do.

Seeing no others in the surroundings, Hongyu became a little bolder: she whispered the information she had found to Lin Mengya and Xiu while walking.

Divided into three classes, the kidnapped girls were not raised in one place.

Hongyu’s position was not as important as Sumei’s, so she knew nothing about other things except for the girls who needed her training.

“Where do you know these trained girls will be sent?”

After hearing Hongyu’s introduction, Lin Mengya then realized that the information Night and his companions had found previously might only be the tip of the iceberg.

The truth was that the kidnapping business of young girls had probably begun many years ago.

If this was true, the number of kidnapped young girls was almost surprising.

These girls were unnoticeable, but if they were truly used to make secret deals, perhaps, they were enough to cause a great disturbance.

“Nowhere else but brothels, luxurious palaces, and external residences of rich men’s concubines. I believe numerous innocent people are harmed each year.”

Hongyu was deeply touched by these words.

She had been tortured like this since her childhood, so she felt exceptionally empathetic.

They should have been daughters of good families with a different future.

But if they were brought here, they were sure to be quite lonely and painful in their entire life.

She didn’t have enough power, and the only thing she could do was to treat these girls nicely and delay the coming of their final fate as late as she could.

Indeed, Lin Mengya had guessed it.

A person’s living on earth was closely related to the four things: wine, women, wealth, and spiritual enjoyment.

And a few rich or/and powerful people were hooked on such vigorous beauties.

According to Hongyu, the training of these young girls included not only the ordinary arts of pleasing men but also different training methods, which were used to target different kinds of customers.

In the courtyard, there were tens of teaching prostitutes like her at least. In the past, they had all been famous top prostitutes.

Perhaps, all those lechers would not be able to resist the charms of all the young girls trained by them, and they would probably end up forgetting time completely once they were with the girls.

“Is a residence like this in the old capital the only one?”

She couldn’t help feeling cold in the heart. Now, the more she approached the mysterious force, the more she felt that what she touched was quite a scary monster.

If she kept taking reckless action, she was afraid that it would be like smashing an egg on a rock.

By taking a familiar path, Hongyu led Lin Mengya to a little courtyard.

Still, no guards were seen. As soon as the three of them stepped into it, they saw that a group of little children was watching curiously in their direction in a tidy small room.

“Aunt, you’ve finally come.”

When they found that the person they saw was the very familiar Hongyu, all these delicate and nice young girls ran out of the room at the speed of little rabbits.

Instantly, they surrounded the three of them.

“Well, have you all eaten yet? Did anyone come to trouble you?”

Affected by Sumei, the young girls led by Hongyu were given the lowest treatment.

But Sumei had only had the guts to do something tricky to their eating and clothing.

Among these little girls, the oldest ones were just thirteen or fourteen, and the youngest looked like seven or eight.

But they had left their families quite early, and the tender care given them had gone. Then, they became the sacrifices of a conspiracy, with their lives ruined because of someone’s ambition.

Seeing such ignorant girls, Lin Mengya clenched her fists secretly.

“What a cruel devil!” Sooner or later, she would toll the death knell for it in person!

“No, only the aunts of the other courtyards came and said that you wouldn’t teach us anymore from today on. Aunt, we’re unwilling to part with you.”

A little older girl spoke with disappointment. Instantly, these young girls, who had been noisy moments ago, became silent.

It seemed that Hongyu was sincere to these girls and had been treating them nicely.

“I’m unwilling to part with you, either. In the future, you must cherish yourselves much. Remember, no matter what difficulty you face, don’t lose hope in your hearts. Sooner or later, you’ll be free.”

Hongyu truly didn’t want to leave such girls, but her strength was limited.

She could just put off the coming of their fate a few days here.

Looking at these innocent and lovely faces, she thought of their helplessness that they would be stained someday and become the tools for pleasing men. Then, she couldn’t help feeling quite sad.

Looking back at Lin Mengya, Hongyu bit her teeth lightly and knelt before her.

“Princess, I know you are in a terrible dilemma, but can you, can you—”

Before Hongyu said it, Lin Mengya had learned what she begged her to do.

At this moment, she felt the deep helplessness that she had never tasted before.

She had the wish to help all these young girls get out of the abyss of suffering.

But she was now hardly able to save herself, let alone others. If she tried to take these young girls away, she would hurt them, in fact.

This was not cowardice but the helplessness that she couldn’t handle the situation.

“Huh, she has fallen into such a trap here and can’t get herself out, so how can she spare time to care about these useless people?”

When the dilemma occurred, an arrogant voice suddenly came from behind.

When Lin Mengya and Xiu looked back, they saw a scarlet figure, who had appeared at the entrance of the courtyard at some point.

Complacent, he arched his eyebrows. His eyes were filled with a look of belittling everyone, which was as proud as ever.

This person turned out to be the little servant named Zhu Yan, who had once shown up in Huichun House.

As expected, all her moves were under the control of Zhu Yun.

But she didn’t know why he asked Zhu Yan to appear in front of her now.

“Who do you think you are! You dared to talk to my Sister Princess like this! Don’t you believe I can kill you anytime?”

Seeing that the person was just an older child but dared to act like that, Xiu couldn’t help coming out to glare at the annoying man.

Zhu Yan smiled coldly and took out a silvery sharp scimitar sometime unknown.

He had a childish face, but there was a cruel and bloodthirsty smile on it.

But before he could do anything, he seemed to have been nailed to the spot by something.

“Don’t move! If you want to live on, be obedient; otherwise, I’ll let your intestines break and belly burst and die with all kinds of torture.”

Xiu’s beautiful little face became serious. She had been angry inwardly for a long time.

She hadn’t vented her anger earlier because there was no chance, but now, the man asking for trouble had come to her. Naturally, she would not miss the chance.

“When did you—you put the insect at my chest!”

An itchy and numb feeling came from his chest.

But the soft feeling had instantly made Zhu Yan stand stiffly.