"Miss, you're awake?" A cold voice rang out in Qiu Yihan's ears. Yihan felt her entire body go limp. She struggled to open her eyes and saw a middle-aged woman in her thirties calling out to her. The woman was dressed in plain clothes and had a haggard look on her face. She looked flustered and there was a little boy standing behind her.
"Where is this place? Why am I here?" Qiu Yihan's head was spinning as she could not remember anything. She wanted to rub her temples to wake herself up, but she realized that her hands were tied tightly to the bed. When she moved her feet again, Qiu Yihan felt a great fear because her feet were also tied tightly.
"Who are you? What are you doing?" Qiu Yihan looked at the woman nervously.
"Miss, don't be afraid. I won't harm you!”
"Then why did you tie me up?" Qiu Yihan looked at the woman angrily. The child behind her seemed to be frightened by Qiu Yihan's gaze as he cried out,""Mother, I'm afraid. She has a knife!"
Qiu Yihan took a good look at the child's appearance. He had a sallow face and a thin body. There was a silver collar around his neck that was dazzling under the sunlight. The child's cries awakened Qiu Yihan's memories. The events of the day before surfaced before her eyes," Last night, she fell asleep in the pavilion. When she woke up, it was already high up in the mountains. Her stomach was growling with hunger, so she went to a steamed bun shop in the town center to eat steamed buns. After eating the steamed buns, she realized that she had forgotten to bring her own bag when she fought with the pervert last night. She had no money to pay, so she could only give a silver hairpin on her head to the waiter. The child saw that the hairpin was worth some silver and accepted it. Qiu Yihan walked out of the steamed bun shop, intending to find someone to ask for directions to Mount Zhongnan. Right now, she wanted to leave the Demonic Sect and go to a place where no one knew where she could cultivate her martial arts. The Carefree Sect of Mount Zhongnan recruited martial arts lovers from all over the world. The residents said that the Carefree Sect's Qinggong was the best in the martial world. Qiu Yihan's best choice was to join the Carefree Sect because she had always wanted to improve her Qinggong. There were many pedestrians on the streets. Qiu Yihan strolled through the crowd, looking for a suitable person to ask for directions to Mount Zhongnan. At this moment, a child ran out of the crowd and hugged Qiu Yihan's leg while crying,""Sister, I'm lost. Can you take me home?"
Qiu Yihan looked at a little boy who was about four or five years old. His face was dirty, but he was very cute. The silver necklace around his neck was shining under the sun.
"Where is your home?" Looking at the adorable little boy's crying face, Qiu Yihan decided to send him back to his home without any hesitation.
"Sister, my house is at the easternmost part of the town. There's a stone lion in front of my house!" The little boy stopped crying and said slowly.
"Alright, I'll take you to your house!”Qiu Yihan smiled as she wiped the little boy's tears away. Then, she held his dirty hands and walked towards the east of the city. The little boy was speechless throughout the journey, and he would occasionally steal a glance at Qiu Yihan. Qiu Yihan asked a few passers-by, and after going around a few alleys, she finally saw a courtyard with a stone lion in the little boy's mouth.
"Alright, this is your house, right?"
"Yes, yes!" The little boy shouted happily.
"Then go in quickly, or your mother will be anxious!”Qiu Yihan let go of the little boy's hand and smiled at him.
"Sister, send me home. I want to treat you to osmanthus tea brewed by my mother!”The little boy called out to his mother in the courtyard, saying that there was a guest.
Qiu Yihan wanted to reject the offer, but seeing the sincerity on the little boy's face, a woman in her thirties walked out of the courtyard. She smiled as she approached Qiu Yihan and the little boy.
"Mother, I was lost just now. It was this kind sister who sent me home!”The little boy ran to the woman and said with a smile.
"Oh, then thank you, miss. It's rare for miss to be so kind-hearted. Quickly come to the house and drink a cup of my osmanthus tea to quench your thirst.”The woman said as she pushed Qiu Yihan into the courtyard.
Qiu Yihan saw the sincerity in the mother and son's words, so she smiled and followed them to the courtyard. The courtyard wasn't very big. To the north of the courtyard were two old and dilapidated tile-roofed houses, and moss grew on the rubble. To the east was a thatched cottage, and the smell of food wafted out from the thatched cottage. It seemed to be the kitchen. To the west was a fence made of bamboo, and there were a few chicks inside. The chicks were happily pecking at the rice grains.
"Miss, please sit!" The middle-aged woman invited Qiu Yihan to sit at a stone table in the middle of the courtyard. She smiled as she went into the house to get her home-brewed osmanthus tea.
"Sister, the sword on your back is so beautiful!”The little boy was leaning on the stone table, grinning as he looked at the Jade Forest Divine Sword on Qiu Yihan's back.
"Is that so?" Qiu Yihan smiled. She found it strange that a child was not afraid of swords and even said that they looked good. However, she thought about it and realized that he was a boy. Boys usually liked things like swords since they were young.
"Miss, please have some tea!" The woman handed a bowl of osmanthus tea to Qiu Yihan.
Qiu Yihan could smell the faint fragrance of osmanthus. She had been in the White Bones Cult for 18 years and had never smelled such a good tea before. Furthermore, she had just finished her bun and left in a hurry without drinking anything. Now, she felt really thirsty. Qiu Yihan took the teacup and finished it in one gulp. The fragrance of osmanthus filled her mouth and she smiled at the woman,""Good tea!" However, after a while, her vision turned black and she collapsed on the stone table, unconscious. This was the situation when she was awake.
"Tell me quickly, why did you lie to me?" Qiu Yihan glared at the little boy and shouted.
The little boy was so scared that he hid behind the woman. Tears suddenly appeared in the woman's eyes as she muttered,"Miss, we shouldn't have lied to you, but we had no choice.”The woman paused for a moment, looked at her son behind her, and continued,"He has a strange illness. It acts up every three days, and every time it acts up, he has to deduct dozens of taels of silver. The family's savings have been spent, and they have sold everything they can sell. They even borrowed money from many people in town, but his illness is still the same.”The woman looked at Qiu Yihan with guilt written all over her face.
"If you don't have money, then it's useless for you to arrest me. I don't have a single cent on me now!”Qiu Yihan felt sorry for the mother and her son, but there was nothing she could do about it. The money she had brought with her was in the bag, and now that the bag was gone, she had no way to save the poor mother and son.
"Miss, with you, I can get a lot of money.”The woman continued," There is a new brothel in Chang 'an, the capital, called the' Fragrant Dance Pavilion'. The brothel owner posted a letter saying that whoever sent a girl would get a thousand taels of gold, but her requirements were very high. The girl sent to her must know martial arts and be as beautiful as a fairy. After receiving this news, a few brave people in the town went to do it, and they really got a thousand taels of gold. In order to cure my son's illness, I also planned to give it a try. However, we were powerless. How could we capture a woman who knew martial arts? He asked his son to go to town and lie to the girls with swords, saying that he was lost. When I got home, I put some knockout powder in the osmanthus tea I brewed myself. This way, I could easily catch a Jianghu woman. However, my son has been out for four to five days without meeting a suitable candidate. Today, he actually met you. You can only blame your bad luck!”
What was that? They want to send me to a brothel? Qiu Yihan gritted her teeth and spat on the woman's face. She scolded,""You and your mother are so black-hearted. You actually want to send me to a brothel to exchange for silver!”
"Miss, I have no choice. Who wants to see their child die? If there's a next life, I'll work hard for you to repay you!”The woman wiped the saliva off her face and walked out of the house while crying. The little boy looked at Qiu Yihan innocently,""I'm sorry, sister. I don't want to die!”After saying that, he ran out of the house, followed by the sound of the door being locked. Qiu Yihan looked at the dust-covered roof in despair. She did not know what was wrong with the person who wanted to open a brothel. He actually offered a hundred taels of gold to openly recruit women, and he even wanted women from the martial world. This was more like opening a brothel than a martial arts school. If it wasn't for this guy's offer of money, she wouldn't have been captured by this pitiful mother and son. Qiu Yihan thought about it and decided not to blame them anymore. Since she was captured by them, she would obediently go to the brothel of the 'Fragrant Dance Pavilion'. As long as the mother and son could exchange for the money for the medicine, she would think of a way to escape from that brothel.
As night fell, a crescent moon hung in the dark night sky, looking down at the quiet town. A gust of night wind blew, stirring up countless fallen leaves on the streets. Suddenly, a carriage broke the silence of the town and sped toward the eastern end of the town. When the carriage arrived at the mother and son's courtyard, it slowly came to a stop. Two men in black jumped down from the shaft of the carriage and sneakily knocked on the door and entered the courtyard. The woman smiled and opened the copper lock on the door of the tiled house, inviting the two of them into the house. The man in black sized Qiu Yihan up from head to toe and sneered,""It's a high-quality product! Not bad! These are for you!" As he spoke, he took out a bag of gold from his sleeve and threw it into the woman's hand. The woman looked at the glittering gold ingot and was so happy that she couldn't close her mouth. Qiu Yihan saw that the woman's money was already in her hands and wanted to escape. However, the man in black was quick to react. He stepped in front of Qiu Yihan and sealed her acupuncture points."Behave yourself, or I'll teach you a lesson!”Qiu Yihan glared at him and felt her entire body go limp. She no longer had the strength to struggle. It seemed like she could only wait for her acupoints to open up on their own before finding a chance to escape.
Two men dressed in black walked towards her coldly and dragged her out of the courtyard. One of the men pulled Qiu Yihan into the carriage while the other stepped onto the shaft of the carriage. He raised his whip and drove the carriage away.
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