A piece of Japanese incense

As soon as we arrived at Zhichunli, we saw Ying'an running around in the alley. Yuzhu hurriedly grabbed him and dragged him back to the house.

"You little brat! Why are you running around outside!" Yu Zhu lowered his voice and reprimanded him.

We followed him into the house and closed the door tightly.

"Don't do anything! Only as a last resort will An'er go out to find a doctor!" Tian Xiang hurried over from the ear room.

Yu Tuan noticed her movements and asked calmly, "What do you want to see the doctor for?"

"There was a girl who cut her wrists while we were not paying attention. She has been in the water for who knows how long. Now she has passed out and her life or death is unknown."

"What? Why did she cut her wrists?" Yu Yi exclaimed.

"Take me to see it quickly!" I trotted two steps and stepped into the ear room.

The room was filled with a faint smell of blood, and the sunlight shone through the half-closed curtains onto the slightly simple wooden bed.

A woman lay quietly, her face as pale as paper, and it seemed as if the fire of life would be extinguished at any time.

Beside the bed, surrounded by a circle of anxious and concerned faces, the girls sat closely together, full of worry and uneasiness.

Some people held her hands tightly, trying to convey a little warmth and give her strength; some people whispered comfort, revealing deep concern in their words; and some people stood quietly by, with tears in their eyes, praying for her silently.

On the bed, the girl was finally no longer unconscious after undergoing treatment and slowly opened her eyes.

"Why did you save me..." She closed her eyes in despair, her eye sockets were sunken, and there were traces of dried tears in the corners of her eyes.

"You silly girl! Why do you want to ruin yourself! You've gotten through the most difficult times, why do you still want to..." An older girl, with red eyes and twitching mouth corners.

"Our girl took so much effort to rescue you and risked her own life to hide you here, but you closed the door and committed suicide alone. What was your intention? Aren't you a burden to our girl? How can you be so selfish!" Yu Tuan was filled with indignation.

Yu Yi also showed annoyance which was rare: "That's right! Miss, I'm not saying anything bad about you, but if you really died in this house, how would you let us deal with it? Even if you don't think about yourself, you should also consider the situation of so many people! We are all tied to the same boat now, and you can end it all once and for all. There is a panic outside, how would you let us deal with your body?!"

Watching them having sex, my breasts felt a little better. Just as I was about to speak, a woman stood up and said:

"Don't be angry, young lady. We...are all poor people who have suffered great changes in recent days. We couldn't bear it for a moment and did something ridiculous. Don't worry! We will definitely warn each other and won't let such a situation happen again!"

I turned my gaze towards her and asked tentatively, "Are you...Qiao Yanxin?"

"Miss Zhi actually recognized me?" She showed a hint of surprise.

"Your portraits are all over the streets. I don't know whether they look like you or not, but our girl has a photographic memory and can recognize you from some small features!" Yu Tuan's tone was quite proud.

"So, we are now wanted criminals?" Several people stood up and gathered around me.

I said "hmm" and nodded in response.

"What a irony! Instead of arresting the people who detained us, they come to arrest us!"

"I guess you're all still hungry! Come and have some porridge to replenish your energy!" There was a noise outside and Yuzhu called out loudly.

Then, in the ear room, dragging footsteps were heard, and dozens of people left, and the room suddenly became empty.

Yuyi served some food and placed it beside the bed. The girl on the bed just turned her back and remained indifferent.

I didn't know how to comfort her, so I just sat in the room with Yutuan, and the sad sobs outside the door could be clearly heard.

A girl was sobbing softly with her head down, her tears dripping into the bowl.

Yu Tuan followed the sound of crying and walked to the dining table: "Yu Zhu, why did you buy porridge for everyone in the middle of the day? Will this fill us up?"

"This... This is the shredded chicken bird's nest I bought at Yuanji, thinking of using it to nourish the girls. Oh, I, I'll go order some more food to be sent over!" Yuzhu raised his hands in the air, at a loss.

"No! I actually... thought of my mother. Every fifteenth day of the month, after receiving her monthly allowance, she would bring me a bowl of Yuanji's shredded chicken porridge. I... just... missed her..." The girl bit her lips tightly, trying hard to hold back her tears.

Everyone put down their cutlery and fell silent.

The girl continued to sob and said, "If only I hadn't insisted on going to the street to buy that string of beads that day..."

Seeing her crying so sadly, I held my breath for a long time before saying, "Your name should be Liu Xisi. Look, what a nice name. Your mother also hopes that you can be happy, auspicious, courageous and strong!"

Unexpectedly, she cried even more sadly: "When I was caught by that evil man, my mother didn't even know. I was afraid that she would be implicated, so I didn't dare to go home!"

"Who isn't? When I was in prison, my father was celebrating his 50th birthday. I even bought him a piece of tung blossom ink from Moxiangzhai. It's a pity that my father, at the age of 50, had to endure the pain of losing his daughter."

"Why are you so pessimistic? You are still alive, so how can you talk about losing your daughter? Once this matter is settled, you can all go home with peace of mind." I couldn't help but interject.

"How can I, a person who was raped by the eldest son of the Bai family, have the dignity to go home? Wouldn't that be a disgrace to our family?"

"Yeah, I wanted to die too. If those people weren't watching, I would have died long ago after being insulted by that unscrupulous scum..."

"Me too……"

Everyone was talking, and I was dizzy, but I still found a key person from their words:

"Wait a minute! Sisters, weren't you... captured by Qianyanfang and forced into prostitution?"

Qiao Yan hesitated for a moment and looked at me in confusion: "Qianyanfang? What is that place?"

"You don't even know Qianyanfang?" Yutuan opened his mouth into an "O" shape.

Qiao Yanxin sat on the bench in a daze.

One of the women said in a weak voice: "I do know... they asked me to make some autumn flowers... I would rather die than obey, so they locked me up in that house..."

"What autumn flower?..."

"what does it mean……"

There was another round of commotion. I looked at Yutuan, then shifted my gaze to Xiaohan's sister. I wanted to say something, but I couldn't explain the source of my confusion.

"Everyone here, excuse my intrusion, but can I...hear your stories?" I clapped my hands, interrupting their discussion.

As soon as the words fell, the room fell silent, as if an invisible boulder was pressing down on everyone's heart, making the air freeze.

Their eyes met, as if at this moment, words became pale and powerless. Their lips were tightly closed, as if they had silently signed a mysterious contract, jointly guarding this heavy and fragile tranquility.