Famine and exile: I brought the Spirit Spring to save the entire Marquis's mansion.

"Sang! How dare you! Do you think Liangzhou is your prosperous capital? Many people die here every year! Do you think I can conjure up food for them?"

"What's wrong with selling your body to survive? Isn't it better than dying?" Bai Yi roared.

“Madam Sang, I can assure you, Master Hong has done everything he can to protect them,” the woman said again.

Sang Ning burst into laughter, laughing until tears streamed down her face.

"This is hilarious, absolutely hilarious."

“Wise Prefect, I don’t know how you can be so self-righteous and make your incompetence sound so righteous.”

"You say I don't understand? Yes, there's a lot I don't understand, but I understand human nature better than you do!"

"By justifying prostitution, are you giving women a way out? You're driving all women to their deaths!"

"Have you ever considered that women who could have avoided this path might have been forced onto it by their families?"

"Have you ever thought about whether their families will accept a woman with a stain on her record after the disaster is over?"

"You're wrong! You're wrong!"

"Women are no less than men! Men were born from women's crotches! They are capable of enduring pain that men cannot!"

"You shouldn't have broken their backs, shouldn't have seen them as weak creatures! You made them live in the most wretched way!"

"Why should you men have dignity, but women don't?"

Sang Ning's chest was burning with raging flames, so intensely painful that even he felt the burning sensation.

At that moment, she really wanted to slap Bai Yi across the face.

Smash his mouth until it's raw, just like you would beat Ding.

Then they stripped him naked and threw him into a brothel.

Let him experience what it's like to be dominated.

Is it more painful than going out to clear land or doing manual labor?

Sometimes, living is an endless torture!

What keeps them clinging to life and preventing them from dying is their children, their hope.

But when darkness dissipates and dawn breaks, the children see them as a disgrace; hope belongs to others, not to them.

Everything they insisted on has become a joke; they'll go crazy!

It would have been better to have died cleanly back then!

However, the reality is that Sang Ning can't do anything but get so angry that her heart, liver, lungs, and whole body aches.

Taking a deep breath, she said resentfully:

"We have different paths, so we can't work together. I'm not talking to you anymore. Go find Master Hong. I want to ask him if he has never touched a woman from a brothel. If he really hasn't... I'll respect him as a eunuch!"

They talk like they're so noble, protecting women?

It's all for the convenience of eating the grass near their nest.

A bunch of sons of bitches!

Bai Yi seemed stunned, standing there speechless.

However, the woman did speak.

His voice was somewhat low and hoarse.

"He really didn't touch it."

"And who are you? How do you know so much? Are you his lover?" Sang Ning's voice was barbed, her anger still lingering.

I've never seen a woman so spineless, always speaking up for an old, venerable man!

Ha! She actually believes what men say?

That's a really funny joke.

"My surname is Hong, and my given name is Shengtian. Everyone calls me Master Hong."

Sanning: "..."

Damn it, nobody told her that Master Hong is a woman!

*

In the southern part of Liangzhou, the sounds of dogs barking, both deep and shallow, echoed from a deep alley.

Torches flickered, and people whispered among themselves.

Hongye, along with Sang Ning and a few others, knocked on the door of a house.

"Master Hong? You've arrived?"

"What happened? Why are you lighting torches?"

Although the alley looks like it contains ordinary houses, they are actually interconnected, and the entire alley is a brothel.

At that moment, an unpleasant sound came from one of the rooms.

The old lady's face turned pale, and she told Huo Jingya to go home first.

"Mom, no need to go back. It's just the same thing, I understand!"

There's nowhere she can't go. Anyway, she'll never get married, so reputation is meaningless to her.

The old lady didn't say anything more.

"Master Hong, a woman has gone missing. I'm worried she might disturb others, so I'm looking for her!"

"What woman? Did a woman named Mo Cuiyu come in today?"

"That's her! Her mother-in-law brought her in, saying it was up to you to arrange things. I noticed the woman seemed a bit listless, so I put her in room number ten. But then she disappeared this evening!"

"Where did they go? Could they have been dragged to another room...?" Li Yuzhi dared not think about it.

Master Hong interrupted her: "No. Everyone who comes here knows the rules. Whoever you order is who you are. Anyone who dares to mess around will regret it!"

"She can't get out; she must be hiding somewhere. We need to find her quickly."

At each doorway, a large wolfhound, about half a person's height, was chained up.

The dog's barking provoked several people inside the house to utter angry curses.

But some people took advantage of the commotion to get even more excited.

The Huo family persevered and searched patiently in such circumstances.

Finally, they found Mo Cuiyu trembling behind a wolfhound.

Perhaps it was the scent of perfume on her that made the wolfhounds not bite her, but instead cornered her, preventing her from moving an inch.

"Cuiyu, come with me." Li Yuzhi, with tears in her eyes, took her hand.

“Ah… wuwu…”

Mo Cuiyu was in tears, but she couldn't utter a single clear word.

"Master Hong, it wasn't us!" The servant hurriedly explained, facing Master Hong's stern gaze.

"She didn't say a word when she arrived; it turns out she's mute!"

Mo Cuiyu was not mute; she had been given a drug that would cause her to lose her mind.

This medicine is commonly used in brothels; it is a short-acting drug.

It's designed for disobedient women and can damage the throat.

Unexpectedly, the drama of forcing a good woman into prostitution actually unfolded in her place.

Hong Yeyan's face turned ugly.

The Huo family left without saying a word.

There was no farewell, no thanks.

She gave a wry smile and heard voices coming from one of the rooms.

"He'er, didn't I give you a bag of rice last time? Why do you look even thinner?"

The woman said sadly, "There are so many mouths to feed in this family, how many bites can I possibly get?"

“You…sigh, I saw your mother-in-law buy some meat yesterday, and I thought your family was doing better.”

"I...I didn't see it..." The woman's voice was tinged with confusion.

Hongye thought of Sang Ning's words again.

Did the existence of brothels provide sustenance for these women, or did they become accomplices in exploiting their last remaining value?

Could it be that we were really wrong?

Li Yuzhi carried Mo Cuiyu on her back and felt waves of heat on her shoulders.

That woman is really foolish.

She should scold them, she should hit them, she should make that family suffer.

One should not silently shed tears and swallow humiliation that is more bitter than gall.

At the fork in the road, Mo Cuiyu struggled to get up.

She wants to go home.

"Cuiyu, don't go back today. Wait until you're healed..." the old lady coaxed.

But Mo Cuiyu insisted.

She wants to go home.

"If she wants to go back, let her go back," Sang Ning said coldly.

Whether the injury is healed or not makes no difference.

This lesson should teach her a lesson she can learn from.

If they remain so weak, then no matter how many times they try to save them, it will be useless.

Mo Cuiyu knelt down and kowtowed to them, then walked weakly towards home.

She wants it back!

I need to go back and get an answer.