Chapter 427: Lonely and Helpless

“Why did it have to be you?”

Qinglan hesitated for a moment, then slowly said: “When I went to Sister Yulan, he saw me. He stared at me for a long time… his eyes were like a poisonous snake, sticky and disgusting…”

“I guessed he meant no good.”

“After Sister Yulan died, Mother also told me…”

“Mother?” Mo Hua was slightly startled.

Qinglan glanced around; seeing no one else, she lowered her voice,

“It was the madam of the brothel.”

Mo Hua nodded.

The madam was the head of the brothel. The girls under her care called her “Mother.”

Qinglan continued,

“Mother also told me that a guest specifically requested me… I asked who this guest was, but Mother just smiled ambiguously and didn’t say.”

“I asked her repeatedly, and Mother got angry, beat me, scolded me, said I was getting cheeky for asking so much, and called me a worthless girl who deserved to die…”

Mo Hua frowned. “Your mother’s quite cruel.”

Qinglan didn’t dare speak ill of the madam, only nodded slightly.

“And then?” Mo Hua asked again.

Qinglan said,

“Then I guessed… he must want me to accompany that gray-robed man.”

“Sister Yulan died, and some other sisters didn’t survive either.”

“I… I…”

Qinglan couldn’t continue, silently wiping her tears.

Mo Hua poured her another cup of tea and gently comforted her,

“Don’t worry, nothing will happen to you.”

Qinglan’s cheeks were wet with tears. Clinging to this hope like a lifeline, she asked,

“I won’t die…?”

“Everyone dies eventually,” Mo Hua said honestly.

Qinglan: “……”

Mo Hua’s face turned serious.

“But before he can harm you, he will surely die first!”

Qinglan, though sensing the subtlety in his words, felt comforted and slowly exhaled.

She didn’t know what kind of background this young gentleman had, but seeing how even Elder Su treated him with great respect, she guessed his status wasn’t ordinary, and she felt a small glimmer of hope.

“Have you told anyone else this?” Mo Hua asked curiously.

Qinglan shook her head bitterly,

“Who could I tell? Sister Yulan is dead. The other sisters live day-to-day, never knowing when they might offend a guest and be beaten into bed. Mother… isn’t exactly kind…”

Mo Hua frowned. “No one looks after you here?”

Qinglan gave a wry smile, “People like us, the lowly, are only there for others’ amusement. Who would care whether we live or die?”

Mo Hua felt a sting hearing this. “What about your parents?”

Qinglan’s eyes darkened. “My parents sold me.”

Mo Hua was slightly shocked. Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi also looked at her with sympathy.

Mo Hua was silent for a moment, then quietly asked,

“Do you hate them?”

Qinglan shook her head, “I don’t hate them, because they’re already dead.”

“Dead?”

“Mm.” Qinglan nodded. “Starved to death.”

Tears glimmered in her eyes, her voice choked:

“My parents… they sold me to the brothel because they feared I would starve. Even the spirit stones they got for selling me… they secretly gave them to me, so I could live…”

Mo Hua felt a pang of sorrow. “Were they miners?”

Qinglan nodded, “Yes. My father mined for the Lu family, but a mine collapsed. He broke a leg, and the corrupt energy damaged his meridians—he couldn’t mine anymore…”

“My mother worked too hard to support the family, falling ill from overwork. They knew they wouldn’t live long, so they sold me to the brothel—at least it was a way to survive…”

Mo Hua’s gaze darkened. “This brothel… also belongs to the Lu family?”

“Yes,” Qinglan said. “Not just this brothel. Most of Jinhua Street—the restaurants, gambling, prostitution—are owned by the Lu family…”

“Do you want to leave the brothel?”

Qinglan shook her head painfully, “I can’t get out.”

Mo Hua frowned, muttering to himself,

“The Lu family…”

Bai Zisheng whispered to Mo Hua, “The Lu family doesn’t seem like good people either.”

He pondered, “The Qian family, Sun family, Lu family… none of them seem good…”

Bai Zisheng suddenly got scared, “What if our Bai family isn’t good either…”

Bai Zixi’s beautiful eyes shot him a sharp glance.

Mo Hua didn’t know what to say.

Bai Zisheng scratched his head and muttered, “That’s really hard to say…”

Mo Hua shook his head and asked,

“Qinglan, do you know the cultivation level of that gray-robed cultivator?”

Qinglan frowned, “I’m not too sure.”

“That’s fine if you’re unsure.”

After hesitating, Qinglan said,

“I guess he might be a Foundation Establishment cultivator…”

“Sister Yulan told me he was very strong. She was late-stage Qi-Refining, so he should be Foundation Establishment…”

Mo Hua shook his head slightly.

If he’s Foundation Establishment… that’s a bit troublesome.

“When does he usually come to the brothel?”

“On the fourth and fourteenth of each month, but how long he stays is uncertain.”

“I see.”

Mo Hua nodded, pointing at the jade bracelet in Qinglan’s hand,

“Keep this safe, don’t let anyone see it. On the fourth, I’ll come. We’ll say you stole Elder Su’s bracelet, and we’re coming to punish you.”

“That way, no matter the outcome, you won’t get involved.”

Qinglan looked at Mo Hua and quietly asked,

“What are you… planning to do?”

“That’s none of your concern.”

Qinglan nodded, still worried as she glanced at the three of them,

“You’re young. Don’t let yourselves fall into that gray-robed man’s trap while trying to save me. He’s sinister and probably very cunning…”

Bai Zisheng said, “Don’t worry. Look at Mo Hua—he may be young, but he’s not any less devious than anyone else…”

Mo Hua frowned, “Who’s devious?”

Bai Zisheng looked skyward, pretending to say nothing.

Mo Hua muttered, “Being devious is better than being a fool…”

“Ha! And you just called your senior brother a fool?”

“And you called your junior brother devious…”

The two bickered quietly.

Bai Zixi, exasperated, slapped both their backs—harder on Bai Zisheng, lighter on Mo Hua because he was weak.

Bai Zisheng gritted his teeth, “Zixi, you’re biased!”

Bai Zixi ignored him and said to Mo Hua, “Let’s get back to the main matter and go home early.”

“Mm-hmm.”

Mo Hua agreed.

Afterward, Mo Hua asked a few more details and instructed Qinglan,

“Qinglan, go home. Don’t tell anyone or show any reaction. We’ll come back in a few days.”

Qinglan pressed her lips together, nodded solemnly, and left.

Mo Hua then went to see Elder Su.

Elder Su was leisurely drinking, listening to music, and watching female cultivators dance on stage.

Seeing Mo Hua, he asked,

“Done asking?”

Mo Hua nodded.

“Good.” Elder Su didn’t pry further; these matters were private for cultivators, and it wouldn’t be polite to probe.

“Young master, are you staying to enjoy yourself or…”

“It’s late; I’m going home,” Mo Hua said.

Though reasonable, in a brothel it sounded somewhat awkward.

Elder Su felt a twinge of regret, “Very well.”

Seeing his reluctant expression, Mo Hua whispered,

“Shall we go first, Elder Su, and you can stay a while longer?”

Elder Su was tempted but quickly shook his head,

“No, no, you think too much of me. I’m unfamiliar here and… there’s nothing interesting…”

His words lacked sincerity.

Mo Hua watched him with a faint smile.

Elder Su felt slightly guilty under his gaze.

The group then left Baihua Tower. On the way, Elder Su looked somewhat disappointed.

It was his first time being so “upright,” passing through a multitude of beauties without touching any.

To thank Elder Su, Mo Hua gave him several rare formation diagrams.

Elder Su was astonished, “These are for me?”

Mo Hua nodded, “An exchange of courtesy.”

Elder Su finally smiled, forgetting the dancers, and eagerly examined the diagrams.

As they walked, Mo Hua asked,

“Elder, the girls in Baihua Tower… are their lives really so tragic?”

Elder Su paused; his smile faded.

He sighed,

“Yes. Most are from miner families, sold to brothels. Their lives are like floating duckweed, rarely ending well. Even if you want to help, it’s impossible…”

Mo Hua curiously asked, “Have you thought of helping them?”

Elder Su nodded, then embarrassed, “I sometimes indulge here out of selfishness, but always consensually. I can’t bear to see them treated so badly…”

“But I can’t help them.”

“Even if I could, only one or two. With so many brothels and girls on Jinhua Street, I can’t manage…”

“Even if I could help, it wouldn’t matter.”

Elder Su sighed.

“Why?” Mo Hua asked.

Elder Su pointed to the distant dark mines, tone heavy,

“The root of these brothels isn’t this street; it’s the mines. As long as miners in the mines are poor and forced to sell their children, these brothels will never fall, and there will always be girls…”

“Some willingly degrade themselves, not cherishing their lives, but they’re the minority.”

“Most girls hate this and don’t want to live in this mire…”

He sighed deeply, powerless,

“But this isn’t something we Foundation Establishment cultivators can solve.”

Mo Hua’s eyes flickered, as if thinking.

Then he praised,

“Elder Su, you are a good man.”

Elder Su smiled and nodded, then paused and quickly shook his head,

“No, no, it’s not related to me. I only heard this from a ‘fellow Daoist’…”

Mo Hua asked,

“This ‘fellow Daoist’ you mentioned…”

Elder Su waved him off, “Not me, not me…”

…

The brothel problem couldn’t be solved for now. Mo Hua wanted to deal with the gray-robed cultivator first.

After bidding Elder Su farewell, the three returned to their cave residence to discuss.

“Are we going to kill that gray-robed cultivator?” Bai Zisheng asked.

Mo Hua clenched his small hand, “First catch him, interrogate him, then kill him!”

“It won’t be easy to catch a Foundation Establishment cultivator.”

Mo Hua nodded, “With the three of us, it will be difficult.”

“What’s your plan then?” Bai Zisheng asked.

Mo Hua thought a moment, then whispered,

“We report him to the Dao Court Division…”

“Report him?”

“Yes,” Mo Hua said confidently.

“This person hires assassins, sells corpses, breaks the Dao laws, is beyond redemption. We report him, let the Dao Court Division arrest him. Why waste our effort?”

Bai Zisheng asked, “But if the Dao Court Division arrests him, we won’t get any info, right?”

“No,” Mo Hua said mysteriously, “we have people inside the Dao Court Division!”

White Zixi was puzzled, “Our people… you mean Sister Situ? She shouldn’t count as ‘our people’…”

“Whether she counts or not doesn’t matter; the result is the same.”

As long as the Dao Court Division interrogates him, Mo Hua can ask Situ Fang and get the full truth.

Their friendship is so strong that Situ Fang won’t hide anything.

Bai Zisheng asked again: “But if the Dao Court Division can’t catch him?”

Mo Hua whispered: “Then we let the clam and the bird struggle, and the fisherman profits…”