The originally disappointed Hua Ling walked to the center in pleasant surprise to accept the title of Flower King bestowed by the mayor.
Li An, standing in the crowd, applauded for Hua Ling.
The Fifth Young Master could not bear to see Li An applauding for Hua Ling. "Let's go."
"We will leave after congratulating Hua Ling." Li An felt this was the most basic courtesy.
"Have you taken a fancy to her?" The Fifth Young Master stared intently at Li An.
"Stop ssing around." Li An did not answer directly.
To the Fifth Young Master, this seed like a tacit admission; Hua Ling could not be allowed to stay.
"If you lay a hand on Hua Ling, I will never forgive you," Li An warned.
The Fifth Young Master suppressed his secret thoughts. "An'an, you know I always listen to you."
Li An did not believe him. He saw Hua Ling walking over.
He strode over, leaving the jealous Fifth Young Master behind.
"Congratulations."
"It was your auspicious words, Young Master Li, that allowed to win the prize. Hua Ling thanks you." Hua Ling expressed her gratitude and invited Li An to attend tonight's Flower King Banquet.
The Flower King Banquet was an important evening reception held after the Flower King selection concluded.
It was hosted at the Zhu family estate. Not only would the Flower King be there, but also the fifty most outstanding contestants from the selection.
The banquet was also a great opportunity to network and promote the flowers they had cultivated.
Each person was allowed to bring two companions, usually family mbers or husbands.
Li An was unaware of this detail, but his intuition told him that the Flower King Banquet was connected to Zhao Hong's ntion of delivering people that night.
Ignoring the Fifth Young Master's objections, he accepted Hua Ling's invitation to attend the Flower King Banquet.
"We don't need Hua Ling. I have my own ways to get in." The Fifth Young Master did not want Li An to have any involvent with Hua Ling.
"I want to be absolutely foolproof." Following Hua Ling into the Zhu family estate was the least likely way to arouse suspicion.
"Second Master, Dongzhi is awake." At the door, Ling Yu's words interrupted the confrontation in the room.
Li An withdrew his gaze and walked to the next room.
Dongzhi looked to be in good spirits at the mont.
"Tell everything you know. I will avenge Xiaoman."
"Why?" Dongzhi did not believe soone would help him for no reason.
"Because I have a younger sister. She is about the sa age as Xiaoman. Lively, adorable, and kind. She loves the most and always saves the best things for . The mont I saw Xiaoman, I thought of my sister. Xiaoman dying right in front of my eyes filled with guilt and self-bla. I didn't protect my sister well, so I want to avenge her."
As Li An spoke the latter part, his eyes were filled with murderous intent.
"Xiaoman... I'm so sorry. Sister, it's all my fault..." Dongzhi wept bitterly.
"Tell everything you know." Li An handed over a piece of pear blossom pastry.
Dongzhi took the pear blossom pastry with trembling hands.
"Xiaoman, look what I bought!"
"Pear blossom pastry! My favorite pear blossom pastry! You're the best, brother. Brother, let's eat it together."
"Brother won't eat it, Xiaoman eat it."
"If brother doesn't eat, Xiaoman won't eat either."
"The pear blossom pastry shared with my brother is Xiaoman's absolute favorite."
The beautiful mories in his mind ended, replaced by the image of Xiaoman covered in arrows, staring at him with wide eyes.
"I'll tell you."
Li An pulled up a stool, sat down, and listened to Dongzhi.
Because he had to take care of his sister, Dongzhi couldn't take on long-term work and made a living doing odd jobs.
That day, Dongzhi, like other day laborers, squatted by the vegetable market, waiting for employers to pick them for work.
A man with an honest and loyal appearance walked over, saying he had a job that needed so hands.
The job was urgent and required leaving ho for a month.
They would be paid 300 copper coins a day, and if they did well, they would receive a bonus of one tael of silver at the end.
Calculating it, working for a month would earn ten taels of silver, which was more than Dongzhi could earn in a whole year.
So people worried there might be a catch and wanted to ask specifically what the job was.
The man didn't say, only offering one sentence.
If they agreed, he would give them three taels of silver on the spot as an advance deposit.
The rest would be paid after the work was done.
Thinking about the ten taels of silver, which could buy good food and new clothes for his sister, and even repair their dilapidated ho, Dongzhi agreed.
With Dongzhi taking the lead, five or six others also agreed.
The man took out the silver and gave them an hour to go ho and say their goodbyes.
Dongzhi went ho to pack his bags and left, ignoring Xiaoman's objections and worries.
At this point, Dongzhi was filled with remorse.
If only he had listened to his sister and not gone, he wouldn't have ended up like this, and his sister certainly wouldn't have died.
"It's all my fault. I was blinded by greed. Xiaoman was right, there are no free lunches in this world."
Dongzhi wiped his tears and continued his story.
Carrying his bags, Dongzhi went to the agreed gathering place at the east gate of the town.
At the gathering point, there were already a dozen strong young n waiting.
Asking around, they found that everyone had been attracted by the high pay.
At the appointed ti, the honest-looking man arrived driving three horse-drawn carriages.
The honest man introduced himself as Zhao Zhong, the manager in charge. The place they were going to was quite far, so they needed to take carriages.
After introducing himself, Zhao Zhong handed out stead buns and hot drinks to Dongzhi and the others.
They had to hurry on their journey and wouldn't stop for als halfway, so he told them to eat their fill first.
The honest man and the carriage drivers started eating first.
Slling the delicious aroma of the buns, Dongzhi and the waiting n couldn't resist and started taking big bites.
The deliciousness of the buns was sothing Dongzhi had never tasted before.
After eating and drinking their fill, they each relieved themselves.
Zhao Zhong arranged for everyone to get into the three carriages and headed out of the city.
Not long after getting in the carriage, Dongzhi felt drowsy and fell asleep.
When he woke up, he was no longer in the carriage.
He and the others were lying on a large communal bed.
At first, they were a bit panicked and wanted to leave.
They were quickly pacified by Zhao Zhong, who hurried over.
He said they had already arrived at the workplace.
Because the work they were doing here was of great importance and could not be known by outsiders, incense had been lit in the carriage to put them to sleep and bring them to the location.
Zhao Zhong repeatedly assured them that once they finished their month of work, they would be paid and allowed to go ho.
As he spoke, Zhao Zhong had soone bring over a small basket filled with copper coins.
Everyone grabbed a handful as a celebration of their arrival.
Since they had already arrived and were given bonus money, the crowd stopped making a fuss.
They changed into their work clothes and followed Zhao Zhong to work.
Walking out of the room, they found themselves in a large valley. Not far away was a vast field with only the bottom stems remaining.
It was like the rice or wheat stalks left behind after crops had been harvested in a farmland.
Zhao Zhong led Dongzhi and his group to a large workshop.
Inside, the large room was divided into different areas.
They were tasked with removing impurities and stems from an unfamiliar plant, keeping only the top shells.
Washing, soaking, shredding, and drying.
Dongzhi was assigned to the area for cutting stems and washing.
After working busily until noon, they went to the cafeteria to eat.
The food looked ordinary, but the taste was incomparably delicious, making people crave more with every bite.
After eating, one's whole body felt dizzy, with a sensation of floating like an immortal.
Dongzhi's most anticipated mont every day was eating, and he would eat three large bowls of rice every ti.
Just like that, half a month passed.
An older brother who had a good relationship with Dongzhi and often worked alongside him fell ill.
Dongzhi went to find the cafeteria workers to talk about bringing him so food.
The workers were busy, so they told Dongzhi to go to the backyard and get it from the head chef.
Dongzhi went to the back kitchen to get bowls and chopsticks, and accidentally overheard people talking.
"The amount of Yingng added to the food is too little, we should add more. We need to get them addicted as soon as possible, so they are easier to control."
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