Lu Qing nodded, confirming Zhu Yu’s worst fears in his heart.
Even though he had seen many cruel thods, his face was still not looking good at this mont: "The truth should not be far from what you guessed.
Those won were all turned into dicine people, then sent to the hos of officials and nobles. Officially, they were taken as concubines, but they never received any concubine marriage papers, and from then on, the won were never seen again, as if they had never existed in the world."
"Did the people from Little Mountain Building say this?"
"Of course not, the Protectors of Little Mountain Building were all hired at a high price from outside, only allowed to operate inside and outside the front gate, and were not permitted to interact with the won upstairs. Those who knew the inside story wouldn’t say a word." Lu Qing shook his head, "This is what Lu Chao told us.
When he traveled around the Capital, he intermittently heard many local rumors that you couldn’t hear in the Capital, so of which were so bizarre that no one believed them, treating them as idle gossip over tea and wine.
Among them was the story about the girls inside Little Mountain Building.
However, those people didn’t know what Little Mountain Building was, but said they heard rumors about a certain noble in the Capital who specialized in rejuvenation thods, taking a concubine while actually bringing a dicine person into the mansion, and then the husband and wife would drink the blood from that dicine person every day, rejuvenating themselves rapidly.
There was even a countryside rumor, saying a relative working in the Capital heard it firsthand: an Old Prince, already over seventy, originally like a candle in the wind, suddenly revived, with white hair and youthful features. His old wife, with graying hair, even got pregnant and bore a chubby baby boy."
"The Old Prince in the Capital?" Zhu Yu curiously glanced at Lu Qing, "Is there really such a thing in the Capital?"
"Indeed." Lu Qing sighed, "When we first heard of this, no one took it seriously. People thought that the Old Prince’s young and beautiful concubine had an affair behind his back, maybe with a family mber she couldn’t talk about publicly, so they just swallowed the insult and had the Princess nurture the child, claiming she was an old clam bearing a pearl.
Privately, people joked about it because it was so ridiculous, but no one took it seriously.
But unexpectedly, a long ti later, it matched with the folklore Lu Chao heard on his travels."
"All those won just wanted to live a life of luxury, so they agreed to enter Little Mountain Building, only to beco rejuvenation materials for others." Zhu Yu listened with a feeling of empathy, "As I walked through the dark passage, I saw many skeletal remains...
Little Mountain Building offered them only two paths: one was to be a chicken fattened in the farr’s yard, the other was to be a chicken thrown into a forest full of wolves, tigers, and leopards.
The end is the sa, with a cruel death, with no real difference.
But what is their goal in doing such inhumane things? It can’t just be for filthy money.
That dark passage, although extrely perilous, is also an admission of extraordinary design, requiring a lot of effort and resources to maintain.
Not to ntion the Crystal Array, which demands substantial wealth to assemble.
Even those spiders and large rats weren’t like regular ones, probably rare breeds or fed with precious herbs!"
"For now, it’s unconfird, but I think, like you, we’ll definitely find the answer." Lu Qing tucked the quilt around her, "But that’s for later. The most important thing now is for you to recover first, then we can continue our journey."
During the days Zhu Yu was healing, aside from Lu Qing taking care of her, nobody else disturbed her until her wounds healed surprisingly fast with the help of the ointnt Yan Daoxin gave, and she recovered well enough to finally freshen up — changing into dry Taoist robes and coming out to et Lu Chao and Yan Daoxin.
Having not seen Lu Chao for a long ti, he was still as calm as ever, gentle, with a scholarly deanor. Seeing Zhu Yu recover well, just slightly thinner than before, he seed to quietly sigh in relief.
"You’re better now." He, having a special friendship with Lu Qing, didn’t need formalities with Zhu Yu, adopting a rare familiarity, "If sothing happened to you, Lu Qing’s infamous ’lone star’ reputation would be impossible to shake.
The heavens haven’t treated him well, eting you might be his divine compensation. It seems the heavens didn’t intend to retrieve this compensation, only thinking he didn’t treat you well enough, so it was a small warning."
After speaking, he disapprovingly glanced at Lu Qing: "You should have sent word to imdiately, allowing to find a way to send help."
Lu Qing smiled without disputing.
Actually, Lu Chao’s intentions were good but not entirely fair because if not for the timing, with Lu Yan’s alliance calming Lu Jun, Lu Chao’s people would not have been as useful as Lu Qing’s at that mont.
However, Lu Qing’s lack of explanation seed to carry a sense of guilt for Zhu Yu’s injury, deliberately wanting to shoulder the responsibility.
Compared to Lu Chao, Yan Daoxin’s reaction to seeing Zhu Yu was much more emotional.
"Bla , bla ! It’s all my fault at the root!" As soon as Lu Chao finished, he started with a guilty face, not to protect Lu Qing but feeling sincerely sorry for Zhu Yu, "I thought that cursed place would only throw out those unwilling to stay!
I figured it looked bad in there, guessing there would be drugging involved. That’s why I conspired with you to refuse the old witch’s offer, insisting on leaving!
After they took you, I thought at least they let you out, so you could describe it to Lu Qing, and this place, with just the five of us, surely couldn’t be handled, so he could find more help.
But who knew, they didn’t let you go and threw you into a tiger’s den!
If I knew this, I might as well have—"
"Stayed?" Zhu Yu smiled and shook her head, "Did they give you the decoction?"
Yan Daoxin nodded.
"Then, in your opinion, how long do you think my body can withstand the effects of a few doses?" Zhu Yu continued.
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