Thousand Dusts Ferry Me - Chapter 90

Helan Qing seemed to see a savior and stood beside Yun Qing.

Liang Xiao looked hatefully at Yun Qing and sneered, “You cultivators also want to be dogs for wealthy families?”

Yun Qing was not angry and looked at her, saying, “Come with me.”

Liang Xiao refused, but this was not up to her. Jiang Baiyu cast a body-binding spell, and Yun Qing directly hoisted her onto her shoulder. The onlookers all turned their heads as the group swaggered back to the Zhenxia Inn.

Arriving at the inn, they returned to the courtyard of the Tianzi Number One room and entered the flower hall. Yun Qing placed Liang Xiao on a chair and said, “You must first promise not to commit suicide, then we’ll break the spell for you.”

“Fine.”

Yun Qing glanced at Jiang Baiyu, who released Liang Xiao’s body-binding spell.

A servant brought hot tea water. Fu Xue poured a bowl of tea and handed it to Liang Xiao, saying gently, “Here, drink some hot tea to warm your body first.”

Liang Xiao held the tea bowl with both hands, the slightly hot bowl wall gradually warming her ice-cold palms. She lowered her head, tears dropping one by one into the tea water.

“The first time I saw her was in a noble family’s house in Zhuze City.”

At that time, she was eighteen years old, and Chen Jinshu was seventeen.

Eighteen-year-old Liang Xiao had already been a prostitute for five years.

At age seven, because her father was convicted of a crime, she was sold by the government and raised in a brothel for six years. Starting at thirteen, she naively entered this profession, dealing with different men at an age when she was still just a child.

They insulted her, trampled on her, coaxed her, pleased her, spent fortunes on her, and fought jealously over her. She had seen all kinds of romance and all kinds of human nature. Life went on like this, and if she had to evaluate it, she felt it was neither good nor bad.

Because the Helan family of Mengliang City had already sent a betrothal proposal to Chen Jinshu, and Chen Jinshu’s marriage to Helan Qing was set in stone, the Chen clan, which had been neglected for a long time, was once again valued by the noble circles of Zhuze City. Someone hosted a banquet and invited Chen Jinshu to attend.

Liang Xiao was invited to perform at the banquet because she played the pipa skillfully. During the feast, someone despised her for being a woman of the pleasure quarters and openly mocked her without concealment.

Liang Xiao was already accustomed to such disdain from the world. To be honest, she looked down on herself too—prostitutes were naturally supposed to be inferior to others.

But at this moment, Chen Jinshu spoke up.

“If you think selling one’s body is base, then those men who buy it should be equally base. I heard your husband once fought with others in a brothel. What do you think of that?”

The other person was so angry at Chen Jinshu’s words that her face became distorted, but because Chen Jinshu was about to become the eldest daughter-in-law of the Helan family, she didn’t dare to retort.

Chen Jinshu continued, “Rather than asking why she became a prostitute, we should think about what kind of people turned her into a prostitute, and what kind of people created this profession. These people are the ones who truly deserve to go to hell.

Your ability to sit here and mock a suffering woman doesn’t prove you’re more noble than her—it only proves you have better fortune than her, nothing more.”

These shocking words changed the expressions of everyone at the table.

Liang Xiao’s heart pounded. Throughout her life, she had gone with the flow, never deeply contemplating these questions about life, fate, and social status.

For a long time, when others spoke of women in the pleasure quarters with ambiguous or disdainful expressions, it seemed to take root in her heart, making her think of her own life with the same ambiguity or disdain.

But what had she done wrong? She was just someone who wanted to live well.

Chen Jinshu’s words shattered everything from the past. Liang Xiao seemed to wake from a deep dream, and looking back at her life, she suddenly understood.

She was just unfortunate—she wasn’t naturally base.

Chen Jinshu herself didn’t know that from this day forward, someone would regard her as a kindred spirit.

Although Liang Xiao regarded Chen Jinshu as a kindred spirit, she didn’t dare to actually befriend her. Even though she knew in her heart that she wasn’t base, the world didn’t think so. As a woman of the pleasure quarters, how could she associate with the daughter of a respectable family?

So she only secretly paid attention to news about her, listening with great interest to the noble people of Zhuze City discuss this woman who was about to marry Helan Qing.

She pretended she had already become friends with such a person.

Later, at another banquet, after Liang Xiao finished performing, Chen Jinshu praised her playing. Liang Xiao smiled and curtsied, “My lady is too kind.”

That was the only conversation between them.

Later, Chen Jinshu married in grand style at eighteen, and three years later, news of her death reached Zhuze City. On the day she heard of Chen Jinshu’s death from illness, Liang Xiao locked herself in her room and wept bitterly.

In life, having one kindred spirit is enough, but her kindred spirit had died.

She was driven by an obsession, always suspecting the cause of Chen Jinshu’s death. Because previously, the noble people of Zhuze City had discussed how Chen Jinshu and Helan Qing were an unhappy couple who had quarreled.

Chen Jinshu was also young, in the prime of her life, so the story of death by illness wasn’t very convincing.

Twenty-two-year-old Liang Xiao had been a prostitute for nine years and had saved enough money to buy her freedom. After redeeming herself, she went alone to Mengliang City.

She became a prostitute again.

Helan Qing was really very easy to please. Like many men she had encountered, whenever it involved his lower body, he seemed to lose normal thinking ability.

Liang Xiao approached him, pleased him, catered to him, and finally gained his trust.

Once when he was drunk, under her seemingly casual provocation, he revealed everything about Chen Jinshu’s death.

Grief, pain, sympathy, and enormous hatred pulled and tore at Liang Xiao, but she knew she couldn’t show any signs.

She lifted her head and drained a cup of wine, concealing her abnormal expression, then smiled softly, her eyes full of charm. She said, “Oh, you’re really impressive. No wonder so many women are crazy about you.”

Helan Qing held her chin and chuckled, “So what? I only care about you. I don’t even bother to glance at other women.”

Liang Xiao’s slender jade finger tapped his forehead, looking both loving and resentful, “Sweet talker.”

She helped him to the bed, turned to get the Shared Fate Gu, put it in the wine, then gently handed it to him, “Drink this cup of wine, and we’ll rest. Let me see how impressive you are.”

—–

Fu Xue listened and cried. Shi Muyu fumbled around and handed her a handkerchief.

Liang Xiao had calmed down by now. Speaking of life and death, her tone was indifferent. “From the moment I gave him the Shared Fate Gu, I was already prepared to die together with him.

The reason I waited until now was just to let the truth be known to the world. I wanted everyone to know his crimes.

Now that my purpose has been achieved, it doesn’t matter how the county magistrate judges him. Unless you can confine me for life, I will definitely exchange my life for his.”

Yun Qing shook his head and sighed.

Cheng Suiyan said with emotion, “I didn’t expect you to be such a righteous woman.”

“If there is a next life, I want to be a tree, growing alone in an uninhabited corner.” After saying this, Liang Xiao was about to get up and dash her head against the wall, but Yun Qing pressed her down.

Liang Xiao looked quietly at Yun Qing and said, “Everyone must die eventually. I die for my kindred spirit—I die a worthy death. I can see that you’re not the type to aid tyrants, so may I ask, immortal lady, why do you stop me?”

Yun Qing replied, “Everyone must die eventually, but trading your life for Helan Qing’s seems somewhat unworthy.”

“My life is in my hands. Whether it’s worthy or not should naturally be for me to decide.”

“Since you call me immortal lady, we naturally must help with this favor.”

Liang Xiao was stunned. “What do you mean?”

“You live, he dies.”

Liang Xiao shook her head. “This Shared Fate Gu—I once saved a woman from the southern borderlands, and she gave it to me as thanks. Live together, die together—it can’t be broken.”

“That’s because you haven’t met us. Ci Lilli, go.”

Yun Qing said this while looking at Ci Li with a smile.

Ci Li rolled his eyes. “Stop hanging around with Baiyu—you’re getting better and better at showing off.”

Jiang Baiyu’s heart sweetened.

Ci Li walked in front of Liang Xiao and said “excuse me,” then quickly extended his finger to seal all the meridians throughout her body, leaving only one path for the gu worm to move.

Then he pointed his left index finger at Liang Xiao’s chest. Although there were differences between men and women, the qi sea was in the chest, and inputting cultivation power through the Tanzhong acupoint was the fastest method. Moreover, he was just a little cat.

The gu worm had originally been lurking in Liang Xiao’s heart. Driven by the great demon’s spiritual power, it slowly became restless and crawled upward through the bloodstream.

Liang Xiao only felt a warm current first surge from her chest, then slowly move upward from her left heart.

At the same time, like a muscle spasm, there was also a throbbing that didn’t belong to her, crawling upward along the same path as the warm current. She looked puzzled and uncertain.

Ci Li held a silver needle in his right hand. First, he pricked one end of the red thread on the side of Liang Xiao’s neck, and blood beads appeared on her fair skin.

Then Ci Li flipped his fingers, and the needle turned around—the other end of the silver needle was shaped like a hook. When he had driven the gu worm to the red thread, he held the silver hook and probed into the blood bead, quickly hooking it out.

A pale red small worm hung on the silver hook, about half an inch long, only slightly thicker than a hair.

If it weren’t writhing and struggling on the silver hook, Yun Qing would have thought it was just some animal’s hair.

Everyone moved closer to observe. Fu Xue opened her eyes wide. “Wow, this is the Shared Fate Gu? It really is a worm!”

Ci Li said, “Fool, gu worm, gu worm—of course it’s a worm.”

Liang Xiao recovered from her shock and stared at the struggling worm, asking, “If I kill it, Helan Qing will die, right?”

“Right.”

“Then what are we waiting for? I’ll kill it right now.” Liang Xiao reached out to pinch the gu worm.

But Ci Li dodged her. Yun Qing took out a small white porcelain bottle, pulled out the stopper, and extended the bottle. Ci Li shook the gu worm into the porcelain bottle.

The bottle contained spiritual spring water, which could temporarily keep the gu worm alive.

Liang Xiao said urgently, “Why not kill it?”

Yun Qing smiled slightly, “You called me immortal lady. If I don’t display some divine powers, what kind of immortal lady would I be?”

Ci Li disdainfully said “tsk,” “Just keep showing off.”

Yun Qing laughed, “Little cat, don’t be arrogant. You still owe us an ear massage.”

“…….”