Chapter 365 Being Sold Along the Way

Pan Jun hesitated for a moment and shook his head, "Forget it, they are not that good people, just respect their fate."

So everyone turned their heads to look at the shore, pretending not to see the pleasure boat.

This section of the canal is quite wide, with the pleasure boat standing in the middle of the river and room for a small boat to pass on each side.

When the boat passed by the pleasure boat, the five people couldn't help but turn their heads to look at it.

In the pleasure boat, a group of gorgeously dressed women were dancing with light steps. When a woman in red turned her waist and raised her hand, her eyes met those of the people on the boat.

Hongyan was so startled that the tail under her skirt almost jumped out.

She quickly turned her head and looked away, and her hands and feet became messy.

Seeing that she had made a mistake in dancing, Xiao Hong reached out and pushed her, directly pushing her into the arms of a young man, and said with a sweet smile: "Sister, are you thinking about Mr. Zhao?"

The beauty shyly buried herself in Mr. Zhao's arms.

Young Master Zhao also hugged Hongyan and laughed happily, "So you missed me, then stop dancing and come and feed me some wine."

The beauty agreed and took the cup to feed Master Zhao a sip.

The five people on the boat stood up and stretched their necks to look, "Little Master, did you see clearly? Can Hongyan retract her tail?"

Pan Yun: "She must be hiding. Her cultivation level is not high enough to hide her tail."

The boatman saw them stretching their necks to look, so he said, "Young men and women, don't be envious. The women on the painted boats have a hard life."

Pan Yun: "How is it so hard?"

The boatman said, "Every year, four out of ten women who commit suicide by jumping into the river are women on pleasure boats. They live a good life, so why would they jump into the river again?"

"They were all poor people who were sold to the boats by their families because they couldn't make ends meet. Only a very small number of them were able to save enough money to redeem themselves when they were older. Most of them either died of illness at a young age or were sold to secret boats downstream when they were old."

The boatman rowed the boat and said, "I have worked on this river for more than 20 years. All I have seen are miserable people. Even if they are rich for a while, they are like flowers. They will wither after a while. You young girls should not be envious."

Perhaps their eyes were too intense just now, so the boatman misunderstood and quickly warned them.

After Wang Cong thanked him, he said, "Don't worry, old man. I will keep a close eye on them."

"Hey, you have to keep a close eye on them. It's the Lantern Festival, it's very lively, and there are a lot of human traffickers. I see that your three sisters are all pretty, so you have to keep a close eye on them."

Wang Cong agreed.

The five of them took a boat trip and once they got ashore, they walked through an alley to reach the main street. Not far away was the silk and satin shop that Pan Yun mentioned.

At this time, the silk shop was still open, and there were quite a few customers coming in and out, so it was obvious that business was good.

Wang Cong went first to decide on a place.

After paying the deposit and getting the sign, Wang Cong walked out the door and saw four people craning their necks to look at the flower tower hung up by the silk shop.

Pan Yun pointed at the lanterns and said, "Here, when all the lights are turned on at night, the reflection on the porcelain will be extremely beautiful. However, it has to be raised high and placed on the ground, so very little light will fall on the porcelain and its beauty cannot be brought out."

Wang Cong turned his head to look.

Because it is the Lantern Festival, all major stores have lit up lanterns to fit in with the festival's significance. Tonight is just a warm-up, and tomorrow night, there will be even more lanterns hung up.

In order to make the store more lively, big stores like the Silk Shop even started playing games where one gets a lantern for free if one buys silk or guesses lantern riddles. Now there are ropes tied on both sides and above the door of the Silk Shop, and many lanterns are hung.

Look at the blank ropes left. Tomorrow night, these places will be hung with lanterns. It’s so beautiful just to think about it.

The person standing under the lantern will be beautiful, and the porcelain will be exceptionally beautiful.

Wang Cong paced around and looked around, then took a step forward, tapped the ground and said, "We have to put the table here."

Miao Zhen said: "And the table has to be this high."

She gestured above her waist and said, "The light caught at this height is the most beautiful."

Wang Cong stretched out his two hands, one high and one low, and compared them. After a moment, he nodded, "It really is."

Pan Yun said, "Tomorrow morning you guys go make the tables and spread out the goods. I'll go meet the people myself."

Wang Cong and others naturally had no problem with it. After discussing it, he went back to draw the blueprint and decided to find a carpenter tomorrow. If there was a ready-made one, they would buy one. If there was no ready-made one, they could make a simple one. No matter whether it looked good or bad, when the time came, they could cover it with a cloth and no one would be able to tell the difference.

As long as it's high enough and stable, it's fine.

Pan Yun went all the way back to Fu'an Inn and left some things along the way.

When it was late at night, when people on the street slowly went home and the bustling river surface became quiet, Hongyan knocked Mr. Zhao unconscious, touched her coccyx and walked out.

Xiao Hong was leaning against the door. Seeing her like this, she slapped her hand away and whispered, "Are you afraid that others won't pay attention to your butt? Be careful."

Hongyan twisted her waist and said, "But my tail has been tied for a whole day, it hurts."

Xiao Hong: "Let go later. Let's go and find Pan Yun."

Hongyan agreed, and the fox and the ghost sneaked out of the pleasure boat and appeared on the shore in a flash. Soon, Xiaohong saw a few grains of glutinous rice in a corner. She stood far away and looked disgusted, "Can't she attach her breath to something else? I hate glutinous rice."

Hongyan: "I don't hate it. I'll go find it. Follow me."

The fox had a very sharp nose and found the place quickly. The fox and the ghost followed the scent left by Pan Yun and found Fu'an Inn.

Hongyan did not go directly into Fu'an Inn, but sniffed and went to the side and back. When she looked up, she saw that the window of a room upstairs was open.

In the first month of the lunar year, apart from Pan Yun who was well prepared, who would be so stupid as to open the window in the middle of the night?
So Hongyan jumped in from the window without thinking, and Xiaohong followed closely behind her and floated in.

Pan Yun was sitting on the couch meditating and was about to fall asleep. When she heard some noise and opened her eyes, she saw two women in red appear in her room.

On the bed opposite the wooden couch, Miaozhenmiaohe was already sleeping soundly under the quilt.

Seeing this, Xiao Hong couldn't help but lower her voice, "Master Pan, you haven't slept yet?"

Pan Yun: "Aren't I waiting for you?"

The man, the fox, and the ghost didn't say anything. They just stared at each other.

After a while, Xiaohong, who was still feeling guilty, said first: "I, we didn't do anything bad."

Hongyan didn't feel guilty at all, "We didn't do anything bad."

Pan Yun: "I don't mean to arrest you, but since I've met you, I'll just say hello."

She asked curiously, "Why did you come to Changzhou Prefecture?"

Hongyan: "We didn't come here. We were sold here."

Pan Yun: …

Even though the fox and the ghost have not been away from Sanqing Mountain for long, they have had a lot of experiences.

Hongyan said: "I came down the mountain to gain experience. My inherited memory told me that to fully transform, I must pass the tribulation. In addition to absorbing the essence and spiritual energy of day and night, I must also refine my heart. To refine my heart, I must enter the mortal world."

Pan Jun nodded, "I know, and then what? You... your way of entering the secular world is to go to the painted boat?"

The beauty said innocently, "No, I want to get married like a human being, and then pretend to grow old and live out my life."

Pan Jun's eyes fell on her tail vertebrae, with an indescribable expression on his face, "You...how can you pretend to be a human and marry someone when you have a tail? There are many ways to gain experience, why do you have to marry someone?"

Hongyan: "How should I know? The inherited memory told me that when I live my life like a human being, I will be able to have an epiphany."

"Who says you can't get married if you have a tail? Isn't it enough to knock a man out after having sex?"

Pan Yun tilted his head and thought for a while before saying, "That's a method, but it's not a long-term solution. Forget it. Just tell me directly. You want to get married. Why did you come to Changzhou Prefecture and work on a pleasure boat?"

Hongyan sighed, "Humans are too complicated, especially human men, who are treacherous and vicious. I thought you were treacherous enough, but I didn't expect that the men down the mountain are even more treacherous than you."

Pan Jun: ...How could she be treacherous? Hasn’t she always been a good person?

Hongyan said, "When I came down the mountain, I met a hunter. I immediately did as the storybook said, jumped into the trap he dug, and pretended to sprain my ankle."

"He saved me, and I promised myself to him, so he took me home. But he already had a wife and children at home, so I said I wanted to marry his son, and then he took me out and sold me."

Pan Yun: “…”

"Wait a minute," Pan Yun interrupted her and asked, "How old is his son?"

"Six years old," Hongyan said immediately, "but I can wait. Isn't it just ten years? For me, it will pass in the blink of an eye."

Hongyan said, "I have only been enlightened for three years. I am also very young, okay?"

Pan Jun waved his hand: "Okay, please continue. Who did he sell you to?"

Hongyan muttered, "He sold me to a scholar who also has a wife and a daughter. He wants me to be both a concubine and a maid. During the day, I have to sweep the floor, cook, and wash clothes. I also have to grind ink and dry books for him. At night, I have to warm his bed..."

Pan Jun felt sad when he heard this and looked at her sympathetically, "And then?"

"I can barely grind ink and dry books, and I have no problem warming the bed, but I won't sweep the floor, cook, or wash clothes. If I don't do it, they will beat me and scold me. I definitely can't just stand there and let them beat me, so I'll fight back and then I'll run away."

Pan Yun exhaled, patted his chest and said, "Fortunately, fortunately, you ran away. I don't think there is any injustice against you. I think you didn't hit me hard, right?"

"It's not serious. I just need to lie down for ten days at most." Hongyan said, "Before I went down the mountain, Taoist Wang taught me that if I don't like it, I should run away. If I don't hurt anyone's life, the heaven will not hurt me. I know my limits."

Pan Yun nodded, "What happened next?"

"Later, I was crying on the road, and an old lady took me back to her home. Then she sold me to a wealthy businessman passing by. The businessman took me all the way to Yangzhou and sold me into a building."

"I worked in that building for more than ten days. One time, I drank too much and my tail popped out, so I ran away."

Pan Yun's face was expressionless. He asked, "Who sold you out next?"

Hongyan pointed at Xiaohong and said, "She."

(End of this chapter)