Chapter 461: Lu Botou

“The old ancestor of the Lu family, with the nickname ‘Lu Peel Skin’……”

“Lu Peel Skin?”

Mo Hua was startled.

Qing Lan nodded, “It is said that he was greedy and selfish, and exploited the mine cultivators so ruthlessly that it was like peeling off a layer of skin.”

Qing Lan sighed, “This is what my dad and mom… told me before they passed away…”

“At that time, I was still young, and I only listened to it as a story. I didn’t know the bitterness within…”

“According to what they said, several hundred years ago, the Lu family was just an ordinary family. They occupied several mines, and their power was neither large nor small. They had a place in Nanyue City, but there were also several families whose power was greater than the Lu family's. The Lu family didn't count for much…”

“Until the old ancestor of the Lu family took charge.”

“After he took charge, he colluded with several other families who held mines to formulate a spirit contract. They would advance and retreat together, and together suppress the mine cultivators’ remuneration.”

“Originally it was one piece and five points of spirit stones per day…”

“The Lu family set rules, found various faults, and made deductions. The spirit stones that the mine cultivators were supposed to hand over became less and less, gradually being suppressed to one piece and three points, one point, and finally, only one piece of spirit stone per day…”

“The mine cultivators’ lives became even harder…”

“But the Lu family earned more spirit stones…”

“After earning the spirit stones, they just wanted to eat, drink, play, and enjoy themselves.”

“Nanyue City is desolate, there are no places for playing and enjoyment, so the old ancestor of the Lu family thought of building one himself…”

“Thus, Jinhua Street came into being.”

“Lu Peel Skin, that is, the old ancestor of the Lu family, indulged in eating, drinking, whoring, and gambling, touching upon everything. So within Jinhua Street, gambling houses and brothels were also complete.”

“They thus, relying on the spirit stones earned by the mine cultivators risking their lives, squandered them in gambling houses and brothels…”

Thinking of her own dad and mom, working desperately, yet still starving to death, Qing Lan’s eyes welled up with tears, and her fingers gripped until they were white.

Mo Hua also listened with a furrowed brow.

Qing Lan calmed her emotions a bit, her eyes red, and continued to say:

“Opening Jinhua Street, eating, drinking, and gambling were all easy to handle…”

“But opening a brothel lacked girls.”

“Family women couldn’t do this kind of thing. They wouldn’t sell their bodies in a brothel, at least not openly sell.”

“The Lu family then set their sights on the mine cultivators.”

“They mistreated the mine cultivators, didn’t repair the array, didn’t remove the foul qi, and even the mine tools were all old and worn out. This was to make the mine cultivators injured, or die.”

“If injured, they needed to be treated; if they died, they needed to be buried. All of which required spirit stones.”

“Without spirit stones, they could only borrow.”

“The Lu family then lent high-interest loans, causing the mine cultivators to owe large sums of spirit stones.”

“After the mine cultivators were unable to repay, they could only use their children to offset the debt, selling them to the Lu family.”

“Boys became servants and little attendants.”

“Girls were thrown into brothels, dressed up, and then went to… receive guests…”

Qing Lan found it difficult to speak, and tears again flowed from the corners of her eyes.

Mo Hua also felt a bit heartbroken listening.

He didn’t expect that the prosperity of Jinhua Street was actually built upon the suffering of the mine cultivators.

The women in the brothel laughed and joked on the surface, but in their hearts, tears of blood flowed.

The more miserable the mine cultivators were, the more luxurious Jinhua Street became.

Mo Hua asked again: “These matters, did other families also do them?”

Qing Lan nodded, then shook her head, “In the beginning, the Lu family and several other families did it together…”

“But the other several families didn’t do it as absolutely as the Lu family, and their methods were not as ruthless. Gradually, they were either swallowed up, or they could only sell their mines to the Lu family and leave for other cities…”

“Gradually, in Nanyue City, only the Lu family was dominant…”

Mo Hua frowned and said: “The Lu family doing this violates the Dao laws, right? Did the Dao Court Division never intervene?”

Qing Lan nodded: “They did intervene, but it was useless.”

“The former Head of the Division hated evil like an enemy, but he couldn’t fight the Lu family at all.”

“The Lu family used connections to have him transferred away.”

“The later Head of the Division, at first, still made a show of doing something, but after spending a few days in the Lu family brothel and receiving a few boxes of spirit stones, he colluded with the Lu family.”

Mo Hua then understood.

This Head of the Division was likely the Qian Head of the Division just now.

In cahoots with the Lu family.

Mo Hua thought of something else and asked: “Is the old ancestor of the Lu family already dead?”

Qing Lan nodded, saying with some delight: “Dead!”

“It is said that because he did too much evil and indulged in pleasure without limit, his evil thoughts grew, and he made a mistake while cultivating. He died after living for just over two hundred years.”

“On the day he died, the mine cultivators took all the money they had for food to buy firecrackers and set them off for a whole day…”

“The Lu family couldn’t stop it at all.”

This old fellow died well, and even died lively…

Mo Hua thought silently in his heart.

However, dying after living for only two hundred years was still letting him off lightly.

Mo Hua thought for a moment, then said: “The old ancestor of the Lu family died, so the successor family master is Lu Chengyun, right?”

“Mm.” Qing Lan nodded.

“Is Lu Chengyun good or bad?” Mo Hua asked.

Qing Lan furrowed her brows, thought for a while, then said:

“Generally okay, not considered very good, but compared to the other people in the Lu family, he can be considered a ‘good person’.”

“He is not so harsh towards the mine cultivators.”

“When mine cultivators die, he will also let the Lu family compensate with spirit stones.”

“Many matters are not as excessive as the old ancestor of the Lu family.”

“Although the mine cultivators still live hard lives, because they have always lived hard lives, they are all used to it, so no one scolds him.”

“Unlike the old ancestor of the Lu family…”

Mo Hua nodded slightly.

This was almost the same as his impression.

Lu Chengyun was gentle and refined, but with deep schemes. He prioritized the Lu family’s interests, acted steadily, and wouldn’t be too excessive, but it was also impossible for him to abandon the family’s mine interests to treat the mine cultivators kindly.

Mo Hua asked again: “Sister Qing Lan, have you seen any elders of the Lu family in the Hundred Flowers Building?”

Qing Lan nodded, “I’ve seen several.”

“Do you feel that among them, there is anyone particularly suspicious?”

Qing Lan frowned, “What kind of suspicious?”

“Just…” Mo Hua thought for a bit and said, “Someone who knows array methods, but doesn’t act like a Lu family person, or is sneaky, and their way of doing bad things is different from others…”

Qing Lan thought for a while, then shook her head:

“I don’t know about that, I only looked from afar, I didn’t interact with them much.”

Then she said, “However, speaking of suspicious, that South Yue Sect elder who brought you here last time is actually quite suspicious…”

Mo Hua was startled, “South Yue Sect? Elder Su?”

“Mm mm.” Qing Lan nodded, “His surname is Su.”

Mo Hua said curiously: “Where is he suspicious?”

Qing Lan said puzzledly: “He’s clearly a regular customer, yet he still pretends to be unfamiliar. Isn’t that very suspicious?”

Mo Hua’s eyes rolled, and he asked in a low voice:

“Elder Su is a regular customer of the Hundred Flowers Building?”

“Mm, he used to come often, almost treating the Hundred Flowers Building as his home…”

Mo Hua’s expression was astonished.

He had guessed that Elder Su was familiar, but he didn’t expect that Elder Su was actually this familiar…

Truly… people cannot be judged by appearances.

Qing Lan looked at Mo Hua, somewhat troubled. She hesitated for a moment, then finally said in a low voice:

“This matter, I’m telling you, you must not tell others…”

Mo Hua’s heart was curious, and he quickly nodded.

Qing Lan approached Mo Hua and said in a low voice:

“That Elder Su, once had a very good relationship with Sister Shuixian in the building, and even once thought of buying Sister Shuixian’s freedom.”

“Later, I heard that Sister Shuixian… was even pregnant with Elder Su’s child…”

Mo Hua involuntarily opened his mouth wide.

He didn’t expect that Elder Su actually had this kind of “romantic affair”.

“What about that child?”

Qing Lan shook her head, “I don’t know.”

“What about that Shuixian?”

Qing Lan sighed, “She died.”

Mo Hua furrowed his brows.

Qing Lan was somewhat regretful and sad, “Sister Shuixian was a very good person. She was beautiful, skilled, and treated people very gently…”

“But later, I don’t know how, she just died.”

“Elder Su seemed sad about this for a period of time, and I don’t know what he wanted to investigate, but in the end, there was nothing.”

“Probably couldn’t investigate it.”

Qing Lan lowered her head, “People like us, our lives are lowly. If we die, we just die. The Dao Court Division won’t care, the Lu family doesn’t care, and the madam only regrets having one less body that can earn spirit stones…”

“Whether we live or die, they won’t care. In this world, no one will care…”

Qing Lan’s voice became lower and lower, and her expression was also very desolate.

Mo Hua also felt a bit of a lump in his throat.

Qing Lan lowered her head. After a long time, seeing Mo Hua’s expression also somewhat low, she was startled, wiped her tears, and said with a laugh:

“Little young master, forgive me, I shouldn’t have said these things.”

Then she said gratefully:

“Without little young master, I probably wouldn’t have been able to escape this sea of bitterness…”

“Perhaps I would still be in the Hundred Flowers Building, forcing a smile, serving people with my looks, and then one day, unknowingly die…”

“Now I don’t need to care about the eyes of others, I can support myself. This is already better than anything.”

Qing Lan’s gaze was sincere, and her tone was genuine.

Although her eyes were red, her gaze was very firm.

Mo Hua felt a little better in his heart.

After leaving the inn, Mo Hua walked on the street.

Looking south, there were the mines.

Looking north, there were the magnificent Lu family, and Jinhua Street, which would be brightly lit and steeped in debauchery in the evening.

The mine cultivators risked their lives for them, and the children of the mine cultivators still had to be slaves and prostitutes, providing them with pleasure and becoming their tools for earning spirit stones.

They also became their chips for bribing the Dao Court Division and pulling other forces into their fold.

In Mo Hua’s eyes, a faint cold light flickered.

(End of this chapter)