The Courtesans

Wei Dan Sheng could sense his gaze.

He buried himself in the other's arms, intentionally making his limbs a bit stiff.

Sure enough, the arms holding him tightened.

It seemed Lu Shen really liked to smile.

Since yesterday, Xi Cui had seen that a smile was always hanging on his face. Among the bandits, his refined smile made him seem very approachable, but this did not mean he was easy to get along with. After all, even when he killed, he carried that smile, displaying a certain ruthlessness and malice.

Facing Lu Shen, who smiled even when killing, Xi Cui could not and dared not underestimate him.

Wei Dan Sheng was afraid of him.

Xi Cui held him a bit tighter.

The monkey perched on his shoulder screeched impatiently twice.

Lu Shen only glanced at Wei Dan Sheng with an indifferent air, then withdrew his gaze, asking her with a smile: "Old Six, where are you going? Usually, you're the most active when it comes to eating. Why are you late for lunch today?"

Xi Cui imitated the manner of forest heroes from TV dramas and chuckled twice. Extending a hand, she patted Wei Dan Sheng with her large palm: "He was too smelly, so I took him out to bathe."

Perhaps because she was quite tense, the young boy in her arms let out a soft groan when she patted him.

Perhaps she wasn't optimistic enough to believe Lu Shen would be fooled by a lie. Rather than having Lu Shen see through her lie and suffer the same fate as the merchant yesterday, it was better to just tell the truth.

"Big Brother, let me put him down, and then I'll go back to eat with you."

"No need."

Xi Cui was startled. "What?"

Lu Shen smiled and said, "Bring him along."

……

Compared to yesterday, today's lunch was much richer. The brown rice was mixed with a good amount of fine white rice, topped with a layer of minced meat. However, to Xi Cui, this meal was even harder to swallow than yesterday's.

She didn't know what Lu Shen meant by telling her to bring Wei Dan Sheng to eat. But it seemed Lu Shen had only mentioned it casually, as he was soon clamored away by others to drink wine.

A crowd of people squeezed into one room to eat. The smell of sweat and grease mingled together, making one almost want to vomit. Yet they didn't mind at all; their rowdy laughter and curses nearly brought the roof down, and their noisy banter was filled with vulgarities too crude to listen to.

"Now that we have money, we can go down the mountain for some fun! Big Brother, when are you going to get us some more cash to spend?"

Lu Shen sat at the head of the table, drained a bowl of wine, and smiled. "What are you afraid of? You won't be left out. Or are you saying you've been barging into widows' houses all day, eating and drinking for free, only to be kicked out by the owners?"

"Nonsense! Those courtesans see how heroic and mighty I am, they all cling to me and won't let me out of bed!"

While Xi Cui listened absentmindedly, she gathered the meat dregs into her bowl, only picking up a few pieces of pickled vegetables to eat.

The meat they ate was all fatty meat, the grease soaking to the bottom of the bowl. After a few bites, Xi Cui felt so nauseous she wanted to throw up, so she stopped her chopsticks and looked over at Wei Dan Sheng.

Wei Dan Sheng was not as picky as her; he ate whatever was there, finishing all the fatty meat in his bowl.

By the time Wei Dan Sheng finished eating, the rice in Xi Cui's bowl was basically untouched.

"You..." The young boy suddenly spoke hesitantly, his voice soft.

That Wei Dan Sheng would actively speak to her made Xi Cui overjoyed. This meant her efforts were not in vain. She quickly snapped out of it and asked him what was wrong.

The boy pursed his lips. "Are you still eating?"

"No, do you want to eat?"

Xi Cui was taken aback. Seeing him look at her bowl, she realized.

For children his age, parents would usually chase them around just to get them to eat. It was rare to find a child as unpicky and easy to feed as him.

She didn't want anyone eating her leftovers, and naturally, she didn't want Wei Dan Sheng to eat them either.

"Give me your bowl." Xi Cui reached out. "I'll scoop some rice for you."

Wei Dan Sheng shook his head and shrank back.

Xi Cui had no choice but to pick up the clean portions of food from her bowl and transfer them to Wei Dan Sheng's.

"Eat."

"Thank you," the young boy said in a low voice as he picked up the bowl, not forgetting his manners.

Although his voice was quiet, it could still be heard clearly in the noisy environment.

With Wei Dan Sheng being so obedient, the guilt in Xi Cui's heart couldn't help but deepen.

With Wei Dan Sheng like this, how was she supposed to win him over?

With her current appearance, trying to win over Wei Dan Sheng was basically like being a pedophilic creep.

However, no matter how guilty she felt, she still had to complete the mission.

She wanted to go home. She wasn't running away from some scumbag, nor was she an orphan. She had a happy family, a very fortunate life, and her family was waiting for her. She couldn't just stay inside an online novel forever.

This was ridiculous.

Her desire to go home triumphed over her guilt. Xi Cui began to consider how exactly she could gain Wei Dan Sheng's trust and affection.

The decisive condition to complete the mission was for Wei Dan Sheng to personally say words like "love" or "like" to her. But the system hadn't specified whether "like" had to imply romantic love.

Or would other kinds of affection suffice? Xi Cui felt it wouldn't be that simple.

However, if it truly had to be romantic love, she felt she might never be able to go home in this lifetime.

For now, she could only place her hopes on the system not being so insane.

Once Wei Dan Sheng finished eating, she took him back to his room. He didn't belong here; it was too noisy, and the things they said would have a bad influence on him.

After calling him to eat, Lu Shen had cast him aside. Wei Dan Sheng here was like a little lamb lost in a pack of wolves, completely out of place.

Standing in front of the thatched hut, Xi Cui thought for a moment, then turned back to the large hall where they were eating.

As soon as she entered the room, Lu Shen was still the first to spot her.

He was indeed very eye-catching, and sitting at the head of the table made it hard not to notice him.

"You're back?" Lu Shen was clearly directing these words at her.

Xi Cui nodded with an air of nonchalance. "I came to accompany Big Brother for a drink."

Lu Shen smiled and said, "Then you've come at the perfect time."

While she was wondering why she had come at the perfect time, she saw Lu Shen stop eating and drinking. He led a group of men directly down the mountain.

A band of bandits, without any intention of hiding, swaggered through the streets and stopped in front of a house.

This house looked no different from any ordinary house, but upon entering and seeing several women sitting there drinking tea and cracking melon seeds, one realized it was a different world.

Looking at the women with heavily powdered faces and rouged lips, a strange sense of familiarity welled up in Xi Cui's heart.

When she saw those women approach, Xi Cui finally understood. It turned out that once Lu Shen and his men had eaten and drunk their fill, he would lead them to visit prostitutes.

Xi Cui's mood suddenly became incredibly complicated.