Notes on Longevity

Chapter 101 Who decides right and wrong? Who judges good and bad?
"Actually, my sister and I were going to buy charcoal that night, but we couldn't find any, so we were about to go back. On the way, we happened to meet a man in black who put you in the snow."

Qingyou and Ping An reminisced about that night. Ping An also remembered that he was carried away from that dilapidated temple by several masked men in black, who also kicked his master.

Thinking of this, Ping An decided to go to the dilapidated temple, but only after meeting someone.

"Then, you woke up the next day and ran away. We searched for you everywhere, and it was snowing heavily at the time. We were afraid you would freeze to death in the snow. But you were lucky. Later, your sister's brother and his family found you."

Yes, he was lucky to have met Grandpa Medicine and the others, otherwise he really would have frozen to death in that alley. And he still remembers the first thing he said to himself after being woken up by Corn, "Don't you have a home either?"

How should he put it? If he said he did, he had always wandered around with his master; if he said he didn't, his master would take him with him wherever he went, teaching him to read, write, etiquette, and morality, like a teacher and a father.

"And what about you? How did you end up in a brothel?"

Ping An felt both pitiful and fortunate. He met his master during his most difficult time, and when his master was not by his side, he met many people who were genuinely kind to him and protected him. These included Zhou Ruoru who saved him, Grandpa Yao, his senior brothers, uncles, and the Old Ancestor Yuyang.

But when he learned that Qingyou had also been a prostitute, he felt a pang of pity. He knew that Zhou Ruoru's family had been wronged and she had ended up in a brothel, but he didn't know why Qingyou had ended up in a brothel. Was she sold by her parents?

"I'm sorry, Miss Qingyou, I didn't mean to ask."

Qingyou fell silent, and Ping An realized he had misspoke. Over the years on the mountain, he had become familiar with his senior brother, uncle, and patriarch, knowing them well enough to ask directly about anything. He had unconsciously asked Qingyou the same question. But this was no longer the mountain. Everyone in the world has their own difficulties and unspeakable secrets, things they might not even tell their closest relatives, let alone a stranger they had never met twice.

“It’s alright,” Qingyou smiled sadly at him, then turned around and continued walking out of the palace with Ping’an. “That incident more than ten years ago separated me from my family. It wasn’t easy for a girl like me in those chaotic times. I was captured and sold several times. When I got older, I was tortured by those people in turn. I remember one time I was tortured to the point of almost dying.”

At this point, Ping An heard her sobbing and choking. Her body was trembling uncontrollably. This incident left a deep impression on Ping An: Taoists cultivate stillness and speak little. Sometimes, not speaking doesn't make you seem mute.

"It was because of that time that I was sold to the Drunken Flower Brothel. Actually, the Drunken Flower Brothel didn't want me when they saw how sickly I looked. If it weren't for you, sister, I might be in a snowy field like you. But by the time someone finds me, I might already be dead."

"I'm sorry, Miss Qingyou." Ping An's satchel wasn't heavy, but it felt like a Kunlun Mountain pressing down on his back, making him bow his head and unable to straighten his back.

"Actually, it's nothing." Qingyou walked ahead wiping away her tears and said, "Sometimes when I think of that woman Ying'er, I feel better. She met my sister later than me, and she suffered more torment than I did."

Ping An lowered her head and remained silent, simply following behind her quietly. However, Qingyou didn't seem to intend to stop. She continued, "Ying'er was also sold to Zuihualou, but the madam of Zuihualou at that time was not Lin Niang, but Su Niang."

"Back then, Su Niang was extremely difficult to deal with. The girls in the brothel avoided her like the plague. Moreover, she would beat and scold you for the slightest mistake. Ying'er was always being punished because she had just arrived. Over time, she and Su Niang became the closest in the brothel."

Ping An listened with a puzzled look in her heart. How could their relationship become the best after all the beatings and scolding? "Because after she was beaten and scared, she kept trying to please Su Niang, even enduring the extremely disgusting behavior of some strange customers, just to make them happy. When the customers were happy, Su Niang would naturally get more benefits. So Ying'er suffered more and more torment, and later she became very haggard. Until her sister went to Zuihualou."

"When my sister arrived at Zuihua Tower, the Crown Prince was worried about Su Niang, so he went to other brothels to find Lin Niang and asked her to go to Zuihua Tower. Since the Crown Prince couldn't show his face, he asked Lin Niang to help take care of my sister. He also sent someone to pretend to be a pimp in the brothel so that he could protect my sister if anything happened."

"Although her sister only allowed Ying'er to work as a dancer and not do anything else, this still made her resentful and constantly oppose her sister. Perhaps anyone would have done the same."

Qingyou sighed, "I had just finally gotten better after suffering so much, but my sister's arrival changed everything. All the suffering I endured before just vanished like smoke."

"Taoist priest, please take care."

Qingyou kept saying this the whole way, and Ping An listened the whole way. He glanced at Qingyou, then looked at the long stone-paved road outside the palace, and finally said to Qingyou, "Thank you, Miss Qingyou."

"You're too kind, Master Ping An," Qingyou returned the greeting and smiled at Ping An.

Ping An, carrying the chest on his back, smiled with that melancholy face, then walked towards the main road, towards a certain place.

Qingyou watched Ping An's figure gradually disappear into the distance, then turned around and headed back the way she came.

The autumn sun rose high, and a cool breeze arose. Ping An walked along the road, whisk in hand, recalling the person Emperor Wenshang had told him about—Yan Yu.

"After you leave the palace tomorrow, you can go and find him. This person can predict everything under the heavens. Although he couldn't predict your master back then, he might be able to now."

During dinner, Ping An recounted his ordeal. Emperor Wen Shang shook his head helplessly, wondering if his master was still alive. He could only tell Ping An to go find Yan Yu.

After leaving the palace, Ping An headed directly towards Yan Yu's residence in the south of the city.

Actually, calling it a mansion is less accurate than calling it a small courtyard.

"You must be Ping An." Ping An arrived at the entrance of the courtyard and was about to knock when the door opened by itself. At the same time, a deep and powerful voice came from a recliner.

"Ping An, a humble Taoist, greets Lord Yan." Ping An looked at the person reclining in the chair, a sense of awe welling up within him. He had heard from Emperor Wenshang that this man was nearly three hundred years old.

(End of this chapter)