The male supporting character was actually myself.

"It's not just the fancy stuff they use; look at that table over there, that's top-quality opium paste. Once someone gets involved with this stuff, they can't live without it. I bet the two sisters are making the young master smoke opium to boost their business, that's why they're so attached to him..."

…………

Zhang Ziqiu stood there, stunned, having seriously considered what the consequences of digging this pit would be.

But when she actually stood in the place that Dongchen longed for, and saw the woman he thought about day and night, especially when she saw the three of them in bed with her own eyes... that scene kept flashing through her mind, making Zhang Ziqiu feel a little breathless.

She heard the whispers and chatter of the concubines around her, but it was as if she heard nothing at all; her mind was buzzing.

Two pieces of rotten meat!

How filthy!

Thousands ride, tens of thousands straddle...

Every now and then, nauseating words would rush into her ears, constantly assaulting her fragile heart.

Zhang Ziqiu looked around the huge bedroom blankly. She had never seen any of the various furnishings in the room before, but she could easily imagine how many men of all shapes and sizes, some tall, some short, some fat, some thin, some dirty, and some smelly, would come in through this door and then flirt with the Bai sisters and undress...

Day after day, people come and go.

And Li Dongchen was doing the same thing. They even entertained a man from who-knows-where last night, and today they seduced and bewitched him into bed...

Zhang Ziqiu felt increasingly disgusted; the concubines' gossip sounded like a swarm of flies!

Buzzing and hovering in the room, crawling all over the smooth-skinned but rotten bodies of the Bai Moli sisters, and flying over the naked Li Dongchen who was hurriedly looking for clothes.

"Brother!" she cried out helplessly, feeling the world spinning around her, before her eyes rolled back and she fainted.

"Help! Someone come quick!"

"The young mistress has fainted!"

…………

A group of concubines screamed for help. From the moment the general stormed out of the door in a rage to the moment Zhang Ziqiu fainted, only a dozen seconds had passed. The entire Qinxiang Xiaozhu was in complete chaos, with shouts and carriages moving about.

"Second Master, everything has been settled in the manor," Zhang Mingyuan reported back, both anxious and angry.

"Is your sister alright?"

Mentioning his younger sister Ziqiu, Zhang Mingyuan felt both embarrassed and angry.

Damn it, you're so lucky to be following the Second Young Master, why do you have to jump into the fire pit and I can't stop you? You must have a hole in your brain and water is leaking in!

"You should talk to her later. That cowardly Li Dongchen isn't someone you can entrust your life to." Jiang Chen thought for a moment and then advised, "Fortunately, she's now a primary school principal, so she has her own career."

Encourage her to focus on her career. If Li Dongchen ever comes to his senses, we can just support her as a useless person.

If Li Dongchen insists on going down a dead end, your sister has her own career and future. You can find her a good family to settle down with later, which is much better than her following a spineless womanizer.

Zhang Mingyuan nodded, his face full of helplessness.

Seeing how devastated her younger sister was today, she felt terrible too. But if she could use this opportunity to wake her up and stop her obsessive love for Li Dongchen, perhaps a short, sharp pain would be better than a long, drawn-out one.

As the night deepened, the big boss of the Paramount Ballroom, who was about to go to sleep, was so shocked by the sudden news that he immediately dressed and ran to Qinxiang Xiaozhu.

[Mission: Help Li Dongchen overcome his difficulties and find him a safe and comfortable house to live in before dawn. Reward: One-time use D-grade item x1]

The sudden task assignment startled the fluffy little creature, who was dozing off on its host's shoulder with its hands tucked in, and it immediately perked up. "Meow? The script has been updated?"

It took out the script and glanced at it. It was still in the familiar "updating" state, and then it breathed a sigh of relief. "Don't worry, host. The script team is scratching their heads and they won't be able to turn the current situation around anytime soon. They can't just use a meteorite escape or have everyone selectively forget their memories."

Besides, amnesia is not the same as dementia. The protagonist doesn't have any special abilities to make him act silly, so no one can fall for his tricks.

Fortunately, the army has just been incorporated and needs to rest and recuperate before it goes out to expand its territory. Otherwise, we would be leading troops into battle right now and have to run back to clean up the mess for the protagonist, which would be too much trouble.

"Hurry up and take care of them, then we'll sweep south to find you a wife!"

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Turning Against Someone Is Unbelievable

Jiang Chen glanced at the task and couldn't help but laugh. "How miserable is this? As the chosen one, he still has to rely on the best supporting actor to help him find a place to stay. It seems that Li Dongchen has been thoroughly ripped off by those two sisters recently, and he doesn't even have a single silver dollar left."

It was past midnight, and the streets were quiet as snowflakes began to fall gently from the sky.

"Is that really what the Commander-in-Chief instructed?" The owner of the Paramount Ballroom was a thin, middle-aged man with slicked-back hair, small round glasses with gold rims, and a cane in his hand. After listening to the manager's account, his refined face was slightly furrowed, and he asked again, "He didn't say much else? What about the young commander?"

"The commander-in-chief only said those two sentences, while the young commander-in-chief remained silent." The steward racked his brains, trying to recall the chaotic events, and hesitated before saying, "However... before the young commander-in-chief left, he passed by me and gave me a deep look! Boss, do you think these two brothers, who are already openly and covertly rivals, might..."

He glanced at the manager?

What is the deeper meaning behind this?

The owner of the Paramount frowned even more. For a businessman to be able to operate in both the legitimate and criminal worlds, besides having some connections and powerful backers, being shrewd and diplomatic is also an essential skill.

Especially when dealing with such important figures, you have to carefully analyze every glance and every little gesture they make.

Otherwise, if you don't understand someone's hints and do something wrong, you'll be in trouble!

The commander personally led the entire household down to the tower to arrest his eldest son, declaring in front of everyone that he would sever their father-son relationship and even strip him of his surname... It seems the internal strife within the commander's mansion is more serious than imagined.

Otherwise, he would never be able to figure it out no matter how hard he tried: why would a young master from a prominent family visiting a brothel make his father so angry?

Considering that Li Dongchen, despite being a young master, only got into a school with little financial reward and struggled to pay thirty silver dollars for his health care every night, has the Marshal really given up on him?

The reason why the White Jasmine sisters raised their prices is obvious; they simply want to get rid of those two troublemakers in a dignified manner.

From a perspective of self-interest, Paramount has done nothing wrong and is merely suffering an undeserved disaster. Therefore, since the warlord only vented his anger on his son and did not implicate himself, he has escaped a calamity. It seems that he should quickly think of a way to take advantage of the situation and get rid of Bai Moli and her sister.

Making money is important, but when these "money trees" can bring them utter ruin, money becomes nothing more than an external thing.

However, aside from the expenses of hiring doctors to treat them, it's not too bad that they haven't invested too much in them, so they won't lose much money. On the contrary, the young master who is still staying at Qinxiang Xiaozhu is a problem.

It's snowing in the middle of the night, it's not appropriate to send him out;

If we don't get rid of this troublesome guy, we won't be able to handle any more trouble he might cause!

In particular, the steward raised a very important point—that kid Li Dongchen might be trying to kill himself. Ordinary people can't understand the thoughts of this kind of literary young master with a head full of strange and weird ideas. What if he originally planned to have a night of passion and then find a place to end it all?

Furthermore, with the commander-in-chief publicly humiliating him, what if Li Dongchen really tries to commit suicide because he can't save face?

"What's going on upstairs?" the boss asked in a low voice, pointing upwards with his cane. "Do you think we should let him stay here for the night, or send him to the Marshal's Mansion?"

The steward was startled. "How can we send him back to the Marshal's mansion now? Didn't you see how the Marshal charged forward with his gun? He fired a shot as soon as he entered the house! Even if we send him now, he definitely won't dare to go back! But if we leave him here... what if he does something rash?"

The boss casually slapped his cane lightly. "I know what to do, why would I need to ask you? Damn it, this is a hot potato we can't get rid of. If anything goes wrong, we'll all be in trouble!"

"How about... we ask the young marshal?" The steward thought for a moment and muttered under his breath, "No matter what, he is the eldest son of the marshal's mansion. We can't afford to offend him. The young marshal is quite righteous and has some connections with Manager Lin. Wouldn't it be better if he stepped in and got rid of this troublemaker?"

No matter what suicidal thoughts he has later, it has nothing to do with our Paramount, right?

"Then what are you standing there for? Send someone to drag Manager Lin over!" The boss thought for a moment and it seemed like a good idea. He breathed a slight sigh of relief. "If this is handled properly and we get rid of this plague, I'll give you a big reward at the end of the month!"

The manager hurriedly sent someone to call Manager Lin over to discuss countermeasures, and also tiptoed upstairs for a quick glance.

Li Dongchen was sitting on the edge of the bed, lost in thought;

The Ruan sisters, already dressed in silk pajamas, nestled together beside him, crying their eyes out.

"It's over, it's completely over..." Li Dongchen, who was completely exhausted after the effects of the drug wore off, felt as if he had been doused with a bucket of cold water. Only then did he go through the events that had happened in the short few months since he returned to China, and he realized that he had fallen into the trap from the beginning because he underestimated Li Jiangchen and was completely unprepared.

From secret rendezvous at the villa to debt collection and arson, from the division of the family property to being publicly humiliated by his father tonight, seemingly unrelated events are all driven by a hidden hand.

It's all Li Jiangchen!

Regardless of the role he played behind the scenes, the fact that he himself has been reduced to being expelled from the Marshal's Mansion and lost face, while he has risen step by step to become the Young Marshal and wield sole military power, shows that everything was planned in advance.

That guy hasn't been idle in these four years; he's already dug a pit for me to jump into when I come back.

How can we turn things around now?

"Stop crying!" Li Dongchen was annoyed. He had nothing left and could not go back to the Marshal's Mansion. In the end, he had spent all of his two silver dollars on gifts to please them.

It's freezing cold outside, and we don't know where we'll end up or what we'll eat for our next meal. Yet these two jinxes are still crying and whining, which is really annoying.

"Brother Dongchen..." Ruan Xiangqin's delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly, her eyes filled with tears, her pitiful appearance evoking pity in everyone who saw her. She gently bit her lip and said in a tearful voice, "What are we going to do now?"

"Waaaaah... Sister, I'm scared!" Ruan Xiangyun cried even louder, "We're sure we'll get beaten up again!"

"Stop crying," Li Dongchen said weakly.

The two sisters were so engrossed in their fear of the needle torture that they wept and didn't hear a thing.

A nameless rage surged within him, and Li Dongchen, not knowing where the anger came from, kicked them and roared, "Stop your damn mourning! You two are jinxes, if I get involved with you, I'll be doomed!"

The angry outburst seemed to release some of his fear and anger. The immense pressure in Li Dongchen's heart found a breakthrough. He kicked Ruan Xiangyun to the ground and slapped the crying Ruan Xiangqin across the face.

"You...you actually hit me?" She never expected that the young master, who was harmless just a second ago, would be so terrifying and merciless when he lost his temper. Ruan Xiangqin covered her burning left cheek and tears rolled down her cheeks instantly. "What did I, a weak woman who was powerless to resist and had already fallen into prostitution, do wrong?"

"You were the one who struck up a conversation by the river; you were the one who led people to burn down Qinya Manor; and you were the one who eagerly came over to spend the night—what have we sisters ever done to offend you?"

Enraged, Li Dongchen kicked her, knocking her to the ground. "I paid for this, I can hit you and curse you as I please! You're just a whore who's been played with, and you dare to talk back? If any maids or servants in the Marshal's Mansion talk back, I'll drag them out and beat them half to death, let alone someone like you who sells herself!"

He grew increasingly furious, grabbed a wooden toy from beside the bed, and began to beat and smash it indiscriminately on the two sisters. They cried out in pain, but were too afraid of the needle torture to run away. They could only hug each other, weeping and enduring the beatings and scoldings.

"Boss, a fight has broken out upstairs!" The manager rushed over upon hearing the commotion and whispered, "What should we do? Should we intervene?"

The boss exhaled a smoke ring, raised an eyebrow, glanced upstairs, and sneered, "Who cares? Anyway, I'll have to find a way to sell them off later. I need to vent my anger somewhere, right?"

Li Dongchen is too spineless. If it were someone with a violent temper, they would probably want to strangle them.

"Incompetent men, it's all too common for them to take their anger out on women when they can't handle things themselves. Let him hit me. He might leave Qinxiang Xiaozhu after he calms down, and then it'll be none of our business."

"That's true. Even if something happens after he's vented his anger and runs away, we can tell him the truth: we couldn't stop him or persuade him to come back, so it's none of our business. The problem is if he gets tired after fighting for a long time and then stays here and refuses to leave. That would be troublesome."

"Just wait, when Manager Lin comes over, tell him to hurry up and deliver gifts to the young marshal with bags full of presents. No one will get a proper rest tonight until we get rid of this plague!"

Upstairs, there was a loud fight, with people crying and shouting.

Downstairs, the owner of the Paramount Ballroom was smoking and staring at his manager, listening intently.

Outside, a group of thugs huddled in a circle, whispering amongst themselves, occasionally glancing up at the building where the wailing and crying were taking place.

The snow fell heavier and heavier, with large, fluffy snowflakes fluttering and swirling, covering Yucheng in a blanket of white.

"Da da da……"

On the quiet, deserted street, the sound of rapid hoofbeats jolted the drowsy crowd awake!

"Manager Lin is here?" The boss, who had almost fallen asleep on his cane, sat up abruptly at the sound. "Open the door quickly and tell him not to waste any more time. Go find the young marshal! If he's any later, the young marshal's mansion will be closed, and he won't be able to get in!"

"Boss! Boss, the young marshal is here!" At the same time, the door was pushed open, and the squad leader of the thugs rushed in through the cold wind and snow, shouting, "Come out and greet him!"

The boss's heart skipped a beat. He thought to himself, "I haven't even asked anyone to invite this big shot yet. Why did he come here on his own?"

Could it be that they're taking this opportunity to retaliate against the boss?