He was an orphan who was thrown by his parents in the middle of the night when he was six months old. If it weren't for the fact that an old bustard from Qinglou happened to pass by here at that time, and happened to be moved by compassion, then he would probably freeze to death on that Chinese New Year's Eve when all families were reunited.

Although the girls who have been in the wind and dust for half their lives are accustomed to seeing men's flowers, they still like to fantasize that they can get away from here in the future, go to a place where no one knows them, marry a gentle and considerate husband, and give birth to a filial and obedient child. So when Aunt Leng brought him back to the Qinglou, who was only six months old, none of the girls objected to Aunt Leng's idea of keeping him. Not only that, but in the days that followed, each of them treated him as if he were their own son, and doted on him very much.

His appearance seems to have helped the girls fulfill half of their dreams, and under the care of the girls, he is also growing up healthy and strong.

The girls had high expectations of him, and the men who came here for pleasure had been invited by them to give him some advice. In addition, he is talented and intelligent, and when he has nothing to do, he will always be caught by Aunt Leng to study, so that when he was seven or eight years old, in this bustling town comparable to the capital, no one could win him in the opposite poem.

He was able to have such a result, but it made the girls in the building proud for a long time. But because he grew up in Qinglou since he was a child, these achievements have become some dirty and dirty topics for some people after they have eaten and drunk. Qinglou has always been the fastest place to spread news, so these words quickly reached Aunt Leng's ears.

For Aunt Leng, his existence is her only hope in this life. She would love to give him all the best, and she wanted him to stay with her all the time, but if her existence and his future conflicted, then she would rather give him someone else to raise, at least in exchange for a clean life.

Years of exposure to his ears and eyes have taught him that nature is not only the piano, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, wine and tea like spring and snow, here, he understood prematurely what is worldly and what is called profit, so when Aunt Leng insisted on sending him away, he naturally understood what Aunt Leng was for.

But he didn't want to.

He was reluctant to leave here, unwilling to cut off all ties with these people who truly loved him, so when Aunt Leng insisted on sending him away, he told her that if he left here and became the same person as those men who came here to have fun, then he was willing to live here forever and take care of them who were hurt by the world.

When an eight-year-old child said these words to Aunt Leng, who had already seen thousands of men, Aunt Leng's eyes hid endless tears. Without hesitation, she picked up the young man and sent him back to his room, then dismissed the man who had come to pick him up, and gave up on the idea of sending him away completely.

He continued to live here, being cared for by everyone, and trying to learn to take care of those who loved him.

In the blink of an eye, another eight years have passed.

For him as a child, eight years passed like a white horse, and it was fleeting. In these eight years, he not only practiced a good hand, but also painted extremely expressive paintings. And when he has nothing to do, he often composes lyrics and music for the girls in the building, writes about their love and hate, and sings about their joys and sorrows. His lyrics were written with sincerity and the tunes were so melodious that not only the girls of the city were proud to have his songs, but also the famous prostitutes from all over the world were willing to pay a lot of money for him to write a song for them.

He can be said to be doing well, but few of the girls in the building who raised him ended well, even Aunt Leng died of a serious illness a year ago.

He is used to seeing people coming and going, and he is tired of seeing worldly human feelings, but the death of Aunt Leng still gave him a great blow. He began to drink heavily, and every day he was drunk except for pleasure, but he was drunk for a long time. The girls in the building didn't want to see him go on like this, so they tried to take him out for a walk. And the longest they go to is the lantern festival once every two months.

The Lantern Festival is the most famous festival in the area, and is held in front of the temple on the 18th of every two months. At that time, all kinds of lanterns will be placed on both sides of the temple for people to enjoy, and in the courtyard of the temple, there are many lantern riddles, as long as you answer a certain number correctly, you can exchange for various prizes.

Although the prizes are small items, because of this "gift", it still attracts many people to participate in the event. He had been invited by the girls many times, and he had long lost interest in these simple anagrams, but he knew that they did it just to enchant him to face reality, so every time he was faced with an invitation, he never refused.

With him to participate in the lantern riddle, no one will ever win in numbers. Almost every time he would win back the prizes and give them to the girls in the building, and then secretly stuff some silver taels to the boss who was in charge of the activity, so that he would not lose money.

In this way, every Lantern Festival, in addition to watching the lanterns, people come to see him guess the lantern riddles. Sometimes the literati and artists are in the mood to join him, which makes the Lantern Festival even more exciting.

The girls were happy to take him with them every Lantern Festival, but after a long time, he really lost interest in it. So when the girls invited him again, he decided to attend one last time, and after this time, he would never go again.

For his decision, the girls couldn't help but feel a little sad. But in order to commemorate this last time, they still dressed up and did not want to leave regrets.

Compared with the lanterns, the girls around him this night are really beautiful scenery, so beautiful that people can't take their eyes off it. He amusedly mingled among them and looked at the envious or jealous eyes of the people around him, and for the first time felt that it was a sin to be too beautiful.

Soon they reached the temple, where the owner of the riddle had been waiting for a long time, and when he saw him coming, he pretended to mysteriously drag him aside, and then pointed to the two men who were looking up to think about the riddle, and told him that he had an opponent tonight.

He had never been interested in this kind of competition, so he smiled and told the boss truthfully. Seeing his attitude, the boss returned to his position with a disappointed expression, and sighed several times during the process. He smiled helplessly at the boss, wanting to return to the girls, but when he looked up, he saw the clear gaze of the man who the boss regarded as his "opponent".

And this glance became the beginning of all love and regret.