On a hot summer night, the lively rouge alley is full of the girls' sweet voices, the thin clothes and skin are half exposed, and the cool breeze blows gently with bursts of sweet and greasy fragrance, like a cat's claw scratching the man's heart and liver.

In an inconspicuous corner, a half-aged in her forties, still charming, guards a small fat powder stall and strives to greet guests.

Her name is Liji, she used to be the most popular brand in Changxing City, and later became Chanjuange's mother, and after the glitz faded, her life was also colorful.

But there are always countless grievances where women get together, not to mention that the world of girls itself is a sinister vanity fair.

After being calculated once, Liji offended a powerful person and was swept out of the house by Chanjuange, and now she can only hide in the alley, relying on this small fat powder stall to survive.

Occasionally, one or two men would buy some rouge and incense powder from her stall and give them to the girls who were good friends, and whenever this time came, Liki would show twelve points of enthusiasm, as if she had entertained those noble sons when she was young.

Business was not bad tonight, and Liggie counted the copper in her hand, thinking that in a few days she would be able to pay off the credit of the grain and oil shop, and that she would not have to be taken advantage of by the pot-bellied boss.

Life is hard, but you have to go on, no matter how many ups and downs you go through, Liki will always give herself three points of expectation and seven points of hope.

At this moment, several big men rushed out of the crowd and walked straight towards Liji's fat powder stall, and when she saw these people, Liji's face suddenly changed, and she hurriedly packed up the stall and prepared to escape.

But she was still a step slower, a big man rushed to the stall first, and kicked his foot without saying a word, and with a "bang", the stall was suddenly kicked over, and the rouge gouache was scattered and sprinkled everywhere.

Liggie was distressed and frightened, and kept backing away.

The man smiled and came around: "Stinky bitch, you still dare to come!" ”

The bustling crowd seemed to have met a rat crossing the street, avoiding it and watching the excitement indifferently.

Liji knelt on the ground and prayed, "The slave family will go now, and ask a few strong men to raise their noble hands." ”

The man at the head smiled: "Raise your noble hand? Okay, pay back the money you owe, and we'll leave immediately, and we won't care where you sell it in the future! ”

Several strong men immediately laughed, but Liji's face changed, her eyes swept through the crowd, and she finally found a young woman dressed gorgeously and with resentful eyes.

It was Liki's "daughter", and Liki had helped her more than once when she was in power, but when she was unlucky, she took her place and took everything she had.

Perhaps afraid that she would come back one day, she did everything she could to destroy and oppose Liki everywhere, as if the worse Liki lived, the more stable her position became.

Oh, the human heart is the most sinister thing in the world.

Liji laughed miserably and hugged the cash box in her arms, which was the last trace of her foothold in this world.

"Stinky bitch, did you hear me talking to you?"

Seeing that Liji didn't speak, the big man led by him shouted angrily, kicked Liji in the chest, and immediately kicked her to the ground, and the small cash box fell aside.

Liji was suddenly shocked, regardless of the sharp pain in her chest, crawled to grab the cash box, but the cash box had been trampled under the feet of a big man.

"Please, strong man, spare the slave's life, slave ......"

Ligi burst into tears, holding the cash box in both hands, begging for mercy while looking at the big man, who seemed to be moved by her and let go of his feet.

Liji was overjoyed and was about to take the cash box back into her arms, but the foot stomped on her face and stomped on the ground.

"Stinky bitch, if you want you to spare your life, you can lick your shoes clean."

The strong men laughed again, and Liji felt miserable, but how could she, a weak woman, resist?

Dignity, she has never had, and the things she saved with her youth and flesh have been taken by others as her own, she only has this life now, and if she wants to live, she has to wag her tail like a dog and beg for mercy.

Liggie's heart was like ashes, she held the dirty foot with both hands, endured the nausea, and slowly leaned her head over.

The strong men laughed even more as if they were jealous, and the onlookers pointed at her with disdain, as if they despised her inferiority, but no one planned to stand up and do justice.

"Stop!"

At this moment, a crisp voice came from the crowd, Liji was slightly stunned, looked towards the place where the sound came from, and saw a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy walking out of the crowd.

The young man was brightly dressed, with red lips and white teeth, with the pride and sharpness unique to young people, and he didn't seem to take those strong men in his eyes at all.

Liji sighed in her heart, she had seen a lot of such young people, flowers in the greenhouse, accustomed to a pampered life, thinking how pure the world was, and she couldn't see the suffering of the world with her blood.

But when they really saw the power of it, they were scared, and they would withdraw as soon as possible, and how many popular girls were immersed in the romance of these teenagers, and finally ended up miserable.

"Yo, the hair hasn't grown, and you dare to learn from others?"

Several strong men and Liji thought the same, and when they saw him coming out, they couldn't help but tease a few words, and the crowd of onlookers suddenly burst into laughter.

However, the young man was not like those fledgling stunned youths, he was expressionless from beginning to end, and he didn't look at a few strong men, just pointed at Liji and asked coldly.

"How much does she owe you?"

The strong man at the head frowned, and he looked at the young man a few times, and saw that he was calm and calm, and his temperament was outstanding, so he was a little careful in his heart.

Changxing City is full of powerful people, and he can't be careless here.

"This stinky bitch owes you two hundred taels of silver, what, do you want to pay it back for her?"

The strong man at the head squeezed out a few words from between his teeth, and the onlookers suddenly gasped.

If you don't count the gray income such as Bing Jing and Tan Jing, the annual income of a first-class official in the imperial court is only eighty-seven stones, and it is only more than one hundred taels when converted into silver, and two hundred taels is definitely an astronomical amount for most people.

Seeing that the man and the lion opened his mouth, Liji's face changed and she wanted to refute, but before she could speak, the man glared at her viciously, which immediately made her feel a chill in her heart and didn't dare to say anything more.

Several strong men looked at the young man coldly, waiting to see his good show.

But the young man sneered, took out a silver ticket and threw it on the ground without blinking.

The man at the head picked up the silver ticket suspiciously, and his pupils suddenly shrank.

"Five hundred taels!"

The young man sneered: "Take the money and get out of here, and then dare to entangle and be careful of your dog's life!" ”

The young man's voice was still a little immature, but a few strong men didn't dare to underestimate it, and those who could throw out five hundred taels at will definitely kill their dogs.

A few strong men didn't dare to say more, and after hurriedly thanking the young man, they disappeared into the crowd, and never looked at Liji again.

No one noticed, and just as the strong men left, the shadow hidden in the crowd also quietly disappeared.

Liji looked at the young man in disbelief, and she was a little stunned by the sudden reversal, she couldn't figure it out, she was cheap, and she was old and decrepit, how could someone take five hundred taels of silver to save herself?

"Come with me, my master wants to see you."

The young man picked up Liji, who was in the circle, said lightly, and walked ahead first.

Liji came back to her senses and said yes in her heart, since others are willing to take out so much money, naturally they will not have no plans, they only have a half-old body, probably which powerful person has some special habits.

If you take your own life, you can't escape the fate of being played with by others after all.

She thought to herself, and was about to clean up the stall, but the young man turned around and said, "No need to clean up, you won't need these things in the future." ”

Liji felt a pang in her heart, did he want to use that money to buy the rest of his life?

She was miserable in her heart, but she had no right to resist, and when she saw that the young man was about to go away, she could only follow hard.

Li Ji nervously followed the boy out of Rouge Lane, through the trouble, to a mansion, the plaque of the mansion reads "Tianbao Pavilion".

Tianbao Pavilion should still be under repair, there was not a single subordinate along the way, most of the rooms were darkly lit, and it seemed that only one room on the fourth floor was lit.

The young man took her to the door, pointed inside, and said, "Go in, and my master will be waiting for you inside." ”

After speaking, without waiting for Liji to speak, he walked towards the darkness by himself.

At this moment, Liji's heart turned a thousand times, thinking wildly, guessing what fate she would face when she arrived in the room for a while.

Finally, she took a deep breath as she looked at the young man's vanishing back, and walked into the room as if she had mustered up the courage to wait for the doomsday judgment.

The room was large, and there were a lot of things piled up in it, almost all of which were covered with white cloths, as if they had just moved here and had not had time to tidy up.

She looked the whole room suspiciously, and suddenly saw another boy of seventeen or eighteen years old, with red lips and white teeth, sitting on a chair and drinking tea leisurely.

Liji was slightly stunned, this is the master of the young man just now? She had always thought that the master should be an old and ugly guy, but she didn't expect to be so young.

The boy seemed to notice Rikki's presence, looked up, and looked at her with a smile.

"Oh, you're here, my name is Xu Rui, and I've been waiting for you all night."

The young man's smile was like a spring breeze, but Liji's body trembled, and she sighed in her heart, that's right, it seems that this young man does have special habits, but it's a pity that he is so nonsense at a young age......

Just when she was thinking nonsense, Xu Rui put down the teacup in his hand and said with a faint smile: "I heard that you live a very hard life, I wonder if you are willing to change your way of living?" ”

"A different way of living?"

Li Ji was slightly stunned and looked at Xu Rui in confusion.

Xu Rui chuckled and pushed open the window beside him, outside the window, seven or eight men and women were fiddling with a few strange objects, Li Ji didn't know what they were, but she could see that those men and women were from a bitter background, but their faces were full of confidence and joy.

"People, not only to live, but also to live with dignity, the world is not the world of the powerful, as long as people are born equal."

Xu Rui looked at the scene outside the window as if he was moved.

Liji suddenly looked at Xu Rui, since she was a child, whether it was her ears and eyes or her own experience, she has always felt that this world is divided into high and low, and today is the first time I have heard people say that all are equal.

A sense of absurdity rose in her heart, but for some reason, a heart became hot.

Xu Rui turned his head, his smile seemed to dispel the dark clouds of sunlight, shining a warm temperature into Liji's heart.

"Are you willing to live with dignity?"

Xu Rui asked with a smile.

At this moment, his figure was infinitely tall, like a bodhisattva who saved suffering.

This sentence is like a knife that goes straight into Liji's heart, cutting her long-standing strength and disguise into pieces.

Grievances, humiliation, unwillingness, and resentment suddenly converged into a torrent and rushed out, breaking her last reserve.

Tears fell silently, Liji completely collapsed, knelt on the ground without hesitation, kowtowed to Xu Rui three times in a row, and sobbed: "Childe, Liji wants to live, Liji wants to live with dignity!" ”

"Good!"

Xu Rui helped Liji up, gently wiped the tears on her face, and said with a smile: "I will teach you a craft, and after learning it, the dignity you want will never leave you." ”

As he spoke, Xu Rui pulled lightly, and a piece of white cloth beside him fell to the ground with a "swish".

Liki turned her head to look at it, and her eyes widened.