AMLFS Chapter 122

Chapter 123: Deceived

The moment Liang Xiuzhu showed his face, the atmosphere in Qi Meng Lou immediately heated up. His beautiful face was extremely eye-catching on the high platform.

The crowd gasped in admiration, ridiculed, or said whatever came to mind. Most were coveting and drooling over his beauty. The eyes that landed on him revealed a greed that felt like the slippery, disgusting touch of a snake.

Liang Xiuzhu was placed on a chair, unable to move. He had been fed an unknown drug when he was brought up.

Except for his conscious mind, he couldn’t even lift a finger. He could only watch helplessly as he was put on a high platform to be treated as a plaything.

He wore a light gauze garment, the thin fabric barely covering his vital parts. Elsewhere, his fair skin was vaguely exposed to the air.

Under the scorching gazes around him, Liang Xiuzhu felt like a fish on a cutting board.

He didn’t feel like a person, but an object to be scrutinized and measured.

This feeling was like being roasted on a fire, deep-fried in hot oil. Shame, humiliation, and fear wrapped around him layer upon layer, and he could find no one to turn to for help.

Days before, Liang Xiuzhu’s mother, Jiang Wenyi, had suddenly fallen seriously ill. The silver Zhao Fangye had given them initially for medicine was almost gone.

Jiang Wenyi’s illness was a result of complications from childbirth, coupled with her previous background as a courtesan, so her health wasn’t good to begin with.

If it hadn’t been for the valuable medicinal herbs the Liang family used to nourish her, she wouldn’t have lasted these past few years.

This was why Liang Xiuzhu had compromised and allowed his father to send him to the Ning Wang Mansion as an informant.

Now, although Zhao Fangye had kept his promise to bring Jiang Wenyi out of the Liang Mansion, found them a place to live, and given them silver,

the silver Zhao Fangye gave would allow ordinary people to live comfortably for a few years, but Jiang Wenyi’s illness required very expensive medicines.

The silver Zhao Fangye had given them wouldn’t last long, and they would eventually run out of money.

Liang Xiuzhu was extremely anxious. Although he hadn’t done any manual labor when he was a young master, he had to go out to make a living for his mother now.

However, when he went into the city to look for work, people saw his seductive appearance and knew he couldn’t carry or lift anything, so they all rejected him.

After wandering around the capital for several days, Liang Xiuzhu was dejected and embarrassed. He felt extremely frustrated and once again hated his own appearance.

From childhood to adulthood, his face had never brought him anything good, and misfortunes kept happening one after another.

And wouldn’t you know it, as soon as he thought of it, it came to pass.

Two brokers had been watching him in the market for several days. Seeing him running into walls everywhere, they stepped forward to talk to him.

“This young master, I’ve seen you wandering around here for the past few days. May I ask what kind of work you’re looking for?” The broker smiled very kindly, and looked honest and simple.

Seeing that they were kind, Liang Xiuzhu didn’t guard himself and said, “Any kind of work will do. I’m not afraid of hardship. As long as I can earn money, I can do it.”

He was anxious and as soon as he saw someone willing to hire him, he didn’t care about anything else. He just wanted to find a job quickly to support his livelihood.

“That’s easy to say.”

The other broker looked him up and down, and the more he looked, the more satisfied he became. Although Liang Xiuzhu was only wearing rough clothes, his face was outstanding, and even women were not as beautiful as him.

A beautiful face with skin that could be broken with a touch. His eyes were watery and clear, and he looked anxious. He looked even more pitiful. A man who looked like this was truly a stunner.

Many of the catamites in the capital were not even half as beautiful as him. If he were sold to Qi Meng Lou and seen by those nobles who were into that, they would definitely get a lot of benefits.

Unaware of what these two were thinking, Liang Xiuzhu felt uncomfortable because they were staring at him without saying anything. But he had no choice. He had to endure it for his mother.

The broker saw the anxiety in his eyes and slowly made a proposition, “Well, I see that you are sincere in looking for work. I have a job here that is short of people. I just don’t know if you are willing to do it.”

“What job? I can do anything.” Liang Xiuzhu’s eyes lit up and he said without hesitation, “Really, I can do anything. As long as you don’t mind.”

“Haha, I see you’re a straightforward person.” The broker rolled his eyes. “A restaurant is short of someone to clean and serve food, with food and accommodation included, and one tael of silver per month. What do you think?”

“One tael of silver?!”

Liang Xiuzhu exclaimed. The restaurant’s monthly salary was more than three times that of other jobs.

“What? Do you think it’s too little?” The man saw that he was short of money and provoked him again, afraid that he wouldn’t take the bait, “If you think it’s too little, I’ll go find someone else. After all, there are plenty of people vying for this good job.”

Liang Xiuzhu became anxious and quickly said, “I’ll go!! I’ll go! It’s not too little!!!”

Little did he know that he had fallen into a den of thieves.

That night, the two brokers took Liang Xiuzhu through the back door of Qi Meng Lou under the cover of night.

Liang Xiuzhu looked at the multi-storied Qi Meng Lou and thought it was some kind of restaurant.

He happily thought that he would buy a new winter outfit for his mother when he got his salary.

After entering a room, the brokers asked him to stand in the outer room. They lifted the curtain and walked inside. The sound of talking could be heard faintly. The voices of men and women were intertwined.

Behind the curtain, the broker stood in front of a woman and said eagerly, “Madam Li, take a look, this is a top-notch product that is hard to come by in a hundred years. It’s incomparable to those ordinary women. Believe me, take a look.”

In the magnificent room, a woman named Madam Li was wearing a dress made of the best Shu brocade in the capital and leaned leisurely on a beauty couch. Every move she made exuded charm, and the jewelry on her body was worth a fortune.

With a delicate face and raised eyebrows, she lazily asked in doubt, “Oh?”

“Really!” The broker immediately walked to the bead curtain and lifted it, revealing Liang Xiuzhu’s beautiful face.

Liang Xiuzhu stood in the outer room, curiously looking at the surrounding decorations, admiring the luxurious and grand room. He thought: No wonder it’s five taels of silver a month. This restaurant looks very luxurious.

Little did he know that he had been sold without his knowledge.

“Not bad! A good deal.” Madam Li was immediately interested when she saw the face. She lazily got up from the couch and her expression turned cold, “Is his background clean? Don’t cause any trouble for me.”

“Clean! I’ve been watching him for several days. He must have fled to the capital.” The broker spoke glibly in order to get rid of him.

“Hmm.”

After answering casually, Madam Li threw two gold coins to them, “The goods are good. You can have the rest as a reward.”

The two men took the gold coins and their eyes lit up. They felt that they had made a fortune. “Yes, yes, yes!!! Thank you, Madam Li!!!”

The two brokers took the gold coins and left. Liang Xiuzhu saw them coming out and was about to say something, but the two of them left without looking back.

Then, a slender and graceful beautiful woman lifted the curtain and walked out, walking straight to him. A pair of bewitching fox eyes looked him up and down, and she was very satisfied.

“Not bad, he can be sold for a good price.” A slender hand with painted nails slowly lifted his chin and carefully examined him, her tone was quite regretful, “It’s really unfortunate that the debut is the day after tomorrow. It seems that there is no time to train you. You better be good.”

Liang Xiuzhu was stunned and didn’t realize that this was the beginning of his nightmare.