Qinglan nodded, her expression somewhat pleased, "Dead!"
"It is said that he committed too many evils and indulged in his pleasures without restraint, which bred wicked thoughts, leading to a mishap during his cultivation and he died after living more than two hundred years."
"On the day he died, the mining cultivators took their money for food and bought fireworks instead, setting them off for the whole day..."
"The Lu Family couldn't stop it."
This old bastard had a fitting end, dying amidst such clamor...
Mo Hua thought to himself.
But having lived more than two hundred years before dying was already letting him off lightly.
Mo Hua thought for a moment, then asked, "After the Lu Family Old Ancestor passed away, was it Lu Chengyun who became the next Family Head?"
"Yes," Qinglan nodded.
"Is Lu Chengyun bad?" Mo Hua asked.
Qinglan furrowed her brows, pondered for a while, and then said:
"So-so, I suppose. Not particularly good, but compared to other members of the Lu Family, he could be considered a 'good person'."
"He wasn't so harsh on the Mining Cultivators."
"If a Mining Cultivator died, he would still have the Lu Family compensate with Spirit Stones."
"Many things weren't as excessive as the Lu Family Old Ancestor."
"Although life was still hard for the Mining Cultivators, since they had always been suffering, they were used to it, so not many people cursed him."
"Unlike the Lu Family Old Ancestor…"
Mo Hua nodded slightly.
This was almost identical to his impression.
Lu Chengyun was gentle and refined, but his schemes ran deep, taking the Lu Family's interests as a guideline, acting stably without going too far, yet he would not forsake the benefits of the family mines to treat the Mining Cultivators kindly.
Mo Hua asked further, "Sister Qinglan, have you ever seen the Elders of the Lu Family in the Hundred Flower Tower?"
Qinglan nodded, "I've seen a few."
"Do you think among them, is there anyone particularly suspicious?"
Qinglan frowned slightly, "What kind of suspicious?"
"I mean…" Mo Hua thought for a moment and said, "Someone who understands Formations but doesn't seem like a person from the Lu Family, or someone who sneaks around, with a different way of doing bad things than others…"
After pondering for a while, Qinglan shook her head:
"I wouldn't know, I've only looked from a distance and haven't really interacted with them."
Then she added, "But since you mentioned suspicious, that Elder from the South Yue Sect who brought you here last time is actually quite suspicious…"
Mo Hua was startled, "The South Yue Sect? Elder Su?"
"Mhm mhm." Qinglan nodded, "His surname is Su."
Mo Hua asked curiously, "What's suspicious about him?"
Qinglan said with puzzlement, "He clearly is a regular, yet he insists on pretending to be unfamiliar, isn't that very suspicious?"
Mo Hua's eyes shifted as he asked softly:
"Is Elder Su a regular of the Hundred Flower Tower?"
"Yeah, he used to come often, almost treating the Hundred Flower Tower as his own home…"
Mo Hua was astonished.
He guessed Elder Su was familiar, but he hadn't thought Elder Su would be THAT familiar…
Truly… appearances can be deceiving.
Qinglan glanced at Mo Hua and seemed conflicted, hesitating for a moment before finally lowering her voice and saying:
"I'm telling you this, and you mustn't tell anyone else…"
Curious, Mo Hua quickly nodded.
Leaning closer, Qinglan whispered:
"That Elder Su, he once had a close relationship with Sister Shuixian in the building. He even wanted to buy her freedom at one point."
"Later I heard that Sister Shuixian… was even pregnant with Elder Su's child…"
Mo Hua couldn't help but open his mouth wide.
He hadn't expected Elder Su to have such a "romantic affair".
"What about the child?"
Qinglan shook her head, "I don't know."
"What about Shuixian?"
Qinglan sighed, "She died."
Mo Hua furrowed his brows.
Qinglan felt regretful and a bit sad, "Sister Shuixian was a good person, beautiful, skilled with her hands, and treated people kindly…"
"But somehow, she ended up dead."
"It seemed Elder Su was heartbroken for a while, wanted to investigate something, but in the end, it led nowhere…"
"It's likely that nothing was discovered."
Qinglan lowered her head, "People like us, our lives are cheap, dead is dead, the Taoist Court won't care, the Lu Family don't mind, and the brothel keepers will just regret losing a body that could earn Spirit Stones…"
"Whether we live or die, they don't take it to heart, and in this world, no one will take it to heart…"
Qinglan's voice got lower and lower, and her expression increasingly forlorn.
Mo Hua felt a discomfort in his heart as well.
Qinglan kept her head down. After a long while, seeing that Mo Hua also seemed downcast, she was startled, wiped away her tears, and said with a smile:
"Young master, forgive me, I shouldn't have talked about these things."
After saying that, she expressed her gratitude:
"Without the young master, I probably couldn't have escaped this abyss of misery…"
"I might still be in the Hundred Flower Tower, forcing a smile, serving men with my body, and then one day, dying without knowing it…"
"Now I need not care about other people's opinions, I can support myself, which is already better than anything else."
Qinglan's gaze was frank, her tone sincere.
Though her eyes were red, her gaze was very determined.
Mo Hua felt somewhat relieved in his heart.
After leaving the inn, Mo Hua walked on the street.
Looking south, there were the mines.
Looking north, there was the resplendent Lu Family residence, and come nightfall, Jinhua Street would light up, a world of glitz and debauchery.
Mining Cultivators toiled for them, their children became slaves and courtesans for their pleasure, tools for earning Spirit Stones.
They also became bargaining chips for bribing the Taoist Court officials and wooing other powers.
A cold light flickered faintly in Mo Hua's eyes.