Let Me Explain, Fairy
Chapter 822 - 514: Past Events in the Dark Alley

Chapter 822: Chapter 514: Past Events in the Dark Alley

The dark alley was a place that devoured people without spitting out their bones, both in the literal sense.

In Di’an City, there was peace and festivity, with constables in white tiger uniforms brandishing knives, patrolling the streets with laughter every few blocks. But the dark alley was different; every day, many people poured in, and just as many would mysteriously disappear within.

Everything that happened here was tacitly approved by those at the top.

Di’an City was too prosperous, attracting many ambitious individuals. But it also drew in some "rubbish," and to keep the "rubbish" from running amok, Di’an City needed a place like this to contain and store it.

Chaos and disorder seemed to be the norm for the dark alley. Every day, gangs clashed, and people died in the conflicts. It was common to see innocent people forced into prostitution or murders happening in broad daylight.

And it was to this chaotic land that the young girl, Lou Ji, only nine years old, had come.

Xu Yuan asked her what she was doing in such a place and why she didn’t continue to fish for wealthy men in Di’an City.

Lou Ji’s reply was both laughable and pitiful.

She said she had been scared stiff at the time, thinking that all the important figures in Di’an City were like Xu Yinhè, so she wanted to accumulate experience and strength in these areas before she could compete with these big figures in Di’an City.

Her goal was admirable, yet naive.

But it did, at least for once, fit the mentality of a nine-year-old girl.

Clearly, however, the two judgments Lou Ji had made after entering the city were both wrong.

In her first month entering the dark alley, having spent all her traveling money, Lou Ji naturally ended up on the streets.

Like those parentless beggar children, she survived pitifully on occasional relief and food picked from the garbage.

The reason was simple and desperate.

It was true that the dark alley was chaotic, but without rules, there would be no understanding. To exist for hundreds of years within Di’an City, there must be a set of its own rules.

In the dark alley, the channels for rising up were indeed much easier than outside, regardless of seniority, as long as one excelled in either fists or brains. But the problem was that Lou Ji was a girl.

In Dayan, the upper echelons did not discriminate against women, and even the middle class was ostensibly equal. But at the bottom, it was a completely patriarchal society.

This was a deep-rooted preference for sons over daughters among the common folk of Dayan.

No one was willing to give her a chance to prove herself.

Fortunately, just as little Lou Ji was on the brink of starvation, a kind-hearted old woman took her in.

The old woman cared for Lou Ji as she would her own granddaughter.

She would wash Lou Ji’s clothes, give her the only meat available, and secretly add a blanket to her coverings on cold winter nights.

In this chaotic place, she provided a long-missed warmth.

Time passed in this way for a month.

Her previously frail body gradually regained vitality. Just when Lou Ji thought she might spend a long time there, she almost got sold by the kind-looking old woman.

One day, as Lou Ji was washing clothes with a laundry stick in the courtyard, she suddenly heard a noise outside the door.

The old woman had returned, but through the open courtyard door, Lou Ji saw not just the returning woman but also several boldly dressed men.

Their clothing was not uniform, but each had a bamboo leaf python embroidered on their chest.

Almost instantly, Lou Ji realized what was about to happen.

Having been in the dark alley for two months, she recognized the symbol of the Black Serpent Society, a gang of neither great nor insignificant size in the alley.

Looking at the scene before her, however, Lou Ji’s face only showed a trace of doubt that was just right.

It was like an instinct; when crisis approached, she knew very well what to do.

When the woman approached her, Lou Ji asked the old lady what those uncles outside were there for.

And as Lou Ji had expected, the kindly old woman voiced the guesses in her heart.

Those robust men outside had come for her.

There was no surprise, no anger, and no fear—only a tinge of sadness.

And this time, she did not hide her feelings. She blinked back tears, looking pitifully at the woman, and asked if granny didn’t want her anymore.

The old woman, still with a kind expression, rubbed her head and softly spoke her fabricated lies.

After a quiet conversation, Lou Ji suddenly got up, threw down the laundry stick, and crying, ran back inside, slamming into the wooden door.

Just like a sulking little girl.

The old woman, as expected, followed her.

Lou Ji knew she was really beautiful, beautiful enough to raise these people’s tolerance for her.

They didn’t know whether she would become the lady of that Qing Serpent club after entering it.

Due to Little Lou Ji’s action of closing the door, the elderly lady also subconsciously left the door slightly ajar when she entered.

She walked slowly to the back of the little girl who was standing with her back turned and pouting, gently stroked her head, and pulled her up to stand gradually, her voice filled with earnest emotion.

"Child, it’s not that Granny doesn’t want you. Granny is doing this for your own good. That man is an important lord. It’s your blessing that he fancies you! Even if you don’t want to go, you have to consider Granny. If you don’t go, those bandits outside will throw Granny into the Zhongshui River. Be obedient... Once you’re there, Granny will come to visit you often..."

These were the words the old lady said to Little Lou Ji at that time, and they were also her last.

Because before she could finish her words, Little Lou Ji stabbed the wooden spike she had just retrieved into the old lady’s unprotected neck.

From his position, even if the door was wide open, it would not be visible from outside the courtyard.

When the wooden spike pierced through her throat, a moment of confusion clearly crossed the old lady’s kind face.

But in that split second of bewilderment, Little Lou Ji had already pulled the spike out and stabbed again.

Little Lou Ji knew very well that people could exert unusual strength in the moment of death. Even though the old lady was frail with age, she was not someone that a child like her could withstand. Had the old lady reacted, she might have pushed Little Lou Ji away or knocked over some items in the room to make a noise. With the door only left ajar and strong men waiting outside, she couldn’t make any sound. She could only use this method to quickly silence her opponent.

The location where she stabbed with the wooden spike was based on her experience.

Stabbing there would cause the blood to choke the throat, allowing the victim to only emit a low "gurgling" noise.

This time, too, there was no exception.

"Gurgle... gurgle... gurgle..."

Warm blood flowed from the neck, staining Little Lou Ji’s slender palms, and dripping down between her fingers onto the ground.

From shock, the old lady felt no pain, desperately trying to grab the wooden spike thrust at her, but she could only watch helplessly as it was stabbed into her neck and pulled out again and again.

Two strikes.

Three strikes.

Four strikes.

Five strikes.

Looking at the old lady, who was gradually becoming limp and powerless with a look of despair in her eyes, Little Lou Ji felt somewhat saddened.

She had been happy during her time here; she had even thought about giving up.

Because revenge was truly too exhausting.

Thinking this to herself, she used her thin little body to try to support the collapsing old lady, then gently laid her on the ground, pleading with a sobbing tone,

"Then, Granny, before you leave, could you help me change into a new set of clothes, and comb my hair just once more?"

Her voice rose and fell so that the men outside could hear the first part.

But the old lady did not respond.

There were only faint, futile "gurgles" trying to call for help.

But sadly, they were in vain.

In the old woman’s frightened gaze, Little Lou Ji calmly stepped over her and shut the slightly open door completely.

She took her time searching the old lady’s body, finding the advance payment, changed out of the blood-stained clothes into a plain hemp garment, and covered herself in soot from the earthen bed to appear dirty, then left without looking back, disappearing from the gradually blurring view.

Initially, Little Lou Ji did indeed plan to use her pretty face to enter the conservatoire, but that thought evaporated long ago, as her path had been blocked.

The drastic changes to her family status demoted her to a lowly class, and when the Demonic Beast attacked the prison cart, she was made stateless.

Dayan had a well-established household registration system. Without an official document from the Government Office, even if she approached the conservatoire voluntarily, it was very likely that they would not accept her.

Though with her looks, she could have entered a well-established brothel to be trained as an Oiran, but there is a fundamental difference between brothels and conservatories.

In a conservatoire, playing with sentiment was the norm, and a top clean official had significant autonomy.

If she said no to sleeping with someone, she’d likely be able to refuse.

When Xu Yuan had visited the conservatoire in the Imperial City, even after nearly demolishing an inn outright and declaring his wish to become Li Zhaoyuan’s father-in-law, he still didn’t get his way.

In brothels, sentiment is also entertained, but it’s more about the play of passion.

As long as your power and wealth were sufficient, even if a clean official was unwilling, she could be overpowered.

Little Lou Ji was unwilling to even consider a brothel, let alone the refuse heap of a big thug in a dirty alley.

She knew very well that being caught by such people would likely mean struggling at the bottom of the chaotic alleys for the rest of her life.

However, thanks to this,

Little Lou Ji successfully commenced her first escape at the age of nine.

It wasn’t until two years later, when she saw the right moment and personally orchestrated the downfall of the Black Serpent Society, that her life returned to calm and she also caught the attention of some.