Chapter 87: Chapter Eighty-Three: Misunderstanding
Translator: 549690339
“So, you’ve been deceiving him.”
“I am not a heartless woman. Every man I’ve met promised to buy me out of this place, yet here I remain in Tianxiang Building. Imagine if I believed every promise, wouldn’t I be weeping in disappointment every day? Please see this clearly, sir.” Su Mei prostrated with decorum, no trace left of the seductive allure from earlier.
Yet, these words were like a knife twisting in their hearts. A courtesan is not heartless, but after being deceived repeatedly, it’s natural to become untrusting. Perhaps, in her eyes, Tu Tong was nothing more than another liar.
Hearing Su Mei’s words, Hua Ji lost control again with teary eyes. “But Tu is indeed planning to marry you!”
Su Mei sneered: “When men are smitten, there’s nothing they can’t utter. They pledge eternal love, only when the night of pleasure ends. We courtesans are only footnotes, people of your status might even find us despicable. Who would want to marry us then?”
Hua Ji felt like he had been punched in the gut. He wanted to retort, but the words were stuck in his throat. He knew, it wasn’t as Su Mei had described.
“So, you think he was deceiving you.” Tang Luo asked.
“The wise can discern. Sir Tu Tong has been my benefactor for several years, visiting Tianxiang Building daily. He had claimed he wanted to marry me. But I’ve waited year after year. How long do you think I should believe him?” Su Mei said with sarcasm, bitterness, and the faintest touch of satisfaction.
Perhaps in her mind, Tu Tong was indeed a deceiver.
As if to vent her frustrations, Su Mei said to Hua Ji: “Sir Tu is a formidable warrior. Is it really that challenging for a man of his wealth to buy my freedom?”
“Of course, I am aware that Sir Tu holds me dear, but that affection primarily stems from my physical appeal. But I am 25 years old now, no longer young. Perhaps three years ago, I truly believed he would come for me. But now, I dare not aim so high. He hasn’t visited Tianxiang Building in the past six months. Maybe he has forgotten me. What can I do?”
“So, should I think of myself as his wife and mourn his death just because Sir Tu was once my patron?”
Su Mei, her eyes ablaze, told this to Hua Ji. But were those words not directed at Tang Luo?
Hua Ji was rendered speechless, unsure how to counter her words.
The Madame on the other hand, enraged seeing Su Mei go too far, raised her hand and delivered a heavy slap to Su Mei’s face.
“Smack!” With a loud crackling sound, Su Mei fell on the ground.
“Please forgive us, sir. Su Mei spoke out of turn and offended you. I will punish her severely.” After hitting Su Mei, the Madame knelt and begged Tang Luo for mercy.
At that moment, Su Mei covered her face, knelt again, and said, “Please forgive me, sir, for my brashness.”
Tang Luo felt a sense of boredom coupled with deep sorrow. “You may all rise.”
Upon standing, Su Mei’s face was marked by a clear handprint, resembling a soulless puppet with an indifferent and vacant gaze.
Meanwhile, the Madame wore a mask of fear, worried that Su Mei’s words might jeopardize Tianxiang Building.
“Madame, how much does it cost to buy a night with Miss Su Mei?” Tang Luo asked indifferently.
Upon hearing this, the Madame was overjoyed and terrified all at once. “If you’re…”
“I asked, how much it costs.” Tang Luo’s eyes blazed with rage, cutting her off midway.
The Madame knelt down in terror, “F…five h…hundred gold.”
Su Mei maintained her doll-like demeanor but couldn’t help a glint of satisfaction as she glanced at the kneeling Madame.
Tang Luo shook his head, dispersing his anger, and sat back down to gather his thoughts. He thought there were some things Su Mei should know, even though Tu Tong’s death had rendered them useless.
“Old Tu wasn’t as wealthy as you think.”
Hearing this, Su Mei looked at Tang Luo in disbelief.
“He was too aggressive and reckless, often disliked by his comrades from Battle Hall, forcing him to take particularly dangerous tasks. Due to his reckless nature, he always led the charge.”
“When a task was completed, while everyone else happily divided the spoils, he would lie covered in wounds in the healing hall.”
“The cost of healing was steep, not to mention the repairs to his armor and weapons. Thus, he was a rather impoverished warrior.”
“The Battle Hall’s short term assignments for Mortal Realm only paid four to five thousand gold each, sometimes requiring teamwork.”
“Old Tu didn’t have many friends, so he always undertook them alone. After every mission, however, he would have to rest for a fortnight due to his injuries.”
“He did have some savings, perhaps ten thousand gold. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be seen wearing the armor of Mortal Realm.”
“If he had a Yellow Rank armor, perhaps he wouldn’t have been injured so often. Given time, he could indeed accumulate the wealth you mentioned.”
“Spending five hundred gold a night would deplete Old Tu’s fortune he’d spent years saving.”
Su Mei looked at Tang Luo, recapitulating in wonder, “That’s not possible. You’re lying… It can’t be…”
Despite his reluctance, Tang Luo said solemnly, “With a buyout price of half a million gold, Old Tu would never be able to marry you if he couldn’t control his desire to see you.”
“Last year in October, Old Tu took a job securing a business, which paid an annual sum of fifteen thousand gold.”
“After my calculations, if he could abstain from seeing you for three years, and sell his magic arms and armor, he’d roughly raise your buyout cost.”
Hearing Tang Luo’s explanation, Hua Ji couldn’t stop his tears. He thought Tang Luo, his young master, was indifferent and detached from Tu Tong and himself. But he realized today that Tang Luo knew far more than he’d imagined.
“Lately, it seems there have been complications. There seems to be a possibility of you being bought out.”
“Old Tu came to me. He planned to kidnap you and flee.”
Su Mei bit her lower lip firmly, fighting back the tears that threatened to spill down.
“So, I just want to tell you that the man lying here, while he may not have been wealthy, truly loved you.”
Unable to hold back any longer, the woman turned and buried her face in Tu Tong’s chest, sobbing.
For a man with no attachments, poverty is simply the difference between drinking wine and drinking water, unalterable joy. Yet, when a man falls in love with a woman, he experiences the suffering poverty brings.
But men are always proud, stubbornly resolving to bear all burdens on their own, even when reduced to the lowest echelons. Misunderstandings arise not from lack of love, but from too much love.
Restraint, anticipation, doubt, suspicion, disappointment—these emotions chip away at the initial love, and when the truth is finally revealed, it can’t be reversed..
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