Chapter 12

Chapter 12

The man was out cold.

He must have caught a chill. His forehead was so hot it was almost scalding to the touch.

I worked quickly, stripping him bare. I spread out his clothes and shoes, shook them all out, then turned him over to check every detail.

His limbs were thin, but the muscles were firm. From the look of him, he probably came from a decent background.

There were thin calluses on his fingers. I couldn’t tell if they had come from holding a brush or gripping a blade.

The only problem was, he was utterly penniless. His pockets were cleaner than his face, and there wasn’t even a single legendary banknote sewn into the soles of his shoes.

The only thing worth mentioning was that, once his face was wiped clean, he looked fairly proper and presentable. Still, he was a far cry from the standard male leads and second male leads in legends who came with a built-in beauty buff.

I piled the ragged bedding messily over him, then wrung out a strip of cloth and pressed it to his forehead to bring down the fever.

After that, all I could do was sit on the edge of the bed and worry over him.

There was no doctor to call, and medicine was an even greater luxury.

If he made it through, that would be his good fortune. If he didn’t, that was his fate.

The madam leaned against the doorframe, watching me bustle about.

“You’d better think this through. If this man stays, his expenses go on your account.”

“The room is only so big. In a little while, people will start coming by. Are you sure you want to keep him here?”

“I don’t keep idlers here. With him lying there, how am I supposed to do business? He’s taking up space for nothing. And if he dies on that bed, once the guests hear about it, how unlucky would that be?”

I could sense the subtle shift in the madam’s attitude.

If she were dead set against keeping the man, she could have beaten me first, then called the others over and had both me and the man thrown out together.

At worst, she could announce to everyone that I had been restless and disobedient, that I had secretly met with a man and stolen her money in an attempt to elope, only to be caught in the act by her and driven out to be handed to the authorities and beaten to death. I would have no way to refute her.

But she had not done that.

Which meant there was still room to negotiate.

“Mama, what are you afraid of?”

I pressed my lips together and changed the cloth on the man’s forehead.

“Even if you don’t keep idlers, this man is already lying here now. If you really can’t stand the sight of him, pry his mouth open and pour in that half packet of rat poison. Once night falls, toss him outside the door. He doesn’t have any contract or papers on him anyway. One undocumented vagrant dies-who could pin that on you, Mama?”

“Master Liang isn’t home right now. As for who comes into this place and who doesn’t, isn’t that still up to you, Mama?”

In the past, I had never had the confidence to bargain.

No matter how much the madam and Master Liang smiled to each other’s faces while thinking otherwise, they had still worked together for years and had built up an understanding. If things truly got serious, I would definitely be the one shoved out to take the blame.

But now, things were different.

The man I had dragged back was the variable.