Chapter 6

Chapter 6

My hand suddenly felt lighter.

The madam had finally taken the water ladle.

“Listening to that tone of yours, I almost believe you really are some young lady from a wealthy family.”

She weighed the hollowed-out gourd in her hand, light as air yet surprisingly sturdy.

The next second-

Half of the gourd slammed viciously into my head.

It was like a clap of thunder had exploded right beside my ear. After the boom, everything before me seemed to be covered by an invisible barrier.

The madam’s mouth opening and closing. The air warping and trembling. Sounds reaching my ears a beat too late. My brain no longer able to string the shattered words into sentences.

It was as if the world had been completely cut off from me.

It took me a long time to understand what the madam was actually cursing at me.

“You really think you’re something, don’t you?”

“You filthy little slut. A ruined piece of trash no one wants after you’ve been used up. Do you know how much effort I spent smoothing things over for you today? And you still have the nerve to settle accounts with me?”

“Fine, fine. Let’s settle accounts properly today.”

She grabbed my arm and dragged me off the earthen bed in one motion.

My bare legs crashed against the rough, uneven floor tiles. Pain mingled with humiliation, nearly drowning me whole.

But the madam had no intention of letting me go.

“You think renting this room doesn’t cost money? You think food and drink don’t cost money? You think your bedding doesn’t cost money? You think I didn’t pay money to buy you? You lie on the bed like a dead fish, spread your legs, and leave everything else alone. Who begs people to come patronize you? Who smiles and sees them off for you? Keeping you costs me seven or eight taels a day at the very least, and you only bring back a few coins, yet you dare bring up splitting the money with me?”

“Worried I won’t be able to sell you?”

“You’d better worry about yourself first.”

The fists and kicks came down again.

Unlike the previous times, I had somehow taught myself how to adjust my angle, how to protect the frailest parts of this body, so I would not be beaten to death on the spot.

Tomorrow, it would only be another new group of people.

If I tried enough times, I would find a new way out eventually.

Night sank low, and starlight could not seep into the squat little house.

Swallowing the taste of blood in my throat, I tried to forget the bruises covering my body and forced myself to sleep.

As it turned out, every time I comforted myself by saying things had to turn around after reaching the worst point, reality would always find the most unexpected angle to deliver a blow straight to my head.

The madam’s threat last night, telling me to look after myself, had not merely been empty talk or a way to vent her anger.

I did not even make it through the first customer she found for me that morning.

The heart-rending pain stripped my mind of any ability to think.

My instinctive struggles and the damp blood clearly delighted the man who had paid a high price, making him grow even more wanton as he ravaged me.

Beyond the cracks in the mud-brick room, the madam’s figure flashed past.

In the corner of the earthen bed, the ladle that had been broken because of me gaped with a huge crack, like a soundless sneer, mocking my earlier ignorant and fearless naivete.

The prerequisite for taking a seat at the negotiating table was possessing enough power to make others listen to you.

And what was I?

Nothing more than a consumable resource no one would miss if it was discarded.

Unwilling to cooperate?

Then they would hurt you until you thrashed helplessly, using your body’s instincts to provide the most primitive stimulation.

She held my life in her hands.

What could I possibly use to bargain with her?

My consciousness gradually blurred. My nostrils flared, but I no longer had the strength to draw in fresh air. My nails tore through the dirt, flipping it up to reveal raw, blood-red flesh beneath.

My convulsing body was kicked aside in disgust once again.

Unsurprisingly, with this death, I received another dull and uninteresting evaluation.