Chapter 54: The Bastard Raised by a Brothel Keeper

After a full, satisfying sleep, Luo Changning felt refreshed and clear-minded, so he got out of bed to look for Uncle Zhong.

He knocked on Uncle Zhong’s door, but it was Aunt Qing who answered.

“Aunt Qing, are you here alone? Where’s Uncle Zhong?” Luo Changning asked.

“Master asked the innkeeper to find a servant to clean up that unconscious boy. The servant just came back to report it was done, so he hurried over,” Aunt Qing replied, still looking a bit groggy—likely from a restless night worrying about Su Meng.

After bringing the unconscious boy back to the inn, they had handed him off to the innkeeper to be carried to a guest room. Then, busy arranging the Su family medical hall members and lunch, they had forgotten about the boy entirely.

Remembering the wounds on the boy, Luo Changning felt that saving someone should be done thoroughly and decided to check on him.

He pushed open the room door and saw, lying squarely in the center of the bed, the frail young boy they had rescued from the foot of Tianmen Mountain.

Uncle Zhong was tending to his wounds.

Years of practicing medicine had given Uncle Zhong a habit: no matter where he went, he always carried his medicine chest, and this time was no exception.

He took out medicinal powder from the wooden box and sprinkled it over the boy’s wounds.

After applying the medicine, Uncle Zhong washed his hands in a copper basin, then turned to Luo Changning and said, “Young master, it’s done.”

Luo Changning nodded. He couldn’t quite say why, but from the very first moment he saw this boy, he had decided to save him.

Perhaps it was the so-called affinity at first sight, or maybe the stubbornness revealed at the tightly pressed corners of the boy’s lips had moved him.

Luo Changning had always admired stubborn people. He only hoped this boy would be someone who understood gratitude, so his rescue would not be in vain.

In this life, as the young master of the Su family, Luo Changning had learned basic medical skills and could tell the boy had only suffered some external injuries and had fainted from exhaustion.

Knowing the boy would be fine, Luo Changning turned to leave the room—he had only intended to check in briefly.

After confirming the boy on the bed wouldn’t develop a fever, Uncle Zhong also left to find his wife.

Who knows how much time passed before the boy lying on the bed furrowed his brows and slowly opened his eyes.

In that instant, his whole face came alive. If he could be called handsome with his eyes closed, then with his eyes open, he was truly stunning.

What kind of eyes were those?

Large and bright, as if they could hold the entire starry sky. One glance and you could lose yourself in them, unable to escape, your whole soul drawn in.

At this moment, a trace of confusion flickered in his eyes, as if he were trying to figure out where he was.

Soon, confusion gave way to anger, mingled with surprise and a hint of fear.

That fear made his eyes look even more pitiable, like an innocent little rabbit—making one want to hold him close and protect him.

He glanced at the clean shirt someone had changed him into, lifted his sleeve, and saw that his wounds had already scabbed over.

Smelling the faint aroma of medicine on himself, he fell into deep thought. He knew he had been rescued, but as for the motives of his savior, that remained unknown.

Without knowing their purpose, he felt no gratitude toward his rescuer.

Because on that snowy night fifteen years ago, he had been saved by someone, yet he would rather never have been rescued. If he had died in the snow, he wouldn’t have endured all the suffering that followed.

That’s right—the frail boy was actually nearly sixteen years old, not the thirteen or fourteen Luo Changning and the others had assumed. Years of hunger and exhaustion had stunted his growth, making him appear much smaller and thinner than his peers.

Knowing he had been saved, he no longer worried about his next steps. He lay on the bed, lost in thought, waiting for his benefactor to appear.

His surname was Chen, and his given name was Gouzi.

Fifteen years ago, on a snowy night, his own parents abandoned him at the entrance of a brothel. He was found and adopted by an old brothel keeper named Li.

His unknown parents left him nothing but the swaddling cloth wrapped around him and a small fragrant sachet. Inside the sachet was a copper token engraved with the character “Chen.”

So, naturally, he took the surname Chen. As for his given name, since he had lain in the snow for half the night, the brothel keeper, worried he’d fall ill and be hard to raise, gave him the name Gouzi.

Thus, he was Chen Gouzi—a bastard, an orphan abandoned by his parents and raised by a brothel keeper.

Of course, the brothel would never raise an idle mouth, and his adoptive father had no extra money to support him.

So, from the age of three, Chen Gouzi worked odd jobs in the brothel.

From sweeping and dusting, peeling garlic, washing vegetables, serving tea and water, to later buying rouge and powder for the girls upstairs and collecting their washed undergarments.

When he grew a bit older, he had the luck to learn acrobatics from a street performer and became skilled enough to somersault twenty times in a row without losing his breath.