He kept running until he finally saw a small wooden house at the end of the road.
He thought he had found safety. He used all his strength to open the door, but the first thing he saw was Xu Linguang’s face.
“It seems I really need to train you properly,” Xu Linguang said like a demon whispering.
Xu Linguang dragged him into the house and picked up a small whip as if he was about to hit him.
“Don’t!” Zhu Mingyue shouted.
He suddenly woke up.
To his shock, Xu Linguang’s face was actually right in front of him.
“Ah!”
He screamed again.
His chest rose and fell quickly. What kind of normal person stared at someone face-to-face while they were sleeping? Did he want to scare him to death?
Xu Linguang did not seem to realize anything was wrong. He frowned and scolded him.
“What were you yelling about just now?”
Zhu Mingyue wanted to roll his eyes but held back.
“Nothing.”
“Really nothing?” Xu Linguang asked suspiciously.
“Really.”
He simply did not want to explain that this man had scared him both in his dream and in real life.
After washing up, Zhu Mingyue sat at the table eating rice porridge and politely asked what he would be learning today.
“Bedroom skills.”
The porridge nearly got stuck in Zhu Mingyue’s throat. He coughed so loudly that people outside stopped to ask what happened.
Xu Linguang sent the curious people away and shut the door tightly.
“I can’t do that. The jump is too big. Shouldn’t teaching happen step by step?”
“You already forgot what I taught you yesterday,” Xu Linguang said calmly while drinking tea.
“What did I forget?”
“The words ‘I can’t.'”
Zhu Mingyue was confused.
“What do you mean?”
“Didn’t I teach you yesterday? When facing customers, you must never say ‘I can’t.’ You do not have the right to refuse.”
Now Zhu Mingyue understood.
“But you’re not a customer.”
“I am now.”
Xu Linguang finished his tea and walked toward him.
“From this moment on, I am your customer.”
Zhu Mingyue was speechless.
Sometimes he felt this man was even scarier than the brothel manager. They were supposed to be future coworkers, yet he feared Xu Linguang much more.
Was he really going to trust this person to help him get almonds?
Before he could think further, Xu Linguang grabbed his chin.
“What are you doing?” Zhu Mingyue shouted angrily.
Xu Linguang laughed.
The next moment, Xu Linguang pushed him onto the bed.
He supported himself with both hands on either side of Zhu Mingyue, making it impossible for him to move.
Their bodies were very close.
Zhu Mingyue could feel his breathing near his face and ears.
He stared angrily at Xu Linguang.
“Looking at me like that?” Xu Linguang smiled. “Someone might think you’re trying to seduce me.”
Zhu Mingyue quickly turned his head away and cursed him in his mind.
As they got even closer, Zhu Mingyue finally started struggling.
“Don’t move,” Xu Linguang warned.
Then he said coldly,
“If you keep acting recklessly, I’ll stop pretending.”
The threat worked immediately. Zhu Mingyue became completely still.
Seeing this, Xu Linguang moved on.
He opened Zhu Mingyue’s outer jacket and found a thick linen shirt underneath.
“Dirty,” he said with disgust.
Even so, he continued removing layers.
Under the linen shirt was a cotton T-shirt.
When he lifted that, he found Zhu Mingyue wrapped tightly in white cloth.
For a moment, Xu Linguang was silent.
Even Zhu Mingyue thought he saw disbelief on his face.
Winter was very cold. Unlike the people in the house, Zhu Mingyue worked outside, so he wore as many layers as possible to stay warm.
Finally, Xu Linguang spoke.
“What exactly is this cloth for? Protection from me?”
Zhu Mingyue only laughed awkwardly.
“Hehe.”
“Don’t smile like that,” Xu Linguang said. “It’s ugly.”
Zhu Mingyue immediately stopped smiling.
The cloth was tied very tightly around his body.
Xu Linguang touched the knot but did not untie it.
Instead, his hand moved lower.
“What are you doing?”
Zhu Mingyue quickly covered himself.
“As your customer, I should have the right to touch you.”
Because of his position, Zhu Mingyue could not resist effectively.
His hands were pulled away.
The moment Xu Linguang touched him, Zhu Mingyue’s mental defenses collapsed.
He burst into tears.
“Please don’t touch me!”
Xu Linguang stopped.
He quietly watched him cry.
After Zhu Mingyue calmed down, Xu Linguang finally spoke.
“Does it disgust you?”
Zhu Mingyue nodded.
His face was covered in tears, and his hair stuck messily to his neck.
“If you stay here, things will become much worse.”
Xu Linguang stood up and released him.
Then he went to wash his hands carefully again and again until they turned red.
After that, he looked at Zhu Mingyue.
“Different men will ask for you every day.”
“They will touch you and treat you as they wish.”
“Can you accept that?”
Zhu Mingyue shook his head.
That was exactly why he was willing to risk his life to escape.
Now that he had calmed down, he realized something.
Xu Linguang did not seem to be trying to scare him for fun.
Instead, it felt like he was intentionally guiding him toward escaping.
Zhu Mingyue looked at him carefully.
Maybe he had misunderstood this person all along.
Standing quietly, Xu Linguang looked calm and respectable.
For a moment, he almost seemed like a gentleman.
Then Xu Linguang spoke again.
“What? Are you so scared you can’t even talk?”
Zhu Mingyue immediately took back that thought.
No, this man was definitely not a gentleman.
But he knew one thing.
Xu Linguang was willing to help him.
That was enough.
After fixing his clothes, Zhu Mingyue ran over and whispered in Xu Linguang’s ear.
“Help me get some almonds. If I eat almonds, I get a serious allergic reaction.”
“What’s an allergic reaction?”
“My skin breaks out in red bumps.”
“An epidemic disease?” Xu Linguang asked seriously.
Then he warned him.
“Do you know what will happen if people think you have a contagious disease?”
“They will quietly put you in a sack and burn you. You won’t have any chance to escape.”
The hope in Zhu Mingyue’s eyes faded.
Even that plan might not save him.
“There’s another way,” Xu Linguang said.
“After you eat the almonds and become sick, leave the rest to me.”
“I will find a way to return you to the men who sold you.”
“Only then can you avoid being burned.”
“As for what happens afterward, that will depend on fate.”
Zhu Mingyue felt sick at the thought of those two kidnappers.
Still, he knew this was the best plan available.
The brothel manager would never allow rumors of disease to spread.
If he became sick, his only outcomes would be being burned or being returned to the kidnappers.
“What if they refuse to take me back and insist on burning me?”
Xu Linguang answered confidently.
“If you decide to do this, I can make them follow the plan.”
“Have you made your choice?”
“Other than this, your only option is to stay here.”
Zhu Mingyue shivered.
“I’ve decided. I’ll do as you say.”
Xu Linguang nodded.
“Tonight, I’ll have the kitchen make almond cakes for you. Decide yourself how much to eat.”
Then he left.
The entire afternoon, Zhu Mingyue was nervous.
Every step of this plan was dangerous.
Still, he could see no other future.
He sat on the bed, gripping his clothes tightly while waiting for the almond cakes.
At around six in the evening, a servant brought dinner.
After the food was placed on the table and the servant left, Zhu Mingyue immediately spotted the plate of almond cakes.
The kitchen had used a large amount of almonds.
Just the smell made him uncomfortable.
He glanced toward the door.
Then he secretly hid most of the cakes inside the bed and slowly ate the rest of his dinner.
An hour after the servant removed the dishes, Zhu Mingyue took out the hidden almond cakes.
Taking a deep breath, he carefully ate them.
He even swallowed every small crumb.
The reaction came quickly.
His breathing became difficult.
His chest felt tight.
Soon his skin became extremely itchy.
While struggling to breathe, he pulled up his sleeve to look.
Large red welts had already spread across his pale skin.
His goal had been achieved.
Feeling relieved, his consciousness began fading.
Using his last bit of strength, he crawled toward the door.
He pushed it open.
Panicked screams reached his ears.
Then everything went silent.
“Someone explain what happened!”
The brothel manager slammed the table so hard that the tea shook.
At that moment, Xu Linguang finally arrived.
Everyone had gathered in the back courtyard.
After Zhu Mingyue collapsed, the manager secretly moved him there.
Many guests stayed overnight, and he could not allow news of this incident to spread.
So he called several senior workers to discuss the situation.
Xu Linguang, the most important among them, arrived last.
The manager was unhappy but did not dare show it.
“I heard today’s dinner was prepared according to your instructions.”
“Yes,” Xu Linguang admitted calmly.
The manager wanted to ask whether he had poisoned the food, but he did not dare.
The two had never gotten along.
Xu Linguang’s high status in the establishment made him difficult to challenge.
That was why the manager had been so excited when he first saw Zhu Mingyue.
He wanted to train a new star and use him to weaken Xu Linguang’s influence.
But now that plan was ruined.
The manager’s face twisted with frustration.
Meanwhile, Xu Linguang slowly drank his tea, clearly enjoying himself.
He especially enjoyed seeing the manager angry but powerless.
After enough amusement, he finally looked toward the inner room.
“You put him inside?”
Then he added casually,
“I heard he developed many red rashes. Did anyone check whether it’s an epidemic disease?”
His simple question immediately caused panic.
People inside the room cried out in alarm.
Some even rushed outside and refused to come near.
The manager was shocked.
He had been so focused on blaming Xu Linguang that he forgot something important.
The red rash did not look like poisoning.
He had seen epidemic diseases before.
And many of the symptoms looked very similar to Zhu Mingyue’s condition.