Embers Ad Infinitum

After leaving the room and going downstairs, Shang Jianyao and Jiang Baimian encountered Auntie Nan from Ah Fu’s Gun Shop.

“You guys sure are calm.” The elegant lady casually swept her gaze across them and greeted them with a smile.

“Aren’t you the same?” Jiang Baimian smiled in response. “What has other people’s matters got to do with us? I’m just afraid that they will open up a hole in Weed City’s sky.”

They had previously matched their statements, and everyone tacitly ended the topic. One party planned on going upstairs, and the other prepared to leave.

At this moment, Jiang Baimian’s heart palpitated as she asked, “Auntie Nan, do you know any temporary teachers nearby?”

Auntie Nan sized up the two people opposite her suspiciously. “You want to hire a temporary teacher?”

Given Jiang Baimian’s appearance and clothes, they didn’t look illiterate.

Jiang Baimian instinctively came up with a reason. “We mainly want to know more about this field and see if we can accept such missions. As Ruin Hunters, we definitely won’t miss out on missions that we can accept.”

Shang Jianyao immediately blew her cover. “You’re explaining too much.”

Jiang Baimian glared at him. She wasn’t too vexed because Auntie Nan clearly didn’t believe her words.

How could a Ruin Hunter—who could easily kidnap Eugene and return without leaving behind any clues—take on a ‘temporary teacher’ mission? It wasn’t like she was going to be a tutor for the children of nobles.

Who would believe what Jiang Baimian had said, especially for someone in the know?

Auntie Nan tactfully didn’t ask why and smiled. “We have one in this building.”

“Where does he live?” Jiang Baimian asked.

Auntie Nan curled up the hair that had drooped down her temples. “It’s a she, a lady.”

Auntie Nan used the word ‘her’ in the Red River language. Otherwise, it was impossible to differentiate them via pronunciation.

Auntie Nan then said, “She doesn’t live here; she comes over at 2 p.m. every day for an hour and a half of classes. Heh heh, more than ten ladies in this courtyard teamed up to hire her. The few you saw last night are involved. They receive some dividends from Ah Fu’s Gun Shop and are relatively well off. If you want to take a look later, I’ll get someone to lead the way.”

Jiang Baimian knew that the ‘ladies’ Auntie Nan was referring to were women that sold their bodies full-time or part-time.

Jiang Baimian looked at Shang Jianyao’s hand on his stomach and said gratefully, “Alright, let’s go out for lunch first. Get her to come to our room at almost two. Thanks.”

Jiang Baimian seemed to have completely forgotten that she had just helped Auntie Nan and the others take revenge last night. It was as if this matter had happened so long ago that it was not worth mentioning.

At 1:50 p.m., someone knocked on Shang Jianyao and Jiang Baimian’s door.

They had long sensed that someone was approaching and were waiting at the door.

“I just happened to have the intention of going out and taking a look,” Jiang Baimian explained to the lady outside with a smile.

This lady was one of the people that had killed Eugene last night. Her eyes were large, and she had short hair that just passed her ears. She looked intelligent and young, making it difficult to determine her age accurately.

“There’s still ten minutes.” The lady made small talk before saying, “Gu Changle. We met last night.”

“I won’t introduce myself since there’s no point in using a fake name. You can call me Big White,” said Jiang Baimian in a self-deprecating manner. “As for him, he doesn’t have a name. Just use ‘hey.'”

She was taking revenge on Shang Jianyao for undermining her previously.

Gu Changle didn’t answer. She turned around and said, “On the top floor. It’s sunny there.”

There was no electricity between 1:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.

Jiang Baimian looked at the floral scarf around Gu Changle’s neck, which seemed much more beautiful than last night. She took two steps forward and walked beside Gu Changle.

Her ‘professional habits’ flared up as she curiously asked, “Sister Gu, why did you think of pooling money to hire a temporary teacher?”

Gu Changle’s expression slowly softened as the corners of her mouth curled up indiscernibly. “I accidentally had a child previously, but I couldn’t bear to abort it. Thus, I gave birth to it. I don’t want her to be like me in the future. I keep having the feeling that it will be better if she can read and have more opportunities.”

Jiang Baimian echoed her. “Indeed. Weed City’s situation is relatively stable; being able to read is an advantage.

“The child has already gone to the classroom?” Jiang Baimian didn’t know the name of where the temporary teacher taught, so she could only use the most common term to define it.

“She’s only two years old. How can she go?” Gu Changle smiled. “I placed her at Auntie Nan’s.”

As Jiang Baimian climbed the stairs, she thoughtfully asked, “Do you want to teach her after you learn to read yourself?”

“That’s right. I’m still young and relatively popular. I have room to choose, and my income is still stable. Coupled with the dividends I get from the gun shop, I can support the cost of hiring a temporary teacher. In a few years, when An’an grows up and can attend classes on her own, who knows what will happen? Who knows if we can keep the status quo? My idea is that I should learn more first. I can teach her myself when the time comes, no matter how bad the situation is.” Gu Changle spoke of her considerations.

Jiang Baimian praised, “That’s right. A person without foresight will definitely have immediate worries.”

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Shang Jianyao suddenly applauded.

As they chatted, they arrived at the fifth floor and entered a relatively spacious room by the alley.

The light from outside shone through the four-pane glass windows, illuminating the bed, table, stools, paper, and simple blackboard inside.

At this moment, seven to eight women were sitting on stools and on the edge of the bed. They looked down at the paper in their hands and quietly revised the words that they had previously learned.

Jiang Baimian looked around and pulled Shang Jianyao to sit beside a 17-year-old girl.

Wrapped in a shriveled white cotton jacket, the girl focused on her notes from the last lesson. In this cold room, she trembled slightly.

After she finished reading a paragraph and looked up, Jiang Baimian revealed a harmless smile. “How long have you been attending lessons?”

The girl looked pretty, but she appeared a little haggard. She politely replied, “Almost two months.”

“How’s the teacher?” Jiang Baimian asked, trying to figure out something. This might be a question that first-time students would be concerned about.

“Very good; she’s very patient and knows a lot.” The girl was not stingy with her praise.

At this moment, Shang Jianyao interrupted. “Why do you want to pool money to hire a temporary teacher?”

The girl then realized that something was amiss. She looked at Shang Jianyao and asked in surprise, “Why is there a man?”

This matter was jointly done by the women in the courtyard, who were in the prostitution business. Usually, no man appeared.

“Are men not allowed to be prostitutes?” said Shang Jianyao matter-of-factly.

“My friend.” Gu Changle quickly introduced him.

The girl’s gaze swept across Shang Jianyao and Jiang Baimian’s faces, and she became increasingly confused.

The girl didn’t ask any further, and she sighed before answering the question. “My sister is a prostitute at a nightclub. She has no say on the guests she can accept; she’s like a slave. She contracted a venereal disease half a year ago and was chased out. She couldn’t find someone to treat her for quite some time, and she died not long after…

“She kept saying that there’s no hope in this line of work and that we wouldn’t be able to jump out no matter what. I might die from an illness in a few years, and she told me not to follow in her footsteps. But what can I do? I have to survive first, right?

“I’m the one pulling in customers. It’s fine if I pay attention, but it’s not a solution if I keep doing this. One day, I’ll end up like my sister. When she died…” The girl stopped, lowered her head, and ‘laughed.’

“I just want to know a few more words and learn more while I still have some money. I might have a chance to be a clerk at the municipal building in the future. I can also take on some Ruin Hunter missions that don’t involve any risks. That way, I won’t have to continue with this line of work anymore.”

“That’s right.” Jiang Baimian agreed sincerely.

The girl wanted to say something when she suddenly saw someone enter from the door. She stood up and said, “Good afternoon, Ms. An.”

Jiang Baimian looked over and was momentarily stunned. The temporary teacher who came was actually someone she knew.

The temporary teacher was Ruin Hunter An Ruxiang, whom Jiang Baimian had encountered in the Blackmarsh Wilderness and Swamp Ruin 1.

She was a member of Wu Shoushi’s team and had learned where Wu Shoushi’s corpse was placed from the Old Task Force.

An Ruxiang’s originally cold and indifferent expression changed slightly. “It’s you guys?”

Shang Jianyao stood up and asked enthusiastically, “Are you surprised?”

An Ruxiang—who was no longer wearing the military-green camouflage uniform—opened her mouth, not knowing how to answer. She was vigilant and confused.

Jiang Baimian quickly pointed outside the door. “Let’s go out and chat.”

An Ruxiang nodded silently and walked out of the room under the students’ confused gazes.

Upon arriving at the end of the fifth floor’s corridor, Jiang Baimian spoke first. “We took on an investigation mission. We didn’t expect to encounter you.”

An Ruxiang’s expression darkened before she returned to normal. “After leaving the ruin, we returned to Weed City with Shoushi and buried him at the place where he was born. Our trip was rather fruitful. With only two people left, we might as well do our own things.

“I wasn’t in the mood, and I didn’t take on any missions for a long time. Later, I recovered a little and casually took on some missions in the city, including being a temporary teacher.”

Jiang Baimian curiously questioned, “You became one just like that?”

In Jiang Baimian’s eyes, An Ruxiang was a woman very suitable for taking risks and fighting.

An Ruxiang looked back at the temporary classroom and calmly said, “I only wanted to be a temporary teacher for a week and find something to do.”

“You ended up liking this occupation?” Shang Jianyao asked in interest.

“I can’t say if I like it or not.” An Ruxiang’s tone was flat. Perhaps it was because she had encountered an acquaintance that had mutually helped each other, so she spoke a little more.

As if recalling something, she continued speaking. “I grew up in an assassin organization. There’s nothing to hide. In the New Calendar’s early years, there were many similar organizations. Later, the organization was destroyed. I was lucky to escape and began wandering the Ashlands.

“The education I received since I was young was on how to kill. Even when I learned how to read, it was for the purpose of assassination. Once I lost my target, I didn’t know what to do or know how to find it. Yes, as Shoushi said, the meaning of living.

“It was only when I met Shoushi that I slowly escaped that state. Maybe I understood it too late, and he didn’t manage to wait until then…” At this point, An Ruxiang fell silent for a few seconds before she said, “After he died, I couldn’t find the meaning of living. But when I gave them lessons, I realized that there was light in their eyes when they looked at me.”