Xiguan. It had been four years since she had heard that title. Xu Hang felt a numbness in her limbs and a sick feeling in her chest.

Feel nauseous.

Peng Bo's words were not shouted loudly, so Gu Fangfei, who had already walked out of the door, did not hear them. Seeing that Xu Hang did not follow, she turned back and said, "Mr. Xu?"

Xu Hang turned his head and said, "You go ahead. I want to have a word with this Mr. Peng."

Gu Fangfei nodded and left. Once she was out of sight, Xu Hang furrowed his brow and disgustingly waved away Peng Bo's hand. "Let go!" He took out a handkerchief from his sleeve and wiped the area where Peng Bo had touched him over and over again. Then, he disdainfully tossed the handkerchief aside.

Peng Bo, seeing his actions, clearly felt that he was being insulted and immediately became angry. He retorted, "Hey, what's this? A lowly nobody suddenly thinking he's a master?!"

"You've mistaken the wrong person," Xu Hang's eyes were as piercing as a hidden knife in the dark night, "please mind your own business and stop biting everywhere."

"Oh, I remember now. Jin Hongchang seems to have died, so you managed to escape? Just now, that Miss Gu called you something... Mr. Xu?"

"I'll say it again, you've got the wrong person."

"What's the matter? Huh? Do you think that no one knows about your filthy deeds now that you've climbed onto the daughter of the Gu family? Hmph! If I were to shout out about your previous despicable behavior, hehe, let's see what tricks you have up your sleeve! Oh, by the way, you might as well not sit down and have a meal. In fact, why don't you also refrain from performing in today's Pear Blossom Troupe? You can try going up on stage!" Peng Bo has always been a bully who likes to take advantage of others. Today, upon seeing Xu Hang, he couldn't help but lose his temper.

His dog-like, disdainful expression, in Xu Hang's eyes, was as deadly as poison. The more disgustingly he smiled, the stronger Xu Hang's urge to push him into the pond became.

Because he was one of the few who knew about the humiliating years of Xu Hang.

When he was eleven years old, both of Xu Hang's parents passed away. He left Chuan City and traveled thousands of miles to seek shelter with his uncle, Jin Hongchang, at the Golden Armor Hall. From that moment on, it became a nightmare.

No one knew that Jin Hongchang had adopted his nephew. Xu Hang grew up in Qiyuan for a full seven years without setting foot outside.

The first thing Jin Hongchang ordered Xu Hang to do was to learn opera.

Singing, that is clearly a livelihood of the bottom class, the most humble occupation. Xu Hang has always been raised as a young master of a prestigious family until this age, so naturally, he refuses.

So, Jin Hongchang no longer showed a friendly face to his kind uncle. He dragged Xu Hang into a secret room and whipped him, used a clamp to pinch him, stabbed him with golden needles... These were not the most terrifying punishments. The most terrifying one was when Jin Hongchang made Xu Hang kneel on top of creatively carved ice blocks as a form of punishment.

The chilling coldness of the ice seeped through the knees and into the bones, causing more pain than any whip could. What was even more important was the intricate pattern on top, digging into the skin and making it feel like kneeling on knives. Moreover, this type of punishment did not allow any movement. If one were to shift even slightly, the pattern would smudge, and the next day, if Jin Hongchang didn't see any patterned wounds on the knees, he would have to kneel for another day.

After fainting for the third time, Jin Hongchang grabbed his head and asked, "I'm asking you, will you study or not?!"

Xu Hang looked at the vibrant spring scenery beyond the crack in the door, finding it almost too dazzling, as if every pore on his body was screaming in pain. His thoughts drifted far away, only to return from a distant place in the end, and he finally muttered, "...study."

From then on, it was the sound of singing all year round, day and night, practicing vocal exercises, walking the stage, gesturing with delicate fingers, outlining the eyes and brows, swaying the water sleeves, and memorizing lines.

Sing off-key, hit; forget the lyrics, hit; wrong eye expression, hit... It's by hitting like this, that the play comes to life.

At the age of sixteen, she made her first stage debut, wearing a phoenix crown and a rainbow-colored dress.

The theater stage is located inside the Qiyuan. None of the people sitting below the stage are ordinary individuals. In fact, most of them are not even Chinese.

Among them, most are Japanese military officers or foreigners with blond hair and blue eyes. They are all formidable characters whom one cannot afford to provoke.

However, these people, clad in fine clothes and appearing virtuous and respected, holding high positions and authority, but once they enter the brothel, their eyes become lewd and dirty, and their faces appear intoxicated and lascivious, like a group of old turtles in a murky swamp.

"I once imitated a mandarin duck with him, exchanging affectionate glances. I once held hands with him, sharing the same pillow. But fate had destined me for a shallow and fleeting encounter. " Xu Hang gently tossed his sleeves, his eyebrows and eyes flickering. Beneath his actions, there was a collective gasp, and some people couldn't help but shift uncomfortably in their seats.

If it were an ordinary play, how could it be so stunning and incomparable?

Jin Hongchang made him sing "The Plum in the Golden Vase", "The Precious Mirror of Flowers" and other lewd songs and erotic tunes.

Those exceptionally wealthy and influential individuals always have undisclosed indulgences, kept behind closed doors and not daring to be flaunted. And Jin Hongchang is the ferryman who caters to these indulgences for them.

A few decades ago, there was widespread warfare everywhere, and ordinary people didn't even have time to escape for their lives, let alone have the leisure to listen to operas. Naturally, there were not many opera troupes around. Jin Hongchang had originally wanted to raise a few children from poor families for training, and it just so happened that Xu Hang appeared at this time.

A delicate and weak child from a scholarly family, no matter how much he suffered humiliation and abuse, possessed a sense of nobility deep in his bones that could not be compared to children from poor families. Jin Hongchang was an old ruffian who had spent half of his life delving into a variety of miscellaneous matters, and he was immediately captivated by Xu Hang's spirit.

For the first time, relying on the opera sung by Xu Hang, Jin Hongchang obtained protection from the Japanese and started doing business, making money by the day and behaving tyrannically.

That night, Jin Hongchang was very happy. He got drunk with his wife and son. Then, he kicked open the door to Xu Hang's room and pointed at him with a drunken slur, saying, "You! You clearly... hic... have to sing well tomorrow. Your expression must be even more... more charming... You have to make the Empress Dowager and Mr. Chadwick... happy!"

Xu Hang squatted on the bed, his cool eyes fixed on the drunken and unsightly state of Jin Hongchang, as if the surface of a lake harboring a monster, showing no ripples at all. Only after Jin Hongchang left, he suddenly got up from the bed, ran to the door, and crawled on the ground, retching for a long, long time.

In those days, the Japanese dared not offend foreigners, and the foreigners dared not offend the Japanese. Everyone wanted to pull this dark-haired youth, who resembled Chinese porcelain, off the stage and put him in their pockets, to take him away and nurture him. However, in this delicate balance, whoever made the first move would be tearing away the other's face.

Of course, Jin Hongchang is a cunning person. He has always kept Xu Hang hidden, like a last resort, without using him early on. He only wants to wait for a true big shot that he can rely on for the rest of his life.

And yet, Xu Hang, surprisingly, managed to maintain his innocence in this intricate relationship.

Until the Japanese were driven out of Hezhou City and foreigners retreated to the concession area, then... Duan Yelin appeared.

Perhaps what Duan Yelin said is right. Xu Hang should be grateful that the person who appeared was him. Otherwise, he wouldn't have known what kind of outcome awaited him.

However, for Xu Hang, he was also an out-and-out invader.