The person who walked out of the staircase was not big or tall, and he was even thin, but his footsteps were steady. Yang Ning knew that this man was powerful in martial arts at a glance.

The man was about forty-five or forty-six years ago, dressed in a black cotton robe, with a hat made of fox fur. He stood at the staircase and looked around. The man with a prominent nose lying on the floor didn’t dare to move a bit, yet he got up after seeing the comer and walked forward, greeting, “Manager, this guy beat us…”

“Clap!”

Before the man with a prominent nose finished his words, he was slapped so hard that half of his face was swollen in an instant.

“Manager…”The man was shocked and didn’t understand why he was slapped.

The middle-aged man said coldly, “I told you to invite Pearl, but what did you do? Since there are guests here, you should discuss with them. Why did you offend them?”

“Manager…”

The middle-aged man rebuked harshly, “Shut up! Don’t I know what you did? You must have been rude and acted recklessly here so they taught you a lesson. Master Yuan is here, and he is educated and reasonable. Like attracts like, so his friend must be reasonable. If you didn’t act absurdly, would they beat you?”

The man with a prominent nose lowered his head and didn’t dare to speak.

The middle-aged man then strode forward and cupped his hands, saying with a smile, “Master Yuan, these useless people disturbed you. I am sorry.” He raised his hand and a money bag was thrown to Yuan Rong. “This is a small amount of money. There are many girls on the Qinhuai River. This money is enough for all your expenses tonight.”

Yuan Rong asked with a frown, “Manager Ding, what do you mean?”

The middle-aged man was the manager of the Rising Sun Escort Agency, Ding Yitu. He smiled and replied, “Please accept it. The useless people disturbed you, so this is to make an apology. I have a friend from afar tonight who seldom comes to the capital city. He came this time and happened to watch the selection of the beauty queen tonight. He likes listening to zither music and has heard that Pearl is excellent in playing zither, so I want to ask her to play zither for us.”

Yang Ning glanced at Pearl, to see that she lowered her head and trembled slightly. She didn’t dare to look at Ding Yitu and even feared him a lot.

Yuan Rong furrowed his brows. “I also want to listen to Pearl playing zither so I came here today.”

Ding Yitu smiled. “Master Yuan, you are from a scholarly family and good at playing zither and the game of Go as well as writing and painting. It’s understandable that you appreciate Pearl’s skill of playing zither, and you came and got in her boat earlier than me. I shouldn’t take away the girl you love, but my friend won’t stay in the capital for many days, and he is free only tonight. He may leave tomorrow, so…” He stepped forward and looked sincere. “Master Yuan, please do me a favor and let Pearl go. I will pay all the expenses for you and your friend tonight. If you help me this time, I will give you a valuable gift to express my thanks another day.”

Yuan Rong hesitated and glanced at Yang Ning, to see that Yang Ning was at leisure with the wine cup in his hand and didn’t even take a glance at Ding Yitu, as if he were not existent.

“Pearl, can you help me?” Ding Yitu looked at Pearl who lowered her head in silence. “If you can go with me, I will give you something valuable to thank you.”

Pearl finally raised her head and glanced at Yuan Rong, saying with a bitter smile, “Master Yuan, I am sorry that I can’t serve you two tonight…”

Ding Yitu smiled faintly.

“Pearl, make preparations first and dress up.” Ding Yitu seemed to be sure that Pearl would go with him and told her, “My friend is a graceful gentleman. Don’t show disrespect to him. I will tell somebody to wait for you downstairs.” Afterward, he cupped his hands in front of Yuan Rong. “Master Yuan, I will express my thanks another day.” Then he turned to leave.

After he took only two steps, he heard a peaceful voice from behind. “This is Manager Ding from the Rising Sun Escort Agency, right?”

Ding Yitu was stunned and stopped. He turned around and looked at Yang Ning, to see that the young man shook his wine cup at leisure, so he answered with a smile, “Right. I am Ding Yitu from the Rising Sun Escort Agency. Sir, may I know your name?”

Obviously he didn’t know Yang Ning. But since the young man was with Yuan Rong, he must be not an ordinary person.

Yang Ning stated impassively, “It doesn’t matter who I am. I told somebody to ask you to come to apologize, not to let you take Pearl away. You are sincere and have admitted your fault, so I will let it pass. You can take your people away. Remember to teach them more, in case that others have to teach them for you next time.”

Ding Yitu frowned slightly, yet his tone was soft. “Sir, you are right.” He paused for a moment and then added, “But you have heard Pearl’s response, she seems willing to go with me.”

“Sorry. Not to mention whether Pearl is really willing to go with you, even if she is willing to, I don’t think you can take her away.” Yang Ning raised his hand and picked up a cake, saying at leisure, “I want to listen to Pearl playing zither, too, so you can go now.”

Ding Yitu was stunned and then smiled. “Sir, are you joking?”

“Look at me. Am I joking?” Yang Ning suddenly turned to Ding Yitu, with his sharp eyes. “I don’t have time to say more to you.” He looked at Pearl and said with a smile, “Pearl, you can start playing now.”

Pearl furrowed her beautiful brows slightly and stood there, at a loss for what to do.

Ding Yitu looked cold and said casually, “I have said that I will express my thanks another day, and I will pay the expenses for you two tonight. There are many girls on the Qinhuai River, and you can choose anyone.”

Yang Ning retorted, “There is only one Pearl on the Qinhuai River. Since there are many girls on the river, you can choose anyone. Don’t disturb me here.”

Ding Yitu suddenly laughed loudly and asked, “What if I insist on taking her away?”

Yang Ning also laughed. “Your people said the same just now, but you have seen what happened to them.”

“Are you threatening me?” Ding Yitu chuckled. “Do you think I can be threatened? I admire you for your courage, while in fact, it’s not good if a young man is too rash.”

“If we are not rash, we will not be young men.” Yang Ning also smiled. “You said that you have a guest. What does it have to do with us? You told us to do you a favor. Are you worth my help? If I don’t help you, what will you do?”

Ding Yitu’s canthus trembled slightly, and he turned to Yuan Rong, saying indifferently, “Master Yuan, I have shown respect to you. How do you think we should deal with this matter?”

Yuan Rong sat down and picked up the wine cup. “Manager Ding, I probably can try to persuade somebody else, but this man is too weird, and if he wants to do something, I can’t stop him.”

Ding Yitu looked Yang Ning up and down and frowned slightly. Yuan Rong thought that he would lose temper, yet Ding Yitu just cupped his hands and didn’t say anything. Then he turned to leave, and his two subordinates followed him downstairs.

Yuan Rong was surprised and said in a low voice, “This is not Ding Yitu’s style.”

Yang Ning seemed to be also astonished and chuckled. “He is cleverer and more patient than you think…” Meanwhile, he knew that Ding Yitu was not a reckless warrior but had a calculating mind. He was not simple.

Pearl sighed gloomily and sat down aside.

“You seem to fear him a lot.” Yang Ning asked, “Why are you so scared? Did he hurt you?”

Pearl hesitated for a moment and then forced a smile. “My Lord, please drink. When you are on the Qinhuai River, just have fun. Don’t need to care about anything else.”

Ruan Rong also looked at Pearl and asked with a frown, “Pearl, did you hide something from me?”

“No… No!” Pearl had tears in her eyes and lowered her head. “Young Master, please don’t ask more.”

Yang Ning sighed. “You were scared before seeing him. After you saw him, you didn’t even dare to look at him. Of course, it is not because he is the manager of the Rising Sun Escort Agency, and there must be other reasons behind it. If you don’t want to say, I won’t force you.”

“Pearl, Young Master Xue told me to take care of you, yet these two years, I…” Yuan Rong looked gloomy. “Although I promised him, I didn’t do that. I want to help you all the time, but…” He smiled bitterly and shook his head, looking helpless.

There was gratitude in Pearl’s eyes. “Young Master, in fact, you have helped me a lot. I can’t express to you how grateful I am.”

“I know you must have suffered a lot these two years, yet you never asked me for anything.” Yuan Rong sighed. “I know your feelings, and you don’t want to implicate me, but if you really have something difficult to express and need my help, no matter what, you should tell me.” His voice got colder. “Tell me what on earth happened.”

Pearl trembled, with tears in her eyes. After a moment of hesitation, she finally pulled up her sleeve. She was fair-skinned and the skin on her wrist was like jade, but as she pulled up her sleeve, there were many scars on her fair skin which were crisscrossing and shocking.

Yuan Rong turned pale all of a sudden, and Yang Ning frowned.

“What…what happened?” Yuan Rong got up abruptly. “Why are there wounds and scars on your arm?”

Pearl smiled bitterly. “Apart from the arms, I have more scars on my body. There are few on the parts which can be revealed, while there are scars all over the hidden parts.”

With cold light flashing in his eyes, Yang Ning asked, “All the scars were left after Ding Yitu hurt you? Is this the reason why you fear him?”

“Tell me everything that happened to you.” Yuan Rong was a gentle and educated man at ordinary times, yet he was furious and looked ferocious now.

Pearl whispered, “Ding Yitu is a beast. He…takes pleasure in abusing others. He sends somebody to take me to his place every month and then…” She didn’t continue. She could tell nobody about her sorrow. When she spoke it out, she felt so sad that tears fell from her eyes.