Having left the room and descended to the ground floor, Shang Jianyao and Jiang Baimian ran into Aunt Nan from “Afu Gun Shop.”

“You guys are quite composed,” the graceful woman said, her eyes sweeping over them casually with a smile.

“Aren’t you as well?” Jiang Baimian responded with a smile. “What does other people’s business have to do with us? We’re just afraid they’ll tear down the sky over Weed City.”

They had already coordinated their stories, and everyone tacitly ended the topic. One party intended to go upstairs, while the other was preparing to go out.

Just then, an idea struck Jiang Baimian, and she asked,

“Aunt Nan, do you know of any ‘temporary teachers’ nearby?”

Aunt Nan sized up the two people in front of her with suspicion.

“You want to hire a ‘temporary teacher’?”

Judging from their appearance and clothing, they didn't seem like illiterates.

“We mainly want to learn about this industry to see if we can take on related missions. We’re ruins hunters, after all. If there’s a mission to take, we definitely don’t want to miss it,” Jiang Baimian instinctively made up a reason.

Shang Jianyao immediately called her out.

“You’re explaining too much.”

Jiang Baimian glared at him, but she wasn’t too annoyed, as Aunt Nan clearly didn’t believe her words.

What need did ruins hunters who could easily kidnap Eugene and leave no clues have for taking on “temporary teacher” missions? It wasn’t like they were being hired as private tutors for the children of noblemen.

Who would believe that kind of talk if they knew the inside story?

Aunt Nan wisely didn’t ask what it was for and said with a smile,

“There’s one in this building.”

“Where does he live?” Jiang Baimian pressed.

Aunt Nan flicked a stray hair behind her ear.

“She, a lady.”

Aunt Nan used the Red River language for “she,” otherwise there was no way to distinguish it.

Aunt Nan continued,

“She doesn’t live here. She comes over every day at two in the afternoon and teaches for an hour and a half.

“Hehe, a dozen girls in this courtyard hired her together.

“Some of the people you met last night are participating. They have some dividends from ‘Afu Gun Shop,’ so they’re relatively well-off. If you want to see it later, I’ll have them show you the way.”

Jiang Baimian knew that the “girls” Aunt Nan mentioned were women who worked full-time or part-time in the flesh trade.

“Okay, we’ll go out for lunch first. Come to our room around two,” Jiang Baimian said gratefully, looking at Shang Jianyao’s hand on his stomach. “Thank you.”

She seemed to have completely forgotten that she had just helped Aunt Nan and the others take revenge last night, as if it were a long, long time ago and not worth mentioning.

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

They had already sensed someone coming and were waiting at the door.

“I was just about to go out and take a look,” Jiang Baimian explained to the lady outside with a smile.

This lady was one of the people who killed Eugene last night. She had large eyes and short hair that barely reached her ears, making her look both intellectual and young, making it difficult to accurately judge her age.

“There are still ten minutes left,” the lady said after exchanging a few pleasantries. “Gu Changle, you met her last night.”

“I won’t introduce myself, otherwise there’s no point in giving a fake name. You can call me Dabai,” Jiang Baimian said self-deprecatingly. “As for him, he doesn’t have a name. Just ‘Hey’ will do.”

She was retaliating for Shang Jianyao’s interruption earlier.

Gu Changle didn’t pick up on that and turned her body.

“It’s on the top floor; there’s better sunlight there.”

There was no electricity from 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Glancing at the floral scarf around Gu Changle’s neck, which seemed more vibrant than last night, Jiang Baimian quickened her pace and walked side by side with her.

Her “professional habit” kicked in, and she asked with great curiosity,

“Sister Gu, why did you think of pooling money to hire a ‘temporary teacher’?”

Gu Changle’s expression gradually softened, and the corners of her lips curled up almost imperceptibly.

“I accidentally got pregnant before, and I couldn’t bear to abort her, so I gave birth to her.

“I don’t want her to be like me in the future. I always feel that being literate would be better, and she would have more opportunities.”

Jiang Baimian echoed,

“Indeed, the situation in Weed City is relatively stable, and literacy is an advantage.

“Has the child already gone to the classroom?”

She didn’t know what the place where the “temporary teacher” lectured was called, so she could only define it with the most common noun.

“She’s only two years old. How can she go?” Gu Changle laughed. “I left her with Aunt Nan.”

Jiang Baimian asked thoughtfully as she climbed the stairs,

“Do you want to learn it yourself and then teach her?”

“That’s right. I’m still young and relatively popular now. I have a choice, and my income is still stable. Coupled with the dividends from the gun shop, I can afford 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 the situation will be like, whether I’ll still be in this state. I was thinking, I’ll learn more first, and even if it’s bad, I can teach her myself,” Gu Changle said about her considerations.

“That’s right. A man who has no distant worries will soon find himself in immediate distress,” Jiang Baimian praised.

Clap clap clap, Shang Jianyao also applauded.

While chatting, they arrived at the fifth floor and entered a relatively spacious room facing the alley.

The light from outside shone through the glass windows on all sides, illuminating the beds, tables, benches, paper, and simple blackboard inside quite clearly.

At this time, seven or eight women were sitting on the stools and the edges of the beds, looking down at the paper in their hands and whispering as they reviewed the characters they had learned earlier.

Jiang Baimian looked around and pulled Shang Jianyao to sit next to a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old girl.

The girl was wrapped in a shriveled white cotton coat and was focused on looking at the notes from the previous lesson.

In this cold room, she was shaking slightly.

When the other party finished and raised her head, Jiang Baimian showed a harmless smile.

“How long have you been taking classes here?”

The girl looked delicate, but a little haggard.

She replied politely,

“Almost two months.”

“How’s the teacher?” Jiang Baimian asked tentatively.

This was probably the question that new students cared about the most.

“Very good, very patient, and knows a lot,” the girl didn’t hold back her praise.

At this moment, Shang Jianyao interjected,

“Why would you think of pooling money to hire a ‘temporary teacher’?”

Only then did the girl realize that something was wrong. She looked at him and said in surprise,

“How can there be a man?”

This matter was organized by the women in the courtyard who were doing flesh trade, and no men usually appeared.

“Aren’t men allowed to do flesh trade?” Shang Jianyao said confidently.

“My friend,” Gu Changle quickly introduced.

The girl’s gaze swept across Shang Jianyao and Jiang Baimian’s faces, becoming even more puzzled.

She didn’t ask any more questions, sighed, and answered the previous question.

“My sister was a prostitute at a nightclub. Whether or not she received guests, and what kind of guests she received, wasn’t up to her. It was like being a slave.

“She contracted a venereal disease half a year ago and was kicked out. She found someone to treat her for a while, but it didn’t get better. She died not long after…

“She always said that there was no hope in this line of work, that there was no way out, and that she might die of illness in a few years. She told me not to learn from her. But what could I do? I had to survive, right?

“I solicit customers myself, and it’s better to be careful, but if it goes on like this, it’s not a solution. One day, I’ll be like my sister. When she died…”

The girl stopped, lowered her head, and then “laughed.”

“I thought that while I still had some money, I should learn to read and learn more things. Maybe I’ll have a chance to work as a clerk in the city hall in the future, or I can take on some ruins hunting missions that don’t require taking risks, so I don’t have to do this line of work anymore.”

“Yes,” Jiang Baimian agreed wholeheartedly.

The girl was about to say something more when she suddenly saw someone coming in at the door, so she stood up and said,

“Hello, Teacher An.”

Jiang Baimian followed her gaze and was stunned for a moment.

The “temporary teacher” who had come was actually someone she knew.

The ruins hunter, An Ruxiang, who she had met in the “Blackmarsh Wilderness” and the No. 1 Marsh Ruins.

She was a member of Wu Shoushi’s team, and she had learned from the “Old Task Force” where Wu Shoushi’s body was placed.

An Ruxiang’s originally cold and indifferent expression also showed some fluctuation.

“You?”

“Surprised?” Shang Jianyao stood up and asked enthusiastically.

No longer wearing military green camouflage, An Ruxiang, dressed in all black, opened her mouth, not knowing how to answer.

She was both wary and confused.

Jiang Baimian quickly pointed to the door and said,

“Let’s go out and talk.”

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

Coming to the end of the floor, Jiang Baimian took the lead and said,

“We took on an investigation mission. We didn’t expect to meet you.”

An Ruxiang’s expression darkened, but she quickly returned to normal.

“After leaving that ruins, we took Shoushi back to Weed City and buried him, buried him where he was born.

“We had a good harvest that time, and there were only two of us left, so we simply went our separate ways.

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

“And then you just kept doing it?” Jiang Baimian asked curiously.

In her eyes, An Ruxiang was a woman who was very suitable for adventure and combat.

An Ruxiang turned her head and looked at the temporary classroom and said calmly,

“I originally only wanted to be there for a week to find something to do.”

“Did you end up falling in love with this profession?” Shang Jianyao also asked with great interest.

“I can’t say that I like it or dislike it,” An Ruxiang’s tone was emotionless.

Perhaps it was because she had met an acquaintance who had provided help to each other, she spoke a little more and continued as if reminiscing.

“I grew up in an assassin organization. There’s nothing to hide. There were many such organizations in the early years of the New Calendar.

“Later, that organization was destroyed. I was lucky enough to escape and began to wander the greylands.

“The education I received since I was a child was how to kill people. Even if I learned to read, it was for the purpose of killing. Once there was no goal, I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t find, uh, Shoushi said, the meaning of survival.

“It wasn’t until I met Shoushi that I slowly got out of that state. Maybe I understood too late, and he didn’t wait until…”

Speaking of this, An Ruxiang was silent for several seconds before saying,

“After he died, I couldn’t find the meaning of survival again.

“But when I teach them, I see light in their eyes.”

ps: Asking for guaranteed monthly tickets at the beginning of the month~