Amnesiac General and Infatuated Brothel Keeper 4

Su Jinzhi had No. 0 activate the "Priceless Spring Night" welfare buff. After the merchant was hit by the buff, he immediately sat on the chair and started jerking off, moaning while he did so, saving the effort of voice dubbing. Su Jinzhi watched him for a while, and after feeling there was no problem, he pulled up the quilt and went to sleep.

After a night's transaction, Su Jinzhi lay on the bed pretending to be exhausted. The merchant was completely satisfied and felt extremely tender towards him. He even left him a sum of silver, telling him to hide it from Li Feng so Su Jinzhi could spend it himself.

As soon as the merchant left, Li Feng came to see him.

Su Jinzhi presented the silver banknotes left by the merchant to Li Feng. He looked at the trend of Li Feng's Progress Value increasing over these past few days; it seemed to rise when money was earned. He didn't know if handing over these banknotes would increase it, but he didn't need to spend money anyway.

Holding the banknotes, Li Feng's Progress Value indeed went up, but he didn't put the banknotes away immediately. Instead, he stayed silent for a while before speaking, "Wuyan, last night you..."

Su Jinzhi lowered his eyes and remained silent.

Li Feng frowned slightly, paused his voice, and asked again, "Are you feeling unwell anywhere right now?"

Su Jinzhi replied, "No."

Li Feng sighed. "You still refuse to call me Madam. Never mind."

Su Jinzhi: "..." How was he supposed to explain... he refused to call him Madam because it felt too weird?

Li Feng raised a hand to touch his face, then took out a medicine bottle from his sleeve, stuffing it back into his hand along with the banknotes. "In a moment, I will call Ping'an to bring you hot water. Remember to apply the medicine. Don't be disobedient; your body is your own. Keep these banknotes for yourself too. If you don't have some savings, how will you redeem yourself in the future?"

Hearing this, Su Jinzhi immediately looked up at Li Feng.

"Rest well and heal your injuries. You won't have to receive guests for the next three days." Li Feng wore a faint smile on his face. After saying these words, he got up and left.

Su Jinzhi looked at his retreating back in immense surprise and asked No. 0, "Is there some kind of story behind Li Feng?"

Jun Changle remembered everything regarding Jiang Lishan, but his memory fragments regarding Huaqi Pavilion were very fragmented. Perhaps he himself didn't want to remember these things, so Su Jinzhi only knew that not long after Qiu Yi died, Li Feng passed away from illness.

No. 0 said, "No. 0 doesn't know. But wasn't the memory package already transferred to Lord Host?"

"The memories in the memory package are incomplete..." Su Jinzhi pinched the bridge of his nose, looked at the banknotes in his hand, thought about it, and found a box to store them away.

Of all the salvation targets, he had currently only met Ping'an, Li Feng, and Qiu Yi. The data panel also only unlocked the Progress Value for the three of them right now. Jun Changle used to be like Qiu Yi, very reluctant to receive guests, but Su Jinzhi had the welfare buff. As long as the money offered was high enough, he was willing to accept anyone. Anyway, to him, receiving guests was just listening to the sound of jerking off while sleeping.

And Li Feng's Progress Value here was also slowly rising due to his obedience. A few days later, Li Feng sought him out for a private conversation, saying that he was going to retire and return to his hometown, and planned to hand over Huaqi Pavilion for Su Jinzhi to manage.

Su Jinzhi listened to his words with a dumbfounded look, thinking to himself that this timeline was wrong.

No. 1 suddenly spoke up, "If everything was exactly the same as before, then what would we need you for?"

"No. 1, why are you back?" Su Jinzhi retorted. "I'm still receiving guests just like before."

"You haven't truly received any guests," No. 1 said. "I went to the headquarters to fetch a new punishment skill to urge the host to actively do tasks."

Su Jinzhi swallowed his saliva. "...What skill did you fetch back?"

No. 1 said, "Not many, just one. Its name is Profoundly Mysterious Electric Shock."

Su Jinzhi: "..."

No. 1 continued, "Host, please rest assured. This world is a punishment world. Even without my interference, it'll be thrilling enough for the host."

Hearing this, Su Jinzhi became even more afraid. He wondered if he should take in a few more guests tonight to make Li Feng happy and prove that he was indeed actively doing his tasks.

That night, a group of guests came to Huaqi Pavilion and caused a scene, smashing things up, simply because the courtesans were all pushing and shoving each other, refusing to serve them.

Staying in his room, Su Jinzhi heard the huge commotion downstairs. Just as he was wondering why Li Feng hadn't come out to manage the situation, Ping'an pushed open his room door, dropped to the floor with a heavy thud, kowtowed three times in a row, and cried, "Young Master Wuyan, please, I beg you to save Madam..."

"What's wrong? Ping'an, get up first and then speak." Su Jinzhi was startled by his actions and hurriedly went over to help him up. "Is someone causing trouble downstairs? Where's Madam? Take me to see Madam."

Ping'an led him to Li Feng's room. As soon as he entered, he smelled a thick scent of blood mixed with the bitter smell of herbs, which made one nauseous. Li Feng was half-leaning against the bed. The front of his robes was stained with a lot of blood, as were the corners of his mouth and hands. He struggled to get out of bed but didn't have much strength. During his movements, he coughed a few more times, choking up quite a bit of blood. Seeing this, Ping'an immediately rushed forward with red eyes, supporting Li Feng and rubbing his back to smooth his breathing.

Li Feng raised his head to glance at Su Jinzhi and smiled bitterly at Ping'an. "Why did you bring Wuyan here..."

"Madam, in your current condition, you can't go serve those people... You, you'll die!" Ping'an hugged him and cried.

Li Feng sighed, the smile on his face fading a little. "If I don't go, who else can? While I'm still alive, it's good if I can protect you all for a few more days..."

Su Jinzhi frowned as he looked at him. The group of guests downstairs was still making a ruckus. His temples throbbed, and a corner of his mind seemed to break open, memories instantly pouring out—Qiu Yi seemed to have died on this very night. The patrons with special fetishes he took in seemed to be the group of people downstairs.

Li Feng had always been a good brothel madam. He never deducted the wages of anyone in the pavilion, and most of the money he earned was used to subsidize the lives of the courtesans in the pavilion. When encountering difficult guests or those with special kinks, he usually handled them himself. As a result, his root illness before his planned retirement wasn't cured, and he had added many new injuries. With old ailments and new injuries striking together, he fell ill.

In the original version of this night, Jun Changle was receiving another guest, so Ping'an went to beg Qiu Yi. Qiu Yi then replaced Li Feng to serve this group of people, but unexpectedly, he was tortured to death.

Because a life was lost, even though that group of people was escorted to the government office, Li Feng felt too much self-blame in his heart and eventually died from his worsening illness.

Jun Changle took over the position of the owner of Huaqi Pavilion. With a depressed heart and insurmountable sorrow, he contracted tuberculosis and died a few years later. Huaqi Pavilion thus closed down. Everyone in this pavilion had never experienced a single day of true happiness until their deaths.

Su Jinzhi suddenly remembered the words Li Feng used to advise him.

In this world, living was the hardest thing of all. One had to climb over countless sorrowful peaks and bitter seas of partings in life, unfulfilled desires, and impossible loves just to barely survive in this world. The moon still has its waxing and waning, its clear and cloudy days, so how could everything go as one wished for humans?

Su Jinzhi walked over to Li Feng's bed, pressed him down, and said, "I'll go."

Li Feng was startled and raised his eyes to look at him.

Su Jinzhi looked back at him and smiled. "Didn't you say you wanted to hand Huaqi Pavilion over to me to manage? Let's start from tonight."

"Wuyan..." Li Feng murmured softly, his body trembling.

"Ding—!" No. 0 suddenly spoke up to remind him, "The Progress Value for the salvation branch target Li Feng has reached 70, and Qiu Yi's has also reached 30. Lord Host, please keep up the good work!"

Su Jinzhi asked No. 0, "Why did Qiu Yi's increase too?"

No. 0 said, "Qiu Yi is standing outside the door. It seems he came to look for Li Feng."

Su Jinzhi sighed. "He probably sensed that something was wrong and wanted to come see Li Feng."

Su Jinzhi stood up and pulled the quilt up for Li Feng, then instructed Ping'an to take good care of him before pushing the door and walking out. Sure enough, Qiu Yi was standing right outside, having probably heard their conversation clearly.

Qiu Yi looked at him and took the initiative to speak. "Wuyan, you..."

"Madam is sick. You can go in and check on him." Su Jinzhi didn't wait for him to finish and interrupted him. "I'll go attend to the guests."

An expression finally appeared on Qiu Yi's face. He stopped him with some anxiety. "Can you handle it? Let me go instead. I'm older than you, and you're still young after all—"

"Don't worry, I'll be fine." Su Jinzhi patted his hand. He had the welfare buff; even if a hundred more came, it would be a piece of cake.

Su Jinzhi grandly led this group of people to his room. After casting the welfare buff on them, he sat on the chair with his legs crossed like a lord, looking at the group of beasts kneeling on the ground jerking off, and said indignantly, "What a bunch of scumbags!"

After hearing Su Jinzhi talk about how Qiu Yi died, No. 0 was also very angry and chimed in to curse, "Exactly, scumbags!"

Su Jinzhi was surprised. "Eh, Baby 0, you AIs can swear too?"

No. 0 said, "Yeah, our benefits are very good. As long as we're not swearing at the host, it's fine."

"That's so cool?" Su Jinzhi marveled. "Then, Baby 0, do you have any items that can punish them?"

No. 0 thought for a while and said, "Lord Host, No. 0 doesn't have any, but Brother No. 1 does."

Su Jinzhi suddenly realized. "Oh right! No. 1, didn't you just get that 'Profoundly Mysterious Electric Shock' from headquarters? Let them try it out."

No. 1: "..."

No. 0 also acted coquettishly, "Brother No. 1..."

No. 1 said helplessly, "...Alright, alright, I got it."

As soon as No. 1 finished speaking, Su Jinzhi saw the few men who had originally been kneeling on the floor jerking off suddenly jump up, screaming tragically. In no time, they fell to the floor, foaming at the mouth, rolling their eyes, twitching, and trembling.

Su Jinzhi sucked in a breath of cold air as he watched them. "No. 1, what level of punishment intensity did you set this to?"

No. 1 said, "Not high, just around level six."

If level six was already this miserable, Su Jinzhi touched his own neck and wondered how long he could hold out if No. 1 used this electric shock on him.

After a while, No. 1 said again, "Actually, you can mess with them too. You're covered by the buff anyway, so they won't think you did it."

Hearing it say this, Su Jinzhi found a few silver needles, stripped off their clothes, and stabbed them into their bodies. As he was stabbing, he discovered that one of them had brought a leather whip, chili water, and other unspeakable items—this was exactly how Qiu Yi had been killed by this group of beasts.

Su Jinzhi confiscated those items and directly used them on them, not sleeping for the entire night.

As a result, after dawn broke the next day, there were dark circles under Su Jinzhi's eyes, and he had a cut on his forehead. He had gotten it when he tripped over someone's leg and hit the corner of the table while getting up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.