Falling Dreams, Rising Hopes: Saving Mr. Boyfriend

"Elder brother, I need your help." After thinking the whole day and night about it, she concluded that she needed help from her friends. There was still some sort of tension between her and Yu Tian, so the next best possible person she could approach was her cousin. 

"Hmph! Why do you think I would help you? You have been here since yesterday, but you did not even come to meet me. Now you need a favor, you are here. How selfish of you!" Su Lang threw another childish tantrum drawing a stifled laugh from his sister. 

"Alright brother, I am sorry. I was just so exhausted for past few days that I had to rest too. Especially after the night incident, I was quite shaken up." In all honesty, she was just using that night as an excuse. For one, she knew Su Lang and Feng Yue, even Fan Ruyi would have already heard from Yu Tian what had happened. 

But Yu Rong ang Wang Hao would have kept it all hush because of different reasons. The former would be hiding her failure while the latter did not want the actual truth behind it all come out. 

She was definitely affected by it. Whenever she thought back, she would shudder over the fact if she did not have enough training, she would have definitely got molested that day. No wonder Jiang Bo was unable to see through the tricks. No matter how mentally strong he was, he was ultimately, just a naïve scholar. How would he know of the tricks all around? 

He did not have martial arts training either, so he could have definitely been in compromising situation, just like her that night. 

So, she was very thankful that her dad had prepared her enough for being the second sacrifice. At least, he had faith in her that she would come out of it alive. But it was definitely her mistake that she did not visit them yesterday. How could she tell poor Su Lang that she had prioritized her mission over everything, even Yu Tian? 

"Oh! I am sorry I did not consider that. Did going to the library help you calm down?" Su Lang looked like he was making a sarcastic remark but he was genuinely concerned. He was ashamed that he did not consider her side of events at all. 

The other people in the room where Su Lang was now resting snickered. They thought the girl was caught red handed making excuses. These were all Su Lang's people but they did not see Mei Qingyang in high regard. She belonged to their category, so she should know her place. She was not even real daughter of Minister Jiang but she behaved as if she knew Su Lang for years. 

Mei Qingyang did understand the meaning behind her brother's words. She nodded. 

"It did help me out. This time I decided to devour some fiction. It always helps, transporting to another world. Anyway, my favor!" she went back to the topic. 

"Oh yeah, tell me!" Su Lang was sitting with his back against bed support. 

"So, I came to know yesterday about this place called torture prison," she raised her eyebrow towards Su Lang who was drinking water from his mug. Suddenly he spurted it out on Mei Qingyang and had a coughing fit. 

"Cough, cough, where do you keep hearing about such non-sense?" Su Lang scolded her. She was keeping more secrets from them! She was meeting people behind their backs. Were they not already there to help her out? 

"Isn't your reaction a bit too exaggerated? I am in the company of all wealthy people who get their servants from that place only. It should actually be a surprise that I am hearing about it after four months of me being here." Mei Qingyang was handed a towel by Su Lang's assistant. She wiped down her face, she needed to wash it afterwards, this dirty brother of hers! 

"Uhh... that's correct. Yeah. Anyway, what about it?" Shame filled Su Lang's eyes when he saw his assistant standing behind Mei Qingyang obediently. He had gotten her from that prison too, rather saved her. 

The methods of this school were just too cruel. He was a kid when he had been deliberately taken to the place by a few higher ups in the school who wanted to curry favor with his dad and had asked him to choose any of the person as his servant. Again, they had only shown him small girls in ragged clothes. 

Although he was just a kid at that time, he had seen quite a lot already in his life as the sole heir of Su empire. But this was something beyond his comprehension, he was a small kid after all. He had begged those uncles to let him go as soon as he stepped into the building. No one had listened to him. 

The scene he had seen would haunt him for his whole life. The kids were kept in separate cells, probably just for the sake of displaying them for potential 'buyers'. Their life was worse than animals in rescue shelters! 

He visited quite a few kids of his age before he stumbled upon his current assistant. Her eyes were dead, she did not even respond to multiple calls from the people accompanying him. Those old men had thrown a piece of food to her and she did not react even then. It felt like she had just given up on life and he, as a kid, could not bear to see that. 

"I... I will take her," he had said loudly through tears while hiding behind his dad's secretary. Everyone had cheered up and clapped. The girl would be delivered to him a week later. 

When she was delivered to his dorm room, which was the same as now, she had been thoroughly cleaned and clothed in new clothes. She had beautiful features, big eyes, perfect nose and think pink lips. If she did not belong to the disadvantaged section of the society, she would have been the top beauty of the school. 

It took Su Lang over six months for her to even utter his name. She was always listless and Su Lang was often chided for making wrong choice with such an important decision. But she had gradually warmed up to him. He would play with her, personally teach her reading and writing. They would have their meals together too. He never treated as his unequal and thus, had earned her utmost loyalty. 

He had, for quite long, wanted to know what exactly went in that facility. But he had been unable to procure that information and did not want to hurt his assistant by bringing up the past. So he had given up. 

Right now, if anyone looked at his assistant, no one would say she was like that before. She was very open with her emotions and was very efficient in her work, albeit a bit clumsy. 

He glanced at her assistant once again but could not read the expression on her face. It had seemed like the distant memory had resurfaced once again. But he could not tell all this to his clueless sister either. It would be a long story, a story that would hurt his assistant. 

"Well, I heard a kid was shot yesterday because he tried to escape," she started slowly. Mei Qingyang had been observing her cousin and realized she should have looked for an opportune moment before bringing up the topic. Unlike Yu Tian, who was 'gifted' an assistant from his aunt, the same might not have been the case with her brother. 

"And?" Su Lang was still confused where the girl was going with her statements. 

"Can you just send out everyone from here first? I see everyone is staring at me, wide eyed on that," Mei Qingyang could not take it anymore. It was like everyone had dropped their work just to listen to what she was saying. 

"Sorry," he signaled everyone to get out. His assistant stayed and Mei Qingyang did not mind. 

"I want to save the kids in there," she completed her sentence finally, after everyone had left. There would be spies in his cohort too. She had already spilled so much anyway. But her plan had to be a secret. 

"Ms. Mei, I would advise against that," his assistant spoke up before Su Lang could reply. 

"Assistant Su, I do not understand," Mei Qingyang was confused. Did she calculate incorrectly? 

"Even if you save them, where will they go? At least they have food there to eat, and a roof over their head. They might look forward towards being hired as a servant and living a normal life afterwards," she said choked up a bit. Su Lang clenched his hands. 

"Do you think Ms. Su, that everyone gets as good a master as yours? What about the s.e.x.u.a.l abuse they take after they get bought? You must have been the lucky one no?" Mei Qingyang crossed her arms. What did this girl want to say? 

"But we are already used to it. Do you even know what goes in there? We have already been subjected to everything we might face. That's how kids are conditioned there!" the girl dropped the bomb on everyone.