Falling Dreams, Rising Hopes: Saving Mr. Boyfriend

"Wha… what are you saying?" Mei Qingyang's hand slumped down. Su Lang's eyes also widened with shock. Su Weixi, his assistant never talked about her past. But her outburst today and the shocking revelation was just too much for both the people in the room. 

"You mean to say… but we are talking about pre-teen year kids!" Mei Qingyang could still not believe her ears. Subjecting them to s.e.x.u.a.l abuse at the age where they did not even understand intimate contact, what was Yu Rong trying to achieve? 

Su Weixi's face contorted with grief. She did not want to relive those horrible moments. And as much as she liked this girl that her master was so fond of, she wanted to make sure she had no false idea about that place. 

She turned her head away, as if, she did not want anyone to see her expression at the moment. Closing her eyes, she continued with a tremble in her voice, "So you see, they bring in the kids and in the name of training, they beat them with hot metal rods. It's been so many years, I still have marks from the beating," she rolled her sleeves over, just to give them a glimpse of the marks. 

Su Lang suddenly realized he had never seen the girl out of her 'work clothes'. Even in her childhood, that was one thing he could not make her budge on. She had to wear her work clothes, the butler uniform: a full sleeves white shirt and black pants at a minimum, then it could be a vest and a coat over the shirt. He had relaxed enough rules for her, so she was okay with just the shirt and formal pants. 

However, she never deviated from that garb. He had bought her so many clothes, but she never wore them. Now he knew the reason. 

Mei Qingyang felt guilty after seeing the scars. Everyone had a past, a pain they wanted to hide. She was taking it too lightly earlier. But it made her more determined to save those kids. 

"Go on," Su Lang wanted to hear more, hear about her suffering and embrace it all. His heart ached for this girl. She had really been pitiful, hadn't she? And he never took more pains to know about her past. When he saw that his path was being blocked, he backed off very easily. 

"We… we are not allowed to talk about it. It is part of the training," Su Weixi covered her face. 

"And? You are under my wing, no one can even touch a hair on your body. So, won't you tell us everything?" Su Lang, involuntarily, got up from his bed. He limped a bit but reached Su Weixi. He took her into a big hug and stroked her head. 

Mei Qingyang wanted to give them a room but then it was also important for her to hear the details. Unexpectedly this time, Su Weixi did not cry. She found such security in her master's embrace that she let go of her fears. But she also knew her limits as a servant, so she did not hug him back. 

"Su Weixi, that you are able to bear my elder brother, I know you are pretty strong. So, do not hesitate. Please tell us what happens in there. We will formulate a strategy accordingly," Mei Qingyang tried to lighten the mood a bit. 

Su Weixi did not know how persistent this girl was. Why would she try to disrupt the lives of people of her cohort? She needed to knock some sense into this girl. She raised her head and looked disdainfully at Mei Qingyang. 

"I can tell you. But I need you to give up the idea of taking kids out from there. It is their last surviving hope. Out of thousands, at least one would get a good life like me. Otherwise, all thousand would end up dead," Su Weixi told her in an indifferent tone, earning a glare from her master. 

"Elder brother, it's alright. I understand her apprehensions. I won't promise you anything assistant Su, but please rest assured, I only have best interests in my mind," Mei Qingyang also replied apathetically to the assistant. 

Su Weixi had thought that Mei Qingyang would get persuaded but it did not seem the case. She glanced at her master once, who just nodded. Concern was apparent on his whole face. She felt happy inside that her master was worried about her, at the same time, she did not want to take responsibility for destroying the kids' future. Why did she have to open her mouth in the moment of agitation earlier? 

"Fine!" Su Weixi admitted defeat and sighed to herself. She was a servant after all, she had to listen to the master and their friends. Su Lang guided her to the nearby sofa and sat her on it. He then went back to his bed and paid utmost attention to what she was about to say. Mei Qingyang was sitting in the side chair, eager to hear all about it. 

"Basically, after the kids are sourced from their parents or streets or orphanages, they are first put into the house at the far end of the campus. There, they start learning from the nannies who take care of teaching them basic etiquette; table manners, greetings, behavior." Su Weixi started from the beginning of her journey. She was sold by her parents for some puny money. 

Another reason she had opened up to her master was also because he had as messed up a home as hers. And that was why she was quite tolerant of this girl on the chair, because her master seriously considered her as a family. 

"Kids spend about a year or two there. It is grueling time because of long hours. They have to wake up at like 4 am and the day finishes at like 12 midnight. But it is still better than their original condition. So, they are always thankful for the opportunity." 

"You mean the labor work is done by four to ten years olds?" Su Lang could not wrap his head around it. He knew Yu Rong was cruel, but this was brutality! 

"They are evaluated monthly and whoever shows good aptitude, they are sent to torture prison. The kids in those houses have no idea what is in store if they do better than their peers. They only look forward to graduate from there and start working for real life masters." 

"And then the actual training starts. The kids are subjected to all kinds of torture there, true to its name. It is to make sure they can serve their masters perfectly, since they never know what kind of master will come to fancy what kind of servant." Tears started pooling at the bottom of Weixi's eyes as soon as she reflected back on her days in that prison. 

Mei Qingyang was still calm, she had guessed that much. If they were able to shoot a kid who was just trying to escape, then anything was possible. Anyway, nothing was surprising about this school anymore. These were cheap laborers who could be replaced any time. There were just too many unfortunate kids out there, so they did not even need to think about their lives at all. 

"Now, if I were to glance over the types of treatment kids get, it would be something like heavy lifting of iron blocks for increasing the strength, then beating from different kinds of objects and then later comes s.e.x.u.a.l abuse. I would not really elaborate on it but they have used inserting foreign objects in their small bodies and up to BDSM too, sometimes." As soon as the words left her mouth, Su Weixi gagged and ran towards the bathroom. Both of the people left in the room were sitting seriously, not knowing how to react on the situation. 

This was too much even for Mei Qingyang. Why would Su Weixi still advocate for them to not take any action. 

"These are such young kids, I reckon half of them don't even survive," Mei Qingyang surmised, keeping her hand on her chin. 

Su Weixi replied from the bathroom, agreeing to her speculation. "The mortality rate in the torture prison is about 65%." 

Sixty five percent kids never got to see the light! That was ridiculous! 

"Assistant Su, then why...," Mei Qingyang wanted to understand the rationale behind her reasoning. 

"Look Ms. Mei, I understand your heart. But do realize that for those kids, who have been brainwashed into subservience, there is no life outside. Even if you save a few of them, there would be more to replace them. And do you think after going through this much, they would be able to lead a normal life?" Su Weixi emerged from the bathroom after emptying her stomach. She was feeling much better now. It was also good that she got to tell her story to someone. 

Although, after this, her master might think of her as disgusting. If that would happen, she would just join the maids in main Su family and get out of his way. She was ready to sacrifice that much. When she came out, she saw Su Lang was standing there at the door. 

"Master," she looked towards him. She could not see into his eyes, she had no idea what he was thinking. But if he was going to banish her, so be it. She would still stand her stance. 

Unexpectedly, once again, she was pulled into a giant hug from her master. Did he not think of her as defiled character not fit to be by his side? Why was he doing this? 

"Weixi ah! You have suffered so much and you never told me all these years! Why would you do that to me?"