I am the villain in the book

Dazed, Gu Pan'er walked out of the room amidst the congratulations of her sisters, some sincere, some envious, and some jealous. She listlessly packed her belongings, which were not even fully organized yet, took the slightly yellowed contract of indenture with a blank mind, and followed the madam out of the Yichun Courtyard through the back door.

When Gu Pan'er bent down and entered the carriage waiting outside the door, she saw the person inside. Although she had expected it in her heart, she couldn't help but be stunned.

"Young Master Wei, Wei Gongzi..."

Looking at Wei Changtian, tears welled up in her eyes.

Gu Pan'er was stunned for a moment, and then wanted to kneel down and kowtow.

However, Wei Changtian had already guessed that she would do this, so he took the lead and held her arm, and said with a smile:

"Miss Gu, there's no need to do this."

"I've heard about your matter. It's just a small effort, nothing much."

"..."

With teary eyes, she looked up, and Gu Pan'er didn't know what to say for a moment.

Five thousand taels may not be anything to Wei Changtian, but to her, it meant freedom that she could only dream of.

More importantly, Wei Changtian happened to redeem her at this time, which made the meaning even more different than usual.

Logically speaking, facing such kindness, Gu Pan'er couldn't repay it enough.

But now, she couldn't even say a word of thanks.

It wasn't that she couldn't speak.

But she felt that no matter what she said, it seemed that she couldn't express her gratitude at this moment.

Therefore, after being stunned for a long while, she slowly took out the "much-traveled" contract of indenture from her arms, bit her lip, and held it up to Wei Changtian.

What this action represented was very obvious.

Judging from Gu Pan'er's eyes, she had not hesitated when making this decision.

And Wei Changtian didn't decline, reaching out and taking the contract of indenture.

Looking down at it, it was no different from ordinary contracts of indenture.

There was the official seal of the yamen, the signature of Gu Pan'er and her biological father, the date was ten years ago, and the price was two hundred taels.

Ten years...

Gu Pan'er should be in her early twenties now, which means she was sold to the brothel when she was eleven or twelve years old.

Looking up at Gu Pan'er's red eyes, he used a little force in his hand, and a piece of paper that could determine the fate of the former was torn in two.

Wei Changtian tore up the contract of indenture in a few strokes, and then threw it out of the car window.

And Gu Pan'er, who saw this scene, was suddenly stunned.

"This was redeemed by yourself. I just lent you five thousand taels of silver."

Smiling, Wei Changtian looked at Gu Pan'er and said slowly: "If the government recovers your silver in the future, you will have to pay me back."

"No, even if you can't recover it, you still have to pay me back."

"It's just that I won't urge you. You can pay me back whenever you have it."

"..."

I didn't redeem you, I just lent you five thousand taels of silver...

Wei Changtian's words sounded a bit "redundant" at first, but Gu Pan'er understood the difference.

In the former case, her identity had not changed, only the owner had changed from Yichun Courtyard to Wei Changtian.

But the latter meant that she would no longer belong to anyone and would have true freedom from now on.

"Young Master Wei, this concubine..."

If Gu Pan'er's gratitude to Wei Changtian was ten points just now, then at this moment, this feeling had reached one hundred points.

But she was just a woman of the dust, so what could she offer to repay this kindness?

"You're not going to say that you want to pledge yourself to me, are you?"

On the other side, Wei Changtian "accurately" judged the words that Gu Pan'er was about to say in the next second.

He shook his head and said half-jokingly in the latter's extremely embarrassed gaze:

"It's not that I'm unwilling, it's just that I've married too many wives now, and I really can't take care of them all."

"If you really want to thank me, then accompany me to drink some wine tonight..."

"Just find a better restaurant."

"..."

Soon, Wei Changtian and Gu Pan'er arrived at a well-known restaurant in Linchuan City.

At this time, the meal time had passed, but there were still many diners in the restaurant, and the sound was noisy and very lively.

It's just that the atmosphere in a private room on the second floor was a bit dull.

Wei Changtian drank cup after cup, rarely speaking, obviously annoyed by what had happened in the past few days, and was using alcohol to relieve his sorrow.

And although Gu Pan'er didn't know the specific situation, she could also see that he had something on his mind, so she silently poured wine for him.

"Why aren't you drinking?"

After drinking another cup of strong wine in one gulp, Wei Changtian looked at Gu Pan'er's wine cup and suddenly asked: "Is your alcohol tolerance not good?"

"Um...no, it's not."

Gu Pan'er's alcohol tolerance was actually not very good, but she hesitated for a moment and didn't tell the truth, picked up the wine cup and drank it all in one gulp.

"Cough! Cough cough cough!"

The strong wine entered her throat, and the spicy stimulation made Gu Pan'er cough several times, and a blush immediately appeared on her small face.

Seeing this, Wei Changtian didn't advise her to drink less, but poured himself another glass of wine and said casually:

"You don't seem to be afraid of me from the beginning."

"..."

Gu Pan'er was stunned, endured the discomfort in her throat, poured wine for herself while answering truthfully:

"This concubine has seen all kinds of people. Those fierce people have a fierce aura on them, but Gongzi doesn't have it."

"Oh?"

Wei Changtian became interested when he heard this, and reminded him with some "seriousness":

"But I have really killed many people."

"How many?"

Unlike other women, Gu Pan'er didn't seem to be afraid of this topic, and even asked with interest: "Others say that Wei Yanluo likes to kill people the most, is this true?"

"Tch, who would like to kill people, isn't it just that there's no way."

Wei Changtian curled his lips: "Just like you, I think you must not like brothels like...cough, sorry, I misspoke after drinking."

Realizing that his words were a bit inappropriate, Wei Changtian closed his mouth in time.

However, Gu Pan'er didn't care, just smiled and nodded.

"Gongzi doesn't need to apologize, this concubine doesn't mind."

"Well, in short, that's what I mean."

Wei Changtian raised his wine glass and muttered with some venting:

"Intrigue, deceit, deceiving and being deceived, killing and being killed..."

"Damn it, who wants to live this kind of life every day."

"I, the Living Yama, want everyone in the world to call me a saint, but saints don't live long."

"If I had known this, I should have talked to Xiao Feng properly."

"He continues to be his protagonist, and I have my wife, children, and a warm bed, how wonderful..."

"..."

I don't know if it was because he didn't have to hide anything in front of Gu Pan'er, an outsider who didn't know anything, or if it was because the alcohol was kicking in, Wei Changtian's words became more and more "unscrupulous".

Although Gu Pan'er didn't understand, she could feel the helplessness and distress in these words.

"Gongzi..."

After Wei Changtian finished complaining, she took the initiative to raise her wine glass and touched the former's glass.

The wine glasses collided with a crisp "ding" sound.

And Gu Pan'er's very sincere voice also sounded softly at this time.

"This concubine can hear that you have never regretted it."