Chapter 1626

When the incident at Red Lantern Alley occurred, only some of the coerced women were rescued by the police; a group of women who had voluntarily sold themselves chose to remain. Without their handlers, they became independent operators, and with Mother Hong and her gang gone, they actually made more money. At the time, Lu Manqin had been tortured until she was half-dead, with no one to care for her. It was only when the police arrived that she learned Mother Hong and her cohorts had been struck dead by lightning. She hid herself away, terrified of being taken by the authorities. She feared that the police would notify the Ma family to come and collect her, and if that happened, all her friends and relatives would learn of the shameful life she had led. Her four children would be ostracized and looked down upon, and she would have no face left to go on living. Once the police left, she occupied the room she had been living in to recover. Seeing those women who had stayed behind become independent, dressing up gaudily, and raking in money, she grew envious. Her body was already defiled; she had nothing left to lose. And so, she returned to her old trade, becoming an independent operator herself.