Lush Water Celery

An aging male courtesan and a sharp-tongued young woman. Kindhearted Qing Xing takes in a young woman who has been cornered by soldiers, only to have her cling to him afterward. He assumes she's simply a runaway bride, but he never imagined she would be so mysterious...

Nan Feng House? The young woman stares at him in surprise. This handsome young man is actually a male courtesan?

Qing Xing pays no mind to her astonishment and instead gives her a gentle smile. "You'd better get going." He fishes a few pieces of silver out of a hidden compartment in the table and places them in her hand along with a jade pendant. "And don't do anything bad again."

"I... I didn't do anything bad..." The young woman rubs the silver in her hand, her voice betraying her guilt. "You're such a fool."

"Hmm? What was that?" Qing Xing doesn't catch what she says next.

"Nothing..." The young woman shakes her head, takes a step back, then suddenly kneels in front of Qing Xing. "Young master, could you please not send me away? My mother didn't want me and gave me to someone else. Then they didn't want me either, and tried to marry me off to some rotten old man of fifty in exchange for a bride price. I didn't want to marry him, so I ran away. They wanted to catch me and drown me, and they even reported me to the authorities so the soldiers would arrest me too. Boohoo..." As she speaks, she begins to cry. Tears fall like pearls, and her big eyes turn red, making her look utterly pitiful.