Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 127 The City of People ([-])

Sure enough, it wasn't a free market inside. As soon as these well-dressed people came in, many people came forward to sell their goods:

"What do you think of this? A bite of glutinous rice with fine teeth and golden broken jade—How about 15 taels?"

"Look at this girl's hair, it's so black..."

"You don't think I'm older, but I can read! I'm from a scholarly family, and the old bustard near Cuilou offered 50 taels, but I didn't even sell it!"

"You guys want someone to serve you, right? This girl is good. She is the maid of a wealthy family in Fujian. She has been trained and looks good! I'll pay you 25 taels!"

……

Xiao Zishan and his party were confused for a while.They had never seen such a scene before.Seeing these seven or eight people frothing, they kept pulling the girls towards them, fiddled with their hair, and raised their arms to show them their skin.These girls, who were as young as eleven or twelve years old and as old as early twenties, all looked good, but they were all sallow and thin, and their teeth were rubbed so hard that they wanted to cry but didn't dare, and they looked like they were holding back tears and sorrow.Xiao Zishan's heart sank, it really was a miserable look, and several people around him also showed expressions of unbearable.

The two bodyguards hurried forward to block the teeth, Liu Gang turned around and asked Xiao Zishan, "Master, do you want to buy a few children?"

Xiao Zishan was a little hesitant.It seems that almost all the pretty girls here have been bought by people. The price of each girl ranges from 50 taels to [-] taels. There are always [-] to [-] taels. It would be a bit expensive to buy them all. , besides the age is too young, is this twelve-thirteen girl a girl or a child?While hesitating, Yan Maoda said: "Committee Xiao, let's do a group buying. We can bargain hard."

"It would cost several hundred taels to bargain." Zhang Xin shook his head, "We might as well start with people who have no interest in their teeth. When we buy a lot, they see that we are not interested in their goods, so they will reduce the price. gone."

"That's good. I was going to buy some children to go back to raise and educate."

"How much budget do you have? I need to know."

"Below 500 taels. More than that is fine."

A group of people got rid of the human teeth and walked directly inside.I saw the shacks along the road full of hungry people fleeing from the famine, supporting the old and the young, and seeing people coming to beg for begging wailing one after another, endless.

A lot of people gathered at the intersection ahead.They took a closer look and saw clearly that it was a woman who was pulling the man's leg, crying and begging there. There were two children among the pile of rags on the ground.It turned out that the woman's whole family fled here, and the family members were all dead, leaving only the mother and son.Human teeth fell in love with women, but they didn't want children.

The woman had been beaten until her nose and mouth were bleeding, and she was lying on the ground.Ren Ya was still kicking and cursing: "You starving whore! I don't open a philanthropic hall, so why raise your children!" He grabbed the woman by the hair and was about to drag her away.

Here Zhang Xin was about to speak, when someone suddenly stopped him: "Stop!" But the crowd parted, and a few servants came over, surrounded by a young man in his thirties, and whispered in the crowd: "Mr. Liang is here, Liang!" The son is here."

The man walked up to Ren Ya: "You bought her, but why did you force her to abandon the child! These two children are so young, without their mother, they will die!"

Ren Ya seemed to recognize the person, and quickly argued: "You old man! It's not easy for us to work in this profession. With her sick body and two children behind her, how can anyone buy her? I If you want to agree to her, you have to add two more mouths."

Mr. Liang said angrily: "You can't make any money, if you don't buy it, why do you force yourself to leave your flesh and blood!"

Ren Ya smiled wryly: "Yes, yes, I still do evil things with good intentions. As long as she looks like this, if I don't buy it, her whole family will starve to death tomorrow! The little one can save her alone."

Although this statement is almost rogue, it is also true.Mr. Liang couldn't say anything for a while.Ren Ya didn't dare to say anything more, left him behind and slipped away from the crowd.Zhang Xin looked at the woman on the ground again, she was actually only in her early twenties, her face was thin and out of shape, but there was an abnormal bright red layer on her sallow skin, she looked really sick.Mr. Liang asked his servant to buy some steamed buns for her.They also distributed some money to the hungry people who surrounded the road.

"Let's buy it." Guo Yi couldn't bear it.

Xiao Zishan thought it was not a good idea. One was that she was sick, and the other was that the children around her were too young. Buying it back would be a burden, so he hesitated for a while, seeing that everyone was looking at him, so he nodded: "Buy it!"

The crowd here saw that several merchants bought the whole family of the woman, and there was a commotion immediately.Immediately spread the word in the crowd, refugees old and young, men and women, squeezed to the front, more and more, surrounded them all, begging them to take them in, not asking for money, just asking for money. Mouth rice.

It was a mess for a while, but thanks to Liu Gang's knowledge, he hurriedly squeezed out with the escort, and asked the yamen servant Min Zhuang present to help maintain order.Xiao Zishan had a high-ranking name card in his hand, and he immediately rewarded him with thousands of dollars. The yamen servants didn't dare to neglect, so they hurriedly found officials and came over, and wrote the deed of sale at a low price.

The people around soon discovered that these people were particularly fond of children, especially young children who had never been cared for in the past.Orphans are more than welcome.Zhang Xin was generous with his purchase, anyway, he didn't pay a single penny, and every time he bought one, he would give five hundred cash to the government servants present.The yamen servants in charge of suppressing simply arrested all the orphans in the venue, whether they were willing or not, to write their life deeds.Without much effort, seventy or eighty children have been bought, and there are another forty adult men and women.Seeing how rich these people are, the people hurried up to ask for a sale. Zhang Xin shook his head: "Wouldn't it be a waste of time to inspect them one by one? I'll take care of all the children in your hands."

After some bargaining, the 41 girls in Renya's hands were finally bought by twelve ones.For a while, the front of the abandoned temple was filled with people.

Xiao Zishan asked the bodyguard to inform Sun Kecheng: vacate a large store for mules and horses, quickly raise the fire to cook, and then invite some doctors to stand by.Those who have signed the body contract will go to the hotel every twenty people, escorted by two bodyguards.Those who were sick and weak had to hire mule carts to transport them.

While he was busy, suddenly a servant came over and said something to Liu Gang. Liu Gang came over to Xiao Zishan with a respectful face and said, "Mr. Liang would like to invite all shopkeepers to go over and talk."

Guo Yi asked, "Who is this Mr. Liang?"

Liu Gangdao: "He is a Juren from this county, a descendant of a noble family, always eager to do justice, and has a good reputation in the county. He wants to invite these shopkeepers to come over and talk about it."

Several people looked at each other and felt that it was necessary to make friends with such a local gentry.Zhang Xin continued to make arrangements to send the servants, and the others followed the servants to the outside of the arena.

On the edge of the wasteland, there is a tea shed that sells tea, steamed buns and other items. It used to be a resting place for human teeth and oppressed government servants. Now it has been replaced by the servants and servants brought by Mr. Liang, no less than 30 people. , Everyone was amazed: This is so small that a Juren, and the pomp is so big!

I saw this Mr. Liang, about 27 or [-] years old, with pale skin, the appearance of a Mr. Guijie, a gray poplin gown, and a Jinchuan fan in his hand. Although he is not extravagant, he is clean and spotless. .Seeing them coming, he was not arrogant, stood up and bowed first:

"Liang Cunhou." The young master smiled slightly, with a pair of black and angry pupils flickering under his eight-character eyebrows, and said: "Dare to ask how many shopkeepers' titles? Where did they come from?"

On the one hand, he looked up and down at Guo Yi and others quietly.His eyes are extremely sophisticated, Guo Yi couldn't help being startled: This person has sharp eyes, which are definitely not owned by ordinary dudes.He kept saying: "Don't dare not dare." The names of several people were reported one by one.

According to the unified caliber, they were all maritime merchants, and because the sea was not calm, they stayed here and were accompanied by Liu Gang to go shopping and relax.

The servant brought the tea, and Mr. Liang asked again: "You are the sea merchants, why did you buy so many family members?" There was a look of doubt in his eyes as he spoke.

Xiao Zishan had already responded: "The sea has been rough for the past few years, and business has become more and more difficult every day, so I thought about buying some land and setting up a village to collect rent. I will buy land in Qiongzhou to open up wasteland. There are few people there, and the long-term tenants are often unmarried. , I had to come here to buy some girls."

"That is also a good deed." Mr. Liang sighed, "I saw that you just took pity on the weak and the sick, and refused to leave your flesh and blood. , As a native of Guangzhou, I am really ashamed!"

"Where is it?" Guo Yi and the others hurriedly gave way, and felt that Mr. Liang was hypocritical.The traversers come from modern time and space, completely ignorant of the cruel side of ancient society.I always feel that since I have bought people to be servants, food and clothing are the minimum treatment, and not having to pay wages seems to have taken advantage of the sky.

But Liu Gang took the opportunity to say some flattering words: "Mr. Liang has always been kind and generous in this county. Needless to say, Nanhai County is a place where Guangzhou is a prefecture. Who doesn't know your kindness and righteousness, Mr. Liang. You don't know: donate here. Most of the money spent on the porridge shed was obtained from the Liang family."

Liang Cunhou didn't take it seriously, he waved his hands and said, "The world is not peaceful now, but fortunately, Guangdong is still relatively quiet. My Liang family has received national grace, and I am not comparable to a poor family. There are some poor families in the family, and doing good deeds with meager efforts is just for the sake of it." The imperial court is a little worried. What's a pity is that when I said that I helped the hungry people in our county, I didn't even forgive the gentry of the country, and there were gossips behind it." He sighed a long time.

Guo Yi saw that he had a lot of difficulties, so he deliberately pretended to be confused and said: "Young Master Liang, helping the hungry people is a great charity, why should there be gossip?"

(End of this chapter)