A mule cart turned out of the hustle and bustle of the city, not carrying goods, but a large wooden cage covered with a thick black cloth, and passers-by looked at the handful of grass inserted in the wooden cage, and their faces showed compassion.

This is the unique sign of those so-called legal reselling of human beings, as long as the car has this sign, the car can pass unimpeded in the state, even if the official encounters it, he will only glance at it and drop the curtain, and will not care more than half a point.

Sister Hua'er, wielding a thick whip to drive the two horses that had eaten too much forage, and only thought about dozing mules, she looked up at the sky, and said to herself, "It's okay, it's not snowing." ”

The car walked slowly along the official road, and when it came to a fork in the road, Sister Hua'er lifted the reins and turned onto a small road to the west, and after driving for an hour, it was already on the edge of a mountain col.

She parked the car on the side of the road, took out a paper bag from the leather bag beside her, jumped off the mule cart, lifted the black cloth, threw the paper bag inside, and shouted: "Hurry up and eat, when you enter the villa, you have to be hungry for three days first, and those who can survive after three days are eligible to stay in Jiudao Villa, and if you want to live, eat more now." ”

After a moment of hustle and bustle in the cage, a slightly immature hoarse voice said, "Mantou, are there any more?"

Sister Hua'er's sparse eyebrows hung up, and she scolded: "You kid is skinny like a monkey, you eat a lot, the steamed buns are gone, the old lady picks up a piece of ice for you to eat." ”

The skinny monkey-like boy stretched out a pair of skinny hands from the wooden cage, lifted the black cloth, his face was pale, but his eyes were bright: "I want steamed buns, there are nine of us here, and you only gave seven steamed buns!

Sister Hua'er snorted, this kid had fought with her all the way, and when he stayed at the inn the night before, he almost let him break free from the rope and run away.

"Steamed buns, six, bring them quickly!"

Sister Hua'er snorted, pinched the hand that was shaking in front of her, and said, "You can't afford to grab the steamed bun yourself, what's the matter with me? ”

"Steamed buns, six, bring them quickly!"

The hoarse voice rang out again.

"Brother Xiong Chen, forget it, I'm not hungry!"

A small voice came out of the wooden cage.

"No, we must eat, fat woman, come over with six steamed buns!"

Sister Hua'er choked and twisted her skinny hands fiercely: "Boy, besides, I'm fat, I'll throw you off the mountain now." ”

"Steamed buns, six, bring them quickly!"

The hoarse voice rang out unrelentingly.

Sister Hua'er looked disgusted and didn't give it to her, but Jiudao Villa arrived in a blink of an eye, and he starved to death at this juncture, which is not cost-effective for his own pocket!

She scolded and took out another paper bag in her leather bag, stuffed it into his hand, and said, "Boy, there are three left, for you." ”

Xiong Chen gripped the paper bag vigorously and retracted his hand.

"Xiao Lan, come and eat, you guys get away for me, this is my and Xiao Lan's, you have already eaten. ”

"You eat an extra ......"

"Enough. ”

"Eat!"

There was chaos in the cage for a while, and finally it was quiet.

Two mules dragged a wooden cage cart along the snow-covered winding mountain path and walked up a steep peak, and after passing through a gravel trail, the front suddenly opened up to a gentle slope.

I saw a huge stone lion squatting on the left and right sides of the slope, Sister Hua'er pulled the reins, stepped off the mule cart, cautiously approached the stone lion on the left, pressed the stone lion's nose on tiptoe, and shouted: "Sister Yuanzhou Hua'er, send someone to the villa." ”

She pricked up her ears and stood motionless in front of the stone lion for a moment---- hearing no echo except the rustling of the wind through the treetops.

A crisp bell blew with the mountain wind, Sister Hua'er raised her eyebrows, turned back to the mule cart, and with a hand of the turnip, the cart got it, bypassed the stone lion, and walked forward.

Walk again, you can vaguely see the white snow, there are golden glazed tiles, and then closer, only to see the ups and downs of the house, magnificent, it is a majestic manor!

A tall white marble archway stands majestically in front of you, the stone pillars on both sides are engraved with the nine dragons turning over the clouds and spitting pearls, and the square is impressively engraved with four big characters: "Jiudao Villa".

Jiudao Villa, famous in Zhongzhou, in addition to the palace inside, it is the turn of this Jiudao Villa, although the owner is not an official, but he is very familiar with the officials of the dynasty, the gold and silver are countless every year, and the officials at all levels also take great care of the Jiudao Villa, with this confidence, the villa has become more and more brilliant in the past ten years, and has become the richest mysterious family in Zhongzhou.

Sister Hua'er walked around the archway with ease, galloped in from the side gate of the west corner, and came to a house in a circle.

"Xiang Steward, come and inspect the goods, there are nine in total, seven men and two women. ”

A middle-aged man with a big belly walked out of the house slowly with a dry tobacco pipe: "What should you do if you still send it up on this cold day, and freeze to death?

Sister Hua'er grinned, jumped off the mule cart, patted the wooden cage with her hand, and said: "These are rough and thick embryos, just a little cold wind, how can they freeze to death, come and see, how is the goods this time?"

Xiang Xiang picked up the black cloth with the dry tobacco pipe, walked around the wooden cage a few times, nodded and said: "It looks good, but they are all hungry, I am afraid that they will have to be raised for several days before they can work in the field, No, this way, each of the seven men has two hundred copper plates, and two women ...... Tsk, such a little girl can only be used to do some miscellaneous work of sweeping the floor and burning the fire....... A hundred copper plates, how?"

Sister Hua'er sighed and shouted: "Butler Xiang, you are not kind, these children were all bought with real money, and I still took care of eating and drinking along the way, and I used a lot of silver! I can't even get back the cost of your price! For the sake of my hard work in braving the snow, the price is a little higher, okay?"

He muttered to the housekeeper: "Nonsense, how expensive can you get back? This price is already the most caring for you, what else do you want?"

Sister Hua'er just bent over: "During this time, I am short of money and urgently need silver turnover, so you can be generous and enjoy the food, housekeeper!"

Xiang kicked her impatiently and said, "Okay, I'm afraid of you, so let's do it, two hundred and three for men, one hundred and five for women, if you want, you can leave people behind, and if you don't want to, you can pull people away, anyway, there are many people sent in every day." ”

He took out a few hangs of money from his pocket, didn't count them, threw them in front of Sister Hua'er, and said: "After collecting the money, unloading the goods in the West Chamber, you go out according to the old rules, remember, don't look around, otherwise, don't blame me for not mentioning it." ”

Sister Hua'er leaned over and picked up the copper coin, stuffed it into her arms, and nodded busily: "Yes, yes, I know this." ”

She opened the chains attached to the wooden dragon, tore the half-dead half-grown children with their feet tied to the ground, dragged them into the west chamber one by one, and waited for the housekeeper to stuff the last child into it, and then scooped a few pieces of crushed ice into the water tank on the patio and put them into a wooden plate, put the plates into the room, and slammed the thick rusty iron door shut, and locked it.

Sister Hua'er stepped on the mule cart, raised her radish fat hand to the housekeeper, and said loudly: "I will send new goods after the beginning of spring, and the price will be higher!"