Although I just went out of the boundary of Songjiang Mansion and arrived in Jiading County, Suzhou Prefecture, after all, it is still in the Nanzhili area, the people are rich, and now it is peaceful and prosperous, and there are no natural disasters.

Wuxuan was really as Shen Rui thought, and when he saw this kneeling little girl, he was quite concerned, and kept looking at Wang Shouren.

Wang Shouren glanced at him, whispered a word to Zen Master Hongshan, and the two stepped forward. Wu Xuan took Shen Rui's arm and hurriedly followed.

But Wang Shouren did not take everyone forward to watch, but turned into the teahouse diagonally across the road. When everyone sat by the window, through the open window, they could just see the situation on the other side of the road clearly.

According to the common drama in the novel, this kind of "selling the old father" drama, if it is a cardamom girl who is kneeling, then she will definitely meet the old bustard or the lustful rich man or the evil young man, and then there will be a rich and handsome man full of justice, punish the wicked, save the little beauty, and then it is the story of "repaying the favor with his body", the story of the sparrow flying on the branches; If the kneeling teenager is full of pimples, he must first meet an old enemy or a fat head and big ears, be humiliated, abuse the body and heart, and then meet a noble person who knows the hero with a discerning eye, or a young lady who goes out to burn incense, a bag of silver money is handed over, and the price of pig's feet is increased; If the kneeling little girl, most of them are the heroine, who met a kind-hearted young lady and bought it, and then the master and servant grew up together, and then the two little girls in different circumstances fell in love and killed each other.

It's just that the little girl in front of her is really in a desperate situation, is there another reason?

It's not that Shen Rui is cold-blooded, it's actually that the information in later generations is developed, and he has heard too many scams, and when he sees strange things, he can't help but wonder if this is true.

Shen Rui first looked at a pair of feet exposed under the straw mat, on which were five-point old cloth shoes, and the trousers were faded coarse cloth; Look at the kneeling little girl, dressed in a patched dress with a white strip of white cloth the thickness of a thumb tied around her head. If it is a filial daughter, this dress is obviously nondescript, and according to the regulations, it should be dressed in linen and filial piety. But for a little girl who is so distressed that she needs to "sell herself", this scene seems more real. At such a young age, if she really cleaned up properly, it would attract suspicion. I don't know how long the little girl has been kneeling, her head is sweating, looking shaky, and she looks more and more lonely and pitiful.

Since everyone in the teahouse had already sat down, Wuxuan called Xiao Er of the teahouse, asked for tea, and asked for two plates of tea and snacks.

Seeing Shen Rui looking out of his mind, Wu Xuan patted him: "It's all drama, don't take it seriously, just watch it lively, and have a long experience." ”

Shen Rui turned his head and looked at Wu Xuan's grinning appearance, a little surprised: "This is fake?" ”

In fact, he also sensed that something was wrong, this little girl was thin and thin, and her dress was shabby, but her little face was cleaned up. Although his eyes are red and his face is stained with tears, he also asks and answers the inquiries of the people around him. Such a well-behaved and sensible little girl attracted the pity of onlookers. Even if the poor child is in charge of the house early, this little girl behaves too sensible, and people can't help but wonder if she has been taught in advance.

Wuxuan raised his eyebrows and said: "It's fake, if it's true, not to mention others, even the bosses of these shops around will not look at someone standing up here, and they will call someone to come and clean it up." ”

Shen Rui suddenly realized, so it was.

What Shen Rui felt before was wrong was also here. Regardless of whether the little girl lived in an inn or lived on the streets before her father's death, the place of refuge would never be on the streets where people came and went. This neighborhood is close to the city gate, and there are many inns and teahouses and hotels, there are high-end inns where the rich and rich stay, and there are also big car shops where the poor stay.

If the little girl's father died in the big car shop, then the store would have gone out to report the case, even if he died of illness, he had to be tested and issued a certificate, so that the store could get out of business. Otherwise, if a customer dies in the store for no apparent reason, who would dare to stay overnight again; If the father of this little girl was expelled when he was seriously ill, then the things around the father and daughter were too clean, what about the luggage? What about the package? Even if these things are all pawned and sold, what about the road guide since they are out of the house? Without a guide, how can you go far away? If you look closely, even if this little girl is not a local, she is also a native of a hundred miles.

The ancients were the most superstitious and fearful of ghosts and gods. If this little girl was really as she said, she came to Jiading with her father and didn't meet her relatives, and her father died helplessly, someone would have come out with a pickle to pick people up. The reason why she is allowed to do drama is mostly because she knows the details and is jealous.

Thinking of this, Shen Rui whispered to Wuxuan: "Since it is fake, it was deliberately chosen to enter the place away from the city gate, to blind outsiders?" Then how did you choose such a little girl to do the play, if you choose an older girl, wouldn't the 'selling silver' be higher? ”

Wu Xuan said disdainfully: "This business is not the right way, most of them are some market gangsters who cheat a few silver flowers, if you really kneel a young lady, which local master and young master will take a fancy to it, not to mention that the value of silver is difficult to bargain for, and it is not necessary to clean up these splashes because of the heart of the diaphragm." This is called the wicked having their own wicked grinding. ”

Shen Rui was silent for a while, and said, "If someone is fooled, will they be deceived and sold for money?" Or was it looted? ”

Wuxuan "Ha Lu Ha" said: "When you meet a fat sheep, who will let it go." Even if it doesn't make people rob openly, it will make pickpockets secretly embellished, who calls this kindness and wealth exposed, and it is strange if he does not recruit thieves"

Although this seems to be reasonable, later generations often use people to fabricate pitiful life experiences and take advantage of the kindness of others to deceive, but Shen Rui glanced at Wang Shouren next to him and always felt that he would not stand by coldly.

Wang Shouren also looked across the road, noticed that Shen Rui was looking at him, and said with a smile: "Brother Rui thinks that good people should be rewarded, but if they do good deeds, they will be unjustly disadvantaged by losing their property?" ”

Shen Rui wrinkled his brows, a little unsure of how to answer, he is not a real child, where would he naively ponder justice and injustice. He is just an ordinary person, with the selfish nature of later generations, and when he encounters such a thing that does not concern him, he is just a cold bystander; What he wants to know is how Wang Shouren will behave? He inexplicably felt that Wang Shouren had seen this play, and there would always be a response.

He couldn't wait to see the show.

Seeing that he was silent, Wang Shouren raised his eyebrows and said, "Why don't you answer?" ”

Shen Rui thought for a while and asked: "There is no good whereabouts for doing good, and if you look at it coldly, you can do it alone, so who will dare to do good in the future?" ”

Wang Shouren smiled and said: "I don't think I've done good deeds, or I'm a good person." If it weren't for those foolish people who don't distinguish between truth and falsehood, and think they are doing good, this deception would not have endured for thousands of years. It is necessary to have a prophet who explains what is good and then does good, rather than just saying good with his tongue, that he is truly good. ”

He just said it casually, but Shen Rui heard some meaning, these few words can be summed up, isn't it "the unity of knowledge and action"? Although Wang Shouren's "study of the mind" has not yet been formed, his conduct in the world has developed in this direction.

Shen Rui was still thinking about the meaning of Wang Shouren's words, Wang Shouren had already called Xiao Er over, instructed Wuxuan to reward half a copper coin, and asked him to call Guanya Po to come.

When Xiao Er heard this, he glanced across the road, stopped talking, hesitated, took the copper coin, ran to say hello to the shopkeeper, and went out to find someone.

This time it was Shen Rui's turn to be surprised, what did he do to find a tooth wife? Could it be that Wang Shouren really wants to buy that little girl?

The tooth shop is not far from the teahouse, but after two teas, Xiao Er led a mother-in-law over. The woman was in her forties, dressed in a blue gown, with a silver comb on her head, her hair was not messy, and her face showed a bit of shrewdness. Unlike ordinary women who walk tremblingly, this woman walks very steadily with a pair of heavenly feet.

In the Ming Dynasty, there were two kinds of human transactions, one was a contract registered with the government, and the other was a private contract.

and because the imperial court forbade "buying good for cheap", the original source of slaves was after the offender; There can be policies at the top, and countermeasures at the bottom. It cannot be bought and sold directly, so as to use the term "pawn" or "adoption", the identity of adopted children and adopted daughters can actually be done as slaves, and the right of personal ownership is also vested in the parents.

Ya Po has the strongest eyesight, and she does not respect people only by her clothes and hats, and she is very polite in front of Wang Shouren.

Wang Shouren said: "The little lady on the other side has been kneeling for a long time, looking pitiful, bothering my mother to come over and be a middle-aged person, help Zhang Luo one or two, I have fulfilled her filial piety." ”

When Ya Po heard this, her face was not as obvious as Xiao Er, but her expression was still a little hesitant, her eyes turned around on the package and paper umbrella around Wuxuan, and then glanced at Zen Master Hong Shan next to her, and said with a smile: "This old man is kind-hearted, but he looks like he is going to hurry, and he bought this little girl, and it is not beautiful to delay the journey." If the old man looks pitiful, wouldn't it be convenient to reward a few dollars? ”

It's not that she pushes the Chinese money sent out, but she is really unwilling to mix in these things. Those market gangsters, only staring at the money, don't care whether you are a master or a bald monk, whether you are "fishing", waiting for someone to take the bait, you have to loot it.

If it is an ordinary businessman and ordinary people, the strong dragon does not suppress the head snake, and most of them think they are unlucky. But there is a man here, and a post can become a guest of the county master, how can he be willing to suffer this loss?

In addition, these people have a leisurely demeanor, not many bags, and they don't look like they are going far away, and they can't be the people of the surrounding prefectures and counties, who come to Jiading to visit relatives and friends, who knows if there are any friends in the city in the same year. If those gangsters make a game, those gangsters can take the money and leave, where will they run away from the home?

Therefore, Ya Poshi was reluctant to take over this business, so he opened his mouth to "mention" Wang Shouren.

Wang Shouren glanced at Ya Po twice and said, "Mom's kindness, I understand it." Ask my mother to come forward, not for anything else, but because I can't get used to seeing the little lady at such an age, I kneel hard. Mother only asked the little lady to sign the formal commitment document, and as for the one on the ground, with the silver, there was a 'warm-hearted person' who came forward to help with the funeral. ”

Ya Po whispered: "Master don't blame the mother-in-law for being too talkative, the market is a gangster, and the means are under the way, so you need to be careful." ”

Wang Shouren said: "Thank you again, mother, I wrote it down." After that, he didn't change his mind, and motioned to Wuxuan to take the silver.

Wu Xuan took out a few pieces of silver cakes from his blanket, two large and two small.

Wu Xuan first handed the pieces of bread to Ya Po and said, "These ten taels of silver are worth silver with the little lady, and the remaining one or two pieces of silver are worth tea with my mother." ”

These silver cakes are snow-white, and they are in excellent color at a glance, although Ya Po has concerns, and at this moment she is also full of smiles and smiles: "This little lady can't do any work, she has to be raised for a few years before she can be called, it's not worth a few dollars, and there are surplus miles of these silver." ”

Wu Xuan smiled and said: "Our eldest brother has always been generous, if there is a balance, he should only invite his mother to eat and drink." ”

Ya Po smiled even more, so she stopped being verbose and walked out of the teahouse with the silver. She didn't go directly to the other side of the road, but called a half-sized boy, whispered a few words, and walked unhurriedly to the other side of the road.

The little girl has been kneeling for a long time, but she can't kneel straight, and she sits on the ground, and her spirit is slightly sluggish. Next to her, there was a fat man in his thirties, richly dressed, who seemed to be quite interested in the little girl, pointing and pointing, and the people next to him did not know what to say.

Not far away, there were a lot of people standing in twos and threes.

I don't know what Ya Po said, but the people who were standing not far away came forward.

Ya Po didn't pay attention to others, only pulled the kneeling little girl up, first pulled her hand, then lifted the little girl's skirt, and looked at her feet, it really looked like she was looking at the goods. A tall man next to him stepped forward, as if he was dissatisfied with Ya Po, and almost pulled up.

Ya Po smiled and talked, not conflicting with it, still pulling the little girl to talk.

One time later, the half-grown boy who had been talking to Ya Po came back with two servants with him. Ya Po greeted her with a smile, and she didn't know what to say, causing the two to nod their heads again and again.

Ya Po then took out a foot-long cloth bag from her arms and opened it, revealing the pen and paper inside. The half-grown boy was already squatting on the ground with his back to Yapo. Ya Po went directly to the north of the young man, spread out the deed, added and wrote, and then took the seal box, and pulled the little girl to press the handprint.

The little girl looked panicked and looked at the man who had just come forward, and the man was about to step forward, but was reprimanded by the two officials.

The little girl trembled and pressed her handprint, and the official kicked the feet of the "corpse" lying on the ground, and the "corpse" screamed and sprang up. The onlookers laughed and laughed.

The official laughed and scolded twice, the person who got up was in his thirties, with a sharp beak and monkey cheeks, but he could bend and stretch, and he smiled hippie, and bowed down to the official to forgive.

The servant didn't know what to say, and everyone looked at Yapo. Ya Po took a silver cake of five taels and handed it to the sharp-beaked monkey-cheeked man, and thanked the two officials with a smile, and handed over something with her sleeve to her sleeve.

The two idle men in the market left reluctantly because of the presence of the officials, and the crowd of people watching the excitement gradually dispersed. Ya Po first sent away the two servants, then took out a string of money, sent the half-grown boy, and took the little girl to the teahouse......