Yang Qiuchi said: "It's so far away, why don't you flee to De'an Mansion nearby, and why do you come so far to Wuchang?" ”

Aloe Vera sobbed and said slowly, "We went to De'an Mansion to escape the famine. There was a locust plague in my hometown last year, and not a single grain of grain was confiscated, and there was a disaster in Fangyuan for hundreds of miles, and everything that could be eaten was eaten, even the bark and grass roots were almost eaten, and some villages still ate people. There was really no way, and after the New Year, my father and mother fled to De'an Mansion with me and my younger brother. ”

"When I arrived in De'an Mansion, I learned that the grain had already been distributed, and I relied on some kind families to open a porridge factory to save my life, and at this time I heard that the imperial court was going to transport disaster relief grain to Wuchang for distribution, so we begged all the way to Wuchang. Unexpectedly, my father and mother still starved to death. Woooooooooooo Aloe burst into tears.

Yuechan looked at Yang Qiuchi and said softly to Aloe Vera: "Don't cry first, the young master still has something to ask you." ”

Aloe wiped her tears and nodded.

Yang Qiuchi admired Yuechan's understanding in his heart, so he asked Aloe Vera: "Then have you received food?" ”

Aloe Vera shook his head: "No, at that time, a Wuchang city was full of disaster victims, and they all came when they heard that Wuchang was going to release grain." When we arrived in Wuchang, we heard that the grain of the imperial court had already arrived, and we would send it when we were ready to count it, but that night, the Yamen granary caught fire, and it was so big that half of Wuchang City was red. Speaking of which, aloe vera still seems to be terrified by the fire.

"A fire in the yamen granary?" Yang Qiuchi frowned, "Such a coincidence? ”

"Yes, I heard that it was the officials guarding the granary who baked a fire at night to keep warm, and accidentally caught fire, which caused this fire." Aloe Vera's expression was gloomy: "Everyone says that even God doesn't help us poor." I can't live anymore. ”

Yang Qiuchi heard her desperate words, and his heart sank. He also asked, "Didn't the imperial court continue to transport grain for disaster relief?" ”

"It's transported, it's all piled up in the granary of the Yamen of the prefect of Wuchang Prefecture."

Wuchang is the capital of Huguang Province, and there are two levels of political axes, the prefect yamen and the political envoy yamen. It is equivalent to the municipal axe and provincial political axe of the current provincial capital.

"Why don't you put food?" Song Yun'er asked strangely.

"The government said that the grain could only be distributed after the inventory was completed, and several days had passed, and the inventory had not yet been completed. Someone went to ask, and was beaten with a whip by officers and soldiers. ”

Yang Qiuchi's brows furrowed even tighter: "Do you know about the hungry people grabbing food?" ”

"That's starvation, those people say that starvation is death, and beheading is death, it's better to have a good time."

"How many grain snatchers have been executed by the government?"

Aloe Vera shook her head: "I don't know, my father and mother said that you can't do that kind of thing if you starve to death." ”

Yang Qiuchi walked back and forth in the room, suddenly stopped, and said: "Let's go, go to the Yamen of the Wuchang Prefect to see why there has been no grain relief for a long time, what is going on!" ”

Master Jin had already guessed Yang Qiuchi's thoughts, and leaned forward and whispered, "My lord, do everything carefully, these people can't afford to offend." ”

Yang Qiuchi nodded: "I have measure." Let's go. ”

If you take a step, you have to go out. Song Yun'er hurriedly said: "Brother, wait, what about aloe vera?" ”

Yang Qiuchi was stunned, saved her life, she couldn't care about her for the rest of her life, took out a silver ingot from his arms, and said: "You have recovered now, this bit of silver is for you, there are still some dishes and rice on the table, I will ask the shopkeeper to prepare some dry food for you, and after the yamen releases the grain, you can go back to your hometown." ”

Aloe Vera is very well-behaved, he knelt down with a bang, kowtowed to Yang Qiuchi again and again: "Master, lord, please accept me as a maid, I can endure hardship, I can do anything, I have no relatives in my hometown, my father and brother are dead, I will starve to death sooner or later when I go back, please, save me, accept me as a maid, I don't want silver, just give me food." Please. With that, he wept and kowtowed on the ground.

Yang Qiuchi thought to herself, what this little girl said was the truth, she was so small, she couldn't plow the fields, and the food she got from disaster relief would not be much, and she would starve to death sooner or later. Seeing Mrs. Bai and Bai Sumei looking at the child with pity, Yang Qiuchi had an idea in his heart, so he said, "Okay, you signed the deed of sale, just be my little girl." ”

Aloe vera was overjoyed, and kowtowed again and again to thank you.

At the moment, with the help of the shopkeeper of the restaurant, he wrote a contract, and Aloe Vera drew a handprint and charged it, which was sold to Yang Qiuchi as a maid. Although Aloe Vera said that she didn't want money, Yang Qiuchi still gave her twenty taels of silver.

After the formalities were completed, Yang Qiuchi pulled her in front of Mrs. Bai's mother and daughter, handed the deed of sale to Mrs. Bai, and said, "Mrs. Bai, you gave me Yuechan's maid, and now I will also give you the little girl aloe vera." Be a maid for you. Don't shirk. ”

Mrs. Bai didn't expect Yang Qiuchi to buy this little maid for herself, and said, "Young Master Yang, this is not good, our mother is both ...... They are all prisoners, how can there be a little maid. ”

"Whoever says that a prisoner cannot have servants to serve him? Besides, when I leave, Ying Tianfu Gu Fu Yin has already made arrangements, I will find a way to redeem you from hard labor, as long as you don't leave Yunnan, you will live like normal people. I'll take care of that for you. ”

It turns out that in the exile system, rich families are sentenced to epidemic, and when they arrive at the exile center, they can spend money to pay for ransom, that is, they can pay someone to serve labor for themselves, so that they only need to report regularly, except that they cannot leave the jurisdiction where the exile center is located, which is no different from a free person. This is called redemption and exemption.

Mrs. Bai and Bai Sumei were overjoyed when they heard this, and Yingying gave Yang Qiuchi a blessing to express her gratitude in her heart. Only then did he take over the deed of sale of aloe vera, leaving the little girl aloe vera. Bai Sumei renamed aloe vera Hui'er.

After eating Wuchang fish, the taste was very good, and a new little maid was given to Mrs. Bai's mother and daughter, and they had someone to take care of, but seeing the hungry people on the street, Yang Qiuchi was not happy at all.

Yang Qiuchi and the others left the restaurant and went to the prefect's yamen.

On the way, I passed by a high-walled compound and saw a lot of people who looked like victims of the disaster gathered there, and I didn't know what they were doing. Yang Qiuchi asked the little maid Yuechan to go over and ask, only then did she know that this was a rice shop outside the rich merchant Mi Yuan of Wuchang Mansion, which was selling grain.

But there were very few hungry people who went up to buy rice. Yang Qiuchi was a little strange, only to see an old woman squeezed out of the crowd, holding a bowl of white rice in her hand, walking a few steps with trembling hands, looking at the rice with tears in her eyes, her hand was loosened, and when she took a moment, a bowl of rice fell to the ground, and the rice with white flowers was scattered all over the ground.

The old woman didn't care about Nami, but sat down on the ground and began to weep.

The hungry people around him rushed up to pull the white rice on the ground, but the old woman did not stop her, but only wept sadly.

Song Yun'er shouted: "What are you doing!" Do you want to rob the old man in broad daylight? "Rushed over and grabbed the hungry people who were pulling white rice on the ground and threw them out. Those people saw that Song Yun'er was skilled, and there was a large group of men and women behind them, obviously in a group, and they were ashamed of Song Yun'er's words, so no one dared to come up again.

Song Yun'er rowed the white rice on the ground into a pile, and when she saw that the porcelain bowl had been broken, she asked the old woman: "Old man, do you still have a pocket for rice?" I'll put it on for you. ”

The old woman cried and said, "Don't pretend, don't want it, I don't want to live anymore~!" ”

"What's wrong? Are you okay? Song Yun'er was very strange, picked up a handful of white rice, and handed it to the old woman, "Hey! This is white rice, why don't you want it? ”

"I used to buy a bowl of rice for more than ten yuan, but now, I sold my biological daughter to Qinglou, and the silver in exchange is enough to buy this bit of rice, how many days can I eat? It's me who hurt my daughter, what else do I live? Woowoo"

Song Yun'er was furious when she heard this: "You~!" You~! You actually sold your own daughter to the Qinglou! You're still not human! Hum! Song Yun'er threw the handful of white rice in her hand to the ground heavily. The crystal clear white rice was scattered on the ground like pearls.

Yang Qiuchi sighed, squatted down, grabbed a handful of white rice on the ground and looked at it, turned his head to Master Long and said, "Mr. Long, come and see, is this white rice new rice or old rice?" ”

Master Long is the master of Qiangu in Song Zhi County for many years, responsible for money and valley affairs such as grain collection and taxation, and knows the new and old rice well. He squatted down and grabbed a handful of rice, twisted it in his hand, took it to the bottom of his nose and sniffed it, and said with certainty: "This is new rice, it should be new rice that will be harvested soon after the autumn harvest." ”

Yang Qiuchi said to himself: "This is strange, there are locust plagues in this radius of hundreds of miles, and there is no harvest of crops, how can there be new rice for sale in this rice store?" ”

Master Long said: "Maybe it was bought from long-distance trafficking in other places and sold at a high price. ”

Yang Qiuchi nodded and asked the old woman, "How much silver did your daughter sell?" ”

"One or two." The old woman said with tears in her eyes.

"One or two?" Yang Qiuchi and the others were stunned.

Master Long said: "In peacetime, selling a girl as a maid and servant will cost you one or twenty taels to say the least, but if you sell it to the Qinglou, it will be even higher." Why did you sell for a tael of silver? ”

The little maid Hui'er said behind her: "Young master, now Wuchang City is full of hungry people fleeing the famine, and there are more people who sell their sons and daughters, it would be very good to find a good family to eat, can you still expect to sell it at a good price." ”

Yes, it's really a poor life.

Yang Qiuchi weighed the white rice in his hand: "In the past, a bowl of rice cost more than ten yuan, but now it costs one or two silver, and the poor family sells a girl to have enough money for a bowl of rice, I don't know if the price of rice is too black, or the hearts of the people are too black." ”

(To be continued)