Chapter 3: Revealing the Family Background, Scaring You Silly!

The old village head Huang clutched his chest, panting continuously.

Du Shanü stepped forward, smiling with narrowed eyes, and smoothed the breath of this distant maternal uncle:

"Maternal uncle, have you heard that many hands make light work?"

"What? Many hands make light work… what's that?"

Old Village Head Huang looked bewildered, but Du Shanü broke into a bright smile; amid the astonished gazes of the crowd, she approached the yamen runner:

"Sir, this?"

"I'll take them home to clean up; next year they might turn into a few sturdy, healthy laborers… oh no, husbands."

She is young, beautiful, and speaks gently; at a glance she has an excellent temperament.

Therefore, no matter how absurd her words, they make people willing to listen…

There's no choice but to listen.

Nowadays, refugees flood the southern lands, lives are as cheap as grass, without household registration and public verification, finding work is nearly impossible.

This place is already the farthest south, the final stop for refugees; this group of sick and disabled were left to the end—if they don't stay here, where else could they go?

Simply, the yamen runner sends them to the Tribute Workshop, merely giving them tea money!

Zhao Jia felt angry inside, glanced at the dazed strongman at his feet, grew more annoyed, intending to make this young lady back off, and spoke harshly:

"One hundred cash each—if you can produce the money, you may take them."

This, this—why do we still have to pay money!

Old Village Head Huang had vaguely understood something; hearing this, he exclaimed in surprise:

"Sir, we previously took in refugees without collecting any silver, did we?"

Zhao Jia showed a contemptuous smile, then kicked the strongman at his feet again:

"Then was then, now is now!"

"These refugees made me lose face—what's wrong with me asking for some silver? Don't think I didn't notice; those few others blocked me when I was chasing them earlier, and now I just want to send them to the Tribute Workshop to die—what can you do about it?!"

"Nowadays, no more talk—if you want to keep them, pay up; if not, I'll have them die!"

These harsh words, accentuated by his yamen runner uniform, made his face look all the more hateful.

Du Shanü didn't argue further, merely speaking gently again:

"Sir, please calm your anger; I'm willing to pay—six hundred cash for six people, not a single coin less, so you won't be put in a difficult position."

Zhao Jia hadn't expected that the price he shouted would not scare off the young lady before him; instead, she readily agreed, and he was instantly startled—

"Is this… correct?"

"But it's fine even if it's not right!"

Although he had just lost a bit of face, six hundred cash is no small sum; a waiter at the town's big restaurant earns only about twenty cash a day.

These six hundred cash would be enough for his family to get by for several months!

Thinking this, his irritation vanished; Zhao Jia lifted his foot, which was stepping on the lame thug on the ground, and demanded of Du Shanü:

"You young lady are kind-hearted… alright, hand over the money, release them."

Who would have thought, Du Shanü then shook her head at this moment:

"I don't have any silver yet."

This back-and-forth caused the anger Zhao Jia had just eased to flare up again:

"You young lady, are you just playing with people?!"

"No money and you spout wild talk about saving people—do you also want to taste the whip in the sir's hand?!"

Zhao Jia swung his hand hard; the cowhide whip in his grasp cracked through the air, landed beside the mud, and instantly sprayed countless stone fragments.

Just that one strike made everyone's faces change dramatically, yet their reactions differed—

The rough thug overturned on the ground furtively spat at Zhao Jia's retreating back.

The little boy immediately flung himself into his father's arms; his father looked exhausted, his face showing reluctance.

The young man dressed as a down-on-his-luck scholar, who had remained silent in the corner, stepped slightly away from where the whip fell, adopting an air of 'nothing to do with me.'

As for the blind beauty and A Chou…

The beauty naturally heard the commotion, but since the whip's landing spot and the whip-wielder were some distance apart, and she apparently didn't know this, in her panic she stumbled about and almost bumped into the yamen runner!

These people really each have their own quirks!

Du Shanü, quick-eyed and quick-handed, pulled the 'idiot beauty'—who had always been pampered—back to her side; facing the furious yamen runner, she showed no panic, extended three fingers, and said calmly:

"Three days—give me three days, I guarantee I'll pay you; we can put it in writing as proof."

"After three days, I'll not only return your six hundred principal, I'll add two hundred cash interest, totalling eight hundred cash. If not…"

Du Shanü narrowed her eyes and smiled:

"You can not only take these people away, but also come to seize one of my ancestral homes, and even sell me off to settle the debt."

Although Zhangpu Village is a remote mountain hamlet, a house there with windows on all sides wouldn't fetch much silver.

But isn't there still herself?

After all, they're all people from Zhangpu Village—could they really run away?

The narrow-eyed yamen guard coiled the whip tip twice around his palm, the veins on the back of his hand faintly throbbing.

"Fine!"

"But we need to write an IOU!"

Old Village Head Huang couldn't dissuade them; under the watchful eyes of the crowd, they had no choice but to write the IOU while sighing:

"Oh dear, girl! You're clueless!"

"That's eight hundred cash!"

Villagers grow their own vegetables, patch and mend their clothes, and might not spend that much silver in a year or two.

When the day to repay the debt arrived, Du Shanü couldn't come up with the silver; she feared she would try to borrow from relatives and neighbors, but couldn't borrow that much money!

The old village head Huang sighed; the constables could make money, and now they were swift:

"They even wrote up the marriage deed together."

"From these people, pick one to be the principal husband; the rest will write contracts of selling themselves, register their names, and become your concubines."

The government's aim is to let these refugees settle down and register their residence.

Therefore, registering is a necessary procedure; he has been sending these refugees to the countryside these days, and has long grown accustomed to handling this matter.

Although I don't know what the difference is between a man taking a concubine and a woman taking a male concubine...

But since he's collecting money, he can't be careless; just as men usually take women, he will take men for this young lady!

The principal wife corresponds to the principal husband, doesn't she?

Du Shanü laughed upon hearing this, helped the clueless blind beauty up from the ground, and gently brushed the dust off his knees:

"I choose him; I've said it before, I want to choose him."

That remark, spoken with a smile, made the old village head sigh again.

Then Du Shanü felt her sleeve twitch, and the blind beauty whispered to her:

"I am blind; I fear I will burden you..."

As the beauty spoke, a silver trace beneath her lips flickered, dazzling the mind.

Du Shanü replied with a smile:

"The silver I owe should be considered my burden on you... So, are you willing to help me repay it?"

Upon first meeting, Du Shanü's impression of this beauty was still somewhat simple-minded; she had merely been teasing casually, not truly hoping for any solemn vows from the other side.

But what she never expected was that the beauty named Yu Hen, after thinking left and right, not knowing what else came to mind, quietly blushed at the ears and whispered:

"... Rest assured, I am willing."

"My parents have always been loving; they early on told me we must share fortune and face hardship together. How much capital do you have? We can set up a stall, do some business, and each day save a little to slowly repay...."

Du Shanü hasn't seen other refugees these past couple of days, but such an open, gentle, cheerful person is indeed rare.

Du Shanü's heart stirred slightly, and she laughed:

"If I remember correctly, there are still two copper coins hidden under the pillow at home...."

"You can rest assured, I won't let you go hungry."

Yu Hen, who wanted to speak but held back: '.......'

The bystanders pricking up their ears to eavesdrop: '.......'

Two, two-wen coins?

Dare to take them all home with just two-wen coins?

If you gave her two taels of silver, wouldn't she dare to buy a whole county?

Just what kind of young lady have they encountered!!!

?? What a huge sum of capital! Anyone want to guess what Shasha plans to use to make a fortune?