Chapter 113: Local Gangs, Truly Ignorant of the Rules

Lin Dao knocked open the courtyard gate and stepped into the courtyard.

It had only been two or three days, yet the courtyard had already changed greatly in appearance.

The woodshed now had firewood, a water jar had been installed in the courtyard, and a fire stove had been lit in the kitchen.

Even a corner of the courtyard now had several pots of flowers.

Chen Yuanyuan and Dong Xiaowan, now wearing thorn hairpin cloth skirts, stood with heads bowed beside him, while Xiao Yi followed at his side.

The two of them had each learned another side of Lin Dao from the other over the past two days.

Chen Yuanyuan learned that Lin Dao was a super-rich man, said to have connections with the Wei Guogong Fu.

Dong Xiaowan learned that Lin Dao was a godlike existence, that the Tian Mansion's rich slave had vanished with a wave of his hand.

Lin Dao's identity filled in a part for each of them in their hearts, yet seemed all the more mysterious.

"Get some food."

Lin Dao sat down on the chair newly bought for the courtyard, "I'm hungry."

"Master, please wait a moment." Dong Xiaowan turned and ran toward the kitchen.

She was one of the Ten Great Chefs; two days ago she could not bear eating only dry rations, and afterward cooked personally, with Chen Yuanyuan also enjoying the blessing.

His gaze fell on Chen Yuanyuan standing with head bowed to one side.

Lin Dao asked, "Why do you not return home?"

Chen Yuanyuan shook her head, "Slave Maid has no home."

"Why not seek out relatives or friends to rely on?"

"The ones who sold Slave Maid into the Pear Garden were my own kin." Chen Yuanyuan smiled bitterly, "As for friends~"

Our group—where would there be any friends?

She thought of Mao Xiang.

She had hinted and implied again and again that her situation was extremely dangerous, asking him to take her away as soon as possible.

But Mao Xiang kept making excuses, one moment saying there was something at home, another saying he himself had something, simply refusing to take a stand.

Chen Yuanyuan herself, because she had gone to find him, ended up being captured by the Tian Mansion's rich slave.

If not for Lin Dao's help, she would probably already be on the road to Jing Shi.

Jiangnan was vast, yet she did not know where to go.

At the courtyard gate, a knocking sound came.

Chen Yuanyuan quickly said, "It must be the water deliverer."

Jinling City's groundwater was abundant, yet not every household had a well.

Her small courtyard had no well.

If she wanted water, she had to go to the well at the street end to fetch it, then carry it all the way back.

The two of them were delicate young women—how could they do such heavy labor?

So they spent money to hire someone to deliver water every day.

Opening the courtyard gate, sure enough there was someone carrying a pole on his shoulder, bringing two buckets of water inside.

Seeing Lin Dao sitting there with legs spread wide, the man's expression changed, and with head lowered he poured the water into the water jar.

Chen Yuanyuan closed the courtyard gate and returned to Lin Dao's side, only to see him propping his chin on one hand, staring at the courtyard gate.

"Master," Chen Yuanyuan said somewhat confused, stepping forward, "it's just the water deliverer."

Water delivery was probably his main job, but he had side jobs too.

Door-to-door scouting and gathering information were among the side jobs.

Two such beautiful women living alone in a small courtyard.

Not to mention the late Ming—even in the Modern World there would be people eyeing them.

"After eating, you pack up and come with me."

"Go move the table over."

Dong Xiaowan lived up to her title as one of the Ten Great Chefs.

Though the ingredients were simple, the color, aroma, and taste were all done well.

At least Lin Dao ate with great relish.

He had developed the habit in the Jun Zhong of eating very quickly.

When he had eaten everything clean and put down his bowl and chopsticks, he bluntly said, "The bowl is too small; next time change to a big bowl."

"The dishes too—the portions are too little, not enough to eat."

In the past, getting Dong Xiaowan to cook personally would cost at least dozens of taels to start.

It was mainly just for the gesture—everyone tasted a few bites, offered various praises, and that was that.

Truly eating like Lin Dao, wolfing it down, that never happened.

Chen Yuanyuan originally thought Dong Xiaowan would throw a tantrum and complain a few sentences.

Unexpectedly, Dong Xiaowan not only timidly agreed, but also fetched water and a towel to wash Lin Dao's hands.

Watching their interaction, Chen Yuanyuan felt for some reason that her heart was somewhat uncomfortable.

Licking dog, licking dog, licking to the end with nothing left.

But if one could arouse the girl's jealousy, that would surely be twice the result with half the effort.

Without a doubt, Chen Yuanyuan was now somewhat jealous.

"You pack up."

Lin Dao stepped out the door, "I'll hire a cart."

This place was some distance from Xiajiekou.

I reckon neither of them had the stamina, carrying bundles and walking so far.

Jinling City was the most prosperous place in the world, so there were naturally horse carts available.

Lin Dao strolled around and hired a horse cart.

The horse cart clearly bore the marks of age, and even the horse pulling it was obviously an old horse.

The coachman had a simple and honest look on his face, and he spoke with a bit of a stutter.

By the time they returned, the two women were already ready.

One carried a small bundle, and they helped each other onto the horse cart.

The coachman's eyes flickered slightly, and he lowered his head.

Lin Dao followed them into the carriage compartment, and they were suddenly crowded together.

Chen Yuanyuan was still a bit uncomfortable and subconsciously wanted to move aside.

But she was startled to see that Dong Xiaowan had rested her delicate, fair chin on Lin Dao's shoulder.

She even reached out a hand and lightly patted his arm.

Chen Yuanyuan froze, her eyelashes trembling slightly, not knowing what she was thinking.

"A new shop has opened," Lin Dao searched for a topic, "I want to recruit some hands."

In Dong Xiaowan's watery eyes, a smile bloomed, "If you want to find people, naturally you go to the Yahang."

"Maidservants and slaves, whatever you want, they have."

Jinling City was naturally prosperous and bustling, but outside the city was a different scene.

Jiangnan, famed as the Land of Fish and Rice, was also short of grain.

One stone of grain cost as much as several taels.

This was still Jiangnan; if it were the north, especially a turbulent place, it would be several taels per dou of rice.

Because of this, countless bankrupt commoners in various places could not make a living.

Many chose to sell themselves into slavery.

The wealth of Jinling City led many to come here to seek survival.

Even if selling themselves into slavery, they wanted to sell themselves to wealthy households.

Lin Dao fell into deep thought.

He was thinking about the records regarding the Jiangnan Slave Rebellion that he had seen in the data.

Dong Xiaowan, however, thought her introduction was not detailed enough and hurriedly spoke up.

"Master, the Yahang takes too heavy a cut, often several taels, or even ten-plus taels at a high price."

"You can also go to the refugee gathering places outside the city to pick and choose; those are cheaper."

"There are so many people who, as long as they are given a mouthful of rice to eat, are willing to sell their whole family into slavery."

Lin Dao looked at her, with no intention of blaming her.

He knew it was not that the little girl was cruel-hearted; it was simply that the Great Ming in this regard was not humane.

The Great Ming, in essence, served those powerful nobles and the wealthy.

According to Great Ming law, commoners had no qualification to keep slaves.

Only imperial relatives, civil and military meritorious nobles, local gentry, and wealthy merchants had this qualification.

Like in the Jiangnan region, basically every household with some power and wealth kept a large number of slaves.

These slaves: the men farmed and worked, the women wove cloth and served as concubines; they were truly oxen and horses in the real sense.

And it was not just the slaves themselves; even their descendants would be slaves of the master's house generation after generation—this was what was called home-born slaves.

Why did Jiangnan, once the Land of Fish and Rice, lack grain?

Because the powerful nobles did not allow grain to be grown; they arranged their own slaves to grow cash crops like cotton, mulberry, and hemp.

Then the women did weaving work, producing goods to sell to all sorts of overseas barbarians, including big and small Francois, earning vast amounts of silver.

The slaves bore the hardest and most burdensome work.

But the vast majority of people did not even have the most basic right to survival guaranteed.

No wonder the Jiangnan Slave Rebellion broke out.

Lin Dao prepared to start building a team.

It was naturally impossible to choose those drifters in the city; those who could not make a living everywhere and sold themselves into slavery were a very good choice.

After a while, his brow furrowed slightly, and he signaled the women to be silent.

He reached out to push the car window, but unexpectedly the window was sealed shut.

He drew a black stick from his waist with his backhand.

Seeing this stick, Chen Yuanyuan's bright eyes narrowed slightly, and she subconsciously drew back her legs.

"Stay here," Lin Dao lowered his voice to instruct, "do not come out."

After speaking, he lifted the curtain and rushed out.

Seeing him come out, the coachman, whose expression changed slightly, subconsciously wanted to speak.

But the electric baton was pressed against his neck.

'Zizi zi~~~'

Jumping down from the cart, Lin Dao looked around.

Desolate and dilapidated, with quite a few collapsed houses.

As far as the eye could see, there was not a single person in sight.

At the end of this road was a temple of considerable size.

This was absolutely not the road to Xiajiekou.

"Local gangs, truly ignorant of the rules."

Reaching out to grab the coachman's hair, Lin Dao flickered and disappeared.

In the time it takes to drink half a cup of hot tea, he returned once more.

He wore armor on his body, a helmet on his head, and carried a travel bag on his back.

"The team must be assembled as quickly as possible."

Lin Dao put on his face armor, "These city foxes and temple rats still require me to act personally."

Outside the temple, beside the ruined stone blocks, two beggars were picking lice off each other, moonlighting as lookouts.

The older beggar yawned and wanted to stretch.

But as he raised his head, he saw a hammer coming down.

"Bang!"

The young beggar hurried to get up, and the hammer fell again to greet him.

Hanging the hammer back at his waist, his hands clad in iron gloves pressed respectively onto the shoulders of the two beggars.

By the time Lin Dao appeared again, only a bloody stain remained beside the stone block.

The temple was not small in area, but was too dilapidated.

This might be Dongyue Temple, or it might be Guan Di Temple.

Lin Dao was not interested in this.

Taking a small drone from his backpack and launching it, it circled several times above the temple.

Confirming the terrain and environment, he retrieved the drone and began to act.

Taking a detour to the rear of the temple.

First disposing of the few guards at the gate and the lookouts.

Then taking the folding hook ladder and climbing over the wall.

Wearing heavy armor on his body, throwing the hook was useless.

Arriving at a room door, about to push it open and enter.

But the door in front of him was already open.

A beggar tying his belt with both hands came out humming a tune.

Seeing the iron-armored monster before him, the beggar's little tune stopped abruptly, and his expression was fearful.

Lin Dao tilted his head slightly, his gaze passing over the beggar toward the inside of the house.

Inside the house were ten-plus women bound by ropes.

"There~"

Just as the beggar opened his mouth, an iron fist smashed into his mouth.

This was a true iron fist, a fist clad in iron gloves, smashing his mouthful of dog teeth to pieces in one punch.

The beggar flew backward, falling to the ground sobbing and choking.

Lin Dao stepped forward and raised his foot to step between the beggar's legs.

The sound of eggshells shattering rang out.

A shrill cry not like a human voice echoed through the room.

"You."

Lin Dao's big foot stepped on the beggar's mouth, stomping his cry of pain back down.

Raising the ram's horn hammer in his hand.

"You all deserve to die!"

End of Chapter