Chapter 53

There were also many people coming to ask for prices.

Fur goods were the most popular in Bingzhou, Liangzhou, and Youzhou.

Merchants from Xuzhou, Yanzhou, and even Jiaozhou came here to purchase furs, then transported them locally to be processed into cloaks.

These cloaks made from animal skins were not only warm but also beautiful, and were most favored by noble clans and powerful families.

There were also sheepskins and ox hides sold from the Xiongnu, which were resold from Bingzhou, Liangzhou, and other places.

Duan Yu's cart was mostly filled with rabbit and fox furs.

These were the most popular furs.

So, before he even reached the West Market, he had already sold more than half of them.

Someone had also wanted that tiger skin.

But Duan Yu didn't sell it.

Pulling the cart full of furs, Duan Yu arrived at the West Market.

Without a large market gathering, there were fewer people, so he just found an empty space and laid out all the remaining furs.

He planned to sell all these furs and then send the rest to the place he had agreed upon with those two people earlier.

Near noon.

Duan Yu found an eatery in the market, ordered a lamb leg, a bowl of lamb soup, a bowl of wheat rice, and a pot of turbid wine, and sat by his stall to feast.

Ever since he got this system, he trained at least four or five hours every day.

Not only did his physical fitness skyrocket.

Even his appetite skyrocketed along with it.

Holding the lamb leg in one hand to tear at it, and taking a sip of wine to cleanse his palate, Duan Yu's way of eating attracted the gaze of many people strolling through the market.

Seeing Duan Yu's robust figure, they couldn't help but praise him as a strong warrior.

"Selling myself to bury my mother..."

"Selling myself to bury my mother!"

Just as Duan Yu was feasting, he suddenly heard someone shouting not far away.

Selling himself to bury his mother?

Duan Yu stopped tearing at the lamb leg and turned to look.

Not far from him, about a few dozen meters away.

A young man of about twenty was pulling a broken cart.

On the cart was a straw mat.

Wrapped in the straw mat, one could see a pair of withered, pale, and wrinkled feet from behind.

The young man was about 1.8 meters tall, but extremely thin.

Even his eye sockets were deeply sunken.

One look and it was clear this was caused by long-term malnutrition.

Selling himself to bury his mother.

This was not a new thing.

In the past, Duan Yu didn't understand why one would sell themselves to bury someone.

Dig a hole, set up a tombstone, and bury them, wouldn't that be enough?

But later, he saw it in a book.

The Han Dynasty was popular for lavish burials.

That is to say, the burial goods had to be abundant.

And the Han Dynasty was also a dynasty that attached great importance to filial piety.

If parents died and one could not try their best to arrange it, or if it was arranged hastily, it was considered unfilial.

Of course, it wasn't that no one did it that way.

But a filial person would certainly try every means to give their deceased parents a grand burial.

This led to selling oneself to bury a mother or father.

And selling oneself was not a rare thing.

Powerful clans and noble families held large amounts of land.

These powerful clans and noble families obviously could not farm the land themselves.

So they needed people.

Slaves and tenant farmers were what these powerful clans and noble families needed.

Therefore, when the young man shouted about selling himself to bury his mother, human traffickers specializing in such trades quickly stepped forward to inquire about the price.

These traffickers specialized in this trade, gathering slaves they had obtained and then selling them to noble clans and powerful families.

The young man didn't look very old.

Although he looked a bit weak right now.

But as long as he wasn't sick, if he were raised well, he would certainly have strength.

So many traffickers surrounded him.

But for some reason, the traffickers who had just surrounded him dispersed in a huff after not long.

Duan Yu was curious.

Could it be that this young man was sick?

Just as he was thinking, a trafficker in his forties passed by Duan Yu's stall.

"Are you crazy? You actually want five gold?"

Duan Yu heard the trafficker's words.

Five gold?

Duan Yu was also stunned.

This asking price... was indeed a bit exaggerated.

At current prices, the price of an ordinary slave was just one gold.

Regardless of gender.

But if it were a beautiful maid, for example, someone with some looks and talent, the price would be a bit higher, but the base price was basically two gold.

Or a strong man with some skills, the kind who could guard a house, would also be two gold.

Five gold!

This price could be called an astronomical figure.

Duan Yu watched the young man who continued to pull the cart and shout about selling himself to bury his mother.

He didn't see anything special about this young man, so why did he dare to ask for five gold?

While he was pondering, the young man had already pulled the cart to Duan Yu's stall.

At this time, Duan Yu was holding the lamb leg in one hand and a bowl of wine in the other, looking at the young man.

The young man also felt Duan Yu's gaze and turned to look.

But his gaze was focused on the lamb leg and wine in Duan Yu's hand.

Duan Yu looked at the lamb leg he had eaten more than half of, and the small amount of wine left, then looked at the young man.

Then he reached out and handed it over.

"If you don't mind, have a bite," Duan Yu said.

The young man was startled at first, clearly hesitating for a moment.

He turned to look at Duan Yu and thanked him.

"Thank you."

Saying this, he took the lamb leg from Duan Yu's hand and tore into it greedily.

"Shopkeeper, bring another bowl of wine!" Duan Yu shouted loudly toward the eatery not far away.

Soon the shopkeeper brought a bowl of wine.

Duan Yu threw over five coins and had him pass it to the young man.

"Eat slowly, drink some wine to cleanse your palate," Duan Yu said.

The young man's mouth was full of wine and meat, so he could only puff out his cheeks and nod to thank Duan Yu.

In a short while, the lamb leg bone had been gnawed until it was green.

Even a dog might cry if it saw it.