Chapter 42: Human Market

  Two horse-drawn carriages arrived in less than half a time unit.

  A dilapidated earth wall house, with straw covering on top. Upon entering, in the main hall, a wooden board was placed, and on it lay Wang Dazhi's deceased father, his face covered with white cloth. A very haggard woman sat in the main hall, her eyes dull, red and swollen, probably from crying until she had no more tears to shed.

  Next to the woman sat several other women, presumably there to assist or comfort her.

  The dead are mighty; after Su Tiancheng went in, according to the rules, he knelt down and kowtowed respectfully.

  The woman was startled awake, Wang Dazhi and Wang Furong hastily arrived at both sides of the wooden board, then knelt down to pay their respects.

  In such a situation, there is nothing to say. This family can no longer be maintained. There is no more land in the house. Even if Wang Daizhi has great abilities, he cannot do anything about it.

  Su Tiancheng took out ten taels of silver from his body and handed it over to Wang Dazhi.

  "Bury your father properly and let him rest in peace. You have a good body, from now on this family will rely on you."

  Before Su Tiancheng could say anything else, the woman tottered over and knelt down in front of him.

  "Sir, my child is very obedient. It's her good fortune to be in your household. No matter what she does, please take care of her more. I bow to you."

  Su Tiancheng was somewhat flustered and hastily helped the woman up.

  "Auntie, don't be like this, I just came to take a look, you misunderstood."

  The woman couldn't believe it, she thought that her daughter had sold herself for the silver, but this young master was quite generous, he took out 10 taels of silver at once and even came to their home to pay his respects. Such a good person is hard to come by, and if her daughter could enter such a household, she wouldn't suffer too much hardship.

  "Mother, Su Gongzi just came to take a look, there's no other meaning behind it."

  Wang Furong also walked over to the woman's side, supporting her and speaking softly with a red face.

  "Mother, the young master has taken pity on our family and come to visit us."

  The woman couldn't believe it and looked at Su Tiancheng, where did this good fortune come from?

  "Auntie, I'm really just here to take a look, don't think too much about it, hurry up and handle the matter, Chinese New Year is approaching soon..."

  The woman pulled her children and said something in their ears, then she knelt down with them.

  "Old master, you are a good man. My children have suffered with me and we have nothing left at home. With your kindness, they will follow you from now on. Please take them in."

  Su Tiancheng and Su Er'tong went to pull the woman again, but she refused to get up.

  "Alright, I agreed, you get up quickly."

  Seeing Su Tiancheng nodding in agreement, the woman finally got up.

  "Wang Daizhi, after finishing his business, went directly to the Su Mansion in the prefectural city and became a guard there."

  Su Tiancheng didn't mention Wang Furong's matter, and he also couldn't say it.

  After saying that, Su Tiancheng was about to leave. Wang Dazhi still had to take care of the funeral and would need at least a few days before he could come to the mansion. Besides, Chinese New Year was just around the corner, and this timing was quite special.

  The woman insisted that Wang Daqi see off his benefactor.

  The horse carriage is still waiting outside Wang Daizhi's house.

  A crowd had already gathered around, all staring at the carriage. As Su Tiancheng was about to get on board, he saw the clothes and eyes of these people, and he felt his heart trembling.

  The women in Wang Daizhi's house also came out at this time, whispering to each other, speaking and looking at Su Tiancheng, as if they had some expectations.

  "Wang Dazhi, what's going on? Has the whole village been affected by disaster?"

  "Young master, our village has been plagued by disasters for the past two years. I only found out after returning home. In the eastern part of the village, there's a human market where some villagers have no choice but to sell their children and daughters. I'm brave enough to bring my sister to the prefectural city, if not for meeting you, we would've definitely been caught by the authorities."

  Just over a dozen miles away from the provincial capital, a slave market had actually appeared, and Su Tiancheng couldn't quite believe it.

  What is called a "human market" is actually a place where people are sold. In years of disaster or large-scale famine, farmers can't make a living and have to sell their sons and daughters. Generally, human markets appear in rural areas, county towns, or prefectural governments, and will not occur in official government offices, which do not allow such situations to arise, lest they lose face.

  Su Tiancheng didn't go back immediately and instructed the coachman to drive directly to the slave market to take a look.

  Wang Dazhi insisted on staying with him, despite Su Tiandeng's request for Wang Dazhi to return and handle the funeral.

  Actually, when Su Tiancheng left, the Wang family had already started to get busy. With money, they could do things. In a situation like this at home, it's impossible to hold a grand funeral. It would take only one or two days to hold a simple funeral, find a piece of land, buy a coffin, purchase a set of mourning clothes, and at most invite the village elder to help write an obituary before burying him.

  These things, those women who came to help, are all very familiar and have already started to take care of them.

  "Come and see, come and buy, cheap price, as long as you have money, choose whatever you want."

  Hearing such a loud voice, Su Tiancheng's mood was very heavy, this was clearly the shouting of a vegetable vendor.

  No one would have thought that this is a slave market.

  The crowd surrounding him made way for a path, Su Tiancheng wore brocade clothes and sat in a horse-drawn carriage, obviously not here to idle around. In the past two days, some wealthy families in the prefecture city knew about the human market here and occasionally came to take a look.

  Dozens of men and women, lined up sitting on the ground, each with a rope tied around their hands, a few straws inserted into their hair, several burly men walking back and forth around them.

  The men and women sitting on the ground were all young boys and girls, wearing extremely tattered clothes, almost to the point of being indecent. Many people's arms and backs were exposed, their hair was disheveled, most of them hung their heads low, making it impossible to see their faces clearly. Their bodies trembled with fear, looking like lambs that had fallen into the tiger's mouth.

  Next to these young boys and girls, there were some middle-aged men and women with gloomy faces, looking sorrowful. Some of the women lowered their heads and wept, probably they were the parents of a certain boy or girl.

  Witnessing this scene, Su Tiancheng felt his blood boiling up. These young men and women were being traded as commodities, and they must have known what kind of fate they would face.

  A man with a scar on his face cautiously approached Su Tiancheng's side.

  "Sir, take a look, it's very cheap. The boy is five taels of silver, the girl is six taels of silver."

  The man nodded and bowed, hoping that Su Tiancheng could buy a few.

  On the way to the slave market, Wang Daizhi had already introduced them. These men were rascals in the town and came to the slave market to help, but they wanted to extort money.

  Su Tiancheng didn't say anything and walked in front of several girls.

  "Look up."

  The man hurriedly shouted loudly on one side, saw that several girls did not move, got a little angry, and shouted again.

  "Hurry up and lift your heads, Master is here. If you're lucky, following Master will get you good food and drink."

  Several girls' bodies shook even more violently, and they all hesitated for a moment before slowly lifting their heads.

  At a glance, Su Tiancheng's heart was shocked. The eyes of several girls were filled with fear and helplessness, their faces were dirty and had a lot of dirt, and their faces could not be seen clearly.

  Su Tiancheng hesitated for a moment, shook his head and was about to leave.

  At this time, an unexpected situation occurred.

  A girl suddenly stood up, trembling and walked to Su Tiancheng's side, then knelt down with a thud.

  "Master, we beg of you to take us sisters in, and we will work as oxen and horses to repay your kindness."

  Su Tiancheng was somewhat caught off guard.

  About one minute later, Su Tiancheng turned his head and spoke to the man.

  "How much silver does this girl need?"

  When Su Tiancheng said this, the man was overjoyed, gritted his teeth and plucked up the courage to speak.

  "Old master, you are kind and benevolent. I don't dare to say more. Each person gets 10 taels of silver, so it's a total of 50 taels. If you think it's too expensive, giving 40 taels is also acceptable."

  Su Tiancheng didn't know what to say, in front of him was a living person, not a commodity, and he stood here, as if committing a crime.

  Although he had some ideas, saying that buying all the young men and women here was not a big deal, dozens of people, adding up to just a few hundred taels of silver, but after buying these, what could he do with the human market that would appear in the future.