Zi Yang

  Previously, Mo asked had always thought that the so-called "human market" was just a street or two similar to a fair, but when he arrived at the head of the land, he realized that this place called Ao City was actually a huge human market. The scale of the city was three times larger than the town where the two men had previously gathered information. Except for the merchants who operated tea houses and inns, there were no fixed residents in the city, only sellers and buyers who came to sell and buy people.

  The city is divided into East City and West City. The West City is mainly inhabited by poor families who sell their children, and these people are all dressed in rags and thin as sticks. The parents who sell their own children do not have any reluctance in their eyes, only emptiness and numbness. Those children sitting on the street with a grass sign on their heads do not miss their parents either. Every time someone walks by them, they stare at the person with pleading and longing eyes. Don't ask if you can understand the helplessness of being a parent, selling children is actually also to let their own children survive, but he cannot understand why these children are so indifferent to their parents.

  "Looks like they're eager to be bought out." Mo Wen said as he rushed past Lao Wu.

  "That's it, once sold, you don't have to starve anymore. You haven't tasted the taste of starvation, when people are starving, they can do anything. These children who are still young enough to be sold, those who are too old to sell can only be exchanged with other families." Lao Wu said casually.

  "Exchange? Exchange with whom?" Mo Wen felt a little puzzled.

  "Give it to another poor person." Old Five said.

  "What's the point of exchanging?" Mo Wen was even more perplexed.

  "Eat, one's own children are reluctant to eat, so they eat others'," said Old Five.

  "Exchange children for food?!" Mo Wen was shocked and lost color upon hearing the words. Before this, he had only heard that barbarians ate humans, but he never thought that poor and desperate Han people would also do something so inhumane.

  The two of them had a small amount of dry rations on their bodies. At first, Mo Wen did not give any to the children by the roadside. He was very clear that once he started, others would surround him asking for more. However, after walking for a short distance, he couldn't bear it and secretly gave some food to one of the pitiful children. The child had a skeletal body, lying listlessly on the side of the road with no energy left.

  "How can there be a father like you in this world?!" Mo Wu shouted loudly at the middle-aged man who had snatched away the dry rations from her child's hands.

  The latter did not respond, quickly devouring half of the bun, and ignored the child's crying hand stretched to his mouth.

  Don't ask, he handed the child half a bun again. The child hastily took it over, grasped it tightly with both hands and stuffed it into his mouth, eating in a wolfish manner, fearing that his father would snatch it away once more.

  Mo Wen stared blankly at the father and son, previously he still had doubts about Lao Wu's words, now he believed it, when people are hungry enough they can do anything.

  "Hey, old man, don't look at this, such things also exist in Jin State, you usually don't go out, so you don't know." Lao Wu saw Mo Xun standing there dazed and pulled him forward by the hand.

  "Let's buy that child, otherwise he will starve to death sooner or later." Mo Wen frequently turned his head back.

  "Can you buy them all? And what would you do with them after buying?" Old Five stretched out his hand and pointed around, there were no less than hundreds of children in the same situation as the child just now.

  Don't ask, the only thing that can be done is to sigh. The scene of his father snatching food from his child has been lingering in his mind, a choice made between life and death, and affection, a wrong choice, a hateful choice.

  "If I were him, I would rather starve to death than snatch food from my own child." Mo Wen's expression turned serious as he spoke.

  "People are different from one another," said Lao Wu, who understood the hardships of the poor people better than Mo Wen and had already gotten used to it.

  The people being sold in the western city were not only children, but also adult men and women. The men were mostly young and strong, and their prices were higher because they could work and farm. Buyers from all over would examine them like livestock, checking their limbs and even their teeth.

  The women were mostly young wives with husbands and children behind them. They sold themselves voluntarily in order to give their husbands and children a way out. Here, there was no distinction between men and women, and the buyers would touch the women's waists and breasts in front of their husbands and children. At this time, the husbands would show painful expressions, while the children would stare at each other with puzzled eyes.

  "These men are all in good health, as long as they work hard, how can they not support their wives and children? How could they end up so miserable?" Mo asked again, looking at Lao Wu.

  "They may not have land, or they may be victims of disaster. Originally, the harvest was already poor, and once a disaster struck, there would be nothing to eat." said Old Five.

  Mo Wen heard the words and sighed again, after arriving at the slave market, he often sighed, everything here made him feel so ugly, in his eyes this was not a human world, but a hell filled with betrayal and separation, without conscience or benevolence.

  Although sighing, Mo Xie didn't stop and quickly searched with Xiao Wu. After searching the entire Western City, they went to the Eastern City. When they arrived here, Mo Xie knew he had found the right place. This was a vast open space where the Hu people's soldiers sold the women they had plundered. The Hu people were all wearing military uniforms and armor, not hiding their identities at all. The captured women sat in rows on the open ground, most of whom were beautiful and elegant. Compared to the dead atmosphere of Western City, this place was filled with resentment, the air thick with the women's wailing and the Hu people's shouting.

  The women captured by the Hu people during their conquests are all gathered here, numbering over a thousand. Judging from their appearance, these Hu people do not belong to one team and occasionally scold each other. The young Hu people speak Chinese, while the old Hu people speak a language that Mo Wen does not understand.

  There were also many Han people in this area who bought women, and although the Hu people glared at them with anger, they did not beat them up. The buyers were not afraid of the Hu people either, and they haggled over prices.

  Seeing this, Mo asked if he dared to take Lao Wu and walked over, searching for Lin Ruochen's figure in the crowd. Since they were not sure whether Lin Ruochen was still wearing red pants, the two could only scrutinize the appearance of each woman one by one. Most of these women lowered their heads, and the two bent down to search with sideways glances, which was not fast.

  Although these women are beautiful, they are all disheveled and unkempt. When searching for them, don't ask what's on their minds, but if Lin Ruocheng is found, be sure to persuade her with kind words and take good care of her. This matter cannot be blamed on her, she has no power to resist, her natal family members have all died, she has no relatives left, as a husband, you can't despise her.

  Two people were looking for things while being scolded and cursed by barbarians, who found it strange that they only looked but didn't buy, didn't ask or answer questions, and quickly walked away to avoid arguing.

  They had lingered in the west city for a while, and by the time they arrived at the east city, it was already noon. After identifying over a thousand people one by one, Lin Ruochen was not among them.

  "Master, why don't we search again?" Lao Wu suggested, seeing Mo's depressed mood.

  "It's no use." Mo Wen shook his head slowly, the two of them had searched very carefully earlier and wouldn't have missed anything. Moreover, if Lin Ruochen was really among the crowd, he would have already discovered the two of them and called out for help.

  "You've done your best, let's go back." Lao Wu said.

  Mo Wen glanced at Lao Wu and knew that he didn't approve of searching for Lin Ruochen.

  "Let's go back to the inn and ask around again. If there's still no news of her, we'll head back." Mo Xun said in a tone that invited discussion.

  "Alright." Old Five nodded in agreement.

  Mo asked to turn around and walk towards the inn in the city, this inn occupies a large area, is the largest building in the city. The seller and those women who are about to be sold live here until nightfall.

  After entering the inn, Mo Wu asked to find a corner and sat down. At this time, there were not many people in the inn. The shopkeeper ran up to greet the two of them. The food here was only porridge, meat, and miscellaneous dishes. Mo Wu thought that the two of them had not eaten meat for a long time, so he ordered two bowls of miscellaneous soup.

  The miscellaneous soup was soon served, and Mo asked to pay the bill with copper coins. At the same time, he gave two more copper coins to the waiter and inquired if a woman in red pants had stayed here half a month ago.

  Don't ask, originally there was no hope, after all, it's been almost a month, didn't expect the shop assistant to have a good memory, and actually remembered that some time ago, a certain Hu Renxun brought his men to drive away a group of women who came to sell, among whom there was indeed a woman in red pants. However, this woman in red pants was not sold by Xun, but was hired to take a carriage back to Ye City when she left. According to the assistant's description of her appearance, that woman is probably Lin Ruochen.

  "Old master, you won't want to go to Ye City, will you?" Lao Wu handed a pancake to Mo Xun.

  "Now that we have news, we can't just ignore it." Mo didn't ask and took over the piece of bread.

  "That's the capital of Zhao State, everywhere are barbarians." Old Five frowned.

  "After dinner, we'll part ways, you go back first, I'll head north to look for her." Mo Xun spoke resolutely.

  "Wherever you go, I'll follow." Lao Wu knew Mo wasn't happy and hastily lowered his head to drink soup.

  After lunch, the two set off again. On their way here, they had discovered an abandoned village by the roadside and estimated that they could arrive there by nightfall. The two spent the night in the abandoned village and continued on their journey at dawn.

  Ye City is over two thousand miles away from here, and Mo Xun took Old Five northward. In just a few days, the sky dropped heavy snow again, and the two of them trudged through the snow, advancing slowly. On the way, they encountered Hu people, and the two of them would dodge far away. If they couldn't dodge in time, they would lower their heads and give way. Because Mo Xun was cautious all along the way, although the two of them suffered hardships, they didn't encounter any danger until New Year's Eve. When the two of them passed through a dense forest, something unexpected happened - several burly men rushed out of the forest and surrounded them.

  "Hand over your valuables and I'll spare your lives..."