If you don't give up, I'd like to be your adoptive father.

Chapter 352: Selling and Redeeming

"One Thousand Five Hundred and One"

Hao Ruhai was furious. Not only did this man dare to compete with him, but the price he offered was only one or two taels of gold more than his. It was obvious that he was targeting him.

"You-uh, you are Yu Fengxian?"

He glared first.

Seeing that it was a little girl with black hair and plain face and wearing coarse linen clothes, he was stunned for a moment, rubbed his eyes, and then looked again. It was indeed the famous Yu Fengxian.

——When did she come here?

This question was not just his.

"Master Hao, I want this Miss Zhu too."

Xiaoyu smiled and bowed to him, but her action was very perfunctory and there was no respect on her face.

"Xiao Fengxian, one thousand five hundred taels of gold is not a small amount." Hao Ruhai clenched the iron ball in his hand.

Xiao Yu said: "It's not one thousand five hundred taels, it's one thousand five hundred and one taels."

Hao Ruhai tried to hold back for a while, but couldn't help it. He stared into her eyes and said, "Liu San, two thousand taels of gold."

Xiao Yu smiled and said, "Two thousand taels of gold, plus one tael of silver."

Everyone around was silent, looking at the two of them with strange eyes.

Hao Ruhai's face turned cold, and he said, "Xiao Fengxian, what do you mean? Has Hao ever offended you in the past?"

Xiao Yu shook her head and said, "I just want to buy Zhu Yitai's daughter. No matter who bids against me, I will compete."

"Then why do you only have one or two more than me each time?" Hao Ruhai asked.

Xiao Yu said: "I am poor, not as rich as the Sect Master. I want to sell people, but I don't want to pay extra money."

The iron gall in Hao Ruhai's hand turned rapidly, making a "clang clang" sound.

After a long time, with a "click", the iron gall was pinched in his palm.

"Two thousand five hundred taels of gold!" he shouted to Aunt Liu.

"Two thousand five hundred taels of gold, plus one penny of silver." Xiaoyu said with a smile.

"Three thousand taels of gold!" Hao Ruhai raised the bet immediately without hesitation.

"Three thousand taels of gold, plus a copper coin." Xiaoyu followed.

Aunt Liu pursed her lips and stared at the two of them with a frown.

"Five thousand taels of gold." Hao Ruhai glanced at Xiaoyu and added, "Liu San, you are the aunt in charge of the Jiaosifang, but the Jiaosifang is not yours.

If the teaching office has bad debts in your hands, you have to make up for it yourself. If you can't make up for it, hey, what happened to Zhu Yitao? Have you seen it?"

Aunt Liu said, "You don't have to shout, I won't sell it."

Hao Ruhai sneered and said, "The girls in Hongxiufang don't want to sell themselves, so how can we let them do that?"

Aunt Liu said angrily, "Even if I want to sell it in the future, can't I just not sell it now?"

"Okay, of course, but Liu San..." Hao Ruhai pointed at Aunt Liu, "You have to understand that I have already asked for five thousand taels of gold, and soon the entire Yingxiang Mansion will know about this.

Unless you can sell Miss Zhu for a higher price next time, I wonder how you will explain this to the court!"

The anger on Aunt Liu's face was replaced by hesitation and worry.

She originally had no intention of selling anyone out, as she had other plans for Zhu Lingling.

But Zhu Yitai was too popular, and after just one round of excitement, the price soared to 1,500 taels of gold, which she could no longer afford.

Just like Hao Ruhai said, she was just the aunt in charge of the Yingxiang Prefecture's Jiaosifang.

The "Aunt in Charge" is not even an official.

No official position and no rank.

If Hongxiufang was not the property of Prince Qinghe, there would be many officials in Yingxiang Mansion who could manage her.

As the aunt in charge of the Jiaosifang, one of her core businesses is to maximize profits and earn more money for the Prince of Qinghe.

Xiao Yu did not give Aunt Liu the opportunity to struggle, weigh the pros and cons, or compromise. "Five thousand taels of gold, plus a small coin."

Even if you only add one small coin, it is indeed more than five thousand taels of gold.

Hao Ruhai glanced at her, took out a stack of paper bills from his waist with one hand, and shook them a few times, saying lightly: "This is a promissory note issued by the Huitong Money House by the Prince of Qinghe. It is bearer and unnumbered, and will be paid immediately upon sight."

"Master Hao, you carry so much money on you, aren't you afraid of it being stolen?" Xiao Yu couldn't help but ask.

A faint smile appeared on Hao Ruhai's rough beard and square face. His voice was also very light, as if he was talking about a very ordinary thing. "Having money stolen by a thief? I have never experienced this in my life. I would like to try it if I have the chance."

"With the strength of the sect master, the thief was discovered before he even got close."

"Hey, Master Hao is such a hero, which thief would dare to have evil intentions?"

"Even if the Thousand-Handed Thief Saint is still alive and has taken the money from the Poisonous Hand King, he still has to keep his life."

Several men in fine clothes around Hao Ruhai were flattering him, while the rest of the onlookers were very quiet.

Xiao Yu pointed at the stack of paper bills in Hao Ruhai's hand and said with a smile, "Let's be straightforward. For the bank's promissory note in Master Hao's hand, no matter how many taels of gold or silver there are, I will add one more copper coin."

"Ah~~"

Including Hao Ruhai's younger brother, Aunt Liu, and the "prisoner" tied with ropes, everyone turned pale and exclaimed in shock.

Hao Ruhai was shocked and angry. He shook the banknotes in his hand vigorously and asked, "Do you know how much gold there is here?"

"I don't know, just tell me." Xiaoyu said.

"A full two thousand five hundred taels of gold!" Hao Ruhai said coldly.

"Tsk~~~" Xiao Yu curled her lips, "It's not even enough for five thousand taels of gold."

She turned to Aunt Liu and shouted, "The price you just bid doesn't count. Master Hao doesn't have five thousand taels of gold. I'll only give you two thousand five hundred taels of gold, plus a copper coin."

The veins on Hao Ruhai's forehead were throbbing. "I can at least take out 2,500 taels of gold in cash, which can be used as a deposit for the 5,000 taels of gold bid."

Xiaoyu reached out and untied the jade bell from her waist and shook it gently a few times, making crisp "ding ding dang dang" sounds.

"Today I will open your eyes and let you see the legendary cave in the pot."

"Change!"

Without seeing her do anything, the jade skull opened its mouth and spat out a fist-sized ingot, which was orange and heavy.

It fell on the bluestone floor, making a clanging sound.

"Ah, what kind of magic is this?"

"It must be fake. How can a huge ingot appear out of thin air?"

"It's not an illusion, it's real. The ingots made a noise when they were smashed. Judging from the size and the sound, it must be at least 20 taels of pure gold. There's no mistake about it!"

Some knowledgeable people showed doubts, while the ignorant people rubbed their eyes and shouted. "Change again!" Xiaoyu shook the bell again, and another ingot fell down.

“Change, change, change~~~”

She kept shaking the bell, and gold ingots fell to the ground one after another. After a while, eight or nine gold ingots had fallen.

"Master Hao, what do you say?" Xiao Yu looked at Hao Ruhai with a smile.

Hao Ruhai's face turned blue and red for a long time, and he said in a hoarse voice: "Fairy Yu's methods are amazing. Hao admires you!"

He stuffed the gold note into his arms, bowed, turned and left.

Xiaoyu shouted to the ground, "Yuanbao, Yuanbao, come back quickly~~"

"Gululu~~~"

The gold ingots on the ground rolled automatically to her feet, and then flew back into the mouth of the jade skeleton one by one.

"Xiao Fengxian has become a fairy~~"

"No wonder she was able to wipe out hundreds of thousands of ghost soldiers in Guaizi Mountain by herself. Xiao Fengxian is an immortal!"

Xiao Yu smiled triumphantly, hung the bell back around her waist, looked around at the prisoners who were staring at her blankly, and said, "Aunt Liu, are they all Zhu Lingjun's family members?"

Aunt Liu took a few steps closer and said, "They are all the wives of officials who were implicated in the burning of the government warehouse a few days ago.

There are Zhu Yitao’s family members, as well as families of other officials implicated.

All the men were made slaves and sent to mines in the south, or to serve as servants for nobles.

All the female members of the family were exiled to the Jiaosifang.

Now they are put on sale at the foot of the city wall, the top-quality goods are brought to Hongxiufang, and the ordinary goods are sold to the common people."

"woooooo"

When the women prisoners came to their senses and thought about their own circumstances, they began to feel sorry for themselves and cry.

Xiaoyu frowned and asked, "How much will it cost to buy them?"

Aunt Liu looked at the jade bone bell on her waist in amazement, "Have you really become an immortal? Have you learned the alchemy technique?"

"Don't worry about whether I have become an immortal or not. The gold I gave you is definitely not fake."

Xiaoyu touched the jade bone bell with his right hand, and took out a gold ingot and handed it to Aunt Liu.

Aunt Liu weighed it with her hand and then bit it with her teeth.

"It's real gold." Aunt Liu handed the ingot back and said hesitantly, "Even if they are immortals, real gold and silver are not blown by the wind. Are you sure you want to buy them?"

"Name your price." Xiaoyu said.

Aunt Liu gestured to the officers surrounding the women prisoners, "We have met a wealthy man. Take them all away and return their spare clothes to them."

Then she pulled Xiaoyu into a spacious carriage and asked, "After you buy those women back, how do you plan to place them?"

"After I buy them, are they considered good citizens or slaves?" Xiaoyu asked.

Aunt Liu pondered and said, "Do you know about Zhu Yitai's situation?"

"The neighbors are all discussing it, how could I not have heard about it?" After a pause, Xiao Yu asked again in confusion: "But what I heard is very different from what I see now.

Zhu Yitao was not a criminal and had not broken any law.

The worst thing he did was that he failed to take good care of the government warehouse and burned ten thousand shi of government grain.

But Zhu Yitao did not follow the example of Manager Hu and use burning warehouses to cover up his own corruption.

Besides, the fire was a matter of days and had nothing to do with Zhu Yitai.

I heard from an experienced old official that if a superior official spoke up for him, the King of Shu would only give him a few beatings and would not even remove him from his official position.

Many neighbors thought that Zhu Yitao would come back, and I thought so too.

How did it become like this?

He was killed, his wife was humiliated, and his daughter was sent to Hongxiufang. Even if the old official made a mistake in judgment, the difference would not be so huge. "

Aunt Liu said, “According to the laws of Western Shu, if someone destroys less than 100 dan of grain, he will only be reprimanded; if he destroys more than 100 dan to 1,000 dan, he will be fined a set of armor; if he destroys more than 1,000 dan, he will be fined two sets of armor.

No matter how much is damaged, the miser, redundant clerks and other relevant people must compensate for the damaged grain.

But if the military rations are destroyed, as long as the amount exceeds 500 shi, the person can be beheaded immediately.

The Wantan autumn grain destroyed by Zhu Yitai was all classified as "military grain" rather than ordinary warehouse rice.

He refused to accept the defeat and died of vomiting blood out of grief and anger. "

"Someone wants to get him?" Xiaoyu asked.

Aunt Liu nodded and said, "In fact, the grain in the government warehouse is not very important, at least the nobles in Luodu don't care too much.

But the warehouse also contains all kinds of rare treasures, magical herbs and medicines from the nobles of Luodu."

She sighed, “As the saying goes, one should not be an official if he has no one in the court.

The fire disaster had nothing to do with Zhu Yitao, and everyone knew it, but no one in the court spoke up for him. "

"Where are Prince Qinghe and Prince Xianzhi?" Xiaoyu asked.

Aunt Liu glanced at her and said, "What's going on between the prince and the prince? Zhu Yitao is not the prince's man."

Xiao Yu was filled with righteous indignation and wanted to argue for Lao Zhu, but when he saw that the person opposite him was just a brothel madam and not Li Xianzhi, Li Jingxuan, or the King of Shu, he lost interest again.

"Just tell me what nationality Zhu Lingling is now," she said.

Aunt Liu said, "I've been talking to you for so long, isn't it just to explain her situation?

The yamen warehouse belonged to the imperial court.

It was possible for the nobles of Luodu to borrow the government warehouse to store their own private property, but it could not be put on the table.

Therefore, Zhu Yitao's crime was only burning ten thousand shi of military rations.

According to Shu law, he should be beheaded. Of course, being beheaded according to the law does not necessarily mean being beheaded.

In fact, the court did not sentence him to behead.

He was so depressed that he vomited blood and died. "

Xiao Yu had originally made up her mind not to argue with the madam, but after hearing this, she couldn't help herself, "The court wronged Zhu Yitao to death, but they don't allow others to be depressed and depressed?

Who in their right mind can remain open-minded and cheerful when faced with such disgusting things?
If Zhu Yitao had not died of vomiting blood, the humiliation he suffered would have been more unbearable than death. "

Aunt Liu glared at her and said, "Don't yell at me. I'm just a brothel owner, not a court official."

Xiaoyu waved her hands, "It's my fault. I shouldn't have told this to the madam."

Aunt Liu rolled her eyes in anger.

(End of this chapter)