Courtyard House: Purchasing Agents' Comeback from the Great Famine

After walking for more than ten minutes, Qin Huairu arrived at No. 88 Mao'er Hutong. Looking around and seeing that no one was passing by, she walked to the big willow tree with a feeling of loss and picked up the stone on the ground.

When she saw that the thousand yuan she had left there yesterday was gone, she didn't know whether to be happy or sad.

Those beggars have received the money, but they still haven't released Bang Geng. Is it really as Jingru and the others said, that after receiving the money, the beggars will still sell Bang Geng to the countryside?

Even so, she didn't dare to take the risk. The letter said that if they didn't get the money, they would kill Bang Geng. She really didn't dare to gamble with Bang Geng's life.

Wiping away her tears, she knew that Bang Geng still hadn't gone home, and the group of kidnappers definitely weren't planning to let him go, which made her feel utterly hopeless.

She squatted under the big willow tree and cried for a long time before slowly walking towards No. 95 Courtyard like a walking corpse.

She walked and prayed, hoping that Bang Geng would escape from the countryside and return to her side.

......

at the same time.

In a remote rural area of ​​Baoding, nestled in the desolate mountains, there is only one household within a radius of ten miles, and that household consists of only one old bachelor.

The villagers all called him Old Eunuch Chen, that's right, he was the eunuch.

When he was a child, he was climbing a tree and accidentally slipped down. He felt a sharp pain there, and when he looked down, he was so frightened that he almost fainted.

Because he was bleeding, his pants had a big hole in them and were covered in blood.

He rushed home and asked his father to take him to the town to see a doctor, but to his surprise, the doctor said that he had injured his genitals and they were ruined, which plunged him into utter despair.

From then on, he became taciturn. When he turned thirty, his parents passed away one after another, leaving him all alone on the mountain.

He is fifty years old this year and has never married. He tends to his dozen or so acres of land on the mountain. Although life is hard, he has saved up quite a bit of money over the years.

He was the only household on the mountain. He didn't need to earn work points or pay grain taxes. All the harvested grain was his own. If he couldn't finish it, he would sell it to the supply and marketing cooperative. That's how he managed to save more than two thousand yuan over the decades.

Now it's rice planting season again. Old Chen sighed deeply. He's getting old, and he's finding it increasingly difficult to do all the farm work by himself.

Just as Old Man Chen was sighing, a sleazy middle-aged man with a mustache walked up the mountain, panting heavily.

"Old Eunuch Chen, Old Eunuch Chen, it's me, Er Gou!"

Er Gou was pulling a seven or eight-year-old boy with a rope. The boy's mouth was gagged, but his eyes were full of resentment towards the lewd middle-aged man.

This child is none other than Bang Geng.

He had been sold several times and was sent to this mountain again today. Now his eyes are filled with fear of the unknown and resentment towards these kidnappers.

Hearing the shouts, Chen Laoyan hurriedly came out of his dilapidated wooden house. When he saw that it was Er Gouzi, the town's hooligan, he frowned.

"Er Gouzi, what brings you here?"

Er Gou chuckled and pulled the leash of Bang Geng behind him like he was walking a dog, bringing Bang Geng to his front.

He pointed at the stick and grinned lewdly, "Old Chen, didn't you mention to my nephew that you wanted to buy a child? Look, here I am, bringing one for you."

"Old Chen, what do you think of this child? One hundred yuan, no questions asked."

Upon hearing this, Chen Laoyan finally looked at the little boy behind Er Gou. He saw that the little boy had a dog leash around his neck, and it was clear that he had been sent by a dog dealer.

"Er Gouzi, this kid is so old, he's impossible to raise properly. You're still asking for a hundred yuan? He'll run away when he grows up. What use is he to me? You should take him with you. I don't need him."

Upon hearing that Old Chen refused, Er Gou immediately panicked and quickly explained with a smile:

"Old Chen, don't worry. This child is seven or eight years old and can help you with a lot of farm work. Look, you're all alone on this mountain, and there's no one to help you with these dozen or so acres of land. With this child, you can relax a bit, right? This child isn't your son; he's being sold to you as a laborer. Think about it carefully. For a hundred dollars, you can get such a good free laborer. No matter how you look at it, you're not losing out."

"In a few more years, this child will be a strong laborer. You only need to provide him with one meal a day. Where can you find such good free labor?"

Upon hearing this, Old Man Chen thought about it and realized it made sense.

The child is seven or eight years old now and can already help him with a lot of farm work. If he is raised for a few more years, he will be a master at farm work.

Anyway, he's the only family living in this mountain. As long as he watches his child work every day and keeps him chained up at night, he's not afraid he'll run away.

Thinking of this, Old Chen nodded: "Er Gouzi, fifty yuan, take it."

"No, Old Chen, this is a skilled worker. Fifty yuan is too little. Add some more."

"Sixty, if you don't like it, then take the child with you."

"Fine, fine, I guess I'm just unlucky. You can have the child."

The beggar forced the money on him, charging him forty yuan but only making twenty. He felt he had lost out big time.

However, the child is already seven years old, and many people don't want him, so there's nothing that can be done about it.

If he hadn't been working with these child dealers, he really wouldn't have wanted the child. Luckily, he sold him, otherwise he would have suffered a huge loss.

Chen Laoyan readily pulled out several large black ten bills from his pocket, counted out six, and gave them to Er Gou.

Er Gou took the money and laughed, "Old Chen, this child is yours now. Don't worry, no one saw me when I came. Even if this child dies on this mountain, it's fine. Just dig a hole and bury him."

"Alright, I'm leaving now. Next time, I'll keep an eye out for children under three years old and bring them to you then."

"become."

After sending Er Gouzi down the mountain, Chen Laoyan came to Banggeng's side, took off the dog leash from Banggeng's neck, removed the rag from his mouth, and untied the rope binding his hands.

He wasn't worried about people running away, after all, he was the only household in this mountain, and it was still more than ten miles of mountain road from here to the village.

The rag stuffed in his mouth was removed, and the man immediately began cursing at Old Eunuch Chen:

"You damned good-for-nothing, you'd better take me home right now, or I'll have my grandma beat you to death!"

Upon hearing this, Old Man Chen's face turned ashen, and his right hand unconsciously reached for the whip that Er Gou had brought.