The Blessed (Book 1)

110. Went to Buy Livestock; Happened to Meet the Man He Saved (2)

 “Well, Childe Ling, shall we go and see the carriage and the cow then?”

After Ling Jingpeng and the worker drove the carriage outside the gate, Guarantor Liu stood up and brought Ling Jingxuan and others to the backyard. Seen from front, the shop was not big. But the backyard was extremely big, which was divided into two parts. The left side was a long row of livestock sheds, in which were all horses, goats, cattle and others, while on the right side was a row of rooms, in which you could hear people walking. So it was all human inside, ready for sale. If fortunate enough, they’d be sold into big families as servants or maids. But if unlucky, they’d be sold to places like brothels. And, for some vicious rich families, on the surface, they claimed to buy servants or maids, but actually after buying them, they’d poison them to death, or directly bury them alive as burial objects for the dead. In such times without human right, poor people’s lives were cheap.

However, Ling Jingxuan could do nothing, he was not a saint, and couldn’t save them all.

“Benefactor! Magical doctor!”

Just as they were about to turn to the left, a startled voice suddenly sounded, and before they could react, the next second, a tough man about thirty to forty years old knelt down before Ling Jianxuan.

“What’s going on? How did he get out?”

Seeing this, Guarantor Liu burst into anger and yelled at those workers behind. Ling Jingxuan lowered his eyes and took a look at that man. After quite a while, he remembered that he seemed to ever see him somewhere.

“Is the kid all right?”

Since he suddenly spoke, the worker who tried to pull him away could only stop. The tough man said with tears all over the face, “Thank you, benefactor! Huzi’s been recovered. But we…”

The tough man sobbed so hard that he could barely speak. The kid was cured, but their whole family ended up being imprisoned here. Now he even didn’t know whether it was right or wrong to make such a big scene that time. If he didn’t make it so serious, they wouldn’t have been sold by their owner.

As sophisticated as Guarantor Liu was, seeing they were kind of familiar, he hurriedly moved forward and instantly put on a smile, “He is Song Gengniu, who used to be a guard for a big family. Not long before, his little on was infected with the plague. That big family was afraid they might get infected, so they sold his whole family. Pity that his little son is only seven years old, and just got recovered. Now after all this hardship, his son was nearly out of shape.”

Although he said such nice words, actually he just planned to let Ling Jingxuan buy them. If it were someone else, he might show mercy. But who they faced was Ling Jingxuan, he would ignore anyone who was unrelated to him, however pathetic that person was. Last time, it was just an accident that he saved his son. But this time, he was not planning to give a hand.

“It’s a coincidence that I saved your son. So stop calling me benefactor or kneeling at me.”

Casting a light glance at Guarantor Liu, Ling Jingxuan said with an indifferent tone.

“You saved my son, I should kowtow to you. And I never hold the extravagant wish that you could buy my whole family. It’s just that when I came to my sense that day, you were already gone. So we have been holding this big favor in the heart. Today, we finally met you, please allow men to kowtow to you for a few more times to show my gratitude.”

Speaking of which, bang~bang~bang~ Song Gengniu really kowtowed to him. Ling Jingxuan was slightly frowning. As he was about to move away, a hand suddenly held around his waist. He subconsciously turned to Yan Shengrui aside, while the latter threw him a bad smile, and leaned by his ear and whispered, “This guy seems not a bad one. If you have extra money, you can buy him. Judging from Shopkeeper Zhang’s performance today, I’m afraid he’d order more and more jam. Only you and Jingpeng are not enough. Even with Zhao and Han and our dad, still quite exhausting. It’s not easy to meet such a good person. So buy him. Anyway, you’d buy more in the future.”

Others may think they were flirting, after all both of their eyes were having that kind of light only belonging to lovers, but only they knew what they were talking about.

After Ling Jingxuan heard his words, his expression instantly changed, and he couldn’t help evaluating of the possibility of buying people. In the next two months, they’d be very busy of making jam. And till September tops, he’d have to save enough money to buy land, and then hire people to open up the wasteland. And he had to finish all the land before the sea water flew backward. Only those few people at home were far from enough, besides, he had to send the little buns to school everyday.

“How many people are there in your family?”

Thinking of this, Ling Jingxuan asked in whispers. This guy looked not bad. And in his memories, his wife was not like that kind of shrew. As long as his other families were not that bad, it was not a thing to buy them all. Like what Shengrui said, he had to buy people sooner or later. Now they got such a good chance, maybe it was not bad to buy them now. But…that three-room cottage really gave him a headache. So the house-building place should advance.

“Huh?”

Song Gengniu raised his head, surprised, having no idea what was going on. Guarantor Liu standing aside hurriedly hit him on the back with his knee, “Huh? Huh what? Childe Liu is asking you!”

“Back to my benefactor, there are five. Except me and my wife, my biggest son is 15 years old, my daughter is 13 years old, and my little son who you have ever seen him is 7. My wife and I can do all farm work, and we know how to use all those livestock. My daughter’s embroidery skills is not bad, and Huzi…he is still too small, but can do some simple farm work.”

Coming to his sense, Song Gengniu hurried answered. This was not the first time he was old. So he knew Ling Jingxuan meant to buy them. Of course he was holding great expectations. First, Ling Jingxuan was their benefactor, they were willing to serve him. Second, of the whole family, he was the only male laborer. Apparently it was not realistic to ask someone to buy his whole family. But if separated, his family would be parted forever.

“Well, Guarantor Liu, I don’t know what the price would be if I plan to buy his whole family. Don’t give me such an unreasonable high price. Just give me the final offer. How much do you think is appropriate. I’ll buy his whole family if the price is reasonable.”

After a brief assessment, Ling Jingxuan turned to look at Guarantor Liu. Although this family had only one adult male laborer, he happened to need women. This guy’s wife and daughter could stay with his mom often, and do some sewing work which they tough men couldn’t do. And it was not bad that his two sons could be his two little buns’ attendants in school. As for Song Gengniu, he’d definitely go pick wild fruit with them and made jam, and do some chores.