The seventh copy

Those who are related are naturally even worse.

The moment Du Ming saw the village head, his nervousness reached its peak.

[Name: Wang Laichang.]

Age: Fifty-six.

[Position: None.]

[Grade: None.]

[Favorability: 5. 】

【Character introduction: Ogasamura Satomasa. 】

A favorability level of 5 was already surprising enough, but the real reason why Du Ming couldn't help but look the person up and down was the character introduction.

Ogasa Village? Isn't this the place mentioned in the restaurant anecdote?

Sure enough, everything is connected in series.

Du Ming ran home quickly under the kind gaze of the village head and asked Wang Xiaocao what year it was.

The final result was beyond his expectations.

Du Ming calculated based on the known plot information and concluded that the current time point was probably before the death of the Seventh Prince.

If this is the case, does it mean that as long as he has the chance to go to the market now, he may meet the Seventh Prince by chance?

When Du Ming had this idea in his mind, he couldn't wait to go out for a walk, but he suddenly thought of Wang Laichang's eyes just now, and stopped thinking about it.

It was a look that was like looking at a dying pig, with full of malice in the eyes.

He didn't quite understand why the villagers were so malicious towards him.

So the next day, when he met someone, Du Ming pretended to be flattering and called out, "Grandpa Lizheng?"

He received a smile from the person in front of him, but the lack of progress in his favorability reminded him all the time that it was just an illusion.

Not only that, the entire village had no good feelings towards their family, and even avoided him like the plague. Wang Xiaocao's quarrel with the village children was just a beautified scene.

At night, the night is as cool as water.

The cold air invaded through the leaky house. Du Ming was held in Wang Xiaocao's arms, and in front of him was a system box that was invisible to others.

【Late at night, you choose...】

【A: Go to sleep.】

【B: Go out.】

I didn’t expect that the restriction of not being able to go out in the Prince route is actually allowed here.

Du Ming chose option B immediately.

The thin child crawled out from his mother's arms, pushed open the door, quietly closed the door after making sure that no one else was disturbed, turned around and ran in a certain direction in the dark night.

In "Left or Right", players generally have two experiences after making a choice. The first is open action, where players need to move around on their own and trigger locations on the map to obtain information.

The second type is like him now, where his body is automatically controlled by the game, and he has no control over his body unless he reaches the designated location.

However, it can be assured that during this period, the player will not be attacked. Therefore, Du Ming calmly handed over the control of his body to the system.

When he regained control of his body, he was already outside the fence of a house.

The dim candlelight cast two clear silhouettes on the window. Du Ming couldn't tell who they were at first until one of them spoke.

"I've decided on this kid."

It’s Wang Laichang!

"Are you sure?" the other man said in a deeper voice, "We don't want any mistakes with the instructions from His Highness."

Du Ming was suddenly startled.

Your Highness?

Wang Laichang continued speaking: "This family is just a refugee, and there is only one woman and child in the family. Don't worry, they won't cause any trouble."

You noticed something was wrong.

[Side quest: Night talk in the village.]

[The branch line has been included in the memory column. 】

Du Ming didn't listen to the rest of the conversation. It was just the same few sentences over and over again. Fortunately, he had already learned the important information.

Du Ming was about to retreat when his right foot suddenly stepped on something. Before he could move away, the plot was automatically triggered.

Something under his feet suddenly made a crackling sound, and the people in the house were quickly alarmed. Wang Laichang rushed out immediately.

"Who?!" His voice was filled with shock and anger at having his secret overheard.

Du Ming stood there in his invisibility cloak, motionless, the old face of the village head flickering before his eyes.

In the end, Wang Laichang didn't find the person who was eavesdropping. He just squinted his eyes and muttered to himself, "We must act quickly." Then he turned around and went back to the house.

Du Ming hid in the original place and waited for a while. After making sure it was safe, he returned home.

A few days later, Wang Xiaocao was drying clothes at home, and Du Ming followed behind to help.

Just then, Wang Laichang came to the door and asked, "Is Xiaocao home?"

"Hey, here I am." Wang Xiaocao responded and was very surprised to see the newcomer. "Village head? Why are you here?"

Wang Laichang walked in with his hands behind his back. "I'm thinking about Xiao Shitou. I came to see how he's recovering."

Wang Xiaocao patted Du Ming's head and said with a smile, "Thank you for your concern, Li Zheng. Shitou is doing well now."

After saying this, the two looked at each other in silence. After a while, Wang Laichang was the first to speak: "Actually, I came here today because I have something good to tell you."

"It depends on whether you are willing or not."

"What's up?"

"It's Mr. Xu from the town who knows."

Wang Xiaocao knew Mr. Xu, a well-known wealthy businessman and philanthropist in the town. When she and her son first arrived here, they barely survived thanks to the porridge he kindly gave them.

So Wang Xiaocao nodded.

Wang Laichang continued, "I have a cousin who works for the Xu family. He said that Mr. Xu is looking for two students for his youngest son. Although they would be enslaved, their overall life would definitely be better than here."

"I see you're having a hard time raising Little Stone alone. So I thought I'd give you a peek and ask if you'd like to." Wang Laichang nodded in Du Ming's direction. "If you agree, I can help you out."

Hearing this, Wang Xiaocao glanced at the child and said after a while, "Thank you for your kindness. Although life is hard, I still want to raise the child by my side."

As soon as these words were spoken, Du Ming could clearly feel the displeasure emerging from the person opposite him.

But perhaps thinking of what was to come, the village head still looked at Du Ming patiently, "How about asking the child what he thinks?"

[Entered Xu's residence as a student.]

A: Go.

B: No.

【C: Custom.】

The moment the system option popped up, Du Ming knew that it was the critical moment of the plot.

If he hadn't explored that night, he would have immediately chosen option A. But now that he knew, and with option C, there was a possibility of operation.

Du Ming glanced at the favorability values ​​of the two people, then looked at option C in the transparent box, lowered his head and hid timidly behind Wang Xiaocao, "I don't want to go alone."

Before Wang Xiaocao could express her opinion, Wang Laichang spoke first, "Don't worry, that's easy. I'll see if there are other families in our village who want to send their children there."

"This way we can look after each other." He also praised Du Ming, "Our little Shitou is really thoughtful."

Judging from the posture, it is obvious that he is determined to send him to Xu's house.

Wang Laichang came to the Wang family mainly to be a student in the Xu Mansion. After that, he no longer had the idea of ​​staying.

After everyone left, Wang Xiaocao squatted down and touched Du Ming's head and said, "Little Stone, isn't it good for you to stay by your mother's side?"

Du Ming said, "I want to share the burden for my mother."

"Good boy." Wang Xiaocao hugged the person in his arms and wiped away his tears.

【Wang Xiaocao's favorability towards you increases by ten points.】

Hearing this prompt tone, Du Ming sighed in his heart.

Wang Xiaocao is a good mother, but unfortunately, judging from the branch line about the prince's identity, the mother and son may not have a good ending.

After Du Ming said that, he didn't completely ignore the matter.

Every day he goes out to find out what's going on.

Wang Laichang was indeed a smiling tiger. In order to get Du Ming into the Xu Mansion, he went to many families to lobby, most of whom were poor or greedy. He persuaded them with both emotion and reason, and even promised huge profits.

Naturally, some of them were tempted.

Once you become a slave, you belong to the master's family, and the master has the final say on whether you can be beaten or killed. Except for children from poor families who are not favored, most parents are unwilling to send their children into slavery.

But this does not prevent every village from having people who are extremely poor and cannot afford to eat.

Under Wang Laichang's patient persuasion and Mr. Xu's reputation, some people actually gave in.

It was at this time that Du Ming spread the rumor.

'Empty rumors' - a speech item designed to spread rumors the player wants and influence NPC judgment to a certain extent.

Ogasawamura.

Recently, there has been an inexplicable rumor in the village about some wealthy families in the town. Although there is nothing wrong with it, it always makes people feel that there is something wrong with the family style of these wealthy families.

Wang Fugui's family is a well-known poor family in the village.

In the early years, their family was a wealthy family in the village, with dozens of acres of paddy fields. As soon as Wang Fugui came of age, he was immediately married to Li Xiuxiu, the village beauty from the next village.

Li Xiuxiu was fertile and gave birth to four sons for Wang Fugui in a row.

Originally, the family could afford to support him, but Wang Fugui's father went to town one day and was seduced into going to a casino. From then on, things got out of control. Not only did the family's wealth go to waste, but they also owed a lot of foreign debts.

When Wang Laichang came to his house to lobby, Wang Fugui was angry at first, but when he saw the twenty taels of silver that was brought to him, he softened his tone.

In the end, they agreed to Wang Laichang's proposal.

As a result, as soon as he agreed, news spread over there.

Wang Fugui dreamed at night whatever he thought about during the day. Every night he dreamed that his youngest son was beaten to death in the yard and ran home with blood all over his face to complain.

Unable to bear such pain, Wang Fugui immediately found Wang Laichang and said he would not go.

The first family, the second family... several families followed suit, causing Wang Lai Zhang to believe he was possessed by evil spirits. Just then, news came from the Xu Mansion, and someone gritted his teeth and reported the name of his little grandson.

So when they arrived at Wang Xiaocao's house to arrest him, his whole face was blue.

Wang Xiaocao hugged Du Ming and cried again and again. Finally, with the latter's comfort, she watched her son being taken away by Wang Laichang.

He was accompanied by a servant from the Xu residence, a burly, fierce-looking man. After confirming that both families had signed their handprints, he took the two children back to the Xu residence.

Wang Laichang’s grandson is called Wang Dabao and he is six years old this year.

Although he is only one year younger than Du Ming, he is 20 centimeters taller than him, and his arms are thicker than Du Ming's thighs.

After the servant brought the two men back to Xu's house, he did not take them directly to see Mr. Xu, but threw them into a woodshed with only a haystack inside.

Before Du Ming could speak, Wang Dabao pushed him away and lay down on top of him, "You bastard, your father doesn't want you, get away from here!" If his grandfather hadn't said that he would take him to the county to play after the incident, he would not have come.

Wang Dabao felt angry at the thought of working as a slave in Xu's house for a few days, but he became happy again when he thought about what his grandfather had said about Du Ming's fate.

Arriving in a strange place for the first time, Du Ming was too lazy to argue with others. He turned around and walked to the window to look out, taking in the environment of the Xu Mansion.