"You two are new to the capital, aren't you? They're selling slaves downstairs, but I don't recommend you buy any."

The waiter was very outgoing, and Xie Yuancheng struck up a conversation with him. He was quite talented; they could even chat about this. It turned out that they were buying and selling slaves, the youngest being three and a half years old and the oldest no more than twelve.

However, they weren't ordinary slaves; it was just a title. They were all fairly pretty young girls. The ugliest ones had faces full of acne and were overweight.

The family that buys them should treat them with the best food and drink, raise them like porcelain dolls, and ideally treat them like bodhisattvas, granting their every wish.

"They are all dressed up beautifully. Those under five years old like to wear bells on their heads and hands, and shake them like cats and dogs. They are given treats, otherwise they will get angry."

Most importantly, some fool actually bought her to be a child bride, and when the woman discovered the place was awful, she kicked the buyer away and kept putting the place up for sale. Sigh... this world, even the emperor doesn't care.

The waiter was sighing. Xie Yuancheng and I found it amusing. The people below were bidding, with the highest bid reaching one hundred taels.

"Thank you everyone. I will definitely make you happy. If you have children, you should treat me like a princess. Otherwise, I will not come with you."

The sound is so lovely, with bells ringing. I suddenly remembered meeting a three-year-old child on the street who also spoke while ringing a bell.

"Sir, you see this? This brat is very favored. I heard that the Emperor is going to the palace to raise her as a child bride, and all the ladies in the palace have fallen out of favor."

Later, for some reason, they were sent back, but having been to the palace and broadened their horizons was a good thing.

As the waiter explained, Xie Yuancheng continued to ask, "Then how did she send it out?"

"I don't know. She claimed to be a princess in the palace and liked to perform a scene of falling into the water. Then she said she was in her thirties and had become a different person."

Who would believe that? Anyway, somehow they were thrown out of the palace and put up for sale.

"How did the capital become like this? Openly buying and selling slaves, and even taking them back to be slaves of young ladies and princesses."

Xie Yuancheng also started to sigh. I took his hand and told Xiao Er everything that needed to be said, and we would give him a tip. Upon hearing about the tip, Xiao Er was even happier.

"I only heard the rumors, I don't know if it's true. They said they appeared out of nowhere, but they were pleasing to the eye. When the Crown Prince passed by, he saw them and brought them to the capital."

Later, the Crown Prince got annoyed by them and threw them outside. Some busybody gave them signs to sell their wares there. Anyway, nothing bad had happened in the capital for a long time, and everyone was rich and curious, so they joined in the fun.

Later, the crown prince implicated several ministers because of this incident. Upon closer examination, it seems to have some connection to the story of the pitiful beggar who pretended to be poor to beg for food that was previously circulating.

Many people say that those who give birth to one child often have eighty or ninety at a time, so their lives are considered cheap, and they'd do anything for a little food. But it's different in the capital. I don't know why, but some people like to raise them; they're kept for a few days and then kicked out of the mansion.

I took out a tael of silver and gave it to the waiter. He happily went down to prepare tea and snacks. There was still a commotion downstairs, and a little girl of three or four years old was lifted up.

"Put me down, I can walk." Her voice was soft and cute. Suddenly, the person next to her threw her up and she landed on the quilt and pillow.

"Pah!" The little girl spat several times, the little bell on her head making a particularly loud noise: "A bunch of clumsy lowlifes! I am a princess, the Emperor promised me!"

"Princess, this is good. Quickly splash water on her so we can shave her head."

A well-dressed person nearby shouted, and the little girl was splashed with water. Before she could even cry out, all her valuables were thrown to the ground, and many beggars rushed to grab them.

"This was given to me by the Empress and the Emperor in the palace, and the Empress also gave it to me!" The little maid jumped up, but was held down and had her hair shaved.

"Pah!" The rich man spat at her a few times: "I branded her with the word 'slave' so she could act like a tyrant in my house. My stupid wife spent twenty taels to buy her back, and today I'm going to vent my anger."

I tugged at Xie Yuancheng, but before he could react, the branding iron was already on. A heart-wrenching cry erupted, and the people around him clapped.

Soon, the constables arrived. The little girl's face now bore the mark of a servant. She crawled off the covers and went to the constables' side, saying, "You lackeys, why are you only coming to fetch this princess now!"

"Go away!" The constable kicked the little girl, who rolled three times on the ground before immediately getting up.

"Ying'er, we don't know where they came from. Let's just watch and not get involved. Besides, isn't she a slave? Since someone paid twenty taels to buy her, why is she still out here selling herself with a sign?"

That means the person who bought her can be disposed of at will, as long as no one dies. The laws of the Great Zhao state clearly state that she was in the wrong from the start.

"How could a child of only a few years old know so much?" I worried that they might have been misled and become so confused.

"This princess will not let you off!" I turned around and saw that the little girl was fighting with those yamen runners. She was crying so hard just now, but now she doesn't even care about the injuries on her face.

She bit several people, and the way she leaped over their legs and swept her legs around was definitely not something a child would do.

"Thump!" Some old woman knocked her to the ground with a stick, and then the constables swarmed over to put shackles on her.

When the girls selling their wares saw this, they tried to run away, but the soldiers who rushed over pointed their spears at them. They were able to break the spears with their bare hands. Their fierce expressions showed that they didn't need to sell themselves into slavery at all. Who would dare to buy them?

"Haha~" The little girl, now shackled, began to direct them to fight. The constables hit her hands with sticks, but she was able to lift them and continue to give orders.

The rich man grabbed a stick and started hitting things randomly. The little girl had to dodge him to avoid directing the fight. She had acted so skillfully, like a well-trained person; why would she want to cheat people out of money to become a slave?

"Ying'er, let's go back to the manor after they've finished causing trouble." Xie Yuancheng couldn't stand it anymore: "These people are probably doing bad things under the guise of children, so they won't be easily discovered."

With such skill, he could have had a much brighter future fighting in wars, doing manual labor, or performing for money. Instead, he chose to harm others for his own selfish gain.

I saw the rich lift the little girl up, and she could still jump to the ground in shackles without batting an eye. I don't need to pity her anymore. The Crown Prince has really shot himself in the foot this time; he deserves to pave the way for my Yuan Cheng.

Suddenly, some soldiers threw down ropes from above, tied up the slaves who had sold themselves into slavery, swung them around in the air a few times, and dragged them away. The soldiers below then began to clean up.