Shen Qing's pupils contracted.
She immediately recalled that he had made the same request when she asked him to help the eldest branch of the Gao family obtain horse feed.
She was a little angry.
He clearly had the ability to save her, but he refused, demanding that she exchange herself for him!
Knowing full well that she was on a different path from him and that she looked down on his shady dealings, he still insisted on making her belong to him, disgusting her, and tormenting her!
Shen Qing angrily shook off his hand, opened it to him, and said coldly, "During the time you were injured, I bathed you thirteen times, at one thousand taels each time, that's thirteen thousand taels! I cooked you thirty-nine meals, at one hundred taels each time, that's three thousand nine hundred taels! The two things together amount to sixteen thousand nine hundred taels! Give it to me now!"
Cheng Zhiwen knew that she was going to use the money to rescue those girls, and immediately burst out laughing.
"Jiang Shen, give 20,000 taels of silver to Boss Shen!"
After saying that, he smiled and looked at Shen Qing: "I want to see if you have this much money and can rescue those girls."
Jiang Shen handed a stack of silver notes to Shen Qing, who quickly took them and put them in her sleeve pocket, not forgetting to ask Cheng Zhiwen for a hairpin knife.
Cheng Zhiwen smiled at her, reached into the inside pocket of his suit jacket, and took out the hairpin knife.
Instead of placing it in Shen Qing's hands, he personally inserted it into her hair bun.
"That's it," he patted her on the shoulder and said, "Good luck!"
Shen Qing quickly ran towards the girls, but as soon as he got close, the labor foreman waved his whip and drove them away.
Ignoring the whip that could strike her at any moment, she walked towards the labor foreman and firmly declared, "Sell these girls to me!"
The labor foreman chuckled, sizing her up from head to toe. He spat out the toothpick that was dangling from his lips and said in a sleazy tone, "Buy these girls? I bet you're planning to go to England to become a prostitute yourself. What a pipe dream!"
Shen Qing retorted angrily, "What nonsense are you talking about? I'm going to England to do business! Don't spout nonsense!"
The man looked her up and down again, then turned around cursing and lashed out with his whip at the poor girls: "Get out of here! If you're late and delay me from collecting my money, you'll be in big trouble!"
Shen Qing simply stepped forward, blocking their path: "Sell these girls to me!"
The man didn't believe that a woman like her could afford to buy all those pigs, and thought she was deliberately causing trouble, so he lashed out with his whip at her.
Shen Qing watched helplessly as the whip came down on her face. Just as she realized she had to dodge, the whip was caught in mid-air.
She looked at Jiang Shen with gratitude.
Cheng Zhiwen walked over with his hands behind his back, nodded to the pitiful girls lining up behind him, and said coldly to the labor foreman, "How much do you sell to the British for? We'll give you a 10% bonus!"
The labor foreman sized him up with his triangular eyes.
Cheng Zhiwen was dressed in an expensive Italian three-piece handmade suit and leather shoes, and was accompanied by entourage; he was clearly a wealthy man.
The labor foreman could tell how wealthy Cheng Zhiwen was.
He raised an eyebrow at the girl behind him and chuckled, "These are Hong Kong-made piglets, each one costs a thousand dollars! You can't give me even a tenth more, I have an agreement with the British, if they can't give me the piglets, I'll have to pay ten times the compensation!"
Cheng Zhiwen smiled dismissively: "Ten times, is that it? Then I'll give you twenty times. You can use ten times to pay back the British, and you can keep the other ten times as profit! How about it?"
The labor foreman's eyes lit up, and his hands began to fidget as if he were counting money.
Ten times that amount, more than two hundred thousand silver dollars. He would have to make ten trips selling pigs to earn that money.
With these two hundred thousand silver dollars, he would no longer have to stay in that inhumanly cramped third-class cabin traveling to and from England for at least three to five years.
It sounds wonderful!
But when he thought of the local British thugs who were always ready to kill, he didn't dare.
The promised gift to the British was not delivered, and this is not just a matter of compensation; it could cost you your life.
Thinking of this, the labor foreman waved his hand: "No, no! I've already made an agreement with the British. If I can't hand over the people this time, I won't be able to explain myself!"
After saying that, he waved his whip to urge the girls on.
Shen Qing looked anxiously at Cheng Zhiwen, who had turned and was walking towards her: "Even paying more won't work?"
Cheng Zhiwen put his arm around her and whispered, "You see, there are many things in this world that money can't solve."
Shen Qing was almost in tears: "Of course I know! That's why I'm begging you!"
She kept turning back to look at the pitiful girls behind her.
They were so young, their bodies hadn't even developed yet, and they were sold to brothels to become child prostitutes, suffering torture at the hands of those pedophiles and perverts.
Some were lucky enough to be sold into the homes of Chinese laborers or British people as female slaves, but many still could not escape sexual abuse.
Shen Qing is an adult and knows what he would do if he bought such a young girl.
The thought of the unbearable life they were about to face broke her heart.
She looked at Cheng Zhiwen with tears in her eyes: "You have a way, right?"
Cheng Zhiwen stopped smiling and regained the composure she had when discussing business.
He pulled her closer and said, "I've tried my best. But you haven't given me an answer yet."
She felt a jolt in her heart, knowing what he was talking about.
She was conflicted and didn't know what to do.
Turning her head to look at those poor girls, she wanted to save them, but remembering what Cheng Zhiwen had done in secret, she was afraid that if she followed him, she would once again be accused of "treason," and thus implicate the Gao family and Su Lan.
He gritted his teeth and said, "Lend me your pistol! I'll save those girls myself!"
As soon as she finished speaking, she noticed that the hand around her shoulder tightened its grip.
Looking up at Cheng Zhiwen, she saw that he was also looking at her with a complicated expression.
"If you fire a gun in the UK, you might not be able to get back. Have you thought it through?"
Shen Qing remained silent.
She knew that, but she wanted to take a chance for those girls!
Cheng Zhiwen asked disappointedly, "You'd rather risk never going back than stay with me? Do you hate me that much?"
Shen Qing lowered her head and shook her head: "I don't hate you as a person, I hate the things you did in secret!"
Now it was Cheng Zhiwen's turn to be speechless. She secretly took the gun holster off her back and stuffed it into Shen Qing's hand.
Shen Qing gripped it tightly, her heart filled with a sorrowful urge to burst into tears.
She brought modern skills to the late Qing Dynasty; she knew how to do business, spoke English, and possessed a greater ability to survive than any other woman in the late Qing Dynasty.
Yet, even for someone like her, saving even a few pitiful girls is extremely difficult.
She looked up at the sky.
During this time since I came here, I have never longed for the arrival of the new China as much as I do now!
Only by experiencing that dark era can one truly grasp the significance of everything the new China has brought.
The labor foreman drove the girls toward the other side of the dock, with Shen Qing and Cheng Zhiwen following along.
She planned to deal with the labor leader before he met with the British buyer, and then immediately send the girls back to their home country on a ship.
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