After dinner, Lu'er and Acang brought a child with them. This child was none other than Suo'er, the grandson of Old Zhang San's family in the north of the village. He was eight years old. At first, Suo'er also informed the Qiao family.
Lu'er pulled Qiao Lian'er aside: "Lian'er, Suo'er doesn't usually play with us much, but we discussed it and we think he's the most honest and much better than our three friends who play with us. Since you asked us to find someone for you, we want to find the most trustworthy person."
“Yes, we tried it. We secretly dropped things in front of Suo’er, and Suo’er picked them up and went from house to house asking who had dropped them,” Acang said.
"Those three companions didn't pass this test. They stuffed the things into their clothes and ran away. Humph, they're really dishonest."
Qiao Lian'er smiled; the children were quite thoughtful.
Although young children's values are not yet fully formed, stealing and not returning found items are common occurrences and cannot define their future.
But Suo'er has such good character at such a young age, and his family is so poor, that's good.
So she said, "Then let's use Lockie."
She beckoned Suo'er over: "Suo'er, would you like to help me with something? I'll give you some sweets."
Suo'er opened her bright black eyes and nodded: "I don't want to go up the mountain to gather firewood or find pig feed. I want to do something big."
When A-Cang and the others went to find him, they told him that they were going to do something big, which inspired the young boy's ambition.
Qiao Lian smiled and stuffed a handful of candy into his hand.
"Brother Dayong, Brother Dacheng, Brother Dameng, I'm entrusting the children to you."
The collection begins today, and we'll be going to a place forty miles away from here, so we need to train the children tonight.
The children are all bright and clever, and the three Qiao brothers all like them very much.
Da Yong arranged the children into two rows, five people in each row.
He addressed the boys with an authoritative tone.
"You are my temporary youth soldiers. If you perform well, you will be rewarded in the future. So, you must show your best spirit."
"Your job is to each follow a team of fifteen soldiers and see if they strictly adhere to the 50% rule when collecting taxes. Report any extra items taken from people's homes."
Xiao Meng said to Qiao Lian'er, "Lian'er, these kids who follow you have been very useful. Otherwise, I don't know where to find such trustworthy and clever people to send out."
Qiao Lian'er never expected that the children would come in such a useful way.
The three brothers also taught the children how to recognize the soldiers' code words for demanding bribes and their suggestive gestures, and then gave them a thorough training session.
The children were very attentive and quick-witted, and were able to make a judgment very quickly.
Because they had to leave early the next morning and there were no spare beds at home, the three brothers took the children to the campsite.
"Brother, we must instruct the soldiers that if anything happens to the children, they will be held solely responsible and will not be let off lightly," Qiao Lian'er reminded them.
“Okay, I know what to do.” Dayong nodded.
In one hand, she was also carrying half a bag of candy that Qiao Lian'er had prepared.
"Amitabha, I hope everything goes well." Old Mrs. Qiao put her hands together in prayer.
Today, we sold 125 taels of film, which, combined with what Qiao Lian'er had, brings us to 610 taels. Adding what we saved up earlier, we now have 1035 taels.
Qiao Lian'er had Xiao Meng guard the door and hid the money in the artificial rocks.
She has no shortage of money, and she will earn more and more. Now she wants to earn something better and more useful for herself and her family.
The next day was the market day in Qingshui Town.
Qiao Yunni and her siblings, Qiao Laosan, went to the market.
Grandma Qiao put the silver bracelet and gold earrings on Qiao Yunni's head: "Those people are already far away, don't worry, wear these to bring good luck."
Qiao Yunni did not refuse.
However, they encountered Song Laosan's men halfway there.
Song Laosan led a group of people, clearly on a levy, driving horse-drawn carts and pushing wheelbarrows.
He saw Qiao Yunni, with a beautiful face, dressed in gold and silver, living a very comfortable life.
He still didn't know which man had given it to him, and a dark look appeared in Song Laosan's eyes.
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