After making inquiries, Liu Cuixi learned that the family selling their daughter belonged to Shen Daqi from the west end of the village.
They have three daughters and one son. Now that food is scarce, they can't bear to let their son go hungry, so they want to sell their daughters and buy some food to feed their son.
Liu Cuixi pouted: "It's not that we can't get enough to eat, it's just that they don't want their daughters to eat grain! The two poor girls, barely twelve or thirteen years old, are so thin and pale from hunger that they're about to sell them to a wealthy family as maids..."
Shen Qingyu asked curiously, "Do wealthy families still buy maids these days?"
"The lives of wealthy families are unaffected. They're even happy to buy maids at this time, since there are people selling their children everywhere, the prices are cheap, and they can pick and choose!"
There's nothing we can do about it.
Shen Qingyu decided to close the door and ignore it, but who knew that when the two girls were being dragged by their father past Shen Qingyu's house, they rushed straight towards the front door, their heads banging against the door frame.
"Aunt Qingyu! Please buy me! I can go two days without eating porridge! Please, don't let my father sell me to the Hu family..."
The child's cries were so heart-wrenching that Shen Qingyu couldn't ignore them and had to open the door to check.
Outside the door, Shen Daqi was struggling to pull his two daughters away. Seeing Shen Qingyu come out, he awkwardly let go of them, saying, "Qingyu, this... I didn't mean to. These two girls are just too noisy..."
Shen Qingyu frowned slightly as she looked at the two blond girls who were desperately kowtowing to her: "Why do you want to sell yourselves to my family, but not to the Hu family?"
The two girls just kept crying and didn't say a word.
Liu Cuixi whispered to Shen Qingyu, "The old master of the Hu family is over fifty years old this year. He likes these half-grown girls, but he can't... have sex with them. So he buys them and tortures them... Everyone in the surrounding villages knows this, so they pay a high price for them."
Shen Qingyu was stunned, staring blankly at Shen Daqi without saying a word.
Just before, when the house was being repaired, Shen Daqi came to help repair it and took away nearly fifty kilograms of miscellaneous grains!
If we eat sparingly, a family of five can manage to eat sweet potatoes and potatoes!
Why do you have to push your daughter into a fire pit?
Shen Daqi awkwardly looked away: "I had no choice. There are refugees everywhere, and some have even become bandits! The crops at home didn't yield much, so I'm just trying to make sure my two daughters have something to eat..."
Shen Qingyu didn't want to listen to his nonsense anymore: "How much money did the Hu family pay for your two daughters?"
Shen Daqi's eyes lit up: "Two taels of silver for a girl!"
Shen Qingyu was stunned!
Two taels of silver per person?
Nowadays, miscellaneous grains cost twenty coins per pound.
One hundred pounds of grain can buy a living teenage girl?!
Amidst the two young girls' repeated kowtowing, Shen Qingyu finally realized, "Alright, I'll buy these two girls."
Within two days, Shen Qingyu heard that some refugees had indeed become bandits.
The top of Turtle Back Mountain, about 20 miles from Hengshui Town, has been occupied by a group of migrants from outside the area!
These refugees gathered no fewer than three thousand people and managed Turtleback Mountain like an impregnable fortress. Many young people from the surrounding area flocked there to seek refuge, and once inside, none of them came down.
Xiao Yunqi finally returned, bringing with him an eight-year-old child.
The little girl's name is Wenjin. She is chubby and fair-skinned, and she smiles at everyone she sees, always looking cheerful.
Shen Qingyu was stunned when she saw the child!
Is the reason this guy hasn't come back all these years because he's had such a grown son outside?
"Xiao Yunqi? This is you..."
Fortunately, when Wen Che came out and saw the child, he called out in time, "Little brother? Are you Wen Jin?"
"Huh?" Shen Qingyu was stunned.
Wen Che quickly explained, "This is my younger brother. We haven't seen each other for a long time since we got separated. I never thought we'd meet again."
When the eight-year-old saw Wen Che, he rubbed his eyes in disbelief. As he rubbed, his eyes turned red, and then he burst into tears!
"Brother Che! I thought I would never see you again! Waaaaah..."
Shen Qingyu believed it now.
The emotions were so genuine, it didn't seem like acting.
Wen Che pulled Wen Jin into the room to question her, and the crying gradually subsided.
Shen Qingyu was relieved and bought two bolts of fine cotton cloth from the space mall, one blue and one brown, and gave them to Liu Cuixi, asking her to help make two sets of clothes and shoes for the child.
He's so generous, even giving a relative a couple of bolts of fine cotton cloth.
Liu Cuixi was filled with envy.
However, the economic gap between Shen Qingyu and them is now too large to be compared.
It's just envy.
The famine year arrived, but Shen Qingyu's family business was not affected too much. People still came to pick up the braised pork and bean sprouts every day and paid on time.
They eat a mixture of white rice and mixed grain rice every day!
They eat nothing but rice every meal!
We can even eat meat!
Inside the room, Wen Che and Wen Jin talked for a while before Wen Jin fell asleep.
The child had been anxious and uneasy the whole way, but after crying, he relaxed and fell asleep immediately.
Wen Che then called Xiao Yunqi in, and the two talked for a while.
When Xiao Yunqi came out of Wen Che's room, he saw Shen Qingyu standing by the railing on the second floor.
Their eyes met, and as if bewitched, Xiao Yunqi went upstairs and stood in front of Shen Qingyu.
After some time apart, Shen Qingyu's complexion was rosy, her skin was delicate and fair, and she looked even thinner than before!
Xiao Yunqi frowned: "Why have you lost weight again?"
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