51 Chapter 51
◎Do your best and leave the rest to fate◎
Following the sound, I saw a young man wearing a coarse cloth short coat and straw sandals. He was thin and covered in mud, and his face was dusty, but his eyes were as bright as light. He pointed at the gangsters and said firmly, "They were the ones who started the beating and pretended to be poisoned to extort money. I was watching the whole process and can testify for you!"
"I saw that, too..."
"In fact, we have been eating this porridge for several days, so there is nothing wrong with it..."
"I just came here to cause trouble..."
"What a wicked man! God has no mercy on me..."
"In fact, I can also testify..."
"I am willing to do so..."
Seeing someone taking the lead, the people behind who were too timid to speak up started to speak up one after another, but except for the young man, no one dared to take a step forward.
Looking at the young man standing upright in the crowd, Jiang Jingyun raised his eyebrows: "I have a witness now."
The gang leader was not a brainless person. Seeing that the situation was not right, he immediately bowed and apologized with a smile: "It's all misunderstanding, misunderstanding! My brother had a stomachache and was yelling, and we didn't figure it out in a hurry, so we made this mistake. Don't forget that you are a big man and don't bear grudges. Don't bother with us. We will leave immediately, leaving now." After that, he immediately called his men to leave.
Looking at the gangsters fleeing in panic, Jiang Jinglin asked unwillingly, "Brother, are you just going to let them go?"
"What else can we do? We can't just beat them up in front of everyone and then send our whole family to jail, right?"
"Can't we report them to the police and have them arrested? The law stipulates..."
"It's obvious that I was just trying to scare them. Who would have the time to read what the law says and even memorize it?" Jiang Jingyun said as if it was a matter of course.
"Ah?" Five people and ten pairs of eyes all stared at him in blank amazement.
"What are you standing there for? Come here and pack up, and go back."
Jiang Jinglin asked as he cleaned up: "Are you not going to continue distributing porridge?"
"It's been such a commotion today, let's stop for a while." However, many people were still holding wooden signs and looking at this place. Jiang Jingyun thought about it and said softly, "Second brother and eldest brother Xiao will bring two more pots of porridge over later, and give a bowl of porridge to those who have already worked."
"OK."
Everyone got busy. Jiang Jingyun looked at the child who was among them, pulled him aside and thanked him, "Thank you for your help today."
The boy scratched his head and grinned sheepishly: "I didn't do anything, and in the end I didn't help my benefactor."
Jiang Jingyun smiled. It was precious that he was the first to come forward. He said gently, "To show my gratitude, please let me express my gratitude. Is there anything you want? Clothes, food, or money?"
The young man lowered his head and rubbed the corner of his clothes without saying anything. After a long while, he mustered up the courage to look up at Jiang Jingyun and said, "Can I not have these things and exchange them for something else?"
"Oh, what do you want?"
"I want to follow you..." the boy hummed softly.
"What?" The voice was too soft and Jiang Jingyun couldn't hear it clearly.
"I want to follow you!" The young man seemed to have exhausted all his courage and shouted loudly, "My benefactor, are you still in need of a servant? I am willing to serve you like a cow or a horse!"
The sound was so loud that it startled everyone present.
Jiang Jingyun stood there in a daze for a long time before coming back to his senses and asked, "Why is this happening?"
"When the flood came, my parents were washed away while trying to save us. I have no home now." Speaking of the past, the boy couldn't help but have tears in his eyes and choked up with sobs. "Anyway, I can't escape the fate of being sold as a slave, so I might as well follow you. You are a good person, and my life will be better in the future..."
..., thank you. In the past, Jiang Jingyun always gave out good guy cards to others. I didn’t expect that I would receive one today.
However, at such a young age, he has to weigh the pros and cons and find a buyer for himself. What kind of world is this?
Jiang Jingyun had mixed feelings: "Selling yourself as a slave means you will be a slave for the rest of your life. Are you sure you don't regret it?"
"I have no land, and I will starve to death if I don't sell myself." The young man looked depressed, and he knew his future fate very well. He seemed to be afraid that Jiang Jingyun would despise him for being too young to work, and he quickly added, "I am very useful. I can do farm work, serve horses, pour tea, and do all kinds of miscellaneous and heavy work. You don't have to spend money to buy me, just accept me..."
Looking at the young man who was trying hard to recommend himself and wanted to sell himself without taking a penny, Jiang Jingyun was at a loss. He looked at his second brother and Xiao Muyan and asked for their opinions.
The second brother spread his hands to indicate that it was up to him.
Not to mention Xiao Muyan, everything is based on his wishes.
In the end, Jiang Jingyun couldn't bear it anymore and agreed, "In that case, then you can follow me."
"Really?" The young man raised his head in surprise and immediately knelt down to thank him, "Thank you for taking me in. Oh, no, thank you, Master."
Jiang Jingyun raised his hand to stop him, "Do you have anything else to pack? If not, follow us back later."
"Yes! Please wait a moment, master." After saying that, he quickly ran towards the pile of weeds in the distance, ducked down and disappeared.
After a moment, Jiang Jingyun looked at a skinny girl who looked only five or six years old hiding timidly behind the boy. He was silent for a while and asked, "Is this what you dropped?"
The young man nodded. Seeing that his expression was not right, he thought that he was unwilling to accept his sister, so he hurriedly pulled her to her knees and begged: "I can share my food with her. I promise not to eat more of the master's food. Besides, my sister is very well-behaved and can work. When she grows up, she can do more. Please don't drive her away."
The first time he encountered a buy one get one free promotion, Jiang Jingyun sighed, "I forgot to ask, what are your names?" This meant he was about to agree.
The young man was not a fool, and he quickly replied respectfully: "My name is Tiewa, and my name is Xiaohua. Please give me a name, Master."
Naming is something that cannot be done carelessly. After a little thought, Jiang Jingyun said, "Then you will be called Qingzhu, and she will be called Songhua. I hope you will be as strong and tenacious as pine and bamboo."
Upon hearing this, the two men kowtowed in gratitude again, "Thank you, Master."
Jiang Jingyun dodged the salute and wanted to say that there was no need to be so polite, but seeing how uneasy the two men looked, he gave up the words.
He took the two new burdens back home. As soon as he got home, he left them to the three siblings of the Jiang family and then turned to go to the Su Mansion.
Su Yuheng was not surprised by his arrival. He raised his hand and poured him a cup of hot tea: "Sit down and talk."
Jiang Jingyun was not polite. He sat down and sipped his tea. He got straight to the point and said, "We don't have much food left..."
"Yes," Su Yuheng responded, but then brought up something else. "I received a letter from the county town saying that the terrain there is relatively high and there are no floods, but because of the continuous rainy season that has affected spring farming, it is estimated that the harvest in the first half of the year will be very poor."
"Really? I'm glad there's no flood." He had been worried about the situation at home. When he heard that there was no flood, he finally let go of his worries. However, a poor harvest meant that food supply in the county would also be tight. He looked at Su Yuheng, "What about the surrounding areas..."
"It's pretty much the same. Food is scarce and prices are skyrocketing," Su Yuheng interrupted Jiang Jingyun and said bluntly, "Nowadays, it's beyond the ability of you and me to solve it."
Jiang Jingyun also realized that he was powerless and said in a frustrated tone, "Is there any new news from the government office?"
Su Yuheng did not answer but asked: "I heard that the porridge stall was in trouble today? Guess who ordered it?"
"How did you find out so quickly? The news spread so quickly?" Jiang Jingyun was puzzled. He felt uncomfortable all over when he mentioned this matter. "Who else could it be? It must be that bastard named Xie who is trying to make things difficult for me."
"Normally, Xie Weicai would try to avoid you even if he wanted to cause trouble for you because of my status. But this time, when distributing porridge, he knew that the Su family was also involved, but he had no scruples and hired someone to slap me in the face. Guess who gave him the confidence?" Su Yuheng continued to ask.
Jiang Jingyun looked up suddenly.
Su Yuheng nodded to confirm his idea, "We are blocking other people's way."
"But the disaster victims outside the city don't have any money to buy food, so it won't affect their business!"
"Large tracts of unowned land, homeless disaster victims... guess where all of this will end up?" Su Yuheng said sarcastically, "Don't forget, that man who is about to retire."
Jiang Jingyun was still unwilling to give up, saying, "Is there no other way? In the past few days, a lot of villages outside the city have been cleared. It won't take much time..."
Su Yuheng shook his head and sighed, "First, we don't have enough food in stock, and we don't have enough supply. Second, the porridge stall has been targeted, and Uncle San called me over yesterday and told me not to get involved again."
"Even a powerful dragon won't suppress a local snake, let alone us who are weak?"
Jiang Jingyun said nothing.
Seeing him like this, Su Yuheng comforted him, "We have done our best, so don't force it."
"Destiny?" Jiang Jingyun's face was full of sarcasm. "Determined by one person's greed?"
"The world is like this, what can you and I do? We can only go with the flow."
"What if I must go against this trend?"
Su Yuheng was frightened by the desperate madness in Jiang Jingyun's eyes. She was worried that he would do something stupid in a fit of rage, so she hurriedly advised him, "You have elderly parents and young children at home, don't do anything reckless!"
***
The Jiang family discovered that Jiang Jingyun seemed a little strange after returning from his outing.
After hurriedly telling them, “No more porridge will be provided from tomorrow onwards,” he locked himself in the room and did not come out for the entire day.
At 10 p.m. in the evening, Xiao Muyan, carrying the specially prepared side dishes and porridge, entered Jiang Jingyun's room under the watchful gaze of Jiang Erge.
There was no light in the room, but through the light coming in through the window, one could vaguely see a figure curled up on the bed.
After placing the tray on the table lightly, Xiao Muyan deliberately stepped over, patted the quilt twice, and asked gently, "What wronged you today when you went out?"
"No." The person wrapped in the quilt was not asleep, and the sound coming through the quilt sounded muffled.
"What's the matter?" Xiao Muyan gently peeled off the spring roll-like quilt, revealing his red face. "Don't stay in there, come out and tell me."
"There's nothing to say."
Jiang Jingyun didn't want to talk, so he didn't force her. He gently rubbed her messy head and said, "Then get up and eat something. Second brother specially made some side dishes that you like."
"I have no appetite. I don't want to eat." Jiang Jingyun said angrily like a child.
"That's not easy. When I came in, my second brother told me to make sure you eat something." Xiao Muyan pretended to be pitiful and said, "If he knew that I couldn't even do this, he would definitely point his finger at me and scold me for being useless."
The person on the bed moved slightly when he heard this.
Seeing that there was a play, Xiao Muyan immediately took advantage of the situation and leaned close to his ear to whisper, "Haven't you always been curious about what I was secretly making? How about this, you get up and eat, and I'll take it out and show it to you."
"Really?" Jiang Jingyun raised his head.
"Well," the bony hand gently stroked the slightly red corner of the eye, and the gentle voice was low and deep, "I never lied to you."
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