Chapter 644 Extra: I am a bandit, I rob people (1)
After returning from the black market, Ah Xian handed a silver note to the boss in the lobby of the house.
"What kind of porcelain was it, made in some kiln? I sold it to Li Laosan on the black market. Two hundred and eight pieces of porcelain for one hundred and eighty taels of silver."
The eldest boss squinted his eyes at the number on the banknote. "This banknote is for one hundred and fifty taels. Where are the remaining thirty taels?"
"Ask me to run errands, and the bulk of the money you earn will be yours, and the remainder will be mine. Thirty taels is the remainder, and I'll take it."
There was not only the chief in the hall, but also the second in command and several managers in the village.
Immediately, a steward frowned and shouted angrily, "Out of a hundred and eighty taels of goods, you only dared to take thirty? The goods were snatched back by our brothers from the village. Ah Xian, you're just a lowly salesperson in the village. Who gave you the guts to take so much for running errands?"
Ah Xian raised her chin and squinted her eyes, not in the least intimidated by the other person's aura. She sneered, "Higher class and lower class, once the rules are set, we must abide by them. Since the steward thinks I took the thirty taels without authorization, then let's follow the rules. One hundred and eighty taels, the whole hundred taels belongs to the village, and I take the eighty taels left. It's what I deserve! How do you say it?"
"You—" The steward slammed the table in anger and stood up, pointing his finger at Ah Xian's nose and about to curse again, but the shadow of the whip arrived first, and his finger suddenly felt a sharp pain, "Ah!!"
Ah Xian used her wrist to pull the whip back, looking at the steward like he was looking at a dog. "I don't like being pointed at. Everyone in the village knows it. Anyway, I've got the silver. If you have the guts, take it out of my pocket!"
"Forget it, let's leave it at that." Seeing the steward was embarrassed, the second in command stepped forward to smooth things over. "But Ah Xian, every penny earned in the village was earned by our brothers at the cost of their lives. There are hundreds of people in the village, and everyone with a mouth to feed is waiting to eat. You really took too much of the small change. Whether it's friendship or business, sincerity is the only way to last. You grew up in the village, so don't go too far."
"I've taken note of what the Second In Command said. I'll change it next time. Now I'm leaving." After getting the money, Ah Xian had nothing to do next time, so she responded to him out of courtesy, put away the whip, and left.
After she left the hall, the butler who had been beaten sat down, still gritting his teeth, and said indignantly, "Boss, Second Boss, you've all seen it with your own eyes. Ah Xian has become increasingly arrogant and ruthless in the past two years! Are we going to let her go on like this? Be careful, she'll get on our nerves sooner or later!"
The eldest boss's expression was equally grim. He put the banknote away and looked out the door with a fierce look in his eyes. "All the useful brothers in the village have registered with the government. It's dangerous for them to enter the city. Ah Xian is the only one who can come and go freely. Besides, she does have some skills. Every time she is entrusted with something, she can safely bring it to the black market and sell it for a good price. She is a useful thug, so let's keep her for now."
After a pause, he continued, "Have the matchmaker take away those people we kidnapped a few days ago as soon as possible. Things haven't been peaceful lately. I don't know what's going on with the government, but there's been rumors going around that they're secretly investigating someone... Just to be on the safe side, tell the brothers in the village to only rob them of their money and not bring anyone into the village until the situation calms down."
"Leave it to me. I'm the one who usually makes the connections with the matchmaker, so I can get a better price."
…
Ah Xian couldn't control her legs, so she made some money and had a lot of free time afterwards. She always wanted to run to the place where the piglets were kept.
The piglets captured from the village and waiting to be sold were kept in the simplest house on the east side of the lower-class residential area, a large pigpen made of a few wooden boards.
There were no beds in the pigsty, so a group of people found a corner and slept on the ground. They ate, drank, defecated and urinated in the pigsty.
Before the food was sold, the village could only ensure that people would not starve to death, but it was impossible to ensure that they had enough to eat.
When Ah Xian arrived at the pigpen, the matchmaker was picking people out there like she was picking goods.
"I can take these guys here, but the best I can do is sell them as servants. I won't give them a high price... And they were all kidnapped. To clear their identities, I have to spend money on them first. Thirteen people, five taels of silver, no more."
A dozen or so men of good age, still able to move, were pulled aside by the matchmaker. Her gaze fell on the man in blue clothes coughing incessantly in the corner of the pigpen, and a look of regret crossed her eyes. "He has a good appearance, but unfortunately he's a sickly person. I don't know what disease he's contracted, and judging by his complexion, I have no idea how long he can live... You guys deal with it yourselves."
The manager in charge of the connection was not giving up. "Aren't you just worried that he'll die on the way back, wasting a lot of money? So, take this with you and give him ten taels of silver! Then you can send him to those restaurants. Even if he only lives for a month or two, you can still make double the money back, right? Besides, his disease is not contagious. If we lock him up for a few days, he won't be fine. You better watch out, matchmaker, good-looking guys like this don't come around all the time. If you don't want him, at most I'll take the risk and sell him to a restaurant myself. I can make more than I would from you, so it's not me who loses out anyway."
The matchmaker was a little tempted by what she said. She looked at the man in green for several times, then gritted her teeth and said, "Okay, we've been working together for so long, this time I'll do the manager a favor and buy him out!"
Ah Xian squatted beside them, took out a handful of melon seeds from her pocket, and started to chew them while watching the show.
After watching the matchmaker pay and take the piglets away, she stood up, threw the melon seed shells on the ground, clapped her hands and left.
“Cough cough cough… cough cough… cough cough cough…”
As the sun set, the matchmaker's donkey cart pulled two carts of people towards the nearest Weicheng. The coughing sounds coming from the carriages continued all the way, making people irritated.
The matchmaker sat at the front of the car, cursing with a gloomy face, "Cough cough cough, you keep coughing! Which man would dare to take this to a restaurant? Don't you have tuberculosis? I'm telling you, when we get to the restaurant later, you can bite off your tongue and not cough a single time! I have to hear the five taels of silver I gave you!"
"If you are so worried about losing money, then don't keep this consumptive patient with you, lest you catch the disease. Not only will you not earn back the money, but you will also lose your life. How not worth it?" The woman's loud voice rang out in the air, and a figure fell from the sky and landed on the front of the car, squatting face to face with the matchmaker.
"I'm sorry to bother helping you this time. I'll take care of that sickly bastard!"
Before the matchmaker could recover from her shock, she was pushed aside by the woman. If she hadn't quickly grabbed the shaft of the cart, she would have nearly fallen off. "Ah Xian! What do you mean by this? You've robbed me and are trying to rob me? Do you still want to continue the piglet business in your village?"
"I am a bandit, and my business is robbery. If you want to do business, you should go to the boss. You have to ask him whether you want to do it or not." Ah Xian lifted the curtain of the car, grabbed the pretty boy with a red face from coughing, carried him on her shoulders, and drove away.
"Hahaha, beauty, today I am the one who snatched you away, from now on you are mine! Remember!"
Huo Ziheng suppressed the itch in his throat and felt the obvious tension in the woman's shoulders during the bumpy ride, as well as the tension and stiffness that she tried to hide behind her laughter, with a calm expression.
He looked up at the sky. The sun had already set and the red clouds dyed half the sky.
The evening at sunset always reveals a sense of loneliness and sadness.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
