Chapter 44: Maybe he is dead, or maybe he ran away
Sang Yu was thinking about this, frowning, and walking forward with his head down, but accidentally bumped into someone's back.
The tip of her nose hurt, tears welled up in her eyes, but she ignored all that and quickly apologized: "Sorry, I didn't notice there was someone in front of me. Did I hurt you?"
"I'm fine, but you, Miss Sang, are you okay?"
This person's voice sounds familiar and he knows his own name, so he must be an acquaintance.
Sang Yu raised her eyes with tears in them and saw that the person she bumped into was Shen Xiucai.
He was walking forward holding a book, apparently planning to go home after closing his stall.
"Mr. Shen, I'm fine. I was just thinking about something and didn't look at the road for a while." Sang Yu shook his head and rubbed his nose.
"If I remember correctly, Miss Sang doesn't seem to live here. She's coming here now..."
His eyes fell on the shovel in Sang Yu's hand, and he immediately understood: "I asked Xiaohu to rent the iron tools, and now I'm here to return them."
"Yes, I've already used it, so I wanted to return it as soon as possible."
Sang Yu was not surprised that he knew Xiaohu.
Although he seemed to be reading all the time, like a scholar absorbed in his studies, she could see through his disguise and see into his heart.
During her brief exchange with Shen Yingshu, she keenly sensed that the other party was quite ambitious.
Others may study to serve their country and their people, but he studies only for himself.
However, as an outsider, she couldn't easily judge such matters. No matter what he studied, what did it have to do with her?
They both wanted to go into the canyon, so they went together.
After chatting for a while, Sang Yu casually mentioned the scene just now: "When I came here, I seemed to see a group of people surrounding two people and beating them. Doesn't the inspector do anything?"
Chen Yingshu snorted with disdain: "They don't care about these things, as long as they don't cause any trouble in front of us."
"Aren't you afraid of causing a death?"
"These people's lives are worthless, not to mention..." Shen Yingshu stopped talking halfway when he realized that he had said something wrong and could not continue with the second half of the sentence.
Sang Yuchun pretended not to hear and changed the subject, asking him about the things he needed to pay attention to when building a house.
While chatting with him in a random manner, I was wondering in my heart what he had not finished saying, let alone what?
Judging from what he said, there must have been a loss of life in the past, not to mention that people die from time to time at the entrance to the canyon.
No one cares whether a person is dead or alive, so what else can we do?
Walking side by side to a thatched house, Shen Yingshu stopped and said, "Miss Sang, this is Xiaohu's home. I won't go in with you."
"Thank you, Mr. Shen, for helping me show the way." Sang Yu knew that he was about to leave and did not try to persuade him to stay.
After a few polite words, she stood there and watched Chen Yingshu continue walking forward, until she stopped in front of a thatched house with a yard, pushed the door open and went in, then she looked away.
After Xiaohu checked that the ironware had no other damage except normal wear and tear, Sangyu handed him the remaining one cent.
She asked curiously, "How much do you take from a two-cent sale like mine today?"
Xiao Hu put the ironware aside. He would return it to the corresponding owner later. He smiled and explained to her, "When you borrowed it, it was for a day, but when I calculate the money, it is calculated on a monthly basis."
When he quoted the price to Sang Yu, he had already included his commission, and he did not settle with the owner of the ironware on a case-by-case basis but on a monthly basis.
For example, if a shovel was borrowed for twenty days this month, costing twelve cents in total, he would take two cents from it.
Logically, he should take 20% of the profit, but firstly, it is difficult to calculate the decimals, and secondly, this is not a one-time deal, and mutual benefit is the only way to maintain a long-term relationship.
The reason why Xiaohu can make this business flourish in the canyon may be that he is willing to make concessions.
"So that's how it is," Sang Yu smiled and nodded. It's said that businessmen value profit, but in fact, only those like Xiaohu who are willing to give up some of their profits can make more money.
It was getting late, so she didn't dare delay and went out after paying. If she went back late, the road would be difficult to walk on after sunset.
When passing the entrance of the canyon, she habitually lowered her eyes and didn't look to either side. The fact that she was not surprised by the corpses on both sides did not mean that she would not be scared by them.
As she was walking, she suddenly stopped, looked around, and something was wrong!
She can be said to have come to the canyon every day recently. The number of injured people and corpses here is increasing every day, but what she saw now is a little different from what she saw in the morning.
Scanning the crowd, Sang Yu soon discovered something was wrong: there were fewer people, including women.
Those who choose to chop wood and work are all men. Even if women go, they cannot register or get a badge.
After their husbands were beaten, they could only choose to stay by their side to take care of them and dig some wild vegetables to barely fill their stomachs.
When Sang Yu came in the morning, he saw the wives of several men covered in wounds, but now there is not a single woman in sight.
She hesitated for a moment, then walked over to a still conscious injured person and asked, "Where is the woman who was here before?"
The man was originally staring at the sky with empty eyes. After hearing her question, he was still a little stunned. It took him a while to understand what she asked.
He sneered, "Oh, where did they go? They were dragged away. Maybe they died, or maybe they ran away. Who knows? Anyway, none of them came back."
Being dragged away... Sang Yu's heart sank. Sure enough, she was not wrong.
No wonder the number of injured people here kept increasing, but the bodies did not continue to pile up. It turned out that someone came regularly to clean up the bodies and take the women away.
As for where the women who were taken away went, she could roughly guess.
There were several brothels in Lingnan City, where those with good looks were sold. Those with average looks were sold to wealthy families as slaves or maids, and they could probably fetch a large sum of money.
No wonder she felt that those people were too inefficient in robbing money and that their capital was not enough to buy food and drink. It turned out that there were other ways to make money.
She even thought that perhaps from the very beginning, when they were asked to choose between farming or chopping wood, the life and death and future of most people had already been determined.
They chose to farm, which would give them at least 20 kilograms of seeds to fill their stomachs for a few days. If they couldn't hold on any longer, it wouldn't be difficult to find a job in Lingnan City that provided food and accommodation.
Those who choose to chop wood cannot survive and are destined to die.
Did they not want to leave? Did they want to die here? Did they not want to go into the city to see a doctor? They couldn't.
Sang Yu walked out of the canyon in a daze. When he came near the shed, he saw a group of thirty to fifty people eating meat and drinking inside, and suddenly understood this.
No wonder it stinks here. It turns out these people sleep here at night, guarding the exit and preventing anyone from escaping.
She quickened her pace and left, not wanting to attract their attention.
She picked up the wine bowl in front of her and drank it all in one gulp. Wang Quan caught a glimpse of her back out of the corner of his eye, and seeing that she was just a half-grown child, he looked away.
"Come on, pour me another bowl, this wine is really strong."
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