Chapter 28 A Trip to the County
The three members of the Li family were arranged in a clear manner, and no one cared about their wishes.
Zhao Goudan, Liu Tiezhu and others, who pricked up their ears, looked horrified. Who was this new exile? Not to mention that he had spare money to hire someone to build a tree house as soon as he arrived, even the luxurious lunch at noon was something they, who had lived here since childhood, could hardly have. He even talked about murder without blinking an eye. If they hadn't been concerned about them, the man might have really been killed!
This made them very afraid of these people, and their original arrogance disappeared without a trace. They all lamented that Lingnan, which had been peaceful for a long time, was about to be in turmoil.
Lin Yue saw that several people were taken away, and the farce was over. Everyone had something serious to do, so she decided to take advantage of this free time to go to the nearest county town to learn more about the place where she would be living for a long time.
By the way, she could also look for any business opportunities. The Lin family is large and they spend money quickly, so she couldn't just sit back and enjoy all the money.
To enter the county town, you need to show your household registration certificate. Exiles are basically not allowed to appear there. To be more precise, exiles cannot leave the village planned by the government at will.
Almost all the villages are inhabited by fugitives and their descendants, and the management is very lax, with no officers or soldiers posted on duty. Therefore, it is not uncommon to see fugitives roaming around in the villages. These are the results of Lin Yue's careful observations after entering Lingnan.
The brand new bricks, illuminated by the glittering sunlight, exude a sense of calm and majesty, and are filled with the weight of history.
Standing in the crowd, Lin Yue looked at the busy streets and finally felt a sense of existence in this world.
It was Lin Yue's first time to walk through the ancient streets, and everything she saw was new and interesting: the stalls selling roasted nuts, the old man making clay figurines, and the most common things were seafood, which were obviously picked up when going to the sea. There was everything, but the quantity was too small.
There is actually a shop selling fresh fruits and dried fruits. Lin Yue didn't expect that there are still fresh fruits here even though winter has already arrived. In the original owner's memory, after the fruit season, it is basically difficult to see fresh fruits in the aristocratic circles of Kyoto. There are more dried fruits, which are dried fruits pickled with sugar and basically have no taste of the fruit itself.
There are also several three-story buildings with the words "Famous Garden Food Shop" written on them. There are a constant stream of people coming and going, most of whom are dressed in silk and satin. Occasionally, you can see government patrols patrolling nearby.
Passing by the pastry shop, I saw a magnificently built place with a plaque on it that read "Yihongyuan". The door was now closed.
At the turn is a luxuriously built residence, which is even more spacious and exquisite than the Lin family's courtyard in Kyoto.
This place is undoubtedly prosperous. Compared with this place, the villages outside are like heaven and earth. One side enjoys a life of drunkenness and dreams while the other side struggles to survive. Lin Yue is one of them.
At present, the business in the county town has been saturated. The profits from making things like glass, soap, and shampoo are too great, and they cannot keep them after being exiled. They can only make some dried seafood and sell them to the mainland.
But the source of large amounts of seafood, how to make it into dried seafood, and wholesalers are all problems.
What's even more annoying is that the government may recruit convicts at any time to build canals, roads, mine, etc. Everyone in the Lin family is a scholar, and their health has been damaged during the exile. If they continue to do heavy work day and night, their bodies will collapse sooner or later.
I've heard before that newly exiled prisoners cannot buy a place with money. They have to serve for at least five years before the officials in charge will accept bribes. Lin Yue can guess the purpose of this, which is nothing more than to suppress the restless hearts of these exiled prisoners.
Those who can survive the harsh officials and come to Lingnan are basically capable people. Capability means trouble. Being able to give up a little money can avoid a lot of trouble. Why wouldn't smart people do it?
The only thing she could do was to nourish her body and make the Lin family members as strong as possible so that they could survive these five years of hard labor. With the mountains at their backs, Lin Yue believed that she could keep her family safe.
During the exile, her clothes basically became beggar's clothes. Min had to sew and patch a set of clothes again and again. The skirt that originally covered the embroidered shoes was torn into pieces and patched onto various clothes.
Lin Yue noticed that the pedestrians dressed in bright and fancy clothes avoided her with disgust, so there was a one-meter empty space around her. Only then did she realize that she was out of place among her surroundings.
Seeing everyone's disgust and contempt, she decided to buy some cloth and make new clothes for the old and young in the family. This way, when they go out, they won't be the focus and in danger of being discovered at any time.
"Waiter, give me two rolls of navy blue cotton cloth."
Lin Yue found a cloth shop that was neither big nor small. The sun was setting, and if she didn't hurry up, she would have to travel in the dark. People at home would be worried.
"Hard, what's that smell? It's so bad. Boss, you let everyone in. Aren't you afraid of ruining your reputation? Are you afraid that no one will patronize your store in the future?"
A pretentious voice suddenly rang out in the quiet cloth shop.
Lin Yue looked in the direction of the voice and saw a woman with dark yellow skin, pretentiously holding a handkerchief embroidered with mandarin ducks playing in the water and covering her nose with it, as if she smelled something stinky.
She was wearing a yellow cross-breasted blouse embroidered with large peonies, and a green skirt also embroidered with peonies. The whole look was very vulgar, especially because the color made her skin look even darker.
The shopkeeper who was originally busy counting the accounts hurriedly raised his head, looked around in panic, and then focused his attention on the woman in yellow clothes sitting on the chair.
"Mrs. Ling, I'll let her go right away. I won't disturb you. I really let her in by mistake. Please calm down. Hehua, why are you still standing there? Go get the best fabric in the store for Mrs. Ling to review."
The slightly overweight middle-aged man suddenly turned around and pushed Lin Yue out.
Things happened so quickly that just as she was hesitating whether to lose her temper, the shopkeeper's voice rang out again.
"Little girl, please don't blame me. Madam Ling in there is the daughter of the county magistrate's concubine, uncle, and cousin. We ordinary people can't afford to offend her. Judging from your appearance, you must have just been at sea this morning, and the smell of the sea is a bit strong."
What’s the relationship?
It really broadened her horizons to see that someone could bully others in the county town by relying on a distant relative relationship. This also made her more determined not to do business here. If the profit was even a little higher, she would be targeted and would not be able to keep it.
The shopkeeper pointed at the cloth in the clerk's hand and said, "This is the cloth you wanted. Go home quickly, little girl. If you stay in the city for too long, be careful of being targeted by kidnappers. The city has been quite restless lately."
Lin Yue paid the money, took the cloth and walked towards the city gate. In fact, she was quite curious about the human traffickers. If she could find their lair, wouldn’t there be ready-made gold, silver and food?
But it is too late now, and there is no preparation. If the enemy is too strong, it would be embarrassing to capsize in the ditch.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
