Chapter 142 Sending off Liu Laohu and the others!
Liu Yan calmly replied, "That's not enough. I'll choose a few more sets, and let them choose the rest themselves!"
What?
Zhang Liao could hardly believe his ears.
"Those houses you just picked, weren't they for those people to live in?"
Liu Yan replied, "No, a friend of mine is coming to stay here for a while and will be here soon!"
Zhang Liao thought to himself, "My goodness! They've struck gold!"
Liu Yan ordered a few more sets, paid a ten-tael deposit, and said, "My friend will be here soon, and the money is with her!"
These people were registered in Hongliutun, so Zhang Liao wasn't worried about them running away.
A single income of several hundred taels of silver is quite a sum! As a squad leader, he only earns two taels a month; that amount of money is enough for him to earn for more than ten years!
When the prisoners heard Liu Yanhui say this, they immediately understood who he was talking about.
Their money and belongings are all with Shen Lanxi. As long as she comes, they will have the confidence to choose a better house.
"Sir, I also want to choose a house here, the one next to Mr. Liu!"
"I also want to choose the one next to Mr. Liu, and I'd like to give you ten taels of silver as a deposit!"
"I want to be there too..."
Zhang Liao was so rich from taking deposits that he was practically rolling in them. If he didn't need to intimidate these people, he would have been laughing all the way to the bank.
"Come one by one, you're all shouting so loudly, I can't remember your names!" Upon hearing this, the prisoners quickly shut up, lined up, and handed over their deposits!
While the prisoners were choosing their houses, Shen Lanxi was seeing Liu Laohu off!
"We've come this far together, it's quite a coincidence, so let me give you a few words of advice!"
Having been through the ordeal with the government, Liu Laohu and his men were truly terrified and listened attentively.
"If you want to live, hide your identities as government officials along the way."
Liu Laohu and the other constables also sensed that something was amiss and immediately nodded.
Shen Lanxi: "There's a caravan that buys furs both inside and outside the Great Wall. They're led by a foreigner. You can sneak in and go back to the capital with them!"
Liu Laohu and the others understood, thanked Shen Lanxi, and left with their bags on their backs.
"Brother Liu, I've found a few more ingots of gold in my bundle!"
"I have one too!"
"I have one too!"
Liu Laohu straightened the heavy bundle on his back, his eyes just as they swept over a group of exiles entering the city.
The constables all had frostbite on their faces, ears, and hands, and they were all very thin, clearly having suffered a great deal.
"Brother Liu, thank goodness we listened to you, otherwise we would have ended up like them!" one of the constables said with lingering fear.
Liu Laohu sighed, "Some prisoners you can offend, some you can't. You should all learn from that..."
...
Shen Lanxi and her group arrived at Hongliutun in the afternoon!
The soldiers who were chopping firewood on the mountain saw a row of horse-drawn carts coming towards Hongliutun from afar. Thinking that something terrible had happened, they abandoned their firewood on the mountain and hurriedly ran back!
Liu Yanhui directed people to clean the house, and also borrowed a lot of firewood from Zhang Liao to light a fire and drive away the chill in the house!
Liu Yan only needed to mention these things once, and the women would know what to do.
Liu Yanhui's main responsibility was to go out and buy things on credit!
Iron pots are precious items, and generally no one will give them on credit.
With her silver tongue, Liu Yan borrowed three pots and kept boiling water to clean the tables, chairs and benches in the house.
"They're here! Big sister's here!" Shen Yuanqing and the other younger children, who had been guarding the entrance to the village, excitedly ran back to report when they saw the familiar convoy approaching!
Liu Yan hurriedly went to the village entrance to greet them.
The people of Hongliutun were also alarmed, and everyone who was able to move came out to see what was happening.
"My goodness, who is this distinguished guest who has come to visit?"
"With so many large carriages, could it be that a high-ranking official has arrived?"
When Shen Lanxi and the others got off the car, Zhang Liao returned with his men.
"They went to the stone house."
Zhang Liao muttered, "Could it be the friend Liu Yan mentioned?"
If you can afford to keep so many horse-drawn carriages, you must be rich. No wonder you spend so much money on houses without even blinking an eye!
"Go back and continue chopping wood, I'm going to take a look!" After sending the men away, Zhang Liao strode towards the stone house.
...
Liu Yan replied, "My lord, let's go to this room. It's just been cleaned!"
Shen Lanxi looked at the people running over and said coldly, "Go to your carriages and get your own things."
Upon hearing this, the prisoners quickly ran away.
"My lord, should we have someone keep an eye on them?"
Shen Lanxi said confidently, "They wouldn't dare take more!"
Liu Yanhui agreed.
"Take the money and go buy whatever you need!"
Liu Yan quickly went to make arrangements. First, she needed to buy a few large iron pots to solve today's meal problem.
Winter days are short and dark, and the roads are difficult to travel on, so we have to hurry!
The women of Liuzhao Village and the students of Qinglan Academy went to choose and clean houses.
The carriage was fully equipped. Wang Mama placed the large black pot on the stove, smeared it with yellow mud, and her daughter-in-law started the fire.
There were two more pots, and two side rooms on either side. Wang's mother directed her son to put one of the pots into the side room.
There's one bite left, let's leave it for now and see how Miss decides to take care of them later!
"It smells so good! Who's stewing meat?"
"I can smell it too, is it meat stewing at your house?"
"Pah! We can't even afford a single cornbread bun a day, let alone stewed meat?"
"Didn't your family just kill a roe deer a couple of days ago?"
"Yes, if it were you, would you be willing to eat it? Wouldn't you exchange it for silver to buy food, medicine, and cotton clothes?"
One sentence made the women sigh deeply; even if they did manage to hunt, they wouldn't be willing to eat it. No one should laugh at anyone else; everyone's the same!
"But I really can smell meat..."
"Sigh~"
"The smell of meat seems to be coming from the stone house. Could they be stewing meat?"
How much meat would you have to stew for the aroma to travel that far?
The aroma of the meat made the women unable to resist swallowing their saliva!
There are ready-made carriages available; anyone who wants to use one can hire one by paying. Liu Yanhui has already set up an account book, clearly stating how much each carriage costs!
I'll pay off all the rent and firewood I owed Zhang Liao in one go, and while I'm at it, I'll replace the big iron pot and give him a nice piece of cured meat as a thank you gift!
Zhang Liao looked at the carriages with great envy. Their entire Hongliutun village didn't even have a single ox, let alone a horse!
"Lord Zhang, do you need horses?" Liu Yan asked.
Zhang Liao said apologetically, "I was thinking of buying some grain in the county. You can use it first, and I'll borrow more after you've settled in!"
Liu Yan smiled and said, "Please use the carriages, my lord. There are plenty of them. I think the weather is bad these next few days, and it will probably snow again. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can breathe a sigh of relief."
Zhang Liao chuckled: "Alright, I'll remember this favor. Just let me know if you need anything in the future, and I'll do whatever I can to help!"
Having done the favor, Liu Yan smiled and saw Zhang Liao out.
The prisoners still had a considerable amount of savings, so they gritted their teeth and hired a horse-drawn carriage to go to the county to make purchases.
On the Shen family's side, everyone was crammed into one courtyard. The atmosphere inside the house was heavy, and no one spoke.
After a long while, Old Mrs. Shen finally let out a long sigh.
"Fine, let's return this stone house and exchange it for a few smaller ones!"
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