Chapter 161 Your Compensation These red dates are really delicious
"Boss, boss, don't move...that's a gun!"
I know!
The man cursed inwardly, thinking that if he had known this woman was a tough nut to crack, he wouldn't have dared to come over.
"Look, do I have the person you're looking for here?"
Yao Xiaoyu was quite relaxed. After all, a gun is fast and accurate when it's seven steps away, and Tao Xiaoxiao, who had noticed something was wrong, was already rushing over. If she waited a few more seconds, she would have no more worries.
With his life still in their hands, the man dared not disobey. In the awkward position with a gun pointed at him, he cautiously looked at the car, already regretting his thought that Yao Xiaoyu was an easy target. If he had just thought more about why the woman in the car had such a strange accent, he would have run far away long ago!
The rickshaw, completely covered from all sides, looked spacious from the outside, but the interior space was only so big. It was more than enough for one or two people, but a Western-style skirt with a diameter measured in meters would be crammed in, looking rather pitiful. The man didn't even need to look a second time to know that the ancestor with the gun was the only one in the rickshaw.
After confirming this fact, the last hope he had been holding onto was shattered. A chill suddenly ran through the man's heart. He instinctively wanted to turn around and run away, but his feet seemed to be rooted to the spot and he could only hear Yao Xiaoyu's voice coming from a very far place.
"Is there?"
The female demon was still speaking when the man shook his head, trembling. A string of apologies came out like popping beans. His legs, which had regained some strength, quietly tried to back away, but Yao Xiaoyu noticed him.
Did I say you could leave?
Most of the time, Yao Xiaoyu didn't have the mind to meddle in other people's business, but now that the curtain was open, if she didn't react at all, wouldn't her dignity and face become like insoles to be trampled on? Being kind to the enemy is foolish, and letting go of the enemy is cowardly. The law of the jungle, where the strong prey on the weak, is the law of the jungle that this era recognizes.
If Yao Xiaoyu lets them go today, her status will make her an easy target, and if she retaliates, people will feel wronged: "They humiliated you so much and you left safely, why can't I?"
"Is there... anything else?"
The man's words seemed to be forced out of his throat, but Yao Xiaoyu didn't care. Seeing that Tao Xiaoxiao had already stood firmly beside her, she glanced at the driver whose face was swollen high, said nothing, but said everything.
[You hit my man, and you're not even going to say anything?]
Having fully grasped Yao Xiaoyu's meaning, the man kicked and shoved everyone until they had taken everything they had. Together with his own belongings, the dozen or so burly men managed to gather the equivalent of over thirty silver dollars.
So poor!
Yao Xiaoyu was somewhat disgusted by this amount—she always received fifty yuan in royalties from the editorial department!
She merely glanced at the group of useless men with disdain before instructing the driver to wrap the pile of odds and ends in cloth and hang it on the cart. Then she sent Tao Xiaoxiao to settle the accounts—compensation was one thing, but a lesson was essential. Whenever she was in a vulnerable position, she was bound to be devoured alive.
"Come one by one. Anyone who dares to run away and gets a bullet to the head can only blame their bad luck."
Yao Xiaoyu leaned lazily against the back of the car, her skirt billowing like a half-open lotus flower. Tao Xiaoxiao moved quickly, and in the blink of an eye, the group of people had been taught a lesson—the others had their hands or legs broken equally, the two who blocked the car had theirs broken, and the man also had to have the hand that pushed the old lady and the two slaps that knocked out his teeth added to the lesson.
Even so, Yao Xiaoyu is still a very kind person: at least she spared the person's life!
After the last person fell to the ground with a scream, Yao Xiaoyu lowered the carriage curtain as usual and told the driver to continue. Tao Xiaoxiao also got into another carriage and left the place in the blink of an eye. The moment the car disappeared from sight, the man quickly had his henchmen help each other run away.
It was impossible to continue searching for her. They were just a small team sent out from the manor to search for her. If they found her, that would be great. If they didn't find her, at most they would just get a scolding because of the sheer number of people. It was only because the young lady had stumbled upon them that they chased after her. Who would have thought that a female devil would pop out of this remote and impoverished place!
It's one thing if we can't find the young lady, but that skinny woman was so ruthless. If we don't get her arms and legs checked, they might suffer lasting damage, and it won't just be a matter of sitting on the sidelines for a while!
The man, lying on top of his strongest henchman, was lamenting his bad luck when the henchman suddenly stepped into a hole. He tilted and struggled to right himself, barely managing to avoid falling and worsening his injuries. However, he forgot that he was still carrying his boss. The man, who had broken both legs and one arm and whose face was swollen like a bee, let out a scream when he was jolted like that.
...
The rickshaw nimbly rounded the corner. Yao Xiaoyu lifted the curtains on both sides to check, and only after confirming that no one was chasing after her to beat her up did she pat her skirt and speak softly.
"Come out."
After a slight noise, a small, thin figure emerged from the left side of the skirt, which was half-blown like a flower bud. The figure's face was flushed, and some of the hair on the forehead was stuck together with sweat. Despite trying to control it, the figure couldn't help but breathe rapidly, clearly indicating that the person was holding their breath.
"I'll take you to the dock; the rest is up to you."
Having no relatives or friends with her, Yao Xiaoyu didn't intend to escort the girl onto the ship. The girl understood the danger she was in and nodded vigorously, her eyes filled with gratitude.
Seeing that the girl was sensible, Yao Xiaoyu didn't say anything more. She simply called out to the driver to change the destination. The dock was only a few minutes away from where they had been stopped, but after turning three corners, Yao Xiaoyu encountered two more groups searching for people.
Is this little girl quite valuable?
Yao Xiaoyu referred to the girl, who was about the same age as her, as "little girl" in her mind, without feeling anything was wrong with it.
The dock was bustling with people, and vendors carrying baskets selling food would occasionally pass by. Yao Xiaoyu wasn't in a hurry to get off the bus. She listened for a while, then grabbed a handful of copper coins and asked the driver to buy her a basket of red dates.
The driver happily ran over—the jujube vendor was only seven or eight meters ahead of him. Although he claimed the jujubes were from Shandong, a basket of them was only worth ten copper coins. Yao Xiaoyu had taken out more than that; as was customary, the remaining copper coins were his reward.
Yao Xiaoyu lifted the curtain at the window and saw that the driver had already walked two or three meters away. She glanced at the girl huddled at the foot of the carriage. The girl was also very clever. She made eye contact with Yao Xiaoyu and then darted out. By the time the driver returned with a big grin, the girl had already disappeared into the crowd of people coming and going.
Yao Xiaoyu had a good eye. Although she didn't know if the red dates she bought were the Shandong goods the vendor had mentioned, they were indeed sweet and crisp. They accidentally escaped from her hand in a parabolic arc and made a crisp sound when they hit the ground before breaking into three pieces of different sizes. Yao Xiaoyu originally only planned to eat one or two as props, but she almost couldn't stop eating them.
However, after eating seven dates, she stubbornly stopped, took out a silver dollar from her small bag as payment, and then asked the driver to take down the cloth bag hanging on the cart. She took the five silver dollars that looked the cleanest. The driver hesitated and looked at Yao Xiaoyu. With Tao Xiaoxiao helping her lift her skirt, Yao Xiaoyu waved her free hand, gave a brief explanation, and disappeared into the crowd.
“You were beaten, this money is compensation.”
The driver felt he didn't quite understand the meaning of the sentence, but when his companion glanced at him—the driver who pulled Tao Xiaoxiao was his friend, and when Yao Xiaoyu asked for two cars, the driver immediately recommended his friend.
Before his friend's gaze could reach him, the driver quickly packed up the money and valuables left by Yao Xiaoyu, tossed them onto the seat of his rickshaw, and then, under the pretext of going to see a doctor, pulled the rickshaw alone to a secluded corner. He secured the bag tightly to the rickshaw, making sure it wouldn't make a sound no matter how much he shook it, before speeding home.
This was a necessary action. Nowadays, thieves have very sharp ears and can even tell what valuable items are clattering together. In the past, there have been many tragic incidents where people had just received their wages and on their way home from get off work, these thieves would hear the silver coins clinking in their pockets, and when they got home, they would find that several or even all the coins in their pockets were missing.
And this is considered relatively lucky. Some people encounter pickpockets who, for showing off or for some other purpose, will leave holes in their clothes pockets, forcing the unfortunate victims to face the misery of losing their money while crying and mending their clothes. But compared to being targeted by robbers, they are still a lucky bunch.
Therefore, many people would hide the silver dollars as soon as they received them. If there were a lot of money, wrapping it in newspaper and putting it in a bamboo tube was a common way to mute it. The driver did not expect everything that happened today. Fortunately, he did not lose his knot-tying skills. When he got home, the cloth bag was still securely tied to the cart, neither heavier nor lighter.
The driver's heart pounded. He carefully untied the cloth bundle, feeling like a thief as he returned to his house. Only when he spread the bundle out on the kang (a heated brick bed) and saw the silver dollars, coins, copper coins, and various other valuables inside did he finally begin to understand the words Yao Xiaoyu had left behind.
"That slap was well worth it!"
The driver touched his face, gasped in pain, then grinned foolishly. He could only estimate the value of the other items, but even if he pawned them as scrap metal, they would be worth at least twenty dollars!
Twenty yuan. Three years ago, he arrived in Shanghai and worked hard for two years to save up fifty yuan. He started a black market shady business and used the money to buy a new rickshaw for ninety yuan. He had promised to work for a black market shady business and pay back two yuan a month. He still owes eight yuan. He was thinking that he would be debt-free next year, but now he has saved up all the money!
The driver was pondering whether to save all the remaining money or use some to buy a silver bracelet when he saw his wife, pale-faced, stumble open the door without even glancing at him. She grabbed the money and tried to run out. The driver sensed something was wrong and asked what was wrong. He learned that the child was sick and the doctor said the medicine would cost ten yuan.
The driver, trembling, picked out the money from the cloth and gave it to his wife. He quickly packed up the rest and stuffed it into the place where the couple kept their money. As he chased after them, he was thankful that he had been slapped—this was not money to pay off debts, but money to save their lives!
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Author's note: Do you find the scene of hiding under a skirt uncomfortable to watch? If so, I will revise it.
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[1] Black Card Club: A four-character idiom in Beijing dialect during the Republican era, referring to a form of private fundraising and mutual aid. Its operating model was that participants initially pooled funds for one person's use, and subsequently became solely responsible for repayment. The club disbanded after all members had completed the fund turnover. This idiom is presented as a socio-cultural symbol in "Rickshaw Boy," reflecting the credit cooperation method of the lower-class laborers.
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