Chapter 165 Sixth Brother, You Have a Mouth
Two figures emerged from behind the bushes, one tall and one short.
The tall one was the middle-aged man who had been boiling salt next to Shen Chu that afternoon, and the short one was the old man being whipped by the steward.
The two were startled when they saw someone behind the bushes.
After recognizing Shen Chu and Pei Yuan, the two breathed a sigh of relief.
The old man limped over and handed a handful of herbs to Chen Chu.
"This is a hemostatic herb; apply it to your brother."
Seeing that the middle-aged man was holding a handful of herbs in both hands, Shen Chu guessed that the two of them had also come here to collect herbs.
She didn't accept the herbs. "Thank you, sir. My brother just applied the medicine. You also have injuries, so please keep the herbs."
The old man breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that Pei Yuan had applied the medicine.
"It's good that the medicine has been applied. The old man knows that your brother was beaten because he was trying to help me out. Your brother suffered."
Shen Chu smiled and said, "My sixth brother is straightforward and righteous, and he can't stand seeing others bully the old, young, women and children."
Don't you think so, Sixth Brother?
She asked with a half-smile.
Pei Yuan looked somewhat dazed, snorted, and said nothing.
But Shen Chu noticed a moment of unease on his face.
Ha, this afternoon I was even mocking myself for saving an ungrateful person.
If the old man were truly ungrateful, why would he give them salt one minute and herbs the next?
She understood that Pei Yuan had struggled to survive in the deep palace since childhood and had witnessed the ugly side of human nature.
But there are still many kind and upright people in the world who deserve to be saved.
Seeing that Pei Yuan seemed to be deep in thought, she decided to stop while she was ahead and turned to ask the old man.
"What's your name, sir? Have you treated your wound?"
"The old man's surname is Wang. He just finished boiling salt, and Wu Zhuang helped him find some herbs. He came here to apply medicine."
Old Wang handed the herbs to Wu Zhuang, a middle-aged man, took off his shirt, and asked Wu Zhuang to apply the medicine for him.
Chen Chu quickly stepped forward to help crush the herbs, complaining with a bitter expression:
"Uncle Wang, my brother and I are refugees from Hanyang. Hanyang Prefecture suffered a flood and lost everything."
My brother and I had no other choice but to run away to find a way to survive.
I came here to work at the saltworks hoping to at least get some food, but who knew the food would be so bad, it didn't even taste salty.
"We don't eat this every day at the saltworks, do we? If we don't eat salt all day, where will we get the strength to boil salt?"
Old Wang sighed, "It's not that we don't add salt every day; we have a meal with salt every three days or so."
We just ate yesterday, and you're only here today. If you want salt, you'll have to wait another three days.
Shen Chu looked incredulous.
"They have such a large salt field, yet they don't give us any salt to eat. That's outrageous!"
Old Wang said with a bitter face, "At least we can eat salt every three days, but my family can only eat it once every seven or eight days."
My wife and grandson haven't had salt for almost two weeks, otherwise I wouldn't have risked my life to grab a handful today.
Shen Chu was furious when she heard this.
For Mr. Wang, a handful of salt could save his wife and grandson's lives, but the steward almost beat Mr. Wang to death because of that handful of salt.
"I remember there was a regulation from the government that salt workers could take a certain amount of salt home every half month. Didn't the foreman give it to them?"
Old Wang shook his head, "They stopped distributing salt a long time ago. They stopped distributing salt after the New Year, saying that the government changed the regulations and no longer allowed salt households to receive salt."
Salt farmers need to buy salt from the salt fields, but we salt farmers work at the salt fields year-round and don't earn much money, and we don't own any land.
If a family is facing a series of misfortunes, where will they find the money to buy salt?
Moreover, the saltworks also stipulated that we had to boil a certain amount of salt each day, 20 jin per person per day.
As you all saw today, those who don't meet the weight requirements set by the supervisor not only don't get food, but they also get whipped.
Shen Chu was furious. "But the imperial court hasn't changed the regulations at all."
Old Wang nodded, "We only found out a few days ago. Oh, it was the county magistrate who told us when he came to visit the salt workers."
Unfortunately, Magistrate Zhao was arrested a few days later. I heard he had killed someone, and the person he killed was our saltworks owner.
Because of Magistrate Zhao's promise, the salt workers went to the manager to collect their salt, but the manager said that Magistrate Zhao's promise did not count.
The salt workers went to the government to argue their case, but the government overturned Magistrate Zhao's words, so the salt workers were so angry that they smashed up the prefectural government office.
So this was the real reason for the salt farmers' riot.
Zhao Bin once visited the salt workers; could it be that he discovered something?
As Shen Chu was pondering, he suddenly felt a heat in his hand.
She looked down and realized that Pei Yuan had suddenly grabbed her hand and was rubbing her palm with his thumb.
The man's warm fingertips and the thick calluses on the base of his thumb made her palm itch.
A strange tingling sensation crept up her arm from her palm, startling her so much she almost jumped up.
She panicked and hurriedly pulled her hand away.
Pei Yuan tightened his grip on her hand, squeezing her palm hard, and whispered, "Don't move."
She froze.
Pei Yuan gently rubbed his thumb against her palm again.
No, it looks like he's writing.
Chen Chu took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.
Pei Yuan wrote two words in her palm: "Master".
A thought flickered in her mind, and she continued to ask Old Man Wang.
"Uncle Wang, who owns the saltworks? Does he have a grudge against the county magistrate?"
Old Man Wang said, "Speaking of our boss, Madam Zhang, she is truly a good person. She is the most conscientious salt merchant in Anhua."
The Zhang family made their fortune in salt. A few years ago, they built two large salt fields in Anhua. The Zhang family always treated the salt workers very well and never mistreated them. They even provided them with clothes throughout the year.
In my opinion, Madam Zhang is an elderly woman, and the county magistrate is a good official.
I just don't understand why the magistrate would kill Madam Zhang.
Shen Chu was somewhat surprised to find that the owner of the saltworks was a woman.
"The saltworks not only don't provide you with salt to eat, but they also assign you tasks, and if you don't complete them, you'll be whipped."
Was this stipulated by Madam Zhang? This is hardly the behavior of a good employer!
Old Wang shook his head: "You're from out of town, you don't know anything about the Zhang family."
Let me tell you, Mrs. Zhang is the only daughter of the Zhang family.
It is said that in order to support the family business, Madam Zhang did not marry but instead took in a son-in-law who lived with her family. She only had one daughter named Zhang Lan.
Before the New Year, Madam Zhang fell ill, and Miss Zhang took over the saltworks.
Unexpectedly, a few days later, Miss Zhang also fell ill, and the saltworks were taken over by Jiang Hongzhi, Madam Zhang's son-in-law.
At this point, a hint of anger appeared on Old Wang's face.
"It was only after Jiang Hongzhi took over the saltworks that the regulations were changed. At first, they just stopped issuing salt, but later they stipulated that each person should produce ten jin of salt per day."
Two months ago, a rule was suddenly set that each person should cook 20 jin (10 kg) of food per day, which even saved us the salt we used to eat.
We wanted to plead with Madam Zhang, but that beast Jiang Hongzhi actually beat someone to death.
Jiang Hongzhi?
It seems this person was the source of the salt farmers' riot.
Yuan's hand began to caress her palm again, this time for quite a while, making it impossible for her to concentrate on her thoughts.
Shen Chu could no longer tolerate it.
If you want to know something, you can ask yourself. Why do you have to write in my palm?
You're just blind, but your mouth isn't.
It was as if he was deliberately trying to get her attention.
She snorted, "Sixth Brother, you have a mouth, you should learn to speak for yourself, say a few words?"
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