Chapter 73: Human Market

  "Vice Minister Chen smiled and pointed to the stack of silver notes, saying: "This case has nothing to do with Zheng Yiren. Whether he comes early or late, the outcome will be the same." As he spoke, Vice Minister Chen's face darkened, and with a loud bang on the wooden desk, he shouted at the three shopkeepers kneeling below: "The Sheng family's Shen Nong Fu is renowned throughout the land for its numerous charitable deeds. How dare you take advantage of the master's misfortune to plunder and pillage! What face do you have left to continue practicing medicine and saving lives?! - Guards, take them away and throw them into prison! Confiscate their property and sell off their family members as slaves to serve as a warning!"

  The three shopkeepers were so frightened that they fell to the ground, clutching their chests and fainting.

  The Minister of Justice took the name list from Chen Shilang and brought dozens of sturdy yamen runners to raid the homes of the three shopkeepers.

  Zheng Suxin's face showed a look of reluctance, and she pleaded with Chen Shilang: "Lord Chen, can you spare their lives and let them redeem themselves with their family property?"

  Chen Shilang shook his head, "The slave deceives the master, and the crime is unforgivable. I hate those who betray their masters the most. They have ended up like this today, it's all because of their own doing!"

  As they spoke, several more constables arrived and wanted to take away the three shopkeepers.

  Zhao Zhanggui woke up first, his head spinning around, and he saw Sheng Qiye, hastily kneeling down to beg for mercy, crying: "Sheng Qiye, you don't remember the merits and hardships, my grandfather followed Old Master Sheng through thick and thin, several times almost losing his life to protect the Sheng family, I beg of you, Sheng Qiye, to say a word to spare my family this once, in the future, Zhao Dong will be forever grateful and repay your great kindness!"

  Just as Grandpa Shi was about to speak, Chen the Imperial Envoy gave him a signal and then loudly said: "Zhao Dong, do you still have the face to ask your master for help?! Your Zhao family is just a group of refugees who fled from the northwest! Old Master Shi saved your grandfather and took him in as an apprentice at the Tianxia Pharmacy, teaching him the skill of identifying medicines. That's how your Zhao family prospered! Without the Shi family, you would be beggars on the streets! Beggars still know to repay those who gave them a meal. What about you?! You're ungrateful and don't know what's enough for you!"

  Sheng Qiye shut his mouth, knowing that at this moment, it was better for him not to speak.

  Soon, the three shopkeepers were all taken away by the bailiffs and thrown into a large prison.

  Chen Shilang returned the stack of silver tickets to Sheng Qiye and chatted with them for a few more sentences before sending them off from the Ministry of Justice.

  Zheng Suxin also followed out and sighed to the Sheng family outside the door: "Sheng Qiye, listen to my advice, spare people when you can. We've been partners for many years, doing it this way will inevitably make our subordinates feel disheartened..."

  Sheng Siyan smiled and nodded, "Madam Zheng is indeed a Bodhisattva with a heart of gold, sacrificing herself to feed the tiger and cutting her own flesh to feed the eagle. These people may be partners, but they have long abandoned their master, fearing that he would not die completely. Such partners, aren't they afraid of breaking their master's heart?"

  "They want to put Dongjia in their hearts. They can't do such greedy things." Niu Xiaoye followed, "Zheng Dainai, you are standing and speaking without waist pain, using other people's silver as human feelings. If these people are greedy for your silver, you must have pulled out their tendons long ago, why wait until today to settle accounts in court?!"

  Sheng Siyan silently gave Niu Xiaoye a thumbs up, praising her for speaking sharply.

  Niu Xiaoye gave her a complacent glance. The two exchanged a smile, extremely harmonious.

  Zheng Suxin was scolded by Niu Xiaoye twice today. Very displeased, she said to Sheng Siyan: "I told you so. Your eyesight isn't good. This friend of yours, if she doesn't get you into big trouble in the future, it's not because she can't."

  Sheng Siyan raised her chin slightly and said disdainfully, "Zheng Dàniáng, don't stir up trouble. I'm best friends with Xiao Ye. She's just straightforward and blunt, that's all. Besides, nobody's perfect. If you want to find someone without flaws as a friend, probably the only one would be you, Zheng Dàniáng. But you're so flawless, it's scary to even think about, really out of my league!"

  Sheng Siyan thought it was very simple. Ordinary people all have shortcomings, and there is no perfect person in this world. If there is, it must be fake.

  Zheng Suhui is almost flawless in front of people, and just thinking about it makes Sheng Siyan feel a chill run down his spine.

  Zheng Suxin smiled and shook her head, saying: "Indeed a child..." before bidding farewell and leaving.

  Niu Xiaoye also got into her family's car and bid farewell to the Sheng family.

  Sheng Siyan followed Wangshi and Sheng Qiye onto the carriage, carrying a box of silver notes and the deed to Tianxia Medicine House back to the Sheng Guo Gong Fu.

  Money makes the mare go.

  Wang and Sheng Qiye started to reorganize the Tianxia Pharmacy together. The top priority was to inform the branches of Tianxia Pharmacy in other places that the Sheng family had taken over the pharmacy again, and asked the local managers and big managers to come to Beijing for a meeting.

  Although the imprisonment of the masters of the Zhao, Jin and Mao families did indeed make some partners feel like withdrawing, most people still stood on the side of the Sheng family. They had long been displeased with these three cunning shopkeepers.

  Wang and Sheng Qiye have been busy for days, hoping to sort out the relationships between the pharmacy's upper and lower levels before the New Year, so that everyone can have a good year.

  Sheng Siyan felt much more at ease, and every day she helped Wang Shi take care of the three meals a day, and in her own room, she read books, practiced calligraphy, learned to embroider flowers, cut clothes, and studied women's red embroidery, with great enthusiasm.

  The winter of 26 years of Meiji came especially early.

  After a spell of autumn rain, the weather became colder day by day.

  On this day, Niu Xiaoye hastily arrived at the Sheng's house and said to Sheng Siyan: "Siyan, there's a commotion going on outside, want to go take a look?"

  Sheng Siyan was warmly dressed and lounging about in a room with thick white paper windows.

  "What's all the commotion? People coming and going nonstop." Sheng Siyan yawned, leaning on the table to take a nap.

  "Dongshi has opened the slave market, and several families of officials and wealthy households who had troubles recently are selling their maidservants. Why don't you go take a look? My brother said he wants to buy a few skilled seamstresses, and also find some sensible maids for me." Niu Xiaoye said, while rubbing her hands with some embarrassment.

  Jian Sheng Si Yan looked languid, and Niu Xiao Ye could only pretend to be nonchalant, but from time to time, she would steal a glance at Jian Sheng Si Yan.

  After staring for half a day, Sheng Siyan saw that Niu Xiaoye's small eyes were almost twitching, and then smiled and said: "Then let's go take a look." As she spoke, she loudly called Haitang over to prepare her things for going out.

  Niu Xiaoye was overjoyed, and rushed over to hug Sheng Siyan's shoulders, shaking them vigorously. "Siyan, you're the best! Let's go quickly! Who needs a maid? I'll be your maid! - Come on, come on!" Without another word, she pushed Sheng Siyan out the door.

  The women of the Great Xia Empire all considered thinness to be beautiful, and Niu Xiao Ye was an exception with her chubby figure. It just so happened that Sheng Si Yan had been pampered by the Wang family until she became plump and fair-skinned. This made Niu Xiao Ye extremely delighted, and as a result, she became even closer to Sheng Si Yan.

  Two men brought their wives and attendants in a large carriage of the Sheng family to the East Market.

  The sky is overcast and gloomy. Some yellowish clouds are gathering, as if it's going to snow.

  Sheng Siyan was wrapped in a silver-gray cloak, wearing a Guanyin hat on her head, covering herself tightly, sitting in the carriage and looking out.

  She has been to Dongshi before, but she has never met anyone from Kaiping City.

  The population trade of the Daxia Empire is generally operated by officially registered matchmakers and marriage brokers.

  There are families who want to buy people, they can go directly to the slave market to pick out people, or let a familiar procuress send people to their home for selection.

  There is another kind. It is the imperial court selling the families of convicts who have been implicated. At this time, a special area will be cordoned off with ropes in the East Market, and a high platform will be built. The people to be sold will be pushed up one by one, and then the official broker will introduce the name, surname, origin, and background of the people being sold, allowing potential buyers to bid. Those who offer higher prices have priority over those who offer lower prices, and those who arrive earlier have priority over those who arrive later.

  Buyers who enter the slave market are also not anyone, but must go to the government office for registration in advance. Only those with a clear conscience can directly call out prices and buy people at the slave market sponsored by the government.

  Sheng Siyan was not registered. Originally, she couldn't get in.

  However, Niu's family registered. Niu Xiaoye's older brother Niu Dapeng was entrusted by someone to come and buy a few people, and also to pick some maidservants who could be brought to the stage for the Niu family.

  Niu Xiao Ye made someone go find his older brother.

  Niu Datong heard that his sister had brought out all of Sheng Siyan's people, so he personally came over to drive their car in.

  Niu Dapeng is a big buyer. He occupies a very advantageous position in front of the counter in the market.

  Sheng Siyan and Niu Xiaoye sat down together, looked around and asked Niu Datong: "Niu Dabao, whose house is that shed opposite the stage over there?"

  Niu Datong took a glance and said, "I heard that side is booked by the Wu family."

  Sheng Siyan's heart skipped a beat. She narrowed her eyes and took a glance in that direction.

  Knock knock knock!

  The copper gong on the auctioneer's platform struck a few times, prompting everyone to take their seats quickly. It indicated that the auction was about to begin.

  Wu's family finally arrived late. It was Zheng Suxin who brought Wu Chanjuan, along with several clever-looking attendants, and sat down in the best-positioned pavilion.

  Sheng Siyan retreated behind Niu Xiaoye's back.

  Niu Xiaoye only looked at the people being pushed out to sell on the high platform and asked Sheng Siyan, "Siyan, where did your family's maidservants come from? Were they well-trained?"

  The maidservants in the Sheng household were all arranged by Wang Shi, and Sheng Siyan just followed beside her to watch, not understanding these things. She said: "They were all found by my mother through a matchmaker, we needed them urgently, there was no time to pick and choose."

  Niú Xiǎo Yè let out an "oh" and suddenly pointed at the three girls of similar age to them who were pushed out onto the high platform opposite, saying: "I know those three people. When we first arrived in the capital, we even went to their house for a visit!"

  "Who?" Sheng Siyan poked her head out from behind Niu Xiaoye's back and took a look.

  "There are three daughters in the Jin family. The eldest daughter, Jin Dage, is the most beautiful and was born to her mother's sister. The second and third daughters were not as good-looking and were born to the first wife." Niu Xiaoye said with a smile, turning around to glance at Sheng Siyan again, "Siyan, if you weren't so fat, you would be even more beautiful than Jin Dage. You are the legitimate daughter, but you look much better than your younger sister who was born out of wedlock, you're an exception."

  Sheng Siyan smiled and said: "Don't say that either. Wu Erguniang is also a legitimate daughter, how beautiful is she? It can be seen that there are no absolutes in the world."

  "Wu Erniang is more like her aunt. Zheng Xiangrong is the number one beauty of Dashan, but she only looks a bit worse than that." Niu Xiaoye leaned out from behind the railing in front of the shed and looked forward, "It's really Jin Dagu! Alas, on such a cold day, she's only wearing so little, it's really pitiful."

  Sheng Siyan was about to echo a couple of words, but saw Niu Dapeng occasionally glance at herself with some surprise, and asked him: "Brother Niu, why do you keep looking at me? Is there something wrong with me?" She lowered her head to examine her clothes, but there was nothing out of place. They were all moderate and ordinary. She never liked to dress too eye-catching.

  Niu Datong paused for a moment and said: "That Jin family girl is the daughter of the owner of Tianxia Pharmacy, Jin Zhanggui."

  Sheng Siyan's eyes widened suddenly, "Is that their house? Let's take a look." She followed and walked to Niu Xiaoye's side, poking her head out to take a peek.

  All that could be seen was the young lady from the Jin family standing on the high platform opposite, wearing only a thin green robe, with her hair combed into a simple bun and not a single piece of jewelry. Her ears seemed to have been frostbitten, and there was a large scab on one earlobe. Her face was pale, her eyes dull, and she looked nothing like the young mistress who had grown up in a deep boudoir with maids at her beck and call.

  But after all, a beauty, even if she has fallen on hard times, still has a certain pitiful and delicate air about her that is different from others.

  "This is indeed her father's fault, and now the troubles are all borne by his family."

  "It doesn't matter." Niu Datong comforted Sheng Siyan beside him, "Her father took over other people's businesses and brought silver to the house, she enjoyed it too. Now it's just going back to its original form."

  Although this was the case, Sheng Siyan still felt a bit uneasy and was thinking of a way to help these girls when he heard the official on stage say: "You are lucky, Zheng Dainai wants to buy you back."

  Then the voices of the crowd below were heard shouting: "The Sheng family has cheated people too much, forcing them to break their homes and sell themselves into slavery! --- Zheng's wife is still kind-hearted!"

  This is the first update. I'll work hard for the second one. Please give me a few pink tickets and some recommended votes to encourage me. o(n_n)o

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  PS: Thank you to Huaman Hualou for the sachet reward yesterday. Thanks to everyone who rewarded me with a peace symbol yesterday. I worked overtime today, and it's already 7:30 when I got home, so I quickly wrote out one more chapter, and after I eat dinner, I'll write the second one. You guys are too impatient~~~