Chapter 170
"I owe someone a bit of silver and can't pay it back," Lin Xiaoxia said. He looked much thinner, clear evidence that life had been hard on him lately. "My only way out is to sell myself into servitude."
"How much do you owe?" Fang Zichen asked.
Lin Xiaoxia looked miserable. Watching his daughter cry from hunger, the burly, broad-shouldered man’s eyes reddened: "Over three hundred taels."
Fang Zichen: "..."
It seems I'm the one who's actually poor.
Over three hundred taels, and he calls that 'a bit'!!
However, a year ago, when I was still living lavishly, I would have spoken of sums like five or six hundred thousand with the very same casual tone.
Now, times have changed, and circumstances are different. Ah~
In the Da Xia Dynasty, there was no shortage of people, and whenever something became plentiful, it lost its value.
A pig cost roughly two taels. The people in this slave broker were not priced much higher than pigs. Several girls and some gers were locked in a corner.
Though they were human, they were kept in cages like livestock, each one clearly marked with a price.
Fang Zichen couldn't quite describe what he was feeling, but his heart felt inexplicably stifled, as if pressed by a giant rock, almost making it hard to breathe.
Since they were acquainted, Fang Zichen bought all three of them.
For the others, he was powerless to help.
An ordinary, strong man cost about six taels. Someone like Li Yanmei would likely have been priced between three and five taels.
The slave broker manager said that since they were familiar, and they were old acquaintances, he would only charge Fang Zichen ten taels for them. He seemed afraid Fang Zichen would change his mind, as he processed the paperwork with remarkable speed.
Fang Zichen always felt there was something tricky about this. It wasn't until Jiaojiao gently tugged his sleeve, saying she was hungry, that he understood. After Fang Zichen bought them six buns, Lin Xiaoxia didn't touch any, saying he wasn't hungry, and let Jiaojiao and Li Yanmei eat them all.
I'd already witnessed Jiaojiao's 'power' before. How could I have forgotten that?
That slave broker manager totally swindled me.
Out of the six buns, Jiaojiao alone finished five. After eating, she still looked at Fang Zichen eagerly, seemingly still not full.
Fang Zichen briefly considered returning them.
However, the indenture contract had already been signed, and his name was written in the master's section. Backing out was no longer an option.
Fang Zichen had no choice but to go and buy ten more steamed buns. The bun-seller auntie, seeing they were for Lin Xiaoxia and the others, didn't charge him.
Everyone still remembered Lin Xiaoxia's kindness, he had once eliminated a public menace by killing a tiger that frequently haunted the official road outside Fu'an Town's gates. They all sighed over his current misfortune. While they couldn't offer any significant help, giving a few free buns was something they could do.
Fang Zichen settled them in the shop and then returned to Zuixiao Restaurant.
Anyone who had signed an indenture contract couldn't run away, the consequences of being caught were severe.
Furthermore, whenever outsiders entered cities in any province or county, the soldiers must inspect their documents.
Those registered as slaves possessed no household registration of their own. To legally enter a city, they had to either carry their master's own household registration papers or be physically accompanied by their master. Therefore, Fang Zichen felt no anxiety about them fleeing. Besides, judging by Lin Xiaoxia's character—a man who seemed to live by a code of loyalty—he would never commit such a dishonorable act.
He had been in a hurry to get back to work earlier and hadn't asked for details. Upon returning, he asked Shopkeeper Yang and found out that Lin Xiaoxia had been working as a security escort. Some time ago, he had been hired to escort a shipment of blue and white porcelain for a merchant house from Yuanzhou. Just before reaching Huzhou, one of his junior subordinates hadn't secured the goods properly. When bandits ambushed them, spooking the horses, the cart lurched forward. The dirt roads here were pitted and bumpy, extremely uneven. The horse galloped wildly, and by the time Lin Xiaoxia dealt with the bandits and caught up, the cargo crate had been thrown off the road, and most of the porcelain was shattered.
The total value of this shipment was considerable. The junior subordinate, afraid to take responsibility, saw the situation and fled overnight.
The amount was over three hundred taels. Lin Xiaoxia scrambled to gather money, borrowing from everywhere and even selling his house, but it still wasn't enough to repay the debt.
He had heard before that Lin Xiaoxia's parents passed away when he was thirteen. He had no relatives in town, so he went out to make his way alone and only returned when he was twenty. Three hundred taels of silver was a huge sum for an ordinary family. Even Li Da, after all his years selling pork, had not managed to accumulate much profit either; after saving for most of his life, he only had a small amount of silver, which ultimately wasn't of much help.
Ultimately, with no other recourse left, Lin Xiaoxia was forced to indenture himself to the merchant family.
The family he indentured himself to was the Zheng family from Yuanzhou. As this was the first time he had escorted goods for them and they had no prior relationship, Lin Xiaoxia didn't know what their character was like. Once indentured, his life would depend entirely on his master's whims, and whether he had a good life or not would be entirely up to the master's family. Lin Xiaoxia didn't dare to gamble. He wanted to divorce Li Yanmei and let her take their daughter and leave, but Li Yanmei refused.
Although this husband and wife argued one day and fought the next, sometimes even escalating into physical scuffles during serious arguments, their affection for each other was exceptionally deep. It was simply their nature; a day without a quarrel felt strangely off, as if something were missing from their routine.
Lin Xiaoxia had been working as an escort for so many years yet couldn't save up three hundred taels. Fang Zichen strongly suspected it was because this family of three ate too much. They had only been in the Zheng residence for just over ten days before the master sold them off, most likely for this very reason.
Fang Zichen shook his head and sighed, realizing he had been truly careless.
___
Something happened at noon while collecting chilies.
Three old women came together.
They came to sell chilies, but Zhao Ger said he didn't want them and wouldn't buy from their families anymore.
One of the old women grew anxious: "Why? Zhao Ger, you can't do this! We've already picked the chilies. If you don't want them now, what are we supposed to do?"
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