newbobooks Chapter 419 Gained a Great Deal
Chapter 419 Gained a Great Deal
From Wen Luozhi's silent infiltration of the enemy camp to leading them to kill the Northern Barbarians' hunting dogs, Tieyi spoke with great passion, but Helian Yu's heart tightened as he listened.
"Reckless! Reckless!"
Helian Yu said something that made his heart jump to his throat, but he admired Wen Luozhi. No wonder Helian Yue mentioned her every few days when he came to the Southern Wilderness.
Birds chirped outside, and the dark figure and the man in iron armor vanished in a flash.
Helian Qiaosong, who was outside, only felt a gust of wind brush past him, but when he looked up, he saw nothing.
When the father and son returned to the mine with their belongings, Ye Nanqiao and Lan Cai, along with several other exiled women, had already prepared the meal.
Because the vegetables hadn't been grown, and people were reluctant to spend too much money on supplies, the porridge was even thinner than before because there were no leafy greens in it to fill their stomachs.
Everyone took their own bowls and filled them more than halfway. They found a spot and finished the porridge in a few gulps, licking the bowls clean because they were so hungry.
Because they returned late from work, the father and son had no food, so Ye Nanqiao and Lan Cai both left their bowls of porridge for themselves.
"Hurry up! What are you resting for? You damn bunch!"
"The imperial court pays you with silver, not so you can enjoy yourselves. Get up and get to work!"
A thin criminal was resting huddled at the entrance of the mine when the guards arrived and saw him strike him with a whip.
The criminal jumped up in fright, and his head, which had been groggy from hunger, suddenly cleared up.
He quickly grabbed the rope beside him, tied it to a large rock with great effort, and then pulled it a short distance away.
The man gritted his teeth, taking each step with great difficulty, and nearly fell several times.
The guard, annoyed by his slow pace, lashed him with a whip, cursing, "You good-for-nothing who eats grain and is useless! You've wasted the grain I bought!"
Since winter began, he has had much less money in his pocket, and he hasn't been eating as well as before, so he has lost weight all winter.
The criminal seemed to have lost the ability to feel pain, staggered a bit, and walked forward numbly.
Everyone else was already busy, but Helian Yu was only a step slower when his whip was about to strike him.
Helian Qiaosong reacted quickly, deliberately bumping into him while carrying his load. The whip missed its mark, and the man started cursing again: "Damn it, can't you watch where you're going!"
He now harbors deep resentment towards the people of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, believing that they are simply not dedicated to farming.
They're the only ones in the entire mine that grows these things, and nobody else is competing for those few small plots of land. They can grow when it's hot, so why can't they grow when it's cold?
They're definitely deliberately trying to oppose him. Even though these people from the capital have fallen on hard times, they're still the same as before!
He raised his whip and sent a few men to fill in, only to see Helian Qiaosong's sharp eyes fixed on him.
"Hurry up and get to work! If you dawdle, you won't get any food tomorrow!"
Even a starved camel is bigger than a horse; Helian Qiaosong's aura was still intimidating. He told him to get out of there quickly, otherwise he wouldn't come out on top if a fight broke out.
Ye Nanqiao and Lan Cai exchanged a glance, then silently put away the porridge and got to work together.
This afternoon was probably the happiest half-day for Helian Qiaosong while he was working. Others passing by him thought he had gone crazy from hunger.
Lan Cai also looked worried. She wanted to go and see, but she was afraid that the man who had accused them of hiding food would complain again.
They finally made it to midnight, and the head guard, after drinking two ounces of liquor, went home drunk, marking the end of their day.
Helian Yu and his son were already exhausted. After the spring, they were reassigned to manual labor. They were not given food in the morning, were punished at noon, and were not given food in the evening, so they were both physically exhausted.
Just as Ye Nanqiao was about to heat up the two bowls of porridge, a dark figure flashed in and handed her a package.
"Madam, I have some food here for the Duke and the others."
He went out again in a flash, and before Ye Nanqiao could react, he had already disappeared. Only the bag on the rock proved that someone had indeed been there.
“This…” She turned to look at the father and son, not quite understanding what was going on.
Helian Yu said, "Yan'er will be coming here in half a month."
Ye Nanqiao and Lan Cai were both surprised. Who would bring her here if Helian Yue wasn't here?
Seeing the doubt in the eyes of the two sisters-in-law, Helian Yu said again, "It's Luo Zhi. She brought Yan'er with her." He sighed softly.
He thought about it for a long time in the afternoon. He hadn't repaid the life-saving grace yet, but the other person kept doing things for him. He was really afraid that he wouldn't be able to repay it in the future.
Then he told her what Tieyi had told him. Ye Nanqiao's first reaction was not admiration but heartache.
A young girl can go to such lengths for her son; she is also a mother who would rather no one know them.
Lan Cai didn't know whether to be happy or not. They didn't even know if they could go back to that time, and they already owed people a lot.
Helian Yu opened the bundle delivered by the shadowy figure. Inside were some dried meat and other snacks. The group ate some and found the taste familiar, so it was undoubtedly prepared by Wen Luozhi.
After agonizingly waiting for half a month, the Shadows finally brought news.
Wen Luozhi and Helian Zhiyan will be coming here this afternoon, but as merchants.
On the way, Wen Luozhi counted on her fingers how much money the guards could make off this trip.
The grain she offered was at the lowest price possible, even ridiculously low.
The man in charge of purchasing at the mine would inevitably suspect something was amiss, because they had never encountered anything so cheap in all their years in this place; it was practically free.
"It's a fool not to take advantage of a good deal," the other buyer thought, but seeing that they could make a lot of money this way, they decided on the spot to buy from Wen Luozhi from now on.
Even on horseback, it would take at least half a day to travel from the mine to that small town, not to mention the grain carts.
If this person offered to deliver it, that would be wonderful. In the past, merchants knew that they were smuggling criminals for the imperial court and dared not approach this area at all.
This is such a good relationship that I don't have to travel back and forth anymore, it's so convenient.
The four of them were somewhat distracted in the afternoon after hearing the news, hoping to see Wen Luozhi and the others.
Because the place was hard to find, Wen Luozhi arrived in the carriage in the evening. When they heard the sound of the carriage, the people working in the mine all looked up.
Their eyes lit up when they saw a large cartload of grain being pulled behind the horse-drawn carriage; they had never seen anyone buy so much grain before.
Upon closer inspection, there were two large baskets of round, green things behind them.
What?! Is that a dish?
How can there be vegetables in early spring? Were they brought in from out of town? They must be very expensive! How can these people afford to buy them?
"What are you looking at?! Get back to work! All you ever think about is food!"
The guard emerged from the mine shaft where he was resting. As he walked, he rubbed his stomach and cursed. Under the torchlight, his mouth gleamed with oil, clearly indicating that he had just eaten something good.
No one dared to look and continued working with their heads down. Seeing those things at least offered some comfort.
Helian Yu and the others glanced over there from time to time. The person in the carriage was a man, not the girl they had seen in Shanquan Village.
At this moment, Wen Luozhi, disguised as a man, was flattering the tall, strong man from earlier.
"Sir, you truly possess an extraordinary air about you! You're destined for great things!"
"To be so kind to these people is truly a compassionate act; I admire it."
She said with a smile that she had already cursed this person a hundred and eighty times in her heart.
She was exhausted after coming here, and this bastard actually said she got the better deal?
She'd be lucky if she got the chance to smash his head in! It's such a ridiculous waste.