“Master, so far, twenty-three households have agreed to sign the indenture contracts, totaling one hundred and forty-five people.
Among them, there are forty-six able-bodied men, and ninety-nine women, elderly, and children.”
Chen San had not slept all night. He presented the collected contracts to the head of the Chen family for review.
However, there were some words he could not hold back, so he said, “Master, the number of able-bodied men here seems rather few…”
“If not for these elderly and children, we might not even have been able to secure these thirty-six able-bodied men.”
Chen Jing sat in the carriage, examining the contracts of these households, noting where they came from and what they used to do. A faint smile curved his lips. “In these troubled times, those without attachments cannot be kept with just a bowl of porridge and a place to stay…”
···
“Sister Yang, have you truly made up your mind?”
In her drowsy state, Mei Qian heard faint murmurs of conversation.
Opening her eyes, she saw the pale, fish-belly white sky and realized it was already dawn.
Slowly sitting up, Mei Qian noticed that as the sky gradually brightened, many people around her had already risen.
She saw Madam Zhang, the wife of Blacksmith Yang, who had been close with her mother. Madam Zhang’s eyes were slightly red, her gaze bloodshot—clearly a weary appearance from a sleepless night.
She was speaking softly with Mei Qian’s mother, Madam Jiang.
“What else can we do? Last night, Bao Dan and Bao Ya both developed fevers. Our family needs to enter the city to see a doctor and buy medicine, but… but how can our family even qualify to enter the city?”
Madam Zhang wept bitterly, turning to gaze at the towering city walls as she murmured, “We can’t just watch our children die, can we?”
What, then, was the point of her and her husband’s arduous journey across mountains and rivers?
Madam Jiang listened in silence. She did not speak of the future generations being enslaved but instead offered words of comfort.
Looking at Madam Zhang’s pale, haggard face, Madam Jiang bid her farewell, wishing her a smooth journey and urging her to buy medicine and take good care of the children once inside the city.
“Sister, once you enter the city, everything will be fine.”
“You all…”
Madam Zhang glanced at Madam Jiang’s belly and sighed.
The confusion and bewilderment in her eyes were not lost on Madam Jiang. Madam Zhang stole a glance at the other members of the Lao Mei Family. Seeing no one looking their way, she gritted her teeth and couldn’t help but ask:
“Your family… truly won’t enter the city?”
“…Sister, have a safe journey.”
Madam Jiang shook her head, expressing her family’s stance. Seeing this, Madam Zhang said no more.
However, upon returning, she couldn’t help but mention the matter to her husband, feeling that the Mei family’s decision was truly unwise.
“Everyone has their own aspirations. Didn’t Scholar Yan’s family also refuse?”
As he packed their belongings, Blacksmith Yang reached out to touch the foreheads of his two feverish children. They were slightly better than last night, but their faces were still flushed with fever.
Blacksmith Yang’s thoughts were no longer on others, but Madam Zhang couldn’t help muttering, “But they’re a scholar’s family. How could they possibly be willing to sell themselves into slavery?”
Unaware of what the Yang family discussed after returning, Mei Qian, after getting up and tidying herself, noticed that many people around her family were gone.
“So many followed the Chen family?”
Mei Qian looked at the empty spaces around them and the distant Chen family caravan, which had already disappeared. She couldn’t help but marvel—this was far more than she had imagined.
It’s clear that the Chen family’s strategy of slowly boiling the frog in warm water has indeed led many households to follow along just like that.
In the distance, there is a continuous stream of refugees and other caravans from elsewhere heading toward Mingcheng.
“What you said last night really came true. I watched them leave this morning, and when I asked, they were all planning to follow the Chen family.
What did you mean last night when you said the Chen family had long had their eyes on us?”
“You don’t really think they told us about this way to enter the city out of sheer kindness, do you?”
After Mei Qian mentioned last night that the Chen family had long had their eyes on them and predicted that many would follow the Chen family this morning, her family was somewhat surprised and skeptical.
But this morning, when so many around them had left and inquiries revealed they had all gone with the Chen family, Mei Erhu was startled to realize that Mei Qian’s words from last night had actually come true.
“But… but if their family really wanted to recruit a batch of household slaves, they could just shout it out anywhere. How many refugees would be willing?”
Although the Lao Mei Family themselves wouldn’t do it, they weren’t unaware that it was because, up to this point, their family hadn’t suffered too much hardship.
As for those outside, at this point, forget selling oneself into slavery—just give them a full meal, and there are people who would even commit murder and arson!
“Those people outside? How could they be as trustworthy and easy to control as those whose backgrounds are known and who have plenty of weaknesses?”
Mei Qian lowered her head, looking at the weeds she had trampled into the mud, and continued without caring whether Mei Erhu understood:
“Those outside who have suffered greatly, urgently need shelter, and are starving—people who would do anything for food or survival—who knows whether recruiting them would be a good or bad thing? What if they ended up with a group like Han Laoer? Wouldn’t that just be asking for trouble?”
Mei Qian recalled what Blacksmith Yang’s wife and mother had said this morning. Those people truly had elders to care for and children to raise—that made them the easiest to control.
Moreover, among the households initially sheltered by the Chen family, even the ordinary common people were not idle freeloaders.
Even in selecting which ordinary people they could shelter, the Chen family had carefully considered their choices.
Thinking about it this way, Mei Qian couldn’t help but admire the head of the Chen family. In such chaotic times, she could still think so strategically.
“After staying in the Chen family’s group for so long, everyone has grown accustomed to everything around them. Suddenly being told to go separate ways, with the Chen family no longer looking after you—wouldn’t that make you anxious? Dad, weren’t you tempted when Steward Chen San spoke to you last night?”
Facing Mei Qian’s clear, black-and-white eyes, Mei Erhu felt a pang of guilt.
Steward Chen San had spoken yesterday about continuing on the journey, truly becoming part of the Chen family, with daily rations provided and no need to live in constant fear, taking one step at a time.
Mei Erhu had indeed been tempted.
But it was only a fleeting temptation. His mother was right—why should they bow and scrape, handing their lives over to others, when they could stand tall and live with dignity?
Still, Mei Erhu couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of melancholy over the Chen family’s departure.
“What are you two talking about? Hurry up and pack!”
Grandma Mei, busy with her tasks, turned her head and saw the father and daughter standing idle. She shouted at them, and Mei Qian and Mei Erhu responded in unison before stepping forward to help Grandma Mei pack everything up.
Sighing here wouldn’t do any good. Their whole family had to prepare for their next journey.
However, things were never that smooth.
“Grandma, watch out!”
Just as the family was about to leave, Mei Qian pulled Grandma Mei, who was standing at the front, aside. A dusty figure brushed past her grandmother.
“What was that?”
Grandma Mei was also startled by the sudden commotion. The rest of the Lao Mei Family quickly gathered around to check on her.
“Mother?”
It was Han Shi who first noticed that the gray figure rushing over was Huang Shi.
Hearing Han Shi’s tone, which didn’t sound like she was calling her, everyone followed Han Shi’s gaze and saw Huang Shi, who had lost her balance and fallen into a muddy puddle nearby.
“Li Shuangshuang!”
Ignoring the mud and water on her face, Huang Shi struggled to get up from the muddy ground. She turned her head, her face filled with hatred as she glared at everyone in the Lao Mei Family.
“It’s you! It’s you who harmed my sons, Biaozi and Baozi! I want you to pay with your lives… Ah!”
Before Huang Shi could finish shouting, Grandma Mei stepped forward and slapped her so hard that her face twisted to the side.
Mei Qian couldn’t help but shudder.
Her grandma was truly a ruthless person!