Although Xie Hong had prepared himself mentally, he still looked pained when he heard the price was four shi of rice.
It was understandable. In this era, one shi was about one hundred jin (roughly 50 kilograms). Four shi means four hundred jin of rice.
If used carefully, that amount could feed the Xie family for over a year.
Not only the Xie family—even a fairly wealthy household in the village would struggle to provide that much grain at once.
Xie Hong had become so poor that he had already started selling his farmland. Besides the money left from recently selling two fields, his food supplies were nearly gone.
Dahuangya was still waiting for an answer, while Xie Hong looked embarrassed.
Dahuangya immediately understood.
The man in front of him was truly broke.
He no longer wanted to waste time on him. There was still a living person hidden outside. If someone found Zhu Mingyue and took him away before he returned, he would lose both the person and the money.
“Wait! I never said I wouldn’t buy him. Why are you in such a hurry to leave?”
“Fine. I’ll stay and give you another quarter of an hour to think.”
Dahuangya felt like he had stepped on dog waste. The situation was annoying and hard to shake off. He began regretting why he had wasted so much time on this man.
Xie Hong scratched his head anxiously, sweat forming on his forehead.
He knew this was probably a once-in-a-lifetime chance.
He thought through all his relatives and drinking buddies, wondering if he could borrow grain from them and combine it with his savings.
Dahuangya had already lost patience and kept looking toward the neighboring village.
Xie Hong suddenly panicked.
There was another unmarried man in the next village around his age. He was much more capable and might be able to pay with money if he lacked grain.
The most important thing now was keeping Dahuangya from finding a better buyer.
Finally, Xie Hong made up his mind.
“I’ve decided. No family can produce four shi of grain all at once. To show my sincerity, I’ll pay a deposit first. Take me to see him. After that, give me three days, and I’ll gather all the grain.”
“One and a half days. I need to see the grain by tomorrow evening.”
Xie Hong hesitated before nodding.
“I agree.”
Xie Hong originally wanted Dahuangya to wait outside while he fetched the grain, but he quickly changed his mind.
“Come wait at my house. I have a scale there. You can watch me weigh everything yourself.”
Although he said this because he feared Dahuangya might run away, the suggestion suited Dahuangya perfectly.
“Let’s go.”
Dahuangya walked behind him with his hands behind his back.
This time, Xie Hong did not dare walk too fast. He kept turning around every few steps to make sure Dahuangya was still following.
When they arrived home, Xie Hong pushed open the door and shouted,
“Xie Pei! Bring tea for our guests!”
There was no answer.
“Xie Pei?”
Still no response.
Xie Hong secretly sighed in relief and smiled.
“That brat always runs around outside and never stays home. When he gets back, I’ll teach him a lesson.”
In reality, Xie Pei usually ignored him anyway. Xie Hong was only acting important in front of a guest.
If Xie Pei had actually been home, Xie Hong probably would not have dared to order him around.
“You already have a son?” Dahuangya asked in surprise.
Hadn’t he said he wasn’t married?
“No, no. He’s my half-brother.”
After thinking for a moment, he added,
“He’s very afraid of me.”
“Heh.”
Dahuangya gave a dry laugh.
He had no interest in hearing about that. He only wanted his grain.
Seeing Dahuangya wasn’t listening, Xie Hong rubbed his hands awkwardly and went into the bedroom.
A moment later, he returned carrying two sacks of grain and a weighing scale.
One sack weighed two jun. The second was slightly under.
He opened his grain jar, scooped out a large bowl of rice, added it to the sack, and weighed it again.
Now it was exactly right.
“One shi of rice. This is the deposit. Can I see him now?”
Dahuangya checked the weight himself and found nothing missing.
“Fine.”
“Wait here. I’ll bring him over.”
“Don’t worry. I’ve accepted your deposit. I won’t run away.”
Xie Hong had no choice but to agree.
Fortunately, Dahuangya kept his word.
After waiting for about half an hour, Xie Hong finally saw him return.
Actually, Dahuangya should have arrived sooner.
But Zhu Mingyue kept causing trouble on the way and slowed him down.
Eventually, Dahuangya became so annoyed that he used the rest of his sleeping drug on him.
Xie Hong stared at the sack like a hungry wolf.
He desperately wanted to open it and see the person inside.
Dahuangya was exhausted and sat on the ground to rest.
Xie Hong did not dare touch the sack without permission.
As he stared, he suddenly noticed something.
“Brother, why isn’t my spouse moving? Did he suffocate?”
Dahuangya nearly laughed.
The final payment had not even been made, yet Xie Hong was already calling Zhu Mingyue his spouse.
How shameless.
He cleared his throat.
“He’s not dead. He’s just a little fierce. He kept making trouble and slowing me down, so I drugged him.”
“Oh, I see. If his personality is too fierce, then…”
Dahuangya quickly interrupted, worried Xie Hong might use that as an excuse to lower the price.
“Fierce is good! It’s more exciting. People in the city love that type. Someone too obedient is boring. It seems nice at first, but you’ll get tired of it quickly.”
Xie Hong thought that made sense.
Many of his married friends still visited brothels regularly. They always claimed their wives lacked personality and excitement.
If Zhu Mingyue could hear this, he would probably laugh in anger.
Those selfish men blamed their own unfaithfulness on their wives.
“Brother, can I see what he looks like now?” Xie Hong asked carefully.
“Go ahead and open it yourself.”
Dahuangya was too tired to move.
Xie Hong immediately rushed forward and untied the sack.
His clumsy hands revealed just how excited he was.
Finally, the sack opened.
The moment he saw Zhu Mingyue’s face, Xie Hong’s mind went blank.
He stood frozen for a long time.
Then his heart began pounding wildly.
At the same time, he felt incredibly lucky.
Lucky that he had not missed this opportunity.
He could not find words to describe the person before him.
He only knew one thing.
Someone this beautiful, almost like an immortal, would soon belong to him alone.
At that moment, he no longer cared whether Zhu Mingyue was male or female.
Living happily with such a beautiful person was all that mattered.
Seeing Xie Hong’s stunned expression, Dahuangya was not surprised.
When the brothel owner first saw Zhu Mingyue, he had reacted the same way.
“See? I didn’t lie to you.”
Dahuangya proudly said,
“You could search all over Kangyang County with a lantern and still might not find another one like him.”
Xie Hong could only nod repeatedly.
After seeing that face, even if the price had been ten shi of grain instead of four, he would have agreed somehow.
Because of Xu Linguang’s medicine, Zhu Mingyue’s health had improved greatly.
Even the red spots on his face had faded.
The spots did not really affect his appearance, but Dahuangya still explained.
“This is the illness I mentioned. When it flares up, red spots appear on his face. That’s why you’re getting such a bargain. Other than that, there’s nothing wrong with him.”
Xie Hong became even happier.
The spots did not look bad, but having no spots was obviously better.
He grabbed Dahuangya’s hand excitedly.
“Brother, wait here! I’ll be right back. I promise I’ll bring the grain today. Don’t leave!”
Dahuangya was delighted.
They had agreed on tomorrow, but now Xie Hong wanted to pay immediately.
The sooner he got the grain, the better.
After speaking, Xie Hong looked at Zhu Mingyue one last time.
His eyes seemed glued to him.
Dahuangya laughed.
“Come on. He’ll be yours sooner or later. Bring the grain quickly, and you’ll be holding your beauty even sooner.”
Xie Hong thought that was true.
After forcing himself to turn away, he ran off at full speed.
His destination was Sun Family Village.
His second and third uncles both lived there.
It was winter, and there was little farm work to do.
Most families stayed indoors to save energy and food.
So when Xie Hong pounded loudly on the door, several people immediately responded.
“Who’s there?”
“Uncle! It’s me, Xie Hong!”
The family inside instantly felt alarmed.
Xie Hong had come.
This could only mean trouble.
The entire family exchanged worried looks while lying on the heated brick bed.
Outside, Xie Hong showed no sign of leaving.
Inside, his second uncle sighed heavily.
At that moment, his wife elbowed him.
“What should we do?”
“What else can we do?” he said angrily.
“Go open the door!”
As soon as the door opened, Xie Hong rushed inside.
“Uncle, lend me some grain! I promise I’ll return it next spring.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to help. I have a whole family to feed. The children are already hungry. We barely have enough to survive until spring.”
“Uncle, please!”
Xie Hong pleaded desperately.
“When my mother was alive, she helped you countless times. If she hadn’t given you money back then, you wouldn’t even have a wife today!”