Li Xiaoxiao had a blade of grass stuck in her hair and was kneeling in the middle of a group of refugees, waiting for the slave broker to choose from among them.
It had been more than a month since she had unexpectedly arrived in this world. She had joined the great mass of people fleeing the famine, stopping and going whenever they could, and had finally made it to a place called Miyang County.
Every person fleeing the famine was gaunt and covered in patches. Many did not even have straw sandals and walked barefoot, with no time to care that the rough sand and gravel had worn the soles of their feet raw and bloody.
The reason she had stopped with the refugees was that this was the only county they had encountered along the way that had not driven them away. Unlike other places, which treated them like the plague and refused to let them approach, even sending vicious yamen runners to lash them with whips, this county had allowed them to stay.
The official in charge of the place seemed fairly decent. Not only had he not driven them away, but he also had porridge distributed once a day so they would not starve to death.
Li Xiaoxiao was completely inconspicuous among the crowd. She simply did whatever everyone else did. When she heard that a wealthy household in the county was buying servants and that a slave broker had come to select people, the refugees all knelt down in a flurry and stuck blades of grass into their hair. Li Xiaoxiao had no idea what it meant, so she followed suit, walking to the roadside to pluck a blade of grass and stick it into her own hair.
Seeing the woman beside her looking at the slave broker with longing and giving him a flirtatious glance, her expression turning coquettish, Li Xiaoxiao curiously imitated her and gave the same little look.
The slave broker spotted her at once. Without any hesitation, he slapped her on the head. “You shameless wench! How dare you look at me like that?!”
Li Xiaoxiao was caught completely off guard by the blow, and her head buzzed. Without thinking, she grabbed the slave broker by the leg and flipped him over.
The slave broker had never expected her to fight back. He went down headfirst, feet in the air, landing flat on his face and even losing his hat in the fall. When he finally came to his senses, he flew into a rage and cursed loudly. “Where did this wild girl come from? How dare she hit me?! Someone, beat her up!”
Two older women were following behind the slave broker. At his words, they stepped forward to grab Li Xiaoxiao.
Li Xiaoxiao remained kneeling. When she saw the four legs approaching her, she repeated the exact same move without hesitation.
The two older women hit the ground with two loud thuds, falling just like the slave broker had, face-first. Their noses began bleeding from the impact, and they immediately started shrieking like slaughtered pigs.
The people surrounding Li Xiaoxiao quickly scattered, forming a circle around her and staring as though she were some kind of monster, their eyes filled with fear.
Which of the people who had fled the famine together was not so hungry that they could barely walk? One group after another had collapsed along the road. Those who had managed to make it this far had barely any strength left. Yet the slave broker was a burly man in his thirties, and the two older women were each sturdier than the last. Even so, she had not changed her kneeling position. She had simply grabbed their legs and flipped them over.
Even the slave broker could not help taking two steps back in surprise. “You… What did you do before?”
Li Xiaoxiao answered honestly, “I worked in a mine.”
Worked in a mine? How could a girl in her teens work in a mine? Wasn’t that the kind of backbreaking labor that would make even a grown man cry for his mother?
But seeing what she could do, no one doubted the truth of her answer.
So that was why she had such incredible strength, huh?
The slave broker walked around her several times, circling until Li Xiaoxiao was starting to feel dizzy, before finally asking, “How much do you want to sell yourself for?”
The crowd stirred, and countless envious and jealous gazes fixed themselves on Li Xiaoxiao, wishing desperately that they were the ones who had been chosen.
Someone was willing to buy her. At the very least, she would have something to eat and would not starve to death.
The young married woman kneeling beside her hurriedly interrupted, “Sir, Big Brother, buy me too. I can work too. Once I’m fed, I’ve got plenty of strength. I can wash clothes, cook, and farm. I’m no worse than a man. Buy me, please…”
When the others heard that, they immediately surrounded the slave broker, tugging at his clothes and trousers as they begged him to buy them. The slave broker kicked them away one after another, then coldly brushed off his lapel and pointed at Li Xiaoxiao. “You. You there. How much do you want to sell yourself for?”
She had worked in a mine, yet she still had so much strength after going hungry for so long. What would she be like after eating her fill? Buying her would be like getting two people for the price of one. Wouldn’t that save him the cost of another person? Her, then.
Li Xiaoxiao froze.
How much? How was money calculated in this world? How much was a servant worth?
She honestly shook her head. “I don’t know. You decide.”
A look of disbelief flashed through the slave broker’s eyes. He instantly decided that this silly girl had probably lost her family and gone mad, since she did not even know her own worth. But how could he possibly let such a good opportunity slip away? His eyes rolled. “Five taels of silver. Come with me, and I’ll take you somewhere good. I guarantee you’ll be grateful to me for the rest of your life.”
Five taels of silver? How much money was that?
Li Xiaoxiao had only been in this world for a short time, and on the road fleeing the famine, she had encountered nothing but refugees. She had no silver on her at all, only the few copper coins she had managed to obtain, so copper coins were the only currency she had ever seen.
So she honestly said, “You’ll have to change it into copper coins.”
The slave broker did not find this strange at all. Ordinary people found silver inconvenient to spend. Whether the silver was of good quality was one thing, but when buying things, they still had to use scissors to cut off a piece, and there was always some loss from what was cut. Copper coins were much more convenient.
He reached into his robe and pulled out two strings of copper coins, holding them out to her. “Here. These are two thousand copper coins. Once you sign the deed of sale, I’ll give you the remaining three thousand.”
Li Xiaoxiao took the two strings of copper coins from his hand and weighed them. Mm, they were nice and heavy. She remembered that in the previous town, plain steamed buns had cost one copper coin each, while meat buns had cost two. These two strings of coins could buy a whole lot of buns.
Satisfied, she nodded and stood up.
Envy appeared on the faces of the onlookers. Five thousand copper coins!
Going by the prices in previous years, five thousand copper coins would absolutely not have been enough to buy a young female servant. A female servant between twelve and twenty years old cost at least fifteen to twenty taels of silver. But hadn’t disaster struck and forced everyone to flee? Having someone willing to buy them was already a blessing. At least they would have somewhere to live and food to eat. They would not starve to death.
The slave broker, Wei Yingjie, went on to select several more young men and women from among the refugees. Those who were chosen had eyes shining with excitement, but these people generally had entire families depending on them. Once an able-bodied worker was selected, the elderly, women, and children left behind immediately broke down in tears.
The young men and women who had been chosen comforted them while wiping away their own tears. Following the example of what he had given Li Xiaoxiao, Wei Yingjie gave the women two thousand copper coins and the men two thousand five hundred. The young men and women immediately turned around and handed all the money to their families, not keeping a single coin for themselves.
There was still more to come once they signed the deeds of sale. They themselves now had somewhere to go, but their families left behind still had no prospects at all. Since the county magistrate was not driving people away, perhaps their families could use this money to rent a thatched hut locally. If the whole family gritted their teeth and endured, they might be able to survive.
The family members who received the money immediately clutched it tightly against their chests, hiding it while looking around warily, afraid someone would come and snatch it away.
Wei Yingjie had selected four men and four women in total. He adjusted the hat on his head. “Those who’ve been chosen, come with me.”
Li Xiaoxiao followed at the back of the group. When they passed a steamed-bun shop, she bought five plain buns and five meat buns, spending fifteen copper coins in one go.
The refugees walking ahead of her all caught the aroma of the buns and turned around in unison to look at her, their eyes fixed on the buns nearly overflowing from her hands.
Li Xiaoxiao finished one bun in two bites. Before long, she had eaten four or five.
Someone finally could not hold back any longer. He swallowed hard and stared at the buns in her hands. “Are they good?”
Li Xiaoxiao nodded without hesitation. “They’re delicious!”
She was not lying. They really were delicious. They were not cakes made by pressing together insect corpses, nor were they foul-smelling nutritional liquids refined from the flesh and blood extracted from low-grade pollutants. The food here was all made from natural crops, with a fresh, fragrant taste that Li Xiaoxiao had never experienced before.
But with so many people staring at her, she had not the slightest intention of sharing even a bite with them. This immediately displeased the man. He thought she did not know how to behave. Staring at the buns in her hands, he said, “You bought so many. You definitely can’t finish them all. How about giving me one to taste?”
The others immediately chimed in as well. “That’s right, you definitely can’t finish them. Give us some.”
Seeing so many people speaking up at once, they grew bolder and reached out to take them.
There was no chance of stealing food from Li Xiaoxiao. These few buns were barely enough to fill the gaps between her teeth. She stepped back without hesitation and quickly devoured the remaining buns, then looked at them innocently. “But I can finish them~”
The refugees watched helplessly as she ate every last bun, and for some inexplicable reason, they became furious.
“You clearly bought ten! Why wouldn’t you share even one with us?!”
“Exactly! I’ve never seen anyone so selfish with food. We all fled the famine together and supported one another along the way. Why should you eat everything yourself just because you have food?”
The others glared angrily at her as well, their chests heaving violently, as though Li Xiaoxiao had committed some unforgivable crime.
…
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