The first time in history

"No need to bother!" Qian Mingduo was about to stop them, but the leader had already knelt on the ground, "Congratulations, Master Lu! Congratulations, Master Lu! We bow to Master Lu."

Qian Mingduo took out fifty taels of silver and handed it to the leader, "Brothers, take this little bit of silver and have a drink. By the way, when you mentioned grabbing weapons, are you planning to take your gongs and drums?"

"Write about Master Lu." The leader said, "Yes, the brothers are going to beat the gongs and drums to congratulate the master!"

Qian Mingduo smiled and said, "It's so cold today, it's not cold, my brothers. Let's go find a tavern and drink some wine to warm ourselves up."

"Is this Mr. Lu from Lin'an Prefecture who has already won two prizes?" A man looked at the silver with human patterns in the leader's hand. "The god who handed in the paper in two hours?"

"Yes, it's this Mr. Liu." Qian Mingduo's figure had disappeared in the vast snow. The leader handed the silver to the man and said, "Go find a place to change the silver into loose change. Divide it among the brothers."

Qian Mingduo had just slowly turned a corner when he suddenly heard the sound of a pipa coming from the front. It was so cold, could someone be performing in the snow?

He walked a few steps forward and saw an old man kneeling on the ground in front of a silk shop, with a little girl kneeling beside him. The little girl was holding a pipa in her arms, playing a piece of music that gradually faded away with her trembling little hands.

Both of them were wearing tattered clothes. The old man had white hair and beard and was hunched over. He kowtowed to passers-by. "Can someone please buy this little girl? I only want five taels of silver and I will be your slave for life. I only ask that kind-hearted people give her a bowl of rice to eat."

Qian Mingduo saw a few straw tags stuck on the girl's head and sighed. "This is selling a girl by sticking a tag on her head!"

"It's unlucky for you to sell people here in the middle of the day." The waiter of the tavern walked up to the old man and said, "My boss told you to sell somewhere else and not to sing here. It's bad luck, so leave now."

The old man struggled to get up, agreed timidly, took the child's hand, and looked for a place in the street.

"Grandpa," the little girl shivered with cold, "I'm hungry."

"Ling'er," the old man burst into tears, "how can we afford to eat? You have to sing well. Only if you sing well can people like you and buy you." The old man stood under a big tree, "Let's do it here. Grandpa kowtows to the kind-hearted people, you just sing well, ah!"

Although the girl was starving and cold, she was only trembling all over when she knelt on the ground and plucked the pipa, and the music was intermittent, but her small body was straight.

Qian Mingduo was about to step forward when he saw a man in a mink coat standing in front of the grandfather and grandson. He looked at the little girl carefully.

"Sir," the old man kept bowing, "please have pity on the child. For only five taels of silver, you can just treat it as buying a cat or a dog. Just give the child a bite to eat, that's all."

"Five taels of silver?" The man in the mink coat sneered, "Don't you know what you can buy with five taels of silver? Which cat or dog is worth five taels of silver? You can buy a finely crafted step-out bed with this money."

"Two taels of silver. I won't give you a penny more." The man in the mink coat lifted the girl's face and twisted it left and right.

"My Lord, this is a living person!" The old man wiped his tears, "Two taels of silver to buy a person?"