Travel to the mountains and make a fortune in silence

"Auntie, didn't you just say you were going home? Why are you pushing your way in now... Oh my god! Who stepped on my foot!"

A young woman in the crowd shouted at Wang Cuiying, but before she could finish speaking, someone behind her stepped on her foot hard, making her scream in pain.

Ignoring everyone else, Wang Cuiying continued to push her way into the courtyard, shouting loudly as she did so:

"Make way, make way for me! I need to get in! My daughter-in-law has been squeezed inside, I need to find her!"

And so, she continued to repeat the phrase as she struggled to move forward.

Meanwhile, the village chief, who was standing aside carefully examining the contract, also attracted a lot of attention.

Those people were whispering and pointing at each other, discussing the matter.

Wang Qing'er also stepped forward with a curious look and asked loudly, "Village Chief, are these contracts real?"

Upon hearing this, the people around immediately fell silent and all turned their attention to the contracts in the village chief's hand.

"Ah! It's all true, that Wang the Cripple is a real scoundrel..." The village chief sighed, cursing Wang the Cripple fiercely.

The sale of house foundations, land, and people all require a contract to be drawn up and stamped by the town government to be valid.

The village chief examined them carefully and found that all the contracts provided by the slave trader were valid.

Furthermore, there is only one brokerage firm in the town, and the village chief knows all of these people who came; they have dealt with them before.

"Now that the village chief has confirmed that the deed is genuine, I will take the person with me now. I will bring people to measure the fields and house site tomorrow. I will also need the village chief to guide me to the fields tomorrow."

"That's what the lead slave trader said, though he had already toned down his previous arrogant and domineering attitude."

"Since the contract is genuine, I certainly won't stop you from taking them away. However, their mother can't be buried until tomorrow. Could you wait until their mother is laid to rest before taking them away?"

The village chief also tried to negotiate with the slave trader in a friendly manner.

"I'm definitely taking her away today. My master is waiting for me to bring her back so he can resell her. The Liu family in town is in a hurry to buy a maid."

"The Liu family?" The village chief's heart skipped a beat when he heard that the Liu family wanted to buy a maid. Apart from some freckles on her face, Wang the Cripple's eldest daughter was quite pretty.

This girl is only thirteen years old. If she's sold to Master Liu's family, won't that old man ruin her?

Master Liu was a notorious lecher in the surrounding area. Even at fifty years old, he had a large number of concubines and maids in his household, and he had even slept with all the maids in his house.

It is said that Master Liu had a peculiar fetish: while committing his illicit acts, he would whip the girls and enjoy hearing their cries of pain and pleas for mercy.

"Brother, could you make an exception? Could they wait until their mother is buried before taking them away?"

The village chief pulled out a handful of copper coins from his pocket, intending to bribe the slave trader.

He wanted to buy some time, hoping that the Liu family would buy the girl and save Daya from this ordeal. They were from the same village, and he was the village chief; he couldn't let her fall into a trap.

The leading slave trader didn't reach out to take the money from the village chief's hand, and said somewhat impatiently:

“Village chief, it’s not that I’m being unreasonable, it’s just that we really have no choice. The client is pressing us hard, and the Liu family is offering a high price and are also regular customers. We can’t afford to offend them.”

Wang Qing'er suddenly asked, "How much silver is Master Liu offering for a maid?"

The broker was taken aback at first, but quickly recovered and said, "Master Liu's family buys maids, and as long as they are pretty, they cost fifty taels each."

Today, Wang Qing'er was coming to pay respects to Zhang Xianglan, so she specially wore a set of gray coarse cloth clothes and did not wear any headdress.

It looks rather tacky.

The slave trader glanced at Wang Qing'er, thinking that the village was full of poor people and they would definitely not buy people, so he told the truth.

Wang Qing'er then asked, "How much does it cost per person? Does the price vary depending on age?"

"Of course, they have to be divided. The bigger ones are more capable and therefore more expensive, while the smaller ones are much cheaper." Although the slave trader was a little impatient, he still told the truth.

After hearing this, Wang Qing'er said to the village chief, "Uncle Village Chief, please have someone call the Wang sisters out and let Brother Broker take a look. Maybe Master Liu won't be interested."

"Okay." The village chief had long heard that the Mu family's new bride was quite remarkable, and she hadn't shown any fear when she asked the broker a few questions.

The other wives in the village wouldn't even dare to talk to those fierce-looking, burly men.

Even just a glimpse from afar would make them instinctively shrink their necks, looking just like a frightened rabbit, trembling with fear and unease.

The village chief immediately signaled to the people beside him to quickly bring the girls out.

A commotion arose in the crowd, and Wang Cuiying struggled to back up and down, finally managing to squeeze to the side of her daughter-in-law.

She was panting, her forehead covered in large beads of sweat, fanning herself with her hand while muttering to herself:

"Oh my goodness! This is exhausting! Qing'er, what on earth are you up to?"

She quickly leaned close to her daughter-in-law's ear, lowered her voice, and cautiously asked, "Do you want to buy some of the Wang family's maids?"

The daughter-in-law wasn't the type to join in the fun, but she could guess what the girl was thinking.

Wang Qing'er smiled slightly and whispered in her mother-in-law's ear, "Mother, don't be in a hurry. Be patient and you'll understand in a little while."

After saying that, she winked playfully, deliberately keeping everyone in suspense.

Wang Cuiying wanted to say something more, but just then, the Wang family's maids were brought out of the mourning hall.

They lowered their heads, their steps hesitant, and slowly lined up in a row.

At this moment, the girls looked timid, their bodies trembling slightly, their hands tightly clutching the hem of their clothes, not daring to look up at anyone, and tears still on their faces.

Wang Qing'er calmly walked to the slave trader's side and politely said, "Brother, could you please help me take a look? Among these children, is there any that would catch Master Liu's eye?"

The lead slave trader stared at Wang Qing'er with suspicion, his brows furrowed, and his face showed extreme impatience. He shouted gruffly:

"Girl, what exactly do you mean by this? Whether Master Liu likes them or not, I'm going to take them away today."

Wang Qing'er remained calm and composed, smiled slightly, and responded in a soft but confident voice:

"Brother, don't rush. How about this? Let's take a look first. If there's no one that Master Liu would like, then why not give face to our village chief and the whole village? We can come back tomorrow to take them away. But if there is someone that Master Liu would like, then we have nothing to say. You can take them back as you please, and no one will stop you."