shark [rebirth]

"Very accurate." Pei Heng admired Xu Jin's carefulness, and at the same time questioned with a smile, "So you care so much about the female relatives."

Xu Jin didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and said: "It's very quiet here, as if isolated from the world, but in fact, the water and land routes are unobstructed, there is no large area of ​​farmland suitable for farming near the villages and towns, and there are not many domestic animals, but the people here don't seem to be poor. .”

After speaking, Xu Jin's expression was much more serious, and Pei Heng waited expectantly for his conclusion.

"So people here make money by marrying their daughters?" Xu Jin looked at Pei Heng in confusion.

Pei Heng laughed loudly, and pulled him out the door: "You are kind-hearted after all, there are doubts in it, and you will know it later."

The two of them walked slowly on the flagstone road among the bamboo huts, and along the winding road turned to a more winding path. The residents looked at them curiously and smiled friendlyly.

"The folk customs are simple, like the people of the Lüesa tribe in northern Xinjiang." Xu Jin commented.

Wearing a light-colored shirt, Pei Heng stood shoulder to shoulder with him, and said calmly: "Knowing people, knowing their faces but not knowing their hearts, is often just an appearance. The simpler and more ignorant a person is, the more he will make many foolish mistakes."

Xu Jin turned his head sideways: "For example?"

Pei Heng said: "From south to north in Dayan, there are many rural and secluded places like this, and many people have lived in the deep mountains for generations. Wherever there are people in the world, there are strife and conflicts. The secret agents of the Sandian Division will bring many creepy cases, such as the cannibalism in uneducated places, and the villagers' partnership to kill a family in order to plunder their fertile land and property...there are countless."

Xu Jin was dumbfounded. When people do evil, they are more terrifying than evil spirits: "In comparison, although prosperous places are eccentric and all-encompassing, they are easy to be discovered after committing crimes, and there are fewer such things."

Pei Heng thought for a while, and said: "It can be said like this, but for example, in places like the capital, once the gates of the big houses are closed, there are complicated grievances and hatreds inside, and there are even more appalling things. The rich and powerful do evil unscrupulously, and people become unscrupulous , they look pretty much the same."

"Not exactly." Xu Jin smiled at him with bent eyes, "Aren't there people like you?"

Pei Heng felt extremely relieved when he turned the corner and praised him. She gave him a slight push on the back of his waist and led him to the river.

Lush green grass covers the gentle open land from the bamboo house to the water. There are natural big rocks on the water bank. The women are squatting or standing there, with wooden basins on the bank. They take acacia powder, and the sound of washing and beating the clothes is mixed. Talking and laughing, the Jiangnan dialect is difficult to understand, and I can vaguely guess that it is a commonplace.

Pei Heng and Xu Jin stood at the upper reaches of the river, Xu Jin looked over, and indeed there were few girls in their early teens and twenties, the only one was a sixteen or seventeen year old girl who was very pretty, but not very social, and washed a basin of clothes Then he got up and left with the basin in his arms, as if he was used to not talking to any of them.

When the girl looked up, she saw Pei Heng and Xu Jin, she was taken aback for a moment, a smile appeared on her originally somewhat deserted face, and she walked over quickly.

When she got close, the girl bowed her knees and said, "Young master is here?"

Pei Heng smiled friendly: "Are you done? Let's go back together."

Just now a servant from the yard came over and wanted to tell Pei Heng and Xu Jin to go back to eat, so he took the girl's laundry tub and went back first.

"This is Adriana," Pei Heng introduced the girl to Xu Jin, "it's the daughter of the housekeeper. Her grandmother also lives in the house, and they take care of it on weekdays."

"Young Master saved our family before." Azhuona said to Xu Jin, "Young Master is a very good person."

Adriona didn't talk much, but she was friendly and accompanied them back quietly.

Xu Jin felt very keenly that Adrona's past was very complicated, and she had a kind of coldness and hardness that girls of this age don't usually have, like the utter desolation of returning to the world after bathing in a fierce fire.

"How do you know each other?" Xu Jin asked.

Back at the house, Azhuona went to find her grandmother, Pei Heng said to Xu Jin: "Their family was originally a hunter, hunting and gathering herbs for a living, one year they were ransacked by mountain bandits, I happened to lead my troops through, rescued them, and resettled them by the way. .”

Xu Jin nodded, knowing that leading the army here should still be with Lu Juanqing when he stayed in the Jiangzhou camp.

There are a few more people in the house, they look dusty, but looking carefully, they are neat and well-trained, they are actually Xuanjiawei.

The house was full of people, except for the servants who were hired to bring tea and water, the rest sat around a big table, without any distinction between high and low. They ate together, and there was no bustle of a big family.

Both Pei Heng and Yan Yunhou's mansion were always quiet, and such scenes were rare. Young Master Gu was very excited and had a big appetite. Adriona and her grandmother in her 60s liked these young people very much, and the old lady was alone. Jin Er asked Young Master Gu to eat more, feeling sorry for his thinness, Young Master Gu's stomach bulged in the end, and Yan Yunhou snatched the chopsticks: "I have never been idle all the way, and I will feel uncomfortable at night after eating again."

Pei Heng originally disliked eating crucian carp because he thought it was troublesome. He got stuck with fishbone when he was a child, so he never even drank soup, but the soup here was extremely delicious. After removing all the fishbones, Pei Heng drank two bowls, his face turned rosy.

The old mama ate slowly, and when she put down her chopsticks, everyone at the table put down their chopsticks very politely. Marquis Yan Yun took Young Master Gu out to play, and Pei Heng said a few words with the old man before going to the front hall.

This time there was nothing warm and harmonious, the door of the front hall was closed, Pei Heng and Xu Jin sat on the table, Xuanjiawei bowed, and the butler in charge of the house——Adriona's father also saluted.

"Finish." Pei Heng said.

Xuan Jiawei said: "There are disguised eyeliners waiting for many days in and out of Yangzhou City. When the prince goes, the governor will hear the news and come to welcome him."

Another list was handed over: "This is the guest list of Jingyuan Art Fair this year."

After Xuanjiawei finished his report, he went down. Azhuona's father said: "Young master, since you have been kind to my family, I haven't seen you for a few years."

Pei Heng said: "I see that you are doing well here, so I am relieved. Why is there no girl of the same age as Adriana in this place? Are they all married to Yangzhou City?"

Adriona's father looked a little resentful, and said as calmly as possible: "In recent years, commerce in the south of the Yangtze River has flourished, and the Huaihe River and Huaihe River have produced rich and powerful merchants, especially salt and tea. To make a living by selling young girls, the daughters are brought up to the age of marriage, and they are divided into first, second, and third grades, and then they are married to wealthy businessmen at different prices to be concubines. Many ordinary people send their daughters to the family, and the family gets a penny It has become a custom for a daughter to enjoy half her life's glory if she is lucky."

Xu Jin was silent when he heard the words, no wonder Pei Huan said that he was kind-hearted, he only knew about marrying daughters, but he didn't know that the whole village was willing to sell their daughters.

"Everyone's aptitude is different, can any girl marry into a noble family?" Xu Jin asked with a frown.

The man shook his head: "Of course not, those with average luck may marry a rich man who likes to beat and scold others, enjoying the glory and suffering at the same time; those who are unlucky will fall directly into brothels and become prostitutes, and they will suffer for the rest of their lives." .”

Xu Jin suddenly understood why Azhuona was estranged from the women when she was washing clothes by the river and did not talk to them. Some people probably persuaded her to go this way, which aroused her disgust.

"You're a good father." Xu Jin said to the housekeeper, who was taken aback and smiled: "It's better to live an ordinary and innocent life than to climb the one who shouldn't be climbed."

The housekeeper stepped back, the door opened wide, the blue sky and green forest outside, the whole world was carved like jade.

"This kind of atmosphere, although it is your wish, but in the long run it seems inappropriate, should the Yangzhou government take care of it?" Xu Jin asked.

Pei Heng thought for a while, and said, "As you said, the problem lies in the words 'Your love, I'm willing'. You don't know that many girls even go there voluntarily."

Xu Jin felt conflicted.

Pei Heng said: "This is just an appearance. The people who promote this trend are the root cause. Not everyone likes hoarding and marrying concubines. Many people have to do this in order to get into the circle."

"Whose circle?" Xu Jin exclaimed, is there such a strange thing in the world, who doesn't deserve to be friends if there are not enough wives?

Pei Heng smiled, picked up the teacup and took a sip: "It's still the most elegant person in the south of the Yangtze River, Liu Sijing."