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Chapter 130
☆、Chapter 2 Bargaining
Against the background of the firelight, the youth's delicate face was somewhat unreal, and only those bright eyes were very conspicuous.
"Don't you only have one hundred taels? Excluding the toll, it's only sixty taels." Zhou Jin walked over and squatted in front of him.
Xiao Yuan was choked for a moment, rolled his eyes and said, "I have some private property in Beijing, three hundred taels are nothing to worry about, and there are relatives who are officials in Beijing, so I can give you two a new household registration."
When the thin man heard the words, his eyes suddenly lit up: "Is this true?" It is really helpless to be a pirate. If he can become a farmer or a merchant, he will no longer be afraid, and he will live a life of a wife and daughter-in-law. good thing.
Zhou Jin shook his head secretly, his younger brother seemed so anxious, it would be difficult to talk to Xiao Yuan about more conditions. He drew his knife and neatly cut off the ropes on the two of them.
Xiao Yuan stood up, rubbed his numb wrists, sat by the fire with the two bandits, took the roasted sweet potato that Zhou Jin handed over, opened it, blew it, and ate it happily.
"Do you know that these three hundred taels were originally used to buy one of your hands?" Zhou Jin looked at the book boy who was still shrinking and trembling, and then looked at Xiao Yuan, who was eating sweetly, wondering if this second son of Xiao was real Not afraid, still pretending to be calm, "It's easy to chop a hand, and it's more than this price to protect you for a thousand miles."
"Three hundred taels, buy me a hand?" Xiao Yuan's eyes widened.
"Are you afraid?" The thin man proudly shook the sharp knife in his hand.
"It's a loss," Xiao Yuan curled his lips and stretched out a slender and fair hand, "This is the hand of Jiangzhou Jieyuan, and next year it will be the hand of the champion of the Dachen Dynasty. Do you know how much a champion's calligraphy and painting can be sold for? money?"
The thin man shook his head blankly.
Xiao Yuan sighed and made a careful calculation with him, from the value of the essays of the champions of the Chen Dynasty to how many essays he can write in a year, and what the sky-high price would be to ask him to take the exam for him. . All in all, it is really too cheap to buy this champion for three hundred taels. "Doing business with the Xiao family, you have suffered a big loss!"
The thin man nodded repeatedly.
Zhou Jin was surprised and looked up at Xiao Yuan.
The thin man also came to his senses, realizing that he missed his mouth when he nodded.
"You want to know, who is that person?" Zhou Jin looked at him firmly.
Xiao Yuan lowered his head, was silent for a moment, and said slowly, "I don't want to know."
Zhou Jin pursed his lips. After all, he was still a teenager. No matter how calm his face was, he knew that it was his family who wanted to harm him. After all...
Before waiting for the suddenly kind-hearted thief Zhou Shan to comfort him, Xiao Yuanfu spoke again and said decisively: "Ordinary escorts, sending people to the capital, the asking price is only twenty taels of silver, I will give you three hundred taels, it is already It's sky-high." That's pretty obvious, don't try to use any so-called "secrets" to get your hands dirty!
Zhou Jin narrowed his eyes and looked at Xiao Yuan, and the boy hurriedly hid behind his young master. His eyes were so terrifying, as if countless sharp knives flew past, slashing people's cheeks.
Xiao Yuan took it in stride, lowered his head and continued to eat sweet potatoes.
"Deal." Zhou Jin couldn't help bending the corners of his mouth, this Second Young Master Xiao is really interesting.
The left and right hilltops could no longer stay, and the business with the Xiao family could not be done. The two thieves decisively gave up and continued to kidnap the ticket, and took over the business that Xiao Yuan called "steady profit without loss" without hesitation. After simply repairing the carriage, Zhou Jin brought his horse over to pull the carriage.
"Grey—" Maxima, who was used as a laborer, was very unhappy.
Zhou Jin hurriedly stepped forward and smoothed the horse's hair: "Buy mules and horses when you go to the town at the foot of the mountain, and feel wronged." He comforted the horse and instructed the thin man to drive the carriage. He quickly extinguished the bonfire, cleaned it up, and held a torch. Lead the way ahead. Niu Laosan went back to report, saying that when the cottage would send someone over again, he had to leave the Mangshan area as soon as possible.
The four of them ran down the mountain overnight, heading north all the way to the capital.
In the first few days, was afraid that the thieves would catch up, so picked up the path and walked. Fortunately, Zhou Jin's cooking skills are good. Roasted rabbits and roasted chickens are very delicious. Xiao Yuan has gained a lot of weight after eating, and he doesn't look like he is running for his life at all.
"I fled to Danyang when I was young. My family died and there was no way to survive, so I followed the former village owner and fell to the grass." Zhou Jin leaned against the tree trunk and looked up at the stars in the sky.
Xiao Yuan put on a quilt and sat with him, listening to him talk about his previous heroic deeds while nibbling on chicken legs: "Do you think you are a hero who robs the rich and helps the poor?"
Zhou Jin took a sip of the water bag, which contained the wine he bought in the previous town: "I thought so when I was young..."
"The wealth of the rich is also saved by a penny, even if some people are rich and unkind, it is not your turn to act for the heavens," Xiao Yuan snorted, and threw the chicken bones in his hands, "If everyone is How can weak people survive? If you don’t respect the law, what is the difference between people and those wild beasts?”
Zhou Jin paused when he was drinking, then slowly turned his head to look at the young man beside him. These truths, he also wanted to understand recently, but he just realized that what he did was not a chivalrous act, but what the young man saw was the overall situation of the whole world.
"Why, you were influenced by Ben Jieyuan?" Xiao Yuan raised his chin proudly, "Then give me the other chicken leg too."
Zhou Jin was stunned for a while, handed over the roast chicken beside him, and watched Xiao Yuan happily tear off another chicken leg and ate it in big gulps. He couldn't help but smile slightly, and his heart suddenly opened up.
"What you've made is really delicious. You can open a restaurant in the capital in the future." Xiao Yuan ate the chicken legs and two chicken wings before rubbing his belly.
From Jiangzhou to the north, go to the capital, and pass through Yuzhou. Coinciding with the flooding of the Yellow River, the people of several villages and counties were displaced.
Xiao Yuan lifted the curtain of the car and frowned at the refugees.
"Put down the curtains!" Zhou Jin, who was riding a horse outside, shouted in a low voice.
"Huh?" Before Xiao Yuan could react, many refugees had already gathered around.
"Young master, do it well, give me something to eat." A few men in ragged clothes grabbed the hood of the car.
The book boy wrinkled his nose and shrank back. Suddenly a child was thrown onto the carriage, and the little book boy subconsciously helped him.
"Brother, I'm hungry." The little boy's face was yellow and thin, and his eyes became bigger and bigger.
The book boy himself was a half-year-old child, so when he saw such a poor person, he couldn't help but soften his heart, and took out his hidden snacks from his arms for the child to eat.
Clinker, this digging caused trouble. Before the child could eat the cake, it was snatched by a man, and he burst into tears. Found that there is food here, the crowd began to stir, rushing to rush over.
Someone had already climbed into the carriage and went straight to Xiao Yuan's car.
"Crack!" With a crisp sound, Zhou Jin's horse whip slammed into the man, causing a scream.
"Go away!" Zhou Jin shouted, and the jet-black whip once again hit the person trying to snatch the cart and horse.
The thin man raised his head, showing a fierce look on his face, reached out and pulled out a sharp knife, shaking it in the sun: "Brothers have just come down from the fortress, and they carry a few lives on their backs. If you are not afraid of death, come grab them!"
The refugees were immediately stunned. They were just hungry for a few days, and they were in a hurry. They walked forward to the town. heard that the prefect over there has opened a warehouse to release grain, and they can be moved to other places to continue farming. Although the scholar in the car looked weak and bullying, the two of them looked like bandits and they were not easy to mess with, and they didn't want to risk their lives for the sake of a temporary appetite.
The few men who were holding on to the cabs let go of their hands embarrassingly, and those who were not far away also rested their minds and lowered their heads to continue digging the roots and bark.
Zhou Jin beat the horse and walked in front, the thin man held the knife in one hand and drove the carriage, and the group quickly passed through the county and went straight to the official road.
"Master, I was wrong, woo..." Shutong wiped his tears and confessed to his young master.
"I don't blame you," Xiao Yuan rubbed the book boy's head, sighed, and waited until the official road was steady, then stuck his head out and said to the tall and straight back on the horse, "Thank you. ."
When Zhou Jin turned around, the curtain of the car was still lowered, as if the person who thanked him had never appeared, and hooked his lips inexplicably.
All the way to the capital without any danger.
The Xiao family and Dingyuan Hou are family relatives who have five clothes. The uncle originally asked Xiao Yuan to live in Dingyuan Hou’s mansion after he came to the capital, but Xiao Yuan just visited politely, and the people still lived in the inn. .
I wrote a letter to Xiao Jiabao to ensure safety, and wrote half-truths about the encounter with the mountain bandits on the way, and asked someone to take them to Jiangnan, so started to study and prepare for the next year's spring.