Passerby's daily life

Chapter 4
This is actually a story about the mantis catching the cicada and the oriole.

The eldest prince Liang Wang conspired to kill the prince and forced the old emperor to write an abdication edict.Unexpectedly, the second prince Rong Wang, who had never been seen or leaked, first took out Liang Wang's old nest and killed Liang Wang and Prince Liang's heirs, and then entered the palace under the banner of the Qing Dynasty to kill Liang Wang.

The old emperor was already in poor health, and this toss went straight to the west. Before he died, he pointed at King Rong "you" for a long time, and the eunuch who accompanied him said directly: "The emperor's will, King Rong will succeed."

In fact, there is no one else to say, because the old emperor loved his precious concubine for 40 years and 30 years, and the three thousand beauties in the harem only gave birth to three sons and two princesses. Such a single seedling, I have to say that King Rong is very scheming.

Winners and losers, so after dawn, the first imperial decree had already arrived at Li Guogong's mansion before the new emperor ascended the throne.

All the sons of the Ruan family's direct branch above the age of 15 beheaded to show the public, and the boys under the age of 15 were exiled to the northwest; the female family members were all used as official slaves except for the wife of the former Li Guogong who signed the divorce letter, and the Qin family used His large dowry was exchanged for the freedom of his own daughter.

The old lady of the Duke of Li's mansion was ashamed of her ancestors and hanged herself. For a while, the whole mansion cried loudly.

Under the supervision of the imperial guards, all the female relatives took off their hairpins, rings and purses, leaving only their clothes in the female prison. The only thing waiting for them was to sell them. membership.

Every official slave has a record in the government. Once becoming an official slave, it means that they have been slaves for generations, and they cannot be redeemed or bought, and they are even inferior to having children.

At the beginning, everyone would cry, but after two days of being locked up, each person was only given a bowl of water and a black-faced cornbread a day, so they didn't have the strength to cry.

The snacks that Ruan Susu secretly packed were given to the two-year-old niece of the second sister-in-law's family. She is not the Holy Mother, but she can't watch such a young child starve to death.

The women's prison is dark and dark, conveniently there is only one toilet, there is only some damp thatch on the ground, and there is not enough water to drink every day, let alone wash your face and mouth.

Ruan Susu has been hiding in the corner watching the heroine, and saw that it took only half a day for her to go from despair to calmness, and she dared to ask the prison boss for a flint, and set the thatch on fire to dry the other thatch.

After that, Susu, who was so hungry and weak, could only lean against the corner of the wall, secretly took out a piece of jerky and chewed it slowly.

Five days later, the female relatives who were too hungry to walk were pulled out of the women's prison, and faced with several prostitutes, two or three of whom often walked around the Duke's Mansion.

In the past, it was the wives who picked and picked the girls and women brought by the matchmakers, but now the matchmakers pick and choose them. It's really a turn of events.

The maids are not locked up with the masters, so they must have bought it long ago.

There is still a market for the servants of the Duke's Mansion, but there is no market for the female family members who are sold in the capital.Most of the wives from each family know each other well, so there is no embarrassment in buying them.

There are also ranks among the matchmakers. The official matchmaker has a higher status than the private matchmaker, and the matchmaker who goes to the rich family of officials has a higher status than the matchmaker who goes to the landlord's house. The lowest class is those who work with brothels.

The head of the burly female prison laughed and said, "You are lucky. Mrs. Qin said that it is a crime committed by your parents that you are slaves and servants. She can't control it, but Seventh Miss will never allow sisters who are sold into dirty places."

Hearing this, all the female relatives burst into tears.Although it was for the sake of Seventh Girl, she also knew how much pressure Mrs. Qin was under when she said this. After all, the new emperor hated Li Guogong's mansion so much that his teeth hurt, and it would be hard to get rid of his hatred if he didn't kill them all!
The first person to be picked was a well-dressed matchmaker in her thirties, Ruan Susu shrank back calmly.

She knew that the heroine was the first batch to be picked away, and she picked out all the girls who were ten years old and above, and she seemed to want to take another look. A very kind toothmaid in her 40s smiled and said: "Sister It's neat, it seems that they don't even call us soup?"

This toothmaid, Susu, has the impression that she is Zhao's mother who often goes to the Duke's mansion.

The first matchmaker also felt a little embarrassed, but said on the face: "Sister, don't say that, follow me, sister, these little ladies will not suffer." But in the end, let it go.

Zhao's mother knew that this girl had some background, and when she saw her give up, she didn't say anything else. She only picked three people, the remaining seven or eight-year-old girls - Eleven Niang, Twelve Niang, and Su Su. Before I could say goodbye, I left with different prostitutes. This time I don't know when I will meet again.

Ruan Susu and the others followed Madam Zhao into a carriage, and there were three or four girls aged seven or eight in the carriage, all of whom seemed to be ladies from official families.

The original owner didn't go out very much, so he didn't recognize them, but Eleven Niang and Twelve Niang were the daughters of three and four, and they knew some people, so they cried again for a while.

Mother Zhao didn't care about them, she just watched them coldly.Ruan Susu shrank aside, and also felt the gaze of her mother.

The carriage walked slowly for about half an hour before arriving at the place, which was a small courtyard with two entrances.The girls got out of the carriage and went into the yard, and there were five or six girls of about the same size who were bought by another woman.

Standing in the yard, Mother Zhao said coldly: "You are all girls from a rich family, you know the word of rules best, and you don't need me to bother to teach you anything, we will go south tomorrow, whoever will do anything to me on the way? Moths, but they don’t matter if they are killed.”

Zhao's mother looked at the trembling little girls, and she softened her tone for a while: "Mom, I am not a black heart, I will never harm you, I don't go to those dirty places, I only go to the rich and noble people. There is always a way to look good."

After speaking, he asked the lady next to him to bring the little girls into the house. There is no need to think about taking a bath in hot water. Also wear their own.

Dinner was a bowl of brown rice porridge and a steamed bun made of white flour. After eating, it would be dark. A dozen or so little girls were crowded on a large bunk, each with only a thin quilt.Fortunately, there was a fire on the kang, and it was a little warm.

Ruan Susu thought she couldn't fall asleep, but she fell asleep within 2 minutes. In her dream, she was still the dick who earned 2000 yuan a month to rent a house, tired but self-sufficient.

In a battle for the throne, it wasn't just the aristocratic officials in the capital that ransacked their homes and seized the titles.

The carriage pulling the little girls changed from one to two and then three to four, with no fewer than three or forty people.

In addition to the handlebar style of driving, each car is equipped with a woman and two strong men. Each little girl gets two bowls of water, two palm-sized cornmeal and corn flour mixed with white flour. The hard black-faced steamed buns eaten in women's prisons are even stronger.

Except for regular releases, they are not allowed to get out of the car. It is not that no one wanted to escape, but unfortunately they were caught back after running a few steps.

Mother Zhao didn't beat anyone or scold anyone, she was just hungry, and everyone's food was halved, Su Su huddled in the corner, touched the bank notes and jewelry on her body, and ate whatever was available without saying a word.

Ruan Susu is not in the same car as Eleven Niang and Twelve Niang. She bought this car later, and not all of her voices are official family members. They are all good, two of them are older, about ten years old, one has too many siblings to support, and the other is sold by stepmother, seeing that Susu looks good, delicate and weak, I can talk to Susu A few words.

After walking on the official road for a few days and boarding the boat again, Ruan Susu knew that she came to Tianjinwei from the capital city, and she probably had to take the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. In Tianjin, several familiar faces of Susu disappeared, including Ruan family's eleventh and twelve mothers, they should have been bought.

Afterwards, the merchant ship stopped as soon as it arrived at the port, and some little girls were dragged down, some came back and some did not. On the way, Mother Zhao would still buy some maids, and there were also some poor servants and some women who knew crafts.

Susu looked at it secretly, it seems that this mother Zhao's dental business should not be small, at least ordinary people can charter a whole merchant ship.

I don't know if it's Ruan Susu's illusion, every time Mother Zhao pulls people off the boat, she picks and chooses her, but she never lets Susu off the boat, it's more like looking at her health.

Halfway through the boat trip, there were not any of the prisoner's family members bought by the capital except Susu.

After walking on the water for almost a month, I finally arrived at my destination - Yangzhou.

There are only two people around Ruan Susu who are still familiar, and they are the two peasant girls from the suburbs of Beijing. Now Susu already knows their names. One is Da Ya and the other is Tao Hua. They are very down-to-earth.

And Susu herself didn't mention a word about her life experience, she only told them her nickname, Susu, and when she mentioned her life experience, she looked sad, and the two girls just said: "I have never seen a girl who is more beautiful than Susu." It's like a sin to make her sad."

Naturally, the issue of background was exposed, and Susu also imitated their habits, adding some local flavor to the standard Beijing accent.

A group of more than a dozen little girls and seven or eight women were pulled from Yangzhou Port by two carriages to a small house in Yangzhou City. Some servants had prepared hot water and clothes, this time from the inside to the outside.

Although the little bellyband on her body had been worn for almost a month and a half, and it was already dirty, but Susu still tied it secretly with her belt. Now that it is November, the clothes are thick and not conspicuous.

The clothes provided are cotton-padded jackets and trousers made of dirt-resistant coarse cloth, with a blouse on the outside. Although they are only [-]-[-]% new, they are clean.

After drying their hair, the little girls helped each other tie two buns, and then they were taken to the courtyard. Mother Zhao once again lectured: "Tomorrow, the Song family in Yangzhou prefecture picks maids, and the Song family not only has a lot of money at home Cheng Shan, the master treats his servants with the most generosity, I have memorized the rules I taught you these days, and it depends on your luck whether you choose or not."

Susu thought of the rules she learned on the boat, but they were actually quite simple, summed up in seven words: "Speak less, do more and don't just look around."

Generally, wealthy families seldom buy outsiders, and some of them have children from the family, but if some of the children are released, or the whole family sells them by stealing and cheating, it is natural to add new blood.

After Zhao's mother finished her training, she asked the maid to bring the little girls into the house. It was still a Datong shop, with a bed of quilts on the wooden boards. Then each little girl was taken to see Zhao's mother individually, and when she came back, she said that Zhao's mother It's just a warning, don't embarrass her when you go to the Song Mansion tomorrow.

Finally it was Susu's turn...

(End of this chapter)