Chapter 89 - Old Friend
Yin Xuetong’ left hand touched her soft right arm, which had been broken for more than a half year. All tendons and veins of her right arm were necrotic. Even the best doctors in the Qinghe Town couldn’t cure her. She didn’t know why a disabled girl like her would be among the selected people.
She looked up and saw the girl standing in the crowd, who never said a word. She was her future owner. What on earth was...the criteria for her to select people?
In the third round, Qu Qingning took the Dictionary of Dahan and began to test the knowledge of the rest people. Some answered very smoothly, some stuttered, and some were pale, and they could not answer anything.
Soon, it was Yin Xuetong’s turn. She saw the man in front of her point indifferently at the first line on the first page of the Dictionary of Dahan. She immediately kept her eyes open a little wider and clearly saw the man turn to the middle pages to test others. Why was it the simplest Page 1 for her?
The first word was “People”.
Yin Xuetong became more and more confused, but she also knew that she must not miss such chance. She immediately replied nervously, “People like you and me are living beings in the world.”
Qu Qingning didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Eventually, without showing any expression, he turned the Dictionary of Dahan into the middle pages to test the next person.
Soon, the remaining 30 people were divided into three teams. The first team was composed of those who couldn’t answer it, the second team was composed of who could give a half answer, and the third team was composed of those who could answer it completely.
Qu Qingning returned to Su Li’s side. Su Li glanced at Yin Xuetong in the crowd, who had broken her right arm. Yin Xuetong was confused and a little excited. A hint of profound meaning flashed in Su Li’s eyes. At this time, Fang Yuan came with his lips quivering, but he didn’t make a sound.
Condensing the sound into a line and transmitting the sound in silence!
Yan Ziye shrank his eyes when he saw the scene. Transmitting the sound in silence was a secret method which could be mastered by a senior who acquired eighth hurdle. The origins of the three people were really horrible!
He could not help but be discouraged when he thought that he only acquired fourth hurdle.
Compared with the people in the martial arts circle, he was not as good as a servant of other people.
Hearing what Fang Yuan said, Su Li nodded slightly. She accidentally saw a skinny teenager in the first team. Then she took over the number cards of more than thirty people and began to choose personally.
The boss of the broker house bent over and stood at Su Li’s side. He said shrewdly, “People whose name was called, stand up at once!”
Su Li looked at the boss of the broker house and chose six number cards to him.
“Zhang Heniu!”
“Li Sandan!”
“Wu Yajun!”
“...”
People whose names were called immediately looked happy and stepped out. They were in the team composed of those who didn’t answer anything, but they were surprised that they could still be chosen.
The boss of the broker house stopped when he called the sixth name. It seemed to be over.
Yin Xuetong was pale, and she knew that her name was not included.
“Mr. Li?”
The boss of the broker house asked doubtfully with the number card. The people who were called out were not very good. Why did she choose these people to buy?
Su Li smiled. For the first time, her strange voice came out in front of a group of prisoners of war, “Except these six people, I bought all the rest. Boss of the broker house, calculate the price.”
What?!
Looking at the rest 27 people, the boss of the broker house was instantly dumbfounded. You would buy almost all of them? With the six people he brought before, there were 33 people!
What a big business!
The boss of the broker house was happy and suddenly thought of the origins of the three people. He couldn’t help but feel bitter and he honestly said, “Mr. Li, the six kids of the broker house were worth little money. I can decide to give them to you, but you should pay a sum of money for prisoners in the prisoner camp as soldiers’ pay. One people is worth 100 taels and 27 people are worth 2,700 taels of silver.”
Su Li nodded slightly to Qu Qingning, who immediately took out 27 hundred-denominated banknote and handed them to the officer.
Seeing Su Li was so straightforward, the boss of the broker house burst into laughter. He helped the military camp get so much soldier’s pay, so, his benefits were far more than the value of the six slave boys he sent out.
The officer was happy to get the bank note in such a short time. Two large carriages were arranged for Su Li to take people back.
Before leaving, Su Li looked at Yan Ziye, who was distressed, and she said slowly, “If you are not sure, just let them choose their own future.”
Yan Ziye was stupefied when hearing what she said. He was about to ask Su Li what she meant, but he just saw that she had gone with the carriages.
Yan Ziye came to his sense and saw a group of girls beg him with their bright eyes. He could not help sighing. It was really impulsive.
As soon as they left the prisoner camp, a group of young boys and girls sitting in the carriages were immediately excited. They looked out and breathed the outside air greedily.
Seeing Qu Qingning sit on the side of the carriage door and doze, a boy sitting in the innermost part of the carriage wanted to run away at once, but when he just turned around and was going to climb out of the window, with a flash of the blade, the tip of a blade was on his neck suddenly. If he moved one inch further, he would bleed.
The cold feeling from the blade immediately made him get goose bumps, and he could not move at all.
Qu Qingning gave a cold hum and took back the long blade. He said slightly, “If anyone dares to run away again, I will not show you mercy. The owner wants to buy twenty people, but now there are thirteen more. It’s nothing to kill one or two.”
Then people sitting in the carriage instantly were in silence. They just came out of that terrible place. Nobody wanted to die on the road.
Seeing everyone was quiet, Qu Qingning sat down again, but he was furious. Su Li refused him to stay in the same carriage with Xuetong. She must be on purpose.
Thinking of this, he looked at the thin teenager sitting in the middle of the crowd. It seemed that he could not even manage to raise his head. Qu Qingning felt strange.
He seemed to have seen the face before, but he couldn’t remember...What was the relationship between Fang Yuan and him?
At the moment, the same escaping incident happened in the front carriage. Fang Yuan quietly dislocated one arm of the man who tried to escape. The whole carriage instantly became quieter than the prisoner camp.
Yin Xuetong was pale and huddled in the innermost part of the carriage. She felt bad. The people who bought them turned out to be from the martial arts circle. She used to hear in her clan that some evil families used people to do experiments in cruel means.
Was she bought by such a clan? Otherwise, how could they even choose a disabled person?
At the thought of this, Yin Xuetong’s face was paler, and not ruddy any more. Did she just leave the wolf pack and then come in the mouth of a tiger?
At the moment when Yin Xuetong almost wanted to commit suicide, the carriage finally stopped.
“Everyone, get off the carriage in turn. Keep quiet!”
Hearing Fang Yuan’s voice, the people in the two carriages were silent for a moment. The first one walking down the carriage was the skinny teenager. He struggled to get out of the carriage and saw the beautiful buildings in front of him. His expression changed instantly.
Following him, the remaining 32 slaves stepped out of the carriages one after another and were shocked at the luxurious and beautiful three-story buildings. Were they going to live here in the future?
Su Li and other two guys didn’t stay. After they walked in the restaurant, Heidan and other people came out from it soon.
They were originally born into beggars, and were trained successively by Qu Qingning and Ling Li. At this moment, they had no inferiority of beggars. Everyone was calm and relaxed with the temperament of disciples from large schools.
They were wearing unified clothes of Linli Building designed by Su Li personally. The clothes were divided into two kinds. One kind was light blue and pink for ordinary manservants and maids. The other kind was black-gold suit worn by Heian and other people. On the part of the right chest, the two characters of “淋漓” (Linli) were embroidered with gold thread. It was simple and imposing!
Many inexperienced prisoners of war couldn’t help but exclaim. Yin Xuetong and the thin teenager blinked at the same time. They saw that all these teenagers had cultivations.
Heidan was never so proud as he was today. He felt so happy. But he knew that he had got in touch with the Young Master before, so he would not be frightened by such small scenes. He immediately said loudly,
“The place where you are today is the Linli Building! People who pass the test and training will become the servants of the Linli Building. Come with me.”
Heidan led a group of people to the vacant land behind the Linli Building. There were still a lot of bluestone bricks and wood.
Heidan coughed deliberately and pointed at the bricks and wood. He said, “This is the first test for you. Whoever can build his own residence will pass the test and stay. During this period, the Linli Building will provide you with food so that you will not starve to death. As for the other things, you are on your own. There are guards all around here. If you want to run away, don’t blame me for my ruthlessness!”
The words of Heidan sounded not so pleasant, but the eyes of all people on the spot were lit up by “hope”. They had been marked as prisoners of war. If they fled, they would be killed immediately. They had even thought about how miserable their future would be. But they didn’t expect that they would be bought as servants who were provided with food and shelter or even unlimited freedom in the future. Such good things couldn’t be found with lanterns.
Almost no one hesitated for that and they immediately lifted bricks and wood and began to build their own house. With inexplicable light in his eyes, the skinny teenager struggled to grab a piece of stone and wanted to lift it. He tried very hard but the stone still did not move, which caused a burst of laughter. But the skinny teenager continued to struggle with the stone as if he didn’t hear anything.
Yin Xuetong gritted her teeth and pushed the stone with one hand. However, with her right hand drooped, she couldn’t pile up the stone. How could she build a house?
Many people stared at the two people. Where there were people, there was Jianghu and there were comparisons. The skinny teenager and Yin Xuetong were the weakest in the thirty-three people. If there were no accident, they would soon be driven out of the Linli Building and became beggars or returned to the prisoner camp where living was worse than death.
Sooner, Heidan appeared again. He pointed to the skinny teenager and Yin Xuetong and shouted, “Come here, both of you!”
The skinny teenager was sweating and panting like a patient with tuberculosis. It seemed that he would be dead next second. He heard Heidan’s voice and walked slowly to him. He said anxiously to Heidan in a low voice,
“It is still early from the appointed date, and I can finish the house...”
It’s so hard for him to grasp the chance to live, and he didn’t want to give up!
Yin Xuetong was pale. She held her right arm and her beautiful eyes were full of the sentiment of begging.
Heidan looked strange, but still did not say anything. He waved his hands and said, “Follow me.”
The skinny teenager breathed slowly and did not say anything to beg. He silently followed Heidan. Yin Xuetong sighed. Then she held her right arm and followed.