Troubled Times: Start with 800 Dead Soldiers

As a prostitute at her age and not very good looking, she could only stand on the street "doing business".

Only those who are young and beautiful have the opportunity to go to brothels. The advantage of being in a brothel is that they are not subject to government scrutiny and can do "compliant" business.

Of course, in a brothel, you have to pay taxes to the government and make friends with the madam. It is so troublesome, so it is better to be an "individual" and be free.

But as she gets older, her recent business has not been so good.

Most of the "acquaintances" who came to see her were from nearby families who had poor backgrounds and had no wives. They only wanted to have a good time with her. For prostitutes like her, dignitaries and those with a little bit of "mesophobia" would not touch her at all.

As for her familiar customers, most of whom have little money, they are not only rude, but also "lower prices" on her several times, and sometimes even default on their debts!

In fact, the path she took was also forced by life.

The children at home were crying for food. If it weren't for the fact that she couldn't get rid of the blame, she would really want to kick to death those who "embarrassed" her.

This is what is called forcing a good girl into prostitution, and it was a helpless act for her to do this.

Seeing such a young and handsome man talking to her, the prostitute actually became interested and felt a little shy. However, it’s still worth the money.

After all, feelings are feelings and business is business.

One code equals the other, she can't break the rules for Su Xia.

Thinking of this, the woman stretched out three fingers.

Su Xia thought to herself: "Could it be that this person wants me to spend three taels of silver to spend the night?"

But when I think about it carefully, it seems wrong. The prostitutes on this street should be very cheap. How come they are so expensive? They probably cost about three yuan of silver.

(One tael of silver is equal to ten coins of silver)

In any case, he was not sure what it meant, so he asked: "Just tell me the number."

The prostitute was stunned. Although she saw that Su Xia was not a regular customer, she didn't want to deceive this young man, so she quoted the market price and said, "Thirty cents."

Upon hearing the price, not only Su Xia was confused, but Tao Zongcai who was following behind was also confused.

(Thirty cents: According to the purchasing power of one tael of silver, it is worth about 800 yuan. I originally thought that this person wanted three cents of silver for about 300 yuan, but I didn’t want to pay [-] cents, so I only needed [-] yuan for a night. ?)

This is simply "super affordable", isn't it?

However, Su Xia added: "It's not just me, there are two of us!"

"What did you say?" The prostitute was obviously stunned after hearing this and asked.

After Su Xia finished speaking, she looked back at the big man and repeated: "I said there are two of us!"

As soon as she said this, the prostitute became even more panicked, and her face turned red. Su Xia guessed that she had never seen such a "client" before.

This requirement is indeed a bit "excessive".

For a moment, the prostitute gritted her teeth, as if she had made a lot of determination, and said nervously: "You two together, I need more money, fifty coins!"

Naturally, Su Xia and Tao Zongcai would not sleep with her. They were just looking for a place to spend the night to avoid being hunted by Xu Yanei and his servants, so they naturally agreed: "Fifty yuan, no problem, let's go!"

The two followed the woman into a dilapidated alley in the alley. The moonlight was good tonight, but the prostitute didn't light a lamp. Su Xia was probably afraid of wasting lamp oil. She only had fifty cents, so it was hard to ask for anything.

It was the prostitute who spoke first, her voice trembling: "To be honest with you two, this is my first time with two people. The moonlight is very good tonight, so I will take advantage of the moonlight and not light the lamp. You two, you two Whoever comes first."

Listening to the prostitute's uneasy explanation, Su Xia actually felt a little sad.

Before they could speak, the prostitute continued: "Just keep your voice down for a while, so as not to be caught by the military patrol officers who patrolled the shop at night. I was caught by the government once and had to pay a lot of money before I could escape."

(Military inspection shop: a grassroots security agency in the Northern Song Dynasty, which was responsible for inspections and was responsible for fire protection and public security.)

Su Xia nodded and said: "Sister-in-law, we two are a little sleepy. We are not in a hurry. Please sit down and see if there is water."

As soon as Su Xia finished speaking, the prostitute was a little stunned. Ever since she started this business, all the customers she came into contact with were impatient, and they all seemed eager to overfulfill their tasks.

What's more, they remained silent throughout the whole process. They were not in a hurry. Instead, they asked her to sit down but never did.

Then he asked: "Do you two want to drink water?"

Su Xia nodded, and the prostitute hurriedly took out the bowl, took out two ladles of water under the moonlight, and handed them over.

Su Xia stood up and took it: "Sister-in-law, please sit down. We just want to have a place to rest."

Tao Zongcai on the side didn't say much. Instead, he put away his luggage and stood down blankly.

Su Xia then said: "Brother Zongcai, if you are tired and sleepy, please rest first."

Tao Zongcai had already eaten too much Leng Yuanzi. When Su Xia said he could rest, he immediately climbed onto the earthen bed, held his stomach and fell asleep.

Su Xia noticed that the room here was not big, and the earthen bed was not big either. There was a table on it, and Tao Zongcai was big, so it would be an obstruction for three people to sleep, so he took it upon himself to take down the table.

Seeing this, the prostitute mistakenly thought that Su Xia was about to "start" and stood up to cooperate.

Su Xia hurriedly waved her hand: "Sister-in-law, wait a minute. You can chat with me here. We are just taking a short rest here. Don't worry, you will not be short of money."

After saying that, Su Xia was afraid that the other party would not believe it, so she took out a pile of copper coins from her arms, counted about fifty or sixty, and threw them on the soil bed: "Sister-in-law, you have counted enough!"

Seeing the other party counting the money, Su Xia leaned on the soil bed. No matter how he collected it, he would spend the night here tonight.

.......

In Bianjing City, the government officials were searching for Su Xia in all the major post offices.

The two men saw Su Xia's face clearly and remembered the clothes Su Xia wore. They thought Su Xia was a rich man from the clothes he wore, so they found dozens of people wearing similar clothes to Su Xia from various post houses. The people were asked to be identified one by one by Xu Yanei.

However, these unlucky guys who were resting in the guest room didn't know what was going on. They never thought that this incident was because the prince of Yushi Zhongcheng was beaten after drinking. Therefore, hundreds of Kaifeng government officials and servants were mobilized to search merchants one by one.

Or it could be said that one person ascends to the Dao, chickens and dogs ascend to heaven. This Mr. Xu, who has neither rank nor actual official position, relies on his father's power to actually command hundreds of government officials to find the attacker for him. It sounds a bit strange. absurd.

However, the farce was stopped by the steward sent by Yushi Zhongcheng.

The reason is very simple. The censor Zhongcheng does not want to be so high-profile. Although he is a huge greedy person, he knows the way of being an official very well. How can he be so high-profile? How can I get an official position?