After being exiled, she married a rough man, and the sickly beauty was spoiled

"Brother, don't listen to her. We are selling salt privately. If we are caught by the salt shop owner, our legs will be broken!" One of the porters with high cheekbones lowered his eyebrows and stopped her in a deep voice.

Although they had worked hard to pick the salt, they were not qualified to sell it privately, and if they were caught, a beating would be the lightest punishment.

The older porter pursed his lips tightly, hesitated for a moment, took out the only copper coin he had and handed it to Song Huiling: "Miss, just make one bowl."

The other two porters also took out the copper coins they had on them. Seeing this, Yang hurried forward to accept them.

Song Huiling pursed her lips and smiled, saying no more. The bait had been thrown, so she would give them some time to buffer.

She opened both fire holes of the coal stove, and the soup cake that had sunk to the bottom soon cooked through and slowly floated to the surface of the water.

There were twelve soup cakes in a bowl, and she divided them into three bowls and brought them to the porter sitting in the stone pavilion.

The three of them had never expected her to be so polite, and felt a little guilty for a moment.

"Girl, just fill a bowl for us. There's no need to go through so much trouble."

"When three of us eat from one bowl, we have to eat in order. But when we're so hungry, we don't care about the order. It's just a matter of having two more empty bowls, as long as it's convenient for the three brothers." Song Huiling smiled and turned to leave.

The little girl was well-behaved and pretty, and spoke sweetly, so the three of them couldn't help but have a better impression of her.

They were really hungry. The dry food they brought with them was enough to get them home, but they encountered some delays on the way and spent more time, so they didn't have enough food.

The soup cakes were still steaming from the pot. They didn't care about the heat and picked up one, blew on it casually, and took a big bite.

The boiling hot soup burst in their mouths, burning them so much that they shivered. They chewed while breathing in, and swallowed it with their eyes rolled back. It tasted so good!

Song Huiling is very authentic in cooking. The soup cakes he makes are big in size and filled with delicious and generous fillings. However, eating only four of them is far from enough for people like them who are purely selling their labor.

After eating the soup cake and drinking the soup, instead of feeling full, they had a stuck feeling, and the feeling of emptiness in their stomach was even stronger than when they were hungry.

The three of them held their empty bowls and stared at the stall next to the stone pavilion. Even when Yang came to collect the bowls and rinse them, they were still unable to suppress their greed.

The older porter turned his eyes to the large bundles of salt unloaded on the ground, and his mind began to become active.

It was already dawn and more people were walking on the bridge.

Some pedestrians had to go out for urgent matters and left home before dawn without even having time to eat a hot meal.

When passing by Turing Pass, I saw some hot food for sale. I was so hungry that I ordered a bowl of food if I had some spare money.

If you meet those with big appetites, it is not a problem for them to eat two or three bowls in one go.

In less than half an hour, Song Huiling sold more than 30 bowls of soup cakes.

Yang picked up the copper coins and strung them together one by one with a thin thread, smiling so hard that her mouth could not close.

As soon as she had strung the copper coins together, Song Huiling came up to her and whispered, "Mom, count out 310 copper coins for me. Since there is no one on the post road right now, I will go find the three brothers to buy salt."

Yang's eyes rolled around, her eyebrows raised, and she asked in surprise, "So this is what you were thinking?"

She leaned close to Song Huiling's ear, covered her mouth with her hand, and whispered almost in a whisper, "Aren't you afraid that those three will agree to it right away, but we won't be able to pay?"

"Don't worry, it's a taboo for porters to sell salt privately, so they won't agree so readily."

Yang came closer and said, "But if they leave after eating, we won't be able to find anyone to buy salt even if we make money later."

"They don't seem to have any dry food with them, and they arrived at Turing Pass just after dawn, which means they have no food left. So they wanted to hurry home overnight. They finally found a place with food and drink to rest, so they won't leave so quickly," Song Huiling explained to Yang, and glanced at the stone pavilion. He saw the older porter stand up and sit down again, with a conflicted look on his face. He retracted his gaze and smiled at Yang, "It seems that they will stay for a while longer."

Yang was skeptical and counted out three hundred and ten copper coins according to Song Huiling's instructions.

Song Huiling cooked three more bowls of soup cakes and brought them to the stone pavilion with Yang.

Seeing them carrying three bowls of soup cakes, the older porter stood up and asked, "Girl, what are you doing?"

Song Huiling placed the soup cake on the stone table and quickly glanced around. After making sure that no one was around, she said, "Brother, what do you think? I'm very sincere. How about this? I'll still offer 30 wen per pound for the 10 pounds of salt, and I'll give you an extra bowl of soup cake along with the three bowls of soup cake I promised you. How's that?"

She handed the copper coins that Yang had strung together to the older porter and said, "Three hundred copper coins for the salt, plus the ten copper coins you just gave me, a total of three hundred and ten copper coins. Please count them."

"Brother, but..." The porter with high cheekbones came out again to stop him.

After several contacts, Song Huiling knew that these three people were honest people who followed the rules. Seeing that the time was almost right, he said, "I don't want much, just about ten pounds. If you don't tell me, I won't tell you either. How would the boss know?"

Without waiting for the three to respond, she continued, "Besides, the salt was not bought by the boss. You exchanged it for your own specialties. You bought the salt yourself and carried it back with great difficulty, but you are not allowed to sell it on your own. What kind of overbearing boss is this?"

"You shed tears and sweat, and the boss bought low and sold high, and all the benefits went to the boss. Don't you have any resentment in your hearts? I really understand the hard work of the three brothers, and my offer is also sincere."

"To be honest, my husband has contracted a strange disease and has been bedridden for more than half a year. He is only hanging on by a thread. The doctor said that his disease can only be cured by eating salt, but all the salt in Qianzhong has been taken by those powerful people. I want to save my husband, but I am powerless."

"The lives of the rich and powerful are lives, but the lives of ordinary people like us are not lives?"

After Song Huiling finished speaking, she covered her face and sobbed, tears streaming down her face. Everyone present was moved, except Yang, whose expression was stiff and the corners of her mouth twitched.

"Sister, stop talking. I'll sell you these ten kilograms of salt. As your big brother, I'll give you an extra kilogram!" The older porter made the decision immediately.

The other two porters just looked at each other silently and said nothing more.

Song Huiling was extremely happy in her heart, but her face still showed worry for her husband's life: "No, big brother, ten kilograms is ten kilograms. As long as it can save my husband's life, I won't be greedy for more."

If we save some of the ten kilograms, it will be enough for a family of three to eat for a year.

Although they were not allowed to sell the salt privately, the porters would definitely keep some for themselves before selling it to their employers, or perhaps secretly share some with their neighbors. In this way, the amount of salt they could control would not be much, and she could not be too greedy.