After dressing as a widow

Seeing him put a piece of broken silver, which was only four renminbi, into his purse, Lin Zhen said, "What are you doing with it?"

Gu Lin looked at him and said, "This is for real."

Lin Zhen suddenly remembered that when he was young, he would keep a small piece of silver in it after he gave him the silver. Now, there must be a small pile.

Gu Lin, who looked very indifferent, was never indifferent to him and things related to him.

Lin Zhen hugged his neck, tiptoed and kissed his lips, and said with a smile: "Then I will work hard to fill Master Gu's private treasury."

Gu Lin, who was already half a head taller than him, supported his waist to save him some effort.

The news that the county government had arrested the traffickers spread throughout Dongyang County in the afternoon, especially those families who were only separated from the traffickers by a wall and neighbors who were not far away. They didn't expect the traffickers to be so close to them, and their faces turned pale with fright. up.

And those who have lost their daughters and brothers once thought that these traffickers might have abducted and sold their relatives, and they wished to take a knife to cut them into pieces.

But more people thought they wanted face and couldn't afford to lose this person, so they said nothing in silence.

At night, Lin Zhen, who almost fell victim to the traffickers and suffered from muscle weakness, finally lay down and fell asleep, when suddenly he heard voices from the yard behind him, which became more and more noisy.

He got up and called the servant girl: "What's going on behind the scenes?"

The servant girl who stayed here to serve him and didn't go anywhere said: "I don't know, why don't I go and ask about it?"

Not only was there a sound, but also the light was shining from behind. Lin Zhen put on his shoes and walked out: "Go and have a look."

Once out of the house, the voice from behind became more obvious. When Lin Zhen took the maids to the back, he saw Mrs. Wang and the servants from the county government forming a group, blocking the front tightly.

Seeing him coming, Mrs. Wang, who was originally one head and two big, trembled in her heart, and walked through the crowd: "Lin Fulang."

Lin Zhen looked at many women and brothers in different clothes, and guessed that these should be the kidnapped people rescued by Gu Lin and the government servants from the traffickers, "Is there something wrong with them?"

Mrs. Wang sighed: "Yes, after my husband reminded me during the day, my concubine asked someone to guard the yard. It was a little strange to hear the sound of the stool falling to the ground in the middle of the night. After entering, I found..."

"It was found that more than 20 girls and boys threw their belts on the crossbeam, intending to commit suicide."

To be honest, Mrs. Wang was not very surprised when she was informed of the news by her servants. Most of these girls and brothers were unmarried, maybe they were still in their boudoirs, or they had already arranged marriages, and they were just waiting for the auspicious day to get married.

However, no matter whether they have been touched by human traffickers after being trafficked, they will lose their chastity in the eyes of their family members and neighbors when they go back. In the future, let alone marrying a good family, marrying a worthless rascal will be caught. Talking about things, I dare not speak when I am crushed into the soles of my feet.

Lin Zhen was silent for a moment, walked through the maids and servants, and walked to the room where the brothers and daughters committed suicide. There were more than 20 girls in their teens and twenties sitting numbly on the ground, on the bed, On the stool, there was no response to the surrounding voices.

Lin Zhen said to Mrs. Wang who came in one step behind him: "Madam, tell these servants to go out. Since they have been rescued, there will be no serious problems."

Mrs. Wang hesitated, and whispered: "If they commit suicide again..."

"It's okay, just do as I say." Lin Zhen looked at the girl and brother with numb eyes, and understood that it might not be a good thing for them to be stared at by too many people.

Seeing that he insisted on this, Mrs. Wang ordered the maid behind her to notify the people below to withdraw.

Almost all the maidservants of the county yamen were here, and after they all left, the yard was suddenly empty, and even the air became colder.

Lin Zhen sat on the chair at his feet, and asked a brother next to him softly: "Where are you from, little brother? I'm from the state capital. I just came here in May this year. I used to be a man from the south. In a small village."

He said his, the girls and buddies in the room didn't move, even their eyes were dull.

Lin Zhen didn't stop, and continued to talk about the climate in Anyuan Town, about the things and people he met when he went home to do the Mala Tang business after his husband died.He spoke very carefully, even the price of his own hot and spicy soup. Slowly, he said that he opened his own shop and could earn more than 100 taels of silver a month. The reputation was so bad that he sued her in court.

Lin Zhen is usually very interesting when chatting, but now when he talks about his own experience, he often speaks some intuitive metaphors and sentences, and the girls and buddies in the room just listen.

Suddenly, when Lin Zhen said that although he had won Cai Jinzhu in court, the business of Zhenyouwei Snacks would inevitably be affected. The man lowered his head and said, "You said so much because you wanted to persuade us to go home."

"No, I just want to tell you about me. As for whether you have other plans to go home or not, it's all up to you."

"What plans do you have...not to die here, but to die elsewhere." The woman in her twenties said.

The woman gave birth to a small oval face, her skin was not particularly fair, but because of her young age, her skin was smooth and plump, she was a little beauty, but at this moment her face looked gray and depressed, and she was on the verge of breaking down.

Lin Zhen said: "As long as you can live, let's live. There are so many delicious and fun things in this world. Not to mention trying all of them, you can die after trying half of them."

He said: "I have now opened a rouge and gouache workshop in the state capital. If any of you really don't want to go back and have no other plans, you can follow me to work in the workshop. It costs 150 yuan a month and includes lunch at noon." a meal."

The woman looked up at him: "At this time you are still hiring people to work."

Lin Zhendao: "You have hands and feet, and you are all familiar with the work at home. I don't suffer from recruiting you, and I have a lot of work there, everyone is busy doing things, and I don't have much time to ask others where they are from. Why do you work there?"

The woman who originally hid the following sentence, are you pitying us? There is something to do here.

She married her current husband at the age of 15, but she has never had any children of her own. Not only her husband's family, but also her mother's family sent all kinds of herbs to fill a room, but her stomach still didn't move.

And she didn't tell them that not only did she not conceive a child after drinking the medicine for so many years, she also often felt pain in her stomach. She knew that it would only attract more suspicious eyes, and then drink more. Undrinkable medicine.

After being forcibly abducted by human traffickers, because she was not a virgin with a woman's hair bun, she suffered many times of defilement and atrocities that made her want to die immediately. He had already found a chance to kill himself.

She was the first to throw her belt on the beam tonight about the hanging beam. She didn't know what else she could do but die. She was locked up and used her death to keep the family clean; she lived alone, and there was no place to recruit girls and brothers, and she was a single woman, and she would not end well if she was entangled by local hooligans.

After Lin Zhen didn't speak, the room was dead silent. After a long, long time, the first woman who spoke to him hesitated and said in a confused voice, "I...I want to work at your place."

"Okay, let's go when the weather clears for two days and the road is dry."

Sitting next to Lin Zhen, the brother with good facial features but rough skin looked at the woman and Lin Zhen, and said in a mosquito-like voice, "I... want to go too."

"I don't want to go back, I will be beaten to death if I go back."

"it is good."

At dawn, Lin Zhen walked out of the room. Eighteen of the more than 20 girls and brothers followed him to the state capital, and the others wanted to go home after being rescued.

As for those who did not seek death, they all wanted to go back. Standing outside the courtyard, Lin Zhen said to Mrs. Wang who had been standing with him all night: "Mrs. Wang will take care of the rest and arrange them to go back as soon as possible."

"Yes." After standing all night, Mrs. Wang's legs hurt. She heard Lin Zhen's hoarse voice and didn't know what to say. It's all a waste of effort here, some brothers and daughters who have lost their innocence, are illiterate, and don't understand why, even if they persuade them to die, what's the use of keeping them.

They can't bring gold and silver, and even being known to have these people in the workshop will affect their reputation.

Even if they are both women, Mrs. Wang is only sorry.

The sky was fine, and the sun was so hot that it seemed as if the rain had never happened in the past few days. After staying in the county office for two days, the road was supposed to be a bit dry. Lin Zhen asked Zhou Zhengchu and the others to pack their things, put on a carriage and prepare to go back to the state capital .

Because there were no fragile items such as Yurong powder flower dew in the box this time, all the boxes were piled aside, just enough to accommodate the girls and brothers who followed to the state capital.

Yan Canghai, who lives in Dongyang County, also got the news, and was the first to wait at the gate of Dongyang County. When he saw Lin Zhen's carriage, he was about to go up to say hello, but saw a young man on a horse.

The boy was wearing a black robe, his long hair was tied with a headband, and behind him were two servants who also rode horses.

This is the second time he met the magistrate of Lizhou. When he met for the first time, Gu Lin was accompanied by the magistrate of Zhizhou and the county magistrate of Dongyang County. As sharp as a knife, he let himself do the business of delivering food.

I don't know why Mr. Zhizhou is here.