204 The Middlewoman Came By
Zhang Laosan was stunned for a moment, and then he was ecstatic.
“Great! That’s great! Thank you, Brother Qin!”
Zhang Laosan’s wife also looked at Qin Dahu in happy surprise.
“Thank you, Brother Qin!” She thanked him together with her husband.
Qin Dahu glanced at the two of them.
“Don’t thank me yet. That job isn’t that easy to do.”
With that, Qin Dahu explained the situation at the dock to the couple.
The couple didn’t care at all about how back-breaking Qin Dahu said the job was. They only heard the wage of 90 copper coins a day.
90 copper coins! Even if Zhang Laosan had to work like an ox pulling a plow, he was willing!
That was what Zhang Laosan was thinking at the moment.
“Alright then. When things here are settled, I’ll bring you to work, and you can try it out,” Qin Dahu said.
Zhang Laosan wasn’t very strong, but he had a large body. He might be able to work at the dock.
The Zhang family had helped their Qin family so much this time. If Qin Dahu could help them back, he was also willing to lend a hand.
“Great! Thank you, Brother Qin!” Zhang Laosan thanked him again.
Then, he started to chat with Qin Dahu about the situation in the Zhang family’s village.
“Several families in the village have already run out of food. Some people have already gone into the mountains to dig for wild vegetables and tree roots.”
“I heard that most of the people in the Qian family’s village have left. Someone from our village also approached the village chief, intending to leave,” Zhang Laosan said.
Who would be willing to leave their home if they could still endure it?
However, if the drought continued, everyone would lose hope and have no choice but to leave to make a living.
Qin Dahu frowned upon hearing this. He sighed in his heart.
It seemed that it was not just the people in town having a hard time. The people in the countryside were even worse off.
Zhang Laosan suddenly recalled something and turned to Qin Dahu.
“By the way, the Zhang family’s situation isn’t very good either. Last night, my eldest aunt said that she saw them inviting a middlewoman to their house.”
Qin Dahu was taken aback.
“A middlewoman?” he asked.
“Mm-hmm! My eldest aunt said that it seemed to be the middlewoman from the Zhao family’s brokerage. They specialize in buying and selling women and children.”
Hearing the word ‘children,’ Qin Dahu’s face immediately darkened.
If the Zhang family dared to touch his father’s child, he would definitely strangle them to death.
Zhang Laosan saw Qin Dahu’s expression and knew that he had misunderstood.
“I don’t think it’s because of the child in Mrs. Zhang’s tummy,” he said.
“Even if the child is born, he’ll still be a baby. It’ll be hard to raise him.”
Qin Dahu was puzzled.
“Then…”
A look of disdain flashed across Zhang Laosan’s eyes.
“According to my eldest aunt’s analysis, it is probably Zhang Dashui who wants to sell his daughter. And…”
Qin Dahu frowned.
Then, he understood.
Girls had never been valued in the Zhang family. Previously, the Zhang family had almost sold Madam Zhang off to pay Zhang Ershui’s debt.
If his father had not taken a fancy to Madam Zhang and given the betrothal money to the Zhang family, Madam Zhang would have been sold at that time.
“What else is there?” Qin Dahu asked.
Although he asked, he wasn’t really interested in knowing more. After all, Zhang Dashui’s daughter had nothing to do with him.
“And my eldest aunt said that the Zhang family may sell Madam Zhang too,” Zhang Laosan said hesitantly.
Qin Dahu got a big shock.
“Eldest Aunt said that she saw Zhang Dashui bring the middlewoman to look at Madam Zhang. After that, he even talked to the middlewoman for a long time on one side.”
“If that’s true…” Zhang Laosan looked at Qin Dahu worriedly.
“I don’t care if it’s true or not. My father has already given the divorce document to the Zhang family, so how they want to deal with Madam Zhang has nothing to do with my family.”
It was just nice if she was sold. It would be best if the middlewoman sold her to a place further away after taking her.
It would prevent her from harming his father or his soon-to-be-born younger brother or sister.
When he heard this, Zhang Laosan’s expression relaxed a little.
Then, he scolded out loud, “That family is downright despicable!”
Qin Dahu glanced at Zhang Laosan but did not reply.
“Has there been any news from Zhang Ershui recently?” he asked again after a while.
When he heard Qin Dahu mention Zhang Ershui, a look of disgust flashed across Zhang Laosan’s face.
“Ptooey! That rascal has always been a thief. After his hand was broken, he only stopped for less than half a month. After that, he started harming the villagers again.”
...
“He’s been plucking the vegetables from my vegetable fields.”
“And the chicken that went missing in my house previously. It was most likely stolen by him.”
Zhang Laosan thought he must be jinxed with many generations of bad luck to be neighbors with that family.
After losing one chicken, he simply sent all the remaining chickens in the house to town to sell the next day, to prevent them from getting stolen by that rascal again.
Now, he had also harvested all the vegetables in the fields.
Zhang Laosan wanted to see if that rascal could still steal his family’s belongings.
Qin Dahu didn’t find it strange when he heard this.
After all, he already knew that Zhang Ershui had a bad reputation in the Zhang family’s village.
“He didn’t go to town to gamble again?” he asked.
Zhang Ershui was a gambler.
Even though one of his arms had been crippled, it was not easy for such a person to quit gambling.
...
“How could he not go?” Zhang Laosan said immediately.
“I’ve seen him before at the gambling stall on the street.”
Qin Dahu nodded his head. He had a rough understanding now.
No wonder the Zhang family wanted to sell people. Could it be that they were trying to help Zhang Ershui pay off his new gambling debts?
If that was the case, it made sense that Zhang Dashui wanted to sell his daughter to pay off his brother’s gambling debt.
Just like that, Qin Dahu and Zhang Laosan chatted until noon.
He rejected Zhang Laosan’s family invitation to have a meal together.
Qin Dahu took out some biscuits and chili sauce. Then he added a century egg into the chili sauce.
And he ate the biscuits with the seasoning like that.
When he saw the little child staring at him with a greedy look, Qin Dahu hesitated for a moment before giving some of his food to the family.
Zhang Laosan’s family was very grateful.
Then, when they tasted the flavor of the biscuit, the chili sauce, and the century egg, they couldn’t stop praising it.
“My younger sister made these and sent a lot to my house.”
“I don’t know how long I’ll have to stay on this trip, but my father has packed more than half of that batch for me.”
“I reckon it’s enough to feed me alone for four to five days without any problems,” Qin Dahu said.
When they talked about century eggs, Qin Dahu couldn’t resist bragging about his younger sister’s ability.
“My younger sister is really amazing! She dares to think big and act boldly. She is the one who is supporting the whole family.”
Zhang Laosan and his wife were impressed by Qin Dahu’s words.
When the couple heard that Qin Xiaoyao had many money-making ideas and their family did not have to worry about food or other expenses, they were very envious.
They were even more certain that this guy before their eyes, Qin Dahu, was their benefactor.
They had to stick closely to Qin Dahu in order to lead a good life in the future.
Due to this, Zhang Laosan’s family took very good care of Qin Dahu.
The next day, before dawn, Qin Dahu heard a commotion from the Zhang family next door.
Turning over, he got out of bed, and just as he stepped out of the room, Qin Dahu saw Zhang Laosan rushing in frantically from outside.
“She’s going into labor! Big Brother Qin, Madam Zhang is going into labor!” Zhang Laosan said excitedly.
Qin Dahu was dumbstruck.
Then, he quickly came back to his senses.
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