Flying Clouds in Another World

Chapter 157: Little child, shrew!

Liu Shantang is a charity organization opened by the Green Willow Chamber of Commerce in the county town. It occupies a large area and consists of dozens of simple but solid houses of various sizes. This is where the Liu family usually provides relief to the elderly, weak, women and children among the refugees.

Although these Liushantang houses were only covered with straw and rags as beds, they were enough to shelter the refugees from the wind and rain. However, not all refugees could enter the Liushantang, only children under the age of twelve, old men over sixty, and women with disabilities could enter.

In addition, the Green Willow Chamber of Commerce would send special personnel here every day to distribute porridge to the refugees to keep them alive. Unlike the refugee camps outside the city, which limit the number of days each person can receive food, here they can continue to receive food until the children grow up and the elderly die. As for women, there are no clear restrictions.

When Liu Feiyun and his party arrived at Liu Shantang, they saw that it was quite large and thought that there must be a lot of people inside. But when he entered, he found that there were only two or three hundred people in the Liu Shantang, which could accommodate a thousand people. As for children, there were even fewer, only a few dozen.

Liu Feiyun looked at the dozens of children and their families gathered in the largest open space in Liu Shantang and asked, "Why are there only so few? This shouldn't be the case! I think the refugee camps outside the city gate have at least three or four thousand people in total! But how could there be so many people here..."

"Your Highness, you don't know! These refugees became refugees because they couldn't survive in their hometowns. They suffered from hunger and cold along the way. It's good to have a few old, weak, women and children who can survive for a long time! This is only possible after relaxing the age limit to six to twelve years old!"

Seeing that Liu Feiyun was puzzled, Gao Jinda hurriedly explained.

Liu Feiyun thought about it and felt relieved. It was not like he had never come into contact with refugees before. He just didn't think of so many tricks at the moment.

Someone had already told the villagers the purpose of Liu Feiyun's visit. Most of the children were still ignorant and looked at Liu Feiyun and others in confusion and fear. The adults had all kinds of expressions: some were reluctant, some were looking forward to it, some were sad, some were happy, some were self-hating, some were desperate, and there were all kinds of expressions.

Seeing that there were only a few dozen children, which was far less than the hundreds of people he had expected, Liu Feiyun no longer had the mind to select them in detail and simply bought all of them.

When he announced this decision, the place immediately became chaotic again. For a while, there were sounds of sorrow and joy, but gradually, the sounds of sorrow and crying completely drowned out the already rare laughter.

Liu Feiyun gradually became upset and uneasy, as if he was doing something that he could not forgive. He could naturally understand the sadness of these refugees who were separated from their families, so he felt irritated and uneasy.

"Forget it! Let's be a good person to the end! I, Liu Feiyun, will not go bankrupt even if I support one or two hundred more people!" Liu Feiyun gritted his teeth and announced that the families of these children would be sold as well.

For a while, people in the field kept kowtowing to express their gratitude!

Liu Feiyun felt uncomfortable and guilty, and at the same time he sighed: What kind of world is this! He was clearly the one who sold them like livestock, but they thanked him and said he was a kind person. How ironic!

These children and their families, totaling about 150 to 160 people, fully accounted for more than half of the total number of refugees. At this time, the clerks and runners from the county government organized these refugees to sign the documents of selling themselves.

There is a difference between refugees and runaways in the imperial law. Refugees who leave their hometowns to beg for a living need to report to the local government to obtain a refugee pass. However, runaways flee their hometowns privately, and the government cannot know or control them.

As long as refugees have a refugee permit, they can beg for a living within a certain range, or even move to another place to settle down. However, those who run away will generally be regarded as bandits and thieves by the government.

It is because the current emperor sympathizes with the hardships of the people and has issued several edicts to refugees, strictly prohibiting local officials from restricting or obstructing these refugees from leaving their homes to survive, and requiring them to provide certain relief, so that the poorest people at the bottom of society have a chance of survival, that he is praised by many as a benevolent emperor.

Seeing those people who could sell themselves to the Liu family just because they had young children, the remaining half of the refugees could no longer hold back and knelt down, begging to sell themselves to the Liu family.

I would rather be a slave of the Liu family than an exile!

This is what many refugees thought after arriving in Anping County.

Refugees, wandering beggars, are stranded in a foreign land, without anyone to rely on, and their life and death are at the mercy of fate. How miserable they are.

Although I became a slave after being sold to the Liu family, the Liu family was well-known for treating their servants well. Although I was a slave, as long as I worked diligently for my master, I could always have enough food and clothing and live a stable life.

Seeing that most of the remaining people were women, Liu Feiyun couldn't help but feel soft-hearted again. He simply showed kindness again and said, "Forget it! Anyway, I'm short of manpower, so I might as well just take you..."

Before he could even utter the words "buy them all", Gao Jinda at the side said first: "Buy those who are useful among them! Why don't you guys line up quickly and let the prince choose!"

Then his face darkened again, and he said in a stern voice: "If any of you lie to the prince, you will be thrown into prison for a few days, and then expelled from Anping County, and you will never be allowed to enter again!"

"Who do you think you are, you pretty boy? How dare you snatch the prince's words! The prince is merciful and will definitely not care about our lives!" A middle-aged woman among the refugees suddenly shouted.

Liu Feiyun was a little annoyed at first because Gao Jinda interrupted him, but then he was also confused and surprised by the woman's words!

Gao Jinda laughed strangely, pointed at the woman and said, "Lazy woman! I knew someone like you would come out to cause trouble! Why don't you look at your stinky face in the pond? Do you think I don't know? In this Liu Shantang, there are many shameless women like you, relying on the fact that you are women and thinking that the Liu family is too disdainful to care about you, so you keep staying in this Liu Shantang, which was originally only for the elderly, the young, the disabled and the weak, and refuse to leave!"

"You... you are such a bastard, how dare you interfere in my business! I have helped the Liu family a lot while I was here! Cooking meals, sweeping the yard, what have I not done? How dare you accuse me of something!"

"Haha! What kind of a bastard am I! How dare you call me a bastard! I am the son of the county magistrate, Master Gao Jinda! You stinky bitch, you have bullied my little Seventeenth child many times in the past, and today you have deceived the prince and even scolded me. I will teach you a lesson! Come on! Take this stinky bitch down and put her in jail for a few days first!"

Before Gao Jinda could finish his words, a bailiff at the side stepped forward and grabbed the woman, dragging her out no matter how she cried and cursed.

Liu Feiyun was now completely speechless: What happened to this tall young master today? Could it be that he has turned back into the tall young master who bullies men and women?