Chapter 517: Slum
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
This place was too dirty, and there wasn’t any paved path under their feet.
There was a little rain last night, and the yellow mud path was covered with
footprints.
Su Ying didn’t want the two children to follow her, but Xiao Jin said it was fine.
His actual words were, “One is the Eldest Princess and the other is the Eldest
Son of the Emperor. They can’t only have endless prosperity in their eyes. They should know the sufferings of the people.”
Su Ying felt that Xiao Jin still had his own ideas when it came to the children’s education.
The husband and wife held the children’s hands and walked along the path into the district. As Xiao Jin walked among these houses, he was practically a head taller than these houses. How could anyone live comfortably in such places?
“You wretched girl. You must be tired of living, you cheap slut. You don’t do any work every day and only think of eating. If I had known that you were so useless, I would have drowned you in a bucket of urine when you were born!” “Argh! Mother, Mother, don’t hit me anymore. I didn’t steal the sweet potatoes to eat. I didn’t eat Younger Brother’s sweet potatoes.”
Su Ying’s group hadn’t gone far when they heard a loud scolding coming from ahead. A moment later, a thin figure rushed in their direction. Perhaps she was trying to find a way to escape the people behind her. She didn’t notice Su Ying and her group and collided with Xiao Jin s leg.
The Imperial Guards behind him immediately stepped forward warily. Xiao Jin gestured to them with his hand, indicating to them no need to be nervous.
“Ouch!”
The skinny girl stumbled and was about to fall to the ground, but Su Ying swiftly held her up to prevent her from hitting the rocks on the ground.
However, when she grabbed the little girl’s arm, she was still shocked by her thinness.
The little girl found that Su Ying and her group looked unfamiliar and became so frightened that she broke free from Su Ying’s grip and backed away repeatedly.
“You wretched girl, you still dare to run? I’ll beat you to death!” The woman still scolding loudly came in pursuit but she took no notice of Su Ying and her group. The woman raised the broom in her hand to hit the little girl.
“Argh! Mother, don’t hit me, don’t hit me,” the little girl cried out in pain.
Su Ying frowned slightly. After some thought, she reached out to stop the woman. “What did she do wrong?”
The woman only raised her head to look at Su Ying when she heard her voice.
She shrank back a little when she saw Su Ying’s clean clothes. It was a feeling of inferiority that was inherent from deep inside her.
“She… she stole and ate her younger brother’s sweet potatoes.”
“I… I didn’t. I didn’t eat it. It… it was Younger Brother who finished it himself. I
didn’t eat it. Sob, sob, sob, sob…”
“You still insist you didn’t steal it? Then where did your younger brother’s
sweet potatoes go?”
Su Ying turned around and saw an even younger boy walking up behind the woman. She noticed that there was still some sweet potato residue around his mouth. He walked over to the woman and made a face at the little girl. His eyes were filled with glee as if he was very pleased that the girl had been taught a lesson.
“Aren’t you afraid that stray dogs will eat you if you lie?”
The little boy glanced at Su Ying and cowered behind the woman timidly. “I… I
did not lie.”
“If you did not lie, then where did the sweet potato residue around your mouth come from?”
The little boy quickly reached out to wipe his mouth. Su Ying knew that he was deliberately framing the little girl.
They say that when humans were born, they were evil by nature. This saying was indeed true.
The woman also realized that she had wronged the girl, but she still stuck out her neck and said, “You money-losing thing, you don’t work all day and only think of running out to play and laze around. I’ll beat you to death!
This time, Su Ying grabbed the woman’s broom outright and threw it on the ground. “You already know that this isn’t her fault, yet you’re still unwilling to let her go. She’s a human being too, not a punching bag for you to vent your anger.”
The woman flew into a rage when she felt humiliated by Su Ying’s words. “I provide her with everything she eats and drinks. So what if I hit her? If not for me, she would have died long ago.”
“If it weren’t for you, she wouldn’t have come to this world to suffer!” “Who… who are you? What right do you have to interfere in my family’s affairs? If you want to interfere, then spend money to buy her. After you buy her back, you can do whatever you want to her. Even if you treat her like a treasure, no one will criticize you.”
When the little girl heard that her mother wanted to sell her, she cried and grabbed her leg as she shouted, “Mother, Mother, I’m begging you. I’m begging you. Don’t sell me. I won’t eat anymore. In the future, I’ll only eat one sweet potato a day. I beg you not to sell me off!”
Su Ying could even see a look of anticipation in the woman’s eyes. She turned to the girl. “Little girl, are you willing to come with me?”
The little girl looked at the unfamiliar Su Ying timidly.
Ji and Ling frowned deeply. They had been exiled and were almost sold back then, so they were particularly empathetic to the little girl’s circumstances. “Don’t be afraid. My mother is a good person. If you are willing to come with us, you will be able to eat your fill in the future.
Perhaps it was because they were all children of a similar age. As she looked at Ji and Ling, the little girl was not as afraid anymore. In particular, when she heard that she could eat her fill, she subconsciously swallowed her saliva.
“I can… can eat my fill?”
“That’s right. You can eat your fill. There’s rice and meat buns. They’re
delicious.”
The little girl was tempted.
The woman took the opportunity to state her price. “Five taels of silver. If you want her, buy her.”
“It is not even that expensive when I buy an adult. Two taels, not a com more.”
The woman insisted, “No, not even one tael less.
“Then I won’t buy anymore.”
Su Ying saw that the woman’s eyes were evasive, but she still pretended to be tough. Su Ying didn’t haggle anymore and led Ji and Ling away.
When the woman saw Su Ying and her group leaving, she panicked. She didn’t want the golden opportunity that had presented itself to evaporate, so she quickly said she was willing to sell at Su Ying’s price.
Su Ying didn’t turn back again and simply let the Imperial Guards handle it. The sale of human beings also needed to be registered.
“After she is taken away, place her in the youngest class in the academy.”
“Yes, Mistress.”
“Do you still want to continue walking?” After such a thing happened, the family’s mood had soured.
“Yes.”
Xiao Jin nodded and picked Ling up to continue walking down.
The further they walked, the narrower the path inside became. Occasionally, they could see children playing on the path outside. They were all dirty and had two streaks of snot hanging from their noses. They stared at Su Ying and her group with their big, dark eyes.
Most of the people in these houses were old people, women, and children. The adult men had probably gone out to look for jobs to do during the day, so not many people were seen.
“Huh? Isn’t that the Big Sister who bought the rice cake in the morning? Big Sister?”
Su Ying heard the voice and turned around to see the little girl who was selling pounded rice cakes in the morning. She remembered that her name was Moon.
“It’s you, Moon.”
Moon smiled and walked up to them with a baffled look. “Big Sister, do you guys live here too?”
Su Ying shook her head. “No, I was just passing by and came for a look.” “That’s great. Big Sister, come over to my house for a visit. My mother said that she would make sweet dates for us to eat. The sweet dates my mother makes are more delicious than the ones sold in the snack shop. Come and have a taste, Big Sister.”
Moon’s family lived here, so they definitely knew more about the situation here. Su Ying glanced at Xiao Jin, who nodded, and they followed Moon with the two little ones.
“Father, Mother, we have guests..”
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