Spring in Wuyang City is gradually coming to an end, but the weather is not hot at all. Gao Qing sat in the yard, staring blankly at the sky. It has been almost two months since I became the slave of the Australian gentleman.
After clearing the matter, Mr. Gao specifically ordered him to report back every move of the Australian gentlemen. He also promised that if the Australian gentlemen never came back, or something went wrong, he would still report them to him. His whole family has taken it back, and he will definitely not let them live on the streets.
He and his wife also discussed it several times, what if an Australian gentleman wanted to take them back to Australia. At that time, I didn’t know if I could ask the master to keep their family.
These Australian gentlemen are very generous to their servants. Knowing that his family was suffering, he gave extra monthly rice and monthly money to his son. But they are foreign maritime traders after all, and they will have to go back one day. What if they really want to take them back to Australia? Logically speaking: these masters are the masters of their family. Wherever the master goes, the slaves must follow him. It is natural and logical. But he didn't want to leave his hometown again - when he escaped from his hometown and sold himself, he had already left his homeland. If he really went to Australia, which is thousands of miles away... Needless to say, Australia is a wild land, even if there are some strange and ingenious devices. How can objects compare to China? Although this city of Guangzhou is not his hometown, he is still very attached to it after living there for these years.
After thinking about it, I feel very distressed. He has been at Mr. Gao's house for many years and knows that the Franconian merchants will wait for the wind to sail away in June. Most of the Australian maritime merchants will leave at this time - will they take their family with them?
He sighed again, squinted his eyes and looked at the door to the backyard. Manager Yan would be coming over soon. Counting the days, the last few days were the days when the Australian gentleman would come.
In the past two months, the three masters will come here every half month or so and stay for several days. Every time he didn't know when he came or how he entered the house. It was always bright when the sky was bright, and he would see that the courtyard door where the gentlemen lived had been opened, and piles of goods were piled in the hall and under the eaves. .
This always made him feel very mysterious, and there was a little fear in the mystery. Although Mr. Gao hinted or expressed it, and promised him benefits, asking him to find out all the details of Australian maritime merchants, he did not dare to do it - it was not difficult to lurk in the yard, in case he saw something he shouldn't have seen Get something...
Gao Qing knows that the most important thing about being a slave is not to know things you shouldn't know. No matter whether the master is from Ming Dynasty or Australia.
Gao Di didn't understand his father's thoughts, so he ran over and asked, "Sister, what's your mother asking you: when will the gentlemen come, so that she can prepare a meal. Last time, Mr. Wang also said that he would make a good meal and try the Ming Dynasty dishes.”
"It's just these few days, the days are almost there." Gao Zhi counted on his fingers for a long time, "Have you prepared all your account books?"
"It's all ready. At the end of last time, the gentlemen had seen it and praised me for remembering everything and being attentive." Gao Di raised his neck a little proudly, "Mr. Wang also helped me correct the wrong words in white. That Xiao The master said that he will teach me some Arabic numerals in the future, and I can calculate faster than the accounting gentlemen."
"Okay, okay, as long as you like it, gentlemen." Gao Qing said vaguely. It would have been a good thing for the children to fall in love with the master. If the masters were all Chinese, it would have found a good place for the children, but - alas! They were from a foreign vassal, so even if he didn't take their whole family and only took away one or two of their children, he would still be reluctant to part with them.
"I think Mr. Nawen likes my sister very much. He asks her to talk to her every time and rewards her with some things. Will he confiscate my sister's apartment?"
These words hit Gao Qing's heart hard. He calmly thought about it for a long time before saying, "It depends on her luck." But he was unwilling in his heart.
Just as I was bored, I heard a knock on the door. It was Manager Yan who was here. Gao Qing hurriedly greeted him, asked him to sit down at the stone table in the courtyard, and then asked his son to get tea, water and dried fruits.
"Old Gao, the Australian maritime merchants are coming again in the past few days. What are the things that the master has ordered you to do?" Manager Yan was not polite and got straight to the point.
"To answer your question, I really don't understand." Gao Qing knew that these words were unavoidable. "Those gentlemen are very alert and never ask anyone to follow them to the room to wait on them. Every time He always comes and goes without a trace."
"It's been two months, and I still say the same thing over and over again. You are really a piece of trash." Manager Yan has always been Mr. Gao's confidant, and he has never even considered Gao Qing to be qualified to enter the inner court. Roughness makes the slave take it seriously. Opening the exit is also unscrupulous.
"Yes, yes, little idiot."
"Why do you want me to talk to the master?" Manager Yan rolled his eyes, "The master is very dissatisfied with you..."
"Then I'd like to ask for your patience and kind words, Manager Yan..." Gao Qing was a little panicked. He rummaged around in his waist for a long time and took out two coins - this was what he had saved in the past two months. I am going to get some clothes for my two children. At this moment, Manager Yan's half-truths frightened him. Although he was no longer a slave of the Gao family, he did not dare to entrust his fate to the Australian gentlemen.
Manager Yan took it and stuffed it into his sleeve after weighing it for a moment: "Master, let me help you deal with it first. But you can avoid this matter in the first grade of junior high school, but not in the fifteenth grade. No matter what, you have to deal with it. The details of several people have been found out!"
"Yes, yes, I understand, little one."
"As soon as the merchants arrive, invite them over. Any time."
"Yes, I know, little one."
Manager Yan said and walked away. Gao Qing wiped the sweat from his head and frowned even more. Helping Mr. Gao to investigate will eventually offend the owner. Not to mention the kindness of Australian gentlemen, it is ungrateful for him to do so. Just snooping into the secret of betraying the master is the crime of betraying the master. It is probably a felony no matter where you go, and you will have to shed your skin even if you don't die. If you ignore Master Gao's instructions, you will have no way to seek refuge with him in the future, let alone if Master Gao has to deal with a slave like him, it will be effortless.
Just as he was thinking wildly, he saw one of his sworn brothers in the Gao family, Gao Chang, coming over, carrying a big food box filled with smoked snacks that Mr. Gao had given to Australian gentlemen. Gao Qingqiang cheered up, asked his wife and daughter to come out to collect it, and went to the kitchen to clean up.
"Guanshi Yan, are you here to blackmail your brother again?" Gao Chang is a strong young man in his mid-twenties. He and Gao Qing are from the same hometown. They also came to Guangzhou to escape from the famine in their hometowns and asked Gao Qing to be their guarantee before selling themselves to Gao. Come home. They both worked as chores in the outer courtyard. They were from the same hometown and took care of each other, so they became brothers in private.
"Alas." Gao Qing turned his head and muttered.
"Brother, you are too cowardly," Gao Chang said angrily, "You belong to the Australian gentleman now, why bother with him? The gentleman is kind enough to save some money for you, so why don't you stuff this? Dog hole!”
"Brother, please stop talking. I can't say enough." Gao Qing looked at the sky on the courtyard wall, "This family... is afraid that they will still take refuge in Master Gao in the future." After that, he refused to say more.
"It's strange. My brother's family's status has been given to Australian gentlemen. Why do you want to take refuge with Mr. Gao again? Is it possible that the gentlemen don't want you?"
"That's not true. The masters really don't have much to say about our family. They are kind and kind to others. They are all good people."
"Then what do you want to do when you return to the Gao family? My brother was just a servant of a handyman in the Gao family. How can it be compared to being half a manager now. I envy my brother for having such good luck."
"But they are always merchants from foreign vassals!"
"So what? He's not a red-haired, green-eyed Fo Langji guy with smelly hair and grass." Gao Chang disagreed, "Although I can't understand what I'm saying, and I'm dressed weirdly, I can say that I'm Chinese." Woolen cloth."
"They will leave one day, right? What if they have to take this family with them?"
Gao Chang suddenly realized that this was what his adopted brother was worried about. He doesn't care about this kind of thing: he has been an orphan since he was a child, a bachelor, no worries, no matter where he goes. However, as a step-brother with a family, he was indeed very cautious when putting himself in his shoes.
"Brother is worried. But from my point of view, it's okay to leave. Although this Ming Dynasty is good, it is not the Ming Dynasty we are waiting for. You are a slave here, but you are just a slave in Australia. How bad can it be? Go? These gentlemen are very kind-hearted. My brother and his whole family will definitely not suffer any loss if they follow." He smiled and said, "If I were the brother, I could follow him if I wanted to, so that I could see this little Chinese overseas in Australia. Style.”
"Brother is right, but I don't want to die in a foreign country." Gao Qing sighed, "When there was a famine in my hometown, in order to find a way to survive, I abandoned my old home and ancestral graves to escape. Mr. Meng Gao took me here. It has been more than ten years. Most of the houses and ancestral graveyards have been destroyed... I have given up the idea of returning to my hometown..." As he spoke, tears came down, and his voice was choked with sobs, "Brother, I am already over forty, and the mountains are high. When the water is low, people have to go away, and when they grow old, they have to bury their bones overseas. That’s really a death sentence.”
Gao Changchun's sworn brother was sad and hurriedly offered some words of comfort. But he didn't think so in his heart. When a slave of the Gao family dies, only the respectable slaves can still use their master's reward and their daily savings to perform Buddhist rituals in a monastery and buy a place for burial. Ordinary slaves are just rewarded with a thin-skinned coffin, carried to the cemetery outside the city and buried casually. My sworn brother wants to stay here, is it because he wants what he has behind him? I couldn't help but feel extremely desolate.
For the first time in more than 20 years, this young man, who was living a chaotic life as a slave, had a flash of light in his heart: Maybe this world shouldn't be like this...
