Ox carts drive on the streets of Hekou Town.
When they reached a fork, Cao Yingying said, "I'm going over there first."
Zhao Ergou knew that she came to Hekou County to investigate the affairs of the Cao family. As a boy who grew up in the village, he didn't know how to help.
But he was a little worried about her being alone.
Cao Yingying explained: "I'm looking for the maid who used to serve me. Her parents live there."
This maid had grown up with her, so she first met the maid, and then asked the maid to help her look up clues in the Cao Mansion...
She took steps towards the alley.
Zhao Ergou saw her walking with a limp.
It was an hour's journey from Dahe Village to Hekou Town. She, a rich young lady, had probably never walked this way before, and the soles of her feet were probably blistered, but she was able to endure it without saying a word.
He said: "I have a lot of goods this time, so I might need someone to help me. How about you give me a hand, and after I sell these, I will help you check the news together. How about it?"
Cao Yingying shook her head.
She has lived in the Zhao family for so many days and has disturbed the Zhao family for too long. The Cao family's affairs are too complicated and she doesn't want the Zhao family to get involved.
This morning Aunt Zhao asked her if she needed help, but she refused.
There are some things that she must face alone.
"You can't walk well, how can you find out the news? Come up in a bullock cart!"
Zhao Ergou couldn't help but pulled Cao Yingying and pressed her onto the bullock cart.
He put his hand on Cao Yingying's shoulder. The girl's cheeks turned red and she glared at him angrily.
Zhao Ergou let go of his hand: "Sit down, let's go to Baiyun Town first!"
Baiyun Town is not far from Hekou Town. It takes about half an hour. When we arrived at Baiyun Town, it was already past midnight.
The bullock cart did not enter the city, but went to the villages near the city. The goods he bought were coarse linen and a small amount of fine linen, and the audience was farmers.
He came to a nearby village the day before yesterday and bought three cents per foot of coarse cloth. Word of mouth spread among the villagers, and many people knew about it.
As soon as the ox cart stopped at the entrance of the village today, people in the village rushed to tell each other. After a while, many women and old women came to buy cloth.
Zhao Da was responsible for moving the goods, Zhao Ergou was responsible for selling the cut cloth, and Cao Yingying was responsible for collecting and counting the money.
"Oh, this little daughter-in-law is pretty and can count money very well." The old woman in the village looked at Cao Yingying with affection in her eyes, "Why is it that my eldest grandson is not so lucky to marry such a beautiful woman? My granddaughter-in-law is back."
"This young man is also handsome. Standing together, the two of them look like the golden boy and girl in the sky."
Several women nearby joked, Cao Yingying's face turned red, and Zhao Ergou's ears turned red too.
"A few sisters-in-law were joking. These two children are cousins."
Zhao Da explained with a smile that he was dull and honest and did not dare to talk to people in the city, but he dared to talk to these women who were also from the village.
The women answered: "Cousins, cousins, they are a perfect match. Wouldn't it be better to kiss each other!"
Zhao Ergou blushed terribly, and he quickly handed the cloth over: "Here is a sixteen-foot cloth. Auntie, please take it."
Cao Yingying also changed the subject: "Auntie, the color is really white. Do you want to come a few feet?"
The three of them cooperated very well. In less than half an hour, the cart was mostly empty.
Naturally, one village could not feed hundreds of pieces of cloth, so Zhao Da drove the ox cart to two nearby villages, and then all was sold out.
The payment for goods in Zhao Ergou's hand was as high as eighty or ninety taels, of which more than thirty taels was a net profit.
By this time, it was already past noon.
The group took an ox cart back to Hekou Town.
Zhao Ergou originally wanted to invite the two of them to a delicious meal at Zuixianlou, but Zhao Da disagreed with everything he said. Cao Yingying knew that the Zhao family was not rich and was unwilling to go to Zuixianlou. The last three of them sat at a wonton stall on the roadside. On the table, each person ordered two bowls of wontons... Zhao Da and Zhao Ergou had huge appetites, and they could only eat two bowls of wontons until they were 80% full, while Cao Yingying, a woman, could not eat two large bowls at all.
She pushed the wontons in front of Zhao Ergou: "You can eat this bowl."
Her plain white fingers rested on the edge of the bowl, like green onions freshly plucked from the ground, and Zhao Ergou's face turned red involuntarily.
Zhao Da looked at him in surprise: "Ergou, what's wrong with you? Your face is so red. Do you have a fever?"
"No, it's okay."
Zhao Ergou lowered his head and ate the third bowl of wontons, then quickly got up and bought a few sesame seed cakes to stuff into Zhao Da's stomach.
He asked Zhao Da to wait at the city gate while he and Cao Yingying went to the Cao family's maid's house.
It was midday, so there were few people on the street. Many vendors were sleepy. When you walked into the alley, you couldn't see anyone.
Zhao Ergou and Cao Yingying walked side by side. At first it was okay, but as they walked, no one was there, and the atmosphere suddenly became a little strange.
"you……"
"I……"
The two spoke at the same time and got stuck at the same time, making the atmosphere even weirder.
"Ahem!" Zhao Ergou scratched his chin, "This alley seems to have come to an end."
Cao Yingying said with some embarrassment: "I've only been here once. I don't remember it very clearly. Maybe... maybe in an alley over there."
The two of them exited the alley and walked to another alley. As soon as they walked in, a carriage walked in from the entrance of the alley.
Cao Yingying grabbed Zhao Ergou's arm and whispered: "This is the Cao family's carriage!"
The Cao family's carriage wheels will be engraved with a small character "CAO", which is the mark of their Cao family.
Zhao Ergou took Cao Yingying and hid by the side wall: "Let's see what's going on first."
The carriage drove in slowly and stopped at the entrance of a courtyard. The curtain of the carriage opened and a handsome woman walked out.
"It's Hongyu!" Cao Yingying's face was filled with surprise. "Hongyu and I grew up together. When I escaped from Cao Mansion, I relied on her help..."
Zhao Ergou grabbed her and said calmly: "Since she is your personal maid and secretly assisted you in escaping from marriage, then why did nothing happen to her after you disappeared? Why can she still sit in the Cao family? The carriage goes home in a grand manner?"
His words were like a basin of cold water pouring down from Cao Yingying's head.
Her lips suddenly turned pale: "When Hongyu was waiting for me, the stepmother hadn't come in yet. She couldn't be the stepmother..."
"Man will die for money, and birds will die for food. As long as your stepmother can afford the money, there are many people who are willing to sacrifice their lives." Zhao Ergou pressed her shoulder, "You should hide here well and don't come out. I Go over and find out what’s going on.”
Cao Yingying nodded slowly and said softly: "Be careful."
Zhao Ergou walked out from the side wall, approached the carriage step by step, and soon started talking to the driver.
Cao Yingying hid far away and couldn't hear clearly what was being said, but she could see the smile on Zhao Ergou's face, and her uneasy heart suddenly calmed down.
She suddenly felt lucky that she was not alone.
If she came to find Hongyu alone, she might become a lamb at her door and be slaughtered by her stepmother.
She finally understood why Hongyu kept urging her to escape.
Finally understood why she was able to successfully escape from the tightly guarded Cao family on the eve of their wedding.
She finally understood why she was sold to a brothel as soon as she escaped from the Cao family.
The forced marriage was a strategy, letting her escape from the marriage was also a strategy, and selling her to a brothel was the last link in the strategy.
But the stepmother didn't expect that she was rescued by Zhao Ergou and Shen Zheng.
While Cao Yingying was thinking, Zhao Ergou came back.
