In the southern part of Lishui City, there is a veritable slum area.
Although the scale is not as large as Qinglan City, the living environment is even worse.
Under the leadership of Gongsun Qi and his son, Lishui City has indeed become rich and prosperous, and the promotion of the Dingtian distribution system has also allowed limited resources to be distributed more fairly.
But wherever people live together, there will inevitably be class gaps. For example, although the Dingtian system guarantees fairness, almost all the Dingtian chiefs are now occupied by nobles from the upper class.
These field chiefs decide who can work in the mines first and who can do business in their respective areas. They are so powerful that they can be said to control the life and death of the people.
People who were excluded or unable to pay taxes to Chief Ding Tian were either forced or found it difficult to survive, so they eventually left the area where they originally lived.
Gradually, these abandoned people gathered in this area with poor living conditions in the south of the city, forming today's Lishui slums.
Li Mu and the other three followed the little beggar through muddy paths. Compared with the smooth bluestone roads in other urban areas, this rugged and difficult road is the epitome of the life of the people in the slums.
"Qingzhu, come on, give me your hand and I'll pull you over."
When crossing a ditch filled with sewage, Li Mu also turned around and saw Lin Qingzhu holding the hem of her clothes with both hands, and quickly reached out to pull her over.
"Brother Mu, you can walk on your own. Don't worry. We all walked this kind of path when we were children. I'm not one of those delicate ladies from aristocratic families."
Lin Qingzhu took Li Mu's outstretched hand and jumped over the ditch. After landing, she looked at Li Mu with a smile. It seemed that although Xiao Nizi said that she was a tomboy, deep down she still wanted to be raped by Li Mu. Mu took care of it.
The little beggar led the three of them for about a stick of incense and finally stopped in front of a house. Then he pointed at the wooden shack that could barely be called a house and said.
"Brother, sister, here we are, this is my home."
I saw that this shack was completely made of tattered wood, and the roof was made up of broken tiles. Not to mention keeping out the cold, this shack couldn't even protect it from wind and rain.
Such a harsh living environment, and the sharp contrast between the smile on the little beggar's face, made Li Mu feel heartbroken.
In his previous life, what he couldn't watch the most was the news about left-behind children in rural mountainous areas. Those clear eyes were exactly the same as the eyes of the little beggar at this time. Poverty may make them hungry and desperate, but it will not cover these children. Pure soul.
"Guardan'er, where have you been? Mother has been looking for you for a long time, do you know? Didn't I tell you not to run around blindly? I didn't know the guards were here..."
Just when Li Mu's eyes were a little wet, a woman wearing burlap clothes came from behind them. The anxiety on her face and the joy of seeing the little beggar were obvious.
"Mom! Look, I brought you something to eat."
When the little beggar, who was called Guadan'er, saw the woman, he happily went up to her and stuffed the two generations of food he was carrying into the woman's hands.
"This...these are..."
The woman was a little confused when she saw so much food. It could be seen from her thin figure that having enough food, a problem that Li Mu and the others had never considered, was the biggest luxury of this little beggar and his family.
"Guadan'er, tell me honestly, did you go to the shopping street and steal? How did your mother educate you when you were a child? We can be poor, but we must not steal. Have you forgotten?"
The woman put the two bags of food in her hands on the ground, grabbed the little beggar and was about to spank him, and she was crying in the end of her questions.
Even though this mother was exhausted from hunger, she was still teaching her children to be upright.
"Auntie, he didn't steal these, we bought them for him. Don't hit him."
Lin Qingzhu was the first to stop her. At this time, the girl was already in tears. She looked at the little beggar and her son, and then at Li Mu. Her eyes clearly said that she hoped Li Mu would help this poor family.
Finally, under Li Mu's explanation, the woman finally understood that the little beggar had indeed gone to the market to steal food, but it was all so that she and the child's father would not starve, and the two bags of food were indeed given by Li Mu. .
After learning the truth, the woman hugged the little beggar and burst into tears. This woman was only in her early thirties, but she had already suffered too much pain in life. At this time, seeing her son paying so much for herself, she could no longer control her emotions. He burst into tears.
It wasn't until the father, who had also gone out to look for the little beggar, returned home that he comforted the good woman and thanked Li Mu and the others again and again. It was already approaching evening, and the man warmly invited them to sit in the house.
This man was also a simple and honest man, with his upper body naked. When he saw Lin Qingzhu standing next to Li Mu, the man rummaged in the house for a long time trying to find something to wear, but he couldn't find it anyway. He was so anxious. Face flushed.
This family was so poor that they didn't even have a top to cover their bodies. This really made Li Mu a little intolerable, so he took out several robes from the warehouse system and gave them to the man.
The clothes he gave were the worst in the warehouse system, but in the eyes of the little beggar's family, they were already so luxurious that they were almost luxurious. The simple family could not say any words of thanks and praise, and could only keep talking to them. Li Mu smiled.
"Uncle, when we met Guadan'er in the market today, there were two other people with him, but later they were captured by the guards for some reason. Guadan'er was so excited that he escaped. You know, dear Why do the guards want to arrest them?"
Li Mu first chatted with this honest man for a long time about his family's quarrels, and then asked about his question about asking for a certificate.
Just as the man was about to speak, he saw the woman on the side holding his hand, with deep fear in her eyes.
The man gently patted the back of the woman's hand, as if to comfort her not to be afraid, then looked at Li Mu and said.
"Actually, we don't know why the Guards want to arrest us. But in fact, in the past two years, the Guards have come to the slums from time to time to arrest people. At first, they will make up some reasons, saying that the arrested people have violated the law. Law, later there was no reason and he was arrested directly."
"The people who were arrested were said to be working in the iron ore mines, but according to a neighbor who escaped by chance, a group of them were taken to a cave, and there were screams everywhere in the cave. , it’s just like the underworld.”
"But this neighbor has never been into that cave, so he doesn't know what's inside, and he was killed by the Guards when he escaped from the city the next day, so he doesn't know if what he said is true. "
The man spoke very slowly and heavily, and what he expressed surprised Li Mu and the others. It turned out that Gongsun Qi had already started arresting people in these slums for no reason.
"When did this kind of arrest start? Isn't it said outside that Gongsun Qi is a good city lord who loves his people like a son? Now it seems like he is a big devil who does all kinds of evil."
Lin Qingzhu keenly grasped the key point from Hanzi's words. Combined with Li Mu's previous speculation about Gongsun Qi's breakthrough, she also had some bad premonitions.
"About three or four years ago, the arrests continued for a while, and then the city lord said that they were in seclusion. Then it became more frequent recently, and many people were arrested. That's why we were so anxious when Guadan'er ran out this time. ."
The man's words made Li Mu and the others feel a sinking feeling. Sure enough, the time coincided with the time when Gongsun Qi broke through from seclusion. If this was not a coincidence, then the secret hidden behind it would be a bit creepy.
"who!"
Just when Li Mu and the others were confused about the suddenly confirmed fact, Fang Yan suddenly shouted at the door, and then the blood-colored energy surged all over his body and shot out directly.
Li Mu and Lin Qingzhu were also shocked. They didn't feel anything the same, but as Fang Yan, the most powerful among the three, he must have discovered someone to react like this.
"I'll go take a look, Qingzhu, you stay here and protect Guadan'er and the others."
Li Mu calmly ordered Lin Qingzhu, and then he dodged and chased out. The Jueying Sword was also unsheathed at the same time. He did not dare to neglect. The enemy who could make himself and Lin Qingzhu unaware must be a master of the Dan Formation Realm. The above strength.
