Xu Ling didn't know how many people he had picked up. He sat on the chair and breathed heavily, his mind going blank.
Chai Yanjun came out of the room cursing and closed the curtain to prevent the heat from the charcoal stove inside from escaping.
"Damn it, do you know how expensive charcoal is this winter? You revive them today, but drive them out tomorrow without food or clothing, and they will still freeze to death!"
"What are you trying to do? You can't just give me more money for medicine, right?"
Hetong brought the handkerchief and handed it to the master. Chai Yanjun took the handkerchief and wiped his hands while nagging.
He had been talking for a long time, but Xu Ling didn't respond at all. Chai Yanjun kept muttering in his heart and secretly ordered his apprentice to lock the door of the medicine hall to prevent Xu Ling from running away without paying.
Xu Ling woke up from his dream and asked Chai Yanjun: "Doctor Chai, are they all alive?"
"Thanks to you, they were delivered quickly. As long as they are not dead yet, my Sixian Soup can bring them back to life! Just worry about the medical money!"
Xu Ling nodded, "Tomorrow I will go to the Silver Manor to get some silver for you. How much silver will it be?"
Chai Yanjun saw that he did not refuse, but instead became a little irritated, "Boy, if you are impulsive, then there is no need to save them. They will live today and die tomorrow. It will be a waste of my medicinal materials!"
"There are so many people outside, are you an emperor or a god? Can you save me? Out of sight, out of mind. Don't move people to my medicine hall next time!"
Xu Ling saw that Chai Yanjun, a money-making doctor, was even more angry than him, and for a moment he felt like getting angry.
"Doctor Chai, you are a doctor, and this is a medicine hall. I ask you to treat patients, and I don't owe you the medicine, so what does it have to do with saving people?"
"I thought that with your superb medical skills, you would be able to help the world and save people. But I was wrong about you! What's the use of having medical skills but no medical ethics!"
Xu Ling's face turned red and his neck was thick with anger. After saying this, he turned away from looking at Chai Yanjun.
"Hey! I'm doing this for your own good, but you blame me? You actually said that I have medical skills but not medical ethics, you, you, you!" Chai Yanjun was about to have a good argument with Xu Ling, but he saw Xu Ling covering his ears with a look on his face Not wanting to listen, she jumped off the chair and ran in front of him, tore off Xu Ling's hands and said loudly:
"What are you going to do to save them? Winter is still going on. Do you think that if you live today, you will not care about your life or death in the future? You saved them, but you have thought about how many people like this are there in the world. Can you save them? You have been saved. You have to watch them die, you are complacent after saving one person, and there will be so many people reaching out to beg you later, you are completely powerless!"
Chai Yanjun collapsed emotionally, but Xu Ling calmed down and watched the middle-aged man crying with snot and tears together with Hetong who came back.
"Don't you think I'm a doctor and don't want to save people? I'm a doctor! How can I just watch people die in front of my eyes, but I'm just a doctor. People don't just need to take medicine to stay alive. They need to eat and wear clothes. I can't help myself. They can't afford to eat, damn it! Why is it my turn to take care of their life and death!"
"Master, please stop crying. No one is saying anything bad about you. What you have done is good enough!"
Hetong gave Xu Ling a look, and the two of them quickly helped Chai Yanjun sit down. Chai Yanjun was crying so hard that he counted on Xu Ling's fingers: "The charity kindergarten run by me has picked up seven children this winter alone. Dolls! Seven! Do you know how difficult it is to feed seven mouths? Food, drink and everything cost money!"
Xu Ling quickly praised: "This is a true act of righteousness!"
"Then you don't have to say it? I haven't done a good enough job? You, a yellow-haired boy, actually said that I have medical skills but no medical ethics. Do you still have any conscience?"
Xu Ling also didn't expect Chai Yanjun to be such a... emotional person.
"Dr. Chai, I think there must be some misunderstandings between you and me!"
Xu Ling hurriedly explained: "As you know, I am a businessman. When I rescued them, I had some countermeasures in mind. If they wake up and are willing to work for me, I will naturally not cut off their food and drink and cut off their livelihood."
"I also know that I am weak and cannot save too many people. But in the final analysis, I can save one person, but I am still unhappy in my heart. You were so aggressive just now, and I feel a little..."
Chai Yanjun looked better and stopped crying. He sniffed and asked, "You said you are a businessman? What do you do?"
"I traveled all over the country and sold goods. In addition, I also opened a shop in Quanzhou."
"Is business good?"
"It's not bad, I can make a living."
"to be honest!"
“It’s getting bigger and bigger, and we’re short of manpower.”
Chai Yanjun stroked his beard and thought for a moment: "How many people can you find work for?"
Xu Ling thought for a while and said, "I can't say for sure now. I need to make a trip to find out."
If these people were willing to leave their hometowns to find a way out, he planned to send them to Yazhou.
Now that he has money, if he can buy a field in Yazhou, where the temperature is suitable, at least he will not freeze to death. As long as he provides them with food and shelter, they can barely survive.
Besides, if Xu Ling wants to sell salt with Sun Baoyao, he can't just rely on the local people to make salt. If he can set up his own grass-roots team, wouldn't it save a lot of costs at the source?
It's just these words that Xu Ling didn't fully reveal to Chai Yanjun.
After hearing this, Chai Yanjun looked at him suspiciously, "Do you really have any idea?"
"It's better than doing nothing anyway." Xu Ling said confidently.
If he doesn't do anything, these people will die. If he rescues them, these people will have more chance of survival.
Chai Yanjun was finally coaxed.
The next day, the six people Xu Ling rescued at night woke up and found that they were not dead. They were all grateful to Xu Ling, but they were all confused.
Xu Ling listened to their self-reports. Some of these people fled from the north. For example, the young man he rescued at the beginning was sixteen years old. After his whole family died, he was the only one who hid on a boat and was sent to Lingbao Town in a daze. Who was it? Knowing that it was snowing here, he was all alone and was reduced to begging. The situation was getting worse and worse. If Xu Ling hadn't saved him, he would have gone down to be with his family.
Perhaps he had suffered too many blows, and the young man was stunned and didn't speak much. These things were told to Xu Ling by another old beggar.
After Xu Ling asked about it, he didn't waste any time and immediately explained his plan.
"I didn't save you in vain. Although you are not dead now, but if I let you leave, I am afraid that within three days, you will still be dead. It is better to follow me. I will come to you to ask for a way out. You think about it. , do you want to sign this deed of betrayal or not?"
No one rejected Xu Ling, but was grateful to him.
If these people could sell themselves, they would have sold themselves long ago, and it would be better to be servants than to starve and freeze to death.
Now that Xu Ling is willing to lend a helping hand, they are too late to be grateful. How can they be picky?
Xu Ling temporarily placed them in Chai Yanjun's medicine hall. Before heading to Yazhou, he had one more person to meet.
