"Uncle, help me..." A figure rushed into the lobby, saw Chen Luo sitting in the middle, and bowed down. Ji Zhong took a step forward slightly, standing between the other party and Chen Luo.
Almost at the same time, there was a sound of footsteps outside the uncle's residence. Chen Luo raised his head and saw Wang Li following behind with a group of guards. As Wang Li ran, he shouted: "Lu Tong, don't scare your uncle..." As he said that, he also ran up to Chen Luo and saluted, "I've met my uncle before."
Chen Luo looked confused: "What's going on?" After speaking, he looked at the figure kneeling on the ground and asked, "Who is he?"
To be honest, this was the first time he saw someone kneel down and worship after traveling to this world.
"Uncle, forgive me." Wang Li said helplessly, "This man's name is Lu Tong, he is the steward of Sanxi Village."
"Sanxi Village?"
"Yes, didn't His Majesty reward you with an imperial village the day before yesterday? The Secretary of Internal Affairs finally settled on Sanxi Village, which is just outside the capital and is surrounded by three streams. It is the most fertile."
Chen Luo nodded, his own name was Dongliu, and the name given to Sanxizhuang by the Department of Internal Affairs matched it.
"Then he is..." Chen Luo pointed to Lu Tong on the ground.
Wang Li sighed: "The rules of the Imperial Village are to pay a certain amount every year. If there is any leftover, a lunch will be given as a reward. I won't care about other trivial matters."
"Lu Tong is kind-hearted. Whenever he meets a stray child, he takes him into the Imperial Mansion. Today I was ordered to go and pick him up, and I found that there are no less than one or two hundred young children trapped inside the Imperial Mansion."
"If it were normal, as long as he could pay his dues, he would just turn a blind eye and forget about it. But this Sanxi Village is already your private property, so you can't do this."
"When he heard that these children were to be sent away, Lu Tong was so anxious that he had to stand in front of you and plead for mercy. I didn't stop you at that moment, so..."
Chen Luo rolled his eyes at Wang Li. He was not a fool. This Wang Li came up to grab the white spot. He wouldn't believe it if he said he didn't communicate well with Lu Tong. However, he had other thoughts on how to do this.
He first called Ji Zhong to his side and whispered a few words. Ji Zhong nodded and quickly walked out of the uncle's house.
Then, he looked at Lu Tong who was kneeling on the ground: "Tell me, how do you want me to save my life?"
When Lu Tong heard Chen Luo's voice, he hurriedly kowtowed again without daring to raise his head and said: "Back to uncle, in the past, the amount that Sanxi Village handed over to the Department of Internal Affairs was ten thousand taels of silver per year, but the harvest in the village was the best. One year, excluding daily expenses, we can only collect more than eleven thousand taels."
"The old slave begs my uncle to keep the old slave to continue to manage the imperial village and let the children live in the imperial village. The old slave is willing to hand over twelve thousand taels a year. If there is one tael less, the old slave will Apologize for your life."
Chen Luo raised his eyebrows: "Tell me, the maximum amount is eleven thousand taels of silver a year. How can you guarantee me twelve thousand taels a year?"
Lu Tong was prepared and said: "When the old slave returns, he will return part of the rented land and let the children cultivate it. If ten children do the work of an adult, there will always be some income. If it still doesn't work..."
When Lu Tong said this, he suddenly closed his mouth and clenched his hands.
Chen Luo understood clearly: "If it doesn't work, then sell some children to raise money, right?"
Hearing this, Lu Tong suddenly raised his head, with tears streaming down his face that had seen a lot of changes in life: "I don't want to, I don't want to... But without the protection of the Imperial Manor, these children will have no way to survive..."
"Uncle..." Wang Li interrupted, "I also know their plan. But it's not that Lu Tong wants to sell the children, it's the children who voluntarily... The old slave also went to see the children. The youngest is three or four years old, and the oldest is At the age of eleven or twelve, if you are a prostitute, if you are lucky enough to be sold into slavery by a wealthy family, if you are unlucky, you may not grow up..."
Chen Luo sighed in his heart, waved his hand, and said to Lu Tong: "Get up first and wait a moment."
Lu Tong looked at Chen Luo in confusion, and Wang Li frowned: "Get up when uncle tells you to, hurry up."
Lu Tong stood up quickly and stood aside with his hands tied.
…
About an hour later, Chen Luo leaned on his seat to catch up on his sleep, and Ji Zhong came back with a tired look on his face.
Ji Zhong walked to Chen Luo and told Chen Luo the results of the investigation: "We have checked and found out that Lu Tong has been taking in orphans for three or four years. They did not gather together suddenly. When the children reach the age of thirteen, they will leave on their own. , there is nothing suspicious about the number.”
Chen Luo nodded. He had previously asked Ji Zhong to investigate when Sanxi Village started taking in children. If Lu Tong wanted to occupy Huangzhuang, he would temporarily ask Wang Li to perform a play with him and hire a group of children to act as an extra. What about tapping into your own compassion?
In addition, we must also prevent Sanxi Village from being a charity organization on the surface but a base for human trafficking behind the scenes. If we agree to it, wouldn't we be an accomplice?
Fortunately, the news Ji Zhong brought back gave him reassurance.
"In that case, it's easy to handle." Chen Luo shook his head and looked sideways. He had to say that Wang Li's professionalism was really good. I asked him to sit down, but he didn't sit down. He stood there for more than an hour, acting like nothing happened. Lu Tong, on the other hand, turned out to be the same as Wang Li, which somewhat surprised Chen Luo.
"Okay, let's go..." Chen Luo stood up and walked out. Wang Li quickly asked: "Uncle, where are we going?"
"Go to Sanxi Village to see the children!" Chen Luo smiled and looked at the nervous Lu Tong, "There is no need to return the rented land. The children can continue to live in Huangzhuang, but the children have to work for me. Don't worry. , I will pay you for working..."
Lu Tong's face was filled with joy, and then he was worried, and asked: "Excuse me for talking too much, but what do you want them to do? I'm afraid that they will ruin my uncle's big event."
"It can't be broken!" Chen Luo knew that Lu Tong was worried about the children, so he smiled lightly: "I want them to be newspaper sellers... Bah, little expert!"
…
Red Sleeve Academy.
A pair of beautiful eyes stared at Weilan Lake in the academy, and the owner of the beautiful eyes sighed softly. Her brother was a student of Zheliu Academy. At noon, he told her about the article "Du Shiniang" which caused Zheliu students to advance one after another. Due to the limitations of heaven, he could only repeat a summary, but the summary of only a few sentences was enough. She longed for it.
"Why don't you skip class in the morning and go to Beifeng Building? I don't know if Mr. Nan will talk about "Du Shiniang" again." The woman picked up a stone and threw it into the lake. "Or start a petition to ask the head of the hospital to Come forward to find Wan Anbo?"
"Die Fei, why are you in a daze? Do you miss your lover?" Another charming voice sounded. The woman named Die Fei turned her head and saw a figure jumping towards her, with two giant balls on her chest. The top and bottom are quite spectacular.
"Stop jumping, I'm dizzy!" Cheng Diefei spat, "What lover? How can you say this?"
The "giant" woman came to Cheng Diefei, took Cheng Diefei's arm, inserted it right into the middle of his chest, and said with a smile, "Why can't you say it? My father said that love between men and women is the most natural law, and only hypocrites can Avoid like snakes and scorpions!”
"Your father is a great scholar, and everything he says is knowledge. You are just a little girl, and you don't know how to be ashamed..." Cheng Diefei scratched Liu Mengrui's nose, "If you are like your father, you chant 'Golden Wind and Jade Dew'" There are countless words passed down from generation to generation in the world, and I recognize whatever you say..."
"Hmph..." Liu Mengrui twisted her body proudly, and the voluptuous feeling on her chest made Cheng Diefei's pretty face blush slightly. Liu Mengrui didn't notice it at all, and said: "Just because of this poem, those aunts broke through the threshold of my family, causing me to live in the college for two months..."
"Okay, okay, weren't you going to attend Xiuhe's literary party? Why did you come to see me?"
"I almost forgot." Liu Mengrui knocked on his head, "The academy has issued a public notice, saying that it is recruiting Confucian scholars who have advanced to the realm of 'the pen moves the dragon and the snake' to copy elegant articles, and one credit will be given for copying a hundred times. , I came here specially to ask you to come with me."
"Do you know what article it is?"
Liu Mengrui thought for a while: "It seems, what is it called "Swordsman"..."
"What a weird name. Do you know which scholar's article it is from?"
"Hmm... he's not a great scholar, he seems to be some kind of uncle, his name is Wan..."
"Wan Anbo?"
"Yes, yes, that's the name."
Cheng Diefei pulled his hand out of the soft trap and walked straight towards the student office...
