Clouds and Moon Shadow

Chapter 118 The Habit of Picking Up People

Upon hearing this, the bearded man glared at Gu Qingyue defiantly. "Impossible. These people have cleared official channels with the government. This is robbery."

Gu Qingyue turned around and thought about it. That made sense. If she forcibly took away a few teenagers in front of so many people today, it would indeed have endless consequences, unless she killed them to cover it up. But she couldn't bear to see a few young people in the prime of their lives being taken to such a place and humiliated.

"Speak up, name your price," Gu Qingyue put away the dagger and stood in front of the bearded man.

The bearded man looked up and met a pair of sharp eyes. His heart skipped a beat, and the ruthlessness he had just felt vanished.

It seems that if they want to get away unscathed today, they'll have to leave a few Linlang behind.

The person in front of him was a tough nut to crack; he had no right to refuse.

"One hundred taels each, you can take it with you," the bearded man said.

Upon hearing this, Gu Qingyue glanced at the group of teenagers in the distance. Although they were dressed in rags and trembling with fear, their eyes shone with hope as they stared intently at Gu Qingyue.

Gu Qingyue sighed softly and turned around again.

"Ten taels".

“Impossible, just kill us. We’ll be dead anyway, even if it’s only ten taels,” the bearded man said.

Actually, they had just bought these boys from Jiangnan at a high price recently. They were in a small courtyard training them to be disciplined when they were stolen. They hadn't even been delivered to Master Qian yet. Otherwise, how could they dare to sell these boys so easily?

Even if they sell now, they have to hurry up and buy another batch, otherwise, Mr. Qian won't let them off the hook.

"These are high-priced items we purchased from Jiangnan; they're not ordinary goods."

"Unusual?" Gu Qingyue said, turning around and glancing at the boys again. Well, apart from their tall stature and the grime on their faces, she really couldn't tell.

“Thirty taels,” Gu Qingyue paused, “Otherwise, you can all die.”

"Eighty taels, the bottom price," the bearded man threw down his longsword, looking like a scoundrel who would let you kill him at will.

Gu Qingyue walked down the street, looking at the several ragged teenagers beside her, the unconscious man on the door behind her, and the three half-grown children walking by the door, shaking the indenture in their hands, their faces full of despair.

She had just come out of the nunnery when she realized that she had only wanted to chase after a money pouch, but she ended up bringing a bunch of people back with her. These are all mouths to feed! Is her habit of picking up people anytime, anywhere really that hard to change?

The group entered the Gu residence in a grand procession.

Hearing the wind, Rong Qingqing rushed from the backyard to the frontyard in less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

Looking at the horde of children and the half-dead, seriously ill man, I almost fainted.

“Gu Qingyue! You…you…” She pointed at Gu Qingyue in the hall, really wanting to crack open the boy’s head to see how it was made.

Why can't he change his habit of picking up unwanted people? He even infected Liu Feng, who has brought back more than a dozen people in the past two weeks. There are so many pitiful people in the world, how can he possibly pick them all up?

Wouldn't it be better to just give them some money and get rid of them? This place is turning into a Tzu Chi center.

The problem is, she's been driven to the brink of madness by the noise from those heartless boys in the backyard.

Another group has arrived; she wants to run away from home!

"Cough cough-------Sister Rong, don't worry, calm down, calm down," Gu Qingyue saw that Rong Qingqing was about to faint, and awkwardly touched her nose, saying, "This is fate, we can't just stand by and watch her die." After saying that, she ran to Rong Qingqing's side and began to massage her shoulders and back.

The boy and children standing at the door looked at each other, dumbfounded. Was this still the same boy who had been a killing machine just moments before? Had his soul been replaced?

But upon hearing Rong Qingqing's words, they became so nervous and anxious that their legs went weak. Did the master not want them anymore?

A dirty little child couldn't help but sob.

Rong Qingqing paused when she heard the crying, as she was pushing Gu Qingyue's hand.

"Why are you crying? Don't cry, Daya, quick, bring some food," Rong Qingqing said as she turned around and started shouting when she saw that the children were crying.

Upon hearing this, Liu Daya immediately turned and ran towards the backyard.

Seeing this, Gu Qingyue covered her mouth and chuckled. She knew that Sister Rong was the most stubborn but soft-hearted.

"I'll settle the score with you later!" Rong Qingqing rolled her eyes at her.

Gu Qingyue coughed and called towards the door, "Uncle Liu, take them downstairs to freshen up." After saying that, she looked at Rong Qingqing.

"Is Dr. Zhang here?" Gu Qingyue asked.

“He arrived a couple of days ago, saying you sent him,” Rong Qingqing said irritably. “All he does is look for food and mess around with your pharmacy. Go take a look. The windows were blown out again the day before yesterday afternoon. If this continues, it will become a dangerous building. Can’t you do something about it? I’m exhausted from running around looking for people to fix it.”

After Rong Qingqing finished speaking, she plopped down in a chair, panting heavily. She felt that she must have owed this kid a lot of money in her past life.

Gu Qingyue quickly gave Uncle Liu, who had just come in, a meaningful look, and said, "Go find Doctor Zhang to take a look at him," pointing to the man on the door panel.

"Yes, young master," Liu Yong bowed respectfully, then gestured to several young men to carry the man toward the guest courtyard.

Rong Qingqing breathed a sigh of relief as everyone quickly left.

"I know, I know," Gu Qingyue said, quickly offering a fawning hand to massage Rong Qingqing's shoulders as she saw Rong Qingqing was about to start nagging again.

“We’ve already found a place. We’ll send them there together, and we’ll also hire three old women to cook and take care of them. What do you think?” Gu Qingyue said, revealing a fawning smile.

She was really afraid of this ancestor's nagging, which started and couldn't be stopped. She had been nagged at every time she came back from the camp, and her ears were already calloused from it.

However, it's really inappropriate for so many people to be crammed into the courtyard now. She has already asked Yue Ling to buy a secluded estate near the foot of Meigu Mountain. It's located in a quiet mountain valley at a high elevation, and few people go there.

Now Moonshadow Pavilion has trained nearly a hundred people, which is really inconvenient here. Although it is still barely enough to live here, it is really inconvenient with the neighbors.

But Zhuangzi still needs to find someone to renovate it, so she has to stay here for a while longer. She herself did not expect to recruit so many people. Originally, she planned to train some people to make money and protect themselves, but now, the number of people is enough to form a large gang.

"Found it? Where is it? Is there enough room?" Rong Qingqing immediately perked up upon hearing this.

"It's located at the foot of Meigu Mountain, very secluded, suitable for Tibetans," Gu Qingyue quickly patted her back.

"Oh dear, these are all mouths to feed, can we afford to support them?" Rong Qingqing's joy lasted only a moment before she wilted.

She was almost driven to the brink of collapse by these mischievous boys lately. There were so many boys, and their antics were simply unbearable for her.

Although Gu Qingyue has bound them with rules and regulations so that they can do everything on their own, there are so many of them. I don't know what to do in the future. How can we support more and more people?

She looked at the boy beside her with heartache, knowing that if it weren't for him, so many children would be displaced, but there were more and more pitiful people in the world, and there was simply no way to save them all.

"We set up the porridge stall at the North Gate the day before yesterday. We purchased a lot of rice and grains in the name of our Wenxianglou. There were so many people coming to get porridge that we almost overturned the stall. Fortunately, Liu Feng led a group of people to keep things in order. Yesterday, some other merchants followed our example. Liu Feng said it was a good thing, and today he led a group of people to keep an eye on things..."

No wonder I haven't seen Liu Feng and the others since I got back; they've gone to keep things under control.

Rong Qingqing began to ramble on about the current situation in Lizhou City. As Gu Qingyue listened, her brows furrowed into a deep furrow, and her heart sank to the bottom.