“They owe money to a middleman?” Lian Li was quite surprised to hear this news.
These so-called middlemen were somewhat similar to modern-day agents, except that agents in the modern world mostly specialized in one or a few specific industries.
The middlemen here, however, did everything.
If commoners wanted to sell their sons or daughters, they could go to them; they handled that too.
He remembered that the original owner’s family situation was considered quite good for villagers.
The original owner’s brother had even learned a trade and should have been able to support the family no matter what. Unless he had been swindled, even if he owed money, it was impossible for it to be as much as twenty taels.
Hearing this, Lian Li understood the gist of it: the original owner’s brother and sister-in-law must have contacted a middleman and sold him.
The original owner was sixteen at the time, which was considered an adult, but his parents had passed away and he hadn’t split the household with his brother. Since “the eldest brother is like a father,” his brother naturally had the authority to make such a decision.
Especially since the original owner was physically weak and had no ability to resist.
Lian Li felt angry, yet a faint, inexplicable sadness also stirred within him. He noticed it and found it strange; he didn’t know where this sadness came from, but it certainly wasn’t his own heart’s feeling.
He thought about it and finally attributed it to feeling sad on behalf of the original owner.
“That’s why I told you not to let your brother and sister-in-law know you’re back.” Auntie Liu’s eyes held a hint of disdain, and then she said mysteriously, “He sold you. That twenty taels was the money the middleman paid for you.”
“Your brother and sister-in-law took the money first, then planned to trick you into going to town so the middleman could take you away. As it happened, you left on your own right then. When they came back and couldn’t find you, they started by asking all over the village.”
“It wasn’t until you’d been missing for two days that they asked the villagers to help search. Your brother said at the time that you were his only brother, and although he held a grudge because of your parents’ favoritism, he still cared about you.”
“We helped look for many days but couldn’t find you. At the time, many people suspected that you had been mistreated at home and ran out only to be snatched away by wild beasts.”
“But your brother still didn’t give up looking for you, insisting that the village chief organize people to go up the mountain. We were all fooled by his anxious appearance back then, truly thinking he cared so much about you.”
“As it turned out, a few days later, several people from town came looking for him to pay back the money. Your sister-in-law refused to pay, and your brother kept saying to give them more time and such.”
“After several days of commotion, we found out your brother had secretly found a middleman to arrange a deal to sell you to Master Wu in a nearby city, to be Master Wu’s male concubine.”
Hearing this, Lian Li didn’t have much of a reaction, feeling it was within expectations.
But Yun Huizhou’s face had turned completely dark, his whole body radiating a menacing, low-pressure aura.
Fearing he would scare Auntie Liu, Lian Li quickly nudged Yun Huizhou with his elbow, reminding him to restrain himself.
Yun Huizhou took a deep breath, closed his eyes for a moment, and then turned his head to look aside.
“And after they couldn’t find me? Did my brother and sister-in-law pay back the money?” Lian Li asked.
Auntie Liu replied, “They definitely had to pay it back. Which middleman capable of doing this kind of business is a pushover? They keep many strong thugs. If your brother and sister-in-law couldn’t produce the person and wouldn’t pay back the money, to put it bluntly, in this world, would they let them off easy?”
“However, if you let them know you’re back, they might contact the middleman again to find a way to sell you.”
“Even if they don’t sell you to the Wu family, they’ll sell you somewhere else.”
As Auntie Liu spoke, she looked at Yun Huizhou, thinking that since this hero accompanied Lian Li to pay respects to his parents, they must be very good friends.
He wouldn’t just watch the boy get sold, right?
Yun Huizhou’s brow furrowed again upon hearing this. Just as he was about to speak, Lian Li spoke first: “I understand, Auntie Liu. Thank you for telling me this. I’ll be careful.”
Auntie Liu, carrying her basket, was about to leave when she glanced at the silent Yun Huizhou again and warned once more: “You must be careful. Besides strong thugs, that middleman also knows people who can use martial arts. If your brother and sister-in-law know you’re back, they might really go looking for them again.”
Lian Li put on a very serious and earnest expression and said, “I know, Auntie Liu.”
After Auntie Liu left, Lian Li turned to look at Yun Huizhou, who hadn’t spoken but was still radiating a heavy atmosphere. He found him with a dark face, as if someone owed him a fortune.
Lian Li tugged at his sleeve and said, “Alright, stop frowning. If you frown any more, your face will look like a bitter melon.”
Yun Huizhou blinked, softening his expression before looking at Lian Li. “He bullied you like this—it’s intolerable. He’s your biological brother; how could he dare to treat you like this and hurt you?”
The thought that a year ago, if Lian Li hadn’t left the village himself, his brother and sister-in-law would have sold him to a middleman and then to that Master Wu as a male concubine made him so irritable he wanted to kill someone.
And the person selling him was his own brother. His parents had only been dead for a few months at the time, and to be treated like that by his brother and sister-in-law—how painful it must have been.
Just thinking about it made Yun Huizhou’s heart ache. Lian Li wasn’t someone who couldn’t endure hardship, so what kind of life must he have been living at home to make him drag his poor health and leave the village back then? One mistake and he could have lost his life.
Seeing the heartache in Yun Huizhou’s eyes, Lian Li felt moved, but also a bit guilty.
Because those were the experiences of the original owner. Since he arrived, aside from being cornered in a tree by a wolf at the very beginning, ever since he stuck to Yun Huizhou, he had only enjoyed good fortune and hadn’t suffered much grievance.
He couldn’t bring himself to fake grievance in front of Yun Huizhou now.
So, he could only say with feigned nonchalance, “I don’t care about them anymore, and I don’t consider him my brother, so I don’t feel sad. Besides, he can’t hurt me now.”
He said this, but his mind was full of calculations.
After all, he was only able to live another life by borrowing the original owner’s body. Although the original owner had already passed away and knew nothing, he still owed this debt of gratitude.
He also knew that the original owner actually harbored resentment toward the brother and sister-in-law, but had never thought of doing anything to make their lives difficult.
He had originally come just to pay respects to the parents on behalf of the original owner, repair the graves, and then leave.
But he hadn’t expected to learn about such a matter from Auntie Liu—that the brother and sister-in-law had actually tried to sell the original owner as a male concubine.
He didn’t know who this Master Wu was, but hearing the word “Master,” he felt the man must be quite old.
And given the original owner’s personality, if he had really been taken by the middleman, who knows how much suffering he would have endured just to make him obedient.
He probably wouldn’t have even survived long enough to be sold into Master Wu’s house.
His brother had even been an apprentice in town; how could he not know what the situation would be like once someone entered a middleman’s hands? To sell the original owner there was no different from wanting him dead.
