Update time 2014-12-14 18:41:38 Word count: 5596
"Girl, do you have someone to choose as a sailor?" After walking silently for a while, Zheng Xi finally couldn't help asking.
"No." Ling Qingyu answered very simply, turned his head and smiled at Zheng Xi, and said, "So tomorrow we will go to the street to find someone."
"Go to the street to look for it?" Zheng Xi was a little dumbfounded. Although there were sailors walking around on Quanzhou Street, could it be that the eldest lady was going to arrest them? Catch one catch one
"When I went to the shipyard a few days ago, I saw a lot of people looking for work on the Yongding Bridge."
"Yongding Bridge? That's a place to find short-term labor? Not sailors?"
"Didn't you say that as long as you are strong and obedient, you can do it? We pay wages, isn't it the same as a part-time job?"
Early the next morning, Ling Qingyu and Zheng Xi arrived at Yongding Bridge.
The summer in Quanzhou is very hot. Most of the people gathered at the bridgehead are dressed casually on their shoulders, and some are simply shirtless. Some of these people are local proletarian households who rely on short-term labor for a living, and more of them come from the north. For the refugees, the Beihe River area has been droughted for three consecutive years, and some places have no crops, and a large number of people have fled from famine. It's just that there are many mountains and little land in the area around Fujian Road, so it is impossible to accommodate so many people, so most of them became refugees.
When Ling Qingyu arrived at the shipyard, he saw that Wu Dayou hired a lot of carpenters from the north, who were cheap and hardworking. He had already thought about these cheap labor.
"Boss, do you want a short-term worker? Choose me, I'm strong enough! Only twenty yuan a day."
"The boss chose me. You see, I'm much stronger than him. It's right to choose me."
"My master, I know how to do crafts. Do you want a plasterer?"
Seeing someone coming, people who were lying down or gathering together by idleness rushed forward, and strongly recommended themselves to the people who came, so that they could get a job that could provide food for the family for a day.
"Don't worry, don't worry," Zheng Xi blocked all the hands that were crawling on his body, and he wasn't a woman, so it was really not his best thing to be surrounded by so many men, grabbing left and right, seeing that he couldn't stop, So he yelled: "Stop it all! Our boss wants a lot of people this time, twenty strong laborers, one hundred yuan a day, to be sailors on sea ships!"
The murmur of ridicule suddenly fell silent, and then various whispers sounded again.
"It's going to sea, it's a narrow escape, and maybe I won't be able to come back."
"My family has a family and a mouth, and it's over after death."
"But one hundred yuan a day, where can I find such a good job?"
"We don't know how to swim at all, isn't it a death to get on the boat?"
Ling Qingyu listened to the small voices in the crowd, but no one stood up and said to go, beckoning Zheng Xi to come over, and whispered a few words in his ear.
Zheng Xi nodded, shook his clothes, walked to a stone in the middle, and said: "My boss said that this trip will take more than three months. If you are willing to sign, you will be given a one-time advance payment of ten taels of silver. Okay, after returning, the wages can be doubled. After passing this village, there will be no such shop, there are only twenty people, and they must be healthy and strong enough."
The discussion in the crowd became louder, and Ling Qingyu was not in a hurry, so he found a big tree nearby and sat down on the stone under the tree.
There is a bridge hole at the end of Yongding Bridge. The outside cannot see the inside, but the movement outside can be seen in the hole.
Several big men sat in the cave in twos and threes. The leader was leaning against the stone wall with his upper body bare, with a piece of grass in his mouth. He looked at Zheng Xi who was standing on the middle stone, and then turned his eyes to the old god Sitting under the tree, looking at the scenery on the left and watching the show on the right with a leisurely and elegant look, only a woman disguised as a man who didn't serve a cup of tea. The woman was wearing a blue men's gown, her hair was pulled up in a bun on the top of her head, a wooden hairpin was inserted, she had a big face with freckles and pimples on her face, her figure was tall and strong, unlike ordinary young girls' charming and raucous, If it weren't for the slight protrusion of the two lumps on the chest under the summer green shirt, it would not be so easy to judge whether it is a man or a woman.
"The ship that Lao Dan and the others are repairing these days seems to be owned by a woman?" Gu Sui spat out the thatch root and asked Zhang Dahu next to him.
"Yes, I heard that she was the only daughter of a merchant surnamed Lin who died at sea earlier. She came out to set up a female household and changed her surname to Ling. Lao Dan and the others came back last night and said that they were the ones who led the ship to go to sea. Boss Ding was plotted against and broke his leg. Most of the sailors were afraid and quit the contract. They didn't know if the ship could go out. Fortunately, the owner was kind, and the money was settled every day, and it was good. I saved some money." Zhang Dahu said.
"I heard from Lao Shan that the boat is very good?"
"That's right, Lao Dan has been bragging, saying that although he has never built a boat, the material and workmanship of this boat are good. It is a top-notch boat. It is big and not afraid of the waves. No matter how big the waves are, I can’t turn it over, and it’s okay if I don’t know how to swim. If it weren’t for Boss Ding and the others, they already have their own sailors, and Lao Dan would like to go to sea with him. Hey, Boss, what do you mean?”
Gu Sui stood up, walked out of the bridge hole with his head down, patted the dirt on his body, thought about it, and put on the jacket that was almost rotten into strips, and walked towards Ling Qingyu.
"Master Ling?"
Ling Qingyu was taken aback for a moment, and then suddenly realized that it was him who was shouting. Turning around, he saw only a pair of muddy legs, trouser legs rolled up to his knees, and a pair of old straw sandals on his muddy feet. Then I looked up, and then looked up again, only to feel that my neck was twisted a little, and then I saw a face, because Gu Sui lowered his head, so the sun was shining obliquely from the top of his head, and the face was hidden in the shadow, that is In this way, the sharp-edged, hard and masculine face still made Ling Qingyu blind.
Ling Qingyu stood up unconsciously, but after standing up, he found that he still had to raise his head until his neck was sore. This man must be 1.9 meters tall, right? !
Seeing Ling Qingyu raised his head like a cockfight about to end, Gu Sui couldn't help but smile and said, "What's wrong with Master Ling?"
Ling Qingyu coughed, and said in her heart, Ling Qingyu, you are not a little girl, you are already the aunt of Bensi, I have never seen any man before, and it is not the same when you take off your clothes! Thinking of taking off his clothes, his eyes flickered at the naked body of the man in front of him. This man was tall, but he had a good figure. There was no trace of fat on his body, and the beautiful stripes of muscles bulged under his brown skin. Ling Qingyu unconsciously thought of the famous Roman statue of the Pie Thrower.
"Sit," Ling Qingyu stabilized his mind, sat down on the stone again, and patted the stone next to him to signal the other party to sit down.
Gu Sui didn't sit down on the stone, but sat directly on the ground.
Well, Ling Qingyu secretly praised in his heart, expressed his satisfaction that the two of them could finally look directly at each other, and said with a smile: "I wonder how many people this big brother can bring on board?"
"We are nine brothers in total, and three of them are repairing your ship at the shipyard. However, we hope to get six taels of silver for a month's wages when we board the ship. We will give you a deposit of twenty taels of silver before boarding the ship." Gu Sui said casually. Pulling out a piece of thatch and holding it in her mouth, this woman surnamed Ling looks young, but she seems to be a smart person. It is always easier to work with smart people. Seeing that Ling Qingyu looked at himself after looking at himself, he looked at the brothers scattered around him again, and his eyes were not wrong, and the smile deepened a little bit.
Ling Qingyu rubbed his chin. This big man, and those around him, are all tall and strong. They seem to have good strength, but their complexion is not very good. They are probably malnourished. But they still have an aura, these people are not ordinary people. When going to sea in the future, whether these people will make some mistakes, she is really not sure to control them, but judging from the current situation, these people are the best oarsmen, powerful, and seem to have been trained.
"Yes, big brother, if you like, I want to hire you as the team leader. In addition to the wages, you can also get a dividend after the ship returns, um," Ling Qingyu took out three hundred taels of silver bills from his purse, and handed them to Gu Sui. He said: "In addition to the deposit, this one hundred taels is what I lent you. You can buy some goods by yourself and take them overseas to sell."
Gu Sui was taken aback, holding the bank note in his hand, and said with a slight smile, "Master Ling, isn't he afraid that I will run away with the bank note?"
"You are not this kind of person," Ling Qingyu said looking directly at him, then shrugged, and said, "If you run away, it means that I have failed to recognize people, and I have no vision, so I have to admit it."
"Hahaha," Gu Sui laughed and said, "Young girl is not bad, okay, I, Gu Sui, will write you a contract right now."
Zheng Xi came with a ready-made contract in his hand, but when he heard Gu Sui's reported wages, he looked at Ling Qingyu complaining, but saw that no one else came up except Gu Sui and his group, and this group The people seemed to be tall and big, and one was worth two, so he reluctantly changed the wages on the contract, and then asked Gu Sui and others to put their fingerprints on it, and this person was considered hired.
"Master Ling," Gu Sui wiped the ink pad on his hands, handed back the one hundred taels of silver note to Ling Qingyu and said, "Gu Sui is a vulgar person, and he doesn't know what kind of goods make money, why don't Master Ling buy it for me together?" Bar."
Ling Qingyu was very speechless, the goods of a hundred taels of silver, after a turnaround outside the episode, came back with a thousand taels of silver, this is a great benefit for the sailor, not to mention that she was going to lend him the money, unexpectedly, Do you even have to do the shopping yourself? Isn't this too unfair? But after sweeping his eyes over Gu Sui and the others, Ling Qingyu fell silent again. The morals of this world are the most low-minded. With their identities, even if they buy it with silver, they will probably treat it as the source of the money. unknown.
"Okay," Ling Qingyu took the banknote and said again; "I'll ask Zheng Xi to change it into a small-value banknote or cash for you?"
"Then trouble Master Ling." Gu Sui saluted formally.
Ling Qingyu saw that he was saluting in a correct posture and manner, smiled lightly, and left with Zheng Xi.
"Brother Gu," a girl hurried over, saw the contract in Gu Sui's hand, and said anxiously, "Brother Gu, I'll pay it back soon, how can you go to sea? It's ten times to go to sea. Nine times, how can such a dangerous thing be done, if something happens to you, what will you tell me and my mother to do?"
"Miss Mei," Gu Sui stopped her words, blocked the girl's body with his hand, and said indifferently: "This time, our brother's deposit is enough for you and the old man after paying the balance of the yard." What people need for life, Brother Mei should be able to find it some time later, and then your family will naturally be able to reunite."
After Gu Sui finished speaking, he left on his own.
Mei Hong wanted to catch up and persuade her again, but was blocked by Zhang Dahu.
Zhang Dahu smiled and said: "Miss Mei, please go back, this place is too dirty, don't stain your eyes."
Mei Hong stomped her feet and said, "I'll talk to my mother."
When Mei Hong's figure ran away, Zhang Dahu spat and said, "Who is it!"
"Three hundred taels!" Zheng Xi was heartbroken, and he muttered unconsciously: "Girl, you are too generous. Even if they are strong enough, they can't really beat two of them. Then you have improved, now you only need There are 30 seats, but there are always 30 people, right? Most of the budget has been cut out, so what if there are still 21 people?"
Ling Qingyu stopped suddenly, leaving Zheng Xi alone, bumped into him, and hurriedly said, "Girl, are you alright?"
Ling Qingyu glared at him, I was wearing men's clothes, what's the matter with you talking about a girl, but I don't have time to argue with him, pointing to the front: "Who are those people?"
Not far from Yongding Bridge is the seawall. At this time, there are some people covered in mud in twos and threes under the embankment. They are all yellow and emaciated. If Gu Sui and his gang are malnourished, then these people seem to be only The skeletons are gone, and there are scars all over their bodies. Looking at them suddenly, they thought they were piles of corpses.
Zheng Xi frowned, and murmured: "I'm afraid they are criminals. I heard that a group of felons were dispatched from Quanzhou City. Because there is not enough manpower to build the seawall this year, they were transferred here."
After hearing this, Ling Qingyu lowered his head, walked quickly with Zheng Xi, but glanced over from the corner of his eyes unconsciously, saw that there were two teenagers inside, and thought, what kind of felony can such a young man commit
Two yamen servants walked towards them, holding a knife in one hand and picking their teeth with the other, and said as they walked, "The embankment has finally been repaired, and now we can do the job."
"What about the gang of prisoners, there are only more than 20 dead left."
"Go to the sea. If you keep it, you have to take care of food and housing. I don't know if this group of people offended the lord above, and the above said that no one should be left alive."
Hearing what the two yamen servants said, Zheng Xi secretly thought it was not good, and sure enough, he saw his girl stopped in her tracks, leaned in front of the two yamen servants, with an innocent smile on her face, and said: "Hello, two officials. "
The two yamen servants were taken aback for a moment, and when they saw the ingot of silver stuffed by Ling Qingyu, their expressions immediately improved, and they smiled, "What's the matter, little brother?"
"The villain first arrived in Quanzhou. He heard that Quanzhou's shipping was profitable, so he rented a small boat with others. The boat was short of manpower. The villain wanted to buy something useful, as long as he could row the oars. I don't know if there is any. Is it easy to introduce?" Ling Qingyu bent slightly, and smiled flatteringly in a humble gesture.
"Oh? Brother also wants to go by sea?" The yamen servant looked Ling Qingyu up and down, weighed the heavy silver ingot, and said with a smile: "This sea transportation is not so easy. It's a close call. Brother, do you have a good one on board?" sailor?"
"This is also the first time for the villain. First, I found some people who ran past the boat. I don't know why. Later, it was said that the Xie family fleet was going, so the villain was helpless. Now that the villain's wealth was thrown into it, he ran as fast as he could. The last time I went, I got a huge profit back." Ling Qingyu said, bending his waist even lower.
The two yamen servants looked at each other, and most of them understood that this is a novice idiot. I heard that the second master of the Xie family wanted to monopolize Quanzhou's shipping, and he even killed Ding Budong's gang yesterday. Now this little brother is afraid that a skilled The sailors can't be found, there are no skilled sailors on board, and the reliable ship will have accidents, either getting lost or dying in the storm. It's just that this little brother is also very interested in profit, so he still wants to go to sea, but in Quanzhou City, I'm afraid no one will board his boat, so it's no wonder that he will starve at these dying prisoners, anyway, they are all If you die, let yourself earn some money.
"There are twenty people here, brother, if you want them, you can take one hundred taels of silver away." The yamen servant waved his hand and said proudly.
"These prisoners, can I buy them?" Ling Qingyu asked suspiciously while slowly taking out the banknotes from his purse.
"Hehe, these are migrant prisoners, they can be contracted to death, but they have to go to the yamen to go through the formalities, just," the yamen servant paused, and looked at Ling Qingyu with eyes that you understand.
Ling Qingyu nodded repeatedly, handed over the bank note, and then said to Zheng Xi: "You follow the official to go through the formalities, and the money that should be handed over to the yamen must not be less."
Zheng Xi made a bitter face, and glanced at Ling Qingyu with resentful eyes like you really did, and then followed one of the yamen servants to look at the yamen.
And the other one said to Ling Qingyu: "If my brother can come back safely this time, he will definitely be rich. Congratulations first."
Ling Qingyu bent down again and nodded, "According to the auspicious words of the official, it's better for the villain to count as one hundred taels for the official, and settle the settlement with the official when the villain comes back."
The yamen servant laughed, and said in his heart, this little brother looks young, but he is a sensible person, but they are going on this boat, and the truth is that they can’t come back, but he didn’t say anything, just said: "Thank you so much, brother, I’m here Quanzhou Zhizhou’s subordinate, named Zhou Zhou, you go to the yamen to find Zhou’s second son, and I will be me. How are you going to deal with these people? I suggest that you don’t loosen the shackles, and don’t let them eat, as long as they don’t starve to death, these people are Hunmin, if you want them to be obedient, you can't be soft-hearted. Well, this one is my brother's gift for you." Then, he pulled out a long whip from the back of his waist, with barbs gleaming with dark black blood stains hanging from the long whip.
When Ling Qingyu saw the whip, he felt a cold war, and it really penetrated people just by looking at it.
Seeing her appearance, Zhou Zhou laughed, and flicked his hand, the whip slapped, and it hit a man next to him, leaving a glaring bloodstain.
As soon as the whip sounded, the people on the ground trembled unconsciously, and then some struggled to get up.
Ling Qingyu suppressed the trembling of her hands, and took the whip that Zhou Zhou repeatedly handed over. The whip was very heavy, and when she took it, her hand sank and almost fell, which made Zhou Zhou laugh again.
Seeing that Ling Qingyu's face was a little pale, Zhou Zhou waved his hands and said, "Brother, go back first, and ask your servant to come and pull him." He gave the whip, but did not mention the key to the shackles.
Ling Qingyu said hello again and again, dragging the whip, and headed towards her yard.