Not long after the Mid-Autumn Festival, Bai Fuling bid farewell to Lu Ying reluctantly, and the Bai family's motorcade set off for the capital.
It should be said that a family of three did not bring much luggage, but there were quite a few people, so the number of carriages, horses, etc. was a bit scary.
Of the eighteen guard leaders of the Bai family, only eight were left to guard on Baili Mountain, and the remaining ten all set off with the team, and they also brought their own disciples, a total of fifty people, twenty including Bai Pingzi, Fang Hai, etc. There are sixteen people including the manager, employees and male servants, as well as female stewards and maidservants, including the three members of the Bai family, a total of ninety-nine people.
Except for the thirty people who rode horses, the rest were all in carriages, plus luggage and sundries, there were fifteen carriages. Bai Pingzi took two servants to arrange board and lodging along the road ahead of time, while the motorcade followed slowly.
The servants of the Bai family are all well-trained, and the three members of the Bai family basically don't have to worry about it. All matters, big and small, are properly arranged.
With such a large team, it is difficult to keep a low profile. Fortunately, within a hundred miles of Beiguan City, there are basically few copycat dens under Lu Ying's control. Even if ordinary bandits have never heard of the name of the Bai family , Seeing that the guards of the Bai family on horseback all looked very uncomfortable, and they didn't dare to provoke them.
There was no words all the way. On the third day after leaving Beiguan City, I gradually left Lu Ying's sphere of influence, and the road began to be uneasy. There were often small groups of robbers who wanted to attack them, but the guards of the Bai family were not vegetarians, so Bai Fuling just thought it was a chance to watch a few more "martial arts movies" to relieve boredom.
On this day, the convoy finally left Yongzhou, where Beiguan City was located, and entered Lushan Town, the first village in Pingzhou.
The town is very small, with only one wide dirt road running from the beginning to the end. All the shops in the town are gathered on both sides of the road. The arrival of the group from the Bai family attracted the curious attention of many people in the town.
There is not even a decent inn here. Bai Pingzi rented a few large houses that were vacant by wealthy households in the town, and asked someone to clean the houses thoroughly, and prepared fresh meat, vegetables and rice. They took out the pillows and quilts and made the bed, boiled water for the family of three to wash up, served tea, and after sitting for a while, delicious meals were served.
Bai Fuling praised the ability of the maids in charge, and finally praised her own leadership. In the end, even her parents couldn't stand her narcissism, so they sent the maids to eat by themselves, and then gave up.
Because Bai Fuling didn't like people around when her family was eating, so if it was an informal occasion, a family of three would never have to be served by a maid when eating, and they didn't pay attention to eating and sleeping. Chatting and eating, harmonious and harmonious.
Not long after they had finished their meal, they suddenly heard a commotion from outside the house, and Hongqu came in to report: "There is a pair of mother and daughter outside, who said that they passed through this place. Their father died of a serious illness. The money is used for the funeral, and the daughter wants to sell herself to bury her father... please help me."
Bai Fuling stared and said, "If you don't buy it, what are you buying it for, it's obviously bad-witted and self-willed?"
The red song was speechless, and as a mother, Mu Peilan couldn't help but poked her daughter's forehead, and said righteously: "It's filial piety for someone to sell his body to bury his father. How can you say that he is willing to degenerate?"
"Isn't that how filial piety is expressed? Her parents brought her up with great difficulty, just to let her sell herself as a slave because of such a little difficulty, so that she can't hold her head up for the rest of her life?" Bai Fuling disagreed.
It made sense to say so, but Hongqu still couldn't turn the corner, and she couldn't hide the disapproval look on her face, but even if she had ten guts, she wouldn't dare to contradict Bai Fuling in front of the Bai family couple.
Bai Fuling glanced at her and said, "I know you must be unconvinced. You think it's a very difficult thing for her to honor her father's funeral, right?"
Of course, it was impossible for Hongqu to answer yes, so he timidly kept silent.
Bai Fuling said: "Being a person and doing things should be within one's ability. Those who are rich can naturally bury their father in a grand burial. Those who have no money can buy a coffin and carve a wooden tablet. It is not bad. An ordinary thin-slab coffin plus a board for a wooden tablet can How much did it cost? Not even five hundred Wen! For such a small amount of money, selling yourself as a slave, isn’t it brainless?”
What she said makes sense, but from the perspective of customs and feelings, most children in this era hope to let their father go to the earth in peace and prosperity, for the sake of filial piety.
Hongqu couldn't think of how to refute her "fallacy", Na Na said: "As the saying goes, a penny kills a good man, if they really can't even get five hundred pennies, then what should they do?"
"Cold salad!" Bai Fuling said angrily, "Two people with good hands and feet, neither encountered a famine nor fell into a wilderness. In this small town, they can't even earn five hundred coins, and they are very incompetent. Now, what do you buy such a person for? Don’t say nonsense like it’s inconvenient for women to show their faces. They are planning to sell themselves as slaves, so they’re afraid of showing their faces?! Just ask the Lizheng and the head of the household here to introduce a laborer like a laundry maid It’s not very difficult to pay five hundred yuan on credit after signing the work contract. Huh! I think it’s fake to sell one’s body to bury one’s father, and it’s true to take the opportunity to gain sympathy and cheat money, or to find a family to live for free!”
Now the Bai couple and Hongqu had no lyrics, and after thinking about it calmly, the more they thought about it, the more reasonable Bai Fuling said.
When people face the weak and ask for help, they are always prone to habitually sympathize with and help them, and seldom consider the problems and truth behind their humbleness and weakness.
Hongqu put away her soft heart and stomped her feet, "I'll have someone send them away so they won't cry outside."
But Mu Peilan said: "Ling'er, we have to do meritorious deeds anyway, why not help them by the way, it's just a matter of a little money, let's form a good relationship." The more disturbed Mu Peilan was, she always had a glimmer of hope—maybe Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva would give her daughter another miracle after seeing how much meritorious deeds their family had done? So recently she does good deeds without blinking an eye, and her enthusiasm is unprecedentedly high.
Bai Fuling didn't want to disobey her mother for such a trivial matter, she wrinkled her nose and said, "Then you can give them a tael of silver and send them away."
Mu Peilan shook her head: "Since they are doing good deeds, let's give more. After finishing the funeral, they also need some money on hand."
Bai Fuling said flatly, "I'm afraid that the money will come too easily, which will make them crooked." She has never been the material to be a saint. Although she doesn't fully agree with the law of the jungle, she always thinks that in adversity, People who don't know how to be self-reliant are not worthy of help, even if they are eliminated, they deserve it.
And what bad people usually get is not the gratitude of the recipients, but stimulates their greed. So she never helps people regardless of remuneration. Everyone who is funded, cultivated and sheltered by the Bai family must give the Bai family material or labor remuneration in a way within their ability, but that's all. The Bai family will not ask for more, and never expect to help others. They must always remember their kindness, and are always ready to go through fire and water, and repay them for a lifetime.
In Bai Fuling's view, helping people is nothing more than a task, a transaction, or even a career, which does not involve any emotional likes and dislikes, only the difference between completion and failure.
"Then listen to you, just one or two." Mu Peilan nodded and said, over the years, as long as their daughter insisted, the two of them are used to accommodating.
Hongqu took the order to go, and soon came back with a bitter face and said: "The two mothers and daughters refused to leave, saying that they were grateful for the kindness of the master and his wife, and they insisted on staying to repay the kindness..."
Bai Fuling looked smug: "I'll just say it, I really fell for it! Humph!"
Hongqu asked: "Could it be that you really want to turn your face and drive people away... these people, why are they like this?"
"No, just tell them, tell them to go to the funeral as soon as possible, and come here to find us when it's over." Bai Fuling said with a smile.
"Ah?!" Hongqu understood that Bai Fuling was planning to release their pigeons, but this was also a good way to get rid of their entanglement, so she smiled and went away.
"This little girl is still too tender!" Seeing her walking away, Bai Fuling turned her head to her parents and said.
"It's you who is a big kid! I really don't know where you come from so many fallacies!" Mu Peilan scolded, her face was clearly proud, such a smart and precocious daughter was born to her!
The episode of selling one's body to bury the father just passed away, and no one in the Bai family took it seriously. As a result, at dawn the next day, when they were about to set off, they were very surprised to see the two mother and daughter standing in front of the door.
The older of these two mothers and daughters is about thirty years old, and the younger is slightly older than Bai Fuling. They have regular facial features, but their eyes seem to be a little erratic, and they look miserable. When they see Hongqu, they throw themselves to her feet and cry pitifully. .
Bai Fuling was just about to go out to get into the car. Seeing this scene, she said impatiently: "You must follow, so follow."
Sobbing and choking, the two mother and daughter stopped their tears, stepped forward and respectfully kowtowed three times to Bai Fuling, and obediently followed Hongqu to the car behind.
Bai Fuling said to Bai Shao who came with her, "Do you think they are strange?"
Bai Shao is much older than Bai Guo, and has always been cold and reticent. Naturally, she would not ask her "what's strange" as wittily as Bai Guo, but just quietly watched her and waited for her next words.
Bai Fuling was very bored, and she took the initiative to solve the mystery and said, "They must have been too calm when they saw me. Those who didn't know thought they had already seen me."
It's okay to be narcissistic, but I have to admit that it is true. Bai Fuling's appearance, even people who are used to seeing around her, sometimes unconsciously stare blankly, let alone two country women who met for the first time
Bai Shao frowned, and said matter-of-factly: "They don't know martial arts." If she hadn't seen this, it would be impossible for her to let these two women get close to Bai Fuling.
"Liars, spies, etc., can do martial arts or not." Bai Fuling winked at Bai Shao and said, "Go ask Fang Hai for some medicine, we will be prepared!"