The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, Becomes a Disciple of Yue Buqun

Could it be that he came out of the palace?

Jiang Ning couldn't help but glance at Zhu Shou.

Zhu Shou didn't know what Jiang Ning was thinking, but after a while two brothel girls came over and sat down next to Zhu Shou and Jiang Ning.

"Wouldn't it be boring for you two gentlemen to drink? How about we have a drink with you two gentlemen?"

After the two brothel girls sat down, they smiled at Jiang Ning and Zhu Shou, behaving in a dignified and proper manner, without rushing towards them like prostitutes. If this place was not a brothel, if you saw them outside, you would have thought they were ladies from a noble family.

"What are your two names?"

Zhu Shou asked curiously.

"My slave Yiyi/Qin'er."

The two brothel girls answered.

"Oh."

Zhu Shou nodded and asked curiously, "Did you enter the brothel voluntarily?"

He was still very curious about this, and seemed determined to get to the bottom of it.

Originally, he wanted to have a conversation with the two of them, talk about poetry and songs, and show off their talents, but Zhu Shou did not play by the rules and asked them questions that left them speechless.

They wanted to get up and leave, but the two of them were called here to accompany the drinking, so one of them had to force a smile.

"What do you mean, sir?"

Jiang Ning just drank tea and didn't say anything at this time.

Zhu Shou added: "I'm just curious whether you are doing this voluntarily."

The two brothel girls were speechless.

This is the first time they have encountered this problem.

"I came here when I was seven years old."

One of the prostitutes did not answer directly, but said: "My family was very poor at that time and could barely make ends meet. My father had no choice but to sell me here for five taels of silver."

Hearing this, the expression on Zhu Shou's face disappeared and his brows slowly furrowed.

"Who else would volunteer to come here? It's just that there's no way to survive."

The brothel girl sighed slightly, and I felt pity for her.

Zhu Shou had a calm expression, and no one knew what he was thinking. He looked at the brothel woman and asked.

"Then you'll never be able to get out?"

Zhu Shou looked serious.

The brothel girl who had spoken earlier smiled and said, "As long as we can redeem ourselves."

Jiang Ning then asked: "How much silver?"

The brothel girl looked back at Jiang Ning and said with a smile: "If I want to redeem myself, I need five hundred taels of silver."

so much?

Zhu Shou couldn't help but frown.

This has increased a hundredfold.

The brothel woman didn't think there was anything wrong.

After buying them, the brothels invested a lot in them. They taught them to read and write, and to learn the arts of music, chess, calligraphy and painting, which were all resources. Besides, the brothels were not doing charity, so giving them the opportunity to redeem themselves was already giving them a way to survive.

Zhu Shou said, "How about I redeem you and give you freedom?"

The brothel woman smiled when she heard this but did not respond.

She knew from the way Zhu Shou was dressed that he was no ordinary man and could definitely afford the five hundred taels. However, she did not want to be redeemed by others. She wanted to redeem herself so that she could be truly free.

Zhu Shou was not a fool. He knew that the brothel girl was rejecting him, and his expression became a little ugly. However, it was not because of the brothel girl's rejection, but because of other reasons.

Zhu Shou, who was originally curious about this place, lost interest and said to Jiang Ning, "Brother Jiang, do you want to sit for a while longer?"

"Let's go then."

Jiang Ning stood up.

The two brothel ladies were dumbfounded when they saw the two men get up and leave.

It was the first time for them to see men enter a brothel. One of them didn't say a word and just drank tea, while the other kept asking questions and then left after asking.

Two weirdos.

The two brothel ladies said silently in their hearts.

Seeing Jiang Ning and Zhu Shou coming out of the brothel, the people who were following Zhu Shou from a distance breathed a sigh of relief.

They all planned to go in and pull Zhu Shou out if he didn't come out.

However, when they saw the expression on Zhu Shou's face, they were a little confused for a moment.

How come I got angry after visiting a brothel?

Zhu Shou was not in a good mood at the moment and looked towards Jiang Ning.

"Brother Jiang, you have been to other places. Do you think what they said is true? Are the prostitutes in other places like this too?"

Jiang Ning nodded.

In fact, it wasn’t just the prostitutes in brothels. He had seen so many of them during his travels.

Zhu Shou felt mixed emotions at this moment.

Chapter 419: This one matters, this one matters too

Chapter 419: I care about this one, and I care about this one too

"I never thought that so many people in my Ming Dynasty would not be able to survive."

Zhu Shou couldn't help but mutter to himself.

At this moment, he felt an indescribable discomfort in his heart.

Although his voice was low, Jiang Ning could hear it very clearly with his hearing.

The other party is most likely a member of the royal family and has been in the capital. His situation is different from that of ordinary people, so it is normal for him to have such a reaction.

But what surprised him was why Zhu Shou felt depressed about such a thing?

Jiang Ning never thought that these high-ranking people would have any real sympathy for ordinary people.

Maybe, but not much.

It is difficult for people from one class to understand and empathize with people from another class, not to mention that both parties are in a relationship of exploitation and being exploited.

But Jiang Ning could feel Zhu Shou's sadness at this moment.

“I’ve been to a lot of places.”

Jiang Ning glanced at Zhu Shou, then walked ahead.

Seeing this, Zhu Shou followed.

Perhaps Jiang Ning felt what Zhu Shou was feeling at the moment, so he told him about his personal experiences and what he had seen and heard, starting with rescuing the brothel girls in Xiangyang.

"Deserve to kill! Deserve to kill!"

Zhu Shou was shocked and angry when he heard this, and kept saying

Especially after hearing about the great disaster in Shanxi three years ago, which caused the price of grain in Taiyuan and Pingyang prefectures to soar to an unimaginable level, his face became even more gloomy.

"How could it be so serious?"

Zhu Shou couldn't help but ask, "I remember the imperial court provided disaster relief for this drought, so how come so many people starved to death?"

Jiang Ning shook his head: "I haven't heard that the court has any disaster relief."

Zhu Shou stopped talking, but his expression became even gloomier.

Jiang Ning then mentioned that merchants from Taiyuan and Pingyang prefectures were hoarding grain and raising prices. At the highest point, it was more than eight taels of silver per stone of rice. Zhu Shou couldn't help but ask, "These merchants are hoarding grain. Don't the government care?"

Even though Zhu Shou had grown up in the palace, he knew that eight taels of silver would be a terrible thing if converted into rice.

Jiang Ning said nothing.

Among those he killed at that time, there were not only many unscrupulous businessmen who took advantage of the blood of the people, but also many officials.

Looking at Jiang Ning's expression, Zhu Shou understood.

Jiang Ning continued to talk about some of his travels.

The two walked and talked until they came to the lake.

It was already late at night, and the two had already passed the place with bright lights and green willows. The lakeside was dark and deserted.

At this time, Zhu Shou said: "Brother Jiang, I admire you for saving so many people, but in my opinion, it is useless."

Zhu Shou was not stupid. He could listen to Jiang Ning say so much and was aware of some of the details. He knew that the other party must have experienced it personally, or he had rescued someone before.

Jiang Ning's attire and conversation did not seem like someone who had experienced this before. Thinking of his skills yesterday, Zhu Shou was certain that Jiang Ning must have rescued those people he mentioned. It was precisely because he had rescued them that he knew all about them.

"But your power is too limited. You can save one, two, or three people, but not many. There are tens of millions of people in the Ming Dynasty. Who cares about what you have done?"

Zhu Shou couldn't help but shake his head.

Because of their different positions, Zhu Shou knew that Jiang Ning's actions would not change anything. He was alone and could not change the entire Ming Dynasty. He could only save some people.

So Zhu Shou thought that what Jiang Ning did was just a drop in the bucket.

In his opinion, it would be better to serve as an official in the court. At least when you are an official and have power, you can do more things.

Faced with Zhu Shou's questions, or doubts, Jiang Ning did not answer.

He has heard this question many times.

Jiang Ning looked at the lake. The calm surface seemed to have ripples. Looking down from the lake, he saw some small fish swimming, and sometimes many of them jumped out of the water.

Suddenly, a few small fish jumped too far and directly jumped onto the open space on the shore and struggled.

Jiang Ning bent down, picked up one of the small fish and put it back into the water.