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Chapter 18: Buying People

“Uncle Luo, how was it? Did you gain anything?” A hoarse, childish, and slightly milky voice came from inside the carriage.

Luo Yan stood respectfully outside the carriage and said in a low voice, “I did discover a pair of siblings who could be cultivated.

The younger sister’s bones are extraordinary, and her talent is top-notch, but she is too young.

Although the older brother’s talent is average, his heart is firm, and his nature is considered pure, making him worthy of cultivation.

Moreover, there’s also…” At this point, Luo Yan hesitated. He always felt that the boy was a bit strange, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on what was wrong.

“Oh? Is there a problem?” The voice inside the carriage said faintly.

“It’s not that, it’s just that the boy’s talent is clearly average, and he doesn’t have any resources for Cultivation, but his Cultivation speed isn’t slow.”

“In that case, observe him more.”

“Yes.”

…

The next morning, after Lu Wei and Lu Xiaoxiao had breakfast, they went to check the traps as usual to see if they had gained anything.

Their luck was still average today; there was still nothing.

Lu Wei started breakfast with Lu Xiaoxiao after finishing his *gongfu* practice, and he returned today’s resources while eating.

At this point, Lu Wei only needed one more return to upgrade the system.

Lu Wei was quite looking forward to the system upgrade, because the system upgrade could not only increase the number of bound returnees.

He could also get a reward of 5 Free Attributes, which could be added to any attribute.

Including Aptitude, Comprehension, Essence Blood, Constitution, and even Skills and Cultivation.

However, Lu Wei had already decided how to add these 5 attribute points.

Now he was just waiting for tonight to pass, then return one more time, and the system would upgrade.

After eating, the two set off.

Today, the weather was sunny and beautiful, a rare good day. Lu Wei was in a good mood, and seeing Lu Xiaoxiao bored, he started telling her stories.

Lu Wei didn’t know many stories; most of them were familiar ones.

To match the current environment, Lu Wei told her the story of the little match girl.

As a result, after listening to the story, Lu Xiaoxiao, although sympathetic to the little girl, mostly thought the little girl was too stupid.

“How was the little girl stupid?” Lu Wei asked curiously after hearing his younger sister say this.

“Since she had matches in her hand, why didn’t she find a house and light them? A big fire would keep her warm; one match would definitely freeze her to death.

Moreover, if it were me, I would burn all the people who were bad to me to death while they were sleeping.”

Lu Wei was stunned for a moment after hearing his younger sister’s words.

This idea was a bit heaven-defying.

No, if this child continued like this, she would definitely grow up crooked. He had to correct her quickly while she was young.

So, Lu Wei thought for a moment and threatened, “If you do that, you’ll be caught by the enforcers, and the little girl will be in danger then.”

However, Lu Xiaoxiao disdained, “So what if I’m caught? I’m going to die anyway. Prisoners get a last meal before they die, so it’s better to eat my fill and die than freeze to death, right?”

Lu Wei was speechless for a moment. He really wanted to educate his younger sister that thinking like that was wrong.

But he also felt that what the little girl said seemed to make sense.

Just like that, the two siblings walked forward while chatting.

Lu Wei noticed that the weather was a little warmer today, not as cold as the previous few days.

He guessed that it should be because they were gradually approaching the south, and the temperature had risen a few degrees.

Before they knew it, a day had passed.

In the evening, the two took the prepared food and prepared to find Wu Laoer to buy his wife.

As a result, just as they arrived near the refugee group camp, they discovered that many people were gathered together watching the excitement.

Out of curiosity, Lu Wei also walked over.

He saw Uncle Zhang , who had wanted to sell his wife to him yesterday, leaning against his wife in the snow, looking dazed as if he were a fool.

And his wife was lying on the ground with her face covered in blood, completely lifeless.

Beside them was a child of a few years old, crying loudly.

That was Zhang San’s grandson, Zhang Xiaohu.

At this moment, Lu Wei suddenly heard someone sigh beside him.

“Alas, this man-eating world.” After saying that, the person turned and left.

With his departure, the surrounding people gradually dispersed.

Such things seemed to happen every day, and everyone was already used to it.

Lu Wei also learned what was going on from the people around him.

The matter was very simple: they couldn’t survive, and someone in the family had to sacrifice.

Zhang San was a man and had to support the family. Zhang Xiaohu was the future and also hope.

Their son and daughter-in-law had died on the road long ago.

And Zhang San’s wife had had enough of living in this desperate world, so she chose to commit suicide.

This kind of thing had a great impact on Lu Wei, who was born in modern times.

In an era where everyone could eat their fill, this kind of thing was only heard about on the internet, and it was never as shocking as seeing it with one’s own eyes.

Even though Lu Wei had seen many such examples in the past few days.

But the feeling of loss when a living person who was in front of you yesterday died in the blink of an eye made him feel a lot.

“Xiaoxiao, do you think that if I had bought Zhang San’s wife yesterday, she wouldn’t have had to die?”

As a modern person’s soul, Lu Wei belonged to the kind who, even though he was not living well himself, couldn’t bear to see the suffering of the world.

Clearly feeling pity, but having to stand by and watch.

Call him a saint or call him hypocritical.

But aren’t most ordinary people like this?

“Yeah, but more people will die tomorrow, and we don’t have that much food,” Lu Xiaoxiao said expressionlessly.

Lu Wei nodded silently and sighed, “Yeah, we can’t save them all; it’s good enough if we can save ourselves.”

Lu Xiaoxiao continued, “Moreover, even if I give them all the food for free, they won’t be grateful to us; they might even say we’re stupid behind our backs.

When we need to be saved, they won’t come to save us either.”

Lu Wei nodded, “Yeah, that’s how it is.”

Leaving the crowd watching the excitement, the two came to where Wu Laoer lived and happened to see them eating.

And what they were eating was the mashed tree bark.

This kind of thing would give a feeling of fullness, but it was not easy to digest. Eating too much would cause death by bloating.

Therefore, in times of famine, many people clearly starved to death, but each of them had a big belly.

As soon as he saw Lu Wei coming, Wu Laoer’s eyes lit up.

“Oh, brother, you’re here, come, come, come, sit down. Have you eaten yet? Or… oh dear, look at how stupid I am, how could you eat this kind of thing, brother.”

Lu Wei raised his hand to interrupt his polite words and directly took out the prepared 5 jin of rice, opened it, and showed it to Wu Laoer.

He said indifferently, “Here are 5 jin of rice. If you agree, I’ll take her away. If you don’t agree, I’ll turn around and leave.”

Wu Laoer’s eyes went straight when he saw the 5 jin of white rice, and he kept swallowing his saliva.

“Bro, brother, just take pity on your brother and add a little more.”

Lu Wei didn’t even raise his head when he heard this. Without another word, he directly put the rice away and turned to leave.

When Wu Laoer saw the rice disappear, he immediately became anxious and grabbed Lu Wei.

“Brother, don’t go yet; let’s discuss it again.”

The white and clean rice had made him greedy. It would have been fine if he hadn’t seen it, but now that he had seen it, how could he bear to let it go?

“There’s nothing to discuss. Do you want to trade or not? One sentence.”

Wu Laoer closed his eyes and stomped his foot when he heard this.

“Trade, I’ll trade, okay?”

After saying that, he didn’t hesitate any longer, grabbed Wu Liushi and stuffed her to Lu Wei, while he himself grabbed the rice bag and wouldn’t let go.

Lu Wei didn’t continue to argue with him, directly gave him the rice, and prepared to leave with Wu Liushi and Lu Xiaoxiao.

He didn’t want to have deep interactions with people like Wu Laoer, and he was too lazy to be polite with him.

Normally, buying and selling people required establishing a contract and finding a notary.

But at this time, it was obviously impossible. There was no paper or pen, so how could they establish a contract?

“Brother, wait…” Just as Lu Wei was about to leave, Wu Laoer called him to a halt again.

“What else is there?” Lu Wei asked with a frown.

Wu Laoer smiled obsequiously, “Look, we’re all from the same village. You bought my wife, so that’s equivalent to sending her off in marriage, so you have to give some dowry. I don’t have anything to give you, so how about this? I’ll give you this little girl. It’s like buy one get one free; you’re getting a great deal.”

As he said that, he directly pushed his four-year-old daughter to Lu Wei’s feet.

Lu Wei looked down at the little girl with yellowish hair, thin and weak, and with two snotty noses, and was speechless.

This Wu Laoer really knew how to calculate.

Before Lu Wei could speak, Wu Liushi, who had been silent all along, even when she was being sold, suddenly knelt down with a thud.

She directly kowtowed to Lu Wei.

“Lu… Master Lu, please take in Xiaoya. I’ll work more and eat less in the future, as long as I can support her. Please take her in.”

Lu Wei looked at the ignorant little girl and then at Wu Liushi kneeling on the ground begging, and finally sighed helplessly, “Alright, get up. This child will follow us from now on.”

The reason he agreed to take in Wu Xiaoya was because Lu Wei knew that if he didn’t, this little girl might not live long.

Who knew, one day, Wu Laoer would exchange her. The only outcome for such a young child being exchanged was to be eaten.

Moreover, taking in Wu Xiaoya, not for anything else, but to increase Wu Liushi’s Favorability was not a loss.

This Favorability was related to the return multiplier, so of course, he couldn’t let it go if he could increase it.

When Wu Liushi heard Lu Wei agree, she immediately knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Lu Wei.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you for your great kindness and virtue. I will definitely repay you by working like a cow or a horse.”

Work like a cow or a horse? Wouldn’t that mean I have to give you grass? You woman, I kindly took you in, and you actually want a reward.

*Slurp*…

“Ding, discovered a binding target, Wu Liushi. Bind?”

“That’s what I came for; how could I not bind?” Lu Wei was about to say bind when

he heard the system issue another prompt.

“Ding, discovered a bindable target, Wu Xiaoya. Bind?”

Lu Wei was stunned. Who? Wu Xiaoya? This little thing?

System, you’re going too far.

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