CHAPTER 219: CHAPTER 219: LOOKS LIKE MY MOTHER [REQUESTING MONTHLY VOTE]

Jiang Jiao frowned and asked, "Why? These two are tall and strong, the most powerful among this group. Moreover, they have no families to hold them back, which makes them quite good."

Gu Jinli lowered his voice and said, "Uncle Jiang Er, we fled the famine together and saw some who were desperately hungry and had consumed red meat. These two have eaten red meat, and keeping them will bring disaster to the Soybean Oil Workshop."

In Great Chu, consuming the flesh of children in times of dire hunger is referred to as eating red meat.

"What? These two have eaten red meat." Jiang Jiao was shocked.

When buying workers, he had paid attention, never daring to buy any famine victims whose eyes were too red or whose faces were too red. But these two seemed to have a normal complexion. How could they have eaten red meat?

Gu Jinli asked, "Uncle Jiang Er, how many people did you buy this time?"

To start the Soybean Oil Workshop, he would definitely need more than just twenty-some people.

Jiang Jiao replied, "A total of 130 people."

Nowadays, with so many famine victims, buying workers was cheap, so he purchased 130 people all at once.

Gu Jinli continued, "After you return to the county, please hire a skilled doctor to take their pulses and check them. They can identify those who have eaten red meat."

"Alright, I will take care of this matter as soon as I get back," Jiang Jiao hastily agreed, breaking out in a cold sweat. Luckily, he personally delivered the people to the Gu Family; otherwise, he would have run into trouble this time.

Just the thought of working alongside people who had eaten red meat made Jiang Jiao shudder.

Rubbing his arms, Jiang Jiao calmed himself down, and then asked Gu Jinli, "You only want the four members of the Old Zhu Family and the five members of the Wang Yongfu Family?"

Gu Jinli nodded, "Yes, just those two families."

The workshop needed people skilled in martial arts to guard it at night. With Wang Yongfu and the father and son of the Old Zhu Family, plus He Sanlai, the four of them would take turns, which should be sufficient.

"Alright." Jiang Jiao pointed at the Old Zhu Family and Wang Yongfu’s family and said, "You two families stay; everyone else, follow me back."

Third Grandma looked at Li Anzi and, grabbing Gu Jinli’s arm, asked, "Xiao Yu, are we really not buying him?"

Gu Jinli replied, "No, we’re not buying him. He’s too naive, completely manipulated by a woman. If we were to buy him, his ongoing entanglement with Yan Chunxiao would cause us trouble."

Trouble was already visible, and they couldn’t afford to bring that trouble back home.

After hearing this, Third Grandma sighed, giving up the idea of purchasing Li Anzi. But she had a kind heart and couldn’t bear to see these famine victims go hungry, so she beckoned them, "Don’t go yet, come and have something to eat first."

Hearing that there was food, the famine victims’ eyes lit up with a green glow, looking to rush over for food, but they were blocked by four of the Jiang family’s servants.

"All of you back off, line up. Whoever dares to snatch, Second Young Master will sell them off to the mines!" The four servants were the Jiang Family’s protectors, skilled in martial arts. They escorted these famine victims all the way here, already instilling fear in them during the journey.

The famine victims hurriedly lined up, each receiving a bean dregs cake and soy milk to eat.

There weren’t many bean dregs cakes, and each person could only get one. After Li Anzi got his cake, he couldn’t bear to eat it and gave it to Yan Chunxiao, "Chunxiao, you eat it."

Yan Chunxiao wiped her tears and choked up, "Chunxiao thanks Brother Anzi."

As she spoke, she took the bean dregs cake from Li Anzi’s hand and devoured it in a few bites.

"Have a sip of this milk and don’t choke," Li Anzi then gave his bowl of soy milk to Yan Chunxiao.

Gu Jinli chuckled to himself. Li Anzi was being foolish, nearly starved to death himself yet still giving his own life-sustaining food to Yan Chunxiao. That woman was no good, so why do such a thing?

"Xiao Yu, we are back." The speaker was Qin San Lang, who, together with Elder Qin and Luo Wu, had come to Gu Jinli’s house.

Gu Jinli looked at Qin San Lang and saw that he had changed into a gray uniform, embellished with the character for "soldier" and with iron guards on the knees, elbows, and chest. His eyes lit up as he said, "Brother Qin, you look really sharp in that uniform, quite dashing."

Actually, he looked better in black.

Qin San Lang shyly smiled: "It’s the military uniform issued by the Military Office, we get two sets each. I figured everyone would want to take a look, so I wore it back."

"How tough were the trials? What did you all compete in?" Gu Jinli asked curiously.

Qin San Lang replied, "They were fairly simple, running, lifting stone locks, holding breath underwater. After passing those, the next step was to take turns in duels—a victory in a fight meant success. Archery, spear techniques, swordsmanship, these will be practiced after entering the Military Office."

After listening to this, Gu Jinli’s curiosity faded. So it was just a competition of these things.

"Xiao Yu." Luo Wu called out to Gu Jinli, but his eyes were searching the main hall of her house, looking for Gu Jinxiu.

He also changed into an official uniform from the government office, which made him look much more spirited than usual. He wanted to show Sister Xiu, but she did not come out.

"Brother Luo Wu." Gu Jinli greeted Luo Wu without mentioning Gu Jinxiu.

Luo Wu grew anxious, his eyes filled with pleading as he looked at Gu Jinli.

But Gu Jinli pretended not to understand.

If he truly liked her sister, he should prove his worth to marry her. If he had no such capability, then he should not come and disturb her sister. Luo Wu might be pitiable, but she didn’t want to harm her sister out of a moment’s pity for him.

Luo Wu became even more anxious, wanting to explicitly ask for Gu Jinxiu, yet afraid of being overheard by everyone, which could damage Sister Xiu’s reputation. After much contemplation, he ultimately kept silent.

Elder Qin looked at the refugees in the courtyard and asked, "These are the people who were sent here? Isn’t this too many? How many did you buy?"

Third Grandpa replied, "We bought two households, a total of nine people. Three of them are skilled in martial arts, enough for night watch duties."

Elder Qin nodded, "That’s good. Are they still going to be registered under Dashan’s name?"

Third Grandpa responded, "Yes, still registered under Dashan’s family name, it’s considered that Dashan’s family bought them. It’s also more convenient to arrange that way."

The workshop was a joint venture of seven families, but Dashan’s family took the largest share, and the workshop’s courtyard also belonged to Dashan’s family. After deliberation among themselves, they decided to let Dashan’s family buy the laborers. This would also make management easier. Otherwise, if the workshop spent money to buy the laborers, with so many different owners involved, it would be troublesome as the laborers wouldn’t know who to listen to.

Before long, the refugees had finished their meal.

Jiang Jiao shouted at them, "All those who weren’t kept, get on the cart now."

When Gu Jinli heard this, he quickly said, "Second Uncle Jiang, wait a moment."

Jiang Jiao turned around and asked, "What’s the matter? Is it about the indenture? Don’t worry, Old Zhu and the others’ indentures I will first take back to the county office. Once you have swapped them for red deeds, I’ll have my son-in-law send Old Luo to deliver them to you. You just give the money for buying the laborers to Old Luo."

Gu Jinli said, "It’s not about that. I want them to look at the portraits of my two aunts to see if they recognize them."

"Right, right, right, have them take a look at the portraits of Fuyan and Daya. Maybe someone will recognize them." Third Grandma hastily went back into the house, into Gu Jin’an and Gu Jincheng’s rooms, fetched the portraits of Gu Fuya and Gu Daya and had the refugees look at each one in turn.

Initially, there wasn’t much hope, but Li Anzi stared at the portrait of Gu Daya for a long time until Jiang Jiao, impatience looming, urged him on. Li Anzi then said tremulously, "This... the person in this portrait... she looks like my mother."