Chapter 439: Zhu Si and Zheng Yue'e

Huang Ande was a “big customer” here, buying several women almost every time he came. Therefore, as soon as he appeared, a path was immediately cleared for him. Huang Ande was already used to the scene here and paid it no mind. As he was selecting according to the standards given to him by Chief Zhu, Zhu Si suddenly tapped him on the arm and called out nervously:

“Big Brother Huang!”

“What is it?” Huang Ande was startled by him.

“Isn’t that Yue’niuer!” he said, pointing.

“What?” Huang Ande followed his finger and saw a young woman, also naked and with disheveled hair, sitting dazedly at the back of the rope enclosure.

It took Huang Ande a moment to realize—wasn’t this Zheng Yue’e, the daughter of Cao Wu from the Dengzhou naval garrison?

This Zheng Yue’e was a well-known girl among the families of the Dengzhou naval garrison. Cao Wu’s wife had died early, and Zheng Yue’e was the eldest daughter, with several younger siblings below her. She managed all the household chores, which had cultivated a fiery and capable personality. She dared to curse with abandon, could roll up her sleeves and get into a street fight, pulling hair and tearing clothes with the wives and sisters-in-law, and had once smashed a water jug on the head of a hooligan who had harassed her. In short, she was someone who never suffered a loss.

Because of her reputation and the heavy burden of her family, Zheng Yue’e, despite being not bad-looking, had never found a husband. The Cao and Zhu families lived very close to each other, and Zhu Si had some feelings for her. He often went to help with heavy chores, and they exchanged glances that made their feelings clear to each other. But when Zhu Si thought about the five or six younger siblings she had to raise, he knew that being her brother-in-law would be a heavy burden—both families were ordinary garrison soldiers, and they couldn’t support a family on their military pay alone. So he had been hesitating.

Huang Ande had spent some time at the Zhu family’s and had often heard Zhu Si muttering about this. He never expected that she would also be captured!

At this moment, the face of this famously fiery young woman was swollen, with bloodstains at the corner of her mouth. Her body was covered in whip marks, as if she had just been tortured. Her eyes were dull, and she had a slight, foolish smile on her face. The cunning, fiery expression that used to be on her face was completely gone. She looked like a simpleton.

“Master Huang, have you found one you like?” The rebel guard in charge, seeing his gaze fixed, immediately came over and asked.

“This woman?” Huang Ande pointed.

“Oh, I think her name is Yue’e or Heng’e,” the guard said after a glance. “She’s got a good build, but she’s a bit crazy. A few days ago, she had a fit and had to be whipped into submission. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been dumped by General Zhao.”

“How did she become crazy?” Zhu Si blurted out, then realized his mistake after a glare from Huang Ande. This was a rebel den, and even if they had nothing to fear, it wasn’t a place for careless talk.

The other man didn’t seem to mind. “How else? Her parents were probably killed, and she couldn’t get over it for a while. What other new tricks could there be? Looking at her body, she should be a virgin, so it’s probably not that her husband or son was killed.”

Seeing that Huang Ande and his companions were quite interested in this woman, he took the opportunity to say, “Master Huang, if you like her and think she can still serve you, you can take her for two taels of silver. I’ll consider it a good deed. A woman like her, if she can’t be sold, will be kept as a camp prostitute and eventually be abused to death.”

Huang Ande hesitated. Two taels of silver was indeed very cheap, but from her appearance, she seemed to have gone mad. The chiefs’ first rule for selecting people was that they must not be disabled. Moreover, the women he bought with the silver were mostly intended to be concubines or maids for the chiefs. How could he explain bringing back a madwoman?

But Zhu Si kept pulling at his sleeve. Huang Ande knew that the young man had strong feelings for Zheng Yue’e and wanted to save her. If he didn’t buy her, Zheng Yue’e’s fate would be as the guard had said: she would eventually be abused to death.

The death of a lonely and helpless young woman was nothing here. The moat outside the “market” was filled with corpses. She was not necessarily more pitiful or more deserving of rescue than the women still suffering in the human pen.

But Zhu Si’s expression made it impossible for Huang Ande to refuse. Zhu Si’s older brother, Zhu San, had been his sworn brother and had lost his head for stealing from the official granary with him. After he infiltrated Dengzhou, Zhu Si had followed him through life and death—he was his own good brother.

But this was using public funds for private purposes. Huang Ande was well aware of the Australians’ temperament: everything had rules, everything was based on a system. They especially emphasized “discipline” and “obeying orders.”

However, looking at Zhu Si’s expression and then at the foolishly smiling Zheng Yue’e, Huang Ande hesitated for a moment and asked Zhu Si, “You want me to save her. After I save her, are you willing to have her?”

“I am willing!”

“Even if she’s like this, unable to cook or bear children, are you still willing?”

“I am willing!” Zhu Si answered without hesitation.

“In that case, I’ll buy her for you.” Huang Ande then spoke to the guard, who immediately agreed to reduce the price by a few more cash.

Having done this, it would be difficult to explain when he got back. Huang Ande thought for a long time and then steeled himself: he would use his own military pay to cover the silver. Although he didn’t know the exchange rate between circulation coupons and silver, he had a considerable amount of savings, which should be enough. The military merits from Dengzhou could be used to offset this breach of discipline.

With this thought, he felt at ease. He then selected five or six more women, using up the twenty taels of silver quota.

After the stamping was done, the two of them came out. After walking a few dozen steps, Zhu Si called out with red eyes, “Big Brother Huang…”

“Don’t say anything,” Huang Ande patted his shoulder. “I didn’t do it for you…” As he was speaking, his foot was suddenly touched. He looked down and saw a woman, shriveled up in a bundle of rags, crawling at his feet. She was so thin she hardly looked human. With all her strength, she pushed a tattered bundle towards his feet and begged in a voice so weak it was almost inaudible:

“Have mercy… sir, give him a chance to live…”

Huang Ande looked closely and saw a dead child in the bundle, probably dead for some time, his face covered in flies. He recoiled in disgust, quickly stepped forward, and hurried away with Zhu Si.

After walking a few dozen steps, he felt a great sense of pity and turned back. Even if the child was beyond saving, the woman still had a breath of life in her. If he took her back and gave her a few full meals, she might survive. He had already violated discipline once, and he wasn’t afraid to do it again.

However, when he returned, the woman had already stopped breathing. Two laborers were dragging her by the feet towards the moat where the bodies were thrown. The woman still held the dead child tightly in her arms.

The sunlight was dazzling, and Huang Ande felt a little dizzy. He looked at this “market,” a living hell filled with wailing and suffering, and thought of Lingao—it was like another world. He couldn’t help but look up at the scorching sun and ask loudly, “Senate, when will your grace spread throughout the world!”

The people Huang Ande had bought were gathered at the designated place. There were a dozen large straw sheds for their use. Cao Qing was in charge of this with a few dozen militiamen. The stamped refugees were brought here, their stamps were checked, and each was given a straw hat—to be reused. Then they were given two biscuits made of rice mixed with bean flour to give them some strength, and a bamboo tube of light salt water—walking in the summer without water would cause a large number of them to suffer from heatstroke.

On the return journey, most of them had to walk. The women bought with silver naturally received different treatment. As usual, there was a light mule cart for them to ride in. Huang Ande had brought a dozen standard military two-wheeled transport carts, each pulled by a single mule or horse, filled with relief grain for exchanging for people. On the way back, they were used to transport children and the weak.

Besides people, all sorts of goods were sold at the market, and Lu Wenyuan would not miss such an opportunity. Huang Ande’s task was to place orders for things he liked—the actual payment and inspection were handled by Zhu Mingxia himself. This was not like buying people; valuables could move people’s hearts, and it was not impossible to encounter desperate men who cared for money but not their lives.

According to the procurement guide given to them by the Planning Commission, the first priority was livestock: horses, donkeys, mules, and oxen. The rebels had not only captured a large number of military horses and livestock but also plundered a large number of livestock from the civilian population. The rebels had so many livestock that when they were defeated and driven out of Huangxian, the Shandong Censor Xie Sanbin was able to organize a considerable transport team with just the donkeys and mules abandoned by the rebels to supply tens of thousands of government troops, and the supply was fully replenished in just three days.

The rebels also attached great importance to livestock, but they had no proper logistics system and lived off the land, killing and looting like locusts. The livestock were not well-fed or rested and would soon be overworked, only to be slaughtered for meat. Lu Wenyuan saw this as an opportunity and negotiated with Kong Youde, agreeing to exchange silver or grain for the rebels’ surplus livestock. These livestock were also sent to Zhaoyuan, to the local animal husbandry station—in the summer, with lush grass and trees, the livestock would quickly recover with proper care.

However, the number of livestock brought to the “market” was still limited. For most rebels, killing them for meat was the simplest solution. Therefore, Huang Ande often had to settle for the next best thing: purchasing by-products of livestock, such as leather, hooves, and horns. These were raw materials needed by Lingao’s industry. Originally, Lu Wenyuan also purchased animal bones, but when he discovered that the rebels were mixing human bones in with them, he stopped this procurement activity.

Today, a large pile of “commodities” that the Planning Commission was quite interested in had arrived at the market—metalware. These metal items were obviously plundered from the common people and shops, piled up in a large heap. There were all sorts of utensils inside. Huang Ande even found a few temple bells.