209: Chapter 7: A Time-Honored Dark Profession 209: Chapter 7: A Time-Honored Dark Profession Some people might be born bad seeds, but no one is born a professional criminal.
The so-called counter-surveillance awareness is all cultivated through experience.
How could someone who doesn’t like to read novels or newspapers know what fingerprints are, or that such things can be used to identify criminal suspects?
Some murderers remain defiant even after being arrested, confident and arrogant, because they know the welfare in prison is good, and they themselves will not be sentenced to death.
But in this era, there weren’t so many pretentious people.
Because it wasn’t his own affair, once the eldest disciple brother caved in, he confessed very readily.
Indeed, there was such a gentleman who specialized in the “Sheep Trade,” claiming to be surnamed Tong.
No one knew his specific background, just that he was eloquent, had broad connections, and extensive networks.
The “sheep” in question were people.
In the past, those who specialized in human trafficking were called the Agency.
The wheelhaus’s foot smith, the “agency” that should be killed even if innocent.
The Sheep Trade was a more prestigious and secretive business that always hid among the wealthy houses, little known to the public.
However, its lineage was quite ancient, and could even be traced back to the Spring and Autumn Warring States period.
The founder of this trade was Fan Li, who had made a business deal that would be remembered for ages, leaving an impression in the history books no less significant than Lv Buwei, who capitalized on rare goods.
The rare good Lv Buwei dealt with was the father of Yingzheng.
And the merchandise in Fan Li’s hands was called Xishi.
This business has been passed on from ancient times to the present, growing even more prosperous during the Former Dynasty, even spawning the elegant term “Yangzhou Lean Horses.”
This trade was previously called raising horses.
After the establishment of the new government, a series of regulations were enacted banning human trafficking.
The Agency was directly abolished, and the horse traders dared not swagger through the streets as before, retreating into the shadows, reinventing themselves as the “Sheep Trade.”
This Mr.
Tong was a well-known Sheep Trade boss in Tianmen City, who specialized in scouring all over for suitable young boys and girls and, after training and grooming them, sending them into those large mansion houses.
Which normal family would be so bored as to send their children there?
Only households that were pushed to their limits, with nothing left, and declined to the point of needing to sell their sons and daughters, were easy targets.
And these households, apart from truly being unlucky, often had ties to casinos, opium dens, pawnshops, and various Jianghu World gang forces.
The eldest disciple brother wasn’t too familiar with Mr.
Tong, nor did he know where his home was.
Mr.
Tong would just visit periodically, acting very generously.
As long as the prospects were good, without any flaws, he generally did not bargain.
Who wouldn’t like such a God of Wealth.
However, when it came to Jiang Yinyin’s situation, the eldest disciple brother did have some understanding.
Jiang Yinyin was blessed with good looks, had received education, could read and write, wasn’t too stubborn, and was easy to manipulate.
More importantly, her father had no psychological burden about deceiving her and selling her again.
Just the other day, Mr.
Tong had visited, and upon hearing about such a young girl, showed great interest and asked her father to bring her over for a look.
As a result, he was very satisfied as soon as he saw her, and immediately agreed on the spot to pay two hundred Money in cash.
He signed and took her away, leaving the other disciples envious, thus the subsequent group trip to his house to preach to his wife ensued.
To say that paying two hundred Money for a young girl these days was actually paying a premium, mainly due to policy changes affecting the market.
Mr.
Tong didn’t haggle because he was afraid the girl’s parents would regret it later and create trouble by reporting them to the Governmental Office.
Besides the two hundred Money, the eldest disciple brother naturally got a share of the benefits, partly as a reward for brokering the deal, and partly to ensure the parents didn’t make a fuss.
As for the two hundred Money in Jiang Yinyin’s father’s hands…
to put it bluntly, he was not the type to save money.
That two hundred Money was actually meant for the eldest disciple brother.
Now, it was just formalized in front of all the disciples to keep up appearances.
Later, they could just use any excuse, like upgrading his family’s stove, to take the money back, and he wouldn’t dare to make a fuss.
In this coming and going, it seemed as if everyone had gained an advantage, content and satisfied.
A child had simply vanished, as if he had never existed at all.
It was just like the half hand Wang Yunxiao had seen in the mouth of the monster on the night he first traveled through time.
“Mr.
Tong…
I haven’t heard of this person before, haha, these days any shady character dares to call himself a ‘Mr.'”
Old Master He was an old hand in the Jianghu World, he didn’t need his senior brother to go into great detail, after hearing a bit, he basically understood what was going on.
After leaving the cell, he whispered to Wang Yunxiao, “You can’t find people by approaching the original source for this kind of matter, you have to look for the clients.”
The clients referred to were the customers of the Sheep Trade.
Mr.
Tong was willing to spend two hundred money to buy a little girl, and then he had to slowly train her in aspects such as clothing, food, shelter, transport, and the arts of music, chess, calligraphy, and painting—this wasn’t a small investment.
When it came time to leave the brothel…
This term, in later generations, was often associated with livestock, but originally, it referred to “brothel.”
For less than one thousand money, you wouldn’t even be able to touch the girl’s hand.
The high-ranking households weren’t fools.
It is well known that when the price of a commodity is inflated far beyond the psychological price point of consumers, it is not likely to be bought for personal use.
Mostly, they are used for gifting.
The ones who grow cherries, sell cherries, gift cherries, and eat cherries, are not the same group of people.
As for reaching such “clients” with Wang Yunxiao’s current identity and status, it was practically impossible for him to have any chance of making contact.
But this was his own problem.
Old Master He could only help him as far as a pack of cigarettes’ worth of favor.
Seeing the smirk on Old Master He’s face, Wang Yunxiao was very clear about the calculations going on in his mind.
The old master had wanted to take him as an apprentice for a long time now, but he had mentioned it twice, and Wang Yunxiao had not agreed.
The old master was also a man of pride, so he didn’t raise the matter again.
In those times, it was the apprentices who sought out masters to learn their skills, not the other way around.
To actively seek out apprentices wasn’t about taking on students, it was like finding oneself a father.
Things that are obtained too easily are not cherished, this much Wang Yunxiao also understood very well.
He didn’t take his official classes seriously at school, and even Nurse Liu’s informal classes went in one ear and out the other—that was not cherishing the opportunity.
The opportunity to attend school and study was something many people could only dream of but never reach.
It was only in Tianmen City that the government’s budget was relatively ample, allowing them to take in orphans like him who roamed the streets.
If it had been those second or third tier inland cities, where even the high officials couldn’t fill their bellies, who would have the heart to feed a stray dog at their doorstep?
That wasn’t to say there weren’t other methods.
For instance, he could go to the Special Service Bureau, to be at Qiao Hongyi’s beck and call.
Or, for example, there was a young master from the Shen Family at the school, who might provide some clues.
However, knowing there might be risks associated with Shen Haowen, Wang Yunxiao wasn’t keen on approaching him.
At least not until he had gathered more information and clues, it wasn’t wise to rashly disturb him.
After much thought, finding the other paths difficult to navigate, Wang Yunxiao could only grin and grovel, “Old master, this time I still have to ask you to show me a clear way.”