Ming Lanruo looked at the two leaves with gold fish printed on the table and raised her eyebrows slightly: "This is..."
Xu Xiuyi smiled and said: "There is a May auction in the black market in the capital. News and goods from all over the place gather together. This is the VIP admission ticket I tried to get from Mrs. Haihunbo."
Ming Lanruo raised her eyebrows: "That Uncle Haihun who spent all his daughter's betrothal gifts and married off several of his daughters to merchants in exchange for money?"
People like Haihunbo, who came from a clan but married off their daughters to merchants in exchange for money, were considered the first of their kind. Many people looked down upon them.
"Yes, the third generation of Uncle Haihun has no fame. According to the law, the next generation will be deprived of the title. They can't keep the title, so they just want to make some money. If you don't know anyone, you can't enter this auction."
Ming Lanruo rubbed the golden fish leaves and raised her bright eyes to look at her: "To show your courtesy for nothing is to commit adultery or to steal. Tell me, what do you want to do, girl?"
Xu Xiuyi smiled and didn't mind her teasing herself: "I want to go to the black market auction with my sister, and learn from sister Ming in the future."
Ming Lanruo raised her eyebrows slightly, and was about to refuse: "It's a mixed bag of people in that place. Something is going to happen to you, and I can't explain it to Mr. Xu!"
Seeing no one around her, Xu Xiuyi suddenly stretched out her thin hand and pressed it gently on the table, with a little force - "Pop!"
I saw a crack on the golden nanmu tabletop!
Ming Lanruo slightly opened her beautiful eyes and looked at Xu Xiuyi in disbelief: "You...you know martial arts?!"
And his cultivation is not bad!
If Mo Feiyan's spicy little pepper came to tell her that she knew martial arts, she might not be so shocked!
But Xu Xiuyi... has a hairpin in small regular script and a volume of "Book of Encouragement". The reputation of a talented woman is praised in the capital, and her behavior is praised. She is demure and cold, but this model of a lady from a noble family... knows martial arts?!
Xu Xiuyi smiled warmly: "My maternal grandfather is the eleventh generation descendant of Wudang Tai Chi. My maternal grandfather's generation returned from secular life to become an official."
She paused and said, "When I was young, I practiced Tai Chi with my brothers to keep fit, but I accidentally became the one who learned the best. It's just because of my family background."
Ming Lanruo was dumbfounded: "Your... riding and shooting..."
Xu Xiuyi poured tea for her humbly: "The six arts of a gentleman are etiquette, music, archery, imperialism, calligraphy, and arithmetic. My father also asked me to learn from my brothers. The others are not as good as my brothers, but imperialism and archery are pretty good."
Among the six arts of the gentleman, charioteer means driving and riding horses, and shooting means archery.
Ming Lanruo was speechless.
Good guy, really good guy!
No wonder the eldest son of Zhou sent people to ambush their boat in Mingchun Lake at that time. He had already prepared and took his time, but Xu Xiuyi was more stable than the others and even calmed down the other little girls.
At that time, I just thought that this girl Xu Xiuyi had a calm temperament.
Who would have known that... a model of elegant and quiet lady, she can ride and shoot when she mounts her horse, and she can kill a cow with one slap when she dismounts!
This feeling is really inconsistent and strange.
"I should be able to protect myself better than Sister Ming. My father also allows me to follow you. Can I go?" Xu Xiuyi looked at her and smiled.
Ming Lanruo looked at her and couldn't help laughing: "Well, since you came prepared, you've calculated that I can't refuse you."
People in the Red Blood Legion actually know about this black market, but without an invitation, it is impossible for non-old customers to enter the core market.
These two gold leaves arrived just in time.
Master Xu agreed that his daughter was so close to her, which also showed his approval of her.
She remembered that no matter how fierce the fight between the prince and the King of Qin was in her previous life, the neutral faction of Dali Temple Minister Xu and Yushi Zhongcheng remained unaffected by the struggle between the two sides and watched with cold eyes. This shows that their power cannot be underestimated.
If you can win these people to your side, then... they will be of great use in the future!
"Then let me prepare. Let's set off the night after tomorrow!" Xu Xiuyi said with a smile.
…
Three days later, Xu Xiuyi had two sets of long black cloaks delivered to her, as well as two white goldfish masks that covered most of her face.
Ming Lanruo took Jing He with him and changed his robes together. Jing He's martial arts skills were a little better than Chen Ning's.
After the two met up with Xu Xiuyi's carriage, they headed to the outskirts of Beijing together.
Xu Xiuyi also brought an old servant named Zhongshu, and Jinghe knew at a glance that he was also an old servant with good martial arts skills.
There is usually a curfew in the capital, and people gradually disappear after leaving the city.
After the carriage ran for two-quarters of an hour, it entered a seemingly quiet town. There were all kinds of carriages and trucks parked outside the town!
Ming Lanruo got off the carriage and looked at the carriages. Many of them even looked like exotic trucks coming across the desert.
"There are some things here, such as slaves from the East and West, that cannot be sold by serious people and can only be sold in the underground market." Xu Xiuyi explained.
Ming Lanruo nodded, she knew that many dignitaries and wealthy businessmen liked the East and sold male and female slaves from the West.
A group of four people got out of the car, and Uncle Zhong led them to an ordinary house in the northwest corner of the town in a familiar manner.
After handing over the two gold leaves, the big man who opened the door took them into the house.
When Ming Lanruo entered the house, she couldn't help but her eyes widened - the entire house was actually the entrance to the underground black market.
Walking underground like this, it feels like you have entered an underground world. The further you walk, the wider it gets, and the further you go, the more people there are.
They are all people selling goods from all over, and there are really all kinds of things——
In addition to ordinary gold, silver, pearls and jade, various banned and rare medicinal materials, rare livestock such as live lions and tigers, various exotic specialty goods from the East and West, and even people selling human bones!
Of course, there are also people who sell people. Most of those sold are slaves from Siam and Annam. They are thin and dark-skinned.
The air in the market was not very good. It was filled with the sound of hawking, the smell of sweat, dust and animal feces and urine. Those people squatted there like animals or objects.
Ming Lanruo looked at those foreigners with their hands and feet bound, cowering in fear, their eyes blank and painful, and she just felt uncomfortable in her heart.
"It will feel more comfortable if you go a little further." Xu Xiuyi has been here before, and she knows how Ming Lanruo feels when she sees those people.
Humans are the same as animals, no one can feel comfortable watching it, but even her father, the Minister of Dali Temple, can't change anything - the existence of the black market is the result of compromise between all parties.
Ming Lanruo didn't say anything, and walked forward with Ming Lanruo for a while, and suddenly it became clear that they had arrived at a huge open air.
Ming Lanruo raised his eyes and looked around, and found that this was a very vast mountain col.
Surrounded by mountains, there are brick buildings in the valleys and hunting grounds surrounded by fences.
"Hey, distinguished guests, please come this way. I'll take the butler to show you two of today's auctions first!" A flattering voice suddenly came from behind Ming Lanruo and Xu Xiuyi.
Ming Lanruo looked back and saw a thin and flattering man with a mustache, wearing half a Peking Opera clown mask, leading several masked men with tangled muscles to come towards her.
Xu Xiuyi said softly: "Guests wearing robes and masks like ours can see the auction items first."
Ming Lanruo nodded. Along the way, she also noticed that many guests were wearing various masks.
But there were very few people like them wearing long cloaks and white masks depicting goldfish, and no one dared to harass them.
Ming Lanruo and Xu Xiuyi followed the butler wearing a clown mask to the enclosed building in the distance.
But when passing by a large camp surrounded by a fence, there was a sudden "bang", and after a scream, a figure was lying on the fence, with blood splattering everywhere.
Unable to block the barrier, the figure suddenly fell out and fell to the ground covered in blood. It turned out to be the corpse of a dead girl!