Madam, She Has a Tender Heart

Chapter 28 Protection Fees

Seeing the quarrel and pushing in front of them, Su Qingyu stopped and looked.

I saw that this vegetable market was very crowded. The vegetables and livestock brought by farmers in the countryside are placed randomly on the ground. If conditions permit, a board is put on the board. If conditions are better, there is a cart, and they are placed on the cart.

The vegetables were picked and pushed all the way, and the vegetable leaves were a little wilted. People splashed them with water from time to time, making the whole street a little wet.

Add to this the excrement of domestic animals, the feathers shed by poultry and wild animals, as well as the mosquitoes attracted by the scraps thrown away by fish sellers and meat sellers...

The whole street looked crowded and dirty.

Su Qingnao saw many well-dressed women passing by with handkerchiefs covering their noses. They hurriedly turned around and left without even picking something. They didn't even count the money they got back.

There are also some people who don't care about the environment, maybe they are used to it, and they choose at the vegetable stalls and bargain with the farmers, which is lively and lively.

Looking at the quarrel and pushing place, a bunch of people gathered around. After listening for a while, Su Qingyu also understood.

It turned out that a few gangsters came early in the morning to collect the stall protection fee. A farmer had to pay a large sum of money for the chickens, ducks and vegetables he brought before he sold them. He was a little unhappy and started to quarrel with the farmer.

The neighboring villagers couldn't stand it, so they helped him by saying a few words. The gangster hit him with a stick, and the two sides started fighting.

Su Qingyu looked at the farmer's stall and saw a cage on the ground. Inside, two chickens and a duck could be seen vaguely with their feet tied and their wings clipped. Next to the chicken coop is half a basket of eggs and half a box of vegetables.

Some of them must have been sold.

You may not earn much if you sell them all, and the protection fee will be fifty cents.

A penny is very important to the farmers. They may have walked dozens of miles in the morning, pushing and shouldering the ground to sell money. The money they got was not enough to pay the protection fee, but they were impatient.

"We're not saying we won't pay the protection fee, but it's too much. We can't even make so much in the morning..." The old farmer begged weakly, hunched over. The two half-year-old grandchildren were close to him, pinching the corners of his clothes with fear on their faces.

"Stop talking nonsense! If you only sell vegetables, we will charge you ten cents, but look at you, you are selling poultry! Look at what was made for you on this ground. And we came to see it this morning, You picked out a cage of chickens and ducks, at least seven or eight of them, and I charge you fifty cents. It’s all for the sake of the fellow villagers, so I won’t forget you.”

The old man waved his hands repeatedly: "No, not that many. I only brought four chickens and one duck. There are three more that have not been sold. Each one only earns a few hard-earned money..."

Those bastards didn't listen: "Stop talking nonsense. If you don't pay, we will take away your cage of chickens and ducks."

"No way!" When the old man heard that the chickens and ducks were about to be taken away, he became anxious and subconsciously threw himself on the chicken coop.

The people watching the excitement whispered.

"This group of people is really going to eat people. All their hard-earned money this morning has gone into their pockets."

"Isn't it? No one is taking care of this? If the villagers don't dare to sell vegetables, what will the people in our town eat?"

"That is to say, it is enough to charge only two or three cents. Why do you charge so much? I think the ground is dirty, as if they can clean it up after charging money."

Some people who didn't know the truth looked at a few gangsters and asked the people next to them: "Are they from the county government?"

Some of the onlookers looked disdainful: "Where did the county government come from in our town? There are some casual officials sent by the county government in our town. Well, they are the scholars from the Liu family in Qian Street. But they didn't say to invite anyone to come. Protection fee. This group of people is here to rob it.”

Su Qingyu listened for a while and finally understood the whole story. She looked at the street carefully and thoughtfully.

When she came to her senses again, several gangsters had walked away in high spirits with sticks on their shoulders.

When passing by her, Su Qingyu felt that one of them looked familiar. She turned around and took a closer look. Hey, he looked familiar.

Some time ago, Su's mother kept talking about the widowed leopard girl in the village, saying how sad her life was as a widow with a son. Xiao Qingyang and Xiao Qingxing also kept talking about the leopard, saying that all the children in the village were afraid of it. he.

In those days, the vegetables in the Su family's vegetable patch kept disappearing inexplicably, and her stepgrandma cursed in the direction of Huabao's house for several days.

As a result, Su Qingnao was very familiar with the name Huabao.

Looking at the leopard again, he looks like a human and a dog, and his clothes are also bright. Looking at the age of twenty-three or four, he looks like a ruffian.

Because of their behavior, no one in the nearby countryside wanted to marry into his family. As a result, even though he is a grown-up, he is still single. Hua Bao's mother was the only one with him. She begged her grandfather and grandma to find him a matchmaker, but no matchmaker, no matter how greedy for money, would come to his door.

When the person you say you're close to hears that it's his home, they won't even open the door.

At this moment, Su Qingnao saw that he was looking agitated. He was holding a half-meter-long polished stick in one hand and tapping the palm of his other hand from time to time as he passed by her.

Maybe he noticed Su Qingyu's gaze and looked towards Su Qingyu... Maybe he thought Su Qingyu looked familiar, and even frowned in thought.

Su Qingyu didn't want to deal with him and quickly looked away, but the other party didn't stop.

It wasn't until the group of them had gone far that Su Qingyu moved to the vegetable market.

Look at the old man who was charged fifty cash, holding his two grandchildren in his arms and wiping away tears.

His grandson, who was twelve or thirteen years old, lowered his head, tightly holding the rope of the chicken coop in his hand, pursed his lips, and his eyes were full of hatred. The younger granddaughter held the old man's arm and avoided the eyes of the onlookers.

Su Qingyu sighed softly.

There are three chickens and ducks in that cage, but they can only be sold for fifty cents. If they are taken away, the gain outweighs the loss. Looking at the stall on the ground, after paying the money, I'm afraid there won't be much money left for today's hard work.

Su Qingyu looked at the chickens and ducks in his cage and found that they were well raised. The feathers were shiny and smooth. The eggs in the basket had also been wiped clean. Although the vegetables in the vegetable frame had been turned around, they were clearly visible. When I came out, the vegetables were grown very well, and there were not many insect holes.

When Su Qingyu looked at the three of them, the onlookers gathered around him and bought everything from his stall out of sympathy for the family.

The old man reacted, weighed the weight, and thanked the buyer. After being comforted by everyone in turn, the three people's moods became much calmer. They wiped their tears and quickly helped the buyer bundle chickens, ducks and vegetables.

In the end, half of the basket of eggs was bought by an aunt.

The old man and his family packed up their burdens with great gratitude, supported each other, and left the vegetable market in a hurry.

Su Qingyu looked a little sad. The people at the bottom, who have no money and no power, have the hardest time.

Su Qingyu slowly strolled around the vegetable market.

I found that the variety is quite rich, including fish, meat, poultry and game, various eggs, mountain delicacies, river fresh food, and many varieties of vegetables.

But there is just no good plan. The whole street was crowded and dirty, and there were so many people shopping around the stalls that it was difficult to even walk.

The farmers crowded around and put the things they brought randomly on the ground. There were water stains, dirt, and mosquitoes on the ground. Some places with lots of water were so muddy that it was difficult to even set foot on them.

The farmer has a pair of straw sandals, his clothes are dusty, and there are patches piled on top of each other. If they get dirty, they just get dirty, and they don't care. But most of the people who came out to buy in the town were wealthy and had cloth shoes on their feet. The women wore long skirts. When they stepped on them, their shoes became dirty and water got in, and their clothes were splashed with mud and water.

Many people walked on tiptoe, screaming when they stepped on the water, holding their clothes and shaking off, and frowning on their faces.

Su Qingnao walked around and the experience was really not good.

I bought some ingredients, my hands were full, and I was ready to go back.

With both hands occupied, I couldn't free my hands to hold up the hem of my skirt, so I could only walk slowly on tiptoes. After passing through a muddy road, I looked down and saw that my cloth shoes were soaked, the footwear underneath was also soaked in water, and the hem of my skirt was also full of mud spots.

Just as he was frowning, the ingredients in his hand were snatched away.

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