Upon hearing the voice inside, the child named Xiao Mu immediately became flustered.
"Xiao Yue, I didn't steal it! I just bumped into him, and he... he's wrongfully accusing me!"
Chen Xiaobei laughed and raised his voice a little, "Xiao Yue, you're this child's sister, right? He stole ten taels of silver from me, and I'm sure you know what ten taels of silver means. If I report it to the authorities, none of you will be able to escape."
After hearing these words, there was a silence inside, followed by some rustling sounds.
Not long after, a person emerged, leaning on a wooden cane, walking unsteadily. The person's clothes were so worn that the color could no longer be discerned. Their hair was long, almost to their waist, but it was tangled with many bits of grass, clearly a sign of not having been washed for a long time.
Looking at the person's face, it was an unhealthy yellowish color, which was quite alarming.
"Cough, cough, cough!" Another round of harsh coughing came, which made Chen Xiaobei certain that this was the Xiao Yue that the little beggar had mentioned earlier.
Xiao Yue walked up to Xiao Mu and gave him a sharp stare.
Xiao Mu, feeling guilty under her gaze, lowered his head. "Sister, your health is not good. You should lie down and rest. Why are you up?"
Xiao Yue ignored this and coldly asked, "Tell me, what were you doing when you went out earlier?"
Xiao Mu hesitated for a long time, but finally, with much reluctance, he said, "Sister, I already told you, I just bumped into him, and he said I stole his silver."
Xiao Yue's face remained expressionless, and unexpectedly, she asked, "How much silver was it?"
Xiao Mu, not realizing her intention, immediately answered, "Ten taels, two ingots of five taels each."
Xiao Yue smiled coldly, and in that moment, Xiao Mu realized he had said too much. His face turned bright red in an instant.
Seeing this, Chen Xiaobei couldn't help but admire Xiao Yue from the bottom of his heart. With just a few words, she made Xiao Mu confess—this woman certainly had some skills.
Xiao Yue extended her hand towards Xiao Mu's face, "Give it to me."
Xiao Mu had no choice but to take out the money pouch from his chest and handed it to Xiao Yue.
"Remember, we may be poor, but we cannot steal. If you steal, people will look down on you."
As she spoke, Xiao Yue called a young girl over.
"Yan Zi, go return this to the person."
Yan Zi immediately burst into tears. "Sister, you can't delay your illness any longer. The doctor said if we wait, it might be too late."
"Brother Xiao Mu did this to get money to treat your illness."
Xiao Yue glared at her. "If the silver earned in this way is used to buy medicine, I won't take a single bite of it."
Yan Zi wiped away her tears and still handed the money pouch to Chen Xiaobei.
Watching this girl, Yan Zi, crying uncontrollably, Chen Xiaobei felt a twinge in his heart.
If what this girl was saying was true, then the woman leaning on a cane, with her face a sickly yellow, Xiao Yue, must have a very serious illness.
But from Xiao Mu's attitude, Chen Xiaobei could tell that they were hiding something.
"Miss Xiao Yue, can you tell me what's wrong? Why are you coughing so badly?"
Upon hearing this, Xiao Yue fell silent, while Xiao Mu, with a crying voice, shouted, "My sister is very ill. The doctor said that if she doesn't take medicine soon, it could be very dangerous. But we really have no money, so we had no choice but to take this desperate step."
Chen Xiaobei's nose tingled.
Life is hard. He thought his own life was tough enough, but it turned out that these people were living far worse than him. Despite being so sick, Xiao Yue had to endure because they didn't have money for medicine.
Chen Xiaobei cleared his thoughts and took a silver ingot from his money pouch.
He then placed it into the girl named Yan Zi's hands.
"Miss Xiao Yue, consider this as a loan from me. When you recover, you must repay me."
With that, he turned and walked away quickly. Not far behind, Xiao Mu ran after him.
Xiao Mu caught up to Chen Xiaobei, bowed respectfully, and said, "Thank you so much, sir. May I ask your name?"
Chen Xiaobei smiled calmly and waved his hand, "There's no need for my name, anyone who sees something like this wouldn't just ignore it."
But Xiao Mu persisted, "You said the silver was a loan to us. If you don't leave a name, how will we repay you?"
Chen Xiaobei thought for a moment. Hm, that's a valid point. This also shows that these beggars aren't inherently bad.
He said in a deep voice, "Alright, remember this: I'm in Hetou Village, and my name is Chen Xiaobei."
With that, he quickly walked away.
Chen Xiaobei's destination was clear – the livestock market in the county town, where horses and sheep were sold.
The market was sparse, not many people were around. A few vendors were selling horses and donkeys, and a few others were selling pigs and sheep. Beef was rare and expensive these days, so it wasn't surprising there were no cows being sold.
However, after circling around the market a couple of times, Chen Xiaobei ran into an awkward problem.
He only had five taels of silver, which, when buying a horse, could barely get him a middle-tier horse, one that was bare and untrained.
As for the warhorses being touted by the vendors, capable of traveling a thousand miles a day and eight hundred at night, their price had reached an astonishing ten taels.
Originally, according to Chen Xiaobei's plan, he had intended to buy both a horse and a cart.
Just having a horse would be boring. If he had a cart, he could take Cui Hongyu and Chen Qiaoer along to the county town for a stroll.
However, with only five taels of silver, all he could afford was a donkey cart.
Yes, a donkey.
Though donkeys aren't very fast, their endurance is decent. Besides, he didn't need to carry anything too heavy, so a donkey should be up to the task.
Another advantage of donkeys is that they eat less. Raising one would be far easier than taking care of a horse.
Taking all these factors into account, a donkey was the better option for his current situation.
After some bargaining, he bought a donkey and cart for four and a half taels of silver.
With the remaining five hundred wen, Chen Xiaobei bought two wooden buckets and a carrying pole, making it easier to haul water for the garden.
Since their supply of lard was running low, he also bought two pounds of fatty meat.
On the way out of town, he picked up a few meat buns as well.
Back at home, Chen Qiaoer was thrilled. With the donkey cart and the meat buns, she was as happy as could be.
But Cui Hongyu looked a little disappointed, as she had hoped for a proper horse-drawn cart.
Chen Xiaobei pulled her aside and told her everything that had happened in the county town.
"Well, I felt sorry for them, so I gave them five taels of silver. You... you're not mad at me, are you?"
Cui Hongyu felt warmth in her heart. Although she wasn't sure if she would have given them the money had she been in his shoes, what Chen Xiaobei did made her see the kindness in his heart.
Her grandfather, who was a doctor, had always taught her to show kindness to others, and wasn't Chen Xiaobei embodying that principle?
"Husband, I'm not mad at you. After all, it's easier for us to make money than it is for them."
"The donkey cart works just fine for getting around. It'll make trips to the county town much easier for you."
After a short rest at home, Chen Xiaobei went out again to check on the wetland he had recently acquired, intending to fill it with water as soon as possible.
Of course, just filling it with water wouldn't be enough. He'd also need to figure out how to introduce fish fry into the pond.