Shi Si stared at Hade and listened carefully to what Hade said. He explained to Han Du: "Master Marquis, Hade didn't recognize the people who came out of the manor. So he asked who they were.
Why are you here? But those people said that this is their master's manor, and of course they have to stay here."
After listening to Shi Si's message, Han Du understood what was going on.
It turns out that this manor, in order to raise more funds for overseas trade, had already been mortgaged to others when Harder went overseas. The two parties agreed that as long as Harder could repay the money with interest within one year, then
The other party will return the manor to him.
However, Harder's trip to sea this time was unlucky. He was about to return to Horumos. First, he was plundered by pirates, and then he led the pirates to the old port under the threat of pirates.
This time was delayed, and as he followed the Ming Dynasty Navy back to Horumos, a year had already passed. His creditor could not see Harder coming back to pay back the money when it was due.
Thinking that he had perished in the sea, they led people to drive out Harder's family and confiscated the manor. Moreover, they sold the manor to other people very quickly.
If the manor is still in the hands of Hard's creditors, then it's easy to say that he can get the manor back by paying the money back to the creditors.
But now that the manor has been sold directly by the creditor, it will be difficult for Hader to get it back.
And the most important thing now is not to find a way to get the manor back, but to find Hader's family. His family was kicked out of the manor, and they don't know where they are now.
Harder survived a near-death experience and finally came back after many hardships. He originally wanted to reunite with his family, but now he found that his home and family were gone.
Han Du looked at Hard with sympathy, "Then what are you going to do now? If you are willing, I can send people to kill all those people and help you get the manor back."
"No, never." I originally thought that Harder would agree to it, but I didn't expect that he would wave his hand and refuse with a look of horror on his face.
"Why is this?" Han Du was a little surprised, "Anyway, in this Hurumos, isn't it an understatement to kill a few people?"
Hader smiled bitterly and quickly explained: "If you have entanglements with others, fight with each other, or even kill people, the City Lord's Mansion will not care about it. But breaking into the manor and killing people is completely different, and you will definitely be punished by the City Lord's Mansion.
We will crack down hard, and even some mercenaries will step in, and they will be besieged."
"Why is this?" Han Du was a little surprised.
Hader lowered his head and sighed softly: "Because every manor and house in Hulumos has paid taxes to the city lord's palace, and will be naturally protected by the city lord's palace. If there is no such protection,
, then isn’t this Horumos completely in chaos?”
Han Du nodded and suddenly realized. When Han Du saw that people in this city could kill people on the street without anyone noticing, he was extremely curious about how such a chaotic city could exist.
. Now I understand that although Horumos has returned to chaos, it still has rules and bottom lines that cannot be touched. If there were really no rules at all, then this city would have ceased to exist long ago.
Sure enough, it was right to let Hader bring him and others to Hurumos. If he and others hadn't been there, how would they have known that Hurumos had such rules?
If you had chosen to let go when you encountered a thief; if you had encountered a conflict with the manor, but rushed in directly, then I am afraid that you and others would have attracted all the forces in the city, and you would be besieged.
’s end.
After understanding this, Han Du no longer persisted. Anyway, the manor was gone and his family was missing. It was all Hard's fault. Since he didn't want to help, he could just stand aside and watch.
"Then what do you do now?"
Hard looked back at the manor and saw that the housekeeper of the manor had been standing there, facing him with a smiling attitude. Hard had no choice but to put off the matters in the manor for the time being, took a deep breath and said: "I want to take care of him first.
My family found."
Han Du nodded and said nothing. He was very unfamiliar with this place. Even if he wanted to help Hard, he would not be able to do anything, and he might even be unhelpful. Anyway, Hard was more familiar with Hulumos than he was.
If he needs help, he will ask for it himself.
As Han Du expected, Hader did not ask for help.
"I still have a few good friends in the city. Let's go to them first to find out where my family is."
Han Du and Zhu Biao looked at each other and could only nod and agreed that Hader would go find his family first. Looking at the sun going up in the sky, Han Du shook his head slightly. He originally thought he could have a good rest today, but now it seems that he may not even
I don’t know where to stay.
Harder first found the businessman with whom he had the best friendship to inquire about the whereabouts of his family.
Han Du and Zhu Biao followed Hader to the door of another manor and watched as the other party invited Hader in, but ignored Han Du and others standing outside.
Zhu Biao frowned, but didn't say much.
Tang Ding, on the other hand, snorted dissatisfied, "Why are these people so rude? When they saw us standing here, they didn't even say hello to us to come in and have a rest."
Zhu Biao shook his head slightly, "I'm afraid that's the custom here. Judging from the fact that people in the city can fight and kill people at will, the people here must be extremely wary of strangers. There are so many of us standing here, even though we have
Hader came forward, but they don’t dare to take us lightly. It’s understandable that they don’t invite us in.”
Han Du sighed, "How can these barbarians know any etiquette if they are still wild?"
Not long after Hader entered, he quickly went out again. He turned back to thank the housekeeper, and then came to Han Du and others without looking back.
"Do you know where your family is?"
Hader sighed and nodded, "I found it. After they were kicked out of the manor, they had no money and no way to live in the city, so they had no choice but to return to the countryside."
"It's good that we found them." Han Du patted Hard on the shoulder and said with a smile, "Anyway, now that you are back, just bring them back to the city again."
Hader nodded, obviously he had the same idea as Han Du.
Looking up at the sky, Hader hesitated for a moment, and finally gritted his teeth and said: "It's not far from Hulumos, I think."
"You want to find them now?" Han Du's mind changed and he guessed Hader's plan.
Hader paused for a moment and replied firmly: "Yes." .??.
After a few breaths, he hesitated and said: "Hader is going to the countryside. I'm afraid I won't be able to accompany His Highness and the Marquis in the city. Why don't we let Hader find a place to settle down first, and we can meet again when Hader comes back from the countryside.
Bar?"
Han Du did not directly agree to Hader, but turned to look at Zhu Biao, "What do you think, Your Highness?"
Zhu Biao thought for a moment and said with a smile: "No, I happened to have seen the city of Khrumos before, but I don't know what it looks like outside the city, so I can go and see it with you."
Since Zhu Biao had already made his decision, Han Du naturally had no objection. Looking back, he saw that Hard had not yet understood what Zhu Biao meant, so he smiled and said, "Where are you going? Let's go with you."
"Is this okay?" Harder finally came to his senses and looked a little hesitant.
Han Du suddenly laughed and asked: "Why not? Are you pretending that you want to go to the countryside, but actually you want to get rid of us?"
"No, no, no, the Marquis has misunderstood. Hud still wants to do business with the Marquis, so why would he want to leave? Hud really wants to go to the countryside to find his family, it's not an excuse." Hud quickly waved his hand and explained,
"In this case, please invite Your Highness and the Marquis to accompany Hader."
Now that Han Du had pointed out his worries, Harder no longer explained too much and had no choice but to ask Han Du and others to follow him.
There are no cement roads here, and even the streets in Khrumos City are filthy. It is conceivable that the roads to the countryside are naturally even muddy.
It was difficult to just walk to the countryside, so Harder rented dozens of carriages at once, and then took Han Du and others with him to the countryside.
In the countryside, inside a village.
A simple castle stands extremely prominently in the village.
Hader's wife, Bella, was taking her and Hader's two children, washing clothes in a corner of the castle. The clothes were not hers, but the owner of the castle. The water used to wash the clothes was still hers.
Carrying it back from the creek outside the village.
Haddou is less than thirty years old, and Bella, his wife, is naturally younger. In the past, as the wife of a big businessman, she lived a pampered life with maids waiting on her. How could she have done anything like this now?
But now for the sake of her child, she still has to endure it even if she no longer has the rich clothes and can only wear the linen clothes worn by servants.
Because, if she leaves here, she won't even be able to survive at all. She and her children will only starve to death.
Due to hunger, cold, and hard work, in just a few months, she, the once dazzling beauty, turned into a thin woman with dry hair and a sallow face.
A fat woman in gorgeous clothes walked over with earth-shaking steps. Seeing that Bella hadn't finished washing the clothes, she yelled, "Damn you bitch, you can't even finish washing all the clothes.
Are you being lazy? Let me tell you, if I see you being lazy, you will never have black bread to eat, and neither will those two bastards."
Bella quickly turned around when she heard the noise. The moment she saw the fat woman, she was so frightened that she knelt down. She said tremblingly: "Amin"
Unexpectedly, after hearing Bella's words, the fat woman suddenly became furious, and without hesitation, she waved her fat palm and slapped Bella on the face.
"Pa~"
A loud sound not only slapped Bella's words back, but also made the two children hide behind Bella, trembling and terrified.
"You can also call me by my real name. Don't you know what to call me? Have you forgotten your identity, damn slave?"
Bella's eyes were red and her tears couldn't stop flowing down. But for the sake of the two children behind her, she had to swallow all her grievances, lowered her head and said aggrievedly: "Yes, Master."
Seeing Bella bear it weakly, the fat woman's face became even more ferocious, she raised her head and glanced at the sky, and said fiercely: "If you can't wash these clothes completely before the sun rises, you and your bastard will never even think about it.
Want some brown bread."
Bella looked up at the sky with a face full of horror. Seeing that the sun was about to reach its highest point, she quickly begged for mercy, "This is impossible, it will be sunrise soon."
"Huh?" Seeing that Bella still dared to retort, the fat woman snorted and looked at her fiercely with her eyes wide open, and subconsciously raised her right hand.
When Bella saw it, her whole body trembled, and she knelt on the ground and didn't dare to say anything more.
But when the fat woman saw her, her eyes suddenly showed a sense of satisfaction, and she didn't hit Bella again. She snorted coldly, turned around and left.
After the fat woman left, Bella looked up in despair at the sun that had risen to its highest point. The woman didn't give her any time at all, making it clear that she didn't want her and her children to have food to eat.
Bella ignored the muddy water on the floor and collapsed on the ground, holding the heads of her two children and crying.