FSC [QT] Chapter 90.1

“Brother, the two kids are back.”

The usurers had long guarded several entrances and exits of the village, and some were wandering around the village. When Yu Yan and his sister appeared, they saw them at a glance and shouted immediately.

In fact, even if Yu Yan wanted to escape with his sister at this moment, it would be impossible.

The household registration system of the Li Dynasty was perfect. It didn’t matter if you just moved within a county, but if you wanted to go from one county to another, you had to bring your own pass stamped by the government. Otherwise, you couldn’t pass through the city gate at all.

In the Li Dynasty, after a person was born, as long as they had teeth (children grew teeth), they had to go to the government to register.

Generally speaking, in addition to routine random inspections, the Li Dynasty would also conduct a population census every three years, mainly to check for omissions.

The household registration system of the Li Dynasty was extremely detailed.

First, the household type was registered, such as farmers, military households, or musicians engaged in music, singing, and dancing. Even beggars had household registration, and their household type was beggar households.

In addition, it was also necessary to register the original place of origin, current place of origin, current place of residence, surname, name, gender, age, date of birth, relationship with the head of the household, physical characteristics, etc.

Among them, the physical characteristics would change with major adjustments every three years, which was also one of the important bases for the Li Dynasty to confirm the identity.

The group of people generously lent Mrs. Yu 20 taels of silver at the beginning, of course, not without proof. They had a letter with Mrs. Yu’s personal seal in their hands.

The stamped letter stated that Mrs. Yu was willing to use her youngest daughter to pay off the debt in order to raise money for her husband’s medical treatment.

If she could not pay off the money in time, her youngest daughter, Yu Wu, would be used as collateral.

The time of Yu Wu’s birth was clearly written in the letter.

According to the rules of the Li Dynasty, it was not a crime for parents to sell their children. This letter had a legal effect and could be regarded as Yu Wu’s indenture.

If Yu Yan took Yu Wu away, Yu Wu would become a fugitive slave, and Yu Yan would also violate the law.

According to the laws of the Li Dynasty, accomplices would be punished with 20 strokes of the cane and exiled for 300 miles.

A fugitive slave like Yu Wu would be tattooed on her face, and her master would even have the right to beat her to death with sticks.

Even if it was a slave who sold himself, the master did not have the right to kill him/her at will. This was only the criminal law for fugitive slaves.

It could be said that if Yu Yan really took his sister away at this moment, not only would he not be able to escape from Yuhua County, but once caught, he would also face even more severe punishment.

Of course, Yu Yan didn’t know all this at the moment.

He was completely frightened. No matter how mature he was, he was just a five-year-old child.

A group of tall and strong men came toward Yu Yan and Yu Wu. The leading man was burly and had a bandit-like demeanor. He looked like someone who was not easy to mess with.

He looked up and down at Yu Wu who was hiding behind Yu Yan. The little girl looked good and should be able to sell for a good price.

“You can’t take my sister away.”

Yu Yan protected his sister behind him and looked at the group of people fiercely as if he would fight with them to the death if anyone dared to come forward.

“Hey, kid, you are quite fierce.”

Gao Hu smiled. He thought that this kid was quite interesting. Despite his young age, his eyes could be so cruel. When he was stared at by him just now, he felt creepy as if he was being stared at by a wolf.

This was really a good seedling for usury. When he grew up a little bit, he wouldn’t need to use any force, just standing there would be enough to scare people.

It was a pity that he was still a little young and had no parents. It was hard to say whether he could survive.

“I heard that your father was a student, so did he teach you to read? Do you understand what this is? It’s written in black and white on the letter that if your mother can’t pay the money back, she will give your sister to me.”

Gao Hu became interested. He squatted down, so his eyes were on the same level as Yu Yan.

“Your mother borrowed twenty taels of silver from me. According to the interest, she has to pay me thirty-three taels including the principal and interest. Your sister is worth thirty-three taels. Ordinary people can’t afford such an expensive girl, but I can’t lose money. I can only find a better place for her.”

“Hehe…”

A group of men who followed Gao Hu over there were laughing, obviously thinking of something fishy.

Hello, everyone!!!

Hope you doing great! ♥️

I want to announce something IMPORTANT!

Your lovely translator, @Orthez, will take one week leave! (ꈍᴗꈍ)ε｀*)

I need to do something urgent. Hohoho~~~

So…

This one week leave will start from tomorrow, Oct 5th until Oct 11th (or Oct 13th if I need further rest).

Since I will be on leave, there will be update for all my translations today!

I will also compensate you all when I am back, so don’t be sad, okay?

And…