Chapter 125: The Slave Market (Part 1)

Of all those present, only Xiao Zishan had any experience in time-travel commerce. The others stood speechless as they witnessed the so-called "Crystal Dawn Jade mirror"—obviously nothing more than a cheap plastic-framed egg mirror from Wenzhou, the sort sold by the heap at wholesale markets for perhaps ten yuan at most—fetch a price of 150 liang. Guo Yi and his companions shook their heads in disbelief, struggling to process what they had just seen.

"Well?" Xiao Zishan said quietly. "Feeling more confident now? Guangzhou isn't like the rest of the country. It's the wealthiest city in all of East Asia in this timeline."

Yan Maoda nodded, still sighing in wonder. "I never imagined Guangzhou would be this prosperous in this era. I'm entirely confident about opening a jewelry company here now."

When a shop clerk approached to solicit their business, Yan Maoda seized the opportunity to gauge the market. He asked to see pearls—the transmigrators had brought substantial quantities of freshwater cultured pearls from the other timeline. The clerk retrieved several trays from behind the cabinet. The largest specimens measured nearly an inch in diameter; the smallest resembled pomegranate seeds. Most were quite round, though some were elongated ovals. Even in the dim indoor light, the pearl luster was impressive. The small ones were priced between ten and twenty liang each; the largest carried an asking price of 4,000 liang.

Yan Maoda had studied pearl history during his jewelry trade career and knew that historical dynasties placed enormous value on such gems. These were natural pearls—exceedingly precious by any standard. Yet even with that knowledge, a single large pearl selling for 4,000 liang still astonished him.

Most remarkable of all was a tray of slightly elongated purple pearls. Yan Maoda examined them closely while the clerk explained that these were of Western origin, a rare color; at this size, they cost 200 liang each.

After exiting the shop, they walked into a nearby alley where the crowds thinned. "Just selling our hundred kilograms of freshwater pearls would yield enormous profits," Yan Maoda observed.

"But they don't look quite as fine," Lu Rong said.

"True, the pearl color isn't comparable," Yan Maoda acknowledged. "But that's not a serious obstacle. What concerns me is that tray of purple pearls. Those are Australian seawater pearls. I never expected to find them here in Guangzhou."

"They were probably harvested from there directly. Sailing from Southeast Asia to Australia isn't terribly difficult."

"Probably. Which means someone has already reached Australia—or at least its offshore islands."

"Developing Australia might actually be worth considering..."

They continued sightseeing as they walked, chatting and laughing along the way. Lu Rong developed a keen interest in the street food but feared falling ill, so he restrained himself despite his watering mouth. As they walked on, the street scenes grew increasingly desolate—occasional patches of wasteland appeared, yet voices could still be heard in the distance. Liu Gang halted. "Ahead lies a slave market. There's nothing worth seeing—just families being torn apart. Very tragic. Gentlemen, let us walk elsewhere."

Xiao Zishan hesitated. Before departing for Guangzhou, the Committee had privately discussed purchasing people. Lingao's local labor supply was limited, and they desperately needed external migration. But the immediate issue wasn't labor—rather, it was the gradually surfacing "physiological needs" of many transmigrators.

These physiological needs—food and sex—represented human nature at its most basic. For a long time after D-Day, everyone had worked exhausting hours, nervously guarding against possible attacks, their bodies and minds utterly drained. Naturally, no one had raised this issue. Recently, however, the situation had stabilized. Leisure time increased, yet entertainment remained scarce. Over five hundred people—mostly young men in their prime—inevitably harbored sexual thoughts. The problem was that only about a dozen had wives or girlfriends. Most relied on watching adult videos for relief, a practice that added fuel to fire rather than providing genuine release.

Despite generally positive developments, disharmonious incidents had begun to occur: voyeurism during women's bathing, secret upskirt photography—repeatedly. Most seriously, someone had attempted to rape Salina during the night, though the perpetrators had badly underestimated this formidable ATF agent's capabilities. Salina emerged only slightly shaken and entirely unharmed; of the three would-be attackers, she sent one to the hospital.

Ran Yao quickly identified all the perpetrators. For the sake of stability, the matter was suppressed. The three offenders were dispatched far away to Bopu Camp to prevent any encounters with Salina that might spark further conflict.

The incident was resolved, but the Committee recognized the dangerous warning signs it represented. The camp contained multiple women, but very few were single. In other words, the transmigrator group couldn't internally satisfy its members' needs for male-female interaction. If future rape incidents occurred—or if adultery problems arose—the Committee would face not just a crying woman but also an enraged cuckolded husband. How would they handle such situations? What would be the consequences? It was unimaginable.

If the perpetrators possessed slightly more self-awareness—like those three, who at least understood that their comrades' wives were off-limits—and instead turned to raping village women, what then? Rape was what commoners hated most. From the Red Army through the PLA eras, rapists had been executed. Would the transmigrators also execute rapists? That seemed to violate the Committee's unspoken principle that "all people are equal, but some are more equal than others."

Even setting rape aside—what about visiting prostitutes? Never mind whether Lingao even had brothels; contracting STDs would be extremely troublesome. The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were precisely when syphilis was spreading massively into coastal China. If someone was unlucky enough to be infected, the Medical Group would waste precious penicillin on treatment.

In short, failing to address these physiological problems meant harboring major hidden dangers.

Various solutions had been proposed. Xiao Zishan had suggested prioritizing recreational facilities—nightly movies, sports competitions, and the like. But this was merely palliative, with limited effect. Others had proposed bolder measures: establish a brothel with strict hygiene protocols to prevent STD transmission. The Committee would issue monthly "pleasure vouchers," and beyond that allowance, men would pay out of pocket.

This proposal was the most efficient, but most Committee members couldn't accept it. Brothels were backward, cruel institutions. How could twenty-first-century civilized people establish one? As for distributing prostitution vouchers—unthinkable. (Note: Apparently several German cities have recently issued free prostitution vouchers. Rather awkward. German citizens are quite fortunate.)

After secret deliberations and consultations, the Committee reached a decision: act quickly and purchase women from the mainland. Under the designation of "female servant," they would be assigned to single men. Nominally, these women would handle housework; practically, the men could do whatever they wished.

This proposal also faced opposition. Xiao Zishan himself had objected on simple logistical grounds: he managed internal affairs. If pseudo-wife distribution was adopted, the current collective dormitory system would collapse—men with "servants" would certainly refuse to share rooms any longer. This meant a massive expansion of housing construction.

After multiple nights of discussion, debate, and hearings, the "female servant" plan was finally approved. Thus, Xiao Zishan's Guangzhou trip gained another task: buying women.

It sounded titillating—but it was by no means easy. Human trafficking required professional slave dealers, and their merchandise was expensive. He had consulted Gao Ju and learned that an ordinary-looking twelve or thirteen-year-old girl cost seven to eight liang at minimum. Pretty and clever ones ran at least twenty liang. Higher-quality ones—like Yangzhou's famous "thin horses"—had no ceiling; seventy to eighty liang was merely the floor, with prices sometimes reaching into the hundreds.

Moreover, slave dealers controlled the supply. Famine refugees or destitute girls selling themselves—nine out of ten fell into their hands. Outsiders couldn't easily intervene, short of a massive famine driving floods of refugees onto the streets.

Now, hearing Liu Gang mention a slave market ahead, Xiao Zishan thought it worth investigating. Even if no suitable women were available, purchasing children would help. Wu Nanhai had specifically emphasized that cultivating the transmigrators' own talent must begin with children. Only thorough worldview reformation—instilling entirely new knowledge and concepts from an early age—would truly work.

"Let's take a look," Xiao Zishan said, striding forward. "I'm interested in purchasing some household servants."

What lay ahead was not, of course, a professional marketplace—merely wasteland cluttered with refugees from various regions. A ruined temple stood amid overgrown graves. Makeshift shelters had been thrown up everywhere. Refugees from Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiangxi, and Fujian sat or lay about, their faces ghostly and blank. Some could still shuffle along with begging sticks in hand. Others cooked salvaged food scraps, producing the stench of rotten soup. The air hung smoky and fetid, permeated by strange odors neither moldy nor burnt. Against the collapsed temple wall lay a row of rigid corpses covered with tattered mats; only pairs of cracked, dried feet protruded from beneath. Ashes of burned paper money remained scattered nearby. Three to four months ago, such scenes would have shocked them deeply. Now they had grown accustomed to this timeline's everyday presence of death.

Local militia patrolled the grounds to maintain order, and a gruel-dispensing shelter operated nearby—some evidence of local government relief. Well-dressed figures came and went throughout the area, their purpose unmistakable. They were all here to purchase people.

(End of Chapter)