The moment I received my fiancé’s letter breaking off our engagement, I headed straight for Cangzhou.
I was planning to demand a few dozen taels of silver as compensation for my wasted youth.
What I hadn’t expected was that he had fallen from being a prince’s estate adviser to a criminal slave.
He knelt on the ground, covered in blood and filth, looking so pitiful that anyone could do whatever they wanted with him.
“Are you buying or not? If you’re not, move to the back!”
The people there to buy slaves shoved me behind them.
I thought to myself in secret,
This isn’t me refusing to save him, okay? Other people pushed me out!
At once, I felt perfectly justified in turning to leave.
The seller was still urging the crowd, “Hurry it up! This is the last day! Anyone who doesn’t sell today gets dragged to the market and beheaded tomorrow!”
My steps paused slightly, and I tightened my grip on the purse hidden in my sleeve.
Just then, I heard a hoarse voice shout,
“My fiancée is here to buy me! The one with the shabby bamboo hat!”
