Qin Xiaozhou shook his head, "This older sister doesn't look well. I'm afraid if I buy her, she won't be able to feed my younger sister. She'll just needlessly catch some illness from her."

After saying that, he turned to leave.

The woman likely still had lochia on her body, and having not been cleaned for several days, she smelled terrible. No wonder everyone else in the courtyard avoided her.

"Oh dear!" Zhang Yazi exclaimed anxiously upon hearing this and quickly stopped the person.

It's the height of summer now, the perfect time to catch a disease. If this woman gets sick in the courtyard, the losses will be even greater if others get infected. "Manager Qin, you great philanthropist, please take this woman in. I paid five coins for her, and I don't want your money back. Just take her away. I really can't fit her in here anymore. Consider it a favor. This woman looks sickly because she hasn't finished her postpartum period and hasn't rested well, but that won't affect your breastfeeding."

Zhang Yazi wanted to do Qin Xiaozhou a favor. He had watched Qin Xiaozhou rise step by step and had bought a lot of people from him. He knew that he would rely on Qin Xiaozhou even more in the future, so he wanted to get closer to him.

Qin Xiaozhou was happy to make this connection. Since someone had extended an olive branch, there was no reason not to accept it, so he took the woman away without hesitation.

When Qin Xiaozhou went to the yamen to file a record, he asked the woman's name. The woman's maiden name was Wang, and her husband's surname was Zhao, so he just called her Zhao Wangshi without a proper name. Qin Xiaozhou sighed inwardly. In this generation, very few women had a proper name. "From now on, you'll be called Jingming. What's your daughter's name?"

Jingming, timid and hesitant, held the child tightly in his arms, saying, "Laidi, call Laidi."

Qin Xiaozhou frowned. This child didn't have a contract of indenture. If the Wang family came looking for her after she grew up, they would be the child's legitimate father, and there would be a lot of trouble and complications. It was better to be ruthless now and make a decisive decision. "You decide today. If you sell this child to me and register her as a slave in the government, I will use her contract of indenture to support her. Or you can return her to your husband's family. I will not support someone who is not mine."

Jingming knelt down with a thud, "I, I..."

She knew very well that if the child stayed with Qin Xiaozhou, he could survive, but he would be a slave for life, and would be at the mercy of others. If he were sent back to the Wang family, the child would definitely be killed by his husband or sold off.

"Madam, may I sell myself to support my child? I have plenty of breast milk, and I'll make sure your child gets the best share. My daughter will only need the last bite."

Qin Xiaozhou shook her head. This woman was too indecisive and not clear-headed. "You are a local. Your husband's family will find out sooner or later that I bought you. If you raise the child, they can take him away at any time. Only by selling the child to me will you have a chance of winning if they come to take him away in the future. Otherwise, as an abandoned woman, if the Wang family accuses you of abducting their offspring, even if you are the child's mother, you will not be able to make the decision."

In this world, family lineage and lineage are highly valued, but women do not have the right to establish their own households. They can only depend on their husbands' families, and the children they give birth to cannot be registered under their own names but can only be registered under their husbands' families' genealogy. Only when a marriage contract is signed can the children be transferred to the master's family's name.

Zhang Yazi and the yamen runner in charge of household registration were both there to persuade her, "Don't worry, Manager Qin is a good person. She won't mistreat your girl. Sell her too, so she'll have a place to live in the future. Even if it's freezing cold, or there are floods or droughts, you won't have to worry about starving to death. In this day and age, just being alive is good enough."

Jingming hesitated for a long time, tears streaming down his face, "Then, then I'll sell myself to the madam as a slave."

The child's indenture was quickly completed. Qin Xiaozhou took people home and arranged rooms for them to stay. Ma Dage knelt down with a thud. "Master and Madam, my wife and child live in the southern suburbs. She is a woman with a child and is unfamiliar with the area. She is afraid to live alone at home. Can I go home tonight and come back to work the next morning? Don't worry, Master, I will work hard for you."

With a room full of women, it was difficult to arrange for a man to suddenly appear. Qin Xiaozhou immediately took out one tael of silver and gave it to Ma Dage, telling him to go and settle his wife and children first.

With the indenture in hand, there's no need to worry about the person running away.

Then she asked Granny Qian to take Jingming to a nearby clinic for a checkup, just in case he developed a chronic illness. The two returned quickly. Granny Qian didn't want to show her anger in public, so she went to the backyard where no one was around and scolded, "What kind of people are they, acting all high and mighty?"

Qin Xiaozhou was flipping through account books on the table by the well in the backyard. The sun was now setting in the west, and the eaves were just blocking out the sunlight, making it the most comfortable spot by the well. "What's wrong?"

Both Granny Qian and Granny Zheng came from wealthy families in the capital. They were usually very proper and spoke and acted in a very peaceful manner, so it was rare to see them get so angry.

Granny Qian bowed respectfully to Qin Xiaozhou. Although she had been sold to this remote county, the highest official she could hold was a county magistrate. Even a minor county magistrate wouldn't dare to be disrespectful to her before. But Granny Qian respected Qin Xiaozhou from the bottom of her heart. "Manager, just now I took Jingming to the clinic on the next street. The doctor there said that women are yin, and women who haven't finished their postpartum period are unclean, so he wouldn't allow us to enter the clinic."

Jingming lowered his head and said, "Shopkeeper, I'll clean it up. Don't waste your money. I'll go nurse the baby after I've cleaned it up."

In the countryside where people can't even get enough to eat, few women can stay in bed for three to five days. They all have to get up and cook for their husbands' parents as soon as they give birth. No one goes to the clinic for postpartum illnesses. It's a blessing if they survive childbirth.

Lu Yu, Zhao Fang, and Lu Yan managed the shop very well. With the hot weather these days, fruit tea sold the best. Although desserts and cakes were not greatly affected, their sales decreased slightly. Yogurt sales increased dramatically, which was indeed the least time-consuming and energy-intensive business. Qin Xiaozhou and Lu Yunfeng discussed it, and the next day the couple took Lu Yu, Jingming and his mother, and Shitou back to Wangjia Village.

It was already evening when they arrived home. Everyone was taking advantage of the sun moving westward and the heat dissipating before going out to work in the fields. When they saw the Lu family, they were all busy greeting them.

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