Chapter 47 Chapter 47 "Oh, Mother You is incredible...
"Oh, Mother You is so terrible. She keeps telling Brother Shen to follow the rules, but she has completely forgotten the word rules." Su Yue spoke first.
"That's right. People who don't know would think that Madam You is the master and Chen Ge'er is the servant of the family." Su Yun covered her mouth and chuckled beside her, "I heard that Madam You was someone close to the Marquis' wife, and I thought she was the most polite and rule-abiding. But it turned out that the servant bullied the master. I don't know if these rules were taught by Madam Xue herself."
Suyun and Suyue sang in unison, and just a few words made Mother You's face turn red.
Although she was appointed as the housekeeper, the two attendants from the Ye family did not listen to her at all. When asked to hand in the account books of the household purchases, they ignored her, which made her very annoyed.
Now, hearing that they were actually confronting her like this without giving her any face, Mother You was filled with rage.
He immediately retorted, "Brother Chen has just arrived in the capital, and I am teaching him some rules for his own good. Besides, I am representing the Marquis' wife, so how can you two ignorant people interfere?"
"You represent the Marquis' wife, and we represent Madam Ye." Su Yue immediately stepped forward and said, "We in the Ye family don't have the rule of servants teaching their masters. Madam Ye told us to take good care of Chen before we came. We won't let him be bullied by a servant like you."
"Yes, you old man keep saying that you want to teach Brother Chen the rules. You are just a servant, what do you know about the rules of the master?" Su Yun said, "Do you teach the rules to the brothers and sisters in the Marquis' Mansion? I'd like to ask Madam Ye to see whether it was Madam Hou who told you to do it, or whether you made the decision yourself."
"Okay! You two bitches! You just want to pick a fight with me today, right? According to the rules of our mansion, if you talk back to me, the housekeeper, you will be confined to your house and your monthly allowance will be deducted!" Mother You was facing two people at once, and with no one to help her, she was shaking with anger.
Looking around, he saw that no one could help him, so he turned around and asked Shen Xuan, "Brother Shen, tell me, was it me who didn't follow the rules today, or were they two bullying me too much?"
"This..." Shen Xuan pretended to hesitate and said, "The Xue Mansion and the Ye Family each have their own rules. How can I judge them? Am I really going to punish you?"
"No! You must make a decision today and do what you should do, so as to set some rules for the servants!" Mother You pressed on even more and insisted that Shen Xuan set the rules on the spot. In fact, she was sure that Shen Xuan would not dare to offend the Bai family and wanted to give Su Yun and Su Yue a warning.
After Shen Xuan heard this, he sighed and said, “Since Mother You has said so, it will not work if I don’t make a decision.”
"How about this, the Marquis' Mansion and the Ye Family are both prominent families, and each family has its own rules. I think they are all good, so let's abide by them all."
Chen Xuan paused, then looked at Mother You and Suyun Suyue and said, "According to the rules of the two families, Suyun Suyue contradicted the steward, and Mother You was guilty of insubordination. They should have been punished by house arrest and their monthly allowance should have been deducted."
"But your monthly allowance is also distributed by the Marquis' Mansion and the Ye Family, and has nothing to do with me. I will not be involved in your monthly allowance. So I will confine you to your house for three days as a punishment."
After finishing speaking, Shen Xuan also specifically asked Mother You: "Mother You, do you think this arrangement is okay? The Ye Family and the Marquisate are all great families. I can't respect only one family and not the other. It would be unfair to you, mother."
Mother You never thought that Shen Xuan would bring up the Ye family and put her and Suyun Suyue under house arrest. She felt as if she had eaten a fly.
However, she was the one who proposed the rules herself. If she regretted it now, she would become a clown and her words would be like farts. If Su Yun and Su Yue were also treated without any punishment, wouldn't they be even more fortunate in the future?
She gritted her teeth, thought for a while, and then nodded: "Okay, since Brother Chen still cares about the honor of the Ye family, let's do it this way for now. It's just that we agreed that if you contradict the steward in the future, you will be dealt with in this way. Su Yun and Su Yue will have nothing to say, right?"
Suyun and Suyue didn't expect that Chen Xuan would listen to Mother You and confine them, and they felt a little unhappy.
But Shen Xuan had already spoken, and Mother You herself had to be grounded, so they were set up and couldn't refute it. He had no choice but to say that it was done this way, and then he and Mother You went back to their rooms.
After they all calmed down, Shen Xuan called Jingui and asked him to go to the room to get the two pieces of silver jewelry that Bai had given to him before and give them to Suyun and Suyue.
Jingui took a silver hairpin and a silver bracelet, each weighing about one or two taels, and quietly went to Suyun and Suyue's room.
As soon as he entered, he heard them getting angry at him, and he just complained: "Didn't Brother Chen ask us to support him? Why did he still speak on his side when we went over to argue with that old man?"
Jin Gui quickly advised: "After all, Madam You is Madam Hou's confidant. How dare Chen Ge'er really turn against her in his current situation? Don't be angry."
After he finished speaking, he took out the bracelet and hairpin from his bosom, put them on the table and said, "Brother Chen knows that you have been wronged, so he specially asked me to give these to you. You can pick one each."
Suyun and Suyue looked at the two pieces of jewelry. Although the workmanship was ordinary, they were also made of pure silver. If you hold it in your hand and weigh it, it weighs about one or two taels, so it's not light.
Although they were second-class attendants in the Ye Mansion, not counting the reward from their master, their monthly salary was only two hundred coins.
I didn't expect that Shen Xuan, a country boy, would give them such a huge reward. I think he was quite sincere.
Thinking of this, Su Yun and Su Yue felt that although Shen Xuan's behavior was a little cowardly, it was understandable. In addition, he gave them so much money, and it was only a three-day confinement, which was quite cost-effective.
So he said to Jin Gui: "We appreciate Chen'er's kindness. If he needs us in the future, we will do our best."
Anyway, compared to Shen Xuan, the Ye family and Madam Xue are more at odds. Although they have received benefits from Shen Xuan in private, they are working against Madam Xue's subordinates. Madam Ye will only agree with them if she knows.
After comforting Su Yun and Su Yue, Jin Gui came back to report to Chen Xuan. Only then did Shen Xuan leave in a satisfied car, heading towards Renshi.
The people sold in the human market were either official slaves whose homes were confiscated, or domestic slaves of wealthy families who had committed crimes, or people whose families were poor and in urgent need of money, or people who had suffered a disaster.
The people's market of the Great Jin Dynasty opened at dawn every day. When Shen Xuan arrived, it was already late.
Logically, the first batch of old women and managers who bought people should have left, and the most popular middle-aged men and young girls should have been picked. But after Shen Xuan went in, he found that there were still many people left to buy, which made him feel a little strange. I just found a broker on the street and asked him.
"I heard that there was a locust plague in the west. The food in many villages was eaten by locusts. Not a single grain was left." The Ya people said, "In recent days, many people have come to sell their children and daughters, and some have even sold themselves as slaves. The price of human beings is also half of the usual price. Young man, why don't you take this opportunity to buy a few more to serve you?"
When Jin Zhi Jingui heard this, she thought that Shen Xuan was really lucky. He was just about to buy someone and happened to catch the good time when the price was low.
Shen Xuan frowned when he heard this, and then asked, "Locust plague? How far is the plagued area from the capital?"
"It's not close, it's more than 200 miles away." The man replied.
More than two hundred miles? It's just over a hundred kilometers, Shen Xuan calculated in his mind and silently made some calculations.
After asking these questions, the broker asked him if he wanted to buy people. Shen Xuancai said that he wanted to buy two boys and two men, both over the age of sixteen. And the applicant must be in good health and able to do physical work.
"The boy should have some cooking skills and be able to cook. The boy should also be eloquent and look presentable." Shen Xuan said.
After all, they are bought to open a store, and they are also needed to be responsible for hawking the goods, so their image and eloquence cannot be too bad. If you are like a piece of wood, timid and submissive, it will not be of any use.
There were quite a few people who were sold by that tooth dealer. Although Shen Xuan's requirements were not low, he could still find them.
After a while, he brought in two brothers and two men, both about sixteen or seventeen years old.
The two brothers were both disaster victims. They were quite good-looking and helped with cooking at home on weekdays. Now that the family has suffered a disaster and has no food, they sell them for money.
At their age, they are too old to be sold to a wealthy family as servants.
I originally bought it with the intention of selling it in Zijin Street, but recently there have been batches of disaster victims coming in, and the brothels are full, so they are no longer accepting. So this tooth brought them to Shen Xuan.
Shen Xuan asked them a few questions, and since their answers seemed very clear and they knew some simple kitchen matters, he kept them.
After questioning the two men, I learned that they were brothers, and were the sons of a wealthy family whose parents had committed crimes.
The pair of house-born children were quite good-looking and looked quite clever, and they must have served the young master before. Because of the involvement of their family members, their entire family was sold out.
Now their parents, siblings and brothers and sisters had already been sold to other families, and only the two of them were left. Their age was a bit awkward, and the wealthy families didn’t want them, and the ordinary families thought they were too expensive, so they were left.
Shen Xuan also tested them with a few questions, and only kept them when he saw that they answered well.
A total of four servants were obtained. On normal days, each servant would have to be sold for at least ten taels of silver.
It’s just that there are too many people being sold nowadays, and the price of population is half as low as usual. Shen Xuan spent twenty taels of silver to get their indentures.
After buying the people, Shen Xuan didn't want to take them home. He discussed with the man and decided to keep the man with him for a few days, and then come back to pick him up after the shop was ready.
This way, he could avoid the spy of Mother You and prevent the Bai family from knowing that he had bought someone.
Chen Xuan didn't want Bai to know anything about opening a shop outside, so as to avoid it getting in her way and causing her to come out to stop him, which would only cause trouble.
Now, Jin Gui and Jin Zhi have been following his lead for a long time, so they would not reveal anything and would help him to conceal it.
So until the shop outside was renovated and Chen Xuan led people to live in the shop, Mother You and Su Yun and Su Yue still didn't know anything about it. I just thought that Shen Xuan went out every day just to stroll around the streets.
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