Chapter 131: Hiring people to open up wasteland in the mountains, human life is worthless, not as good as cattle and horses
The bookboy's name is Yu Yezhou, he is twelve years old and can read a few words. His father is a student, but both he and his mother died unexpectedly not long ago.
He also has a younger sister named Yu Yejin, who is only ten years old. She is very well-behaved, but unfortunately she is mute.
Not long after their parents passed away, they were sold by their uncle's family. All the family property was taken over by their uncle. They were really pitiful people.
Because the brother and sister refused to sell the child separately, it has not been sold until now. After all, no one wants to buy a mute who is so young.
However, Xiao Ying didn't mind, and Chen Xingyue also liked Yu Yejin, so it was no problem to buy her back and use her as a yard sweeper.
The brother and sister only spent eight taels of silver, and that was because the brother could read.
In the end, there was only one person left who swept the yard. He chose a young woman named Miao Guihua, who was twenty-one years old.
Miao Guihua was sold by her gambling husband. She was dressed in rags and had many scars on her exposed arms, which reminded Xiao Ying of Chen Daya.
Because he worked efficiently, the manager would not sell it to him for less than ten taels, but Xiao Ying did not bargain for it.
In this way, all thirteen people were gathered together, totaling one hundred and twenty-three taels, with an average of less than ten taels per person.
Even though Xiao Ying was always calm, her mood was a little agitated.
It's not just a saying that human life is worthless. These people are actually not even as valuable as cattle and horses.
After selecting the servants, the only ones left were those who did the farm work.
This requirement is not high, and she prefers to buy one household at a time. With family ties, these people will be more loyal.
The manager was very happy. This lady was really a big customer. He thought that buying servants was enough, but she actually wanted to buy someone to do farm work.
"We actually have several suitable families here. I'll have someone bring them up right away."
After a while, the servant brought over another group of people, all of whom were common people with their families, a total of six households.
Three of the families were servants who had worked on the farm. Because the farm was damaged by wild beasts, the owner was angry and sold the people who had not taken good care of the crops.
There were three other tenant households who could not make ends meet and simply sold themselves into slavery.
These families are all good at managing crops and can do farm work. They don't just sell their crops. There are a total of 41 people in these families.
Xiao Ying was quite satisfied with these families, but the number of people was still not enough. The two mountains she bought could develop at least one or two thousand acres of land. The first batch of people would have to be responsible for at least one hundred acres, and they would also have to dig a large pond to raise crayfish.
These people all have children at home, and it is good enough for one family to cultivate 15 acres, and one family must be left to take care of her fields in the village.
If you do the math, you'll need at least two more households.
However, there were not two such families in the pawnshop, so the servant brought three families: a father and son, a mother and two daughters, and a mother and four sons.
The father and son were also tenant farmers. The wife had passed away, and the son could not find a wife because he was poor, so only the two of them were left. From the way they were dressed and looked, one could tell that they were used to doing farm work.
The mother and her two daughters were driven out of their husband's home because their husband died. The mother was 34 years old, and the two daughters were 16 and 14 years old respectively.
Because of her dark skin and ugly appearance, she has never been able to find a husband.
But looking at the hands of these three people, you can tell that they have been working hard since childhood, so they must be very skilled at work.
In the end, the mother and her four children sold themselves because their family suffered a disaster, their fields and houses were taken away, and they could no longer make ends meet.
The mother is nearly forty years old, the son is just twenty years old and has married but no children, and the daughter is just fifteen years old and looks very introverted.
Xiao Ying was not very satisfied with the last two families. Although these people were used to doing farm work, they had limited physical strength after all, and he didn't know if they could accomplish such a task as land reclamation.
As if sensing her concerns, the steward quickly began to advise her.
"Madam, don't worry too much. If you think they are not good enough, you can sell them later."
The first time he worried that the dental clinic didn't have enough people to choose from and couldn't satisfy the customers, it was his dereliction of duty.
Before Xiao Ying could speak, the three families all knelt on the ground and begged her to take them in.
"Good lady, we are all used to farm work and will not let you suffer any loss. Please buy us back."
These days, there are very few people hired to open up new land and do the work. They don’t know anything else and have been working in the pawnshop for quite some time.
This lady hired so many people to do farm work, so she must have a lot of land at home. If she misses this opportunity, she doesn’t know how long she will have to wait.
Life in the pawnshop was not easy. Although I wouldn't starve to death, I was just hanging on by a thread.
As long as there is a slight chance of being bought, they are unwilling to miss it.
"Ma'am, look..."
The manager was a little embarrassed, but he hoped that Xiao Ying would buy all these people.
Xiao Ying said calmly, "Name a price."
The manager was delighted. This lady agreed to buy it. She was quite kind.
The three kneeling families also showed joy on their faces, as they could finally leave here.
"Madam, since there are many people buying, I will give you a fair price. 10 taels for an adult male over 15 years old, and 8 taels for a female."
"Five taels for both sexes under fifteen, and three taels for those under ten. What do you think, Madam?"
Xiao Ying nodded. Because there were too many people, she didn't bargain with each one individually.
In the end, the total amount was 367 taels, including 15 adult men, 18 adult women, 11 people aged between 10 and 15, and only 6 people under 10 years old.
Adding the 123 taels for the servants, the total is exactly 490 taels.
This is definitely a big deal. The manager took the initiative to promise to go to the county government to handle the household registration of these people. Xiao Ying only needs to come and pick it up in the afternoon.
It also costs money to handle household registration, and this part of the money is borne by the brokerage firm, which Xiao Ying is very satisfied with.
Xiao Ying could take the people away now, or he could wait until his household registration was completed before taking them away. Xiao Ying chose to take some of them away first.
Since we have brought so many people back to open up the wasteland, we naturally need to equip them with the corresponding farming tools and daily necessities. I plan to buy them all today.
Housekeeper Kang Ruolan volunteered to help with the planning, including how many farm tools to buy, what daily necessities to buy, how much money would be needed, and how many people would be needed to buy them. He came up with all the plans in a short time.
Xiao Ying was quite delighted. It was almost the same as she had planned. It seemed that this housekeeper had some real skills.
Although Kang Ruolan's clothes were not fancy, she had a certain air of dignity, which was cultivated in a wealthy family.
She took the initiative to plan in order to show off her skills and let the master know her strength. As a housekeeper, she should share the master's worries.
"I'll do as you say." Xiao Ying nodded with satisfaction, and added, "But there's one more thing we need to do: buy each person a set of coarse cloth clothes and shoes."
"Madam is so kind. I would like to thank you on behalf of everyone else."
Kang Ruolan smiled, it seemed that she had followed the right person this time.
Not only did the servants have clothes, but even those who did farm work had some, which shows that the lady was kind and generous.
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