"So, for such a large quantity, what's the price?"
"I heard the prices are lower than those at our local brokerage shops, but they're mostly dead-end contracts. The best ones to buy are young girls. Some people are willing to buy them as their own wives, but others may have to be taken to the Western Regions for sale."
These are all things An Yun heard during his years in Ning'an Town. He didn't know much about the specific model of human trafficking, so he could only tell Shen Jia some superficial details.
The few days he spent protecting Shen Jia closely had made him realize that this was a girl who was no less capable than a man, and she was more decisive and ruthless than many others in doing things.
Shen Jia thought she could try her luck. Recently, her grandfather started teaching in the county again, and her second uncle sent him there every day. In addition, due to the previous planning of the fields, her father and second uncle now had to go to the fields to supervise every day, leaving only her grandmother and mother at home.
It would definitely be boring to stay in such an empty house for a long time. More importantly, Shen Jia felt that her mother was not good at cooking. In order to ensure that the family could have good meals when her father was away, she thought she could find two maids to take charge of cleaning and cooking.
"Is that so? Then I have to go early."
Seeing that the porridge distribution was going on in an orderly manner, Shen Jia took An Yun away and took a few more looks at the newly built workshops. Feeling that the progress was about the same as she expected, they returned to the workshop.
As soon as he arrived at the workshop, An Yun left on his own initiative, because there was no place safer than here, so he left with peace of mind, and then turned around to find Yang Shu to arrange some work for him.
Now that he has received Shen Jia's help, he must not allow himself to have a moment of leisure, otherwise he will feel that he has let Shen Jia down.
The office was as usual, with the three of them studying their own account books and documents. Upon hearing Shen Jia's return, Fuqiu immediately raised her head and asked:
"How are the refugees at the town gate? I heard from Chen Yaer that there have been a lot of people pouring into the town recently. They're either begging on the streets or wandering around with nothing to do. They asked us to pay more attention to the safety of the workshop."
Chen Yaer was the leader of the three girls who had sneaked into the workshop for her family. Now, with Shen Jia's tacit approval, they would come to the workshop early to help, and bring back some bean dregs every day as wages.
Shen Jia could understand that everyone worked diligently and conscientiously, but it was not the right time to add more staff to the workshop yet. She would wait until the other two workshops and the dormitory she built were completed.
Listening to Fuqiu's question, Shen Jia randomly chose a seat and sat down. "Everything is fine outside. With the officers and soldiers sent by the county government guarding the area, it's not too chaotic. It's just that there have been a lot of strangers appearing in town recently, so you guys have to be careful."
"Jia Niang, you should be more careful. We don't need to go out much on weekdays, but you take on everything yourself and often need to go out to check. Even if Brother An knows some martial arts, you can't be careless."
Shen Ci, who was standing aside, felt a surge of resentment in his heart when he heard that Shen Jia didn't care about him, but instead cared about those of them who stayed in the workshop for a long time.
"Okay, okay, I'll pay attention."
Now Shen Jia has discovered another attribute of Shen Ci, that is nagging, always talking about some issues over and over again, especially about his own problems.
If she didn't take it to heart, she would suffer the two of them nagging in her ears when she returned. Now she had learned her lesson and just needed to cut them off during the Shen Ci segment.
Shen Ci also knew that Shen Jia just needed to take it to heart. He now began to feel that scholars were not very useful. At least, they didn't seem to be of much use at the moment. They could do nothing except look at the documents.
The content had nothing to do with what he had learned before. There were some things that Shen Jia brought out that he could learn from, but it was far from the goal he had set before.
He sighed deeply and returned to his work. After all, their family was already criminals. He felt that hating the emperor was inconsistent with his previous education. Loyalty to the emperor and patriotism were the behaviors of a gentleman.
In this way, Shen Jia spent the rest of his time dealing with things in the workshop, and after work, the four of them went home together.
Looking at their mother who was already waiting for them at the door, Shen Jia and the other three sighed in unison. It seemed that Father Lu had not come back today, so the meal must have been prepared by their mother.
After eating their mother's meals for a few days, the few people had already looked pale. They could only have a meal in the workshop at noon, and then began to accept their mother's challenge again after returning home.
"Hello, mother!"
"Hello, Auntie!"
“Hello, Madam Shen!”
The four of them saluted in unison.
Mother Shen looked at the four people who were exhausted all day and quickly greeted them: “Come in quickly, don’t worry about these messy etiquettes, there is no such red tape in the North.
Go home earlier next time. There are other people working in the workshop, so let them take care of it. You've all lost weight recently. If your dad sees you, he'll say I'm abusing you."
"Hahahaha, Mom, don't worry about what Dad says. Let's eat. I'm a little hungry. I have something I want to tell you after dinner. Let's go!"
Shen Jia quickly stopped the subsequent chattering, took Shen's mother's arm and walked inside, and the other three people hurried to follow.
After dinner, Shen Jia found Shen's mother, and the two of them cleaned the kitchen tacitly. They watched Shen's mother change from someone who couldn't even tell the difference between vinegar and soy sauce to the skilled cook she is now, although her cooking skills are still not that good.
But that is also a great improvement. I just changed my shell, so it seems that I am more acceptable than others.
As she cleaned, she said, "Mother, why don't we go buy a few maids and servants? You see, everyone in the family is busy now, and we don't need this little money. Why don't we buy some people to work? It will just add some vitality to the family, don't you think?"
Upon hearing this, Mother Shen straightened up immediately and smiled happily, "You are a girl who can care for others. Why didn't your father think of this? You don't know that once you leave, there will only be your grandmother and I at home. It will be lonely and cold, and it will be very uncomfortable.
But how much does it cost to buy someone? I still have some money. Since you are here to help me, I will pay for it. Please don't stop me. "
Speaking of this, Shen's mother immediately became interested and began to realize that she had been obsessed with it recently. The family's shop and fields were now thriving, so hiring one or two people was not a big deal, not to mention that she really had no talent for kitchen work.
Everyone had a poor appetite recently and she initially thought it was because of the weather. Later, when she bought some food from outside from time to time, everyone started to feel better again. Then she realized that she seemed to be lagging behind.
Now Shen Jia's proposal just hit the spot in her heart, and she immediately decided to do so. After finishing her housework early in the morning on the first day, she slowly walked to the workshop to call Shen Jia.
"Jia Niang, let's go! I've already thought about it last night. Just come and see my skills as a fortune teller."
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