Liu Shi didn't think it was possible, and she was also afraid that Xia Dalang would think that he was mistreating his daughter-in-law. If he turned against her again, she would have no place in the family...
So he found another pawnshop and bought a cook.
Because the last time, the old woman Liu was hired, and when her son got into trouble, she was always thinking about her family and was absent-minded at work. Liu fired her, feeling that she had suffered enough from being a hired servant.
This time I might as well buy one. It will surely be less troublesome than hiring one.
The woman they bought was surnamed Fei. She was about forty years old, actually younger than Liu, but her face was full of wrinkles, and she looked older than Zhou.
Mrs. Fei has been doing kitchen work. She used to be a hired worker with a contract that was renewed every five years. She worked for different families and had a good reputation.
But later, his family encountered an unexpected change and was in urgent need of a large sum of money. After selling the land, they were still short of some money, so he had to sign a death contract with the mortgage broker.
All of the above were told to Liu by the dentist in the pawnshop.
However, Liu had dealt with this broker several times before and knew that he had a good reputation, so she bought Mrs. Fei.
The two of them argued for a long time about the value of Mrs. Fei, and finally settled on fifteen taels of silver.
This amount is quite cheap for the woman in the kitchen.
With a bit of suspicion and a bit of joy at having gotten an advantage, Liu took Mrs. Fei back home.
Mrs. Fei went to the stove and fried a few dishes. Her cooking skills were indeed quite good.
The Xia family's eldest wife seemed to have suddenly come alive. Eating such a meal was a normal life! Even Xia Youcai, who had initially thought that Liu was too wasteful with her money, couldn't help but feel that the money was well spent.
Liu secretly observed Mrs. Fei for a while with her own thoughts in mind.
Seeing that she was clean and efficient in her work and was very proactive in doing things without the host’s constant urging, he became more and more puzzled: Why was the price of this Mrs. Fei so much cheaper than others?
There is a reason why Mrs. Fei’s prices are so cheap.
But the dental office will never reveal this defect to the buyer.
Mrs. Fei has a son who is a gambler.
Mrs. Fei had previously worked as a kitchen helper in many households. Her masters, seeing how meticulous she was at her job and how she saved on materials, would sometimes let her take on the purchasing duties when they were short of staff or out of trust.
Mrs. Fei really benefited a lot from it by withholding materials and accepting kickbacks.
With these private benefits, her good craftsmanship and frugal lifestyle, she saved a lot of money and bought a lot of land.
But Mrs. Fei’s husband was a lazy man who loved to eat and did nothing, and he died early.
Mrs. Fei went out to work all year round and had no time to take care of her family. Her only son was spoiled by his in-laws and given everything he wanted.
The family had some money, which was revealed, and was targeted by the vagrants in the county. They colluded with the people in the casino to set a trap and entrapped Fei Po's son.
Mrs. Fei's son became a gambler, and at first he only used his own private money to gamble.
Later, it gradually developed into selling fields and land, but he had no access to the family's land deeds, so he only sold the land in his own name and that of his grandparents.
Later, Mrs. Fei's son owed a large gambling debt.
The casino staff detained Mrs. Fei's son and came to collect the debt. Mrs. Fei was so devastated that she suddenly aged twenty years. But she had to save her only son...
The most important thing is that Mrs. Fei has been working outside and always feels that she has not been with her son as he grew up, and she feels guilty towards him.
Mrs. Fei cried for a while, then sold all the land in her family and herself to redeem her son.
Mrs. Fei didn't say anything to her son, but said to the people in the casino:
“We can no longer make any money from our family.
Please let him go!
If he comes to the casino again, you'd better kick him out directly, or at least don't lend him money again.
Otherwise, no one will be found to redeem him.
Your money will be wasted."
After Mrs. Fei finished speaking, she turned to her son:
"If you gamble again, you'll die in the casino. Your mother can't save you anyway. You've already squandered our family fortune. You'll have to take care of yourself."
After that, Mrs. Fei was sold to several houses, and her son miraculously came to ask for money every time. Every time Mrs. Fei's son made a fuss, the buyer angrily returned Mrs. Fei to the brokerage firm.
The pawnbroker had been troubled by this matter for a long time and really wanted to sell Mrs. Fei to the salt field. Unfortunately, the salt field had plenty of criminal slaves to use, so it was not worth it to buy someone from the pawnbroker.
This time, when Liu was about to buy someone, the broker hurriedly got rid of the troublesome Fei Po and sold her to Liu for only fifteen taels of silver.
There was only one agreement: no matter whether Liu found it convenient to use in the future or not, it could not be returned.
Liu only observed Mrs. Fei, so naturally she couldn't see anything wrong with her.
After a while, Liu finally let go of her thoughts about Mrs. Fei.
Gradually, she was willing to let Mrs. Fei buy some kitchen supplies.
Mrs. Fei was quite skilled at this. Her purchases were both cheap and fresh. Her cooking was delicious, economical with ingredients, and most importantly, she changed up her recipes daily, and she was incredibly skillful.
The more Liu looked at it, the more she felt that her money was well spent.
However, there was some money that Liu felt was not worth spending.
As Xia Youcai's health improved day by day, the medicinal materials he used remained so expensive, and occasionally the price would increase by a few cents. Liu was very resentful.
The complaint was not directed at Xia Youcai, but at the doctor in Pujitang who dared to prescribe the most expensive medicine.
But in order to avoid Xia Youcai's misunderstanding, Liu felt resentful but did not dare to say it out loud.
Moreover, because there has been no income for a long time, the family's expenses have not been reduced much. Xia Youcai still has to continue to receive medical treatment, acupuncture, and take medicine. Liu's private money is almost gone.
Naturally, Liu was unwilling to accept this, so she thought about getting some money back from the old couple.
She brought Jinhua back to the old house, ostensibly to relax her mind, but in reality she wanted to persuade the old couple to help the eldest wife a little more.
It was only during this trip back to the village that Liu discovered the changes in her family.
After the fourth wife severed her relationship with the first wife, she actually bought land from the village head and built a new house!
Upon hearing the news, Liu began to regret her impulsiveness.
Although the new house was built on the edge of South Lake, even if the land was not valuable, building a new house itself would still cost a lot of money. Since the fourth house dared to do this, it meant that they were still making money!
Liu, Sun and Wu asked in a roundabout way.
Sun saw through Liu's thoughts, but didn't mind telling her the details - anyway, the more sour Liu's face looked, the more comfortable Sun felt.
As a result, the fourth house's booming business once again attracted Liu's attention.
Liu pondered for a while, then hurried back to her room to discuss with Jinhua. Finally, she made up her mind that the first wife must have a share of the fourth wife's business!
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