As expected, the woman's eyes dimmed upon hearing Yan Qingqing's words, and she immediately knelt on the ground and said, "Please, Madam, have mercy on my mother and my two children. We are willing to be your slaves for the rest of our lives, but please, Madam, do not separate us."
Yan Qingqing said, "You've already sold yourself into slavery, you have no choice. Even if Boss Jiang is kind-hearted and willing to sell you and your son together, do you think he'll keep you if you can't be sold for a long time?"
Upon hearing Yan Qingqing's words, a hint of despair flashed in the woman's eyes. She had indeed been deliberately acting arrogant just now, because she was afraid that the buyer would only want her and not her two sickly children.
The last buyer was like that; she was very respectful, but in the end, the buyer only wanted her and not her two children.
But Yan Qingqing is right, how long can this situation last?
The woman knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Yan Qingqing, saying, "Madam, please buy these two children as well. They are both very thin and weak. I'm afraid they won't survive without me."
Yan Qingqing glanced at the two children; they were indeed thin-armed and thin-legged, clearly suffering from long-term malnutrition. When they saw Yan Qingqing looking at them, their eyes held both fear and hope.
Yan Qingqing glanced at the woman and said, "Then tell me, do you have the value to be bought by this lady?"
Seeing that Yan Qingqing was willing to speak, the woman began to tell the whole story. It turned out that the woman's surname was Du and her given name was Ruxiu. Her father was originally a scholar, and she learned to read and write from him since she was a child. Later, after her father failed the imperial examinations many times, he settled down to teach in the countryside.
She also took in many students from the surrounding villages. One of them was highly regarded by her father, who did not mind his poverty and took him as his last disciple. He even betrothed Du Ruxiu to him.
After Du Xiucai passed away, the family became increasingly impoverished, relying entirely on selling the small amount of property Du Xiucai left behind to make ends meet.
Du Ruxiu's husband studied even harder and eventually lived up to expectations, passing the imperial examinations and being assigned to a minor official position in a small county. But then, something truly outrageous happened.
At first, the couple were quite loving, but later, in order to climb the social ladder, the man ingratiated himself with the county magistrate's daughter and demoted her from wife to concubine.
She was a strong-willed person by nature and resisted several times, but that scumbag locked her and her two children up and didn't give them food.
Later, when his new wife became pregnant, there was even less room for the mother and child. The new wife would make them stand in the rules and beat and scold them, or beat them with a board and lock them in the woodshed. She couldn't bear it anymore, so she escaped with her child.
But after escaping, she realized how harsh the world was, and she willingly sold herself into slavery. As long as she could give her and her two children a place to stay, she was willing to be their slave.
Yuan Huiniang was deeply moved by Du Ruxiu's story and tugged at Yan Qingqing's sleeve.
Yan Qingqing glanced at her naive daughter-in-law. What Du Ruxiu said was probably true, but it was definitely not the whole truth. However, it didn't really matter.
Yan Qingqing glanced at the two children again and asked, "What if I only buy your mother today and don't want you two?"
The younger child lowered his head and remained silent, while the older one steeled himself and said, "Buy our mother instead. If you think we're a burden, you don't have to buy us."
Upon hearing this, Du Ruxiu burst into tears and hugged her two children tightly.
Seeing this, Boss Jiang said, "Madam, how about this? You've chosen quite a few people today. If you buy this woman, I'll give you these two children for free."
Yuan Huiniang could no longer hold back and looked at Yan Qingqing with teary eyes. Yan Qingqing was speechless, wondering why she was being treated like a bad person.
These two children are so thin and weak that they won't be able to work even after a year or two of buying them. They'll need to be fed and cared for.
But thinking about it, it doesn't really matter. It's just three more people. At worst, we can just have them do some light work.
Seeing Yan Qingqing nod, not only did the mother and her two children show relaxed expressions, but even Boss Jiang breathed a sigh of relief.
After selecting the mother and her two children, Yan Qingqing chose a few more, mostly unskilled women, to be placed in various courtyards to clean.
Finally, Yan Qingqing chose a wet nurse for Li Xiangyang. She wasn't very old and was clean and efficient. Of course, Yan Qingqing didn't expect her to breastfeed Li Xiangyang; she just wanted her to take care of his daily needs.
Yan Qingqing carefully selected more than twenty people in one go, thinking that would be about enough.
So Yan Qingqing said to Boss Jiang, "That's all for now. Boss Jiang, how much do you need?"
Mr. Jiang glanced at the remaining customers with some difficulty and said, "Madam, wouldn't you like to choose a few more? There are quite a few good ones among them. I can recommend a couple to you."
Yan Qingqing laughed and said, "Boss Jiang, that's not how business is done. I bought quite a few people today, and Boss Jiang thinks that the two little ones he gave me were a loss. If that's the case, I can pay for them."
In a small county like Chengyang, it's hard to find many people who could buy more than twenty figurines at once. So Yan Qingqing found this Boss Jiang rather strange, as if he was forcing her to buy.
When Boss Jiang saw Yan Qingqing looking at him suspiciously, he quickly replied, "No, Madam, you're overthinking it. Since it's a gift for you, there's no reason for me to accept money."
What I mean is, there are even better ones inside, and the lady would find them more useful."
Upon hearing this, Yan Qingqing responded with an "Oh," and then looked at Boss Jiang, asking, "For example?"
Upon hearing this, Boss Jiang quickly pulled over a man, the very burly man Yan Qingqing had initially looked at. Boss Jiang said to himself, "Madam, what do you think of this one? He's strong and powerful; he'll definitely be a good worker."
It's a good option to buy a car for guarding the house; at the very least, it's good for a driver.
Yan Qingqing glanced at Boss Jiang without saying anything. At this moment, Xiao Mochen walked up to Yan Qingqing and said, "Aunt, forget it. If we don't like him, we can choose someone else. But I think this person has some martial arts skills."
Upon hearing this, the man quickly replied, "Yes, I used to be a镖师 (bodyguard/escort), and I'm an expert at guarding homes. I can also teach your children some martial arts."
Yan Qingqing became interested and said, "Alright, let's have a match. If you win, I'll buy you."
The man was overjoyed upon hearing this, but he feigned reluctance, saying, "Madam, isn't this inappropriate? What if I hurt you?"
Xiao Mochen rolled his eyes in exasperation, but very subtly, so Yan Qingqing didn't see it at all.
In the end, the big man still exchanged a few moves with Yan Qingqing. At first, he underestimated her, but later, seeing how agile her moves were, he put aside his contempt and began to deal with her carefully.
After a dozen or so moves, Yan Qingqing realized she was no match for him. After they stopped fighting, Yan Qingqing readily bought him out.
This purchase cost Yan Qingqing over three hundred taels of silver. She bought a total of twenty-four servants, plus two extra children, making a total of twenty-six people.
Yan Qingqing, carrying a stack of indentures, led a large group of people out of the brokerage firm. Inside, Boss Jiang breathed a sigh of relief as he watched the person who was supposed to be "sold" finally being sold.
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