Chapter 97 Buying People
Today, Shengyuan hosted two groups of guests. Sheng An was busy until nightfall. He ate a few bites hastily in the main kitchen before returning to the small building with his money box and a body full of exhaustion.
This body is still too weak; even a little bit of busyness feels like my soul has been hollowed out.
As soon as Sheng An stepped into the hall, two unfamiliar women, one old and one middle-aged, appeared before him: "This servant greets Master."
She was stunned for a moment before realizing who the two people were.
Sheng An's scrutinizing gaze fell on the two of them, and he casually asked, "Are you the ugly woman and Li Daya who bought the calligraphy and paintings?"
Li Daya stepped forward and answered first, "Replying to my mistress, this servant is Li Daya."
After saying that, she gave Sheng An a fawning and ingratiating smile.
Li Daya is in her thirties. She has never had a proper name since she was a child. At her parents' home, she was called Daya. After marrying into her husband's family, she became Li.
She lost her husband early in life, and her only daughter died young. She was then sold to a brokerage firm by her husband's family.
This morning, when I went to the brokerage to buy a woman, I saw that Li Daya's clothes were worn but very clean, and there was no dirt or grease under her fingernails or in her hair. The broker also praised her for being diligent and capable, so I bought her.
Sheng An was unsure of Li Daya's character. Faced with her ingratiating smile, he nodded indifferently and said, "Since you've come to Sheng Garden, you must abide by its rules and work hard from now on."
Li Daya quickly replied, "Yes."
Sheng An looked at the ugly woman, his gaze lingering for a moment on her dried orange peel-like face.
The old woman noticed her gaze and moved her hands and feet nervously. Her old voice was dry and hoarse: "Reporting to my master, this old servant is the old woman."
Sheng An nodded, her voice softening slightly: "What are your skills?"
Judging from the ugly woman's appearance, she is at least fifty years old, about the same age as my grandmother.
At that age, one can't do much work, and unless one has a special talent that attracts the attention of calligraphers and painters, they won't spend money to buy it back.
Seeing that there was no disgust or aversion in Sheng An's eyes, the ugly woman's uneasy heart calmed down a bit, and her voice was still dry and hoarse: "This old servant is good at tailoring and can do some simple embroidery."
Upon hearing this, Sheng An asked in confusion, "Since you have a skill, why did you end up working in a brokerage firm?"
This question struck a nerve with the ugly woman, but she had long since run out of tears, and her face, as dry as orange peel, showed no emotion whatsoever.
"My master, I was driven out of my home by my stepson and have nowhere to go but to sell myself to survive."
When Ugly Woman was young, no one wanted to marry her because of her unattractive appearance. Eventually, as she grew older, she had no choice but to marry a widower as his second wife.
She opened a small tailor shop with her excellent tailoring skills and supported six stepchildren with her husband.
Whether due to physical reasons or overwork, the ugly woman was unable to give birth to a son or daughter.
After her husband passed away last year, she was kicked out of the house by her stepsons, who also forcibly took over her tailor shop.
The old woman is too old; finding a job will be as difficult as climbing to heaven.
Driven by hunger and cold, and with nowhere else to turn, she had no choice but to sell herself into prostitution.
Seeing that she still had the strength to work, the brokerage firm reluctantly kept her and gave her a meal, but they didn't pay her for selling herself.
The painting and calligraphy were bought for only two taels of silver, and the ugly woman was bought.
After hearing about the ugly woman's plight, Sheng An's expression remained unchanged: "The name 'ugly woman' doesn't sound nice. From now on, I'll call you Granny Sun."
The ugly woman was stunned, then suddenly her eyes reddened and she knelt on the ground: "This old servant thanks Master for bestowing a name upon me."
Sun was her original surname, but the character "Chou" (δΈ‘, meaning ugly) accompanied her for most of her life, and no one remembers her real surname anymore.
There weren't any extra rooms in the small building, and Sheng An didn't want outsiders to stay there, so he arranged for Granny Sun and Li Daya to stay next to the four treasures, and for them to go to the small building every morning to do laundry and clean.
The public areas of Shengyuan are also cleaned by the two people every two days.
Sheng An returned to the small building and happened to run into Xu Jinnian, who was returning from school.
Touching the man's face, reddened by the cold wind, Sheng An found it rather cute and couldn't help but pinch it twice more: "You came back late today, did you eat?"
Xu Jinnian imitated her and pinched her cheeks a few times: "I've already eaten at the teacher's house."
Master Jiang was in a good mood today, and he kept a few students with him for a couple of drinks that evening.
Sheng An pulled him by the hand and led him into the house: "We can't take advantage of the teacher. Tomorrow, bring two jars of glutinous rice wine for the teacher. It will warm him up in the winter and he won't get drunk."
Xu Jinnian nodded: "The glutinous rice wine I brought last time was very popular with the chef."
When Sheng An first heard Xu Jinnian mention his teacher's wife, he became curious about her: "What kind of person is your teacher's wife? She didn't come over to visit us when we moved last time."
A shadow fell across Xu Jinnian's face, and his voice grew somber: "My master's wife is very gentle and kind. She treats the four of us like her own children, but..."
After a moment's hesitation, he continued, "My master's wife and teacher had a child, but the child died young. My master's wife couldn't bear the blow and was sometimes lucid and sometimes confused. So my teacher resigned from his post and took my master's wife back to Qingzhou."
Qingzhou is the maternal home of Lady Jiang, a place she has been familiar with since childhood. Master Jiang did not hesitate to settle down here and stayed for more than ten years.
From the occasional snippets of information revealed by Master Jiang, Xu Jinnian deduced that there was more to the story than met the eye regarding the death of their child, which might involve the royal family.
Sheng An never expected that Master Jiang and his wife had experienced the tragedy of a parent outliving their child, and his mood became extremely low: "So many years have passed, has Master's wife's condition not improved?"
Xu Jinnian shook his head: "Every time she gets better, my master's wife thinks of that child."
This cycle repeated itself endlessly, and with Lady Jiang constantly reliving the pain of losing her son, how could she possibly get any better?
Sheng An felt increasingly distressed, unable to imagine how much pain Madam Jiang must have been in when she was lucid.
Xu Jinnian rubbed her head and said half-jokingly and half-seriously, "The food you cooked restored Father's health and cured Ding Tianci's nausea. Perhaps the glutinous rice wine can also alleviate Master's wife's pain."
Sheng An, however, lacked such confidence: "My master's wife has a mental illness, which is different from a physical illness."
However, she wasn't sure if it would actually work, as she hadn't seen any cases of this in her previous life.
Well, drinking a moderate amount of glutinous rice wine every day won't do any harm to the body. If your master's wife likes it, let her drink it. At least she'll be happy when she drinks it.
Not long after, the two elders of the Sheng family and Xu Chenglin also closed the shop and returned.
Upon learning that Sheng'an had bought back two servants for sweeping and washing clothes, the three elders had no objections.
If it were when they first arrived in the city, the two elders of the Sheng family might have felt it was unnecessary.
Now that Sheng'an brings home a box of silver every day, and the wonton shop also has an income, their mindset has naturally undergone a huge change.
Money is meant to be spent, and once it's gone, you can earn it again. Keeping it at home won't produce offspring.
Today happens to be the one-month anniversary of the wonton shop's opening. Grandma Sheng pulled Sheng An into the room and took out a small wooden box from the cabinet.
Sheng An curiously took it and opened it, and what appeared before his eyes was a shimmering silver, all of them pieces of silver of different sizes.
Grandma Sheng smiled kindly: "Your grandfather and I weighed it last night. These loose silver coins add up to about ten taels, which is all the shop's income for this month. You can take it and spend it with Jin Nian."
Sheng An was shocked: "So many?"
Grandma Sheng smiled smugly: "Your grandfather, your father-in-law, and I spend all day at the wonton shop. If we only earn three or five taels of silver, we might as well stay at home and work, saving you the money you would have to pay for hiring someone."
When the wonton shop first opened, business wasn't very good; the majority of the income came from Xu Chenglin's stall earnings.
Later, word spread, attracting most of the diners in the vicinity, and the shop's business became better and better, earning more than Xu Chenglin did with his stall.
In the last few days, we've added steamed buns, mantou (steamed bread), and dumplings to our menu, and our daily income has jumped up again, with our monthly income now exceeding ten taels of silver.
The two elders originally planned to divide the shop's income into three parts, with them taking two shares and Xu Chenglin taking one share.
Xu Chenglin refused, saying that he had no worries about food, drink, or clothing and had nowhere to spend money, and asked the two elders to keep the money and give it to Sheng An.
Seeing that the old lady was even more energetic than she was in the village, Sheng An was very glad that he had vacated two rooms for the three elderly people to sell food.
She pushed the wooden box back: "Grandma, Jin Nian and I don't lack money. You can keep the money you earn from the shop and buy whatever you want in the future."
Grandma Sheng scolded, "Just take it if I give it to you, why are you being so polite with me!"
After saying that, her gaze fell on her granddaughter's belly, and a hint of worry appeared on her kind face: "You and Jin Nian have been married for half a year, and there is still no sign of pregnancy. Shouldn't we find a doctor to take a look?"
Sheng An's face fell, and she hurriedly said, "Last time, Jin Nian and I went to see a doctor, and the doctor said there was nothing wrong with my body!"
Upon hearing this, Grandma Sheng's expression grew even more worried: "If there's nothing wrong, why hasn't she gotten pregnant after so long?"
Sheng An coughed lightly, her face slightly flushed: "Maybe it's just not the right time yet. Some couples take a year or two to have a child, but I've only had one for six months. Don't be in a hurry, Grandma."
You can't say that apart from the wedding night, your granddaughter and grandson-in-law never had sex, can you?
Since Sheng An didn't tell the truth, Grandma Sheng naturally didn't know the real situation.
Hearing her granddaughter say this, she didn't know what else to say. She gently stroked her granddaughter's hair with her dry, large hand: "I'm not urging you to have children, it's just that young couples feel more like a family when they have children."
Sheng An mumbled, "I understand, I get it. When the time is right, I will let you hold your great-grandson."
My period didn't come this month. I don't know if it's "on strike" again or just late.
It's annoying whether it comes or not.
At Grandma Sheng's insistence, Sheng An brought a bag of loose silver to the second floor.
She walked into the study and dumped everything onto the desk in front of Xu Jinnian: "Grandpa, Grandma and Dad gave it to me, I can't refuse it, you can take it as pocket money."
Xu Jinnian didn't look at the money, but put his long arm around his wife's waist and said, "This is what the three elders gave us to raise our child."
Sheng An sat down on his lap, her gaze fixed on his face: "You want a child?"
Xu Jinnian shook his head, captured her lips, and said in a seductive voice, "I want An'an..."
Sheng An: "..."
The season of renewal hasn't even arrived yet, what kind of erotic dream is this guy having?
That's the bad thing about humans; we have estrus cycles all year round.
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