A few days later, Woolley returned to Seneca City and once again stayed in the shabby and smelly room of the Muff Tavern. He could have gone to a better hotel, but he chose the Muff Tavern because it was the safest hotel in Seneca. No thief would try his luck in this poor place, which meant that not only was it very likely that he would get nothing, but he would also risk being beaten up by a group of drunken people with nothing else to do.
Before leaving the house the next day, Wu Lai gnawed on the unfinished bread from last night and yelled at Mov: "I just can't figure it out. In a world where even a parchment book can be created, how can toilet paper be so primitive? Is this a sign of the slavery era? I have to complain every time I go to the bathroom. Even I am annoyed, you know?"
Mo Fu didn't understand a single word. He stared blankly at Wu Lai leaving with his bag on his back. He shrugged his shoulders and explained to the drinkers whose eyes were still fixed on him, "Oh, it's wonderful. Just now, Master Wu Lai from Grindaugher's house recited an opera for me attentively. Do you know opera? It's what the priests in Assyria recite when they pray in the temple. It's sacred and wonderful. It makes me, um, have an endless aftertaste. It's a pity that you don't understand it because you haven't heard it before..."
"But, Mov, Master Woolley looks very angry," said a drinker.
Disdain quickly appeared on Mo Fu's face: "Giman, Master Wu Lai's expression is imitating the gods, you don't understand."
No matter where he is in the world, money, house, car, wife and face are all considered indispensable by Wu Lai. Among these goals, Wu Lai, who still holds traditional ideas, naturally chooses house as his first choice. In Wu Lai's memory, his grandmother once said: "With a house, the only thing left is to find food."
Wu Lai agreed with this.
Every once in a while, there are houses for sale in Seneca City, but don't think that this is due to the prosperity of the real estate industry, but rather to war. Every time the Assyrians and the Hurrites fought, a small group of nouveau riche would emerge in Seneca City. They might have made a fortune on the battlefield, such as through looting, or the moment before chopping off the opponent's head, the opponent offered a purse filled with a lot of money. This is an established battlefield rule. The losing party can use money to buy back his life from the opponent's butcher knife. This battlefield rule has even been sublimated to a ritual that is infinitely close to sacred, so that both parties are happy to accept this, and will never break the contract after completing the ritual - the one who accepts the purse will readily let the opponent go, and will not kill the opponent because he can also get the purse by chopping the opponent to death. The party who offers the purse will not suddenly attack the opponent when he turns around after accepting the purse to take back the purse.
When Wu Lai's alcoholic father told him all this with relish, Wu Lai found it quite unbelievable, and then he began to feel a little indifferent.
"If it were me, I wouldn't do that. How stupid." Wu Lai said to his alcoholic father at the time.
The drunkard father looked at Wu Lai in astonishment for a long time, and then warned Wu Lai in a rare serious tone: "No, if one day in the future you step onto the battlefield, you must abide by this rule. Remember my words, it can save your life, or it can let you spare a life that should not die."
But even with such battlefield rules, deaths are inevitable. Perhaps there was not enough time to hold the "ceremony", or they were careless and thought they would be the one to receive the purse in the next moment. Or even maybe they forgot to put the purse in their pocket when they walked out of the tent to fight, or they put it in their pocket but lost it because the battle was too intense. Therefore, along with the nouveau riche, what appeared were the empty houses that originally belonged to those who died on the battlefield.
Why is it empty? There are many reasons, but usually the wife of the deceased moved to another house with her belongings and slaves to live with other people. These other people usually refer to the comrades of the deceased on the battlefield, or a small noble who has coveted her for a long time, or a wealthy businessman. These widows all have the same reason - living in the old house will make them miss their loved ones, and then most of them will die in sorrow.
Woolley knew that this was a lame excuse, but he also knew that it was foolish to expect women to be loyal to their husbands in this world, because that was simply impossible. Women always needed men's care and comfort. Even without comfort, they needed a man to provide them with food, clothing, shelter and transportation.
This is the kind of house Woolley wanted to buy, because such houses are usually sold in a hurry, so their selling price is often lower than the original cost. If he is lucky, he may even get one or two slaves as a "gift".
But Wu Lai was only twelve years old, more than a year away from the standard of fourteen years old stipulated in the Assyrian Code, so he was not yet qualified to sign a contract, but this did not mean that he could not buy a house. Because Wu Lai had already thought of a way.
More than three hours later, Woolley, who had already seen the house, appeared at the Seneca Slave Market. This was actually a series of wooden sheds built on an open space, where the half-naked slaves lived and ate in the sheds, waiting to be sold like goods on a shelf. The number of slaves in the sheds was kept at around 100 all year round, because the slave traders felt that if there were fewer than this number, the market might decline, but if there were too many more, it would increase the pressure on the slave traders. Apart from anything else, the daily supply of two meals was a considerable expense. Although the slaves were fed the worst black bread mixed with wheat bran, it also required money to buy it.
Although Woolley seemed to be walking casually, he was actually searching for his target secretly. His target was certainly not slaves, but slave traders. He needed a broker who was good at speaking. In the city of Seneca, the lowest-level broker was naturally the slave trader.
The slave market was a bit deserted today. The slave traders sat helplessly in front of the wooden sheds, occasionally raising their eyelids to look at the passers-by, or raising the whip in their hands and shouting at the male slaves who were flexing their muscles and the female slaves who were twisting their waists to sell their charm to work harder.
Although there were more than a dozen slave traders in the slave market, none of them took the initiative to greet Woolley. In their eyes, Woolley was nothing more than an ordinary free child. Most of them came to the slave market to see the half-naked female slaves - children of Woolley's age often did this.
After turning around twice, Woolley walked towards a slave trader. He caught the anxiety on the slave trader's face and guessed the reason for his anxiety - there were sixteen slaves in the slave trader's wooden shed, which meant that his business was not as good as he had expected.
When he saw Wu Lai approaching, a hint of doubt flashed across the slave trader's eyes.
"Excuse me, how much is this slave's price?" Wu Lai asked, pointing casually at a strong male slave.
"Stop joking, kid." The slave trader smiled bitterly and shook his head. The slave traders around who noticed this scene burst into laughter.
"I'm serious." Wu Lai's face became serious. "I guess you don't understand my identity. My name is Wu Lai Grindo. My father is Simon Grindo, the owner of Grindo Manor. In other words, I am an Assyrian citizen with status." The Assyrian citizen mentioned by Wu Lai is the self-proclaimed name of the Assyrian nobles. In the Assyrian Code, Assyrians are divided into citizens and freemen (commoners). Although the code does not grant citizens too many privileges, it is enough for them to proudly raise their chins and speak in front of freemen. By the way, whether in Assyria or in any territory in this world, slaves are the property of the master, not a class.
The slave trader was startled for a moment, then he forced a smile and asked in a nonchalant tone: "Then how old are you, Master Wu Lai? Are you old enough to make your own decision to buy slaves?" Although his words were inquiries, they were not doubts. Instead, they were reminders to Wu Lai - you are not yet qualified to sign a contract.
"I just need you to answer my questions. You should know that as a citizen, familiarizing yourself with the law code and the temple scriptures is something you should do before the age of eight." Wu Lai said. He was right. At least in the Assyrian territory, the Assyrian law code and the temple scriptures also have the characteristics of enlightenment teaching materials.
"Well, he is very strong, can repair houses and make wheels, and is very obedient, so the price is a little high, one hundred and twenty silver coins." The slave trader deliberately stated a very high price.
"No, you are lying. A slave like him is worth at most sixty silver coins." Wu Lai said with a smile, "Although you lied once, I still hope you can answer my next question sincerely. How much can you earn by selling him?"
"No, this is my secret, Master Wu Lai. Even if you are a noble, you have no right to inquire..." The slave trader stopped talking abruptly because he saw the purse suddenly raised in Wu Lai's hand.
"Your business has been bad these days, hasn't it? I've seen that you have the most slaves in this market. I guess you wanted to make a fortune, so you invested all your capital in it, and didn't even leave enough for your living expenses, right?" Wu Lai's face showed a childish cunning.
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The slave trader was silent, somewhat surprised that Woolley was right.
"Thirty silver coins, sign a contract for me." Wu Lai approached the slave trader and lowered his voice. "If you agree, then tell me your name. If not, I will find someone else."
"Hola, my name is Hal, honorable Master Wu Lai." The slave trader replied hastily. Although thirty silver coins were not a lot, he would need to sell at least three slaves to get them. Now he could get them just by signing a contract, so there was no reason for him to refuse.
"Very good, I like the way you addressed me just now, keep it up, now come with me." Wu Lai waved his purse.
"Okay, honorable Master Wu Lai." Hola bowed with a smile.
Before noon the next day, Woolley received two contracts from Hora who had just walked out of the temple. One was a house purchase contract - Woolley asked Hora to buy a two-story stone building with a yard at the foot of Big Mountain in the north of Seneca City for 4,000 silver coins. In addition to the cost of signing the contract in the temple and paying Hora, Woolley needed to spend a total of 4,050 silver coins.
Wu Lai certainly did not have so many ready-made silver coins on hand, but fortunately he did not need to pay the money now - according to the custom in Seneca City, one only needs to pay 10% as a deposit when purchasing a house, and the remaining 90% can be paid in one lump sum on the day of receiving the house. After all, one has to give the original owner of the house a few days to move in.
However, this does not mean that Wu Lai has plenty of time to raise money - under normal circumstances, the original owner of the house only needs three days to move out, even including removing those unnecessary and less valuable decorations on the walls.
The second contract that Hara signed was a gift contract. The content of the contract was that Hara gave the house purchased in the first contract to Wu Lai free of charge. In this way, Wu Lai became the owner of the house in a legitimate way. Yes, in a legitimate way.