Chapter 375 No Time to Steal a Moment
Vaughan is a prime location in Rome, where land is incredibly valuable, and for centuries it has never been a neighborhood for ordinary people. Even a small apartment building along the street in Vaughan might be inhabited by a baron or viscount, or even a down-on-his-luck count.
Qin Mo's garden villa is definitely a large house in the Warn district. Since he bought it from that bankrupt count, he has invested a lot of money in renovations, and now it is the most outstanding house in the entire neighborhood.
Qin Mo's two capable subordinates, Xu Ge and Chen Ji, were sent back to the Indian Ocean to deliver a message to Lin Yongqian, urging him to accelerate the expansion of overseas colonies. The other was sent to Madeira to garrison the area and, incidentally, to protect Leif.
So when Qin Mo returned to her house in the Vaughn district, she thought she would have more free time and planned to sleep in for a few days, but little did she know that it was not like that at all.
The day after he returned, businessmen kept coming to his door, all of them interested in his ability to transport goods to Aden, a city on the Red Sea coast.
"Your Excellency Qin Mo, our Alamos family controls the entire western coast of Iberia and has the support of the King of Portugal. Therefore, cooperating with us is the right choice for you!"
"Your Highness Prince Heng, the Marquis of Onxa of Marseille has sent me with his sincerest greetings and wishes you good health! If you are willing to choose us as a business partner, the Marquis will personally visit you in Rome!"
“Your Highness, our Hengsali family has a good relationship with the Sultan of Cairo, so we are the most suitable partner…”
The repeated visits annoyed Qin Mo to no end. Ever since Giulio Medici received batch after batch of goods from Aden, paid a large amount of taxes, and transported the goods to the Western Continent, the big merchants of the Western Continent had been flocking to him like sharks smelling blood.
The Medici family is indeed very powerful in the Western Continent. They don't need to give face to anyone. After countless merchants came into contact with the Medici family, they were disgusted by the Medici family's greed and had no choice but to turn to Qin Mo to look for opportunities.
“Go back and tell your superiors that I do not concern myself with such trivial business matters. The Medici family signed a contract with the ‘Great Official Development Administration’ in Aden City. You should go to Aden to discuss the specifics with the Administration!” Qin Mo finally put on the airs of a prince, politely but indifferently dismissing everyone from his residence, and only then did peace and quiet return.
"Sun Liansheng, I just got back yesterday, and someone's already showing up at the door today. You know how to handle this, right?" Qin Mo said coldly to her new housekeeper, Sun Liansheng.
"Your Highness, I will investigate immediately. If I cannot find out who leaked the information, then I will dismiss them all!" Sun Liansheng said fiercely. Then, with a menacing look, he went to cause trouble for the servants like a hunting dog.
Sun Liansheng was furious. He was the manager of the Chamber of Commerce of the Dayuan Development Administration Bureau. He was sent to Rome to serve as Qin Mo's temporary housekeeper because of his strong abilities. Xu Ge and Chen Ji were both ruthless and incompetent, so the job of a housekeeper was given to the inexperienced Sun Liansheng.
Sun Liansheng was indeed capable. After arriving in Rome, he quickly managed the mansion in the Vaughan district in a very respectable manner. However, due to language barriers, he had to recruit some local servants, since he still needed to deal with Westerners for daily purchases.
The recruitment of servants went smoothly. After all, the Prince Heng's mansion was not short of money. As long as the price was right, even the harsh condition of "must have some knowledge of the Great Xia language" was not an obstacle. All the servants recruited by Sun Liansheng were "bilingual".
Among them were widows of bankrupt merchants, small vendors who frequented Silver Sparrow Street, and mixed-race children of the Great Xia who somehow ended up in the Western Continent. They all came to work as servants for the high wages.
No amount of money could extinguish the desires in people's hearts. In the end, the three servants who revealed Qin Mo's whereabouts were dismissed, and no matter how much they begged and cried, it was to no avail.
They were filled with regret, regretting that they shouldn't have agreed to deliver messages to those big merchants for a little money. A few gold coins had cost them their jobs. A few gold coins used to be a huge sum of money, but compared to their current jobs... what were they?
"Bah! Three stupid fools who are used to being poor dare to pass on messages to outsiders. His Highness should have broken their legs. They got off too easily!" Wen Lisi, a cook with freckles on her face, looked at the coachman and the other laborers who were being driven out with utter contempt.
"What a kind man the Prince is! If they were at the Earl of Hudson's house, they would have been beaten to death!" Gardener Luke was even more indignant. He really couldn't understand why these people wouldn't listen to Steward Sun's warnings. Were they all stupid?
On their very first day of recruitment, Steward Sun warned them that none of them were allowed to talk to outsiders about anything in the manor, or they would face the consequences.
The dozen or so Westerners were terrified of the powerful Steward Sun, who was a “strongman” comparable to a Templar Knight. In the first few days after entering the manor, they lived in fear, lest they anger the head steward and be whipped.
Several days later, they gradually forgot their fear, as they were overwhelmed by a feeling of immense happiness.
First, there's the food. Servants in the West Continent don't have many human rights. If they don't let you starve, that's already a sign of the master's mercy. As for being well-fed? Heh! Wait until you reach the level of a steward! Stewards can cut back on the servants' rations.
But it's not like that here with Prince Qin Mo. The servants get three meals a day, just like the stewards, guards, and even the cook.
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