She didn't wake up until noon the next day, because she was hungry.
After having lunch in the guest house, Su Li took out the three wanted posters again. There were originally four wanted posters in total, and she tore up the one for the flower thief yesterday.
She looked at the wanted posters on the table one by one.
"Zhang Xun..." The murderer who massacred the village. In the original novel, Zhang Xun was captured in a village outside the capital two months later, and there was another person behind this Zhang Xun.
Zhang Xun and the person behind him were both found out by Pei Ji after the flower thief incident. Of course, Pei Ji had learned from his first lesson by then. Not only did he not let Zhu Wei take any advantage, he even turned the tables on him.
"Wang Xiaonian, Li Jun..."
In the original novel, the cases related to these three wanted warrants were all solved by Pei Ji, so she did not intercept them. After all, she would only get a reward for catching people, while Pei Ji would get credit for catching people and solving the cases.
He can only be promoted if he has made contributions. The higher Pei Ji's official rank, the higher her status as his wife will be. Princess Rongfu will be wary of her and dare not deal with her at will. After all, there is a big difference between dealing with the wife of a high-ranking official and the wife of a small official.
So not only could she not intercept it, she had to help him get promoted quickly.
Thinking of this, she folded the wanted poster and put it away, then packed up and left the inn.
When I left, I picked up a brochure for renting or buying houses at the inn counter. Almost every inn has this kind of brochure, which records in detail the houses that can be rented or sold near the inn.
Su Li rented a two-entry house about 200 meters away from the inn. The house was quite spacious, with five or six rooms and another kitchen.
After signing the lease contract, she hired two carriages and went directly to the west city market.
There is a large pawnshop next to the entrance of the West City Market. It specializes in buying and selling people. Generally, wealthy families can buy maids, old women, servants, and even concubines there.
Pei Ji will have a lot more personal interactions after taking up her official position, and someone will need to take care of the affairs of the mansion after moving. She will have to deal with Princess Rongfu in the future, and she can't do everything by herself. Moreover, she also needs a few people who can run errands for her.
When she arrived at the pawnshop, she was greeted by a plump, middle-aged woman with a bright smile. She introduced herself, "Madam, I'm the pawnbroker here. You can just call me Mrs. Wang. What's your name?"
Su Li nodded politely and said, "My last name is Su, you can call me Madam Su."
"Okay, Madam Su, I wonder if you want to buy a slave or a concubine?"
"servant."
"Do you want a maid or a servant?"
"I want both, but I only want new slaves."
There are two types of slaves in the pawnshop. One type is sold by the previous master and is called "old servants". There are various reasons for selling this type of slave. The advantage is that they do not need to spend time and money to train and cultivate them.
One type is the "new slave" who has just been sold into slavery. This type of slave does not have an old master, but has only been trained in basic rules. If you want to use him smoothly and at ease, you have to train and cultivate him slowly.
Most of the old slaves were sold because of their poor personal morals. Even if Su Li didn't need to train them herself, she didn't want to. She didn't mind spending some time and money to train new slaves. At least among the new slaves, the probability of them having bad personal morals was not that high.
Mrs. Wang said with a smile, "Okay! Then will you come with me into the yard and pick some?"
"good."
"Then please come this way!"
Following Wang Pozi into the second gate, they came to the backyard. The yard was very spacious. There were several rows of men and women standing in the middle of the yard. At first glance, most of them were young. Although they were of different heights, they were all thin. It was obvious that they were from poor families and had sold themselves into slavery because they could not survive.
In front of them was a middle-aged man teaching them etiquette.
Mrs. Wang said, "Madam Su, those are all new slaves, in addition to the ones in the courtyard."
Then he shouted to the middle-aged man who was teaching the new slaves the rules, "Old man, a guest is coming!"
"Here I come!" Shopkeeper Wang immediately stopped what he was doing and came forward.
"This is Madam Su, Madam Su, and this is my old man, who is also the manager here." Mrs. Wang introduced.
"Madam Su." Shopkeeper Wang also had a friendly look on his face.
Su Li nodded politely, "Shopkeeper Wang."
"Madam Su wants to buy new slaves," said Mrs. Wang. "Call all the new slaves here and let Madam Su choose."
Logically, as a matchmaker, she has no right to order the shopkeeper around, but since the shopkeeper is her husband, Wang Po is used to him ordering her around.
"Okay, then Madam Su, please wait a moment."
Then he walked back to the rows of people and pointed at a young man: "Xiao Sanzi, go and call everyone in the west courtyard over here, go quickly!"
"Oh, okay!" The boy named Xiao Sanzi ran away without a trace.
Su Li couldn't help but laugh. He ran really fast and looked quite clever. She asked Mrs. Wang beside her, "That guy called Xiao Sanzi looks pretty good. How old is he?"
Seeing that he was the first one to ask, Mrs. Wang was a little worried. This was already the nth customer who had taken a fancy to Xiao Sanzi in the past two months. "He is fourteen years old. He is really good. He is diligent and smart. He has been here for a while. Many people have taken a fancy to him, but no one has bought him."
"Oh? What's going on? What's wrong with him?"
"There's nothing wrong with him, it's his brother... This little Sanzi lost his parents when he was young, and for many years he and his three siblings depended on each other for survival. Years ago, little Sanzi's brother broke both legs while working, and in order to raise money to treat his brother's legs, little Sanzi and his sister sold themselves into slavery. Unexpectedly, his brother's leg injury was too serious. Although he was cured, his legs were disabled, and he needed someone to take care of him in everything. Little Sanzi and his sister couldn't bear to part with their brother, so they wanted to ask the owner who bought them to buy their brother as well. But when the customers heard this, they didn't agree. Slaves are bought to serve others. Who would be willing to buy a slave with disabled legs who needs to be served? No matter how good little Sanzi is, he is just a slave. Who would agree to such a thing for a slave? After all this, little Sanzi and his siblings are still here now, alas!"
Mrs. Wang was not a cruel person, and Xiao Sanzi and his sister were indeed diligent and clever. Not only did they clean the shop inside and out every day, they also often massaged the couple's legs and backs.
Therefore, they never forced the brother and sister to sell out, but after all, they were just matchmakers and managers in this pawnshop, not the bosses. If they kept them for too long, they would be blamed by the boss.
Since no one wanted to buy them, they had no choice but to sell the brother and sister outright. There was no other way, they had grandchildren to support at home, and they also had to make a living.
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