Upon hearing this, the young man's face stiffened, and he quickly replied with an awkward smile:
"Yes, yes, yes, you're absolutely right. I won't ask you for more; just give me ten taels of silver."
Jiang Yuwei frowned and stepped forward to examine the man. She then gestured for the servant to remove the cloth from the man's mouth before asking:
"May I have your name?"
The man didn't speak, but merely frowned and glanced at Jiang Yuwei before turning his head away.
Seeing this, Jiang Yuwei stepped forward again and said:
"Now that you've fallen to this state, you definitely can't escape. You might as well think more positively. If you come with me, I won't make you do any heavy or tiring work."
Jiang Yuwei paused for a moment and then continued:
"I'm just asking you to help out as a waiter and deliver food, and I'll even pay you wages. Later, when you've saved up some money, you can get married. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"
Upon hearing this, the man frowned and looked at Jiang Yuwei angrily, saying:
"I have a wife, I'm engaged, and I was kidnapped here!"
Seeing that the man was speaking recklessly, the boy quickly stuffed the rag into his mouth again, then smiled at Jiang Yuwei.
"Madam, please don't listen to his nonsense."
Jiang Yuwei glanced at the child, snorted coldly, and said:
"Hmph, we all know whether he's talking nonsense or not. How many of the people here came from the right path?"
As Jiang Yuwei spoke, she stopped looking at the man and instead turned to the boy, saying:
“Right now, this person could run away at any time if I buy him. And I don’t think you can find anyone else suitable. I’m afraid we can’t do business together today.”
As Jiang Yuwei turned to leave, the young man quickly stepped forward and blocked her path.
“Oh, Madam, don’t worry. He won’t dare to run away. You have the indenture in your hands. Where can he go? Besides, you know he’s the best one here. You can’t just leave like this.”
Jiang Yuwei glanced at the boy sideways and said calmly:
Five taels of silver.
Upon hearing this, the boy frowned deeply.
"Oh, Madam, you must be joking. How could I possibly lower the price so much all at once? There's no way I could do that."
Jiang Yuwei held up her hand and made a six.
"Six taels, that's all I can give you. Keep it for yourself."
The young man glanced at the unruly man bound not far away, pondered for a moment, and then gritted his teeth and said:
"Okay, deal. I'll go get his indenture for you right away."
Seeing that the deal was done, Jiang Yuwei took out six taels of silver and handed it to the servant boy. She then took the indenture from the boy, examined it, and then looked at the bound man and said:
"May I have your name?"
Yun Qing stepped forward, ripped the cloth out of the man's mouth, threw it on the ground, and then reached out to turn the man's head toward Jiang Yuwei, coldly saying:
"Just answer whatever the lady asks, and you'll suffer less physical pain that way."
The man glanced sideways at Yun Qing, then replied indifferently:
"My name is Fugui."
What's your surname?
Yun Qing spoke in a cold voice.
"His surname is Wang, Wang Fugui!"
Fu Gui replied impatiently.
Jiang Yuwei glanced at the name on the indenture, then nodded to Yun Qing.
"Untie him."
Upon seeing this, Yun Qing frowned and spoke:
“But, but Madam, I think this man isn’t very honest…”
Jiang Yuwei chuckled softly.
“Fugui shouldn’t be stupid. I pay him one or two taels of silver a month. He wouldn’t run away, would he? Besides, I still have his indenture. If he runs home like this, he’ll be an unregistered person and won’t be able to marry his wife.”
Hearing this, Wang Fugui, who was tied up to the side, widened his eyes and looked at Jiang Yuwei, asking:
"You, how much silver did you say you would give me?"
Jiang Yuwei raised an eyebrow at Fugui and said with a smile:
"If you can't hear me, then pretend I didn't say anything."
Wang Fugui became anxious upon hearing this.
"No, no, I heard it, I heard it. You said you would give me one tael of silver as wages. Could I bring my wife to work for you as well?"
Jiang Yuwei raised an eyebrow, glanced at him, and chuckled.
"That depends on your performance."
Seeing that Wang Fugui, who had been so defiant just moments before, had been bribed with a tael of silver, Yun Qing shook her head helplessly and stepped forward to untie him.
As soon as Wang Fugui was untied, he knelt down before Jiang Yuwei.
"Madam, thank you for saving me. I will work for you wholeheartedly from now on and try to bring my wife over to work for you as soon as possible."
Jiang Yuwei waved for him to get up, then led Xia Yue, who was covering her face and secretly laughing, out the door. However, they were stopped just as they stepped outside by a man dressed in tattered clothes.
"Madam, please have mercy and give me some food. I haven't eaten for three days."
Jiang Yuwei frowned and looked at the man blocking her way, then said:
"Where are you from?"
“I’m from Xiaoliuzhuangzi. Right now, we’ve been hit by a locust plague, and we haven’t had a harvest this year. We had no choice but to flee here.”
Seeing that the man was serious, Jiang Yuwei continued to ask:
"May I have your name?"
"Replying to Madam, my name is Liu Sheng!"
Seeing his energetic appearance, Jiang Yuwei realized he didn't seem like someone who hadn't eaten for three days. But since he had come to her for help, she wouldn't mind having a meal with him.
So Jiang Yuwei waved to Xia Yue to go buy some steamed buns from the side.
Upon seeing this, Liu Sheng quickly knelt down and thanked Jiang Yuwei:
"Madam, I will never forget your life-saving grace. If you could give me a place to eat and stay, I would be willing to risk my life for you!"
Jiang Yuwei frowned, looked at Liu Sheng kneeling in front of her, and waved her hand, saying:
"There's no need to risk your life for me. I have a waiter's job here right now. I wonder if you'd be able to do it?"
Upon hearing this, Liu Sheng's eyes lit up, and he nodded hurriedly.
“Okay, okay, I can do this job. If you don’t mind, madam, just give me a place to eat and stay. I don’t want any wages.”
Wang Fugui, who had just come out from the back, heard Liu Sheng say that he could work with Jiang Yuwei without pay, and his face immediately darkened. Wasn't this ruining his business? So he hurriedly stepped forward, knelt down before Jiang Yuwei, and said:
"Madam, you can pay me less. I will work hard and do whatever you ask me to do."
Jiang Yuwei waved her hand, signaling the two of them to get up.
"Alright, stop kneeling around. I'll take both of you, but you must do this job well. If you don't do it well, I can fire you anytime, understand?"
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