"Hello, Madam." The matchmaker who received Yang Haiyan was a middle-aged woman who looked very kind. "May I ask what you need, Madam? Do you want to buy a house or servants? Or something else?"
Yang Haiyan: "I want to buy both a house and servants, but I want to buy the house first and then the servants."
The matchmaker heard that this was a big customer: "I wonder what you want for the house, Madam? Please sit down and tell me." The matchmaker had seen countless people, so she naturally had good taste. The lady in front of her had a temperament, and her fair face and hands showed that she was not a rough worker, so she knew that she could make money from this lady.
"Thank you." Yang Haiyan sat down.
After she sat down, the matchmaker poured her tea.
Yang Haiyan did not touch the tea. She would not drink tea outside without someone accompanying her. If something happened, it would be terrible. Yang Haiyan said, "I want to buy a shop, preferably with a yard, a slightly larger yard, so that both servants and the owner can live there. Then the yard should have a back door and a large hall. My husband is a military officer under the Marquis. When he comes back, he will entertain his colleagues at home. If the hall is too small, there may not be enough room for people."
Yang Haiyan did not specify Qin Fang's identity. Just the fact that he was a military officer under the Marquis was enough to make the matchmaker cautious. To put it bluntly, this is just borrowing the power of the Marquis of Yonghe. Although Qin Fang follows Captain Ao Qianfu, he is indeed a subordinate of the Marquis of Yonghe, so it is not wrong to say so.
Sure enough, the matchmaker took a more serious attitude than before. "Please wait a moment. I'll see if there is a house suitable for you in the official registration."
Yang Haiyan: "Excuse me."
The matchmaker quickly checked the list: "Madam, we have the big yard you asked for, but we don't have a big yard with a storefront. Generally, big yards are for rich people to live in, and the rich don't live in the same place as where they do business. Do you think a small yard is okay? Or should the yard and the store be separated?" The main reason is that the resources in the town are limited.
Yang Haiyan heard this and asked, "How many rooms are there in the small courtyard? Can the servants live there?"
The matchmaker said, "Among the courtyards with attached shops, there is one with a better location, in the downtown area. There are three main rooms in the small courtyard at the back. If you like, I can take you to see it."
Yang Haiyan said, "Okay, let's go and see it."
The courtyard was in the center of the town, so it was quite close to the shop, and it was only about 500 to 600 meters away.
The matchmaker took Yang Haiyan to see the shop first. The shop was closed. Because the shop and the courtyard were together, plus the location, the price was not cheap. "Madam, look, this is the yard. There are cloth sellers and rouge and powder sellers next to it, so many women pass by."
Yang Haiyan thought that if she wanted to do pastry business, she had to open it in a place where there were more women.
The matchmaker said, "The yard has two doors. The door from the shop is the back door. How about we go in from the front door and see what happens?"
Yang Haiyan: "Yes."
After Yang Haiyan was optimistic about the yard and the storefront, she decided to buy it. In fact, this yard is really good. The shop is at the back door, and the front door can be used to entertain guests. The reason why it was not sold was that the yard was not sold for a long time and the owner had just resold it. The second reason was that the price offered by the owner was five taels of silver higher than the market price.
It was not easy for the people in the town to make money. Five taels of silver was not a small amount for them, so even if there were buyers who were interested in the house, they would still want to bargain or think about it again.
Yang Haiyan got the deal.
The market price of this house was 30 taels of silver, and the buyer offered 35 taels. Yang Haiyan had 500 taels of gold on her, so she also... bargained down the price and paid one tael of silver, and the deal was 34 taels.
She did not have 34 taels of loose silver, so she sold 1 tael of gold. 2 taels of gold = 100 grams, 340 yuan per gram, 100 grams of gold = 34,000. Speaking of this, the platform is really mysterious. Anything traded on the platform that needs to be weighed will be automatically divided by the platform.
After getting 34,000 yuan, Yang Haiyan bought 100 taels of silver, 100 taels of silver = 5,000 grams, 5 yuan per gram, and spent 25,000 yuan
. The matchmaker took the householder and Yang Haiyan directly to the town chief's house to transfer the property. There was no county government in the town, so the town chief handled these matters on behalf of the county government. Yang Haiyan paid 34 taels of house money and 1 tael of silver as a commission.
After the house procedures were completed, the matchmaker became more enthusiastic about Yang Haiyan. Who wouldn't like such a generous boss?
Then, they went to the matchmaker's shop to see the servants.
Matchmaker: "Madam, what kind of servant do you want to buy?"
Yang Haiyan: "Hardworking, preferably around 35 years old, can be a family member. It's better if they can read, but not young men or girls." If it's a young man, Qin Fang is sometimes away for a month, and she doesn't want to cause gossip even if it's a servant. If it's a girl, what if she has feelings for Qin Fang?
So Yang Haiyan still chooses men and women around 35 years old, because according to this age, at this time, they can be the father and mother of her and Qin Fang, and it's not easy to gossip.
A literate servant?
This made the matchmaker feel a little embarrassed: "A servant who needs to know how to read must be from a wealthy family. But servants from wealthy families who end up in the matchmaker must have been sold by the master's family. Another type is that the family committed a crime and was sold by the court."
The so-called family committed a crime and was sold by the court, which means collective punishment.
For example, the Yang family of the original owner, the Yang family had an accident and was killed, but the collateral branch was also punished. Sometimes the collateral branch would be sold, and this situation also existed. The court sold people and the money earned belonged to the court.
Yang Haiyan: "Being sold by the master? That's not good. What if something bad happened to the previous master? If I buy it back, wouldn't it be my own fault?"
The matchmaker: "It's hard to find a literate servant in our place."
Yang Haiyan: "Then let's buy an illiterate one. Do you have any decent ones?"
The matchmaker thought for a while and said, "I really can't tell what kind of character is." She couldn't guarantee it. What if something went wrong?
Yang Haiyan: "Then call everyone out and let me take a look."
The matchmaker: "Okay." As she said that, she went in. After a while, she came out with women and men of the right age, all around 35 years old.
Those people were wearing the clothes of a matchmaker and their faces were not very good. Of course, the pawnbrokers can't support people for free. It's the utmost kindness to ensure that they don't starve to death.
The pawnbroker said, "This lady wants to buy a servant. When the lady asks you questions, you should answer honestly."
"Yes."
Seeing that it was a beautiful and kind lady who smiled before she spoke, the women and men were a little excited and hoped that they would be chosen, because they really had a hard time in the pawnbrokers. There were so many people squeezed together that they couldn't get enough to eat. Even if they followed the master's family, they wouldn't be full, but they would definitely eat more than in the pawnbrokers.
Yang Haiyan: "Among you, men and women, is there anyone who can read?"
Everyone was silent for a moment. Can read? What a blessing it is!
At this time, a middle-aged man came out: "Madam, I can read."
Yang Haiyan looked at him: "You can read?"
The man said: "My name is Hong Xuexi, Xue means study, and Xi means hope. When I was young, I was enlightened by my father. My father once went to a private school and wanted to take the imperial examination, but later he became seriously ill and died. After my father passed away, in order to make a living, I started hunting. My leg was injured while hunting. , because it was too serious and the cost of treatment was extremely high, and at that time the money had other uses, so I gave up. "
Yang Haiyan: "Your name sounds like someone from a scholarly family, so how can you sell yourself as a dentist?"
Hong Xuexi was a little reserved: "Because my wife gave birth some time ago, she was injured during childbirth and needed money, so I... sold myself." But he was a cripple, and it was not worth much even if he was sold. But if he didn't sell himself, he would have no money, so he sold himself cruelly.
Yang Haiyan: "...If you sell yourself, won't you never see your wife and children again?"
Hong Xuexi: "Madam, I am a local, and my wife and children are in the countryside." He knelt down and said, "Please buy me, madam. I will definitely repay your kindness."
Yang Haiyan was not a kind person, but she felt a little sympathy when she heard that this man sold himself for his wife. She looked at the matchmaker: "How much did he sell it for?"
The matchmaker: "Two taels of silver." In fact, the matchmaker only spent one tael of silver when buying Hong Xuexi.
Yang Haiyan nodded and said to Hong Xuexi: "Stand aside." Then she looked at the crowd: "Among you, do you still know how to read?"
No one spoke.
Yang Haiyan asked again: "Among you, is there anyone who can cook well?"
A woman said: "Madam, I used to be a cook in a wealthy family. Do you think I can do it?"
Yang Haiyan looked at her. It was hard to tell what kind of person she was at first glance, but sometimes whether there was a connection between people or not depended on the first impression. Yang Haiyan had a good impression of this woman. At least, although she was thin and her face was sallow, she still looked relatively kind. Yang Haiyan nodded: "Okay. But whether it's you or Uncle Hong, if you don't do well here, I won't keep you. It doesn't matter if you are dumber or more honest. Loyalty is the most important thing between master and servant."
Uncle Hong and the woman: "Yes."
Yang Haiyan paid the money, took their indentures and went back. Uncle Hong paid two taels of silver, and the woman paid six taels of silver, a total of eight taels of silver, plus the 35 taels of silver from the previous purchase of the house and the commission, 43 taels of silver were gone.
When they arrived at the yard, Yang Haiyan asked Hong Xuexi and the woman to clean the bathroom. The woman's name was Fan Cuiliu, and she was originally a cook in a wealthy family. The main wife and the concubine of this family were fighting fiercely. Once, the kitchen was taken advantage of by the concubine, causing the main wife to almost have a miscarriage. As a result, the kitchen staff was replaced by a group of people, and Fan Cuiliu was sold in this way.
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