After selecting all these people, Xie Yushu noticed another woman in the crowd who stood out from the rest.
Although her face was sallow and thin, her hair was neatly combed, and although her clothes were patched upon patched, her back was straight, and her hands were folded over her abdomen. She was clearly not an ordinary farm woman.
But she wouldn't be a rich lady, otherwise she wouldn't have ended up in a brokerage firm. Xie Yushu guessed that she had probably worked for a wealthy family, but she didn't know why she was sold!
Coming from a wealthy family, their rules are certainly correct, but if they betray their master and are sold off, Xie Yushu really wouldn't dare to take advantage of that!
The matchmaker, seeing Xie Yushu sizing up the woman, clearly saw through Xie Yushu's thoughts and immediately said warmly...
"Young lady, you have a good eye. This person is no ordinary person. She used to serve a noble lady in the palace. Later, when that noble lady passed away and she reached the required age, she was released and returned to live with her two older brothers."
She was a kind-hearted person. She had saved some money in the palace, and when she came back and saw that her two brothers were still struggling financially, she took out her own money to help them rebuild their houses and also helped several of her nephews get married.
Originally, her nephews had all agreed to take turns supporting her, but two years of severe drought made it impossible for them to make ends meet. No one could afford to support her, so they sold her again.
Don't let her current appearance fool you, she's actually very well-behaved!
She's also excellent at needlework and cooking, and she's honest and reliable. If I didn't already have enough people on my hands, I wouldn't have sold her! One of her is worth several others!
The matchmaker praised her to the skies!
Upon hearing this, Xie Yushu called the woman out and asked her to explain the etiquette of noble people and what dishes she could cook.
The woman listened and stepped forward to answer her questions one by one. Xie Yushu then asked another question.
"What kind of servant do you consider a good servant?"
The woman thought for a moment and then answered.
"The only word is loyalty. A servant's fate is one with his master's; they share the same glory and the same loss. A servant depends on his master for survival, so he should be of one mind with his master, think what his master thinks, and do what his master wants. If there are difficulties, he should help his master overcome all obstacles!"
Xie Yushu asked again
"Are you a loyal servant?"
The woman said decisively
"yes!"
Xie Yushu asked the matchmaker,
How much silver does this person have?
The matchmaker smiled and held up three fingers.
Thirty taels!
Xie Yushu neither said she would buy nor not buy, and started turning around again, selecting twenty boys aged fifteen to eighteen and six girls aged thirteen or fourteen.
Six taels of silver for a half-grown boy and five taels of silver for a maid. Xie Yushu brought out the group of boys and girls along with the woman and asked, "I'll take all of these people with me and give you another one hundred and sixty taels, how about that?"
"If you want them, I'll take them all; if not, I won't take any. I didn't originally plan to buy so many at once, and I'll have to find somewhere else to put them after I get back."
The matchmaker hesitated for a while, then frowned and offered twenty taels of silver. She felt a pang of pain, but considering Xie Yushu had ordered so many people at once, clearly a big customer, she figured if the deal went through, even with a small profit of forty or fifty taels, it would be worth it. If she lost the deal, she didn't know how many days she'd have to keep these people in her hands. So she gritted her teeth.
"Alright! One hundred and sixty taels it is, I'll process your indenture right away!"
Seeing that the deal was about to be made, Xie Yushu gave her the silver notes. The matchmaker then found a bunch of indentures, sent someone to the government office to have them stamped with the official seal, and handed them to Xie Yushu. She then called over the people and reprimanded them.
"From now on, this young lady will be your mistress. Your lives will be in her hands. If you disobey her or betray her, you deserve to be beaten to death. You should all be aware of this. Come and kowtow to your new mistress!"
Xie Yushu accepted the indenture and told everyone to get up, then she led them away in a flurry.
Originally, Xie Yushu hadn't planned to buy those maids and boys, but seeing that there were many people in the brokerage business and the prices were reasonable, she selected a group of them to buy, intending to train a group of guards so that she wouldn't be short of manpower when doing things in the future!
After leaving the brokerage, Xie Yushu instructed Qu Xiaodie to go directly to the carriage shop and hire two horse-drawn carriages.
They unloaded 400 jin of cornmeal they had bought in Jinyang, and also bought 60 bolts of blue coarse cotton cloth and 10 bolts of brown coarse cotton cloth, along with some needles and thread, 2 jin of salt, and 200 jin of cotton, filling one cart. They also bought more than a dozen sets of farm tools and pots and pans, filling another cart. The two large carts were fully loaded. They also bought 100 large steamed buns. The group then went to Luoxia Valley.
Sunset Valley is located on the outskirts of Tai'an Prefecture, not too far away, about ten miles away, which took half an hour to reach. The place was still overgrown with weeds and large areas of dead trees. The group found a place to have lunch first.
Of course, due to limited conditions, everyone gathered together and each ate two steamed buns. At the same time, Xie Yushu introduced herself and stated her bottom line: good performance would be rewarded, and bad performance would be punished. She also made it clear beforehand that anyone who dared to betray her master would be sold out at best, and beaten to death at worst!
Although Xie Yushu spoke casually, the group of people were still trembling with fear. The reason was simple: these people were already suffering terribly from life, and they had all heard stories of servants being beaten to death, wrapped in straw mats, and thrown into mass graves.
And the servants of the local landlords, who weren't treated like donkeys, getting up earlier than chickens and sleeping later than dogs, and being beaten and scolded at the slightest mistake? Otherwise, no one would want to sell themselves into servitude!
These people were forced into prostitution and were already living in fear. Although they had a full meal, they were still on edge. Now that they heard that their traitors would be sold off or beaten to death, they all vowed never to betray their masters.
Although Xie Yushu bought them, nominally as master and servant, she intended to treat them as her own employees. However, there was no need to say it out loud, given the prevailing circumstances, and she didn't want to make things too special.
After saying what she needed to say, Xie Yushu led them to see the land area and designated two plots of land on the west side of the valley. One of the plots, a flat area of more than two acres, was allocated to the five families.
The person in charge was called Wang Wu. He was quite capable and continued to be the manager. Xie Yushu allocated eight fen of land to their family and five fen to the other four households. This was enough land to build three main rooms and two side rooms, and there was still a piece of land left in the yard to be used as a small vegetable garden.
The group was overjoyed. Back home, none of them had ever owned even half an acre of land to build a yard. They usually shared a yard with their brothers and elders, and having two side rooms was considered quite a feat.
Wang Wu, whose land was three-tenths larger than others', swore with profuse gratitude that he would definitely manage the valley well for Xie Yushu.
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