At the entrance of the trading market, a thin, slender woman knelt on the ground. Beside her, on a rolled-up straw mat, lay an elderly dead body. Many people gathered around, some of them quite frightened. "Girl, what are you doing? The dead should be laid to rest. It's still hot today. It would be terrifying if this body rotted in the street."
The woman kowtowed repeatedly, tears streaming down her face. "This is my father. He was sick for three years. We sold all our land and house to treat him, but he still didn't get better. Now he's gone, and I have no money to bury him. I'm thinking of selling myself to buy him a coffin."
"Selling herself into servitude to bury her father is also a sign of filial piety."
"Girl, how much do you want? If it's cheap, I'll buy you to take home as my son's wife."
The woman kowtowed again, "Uncle, eight taels of silver."
Eight taels of silver for a person is within a reasonable range. The uncle was in a dilemma. If they could come up with eight taels of silver, they could marry off their son. Why would they need to buy a person? "Young lady, the bride price for a girl from a good family is only six or eight taels. Yours is too high."
The woman choked up, "Uncle, I sold myself so I could have a decent funeral for my father. I can work."
Everyone around shook their heads. Eight taels of silver was the savings of many families over many years. No one would take it out to buy people unless absolutely necessary. Besides, if they wanted to increase the labor force, they could just have their own babies. It was convenient and saved money.
The uncle hesitated, "This girl doesn't look like she's suited for working in the fields. No way, she has to know how to hoe and farm. Otherwise, I'll just buy her to be my ancestor."
Seeing that no one was willing to contribute money, the woman cried even more bitterly.
"Young Master Lu." Xie Yin called out to Lu Yunfeng from outside the crowd, "Young Master Lu, ten or eight taels is not a difficult amount for you, why not lend a hand to this girl?"
Lu Yunfeng took a step back to maintain his distance. "It's difficult."
"What?" Xie Yin asked uncertainly.
The crowd parted to make way for Lu Yunfeng, and they all urged him, "Young Master Lu, please help this girl. Your family is wealthy, and Manager Qin is the kindest person you can be. Now that your business is growing, you need manpower. Buying someone from Zhang Yazi or buying this girl is the same thing."
The woman looked at Lu Yunfeng pitifully, "Young master, my father used to be a scholar, and I can read some words. Please, give me a way to live. I will serve you well and be your slave for the rest of my life."
Lu Yunfeng shook his head and looked at the girl. "If you really want to make a living, you can go to the embroidery building in the west. You can weave cloth or embroider. There is something you can do or learn. You can explain your difficulties to the manager and ask him to give you some money to tide you over, instead of kneeling here selling yourself."
The woman was taken aback, her face turning somewhat embarrassed. She stammered, "I... I didn't expect that. I was afraid they wouldn't give me the money."
"Now you know, you can go or not, it's your choice, but I won't buy you." Lu Yunfeng remained indifferent. "Also, my wife is a kind person and is happy to help poor women. You haven't even been there, so don't make hasty judgments and make it sound like my wife is heartless."
The woman's face flushed red as she rolled up the straw mat and laboriously carried it on her back.
Xie Yin felt as if she had been struck in the heart, or as if she had discovered a rare treasure. She couldn't quite describe her emotions, and finally laughed with a mocking tone, "Wouldn't it be better if you bought such a delicate woman and made her your personal maid?"
She thought that no man in the world would not have multiple wives and concubines after becoming rich, and she was determined to expose Lu Yunfeng's hypocrisy.
Lu Yunfeng glanced at her as if she were a lunatic. "I don't need it."
"Now that you're Young Master Lu, with a fortune of a thousand taels, are you sure you don't need a personal maid? Having a maid would be so prestigious, making you no different from those rich young masters in the county." Xie Yin continued to tempt you, "A beautiful woman adding fragrance to your life, gentle and carefree. That girl just said she's literate. If you feel that being a maid would be neglecting her, you can take her as a concubine. You'd be a hero saving a beauty, and she'd repay you with her body. How many men in the county would envy that? It would be a romantic tale."
Lu Yunfeng didn't understand her actions, and only said, "I'm never the same as them. I made my fortune with the help of my wife."
Hearing Lu Yunfeng say this in public, Xie Yin was shocked, and then thought he had gone mad.
The news quickly spread throughout the county and reached Qin Xiaozhou's ears. At that moment, she was having tea with Sun Yuanyuan on the second floor of Yifanfengshun Store. Upon hearing this, Sun Yuanyuan was filled with envy, saying, "Your husband is truly unafraid of rumors."
Making a fortune by relying on a woman, being a kept man, is the most humiliating thing for a man. Lu Yunfeng actually said it like that, he's really frank.
Qin Xiaozhou couldn't help but feel a slight joking surprise, and he couldn't suppress his smile. "It was just a joke. My achievements today are inseparable from the generosity of Miss Sun and the magistrate."
Although it was a compliment, Sun Yuanyuan was pleased to hear it. "However, this Xie Yin is no ordinary woman. Her father is the prefect of Jizhou, and her ancestral home is not far from our county. Every year during the Qingming Festival, she would come back to pay respects to her ancestors. But for some reason, she hasn't left even after autumn this year. She just caused a scene at the trading market. I'm afraid she has her eye on your husband."
As expected of the county magistrate's daughter, Sun Yuanyuan knew everything about the people and events in the county town.
Qin Xiaozhou thanked her for informing him of the news, but still found it absurd that a prefect's daughter would take a fancy to Lu Yunfeng. The image of Lu Yunfeng involuntarily appeared in her mind, yet she also felt it was reasonable. "It seems that I am not standing high enough, which is why others dare to covet my people so brazenly. The reason I invited Miss Sun here today is that I have something to ask for your help."
Just a few days after Hua Xiangrong's clothing store reopened, Sun Yuanyuan received a share of thirty-five taels. Her father, a county magistrate, only received fifty taels a year. Now that Qin Xiaozhou said he wanted to help, she became interested. "Tell me about it."
"I want that piece of land in the northwest of the county town." Qin Xiaozhou didn't mince words and went straight to the point. "Build a factory there, and in the future, all the silkworm cocoons in Fenggu County will be collected in this building, turned into silk fabrics and clothes, and then sold to various places."
Sun Yuanyuan was startled. She hadn't expected Qin Xiaozhou to be so daring. Not only did he dare to think, but he was also going to do it. However, if all of this came to fruition, the credit for the county's economic growth would go to her father, the county magistrate. He might get promoted, and she would naturally rise in rank as well.
"The northwest is not exactly fertile land, so acquiring that piece of land is not difficult. Just wait a bit, I will send someone to deliver the land deed in a few days."
Qin Xiaozhou thanked her and offered tea to Sun Yuanyuan in lieu of wine.
When Lu Yunfeng returned in the evening, Qin Xiaozhou stared at the man under the pomegranate tree and sighed again at how handsome he was. His features and temperament were already quite remarkable, and now, dressed in such fine silk, the roughness of his former rough man had lessened, and he had gained a touch of elite air. He was indeed captivating.
Qin Xiaozhou leaned on the windowsill and beckoned to him.
Lu Yunfeng chuckled, went inside and closed the door. He went to the window, hugged her, and closed the window as well. His breath brushed against Qin Xiaozhou's ear, making her tremble involuntarily. The culprit, however, became even more audacious, biting the back of her neck. "What did you call me for, my wife?"
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