"Hello, madam." The matchmaker who received Yang Haiyan was a middle-aged woman who looked very kind. "May I ask what do you want, madam? Do you want to buy a house or a servant? Or something else?"
Yang Haiyan: "I want to buy both the house and the people, but I want to buy the house first and then the people."
When the matchmaker heard this, she realized that this was a big customer: "I wonder what your requirements for the house are, ma'am? 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 very elegant demeanor. Her fair face and hands showed that she was not someone who did rough labor, 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 some 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 one with a yard. The yard should be a little bigger, so that both the servants and the owner can live there. Then the yard should have a back door and a big hall. My husband is an 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 space for people to sit."
Yang Haiyan did not specify Qin Fang's identity, but the fact that he was an officer under the Marquis was enough to make the matchmaker cautious. To put it bluntly, this was just borrowing the power of the Marquis of Yonghe. Although Qin Fang followed Captain Ao Qianfu, he was indeed a subordinate of the Marquis of Yonghe, so it was not wrong to say so.
Sure enough, the matchmaker took a more serious attitude when she heard this. "Please wait a moment. I'll see if there's a house suitable for you among the official matchmakers."
Yang Haiyan: “Thank you for your help.”
The matchmaker quickly looked through the brothel and said, "Madam, we have the big yard you asked for, but we don't have a big yard connected to a storefront. Generally, big yards are where rich people live, and the place where rich people live and the place where they do business are not in the same place. What do you think, a small yard will be okay? Or should the yard and the store be separated?" The main reason was that the resources in the town were limited.
Yang Haiyan heard this and asked: "How many rooms are there in the small courtyard? Can it accommodate servants?"
The matchmaker said, "Among these attached shop yards, there is one with a better location, in the downtown area. There are three main rooms in the small yard at the back. If you like, I can take you to have a look."
Yang Haiyan: "Okay, let's go and have a look."
The yard was in the center of the town, so it was quite close to the dental clinic, only about five or six hundred meters away.
The matchmaker first took Yang Haiyan to see the shop, which was closed. Because the shop and the yard were together, plus the location, the prices were not cheap. "Madam, look, this is the yard. There are cloth sellers and rouge and powder sellers next to it, and many women pass by."
Yang Haiyan thought that if she wanted to start a pastry business, she had to open it in a place where there was a lot of traffic of women.
The matchmaker said, "There are two doors in the yard. The one from the shop is the back door. How about we go in from the front door?"
Yang Haiyan: “Yeah.”
After Yang Haiyan was interested in the yard and the storefront, she booked it right away. In fact, the yard is really nice, the shop is at the back door, and guests can be entertained through the front door. The reason why it was not sold was that the yard was vacated not long ago and the owner just resold it. Second, the price offered by the owner was five taels of silver higher than the market price.
It is not easy for people in the town to make money, and five taels of silver is not a small amount of money for them, so even if there is a buyer they like, they would want to bargain or reconsider.
Look, Yang Haiyan picked it up.
The market price of this courtyard was thirty taels of silver, and the buyer asked for thirty-five taels. Yang Haiyan had five hundred taels of gold on him, so he also… negotiated the price and paid one tael of silver, and the deal was completed at thirty-four taels.
She didn't have 34 taels of loose silver, so she sold 2 taels of gold. 2 taels of gold = 100 grams, 340 platform coins per gram, 100 grams of gold = 34,000 platform coins. Speaking of this, the platform is really mysterious. Anything traded on the platform needs to be sold by weight, and the platform will automatically split it.
After getting the platform coins, Yang Haiyan bought one hundred taels of silver and spent 25,000 platform coins.
The matchmaker took the householder and Yang Haiyan directly to the town mayor's house to transfer the property. There was no county government in the town, so the mayor handled these matters on behalf of the county government. Yang Haiyan paid thirty-four taels of silver for the house and a commission of one tael of silver.
After the house formalities were completed, the matchmaker became even more enthusiastic towards Yang Haiyan. Who wouldn't like such a generous boss
Then they went to the pawnshop to see the servants.
The matchmaker: "Madam, what kind of servant do you want to buy?"
Yang Haiyan: "Someone who is diligent, preferably around 35 years old, can be a family member. Someone who can read is even better, but not young people or girls." If it was a young man, Qin Fang would sometimes be away for a month, and she didn't want to cause gossip even if he was a servant. If it was a young girl, what if she had her eyes on Qin Fang
Therefore, Yang Hai still chose men and women around 35 years old, because at this age, at this era, they can be the father and mother of her and Qin Fang, and are not likely to cause gossip.
A literate servant
This made the matchmaker feel a little embarrassed: "A servant who can read must be from a wealthy family. But servants from wealthy families who end up in the matchmaker must have been sold by their masters. Another possibility is that their family committed a crime and they were sold by the court."
If a family member committed a crime and was betrayed by the court, then they would be punished collectively.
For example, the Yang family where the original owner was from, when something happened to the Yang family, the Yang family was killed, but the side branches would be implicated, and the side branches would sometimes be sold out. This situation also existed. The court sold people, and the money earned belonged to the court.
Yang Haiyan: "Being sold by the owner? That's not good. What if something bad happened with the previous owner? If I buy it back, won't I be in trouble?"
The matchmaker said: "It's hard to find a literate servant in our area."
Yang Haiyan: "Then let's just look at the illiterate ones. Do you have anyone with decent character?"
The matchmaker thought for a moment and said, "I really can't tell what kind of character this person has." She couldn't guarantee anything. If something went wrong, wouldn't they look for her
Yang Haiyan: "Then call everyone out and I'll take a look."
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 thirty-five years old.
Those people were wearing the clothes of the pawnbrokers, and their faces were not very good. Of course, the pawnbrokers could not feed people for free, and it was the utmost kindness to ensure that they would not starve to death.
The matchmaker said: "This lady wants to buy someone. When she asks you questions, you should answer honestly."
"yes."
Seeing a pretty and amiable lady smiling before she spoke, the women and men were a little excited and hoped to be chosen, because they had a hard time in the pawnshop, with so many people crowded together, and they couldn't get enough to eat. Even if they followed the host, they wouldn't get enough to eat, but they would definitely eat more than in the pawnshop.
Yang Haiyan: "Are there any of you, male or female, who can read?"
Everyone was silent for a moment. Literacy? What a blessing!
At this time, a middle-aged man came out: "Madam, I can read."
Yang Haiyan looked at him: "Can you read?"
The man said, "My name is Hong Xuexi, Xue means study and Xi means hope. I was educated by my father when I was young. My father once went to a private school and wanted to take the imperial examination, but he later became seriously ill and died. After my father passed away, I started hunting to make a living. I injured my leg while hunting. Because the injury was too serious, the cost of treatment was extremely high. At that time, there were other uses for money, so I gave up."
Yang Haiyan: "Your name sounds like someone who comes from a scholar's family, so how can you sell your body?"
Hong Xuexi was a little reserved: "Because my wife gave birth a while ago, she was injured during childbirth and needed money, so I... sold myself." But he was a cripple, and it was worthless if he sold himself. 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, my wife and children are in the countryside." He knelt down and said, "Please buy me, madam. I will definitely repay your great kindness."
Yang Haiyan was not a kind person, but she felt a little sympathy when she heard that the man sold his body for his wife. She looked at the matchmaker and asked, "How did he sell it?"
The matchmaker said: "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 for now." Then she looked at everyone and said, "Does anyone among you know how to read?"
No one spoke.
Yang Haiyan asked again: "Are there any of you who have good cooking skills?"
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 people were destined to be together or not depended on their appearance. Yang Haiyan had a good impression of this woman. At least, although she was thin and her face was sallow, she looked 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 a little dumb or a little honest. Loyalty is the most important thing between a master and a servant."
Uncle Hong, 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 thirty-five taels of silver from the house purchase and commission, forty-three taels of silver were gone.
When they arrived at the yard, Yang Haiyan asked Hong Xuexi and a woman to clean the house. The woman's name was Fan Cuiliu, and she was originally a cook in a wealthy family. The wife and the concubine of this family were fighting fiercely. Once, the concubine took advantage of the kitchen and the wife almost had a miscarriage. Therefore, the kitchen staff was replaced, and Fan Cuiliu was sold in this way.