When Fan Cuiliu was sold, she was married and had a daughter, who was also married. Originally, if she was sold to the pawnbroker, her family could have used money to redeem her. Of course, if she had money, she could have used money to redeem her.
Unfortunately, she had no money. Her husband was the head of the family. Seeing that she had been sold and that she was not young anymore, he did not want to use money to redeem her. Her daughter wanted to borrow money to redeem her, but before she could borrow the money, she was sent away by the pawnbroker. To this day, she has not had the opportunity to contact her daughter, and there is no way to contact her.
After Yang Haiyan knew about her situation, she didn't know how to describe them. Whether it was Hong Xuexi or Fan Cuiliu, they were both pitiful people.
In fact, here, many masters rarely sell their servants. Usually, they will release the indentures when the servants die of old age. This is because servants will know more or less about the master's affairs, and only by holding the servants' indentures can they keep their mouths shut.
Yang Haiyan: "You will live here in the future. I plan to do business in the shop in front. Aunt Fan will help me manage the shop in the future, and Uncle Hong will drive the cart and manage the yard." Hong Xuexi is 32 years old this year, and Fan Cuiliu is 38 years old this year. So there is nothing wrong with Yang Haiyan calling them uncle and aunt. After all, she came from the modern era, and even in this imperial society, the politeness of modern people is engraved in her bones.
Uncle Hong and Aunt Fan: "Yes, ma'am."
Uncle Hong: "Madam, after we finish cleaning the yard, can I go back to see my family?"
Yang Haiyan: "Okay." She took out a tael of silver and said, "Aunt Fan, take this silver. Go and fill in any gaps here. You and Uncle Fan can take care of yourselves for lunch. After you finish cleaning here, come find me in the military camp's family quarters. I live in..."
Fan Cuiliu: "Yes, madam." Holding the silver, she was a little nervous, but she also knew that this was Yang Haiyan's test of her. How could someone who had worked as a cook in a wealthy family be stupid? She just wanted to work hard for the master's family and hoped to contact her daughter if she had the chance.
Yang Haiyan followed the matchmaker to look for servants in the yard. It took a long time. It was already noon, so she returned to the family room. Although she had lunch alone, she couldn't be careless. Unfortunately, there were no vegetables at home. So, she bought broccoli, pork belly and a tomato directly on the platform. She made a stir-fried pork belly with broccoli and a tomato scrambled eggs. She bought only enough for one dish, because there was no broccoli or tomato in this world.
However, the absence of vegetables does not necessarily mean that they cannot be planted. As for the seeds, they can say that they were bought from traveling merchants or found in the mountains. This is a border area with many merchants from different countries, so there are seeds of different vegetables, which will not arouse suspicion.
After lunch, Yang Haiyan went to Tang's house and told her that she would not have to go to their house to wash quilts or fetch water anymore, and that such matters would be left to Aunt Fan and Uncle Hong.
Yang Haiyan did not feel embarrassed about the existence of servants. She was transmigrated to a society ruled by the emperor, and she was not a fool. So she adapted well. Of course, she would not treat servants as real slaves like the powerful people of this era.
Aunt Fan and Uncle Hong are subordinates to Yang Haiyan. She is the boss and they are employees.
Some time ago, Yang Haiyan was busy adapting and making money. Now that she has adapted and has money, she has to think about how to make her life better and safer in this era.
If you want to live better in a place, you naturally need to have a deeper understanding of this era. What I know from the novel is too one-sided, and it is only related to the heroine Yang Dahua. However, the author outlined this novel, and now she has become a person in the novel. For her, this is a world, and what the author did not write, this world will automatically generate.
Rather than understanding the world, it is better to understand the country. To understand the country, one naturally needs to understand its history and laws. Even in a society ruled by the emperor, where power is greater than the law, the law can sometimes protect people.
So after leaving Tang's house, Yang Haiyan went to the study and bought the History of Qiguo and the Code of Qiguo.
This country is called Qiguo. The Qiguo Code contains all the laws that Qiguo has issued. Although it is a thick book, it is actually incomparable to modern legal books. You have to know that in modern times, there are too many laws such as criminal law, civil law, constitution, intellectual property law, etc., but Qiguo only has one code.
Yang Haiyan came back from buying books and saw Aunt Fan and Uncle Hong at the gate of her home.
Seeing her come back, Aunt Fan and Uncle Hong were about to call out to her, but Sister Lu came out from the yard: "Haiyan, you're back? These two people have been here for a while and said they were looking for you. Do you know them?" She had no ill intentions. Two strangers suddenly came to the family room, and she was worried that something might happen to Yang Haiyan, so she deliberately came out to call Yang Haiyan.
Yang Haiyan: "I know them. They are servants I just bought from the pawnbroker. Aunt Fan, Uncle Hong, this is Captain Lu's wife." When Yang Haiyan said that they were servants bought from the pawnbroker, she did not mean to insult them but was stating a fact.
These two people did not feel insulted. They were indeed bought servants, and this kind of thinking was ingrained in their bones.
Aunt Fan and Uncle Hong: "Hello, Mrs. Lu." In their minds, the centurion was also an official.
Mrs. Lu was stunned, and almost couldn't come back to her senses. Yang Haiyan actually bought someone? This... This... For a moment, she didn't know what to say.
Yang Haiyan added: "Sister-in-law, I bought a shop in the downtown area and plan to sell snacks to help support the family."
Mrs. Lu: "Is that so? Then I wish you a prosperous business." She hadn't come to her senses yet and didn't know what to say.
Yang Haiyan: "Thank you, sister-in-law."
On the other side, Zhang's mother, who was eavesdropping, originally wanted to watch the show. She thought Aunt Fan and Uncle Hong were poor relatives of the Qin family because they looked so miserable. But when she heard that it was Yang Haiyan who bought the servants, she was stunned and snorted. A prodigal woman actually bought servants. Such a daughter-in-law is not worth having. But then she remembered that the snacks made by Yang Haiyan were really delicious, and she felt sour again. She prayed in her heart that her shop business would not be good.
Yang Haiyan naturally didn't know what she was thinking. She took Aunt Fan and Uncle Hong into the yard and asked them to go to the study room: "My husband and I live in this military camp family compound. My husband's name is Qin Fang, and he is a centurion in the military camp. The yard in the downtown area will be given to you to live in from now on. The shop will be used for the snack business, and the yard at the back will be given to you to live in. The monthly allowance is 200 wen per month." The servants who signed the indenture contract were provided with food, housing and clothing. 200 wen per month, and they could save 2.5 taels of silver in a year, so this monthly allowance was not low. At least in a town like this, this monthly allowance was not low.
Aunt Fan and Uncle Hong had no objection to this.
Yang Haiyan continued, "Aunt Fan's daily job is to make dim sum. I will teach Aunt Fan how to make dim sum. Once Aunt Fan is familiar with it, she can make it herself. But one thing, if the recipe is leaked, I will not show mercy."
Aunt Fan immediately expressed her loyalty: "Madam, rest assured, I will not reveal the recipe."
Yang Haiyan nodded. In fact, she didn't really care whether the recipe would be leaked, but she couldn't say that. She still had to establish her authority. She added, "In addition, I've also handed over the work of this yard to Aunt Fan. She will also do the daily shopping, cooking, and laundry. I will also continue to look for suitable servants."
Aunt Fan: “Yes.”
Yang Haiyan asked Uncle Hong again: "Uncle Hong, can you drive a donkey cart?"
Uncle Hong: "Madam, I will."
Yang Haiyan: "Then go buy a donkey cart later and put it in your yard. You will have to deliver lunch to my husband every day. I will also buy two sheep that produce milk. Sheep eat grass. Uncle Hong will be responsible for herding the sheep and cutting grass. That's all for now."
Uncle Hong: "Yes, my wife."
Then, Yang Haiyan took Aunt Fan and Uncle Hong to buy a donkey cart, added daily necessities to the yard where they lived, and then bought two sets of clothes for each of them, spending a total of ten taels of silver.
This shop was empty, but it was originally a food business, so it needed some renovation. Yang Haiyan called someone to do the renovation. Her renovation was very simple, and it was decorated according to the style of a modern milk tea shop. There were four long tables, two on each side, and each long table had four stools. Half of the counter was a counter, on which cakes, biscuits, soybean cakes and other snacks were placed. Milk tea could be prepared inside the counter, and next to the counter was the cashier.
This kind of decoration is very simple. Just clean the inside and paint it white with lime, then put in tables, chairs and counters.
After leaving the shop, Yang Haiyan took Aunt Fan to the vegetable market. Yang Haiyan gave Uncle Hong a day off because the shop had not yet opened, so he went home to see his wife and would be back in two days because the shop had to be custom-made, so it would not open so quickly.
After buying vegetables at the market, Yang Haiyan asked Aunt Fan to cook in the evening. She cooked a braised fish, fried potatoes with pork belly, egg drop soup, and homemade kimchi. The staple food was brown rice and sweet potatoes. Looking at Aunt Fan's skilled movements and the amount of oil she poured, it can be determined that she was a cook from a wealthy family, because only cooks from wealthy families would be willing to use oil. Anyway, it is not her own oil, so she does not feel bad.
At dinner time, Qin Fang came back and was stunned to see that there was one more person at home. After Yang Haiyan explained to him, he didn't say much. First of all, this was his wife's own money, and he would not interfere. Secondly, his wife had good skills, and he thought it was a good idea to use the money to buy a shop and do some small business.
Although the status of merchants was very low, the imperial court had a definition of merchants. Only those who engaged in business with a certain value and paid a certain amount of tax could be considered merchants. People like his wife were not considered merchants.