novelhk Chapter 166 Buying People
Chapter 166 Buying People
The next day, Cheng Shuang and Wei Qinglang took Cheng Guqiu to the provincial capital. The fare for taking a bamboo raft directly to the ferry outside the provincial capital was two cents. After arriving at the ferry, they still had to walk a distance to reach the city gate.
We met many people along the way, some were going to the market, some were delivering goods, and some were carrying loads into the city to do business. The path leading to the city gate was almost crowded with people.
When Cheng Shuang was halfway there, she pulled Wei Qinglang along and said, "It's quite fast to go downstream, but it's still too much trouble to walk to the city gate. I think we should buy two carriages and travel overland. It will also be convenient for my family to go back and forth to the city in the future."
Wei Qinglang nodded, "I thought so too. We also need to buy a donkey cart. It's just right that after we buy people from the dealership, we need someone to help us drive them back. This will make it convenient for them to buy and transport things when they need to farm in the future."
When the three of them entered the city, the first thing they did was to ask someone where the largest pawnshop in the city was, and then they appeared at the door of the pawnshop.
It was still early and the shop was very quiet. A little boy was sweeping the floor with a broom, and a slightly plump middle-aged man was sitting inside and dozing off.
The child sweeping the floor looked very timid. When he saw someone coming, he stepped aside, lowered his head and dared not look at them.
Cheng Shuang took a quick glance when she entered the room and noticed that his wrist holding the broom was skinny and bony.
Knock knock........
Wei Qinglang walked forward and knocked lightly on the table. The dozing middle-aged man suddenly woke up. He looked up and saw three people coming in. He immediately stood up and smiled.
"What do you three need? My last name is Zou, you can call me Manager Zou."
As he spoke, he looked at the three of them. Their clothes were neither good nor bad and they did not look like the young masters and young ladies of wealthy families. But judging from the appearance and temperament of the two young men, they did not look like servants of a wealthy family either. He was a little confused for a moment.
"I want to buy someone." Cheng Shuang didn't waste any words.
Manager Zou put on a professional smile and said, "What kind of servants do you three want? How many do you want? We are the best brokerage firm in the city, and we have all kinds of servants."
Cheng Shuang and Wei Qinglang exchanged a glance, and Wei Qinglang said, "We want a lot. Call out a hundred or eighty of them, both men and women. Call them out and we'll choose for ourselves."
Manager Zou looked at the three people in surprise and said, "Sir, there are only about 60 people in the store right now. If there are more, we will have to notify other places to send them."
Wei Qinglang gave him one or two taels of silver and said, "Then let's take a look at these sixty-plus people first."
Manager Zou bowed and nodded when he saw the silver. "Alright, follow me, all three. Wait in the yard for a moment. I'll bring the person out for you to choose from."
The three of them entered the inner courtyard and sat down in a pavilion. Someone brought them tea. Just as they took a sip, Manager Zou came with his men.
Then people came in one after another and stood in the yard, including men, women, young and old. The oldest was in their forties and the youngest was only seven or eight years old. Cheng Shuang saw that the boy sweeping the floor at the door was among them.
Manager Zou stood aside with a smile on his face, "These people are excellent, they are quick and hardworking, and can be used for any job."
Cheng Shuang just nodded slightly without saying anything, and looked at the people in the yard.
Those people lowered their heads and dared not raise them. They were as cautious as lambs to be slaughtered in a slaughterhouse, especially the children, whose timid eyes were full of fear. It was the first time in all the time that Cheng Shuang had been in this world that she felt so strongly the oppression of the feudal dynasty on the lower class.
Wei Qinglang seemed to sense her mood change. He glanced at her, cleared his throat, and said, "Who among you knows how to farm? Raise your hand."
Upon hearing this, the people below raised their heads and raised their hands one after another. In the end, more than half of them knew how to farm.
Cheng Shuang looked at them and suddenly realized that the people standing in front were not standing separately as men and women, but were standing close together.
She looked at the boy who had just been sweeping the floor at the door. He was nervously holding the hand of a young woman, and there was a tall man next to the woman.
Cheng Shuang asked curiously, "Are you a family?"
The woman nodded quickly. "My husband, son, and I fled here from the north last year to escape famine. I was sick and owed money for medical treatment, so we had no choice but to sell ourselves into slavery."
The woman's eyes suddenly reddened as she knelt down. "My dear lady, I heard you need to buy a lot of people. Can you buy all three of my family members? We really don't want to be separated. My husband is good at farming, and my children and I can work. You can ask us to do anything as long as we have food to eat and as long as our family can be together."
Cheng Shuang frowned and pursed her lips, looking at the boy who was only eight or nine years old, and nodded: "Okay, you three can stand aside first."
As soon as he finished speaking, another middle-aged man in the crowd knelt on the ground and kowtowed twice to Cheng Shuang.
"My dear lady, we are a family of five who were sold into slavery. My two sons and I are good at farming. My wife is a good cook and is also adept at housework. And my little daughter can wash clothes, cook, sew, and can even read a few words. If you need servants, please buy us all as well. As long as you don't separate us, we will work like slaves for you."
After the man finished speaking, several family members around him also knelt down and begged.
"Don't do this, get up first."
Cheng Shuang hadn't expected to encounter two families who had sold themselves into slavery. She looked at Wei Qinglang anxiously, wanting to ask for his opinion. He nodded and said, "You decide. You'll need some of it later anyway."
Cheng Shuang thought about it and realized that if the business expanded, it would indeed require a lot of manpower, not just men to farm. Apart from anything else, these people would need to eat after they were bought back to farm, and it was impossible to let my aunt cook for so many people, so I had to buy a few women to cook for them.
There are also a lot of chores to do at home. She is lazy, but she doesn't want to let her younger sister-in-law and younger siblings do them all, so she helps with some work every day.
She would hire a few people to help with the housework so that everyone in the family could have some free time. She was also thinking of opening a restaurant in the future and letting her sister-in-law be the head chef.
Also, Pan'er and her two cousins should be allowed to do what they want to do, instead of always staying at home doing housework.
After thinking about it, Cheng Shuang nodded and said, "Okay, you and your family should also step out and wait on the side."
After the family stood aside with profuse gratitude, Cheng Shuang turned back to look at Cheng Guqiu, "Aunt, please help me pick the rest. Pick 25 hardworking men who can farm, two women who can cook, and two little girls to help."
Cheng Guqiu nodded and went down to start selecting. He first looked at the appearance and then the hands and feet, and then asked some simple farming questions, picking out one person after another to stand on the other side.
After picking out all the people needed, Manager Zou's face was almost broken with laughter. He counted and there were thirty-seven people in total. He could make a lot of money today.
I never expected that these three people, although they didn’t look well dressed, were actually rich.
The rest of the people had gone back, leaving only the thirty or so selected people in the courtyard. Steward Zou took out his abacus and did some calculations, then said to Wei Qinglang, "Sir, the market price here is ten taels of silver for a young male laborer. There are twenty-nine of them here. Then there are four women, eight taels each, three young girls, six taels each, and a boy under ten, five taels each. The total is three hundred and forty-five taels."
"Why is it so expensive?" Cheng Guqiu couldn't help but exclaimed. This is almost twice as expensive as that in Qushan County.
"Madam," Manager Zou said with a smile, "this is the market price in our city. If you don't believe me, you can go out and ask around. It's the same price. If there's a lower price, I'll refund you immediately.
Besides, the people here are all from poor families with clean backgrounds, and they sold themselves into slavery out of necessity. You can buy them and use them with peace of mind, right? "
This price is indeed twice as high as Cheng Shuang and the others had estimated. The prices in the capital city are really scary, but these people still have to buy it.
Seeing that Boss Zou looked like a profiteer, Cheng Shuang knew that he must be a cunning man, so she was too lazy to bargain with him.
She immediately made the decision: "Alright, bring over their indentures."
Manager Zou glanced at Wei Qinglang and saw that he had no objection. He was surprised that such a large sum of money was decided by a woman like Cheng Shuang. He immediately praised her, "Madam, you are really open-minded. You have good vision and are very lucky."
Cheng Shuang ignored his flattery and asked him to quickly hand over the indentures of these people.
The people who were selected all had happy expressions on their faces. They could settle down in the future without being picked and chosen by others. Moreover, the hostess looked kind and easy to talk to. As long as they worked hard, it would be better than staying in the pawnshop.
The pawnshop will not keep those who have not been picked up for nothing. They often have to be sent to do some short-term hard labor in exchange for a meal. Those who are lucky enough to be bought by a good family will be able to settle down and have food to eat and a bed to sleep in.
Those with bad luck are picked out and left behind, and can only be sent by the pawnbrokers to do the dirtiest and most tiring work. Even if they die of exhaustion or illness, they will be thrown into a mass grave and no one will pity them at all.
After paying the money and receiving the indenture, Wei Qinglang asked the people below, "Does anyone know the way around the city? Do you know how to get to the South Gate?"
A man in the crowd raised his hand, "I know."
Wei Qinglang said, "Then you lead the way. Everyone, please wait for us outside the South City Gate. We need to go buy some things first."
After saying that, he looked at the man in the family of five and asked, "Uncle, what's your name? Can you and your two sons drive a car?"
The man hurried forward and said that his surname was Peng. Because he was the third child in the family, the villagers used to call him Peng Laosan. He and his two sons had worked as cart drivers for others and could all drive carts. His two sons were named Peng Jiang and Peng He.
Wei Qinglang nodded and said, "Okay, Uncle Peng, you and your two sons will come with us and help drive the cart back to the village."
After everything was arranged, the three of them took the Peng father and son to the carriage dealership and bought two carriages at the price of twenty-five taels of silver each.
Then he took a horse-drawn carriage to the livestock market and bought two donkey carts for twenty taels.
Later, considering that there were so many more people in the family who needed to feed, he went to the grain and oil shop and bought 1,000 kilograms of rice, 300 kilograms of flour, as well as a large amount of various dried vegetables, dried radishes and soybeans to ensure the daily meals for the dozens of servants.
I also bought a basket of new bowls and pots. Those people will be their family workers in the future. But if you want people to work, they have to eat first so that they have the strength, right?