Jiang Rusi asked Zhou Yunshu to meet at the end of the afternoon, that is, before noon.
After breakfast in the morning, Zhou Yunshu and her two sisters-in-law, Li Jialan, prepared to go to the market. Three brothers, Chunque and Huzi, followed them.
The people's market in the middle of the river is on the edge of Nancheng. Most of the people coming and going are people and stewards of various families. Of course, there are also scattered poor people.
The Ya people have the largest number of slaves, and they are relatively clean and of high quality. In addition, they also sell themselves because they cannot survive in this world, or they sell one of their children, usually girls. Let the family continue to live.
These are quite common, and there are even those who sell their sons, daughters, and wives in order to repay debts from gambling houses after losing gambling.
In short, most of the suffering of the world can be seen here.
Because Zhou Yunshu and his party didn't know much about this side of the river, they specifically consulted Uncle He before coming.
Uncle He also recommended a Yaman named Huang to Zhou Yunshu and the others. As soon as they arrived at the entrance of the market, the Yaman named Huang came out.
"I wonder if this is Mrs. Wu?"
Huangya is not of good stature, with a thin body and a pair of narrow, piercing eyes. At first glance, he seems to be very calculating, but his calculations are not annoying.
Zhou Yunshu, Li Jialan and Wu Yue were all wearing curtain hats. Huang Yaren couldn't tell which one was Mrs. Wu that He Wenyuan was talking about, so when he spoke, he looked at the three of them together.
And when the woman in the osmanthus-red carp-patterned dress and the woman in the lotus-and-chrysanthemum-patterned dress both looked at the purple figure in the middle, the Huangya people understood who among them could make the decision.
As expected, the woman wearing a pleated skirt with a purple pattern stepped forward and said, "You are the yellow-toothed person that Uncle He mentioned."
Huang Yaren said with a smile: "That's right, Mrs. Wu is here to invite you."
While leading the way, Huang Yaren said to Zhou Yunshu: "I don't know what kind of servants Madam wants, so I can arrange it for you."
Zhou Yunshu glanced at Li Jialan and Wu Yue beside her. They had already discussed it when they came.
So Li Jialan said: "We want to see both the whole family and the individual ones. The key points are cleanliness, diligence and honesty."
"Would you like to be smarter and know how to read?"
Huang Yaren said this because he saw the extraordinary temperament of the women in front of him. Although he chose the servants himself, their conversation and temperament were no different from those of the ladies of a wealthy family.
"No, as long as you are honest, clean and diligent." Wu Yue emphasized.
"Okay, please come with me."
Although the Yahang where Huangyaren is located is not the largest in the entire Jiangzhongren City, it is the cleanest.
Concerned that Zhou Yunshu and his party had more female relatives, Huang Yaren asked his wife to introduce to Zhou Yunshu and others after entering the dental shop. He kept following and supplementing the information and never took the initiative to talk to her.
Because Uncle He said it suddenly, the Huangya people originally prepared five households for Zhou Yunshu, and then eliminated two households based on their request just now, and now there are still three households left.
The first family consists of seven people, headed by a man who is about forty-five years old. He has a simple face and respects the rules. Knowing that the visitor is a woman, he did not dare to raise his head from the beginning to the end.
Standing next to him was a woman about forty years old with a round face and round eyes. When she saw Li Jialan and Wu Yue coming to him, she pulled her little grandson, who also had a round face, and looked at them with a smile. people.
"Hello ladies!"
The woman pulled her little grandson, and the little boy, who looked about five years old, looked at Li Jialan and the two of them and said obediently, "Hello, madams."
When Mrs. Huang saw that Li Jialan and Wu Yue seemed to be interested in this family, she said, "Liao Quan used to be the second manager of the outer courtyard of a wealthy family. When that family failed, they sold themselves out."
"Aunt Liao was originally a mother in the small kitchen, and her cooking skills were very good; Liao Mu was twenty-two years old and lived in the stable in the front yard; his wife was originally a second-class maid; she has been at home since she gave birth to the baby; Liao Mu was twenty-two years old and lived in the stable in the front yard. Lin Shiqi used to run errands in the outer courtyard; Liao Xiaomei Shisan was the fire girl in the house."
Li Jialan and Wu Yue took a look at it. Overall, they felt that the family was okay, but there should be no shortage of buyers for such a family.
When Mrs. Huang saw Li Jialan looking at her, she explained with a smile: "What a coincidence that Madam came here! Today is the first day for the Liao family to hang out, so they met Madam's family."
Li Jialan and Wu Yue nodded upon hearing this, and Mrs. Huang continued with a smile: "Except for the youngest, who is only five years old, this family can't do much work, but the rest are ready-made laborers."
"You can catch anyone from the outer courtyard to the inner courtyard, and you have the whole family's marriage contract in your hands, so there is no one who is disobedient."
Wu Yue saw Mrs. Huang saying so much and asked, "How much does this family cost?"
"This family has a total of forty taels of silver." Mrs. Huang said and then explained: "There are not many stewards like Liao Quan on the market. In addition, Aunt Liao is good at craftsmanship and Liao Mu is a horse breeder, so the price It’s just a little more expensive.”
Wu Yue and Li Jialan didn't say whether they could accept the price. They just looked at Mrs. Huang and said, "Didn't you say there are two more? Let's go and take a look."
Mrs. Huang smiled and said, "Yes, ladies, please come this way."
The remaining two families have more people.
One is a family of nine, including an old man and a mother-in-law, who used to be the gatekeeper and the one in charge of laundry respectively. They have two sons. The eldest son was originally in charge of purchasing for the owner of the house. Once, he was drunk and delayed. The matter was taken care of by the owner, which is why this family was sold together.
When Li Jialan heard this, she denied the family before Mrs. Huang finished speaking.
Mrs. Huang said it simply, but there is definitely more than one reason why this family was sold, and now there is the last one.
The last family was named Zhang, and there were twelve people in total.
Because of the previous example, Li Jialan and Wu Yue took the lead in asking why this family was sold.
"I wonder if people have heard of the Cen family."
Li Jialan and Wu Yue looked at each other and shook their heads. Zhou Yunshu, who had been following the two silently, looked at Mrs. Huang, "What happened to the Cen family?"
"The Zhang family was originally servants of the Cen family in Jiangzhong. The Cen family was defeated. The eldest daughter of the Cen family came to Jiangzhong to seek refuge with relatives. She couldn't afford to support so many servants, so she asked our Yahang to find them for them. A great place to be.”
The woman from the Zhang family said with red eyes: "Miss is a good person. If there is a chance, we are willing to work as cows and horses for her in the next life.
Zhou Yunshu glanced at the Zhang family and asked, "Did you only sell your servants?"
Judging from what Zhou Yunshu heard about the Cen family in the past two days, the eldest daughter of the Cen family who came to join Jiangzhong's aunt with a pair of younger siblings did not seem to be very rich.
Mrs. Huang smiled and said, "Of course it's not just servants."
"The Cen family used to have a small fortune in Jiangzhong, but now Miss Cen has only sold a house and a shop, and the rest has been put up for sale."
"How's the sale going?"
When Mrs. Huang saw Zhou Yunshu's interest, her tone became more enthusiastic. Maybe she could make a big deal today!
"It's a coincidence that Madam asked. The Cen family's properties are in a really good location. One of them was sold as soon as it was put up yesterday. Now we still have two houses and three shops. Madam, if you are interested, would you like to take a look?" look?"
"Let's decide on the person first and then talk about it."
Zhou Yunshu looked at the twelve people in front of her and said, "We are going to the Liao family just now."
Li Jialan and Wu Yue also nodded. Let's not talk about whether the family is old or young, but just talk about the Cen family. They look like the old owner has not forgotten them. They don't want to use such people.
"Okay!" Mrs. Huang said with a smile, "I'll have someone take off their signs first."
Mrs. Huang called over a little girl, and after saying that, she led Zhou Yunshu and his party to continue walking forward.
In the large open space in front, the men were all squatting on the left side; the women were standing on the right side with their heads bowed.
It was unfortunate that Zhou Yunshu and his party came. When they came over, a big man with shackled hands and feet was kicking away the man from Yaxing. When Huzi and the other three stood in front of Zhou Yunshu, Zhou Yunshu happened to see the man's face clearly.
Still an acquaintance.
