The moment Wei Yingjie said this, the refugees immediately became agitated.
Aside from Li Xiaoxiao, the four men and three women were all in their teens or twenties. Before the disaster, it was not as though they had never bought clothes. Based on the prices in Yizhou, a brand-new set of ready-made clothes of decent quality cost only around 150 wen, while shoes cost around 30 to 35 wen. Yet Wei Yingjie had doubled the price.
Moreover, their deeds of sale had already been signed, yet he still had not handed them the remaining half of the money. Was he doing this deliberately? Was he deliberately forcing them to buy clothes, shoes, and socks, then deducting the cost directly from what they were owed?
Once they saw through his intentions, the people were furious but dared not say anything. Even if Miyang County was more than a thousand li from Yizhou, there was no way prices could be a full two times higher, right? This slave broker had already slashed the price of their deeds of sale by more than half, and now he wanted to make another fifty percent profit from their clothes, shoes, and socks. Yet he even had the gall to claim that he was going to sell them to good families. It was clearly just a lie he had made up to justify making this money. No one could guarantee how much of what he said was true.
Seeing that none of them answered, Wei Yingjie’s expression darkened. “None of you are buying, is that it? Dressed like refugees, who would dare buy you and take you home? If I can’t sell you and you stay here, you don’t think I’ll let you eat and live here for free, do you? Every one of you has to pay fifteen wen a day for food and lodging. The longer you stay, the less money you’ll have left. Oh, right, I forgot to remind you. That remaining half of your sale money won’t be given to you until after you’ve found a master household and the food and lodging expenses have been deducted.”
Wang Dazhuang and the others were shocked. “You, how can you do this? Earlier, you clearly said you’d give us the rest of the money after we signed the contracts. Now you’re saying we have to wait until after we’ve been sold, and you’re going to deduct so much money from us every day! I… I’m not selling myself anymore. I want to go home!”
“Not selling yourselves anymore?” Wei Yingjie gave a cold laugh and waved his hand.
At once, seven or eight burly men came out through the door and stood behind them with their arms crossed.
Wei Yingjie sneered. “A brokerage has its own rules. This isn’t a charity. You wretched commoners should be grateful that I was willing to pay money to buy you and save your entire families from starvation. Otherwise, you’d all be waiting to starve to death! I merely asked you to buy a new set of clothes and tidy yourselves up so that you could make a good impression when looking for a good household. Yet you don’t know how to appreciate a favor. Are you planning to squat here in our Jinji Brokerage and refuse to leave? There are no such rules. If you can’t be sold, then pay me back obediently. Once I’ve deducted the money I’ve spent on you from your share of the sale price and you’re still unsold…”
A sinister gleam flashed in his eyes. “Naturally, I’ll have a way to deal with you.”
His vicious, menacing gaze sent chills down everyone’s spine.
Wang Dazhuang was almost frightened to tears, while the other women also began sobbing. They had no choice but to step forward and take the clothes and skirts from the middle-aged woman.
Seeing this, the others had no choice either. Each person took a set of new clothes.
Wei Yingjie was very satisfied. “Someone, take them downstairs to wash up. Have them come back and see me once they’re properly dressed.”
The men and women holding their clothes were divided into two groups and taken away.
Wei Yingjie nodded in satisfaction, then suddenly realized that someone was still standing there. For a moment, he failed to react.
“Why are you still standing here?”
Li Xiaoxiao asked, “Can I go wash up even if I don’t buy clothes?”
Only then did Wei Yingjie notice that there was still a set of clothes lying on the table. Of the eight people, she was the only one who had not bought anything.
Wei Yingjie immediately recalled the grudge he held against her for throwing him over her shoulder earlier. “Didn’t you hear what I just said?”
“I heard you loud and clear~”
Wei Yingjie glared at her. “You heard me clearly, and you’re still refusing to buy anything? Look at you. You’re all disheveled and unkempt. If no one buys you, your food and lodging expenses will be deducted from your earnings.”
Li Xiaoxiao shrugged. “Then deduct them.”
A set of clothes and a pair of shoes cost three hundred wen. She could buy three hundred steamed buns with that money. Why would she waste it on something so unimportant?
Wei Yingjie was so furious that he nearly exploded. “You little brat, don’t refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a punishment!”
Li Xiaoxiao looked at him in confusion. “What does that mean?”
She genuinely did not understand, but to Wei Yingjie, her innocent question sounded like deliberate provocation.
His temper flared. He raised his hand, about to slap her, when the woman in blue who had drawn up their contracts earlier stepped out.
“Wei Yingjie!”
Wei Yingjie immediately lowered his hand and reined in his temper. “Granny Qin.”
Granny Qin glanced at Li Xiaoxiao. “If you don’t want to buy them, then don’t. But you still need to wash up and clean your face and hair. I have an old set of clothes here. Take them and put them on.”
As she spoke, she tossed Li Xiaoxiao a set of autumn-scent green silk clothes. They were neither new nor particularly worn.
A good thing like this that did not cost any money? Li Xiaoxiao would never turn down such luck. She immediately gathered up the clothes and headed to the back courtyard to find somewhere to wash up.
She was not curious in the slightest as to why Granny Qin was being so nice to her in particular. Naturally, she was not afraid that Granny Qin might have some ulterior motive and be plotting against her either.
Li Xiaoxiao had always lived in a straightforward and simple manner and hated all people and matters that involved beating around the bush.
If something really happened later, then she would deal with it then~
Wei Yingjie’s expression darkened. “Granny Qin, why are you indulging this troublemaker?”
“She can read. How much longer do you intend to drag out the county office’s matter? Is ours the only brokerage in Miyang County? Luoji Brokerage across the street has been keeping a close eye on this as well. We finally found someone who meets the requirements, and you still want to let her slip through our fingers?”
Wei Yingjie was furious. “Granny Qin, that girl is a troublemaker. You saw her attitude yourself. If she acts like this after we send her to the county office, she’ll damage our brokerage’s reputation. We won’t win any favor with the magistrate’s wife either!”
Granny Qin remained unfazed.
“She didn’t say anything wrong. What are you getting so angry about? She’s a troublemaker just because she won’t buy the clothes you’re selling?”
Wei Yingjie was so angry he nearly stumbled backward. But with Granny Qin, whose seniority was even greater than his, there was nothing he could do.
Li Xiaoxiao quickly finished washing up behind the main group and changed into the old clothes Granny Qin had lent her.
Although the clothes were old, they still looked seventy or eighty percent new. Thus, standing among the other refugees in their new clothes, she did not look out of place at all. On the contrary, because the style she wore was different, she actually looked somewhat like their leader.
Granny Qin stood before the refugees, now dressed in clean clothes, and gave them an expressionless look.
“Since you’ve finished washing up, this old woman will give you some basic instruction. Once you become servants and enter the rear courtyards of wealthy families, you mustn’t continue standing ramrod straight as if you’re the masters. Not only will you lack proper etiquette, but you’ll also damage the reputation of our brokerage. If you’re bought and taken home but still don’t know how to stand or sit properly, and your master sends you back, all of you will receive thirty strokes.”
She pointed to a broad wooden board leaning against the courtyard wall. “See that board? It’s no less formidable than the punishment staff used by the county office. After thirty strokes, don’t expect to be able to stand again for the rest of your lives. And since you’ve all signed deeds of sale, even if you become crippled or paralyzed, it will have nothing to do with your families. Even if you die, you’ll have to die here at our brokerage. Once you’re dead, the brokerage would rather wrap your body in a straw mat and throw it into the mass graveyard, leaving you to become a wandering ghost, than let your family take you back and bury you in your ancestral grave. This is the price you pay for signing a deed of sale!”
Everyone present couldn’t help trembling, cold sweat beading on their foreheads. They couldn’t even be buried in their ancestral graves after death?
Granny Qin’s gaze was sharp as a blade. “Don’t think I’m trying to frighten you. Every few years, this brokerage gets rid of several corpses. None of the common people dare ask questions, and the authorities never investigate. Those who die are precisely the ones who don’t know their place. Naturally, I hope none of you will follow that path.
“Now listen carefully. I’ll only say this once. If you can’t remember everything, remind one another. What should servants do, and what must servants never do?”
After Granny Qin’s display of authority, there was not a single person present who did not summon all their concentration and listen with utmost attention.
Even Li Xiaoxiao listened with great interest.
This was the first time she had come into contact with the rules governing how this world operated. It was very likely that she would have to conduct herself according to these rules for a long time to come, so of course she listened very carefully.
Naturally, Granny Qin could not give these refugees a lecture on palace regulations. They could barely recognize a single written character, and their memories were certainly not very good either. She merely told them some taboos and etiquette, such as what kind of courtesy to show when they saw their master, what kind of courtesy to show when they encountered an official, and the division of wealthy households’ residences into front and rear courtyards.
Men over twelve were forbidden from entering the rear courtyard, while female servants from the outer courtyard were also forbidden from entering casually. After explaining everything, she randomly picked someone to recall what she had just said. Fortunately, there was not much to remember, and everyone had perked up and listened attentively, so the results were quite good.
Granny Qin was very satisfied. She then demonstrated the proper postures for saluting. There were mainly the clasped-hands salute, kneeling salute, kowtow, bow, and wanfu salute. Everyone followed along, their postures awkward and stiff. Granny Qin did not demand that they perform them perfectly right away, but they absolutely had to remember what each type of salute looked like and on what occasions it should be used.
Although none of these required heavy lifting or carrying, going through all those salutes was still quite tiring, especially since these refugees were still hungry. The movements were not particularly difficult, but constantly moving around still consumed a considerable amount of energy.
Finally, after inspecting their postures, Granny Qin announced, “That’s enough for today. Tomorrow, you’ll practice for another day with the others. The morning after that, I’ll take you out to meet some distinguished people. What kind of fortune you’ll have and what kind of master household you’ll find will all depend on that day. All of you, keep your spirits up. Distinguished people don’t like servants who are timid and shrinking, or who even make a simple salute look petty and unsophisticated.”
Everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.
After Granny Qin left, an old man with a towel draped over his shoulder came over. “Come over here and eat.”
The moment they heard there was food, the refugees immediately ran over at full speed. When they entered the dining hall, they discovered seven or eight tables inside. The other tables were already occupied. When the people inside saw the newcomers enter, they merely glanced at them indifferently before lowering their heads and continuing to eat.
New people came and went through the brokerage at regular intervals, so they had long since grown accustomed to it.
The old man pointed at two empty tables in the corner. “You sit over there.”
The eight people divided themselves between the two tables. Each table had four bowls of porridge and a small basket of steamed buns.
There was one large bowl of porridge per person and two steamed buns each. Although Li Xiaoxiao had already eaten ten steamed buns, she did not hold back at all and finished all the porridge and steamed buns as well.
These steamed buns seemed to have been made from unleavened dough. They were hard as rocks. If they were used as concealed weapons, one hit would probably be enough to give someone a concussion. Li Xiaoxiao sighed. They were nowhere near as delicious as the steamed buns she had bought from the shop earlier.
But the others were clearly quite satisfied. After going hungry for so long, even steamed buns made from unleavened dough tasted delicious to them. Moreover, a bowl of porridge and two steamed buns only filled them halfway. Thinking that there would be two more meals tomorrow, they could not help looking forward to them.
After they finished eating, darkness had fallen. One of the women who had gone out with Wei Yingjie during the day, known as Sister Gao, came to lead Li Xiaoxiao and the other three women to the communal sleeping quarters on the east side.
“The other rooms are all full. The four of you will sleep here tonight.”
Their bellies were full, their bodies were no longer smelly and soaked with dampness, and they could even sleep on a bed. A life like this seemed like something that could only appear in a dream, and it immediately brought one of the younger girls to tears.
Once she started crying, the others began crying as well, and then they wiped each other’s tears.
The first girl to cry wiped her tears dry first. “My name is Qiaoniang. I don’t know what I should call the older sisters?”
The other two said, “My name is Dahua.”
“My name is Er Niu.”
All three looked at Li Xiaoxiao at the same time. However, they did not need her to introduce herself. Li Xiaoxiao’s performance that day had already been enough for them to remember her name.
They were actually quite envious of how recklessly bold she was.
The women then told one another their ages. Qiaoniang was fifteen this year, Dahua was seventeen, and Er Niu was the oldest, at twenty.
Upon hearing that Er Niu was twenty, Dahua asked, “Sister Er Niu, are you married?”
A sorrowful expression immediately appeared on Er Niu’s face. “I’ve been married for more than three years. I had two children, but both died before they were even a year old. This time, when the flood came, I…” She covered her face and began to weep.
She had fled together with her husband’s family. Who could have imagined that after days of heavy rain, they would encounter a flash flood and the entire family would be swept into the waters? She, her husband, and her parents-in-law had all clung to a tree, trembling in terror as they were battered by the floodwaters.
At first, they thought they were lucky to have managed to grab onto a tree. As long as the rain stopped and the floodwaters receded, they would still have a chance of surviving. But the water kept rising higher and higher, and they climbed farther and farther up until they were almost at the top of the tree. The branches at the very top naturally could not bear the weight of four people, so her mother-in-law ordered her to let go and leave the chance of survival to the three members of their family.
With her life hanging in the balance, Er Niu naturally refused to let go. Even though deep down she believed that her husband was her entire world, the instinct to survive still made it impossible for her to release her hands.
Then her husband personally pried her fingers open, one by one.
Er Niu was fortunate enough to survive. After her hands were pried loose, she was quickly swept into the floodwaters, but after being tossed through only a few waves, she managed to grab onto another tree, and this one was even taller and sturdier. This time, no one was fighting her for it, and no one was prying her hands loose.
Not long after she clung to that tree, she watched as her mother-in-law, father-in-law, and husband were swept away one after another right before her eyes.
Sure enough, even after prying her fingers loose, that tree had not been able to support the three of them.
…
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