An Appointment
Houses in the east of the city were in high demand but short supply. Officials who couldn't buy them, or those who were short of money, would go to the south of the city, which was right next to the east, where houses were second only in price. The west of the city was a step below, and was where minor officials and clerks lived.
The remaining northern part of the city is where ordinary people live.
Although houses in the north of the city are much cheaper, it would be fine if they were bought as dormitories for employees. However, Zhao Ruxi is buying a house to use as a warehouse and processing site for Feicui rough stones, so buying in the north of the city is not suitable. Although the houses are cheaper there, the area is also a mixed bag, and the safety is definitely not as good as the three directions of southeast and west, where the houses are more expensive.
Since the two middlemen were well-known in the government and caught Wu Zong's eye, they naturally had housing resources.
Broker Wang from the south of the city, laughed and said, "I do have a few houses. Miss Zhao, when you have time, you can go and take a look."
Broker Yu from the west of the city also said, "Mine is too. Miss Zhao can take a look."
"Okay." Zhao Ruxi started to worry about how little time she had again.
She thought about the academy's schedule for tomorrow morning and said, "Then let's go tomorrow morning. I can start looking at houses around 7:00 AM. You two can discuss how to arrange it more reasonably. I'd like to look at the houses in the south of the city first, and then go to the west of the city. Let's try to see all the houses in one morning."
The two middlemen exchanged a glance. The Broker Yu Broker Wang, "Then I will wait for you at the entrance of the Earl of Suiping's Residence at noon. I will wait under the big banyan tree at the junction of the south and west sides of the city at noon. If we are late, I will send someone there to let you know."
Broker Yu had no objections and nodded, saying, "Okay."
After arranging the house, Zhao Ruxi began to specify the requirements for the buyers. "Everyone I want to buy must be between 14 and 30 years old. If it's a family, the age range can be more flexible."
The people she hires must be able to work immediately and cannot be too young. Older people are generally more rigid in their thinking and learn things more slowly. Moreover, the number of years they can work for her is limited, so she eliminates older people.
She brought people in, so naturally she had to train them using modern methods; they couldn't learn too slowly.
In modern times, one's thirties are actually a prime time for building a career. They are in their prime, have rich life and work experience, and are highly sought after by various organizations and companies. However, this did not apply in ancient times.
In ancient times, people married young, becoming grandparents by the age of thirty-five or thirty-six. Perhaps it was this sense of status that led her to believe that once someone became a grandparent, they lost their drive and, like modern retirees, began to accept support from their children and grandchildren and simply enjoy life. Of course, this might also be related to the shorter lifespans of people in ancient times.
She wouldn't want an "elderly person" who seeks a comfortable lifestyle.
"Of these people, I want ten capable managers and thirty quick-witted and intelligent ones. If anyone knows a manager who is of good character and highly capable, please introduce them to me."
In this era, some shopkeepers were selected and trained by aristocratic families from among their servants. Others came from commoner backgrounds, much like modern professional managers—they had brains but lacked capital, so they could only work as shopkeepers for others.
That's exactly what she wanted.
She herself would select and train servants, and such managers were highly loyal, wouldn't have any ulterior motives, and were not easily bribed. She could also confidently entrust them with any secret recipes or similar items.
But isn't it too late now? We can only hire two or three managers first, and then train our own people.
As for the accountant, she plans to train him herself.
So she made the following requirements. "Those who can read and write will be given priority, those who are eloquent will be given priority, and those who are clever and quick-witted will be given priority. But what I value most is character. So please don't introduce me to people with questionable character; you should screen them yourselves first. If there are suitable candidates, I will only ask for more people, not fewer. And this isn't a one-off deal; I will be buying more people in the future."
When the middlemen heard that the person they wanted to buy was the young lady of the Earl of Suiping's Residence, they didn't have much hope for this deal.
When young ladies from aristocratic families buy men, it's usually just to acquire a few houses as dowry, or some small estates, mansions, or shops—the value of which isn't very high. They only come because of the influence of Wu Zonghe of the Wu Zong Court of Judicial Review and his yamen runners.
But Zhao Ruxi's demand to buy at least two large houses stunned them. Now, hearing that she wanted to buy so many houses, they were all secretly glad that they had arrived on time and hadn't offended the young lady in any way.
It's important to understand that aristocratic families typically have servants, and it takes a long time for ordinary families to become wealthy. Naturally, they buy people gradually, and buying ten or so at once is already a big deal. Even if aristocratic families want to add people, they only buy children as young as six or seven. It's truly rare to see someone like Zhao Ruxi buying people, especially so many at once.
"That's no problem," Broker Tong from the east of the city. "I have quite a few servants sold off by convicted officials. Some of them are literate and can do math, and many are clever and quick-witted. Miss Zhao can definitely find a satisfactory servant from me."
Even among ordinary people, there are distinctions of status and position.
Broker Tong was originally the son of an official family, living in the east of the city. He was naturally sociable. Later, his family fell into poverty, and having no other skills, he used his resources to become a middleman.
He had connections in both the Court of Judicial Review and the Ministry of Justice, and was able to acquire houses and servants from those places, which made him feel that his status was higher than that of other middlemen.
Zhao Ruxi was prepared to spend tens of thousands of taels of silver to buy a house, but he wasn't included, which made him very frustrated. But now that he had bought the house, it would be his chance to really show off his skills.
Of the five middlemen, Zhao Ruxi felt the one in the east of the city was the least necessary. She didn't want to buy a house in the east of the city, nor did she want to buy servants sold off by offending officials, as these people were prone to getting entangled with other officials' families, which would be troublesome.
However, it's better to offend a gentleman than a petty person.
Although this Broker Tong was introduced by Wu Zong, which meant he wasn't a villain to a large extent, Zhao Ruxi still didn't want to offend someone who mingled with all sorts of people.
She smiled and said, "Alright, then I'll take a look at the servants under Broker Tong's command first."
She looked at the others. "I'll look at everything everyone else has, and I'll pick through them all. Like I said, I'll buy more if I find something good."
She thought for a moment and said, "How about this? Tomorrow at noon, bring all the suitable people with you, and I'll make a selection. To avoid wasting everyone's time, let's arrange the meetings in order: East, South, West, North, and Beining. Each person will have two or three quarters of an hour to meet. Broker Tong will arrive before noon, Broker Wang will arrive at two quarters of an hour after noon, and so on for the rest."
She was short on time, and since this place was convenient, she could only have them bring people here by mule cart.