Money Well Spent

Zhao Ruxi bought people for business purposes, and in this era, men were naturally preferred.

However, when she was buying people, she kept all the women who were of good character and appearance.

Women have a much harder time than men in this world. Buying another person might not seem like much, but it gives these women an opportunity. In fact, women are just as capable as men in many things. If there's a suitable job, she'd rather use a woman than a man.

Of course, forget about the idea that "men and women working together makes the work easier." That's not allowed in this era.

Therefore, of the thirty-five people she bought, besides the eight women in these four families, she also bought seven other women, making a total of fifteen.

Among them was a cook, a widow in her late twenties, all alone; and two maids, around fourteen or fifteen years old. These three were sold off by a convicted official, and they all seemed to be honest and law-abiding people.

The other four were all village girls, sold into servitude because their families couldn't afford to eat; they were all between twelve and fifteen years old.

In those days, needlework was a woman's most basic skill; even village girls had to learn it, since they would be responsible for making clothes for the whole family after marriage. It wasn't difficult for fifteen women to each make a set of bedding. Of course, it wasn't possible for each woman to have her own set; two women sharing a set was perfectly fine.

Therefore, Zhao Ruxi adopted Sister-in-law Sun's suggestion.

"Was your master in charge of things in your previous household? Then I'll leave today's matters to him," Zhao Ruxi said.

It takes time to calculate how much fabric is needed for bedding and clothing, who to assign to buy it, and who to do the work. Since Broker Wang recommended Zhou Chun, saying he was capable, she'll see what Zhou Chun's abilities are like.

If she's capable, then she'll have someone useful.

Sister-in-law Sun immediately beamed with joy and bowed to Zhao Ruxi, saying, "Thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to manage the household, young lady."

As she spoke, she quickly turned to her daughter and asked her to call her husband over.

After Zhou Chun arrived, Zhao Ruxi repeated what she had just said. She deliberately only gave the order without explaining how to do it, wanting to see how Zhou Chun could handle the situation.

Zhou Chun was naturally Gao Xing to be valued by his master so soon after arriving.

He asked, "Can I use everyone here?"

"Yes." Zhao Ruxi nodded. "The estate has nothing but beds. You need to buy everything you need within 45 minutes, such as bedding, clothing, food, seasonings, cooking utensils, bowls and chopsticks, etc. My coachman, Uncle Lu, can take you there. It's getting late; we need to go to the estate in 45 minutes."

"Yes." Zhou Chun bowed.

He first instructed his wife, "Make a list of all the cloth we need."

"Okay." Sister-in-law Sun knew that if this matter could be handled well, her husband would be highly valued by his master, which was an excellent opportunity that she had to seize. Therefore, she quickly took her daughter to make the statistics.

Seeing this, Zhao Ruxi instructed Qingfeng to bring a charcoal pencil and some white paper to Sister-in-law Sun, and taught her how to use them.

Over there, Zhou Chun called over the widowed cook and said, "Sister-in-law Li, you're in charge of everyone's meals. Take the girls and cook. Tell my daughter what you need to buy, and have her write it down. We'll go buy it in a bit."

Zhou Chun's daughter was only twelve years old. She had been given the name Kui'er, a maid, at the residence of a corrupt official. Because she had only been working there for a short time, she was only a third-class maid.

Although she was young, she was clever. She had already seen the charcoal pencil and paper that Qingfeng used at her mother's place, asked her for a set, and ran over to help Sister-in-law Li with the statistics.

Zhou Chun reminded her, "There are thirty-five people here in total. Each person gets one bowl and one pair of chopsticks. Make a note of that."

Zhou Kui'er quickly wrote it down, then looked up at Sister-in-law Li, Sister-in-law Li immediately told her what cooking utensils she wanted to buy.

Seeing that both tasks were underway, Zhou Chun then asked Zhao Ruxi, "Miss, is the estate far from here? If it's not far, we can each take two items after buying them and carry them over without hiring a mule cart; otherwise, we'll have to hire a mule cart to transport the goods."

"It's far," Zhao Ruxi said. "Send someone to hire a mule cart, not only to transport the goods, but you can all ride along too."

"Which one of you is Uncle Lu?" Zhou Chun asked again.

Zhao Ruxi pointed in the direction where Uncle Lu was.

Zhou Chun bowed and ran over. After talking with Uncle Lu for a while, he returned to report to Zhao Ruxi, "Uncle Lu said we're leaving the city and will be passing by the market. Although it's not a big market day, the general stores and clothing shops are right next to it. I was thinking, why don't we just hire a mule cart here, buy what we need, and leave?"

Zhao Ruxi was already very satisfied with Zhou Chun.

Education levels were low in this era, and many people weren't very bright. People like Zhou Chun, who prioritized tasks, arranged things clearly, and knew how to manage time, were truly rare talents.

Coming from the modern era, she knew best what was most precious: talent. The extra two hundred taels of silver she spent on Broker Wang was definitely worth it.

She smiled and nodded, "That's good, let's do it your way."

Sister-in-law Sun had already calculated the amount of fabric needed, and when she came over, she overheard Zhao Ruxi praising her husband, which made her very Gao Xing.

Zhou Chun disregarded all this, bowed, and then summoned his fifteen-year-old son, instructing him to go with Uncle Lu to hire a mule cart.

A short while later, the mule cart arrived. He first came over to ask Zhao Ruxi for permission, and after receiving her approval, he told people to go out and get on the cart.

Zhao Ruxi followed them outside and saw that Zhou Chun wasn't telling everyone to get on the car all at once, but rather making arrangements for them one by one.

Those families were separated and arranged into two or three vehicles, as were those sold by the same convicted official's family; even the individual families were grouped together. The male heads of the four families were left to board last. Of course, men and women rode separately.

This is when you can see the true nature of some people's personalities.

There were two village girls, probably from the same village, who refused to separate and insisted on getting on the same bus together.

Before Zhou Chun could speak, Sister-in-law Sun threatened them, "Once you've sold yourself, you're a slave. You have to do whatever your master tells you to do. If you don't obey, the girl will be sent back to the middleman. And then the middleman will sell you to a brothel..."

She didn't finish her sentence, but the two young maids were quite frightened. They glanced at Zhao Ruxi, who was silently watching them without saying a word, and quickly obeyed, each getting into a carriage.

Zhao Ruxi understood that the two girls were afraid and didn't have any ill feelings towards them. However, she secretly remembered the two young men who disobeyed her orders.

Because they needed to load things onto the carriages later, Zhou Chun arranged for six people to ride in each carriage, making a total of six carriages. In addition, Zhao Ruxi's own carriage was added, and the group set off for the market in a grand procession.