Chapter 335: The Family Will Be Eaten into Bankruptcy

Sure enough, Ya Zi said, “These are servants from the recently disgraced Salt Transport Officer’s household. The Salt Transport Officer himself has been escorted to the capital, and his servants are being sold off locally. There are several stewards in this group.”

He pointed to a middle-aged man. “This is Steward Qin. He was the steward of the outer courtyard.”

He then pointed to another man, a bearded fellow who looked a bit older. “This is Steward Liu, the inner courtyard steward.”

Gu Zhang didn’t really understand the difference between an inner and outer courtyard, so he glanced at Gu Fei. When she nodded, Gu Zhang said, “We’ll take both of them, then. If they have families, we’ll buy them all together.”

The human trafficker was overjoyed. This was a huge sale.

He went up onto the stage, called the two men out, and said, “Do you have family here? The new master is kind and willing to buy your entire families so that you won’t be separated from your loved ones.”

The two men had assumed they would inevitably be separated from their families and never expected such a turn of fortune. They quickly brought all their family members forward.

Steward Qin’s wife used to serve the lady of the house. They had a thirteen-year-old daughter, Fang Fang, who worked in the young miss’s courtyard. Because of her young age, she was only a third-rank maid.

Their son, Qin Shun, was fifteen. He usually accompanied the young master on outings and was literate.

Steward Liu’s wife was an excellent cook who used to manage the kitchens. They had two sons and a daughter. Their eldest son, twenty-year-old Liu Fu, was also literate. He was married to Mrs. Zhou, who looked to be about five or six months pregnant.

The younger son was about fourteen or fifteen and used to work in the outer courtyard.

Their daughter was sixteen, tall and slender, with pleasant features. She had apparently been a first-rank maid serving the young miss.

‘Okay, we’ve got stewards and servants. This should be enough to start with,’ Gu Fei thought.

The human trafficker did the math. The total came to two hundred and ten silver.

The contracts were written up on the spot, and everyone pressed their thumbprints on them. Gu Zhang then had Er Lang accompany Ya Zi to the government office to get the documents officially stamped.

Gu Fei went along. While there, she also had the deeds for their land and house stamped by the government and officially filed.

After they were done, Gu Fei noticed that all the new servants were wearing dirty undergarments, so she went to a clothing shop and bought a large pile of clothes. She also bought plenty of bedding, luggage, bathing tubs, washbasins, and toothbrushes. ‘With all these new people,’ she thought, ‘we probably won’t have enough bowls, chopsticks, or teacups back home.’ So she bought more of those as well.

Only then did she hire two carriages to take everyone home.

When they arrived, they found the main gate locked. ‘Mrs. Chen must have gone to the fields again,’ Gu Fei guessed.

Fortunately, Gu Zhang had the key. He opened the gate and led everyone inside.

Er Lang hurried to the fields to get Mrs. Chen and the others.

A short while later, Mrs. Chen, Lan Zhi, and Li Chunhua, who was holding Little Cao’s hand, all returned.

They all stared in shock at the crowd of servants in the courtyard.

Mrs. Chen’s voice trembled. “All… all these people… you just bought them?”

‘Heavens! With so many people to feed, how much grain will they go through in a day? They’ll eat us out of house and home!’

Gu Fei knew her mother would be distressed by the expense, so she whispered in her ear, “Mom, your daughter has money. This is nothing. From now on, you don’t have to work in the fields anymore. We’ll hire long-term laborers for that. If you get bored, you can just tend to the vegetable garden out back. And please, you have to take good care of my apple trees.”

Gu Fei had planted a number of apple seeds in the spring, but so far only three small saplings had sprouted. She made sure to check on them every time she came home.

Still trembling, Mrs. Chen stammered, “But… but we have no use for so many people in the house!”

As soon as Mrs. Chen spoke, the servants in the courtyard grew anxious. Having finally been sold together as families, they desperately wanted to stay.