Contentment with modest wealth

Chapter 83 Missy

The Prince's residence was not far away, and the person was brought there soon.

He was a strong and steady young man in his early twenties.

When he arrived, he looked at Qinghe with red eyes. Qinghe was also shedding tears. Then she gestured for him to kneel down before Lu Jia.

Seeing that he was strong and had clear eyes, Lu Jia asked, "What's your name?"

"Xiao Changfu means long life and good fortune."

"Can you read?"

I know a few things superficially.

His reply was quick-witted.

Lu Jia glanced again at Qinghe, whose expression and posture remained dignified even though she was in tears, and was even more satisfied. She nodded and said, "From now on, you are mine. You will never have to be separated from your mother again."

"Thank you girl!"

While Changfu was kneeling and kowtowing, Qinghe also knelt down and kowtowed several times with tears in her eyes.

Qinghe and the other three were all purchasing agents, and their indentures were still in the hands of the Prince's Mansion. Changfu's father, however, was a member of the Prince's Mansion, so he was considered a "household servant" of the Prince's Mansion. Moreover, male servants were more useful to the Prince's Mansion. Lu Jia had not held out much hope, but to her surprise, not only did it work out, but she also got everything she wanted for only twenty taels of silver.

The rest was completely straightforward. Lu Jia spent a total of one hundred taels of silver to receive the indentures of five people from the man in brocade.

While she was happily leading the person to the car, Shen Qingzhou walked up to the man in brocade, cupped her hands in thanks, and said, "Thank you."

Prince Yi panicked so much that his knees went weak: "Please stop! If my brother finds out I'm still taking money from you, he'll break my legs."

Shen Qingzhou smiled and said, "Alright, you did a good job. I'll write a letter to your brother later to praise you."

Prince Yi was so grateful he almost burst into tears: "My lord, you must remember this!"

……

The two men, Qing and Bai, are not yet forty years old and are in their prime.

Fuxiao and Zhimu are both twenty years old, which is the age for marriage.

On the way, Lu Jia asked them what they thought, and they just hoped to continue saving money to send back to their families, and they weren't in a hurry to get married.

Lu Jia then inquired a few more questions about their family situation. It turned out that Fu Xiao had a twelve-year-old younger sister from the same mother. She was weak and needed to take medicine. After her father died, her stepmother didn't care about her. At least she had something to eat.

Zhi Mu, however, came from a declining scholarly family. Her father was a scholar who had passed the imperial examinations but died of illness long ago. Her mother raised her until she was eight years old, but due to extreme poverty, she was sent to the Prince's mansion.

Later, my mother remarried, but she was often bullied by her mother-in-law and sisters-in-law.

They're all just unfortunate people.

Lu Jia led everyone back to the Xie family home. They were all quite calm and ordinary. Although they showed a lot of curiosity about the farm tools in the yard, they did not show any disgust.

That's good. If they can't accept the Xie family's financial situation, they'll inevitably be vulnerable to being taken advantage of because they're materialistic and snobbish.

This made Lu Jia feel even more that Qin Zhou was a rare find; he was practically a mind reader, knowing exactly what she was thinking!

When Bai Yin cooked for the first time that night, Lu Jia also stewed a chicken and sent the whole pot to Qin Zhou's room.

"Since I've had Butler Qin, I've been like a tiger with wings. I have nothing to repay you with, so I can only slaughter a chicken for you to eat."

Seeing her smiling face, Shen Qingzhou shook his fan and said, "Is there something you need from me again?"

"I have something to do, but it's not urgent yet. You eat first!"

Lu Jia chuckled and stepped out, closing the door behind him.

Such a capable assistant should definitely be brought directly to the Lu family! But we can't say so now, so as not to give him time to refuse.

With five more people in the family, life suddenly became much easier.

With Qin Zhou in charge of external affairs, Lu Jia first put Qinghe in charge of the household affairs and Baiyin in charge of the kitchen.

For the time being, neither mother nor daughter needed help with things like combing their hair, so Lu Jia let Fuxiao follow her, Zhimu go with Qiu Niang, and Changfu naturally went with Xie Yi. But in the long run, they still wouldn't have enough people. If these five people followed Lu Jia back to the Lu residence, Qiu Niang and the others would still be short-handed.

After discussing it, Lu Jia and Qiu Niang decided to have the brokerage firm they had previously contacted find a group of people to come.

The matchmaker was quite efficient. The message was sent in the morning, and by evening, Lu Jia had gone to the dock to find a boatman. When she returned, Qinghe said that the matchmaker had already sent a message home.

"The old woman said that there were more than a dozen people, men, women, young and old. The girl could choose whichever she wanted."

Lu Jia thought for a moment and then asked her, "Granny Qing, how many more people do you think would be appropriate for our family?"

Qinghe pondered, "Although Fuxiao and Zhimu are the head maids in charge of the young lady and lady's room, they may not be able to handle all the affairs."

"Besides, they are not young anymore, and they can only stay in the girls' rooms for a year or two at most."

“Once she gets married, she should be sent to the outer courtyard, or promoted to a steward’s wife.”

"Therefore, in the young lady's and the mistress's room, there must be someone to take over, so one or two young maids can be added to prepare for training."

"In addition, two maids are needed to be responsible for sweeping and cleaning and the rough work in the kitchen, and one or two servants are needed to be responsible for purchasing and running errands."

"One more gatekeeper will suffice for now."

After Qinghe finished speaking, she thought for a moment and then said, "Miss, you are the head of a big business, so you may not have paid attention to such a small matter as buying a maid. Forgive me for speaking out of turn, but the maid should be between eight and ten years old. Don't choose one with small feet, as she will be clumsy. She doesn't need to be too clever either. As long as she can see clearly and understand what you say, that's fine. The most important thing is that she recognizes her master."

Lu Jia smiled and said, "Then Granny Qing will come with me."

Upon hearing this, Qinghe put down the feather duster and said, "Very well. It's my duty to help you, Miss."

……

As I emerged from the county jail, the moonlight had already climbed into the sky.

The night is as cold as water.

He Qing shuddered for no apparent reason: "Zhang Qi is already the closest person to the Xie family. I wonder if Master Guo has any further instructions?"

The man before me still wore a somber expression, and he gripped the hilt of his sword with his left hand: "Go to the county office and wait for me."

He Qing paused.

The other person glanced at him sideways again: "Didn't you hear me, Lord He?"

He Qing quickly looked down, lowered his head in agreement, and turned to leave.

Those who remained looked around, then stepped out the door and vanished into the night.

Two people were already waiting in the shadows. When they saw him, they came up to him and asked, "How is it?"

He nodded heavily: "Zhang Qi has seen that piece of jade."

"what?!"

The two people in the darkness were taken aback.

"What about you? Have you gone to investigate?"

"I just got back, and there are quite a few people from the Xie family. In particular, the eldest young lady has two bodyguards with excellent martial arts skills. One of them is the one who was with her the night before last."

"They both went to the dock with the young lady tonight. We don't know their martial arts skills yet, but if they want to make a move, the three of us might not be able to succeed in one move."

"Where did she go?"

"The brokerage firm at the dock."

"Several people?"

"Including the eldest daughter, there are four in total."

The man immediately looked towards the dock, then narrowed his eyes after a moment: "Let's go. Things could get complicated if we wait too long!"

(End of this chapter)