Hearing that Mo Qianxue was the lady, nanny Mu instantly smiled pleasingly to her, "Oh, it turns out that lady come to select girls personally. Sorry if I did anything offensive."
This nanny Mu was obviously a sophisticated and tactful business person, her words having no fault to pick, "My studio has all kinds of servants that you can find across the whole Tianxiang city. There is indeed no better place than this. Uncle Yu is very responsible. He has come to choose many days ago. Wait and I'll let the girls out."
Mo Qianxue didn't flow with her words and still said coldly, "No thanks. Let all the girls stand in a row. I'll choose by myself."
The servant girls would be serving her, so they must be to her likings. Why not check all of then instead of selecting from the candidates that had been chosen by others first? It wasn't a life principle of Mo Qianxue to let other people arrange her life.
Mo Qianxue's tone made nanny Mu understand that she wasn't a person that was easily manipulated. Nanny Mu's smile wasn't put out but blossomed brighter. She clapped her hands, "Girls, come out."
Mo Qianxue had to admit that nanny Mu was a good discipliner. With her clapping, the girls standing outside at once mixed into a row, and the other girls coming from inside also immediately stood in a neat row too.
Mo Qianxue's eyes screened over the dozens of young girls, who were mostly at the age of twelve or thirteen. In modern times, they should be going to middle school, but here they already had to work to support themselves.
These girls all carried unhealthy faces, and their clothes were ragged but clean. Mo Qianxue nodded. She hated things to be messy or dirty. Hygiene was the top priority.
But to select two girls from so many people wasn't an easy thing.
She only needed two servants. One must be a good cook, and the other must be excelled at embroidery work. Of course, both of them should be clever and knew how to read air.
Those girls were also secretly regarding Mo Qianxue. Her elegant manners, clear voice, upright eyes were way nicer than those arrogant butlers or nannies from big families, the damn snobs who visited here most.
Hence, by the intuition that had been honed in such an environment, they immediately realized that this woman must be a kind person and that there was a happy life waiting ahead if being bought by her. At least, they wouldn't be beaten or cursed or starved for no reasons.
With the two parties regarding each other, the yard momentarily became quiet.
Yet, after a moment of quiet, most of the girls standing in the yard swarmed to Mo Qianxue and kneeled on the ground before her, yelling one after another, "Madam, I can cook and wash. Please choose me."
"Madam, I'm good at making bed. Please take me back."
Mo Qianxue frowned. Just now that nanny had taught them to use honorific but they forgot in only a few minutes and still used the first person to call themselves. She wasn't emphasizing about social classes, but she didn't like or consider to deal with people who didn't listen after times of repetition and didn't have a sense of propriety.
Seeing Mo Qianxue frowning, nanny Mu sternly looked at these girls and snorted, which made them quiet at once. But still, their eyes looking up were full of begging and expectancy.
Then, Mo Qianxue shifted her eyes to the girls coming out from inside the house. Although their eyes were also expectant, they stood at where they were respectfully and waiting for orders.
Mo Qianxue's cold face turned to the girls rushing over, "Those who has rushed over, stand aside." Then, she turned away to and pointed at the well-behaved ones, "You, come here."
The girls who had rushed over were so frustrated that a few even shed tears at once, but nanny Mu's piercing eyes stopped them from moving again.
The eyes of the well-behaved girls were lip up in an instant.
Mo Qianxue counted, and there were twenty of them. "Those who can cook stand on the left; who know embroidery work stand on the right; who are literal stand in the middle."
Soon, the twenty people were divided into three groups. A few hesitating to choose a group were immediately eliminated by Mo Qianxue, because those who even didn't know their advantages couldn't be clever people.
Now, there were fifteen left.
She went to the left side and swept over the girls, "Hold out your hands."
Although her voice wasn't loud or fully domineering, the trace of coldness in it made her sound authoritative. The girls, in a fluster, stuck out their hands.
Could the girls with dirty nails and palms make a hygienic meal? After this check, only two girls left.
Mo Qianxue then asked two seemingly random question and kept one of them.
That girl's eyes were upright. At first glance, Mo Qianxue knew she was a straightforward and easy-going person.
In the same way, Mo Qianxue picked a delicate-faced and shy girl from the group who were apt at embroidery work.
With the delicate face and shy look, the eyes of the girl were clear and flexible, indicating a kind of cleverness and lovability amidst her purity and innocence.
Moreover, although her clothes were worn out and fixed with patches, the patches were in the shape of lotus flowers. It meant that she had a diligent hand, a smart mind and a good taste.
As for the literal group, it was merely a pretense. Through careful examination, she found that all the girls in that group displayed an air of arrogance as well as a ghost of frivolity hidden between their eyebrows.
The servant girls she wanted to buy was for labor other than concubine candidates for Ning Shaoqing. She couldn't afford to feed these people at home.
After selecting the girls that she wanted, Mo Qianxue turned to look at nanny Mu, asking, "How much are these two girls?"
As a businessperson in human trafficking, nanny Mu had a pair of sharp eyes. In fact, she liked and valued the two selected girls very much for their appearance and temperament, because after one or two years' training, they would probably be sold out as a dowry girl or concubine to an old man, either of which at quite a high price.
Hence, she hesitated.
Uncle Yu understood her hesitation and smiled, "Nanny Mu, are you unwilling to sell them? The butler Zhang that introduced me to you has bought people here for many times. I come here because I trust him. But if you hesitate to sell, then I'll just go to another place. I'm afraid butler Zhang would distrust you too."
Hearing that she might lose a regular customer, nanny Mu hurriedly stopped being hesitant and laughed, "No, manager Yu. You misunderstand me. I'm thinking on the price. I bought these two girls each at ten taels of silver. Taking consideration into your face, I only add five for each, so it'll be thirty taels of silver in total. What do you think?"
Uncle Yu shook his head, "Nanny Mu, don't think I'm unfamiliar with your industry only because I do wine business. Girls like this worth five taels at most. Isn't it too unfair that the price increases many times after your training?"
Nanny Mu didn't at all blushed when her trick was exposed and only smiled, "Alright. Let's be straightforward. What about twenty? After all, manager Yu, I should earn some for my hard work."
Uncle Yu looked to Mo Qianxue, and as she nodded, the price was settled. Nanny Mu drove the frustrated girls into the room and then got inside to take out the contracts of the two girls.
Mo Qianxue paid the money, took over the contracts and left with the two girls.
The two girls kneeled and kowtowed to Mo Qianxue with all respects as the formal courtesy towards their new lady and then flusteredly followed Mo Qianxue back to Tingfengquan the winery.
Mo Qianxue felt pity on them wearing the worn-out clothes, especial the girl who could cook in a gown full of piles of patches, so she ordered Awu to buy two ready-made clothes for them.
However, the two sets of plain clothes made of crude cotton lit up the two girls' eyes. They bowed as gratitude, hurriedly went into a room to get changed and then walked out obediently.
As the say goes, the tailor makes the man! After they got changed, they looked cleaner and more pleasant to the eye.
Uncle Yu couldn't help nodding and praised to himself the good eyesight of his lady, smiling, "Lady, you have good eyesight. These two girls indeed look nice. Lord wouldn't dislike them."
It was fine that she liked the people she had selected. What did it have anything to do with hid lord?
Mo Qianxue grumbled in secrecy but was also satisfied of her choice, so she chatted with uncle Yu for another moment before taking the carriage back to the village.
*
As for Asan, after he sneaked into the Jian mansion, he inquired the courtyard of the fifth lady Jian Qinghua and headed there.
Jian Qinghua was feeling depressed in her room. Yesterday, the plan hadn't worked out and also let her second brother fall off from the high window. When she arrived, he had already passed out for a long time.
The falling dislocated his chest bone. A doctor had visited to set the bone and said that he was alright and would be better after lying in bed to rest for a few days.
Yet, somehow, last night, in coma, her second brother who couldn't move at all had fallen off the bed to ground again. The cold weather not only worsened his condition, but also let him catch a fever to talk nonsense all the time.
Those stupid servants!
Cursing the servants, she then took out the shoe that she had picked up in the study of the second lord Jian, murmuring: Mo Qianxue, although you got away yesterday, I still have a way to deal with you.
With this shoe, she could threaten her. A shoe of a woman had multiple usages. As long as the right one was utilized, she could never escape from the sin of unchastity.
As long as she panicked and stopped stepping in, her goal would be achieved for sure.
Holding the shoe, she was proud of her slyness when a person broke in through the window.
Subconsciously, Jian Qinghua screamed, "Ah."
Asan ignored her scream and only threw her a letter that he had bought from a scholar who sold calligraphy on the market before flying stealthily out of Jian mansion.
Jian Qinghua of course recognized Asan. He was the cold-faced guard who almost threw her out of the Ning's last time.
Holding this letter, Jian Qinghua got excited. It…It must be Mr. Ning changing his mind.
The servant girls and nanny rushed in on hearing the scream, "Lady, what's the matter?"
Jian Qinghua hurriedly hid the letter in her sleeve and shook her head, "Nothing. There was a rat running by. I was taken aback."
"Oh. Then I can wait here in case that the rat ran out again and scared you…" The nanny comforted her lady while doubting where could this rat come out? It must be those lazy girls that didn't clean up the room. Later, she must give them a lesson.
Hearing this, Jian Qinghua quickly waved her hand, "No. It doesn't matter. You go and rest. I want to stay here alone."
"Yes." The nanny saw the smile in the eyes of her lady who seemed to be in a good mood and was confused.
A moment ago after she visited the second young lord, she came back with a crying face. Now, after being taken aback by a rat, she smiled with joy. With the doubt, the nanny left on the order.
As soon as she left, Jian Qinghua couldn't wait and opened the envelop. It wrote: At noon tomorrow, let's meet at the peach forest at Hanshan Temple so as to relieve me from lovesickness.
Mr. Ning wanted to meet me?! Great! Finally, he understood my advantages.
To relieve him from lovesickness! He must fall in love with me after that day. It must be the bad words from Mrs. Ning that he had misunderstood me and shown aversion the other day…
*
It took an hour to get back to the Wang village. Mo Qianxue didn't plan to stay numbly staring at one another with the two girls, so she began to chat with them. To her surprise, they kneeled again and replied: lady, please name us.
Mo Qianxue thought about it and remembered that this seemed to be a rule in big mansions. Therefore, she decided to act accordingly, but for a moment, she didn't think of any good names.
At the sight of their proper manner and recalling the disciplining words words of nanny Mu, she suddenly had a brain wave and pointed at the one who cooked, "You're Mingyue."
And then at the one who knew needlework, "You're Caixia."
Let's cosplay the TV series Pearl Princess. Hence, she burst into laugher.
Mingyue and Caixia didn't know what their lady was laughing at and, taking a glance at each other, kowtowed to her, "Thanking you for naming us, lady."
Then, Mo Qianxue asked about their family background.
She could rest more assured if she knew more about the people serving around her.
Besides, from chatting, she could figure out what kind of people they were so that in the future she could apply proper methods to manage them.
Mingyue, merely twelve years old, was younger than Caixia. Her mother gave birth to six daughters in a row before the family finally had a son. Yet, the boy had been in poor health since birth.
He got sick often, and in order to cover the medicine cost, the poor family couldn't make ends meet long ago. They frequently skipped a meal or two. When occasionally, there was something good, it must be saved for her younger brother.
Just as the old saying goes, the poorer a family is, the more children it has; and the more children it has, the poorer it becomes.
They had borrowed money from all their relatives, so later, even when their grandparents met them, they tried to avoid the encounter before exchanging a greeting.
Last month, her little brother fell ill again, but there was no money to send for a doctor. At the end of the rope, his father decided to be ruthless and sell out her, the biggest child, and the youngest sister.
Her youngest sister was very young, only five years old. A few days ago when someone had come to buy servants, the buyer picked many faults and bargained against Mu nanny for a long time, so at last, nanny Mu gave the buyer her youngest sister for free.
Speaking of this, Mingyue didn't complained her parents' heartlessness but cried for her little sister being deprived of love and care at such a young age.
Caixia's parents died young, so she had lived with her brother and sister-in-law. The sister-in-law was a greedy woman and wanted to sell her to a rich local old man as a concubine.
The old man was over sixty, with grandsons elder than her. In addition, at that time, he had already stayed in bed motionlessly. Therefore, she was actually married him as a luck concubine.
If incident had taken place and the old man died, she would be buried with him too.
Certainly, she wasn't willing to, so she ran away at night.
Mo Qianxue didn't expect that such a seemingly shy and fragile girl should dare to run away on a marriage. Appearances were deceitful, indeed.
When she had run away and then been caught back by her families, the 'good time' had missed, and the old man had kicked the bucket. In view that the money didn't get, the cold-hearted sister-in-law decided to sell her out.
Her brother was a coward. With so many mouths to feed in the family and due to the fact that his own children often starved, he had no energy to care about her. On the day when she had been sold out, he even didn't show up to say goodbye to her.
The two girls talked about their former lives, not crying out loud, but tears brimmed out of their eyes nonstop.
As the famous sentence written by Tolstoy goes: Happy families resemble one another, but unhappy families are unhappy in their own way.
The two came from simple families and remained innocent and pure since they hadn't been sold out many times. Mo Qianxue sympathized them and at the same time rested assured.
She helped them wiped tears and comforted, "Mingyue, Caixia, from today, you're my intimate servants. As long as you do your work, I promise to provide for you and never to sell you away."
"Thank you, lady." The two thanked and was about to kneel again but was stopped by Mo Qianxue. She didn't have the habit to receive that all the time. It was fine as long as due respect had been shown. Too much courtesy would make her uncomfortable.
Then, she said gently, "Don't be afraid. In the future, we're families. Later, you'll get to know that I'm not hard to please as long as you complete your due part."
Mingyue and Caixie replied, "Yes." Then they said no more and only kept sobbing.
Mo Qianxue didn't comforted them anymore because she knew that they needed to cry out the pain and that the scares would take some time to be healed.
People's hearts were soft at the first place. With time, as long as she treated them well and when they had an emotional connection with her, they would naturally be loyal to her.