However, when she heard the price Mrs. Li named, Su Tang was shocked: “What do you mean, eleven taels of silver? Wasn’t Zhang Cuilan only ten taels last time?!”
Why was Yu Caihe more expensive than Zhang Cuilan? Weren’t they about the same age and about equivalent as labor force? Was this Mrs. Li inflating the price?
When Mrs. Li smiled wryly, “Compared to Zhang Cuilan, she has different qualities.”
Of course, speaking purely from the perspective of their value as labor force there wasn’t much difference between Zhang Cuilan and Yu Caihe, but considering Yu Caihe’s other qualities, her only value wasn’t just her value as a labor force so, naturally, she was a little more expensive.
As she spoke, Mrs. Li looked at Yu Caihe’s face in a way that wasn’t subtle at all. Seeing that, the corners of Su Tang’s mouth twitched, and finally, she exclaimed: “But for my purposes, the qualities are the same.”
Sure Yu Caihe had a pretty face, but with what Su Tang was hiring for she no different from Zhang Cuilan, okay? However, despite the fact that she probably couldn’t work any harder or faster, she was more expensive than Zhang Cuilan? Although Su Tang had borrowed some money from Song Yi, she would need to pay back the money she borrowed in the end, so in a way, this was her own money being wasted! Just for a pretty face, she would need to swallow a higher price and lose money? Wasn’t that just making a loss?
But Mrs. Li was firm, “Miss Su, with her qualities, perhaps she can also play a different role for you. I’m sure you will find her more useful somehow.”
Mrs. Li was ruthless and didn’t plan to make any exceptions for Yu Caihe at all. The price was the price, and that was that. She was running a slave shop, not a charity house.
Yu Caihe heard their conversation and looked mournfully at Su Tang. She didn’t want this face either, ah. After all, just because of this face, she had suffered a lot of unnecessary hardships in life. But what could she do? It was the face she was born with.
Su Tang carefully looked at Yu Caihe’s face one more time. Thinking about it, she was probably at least on the level of one of those small stars in the entertainment industry from the modern era, so maybe just having someone so pretty around really was worth an extra silver or two.
“Fine then. Where’s her contract?” Su Tang finally relented and took out a silver spindle with ten taels before fishing around in her pouch and coming up with another few pieces of broken silver to make up the extra tael.
Mrs. Li immediately produced Yu Caihe’s slave contract and passed it to Su Tang. “Miss Su, I assure you, you aren’t making a loss this time.”
‘I’ll just take it as having something to purify my eyes.’ Su Tang silently comforted herself, completely uninterested in responding to Mrs. Li.
When Yu Caihe saw Su Tang had handed over the silver, she knew that she had finally been bought for real. She quickly stood up and swiftly packed her things before following Su Tang back to the courtyard that Luo Xingchen had rented.
“Ms. Lan, she will be living with you in the future, so please make the necessary arrangements.” When they got back, Su Tang instructed Zhang Cuilan.
Zhang Cuilan was a bit surprised when she saw the two of them coming in the door. She had known that Su Tang had gone out to run errands earlier this morning, and she had heard from Su Tang that she planned to add one or two more people soon, but unexpectedly she moved so quickly and already brought another person back. And it was even such a beautiful young woman.
But when she heard Su Tang’s words, she snapped out of her surprise and promised, “This servant understands. This servant will go and clean things up now.”
“There’s no need to hurry and do it right away. Also, from now on, Ms. He here will be working to make soap with you, and Baohe will come and stay by me.” Su Tang told Zhang Cuilan about the new arrangements she had planned.
After all, Baohe was only ten years old this year and, although it wasn’t like she was a baby, she was still a child. She had been making soap with her mother up until now and, although the work was fairly simple, it took a lot of effort and wasn’t easy for a child.
So now that Su Tang had brought another adult back, she felt it would be better to let the two adults handle making the soap and let Baohe just follow by her side to do simpler work like making desserts or serving tea. Although they weren’t a real noble family or anything, it was tantamount to bringing her in as a personal servant girl, so it was definitely considered a promotion for Baohe.
As soon as Zhang Cuilan heard Su Tang’s plan for her daughter, she gladly saluted Su Tang, “This servant thanks the young miss!”
And when Baohe heard that she would be following Su Tang, she also came forward to salute. “This servant will definitely do a good job in the future.”
“En!” Su Tang nodded. Then she turned to Yu Caihe and said. “There aren’t many people in this household. Your masters are just me and my brother, and as long as you work hard, you can always have peace of mind and eat and drink your fill. If you want to live a safe and stable life, you can definitely do so here.”
“There’s only one rule, and that rule is that you need to be careful with your mouth. Everything you see in this household and about my brother and I, keep it all to yourself. And remember, I mean everything. Don’t say a single word to any outsiders.”
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tl begging corner:
If you are running a shop it’s a far better idea to put the pretty people in sales