The two girlfriends cooperated with each other very tacitly, with Su Tang setting it up and Luo Xingchen playing along.
And, sure enough, when Luo Xingchen finished speaking, Jiang Hong looked at her face and could see some traces of embarrassment on the noble young master’s countenance, which caused him to hesitate for a moment.
But Su Tang didn’t give her friend any face at all. She immediately said, “He’s just a little henchman, but look at how hard it is for you to settle him.”
Then she turned to Jiang Hong and Madam Zhang and said, “I thought that since you two had a feud with Second Young Master Luo I would let you meet him in person so you could take your revenge directly. I assumed that he would be able to get the Luo family to personally tell your Jiang family to accept your family back into the clan, and then I could return your slave deeds to you, and then you would all be able to return and live a good life.”
Jiang Hong and Madam Zhang both saluted and said gratefully, “Miss, you’re so gracious and kind-hearted.”
“You don’t have to say this. Second Young Master Luo is also my friend and I couldn’t bear to see his reputation being ruined, so I was also just doing it for myself.” Su Tang put on a benevolent expression and waved off their gratitude.
As Luo Xingchen watched all this from the side, especially seeing Su Tang’s “moving” expression, she only felt goose bumps.
“However, the Luo family from Beikou is a large family with a large families’ issues. Jiang Hong, Madam Zhang, you’re both smart people, I’m sure you understand what I mean.”
“Even Second Young Master Luo himself, at least for now, can only endure being framed and slandered by the other people from his own family. He really doesn’t have the ability to simply bring out your enemies to avenge you, nor can he help you return to your family clan right away. “
Su Tang continued speaking, “But I’ve seen that you both have done a pretty good job these past few days and I happen to have a business on my side that needs some extra hands. I feel you two are suitable to handle it. So, if you’d like, you two can stay and work for me. If you decide to work for me, I’ll give you a promise that one day I will let you personally get revenge against that person, and also return to your family clan in the future. How about it?”
Although Su Tang could buy people through a few channels now, truth be told, finding good and reliable ones was actually quite hard. After all, to find someone to handle her serious business matters, she couldn’t just randomly pick any person, she needed people who had at least a little bit of ability and talent.
And, over these past few days, Su Tang had observed as Jiang Hong handled various miscellaneous tasks for her well, and also seen that Madam Zhang was meticulous and capable, so they could be considered people who had that bit of ability and talent. Of course, it made sense. In the first place, there two had opened their own shop back then, which showed that they were flexible and had real skills. For Su Tang, they were both good candidates to be brought over to work for her since they were extremely easy to use.
Su Tang had bought a lot of people recently, so she had seen for herself that people who had real ability would rarely sell themselves as slaves. But when she thought about it, it was reasonable. Most people with real ability wouldn’t mess things up so badly that they had no choice be to sell themselves into slavery in the first place.
Even Jiang Hong and Madam Zhang only ended up in their current state after being targeted by people from the Luo family, otherwise there was no way they would have fallen to the extent that they had no choice but to sell themselves.
In normal circumstances, even if Su Tang wanted to buy these two literate people who had some management skills, there would be no opportunity.
At the end of the day, Qingyuan County was just a little too rural and remote. If they were a bit closer to the capital, Su Tang would probably be able to find some slaves who were formerly officials, and there would be some useful people among them. But, unfortunately, Qingyuan County was just too remote, and slaves that were formerly officials would never end up coming here.
Jiang Hong had done a good job managing and organizing things on the farms this time, and Su Tang would soon be building her workshop, which would also need someone to manage it. If Jiang Hong was willing to work for her, it would save her a lot of effort.
And, clearly, neither Jiang Hong nor Madam Zhang was willing to settle for mere monetary compensation for this matter. In fact, this was quite understandable. After all, they had originally been running a small shop and earning a few tens of taels each year, so back then they would have been regarded as a well-off family.
But now, their family had been expelled from their clan, they were treated with contempt wherever they went, and they had no choice but to sell themselves as slaves. At this point, what was the use of money to them? No matter what, being expelled from their clan was pretty much equal to always being despised by whoever they met.
Thus, even though it was the Jiang family who had expelled them in the first place, they still wanted to return if they could.
After all, being able to recognize one’s ancestors and returning to one’s ancestral home was something every person in this era regarded with great importance. No one would give up on returning to their clan if there was any chance at all.
Thus, Su Tang made her offer. With the offer made, she didn’t bother to try to persuade or cajole, she just sat there and quietly watched Jiang Hong and Madam Zhang, waiting for their answer.
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tl begging corner: