……
The sun blazed overhead.
Following Grandma's earnest teaching, Qin Luoxia looked at every maid and manservant before her with affection.
These were not ordinary people, they were all treasures, to be cherished like the most precious possessions at home.
Ordinary tenant farmers had no land, let alone livestock.
But some prosperous small landlords, they had their own land, livestock, which can do a lot of work, they regarded livestock very important, they can starve, but the livestock can't. Livestock are essential members of the family, they are family treasures.
Hearing Grandma's explanation, Qin Luoxia understood.
The contracts of these maids and manservants were all in her hands, they were her family property. She could sell them or kill them, but if she killed them, she had to fix up the first and last.
However, this made her remembers that almost sold away her sister in the provincial capital as a maid, she gritted her teeth with hatred for Sixth Aunt, but unfortunately, Sixth Aunt passed away at the end of last year.
Ordinary families would not go to other places to buy maids, unless maids are consumables, dealing with beginnings and endings is troublesome, and usually there is one maid per household. Killing a maid means dealing with a whole family, which is also trouble.
Those who go to unfamiliar places to buy maids, either buy them back to sell to brothels, or do lower-level work than maids, like these singers and dancers in the mansion, apart from singing and dancing, their bodies are also used for the enjoyment of the nobles, and nobles will give them to each other as gifts.
Grandma taught the mother and daughter in the house, without letting the maids and servants outside hear.
The house stood high, some distance from the gathering point in the courtyard.
Those folks, queuing up under the scorching sun, were chatty at first, then slowly fell silent, striving to stand straight.
As the sun bore down mercilessly, they were silent as well.
Their mouths dry from the heat.
When everyone had lined up with some manner of order, it was time to select the people.
As per area categorisation, the kitchen needed people, the courtyard garden needed people, the guest rooms needed people, who could be shifted around; the entrance needed people, livestock needed someone to take care, carriages needed drivers, each master required attendants.
Qin Luoxia spoke up, "Those who can read and write step forward and move to the left, those who can drive carriages, those who can plant trees, those who think they have special skills also move to the left."
A woman stepped forward timidly and asked, "Does being able to sing opera count as a special skill?"
Qin Luoxia nodded, "Yes, all kinds of skills count."
Once she said this, the crowd churned and almost half the people moved to the left.
A few tens of people stayed put, some anxious, some cool and collected, some simply gazed at their mistress. Indeed, those who had moved to the left did show promise, and many capable people chose to stay put.
But Madame Qin didn't discriminate, she told Grandma that the group could be sold off for now.
The agency's people had been summoned by Aunt Yin since morning to stand by.
Upon Aunt Yin's order, they came forward to count the number of people.
The folks from the agency were very disciplined – they recognised Aunt Yin. Taking advantage of the chaos, the stepson’s entire family was murdered, and all the domestic servants were sold off, which they had managed.
The domestic servants were an important asset of a household, worth a considerable sum of money.
Some maids considered themselves superior, not wanting to curry favor with the early-rising, homey new mistress who had come from the countryside. They stayed put, motionless.
Yet, Qin Luoxia didn’t expect the Lady would sell them indiscriminately, without verifying their innocence.
Qin Luoxia asked those who were on the left, "Those who do not want to stay can leave. Not many live here in my residence. We don’t need too many."
Hence, some people left. Because those who were sold had relatives among them, they reunited with their families.
Qin Luoxia continued this selection process, several times over.
Finally, she asked those who remained about their specific skills, and assigned them their respective roles, slowly becoming proficient at the task.
Jiang Mianmian obediently sat and watched Qin Luoxia choose the people.
She oddly felt empathy for the leadership; even leaders would have had a first time in their position.
It began with shyness, and then they gradually became proficient.
Being in a high place, others speculate about your happiness and sadness; your every move becomes significant, meaningful.
Watching her mother allocate the work very systematically and steadily.
Grandma didn’t prevent it or say anything, in front of everyone, Grandma always acted obediently, like an old lady.
Finally, a group of ancient literary and art workers remained... singing and dancing girls.
There were nine people, five women and four men.
Qin Luoxia individually asked them about their skills, and they each answered cautiously.
Their status in the house is lower than that of the maids and servants.
Possibly because looking at them reminded her of Little Phoenix Fairy, Qin Luoxia was comparatively courteous.
“What do you usually do?”
"When the master is dining, we sing and dance to add to the fun."
"When the master is lonely, we sing and dance to enliven the atmosphere."
"When the master wants to watch a play, we perform."
"We train during the day and mainly perform at night."
Jiang Mianmian listened attentively to their answers with her ears perked up.
She thought to herself that people’s interests haven't changed from ancient times to the present.
In ancient times, without smartphones when eating, they couldn’t scroll social media, nor were there TVs, so they could only watch live performances while eating—live singing, live dancing, showing off legs.
When lonely at night without smartphones or computers, unable to watch TV series, these people would perform various drama for them.
Seeing this, Jiang Mianmian felt that in certain respects, the ancients were thrill-seekers.
You can tip in person and the performer will thank you in person…
Corruption indeed!
Jiang Mianmian wiped off the drool from the corner of her mouth, moved Jiang Xiaoshu from in front of her, and fixed her gaze on an attractively curvy beautiful girl.
All of them were trembling with nervousness. They had heard the previous night that Sir Ma had arrived in the city and immediately slayed Little Phoenix Fairy on meeting her.
Among them, this girl trembled particularly violently.
She was the most beautiful one of the group. She had always been disguising her beauty until yesterday, when an old lady saw through her and made her wash off her disguise.
They are far inferior to Little Phoenix Fairy, easily being gifted away, as free-floating as duckweed.
Jiang Mianmian remained silent. When her mother assigned a sturdy-faced maid to her, she had no objections.
Upon seeing these nine people, Jiang Mianmian spoke: "Mom, let me play with them."
Qin Luoxia was taken aback at this, she turned her head towards Aunt Yin.
Aunt Yin, consciously, looked at the tip of her nose then her feet, thinking to herself: 'It's time for Qin to show her competence in disciplining her child. A little spanking and the child will behave.'
But Qin Luoxia saw that Grandma was hanging her head low.
This assumed consent, so she subsequently nodded and said, "Alright."
...
