At the entrance of the alley, people inside had a rough idea of the situation, so afterwards no one approached foolishly.
After walking past seven or eight stalls, Old Liu finally led them into a residence.
As she stepped through the door, Luo Ge looked back at those servants locked in cages like animals, waiting to be bought by someone.
She instinctively tightened her grip on Gu Jinchen's hand. If she had not met him back then, she might have been one of them now.
At this thought, she felt a sense of fear, but also gratitude for her luck.
Noticing her expression, Gu Jinchen seemed to understand what she was thinking and held her hand tighter.
"Don't be afraid."
"Yes, what that person said earlier seemed similar to my situation back then."
Luo Ge came back to her senses and smiled at him, nodding. Thinking of the flower lady's words earlier, she couldn't help but smile.
"Not similar," Gu Jinchen unexpectedly replied.
"Huh?"
"I only like what you say."
Back then, the same words from her made him choose her without hesitation.
But now, he was completely indifferent.
Because he had her.
She was enough for him.
"Haha, alright."
This man always liked to say romantic things with a serious face.
"Brother Gu, young lady, why did you stop here?"
At the entrance of the residence, there was a side door. Old Liu went through the side door and waited for a while without seeing the two follow, so he hurried back out.
"We're coming now."
After entering the residence and following Old Liu's winding path, they finally arrived at a courtyard.
"This is the place."
"Old Gu, are the people ready?" As he led Luo Ge and Gu Jinchen inside, he called out.
"Ready, ready."
There were more than sixty people in the courtyard, standing in rows on two sides.
The men and women were standing separately.
"These are the lifetime contracts, and those are the temporary contracts. You can take a look. If you're not satisfied, there are more options later."
Seeing Luo Ge and Gu Jinchen examining these people, Old Liu explained further.
"Stay obedient," he then shouted at those people.
Although the Yiyang agency was an official agency, the people they had were still quite mixed.
Some were sold by their families for committing crimes, some due to poverty, some were exiled, all kinds of people.
Some troublemakers were difficult to discipline, so they had to be suppressed.
Luo Ge examined the two groups of people carefully, her brows slightly furrowed.
It was sometimes difficult to distinguish good from evil, because the more negative energy she perceived, the more it would directly affect her own mood.
She could sense that many of these people were unwilling, trying to hide it, but unable to conceal their unwillingness.
Some even harbored resentment towards their situation here and might even harbor hatred towards the buyers like them.
She could understand this, but she would not accept it.
No one wanted to buy an enemy and invite trouble for themselves.
Those with deep greed and desires, or strong ambitions, were directly excluded.
In the end, only three or four people made her feel comfortable.
One was a middle-aged man with a limp, struggling to stand in the corner, the middle-aged woman beside him, and the young boy beside them.
The other was an elderly person curled up in the corner.
Coincidentally, these few people had all signed lifetime contracts.
"Can we call those few out to take a closer look?" After examining them, she turned to ask Old Liu.
Upon hearing Luo Ge's selection, the ones she pointed out were visibly surprised for a moment, instinctively looking up at her.
Gu Jinchen also looked at the few people she had chosen.
"Of course, you few come out."
At Old Liu's words, those people stepped out. The young boy looked a bit timid as he looked at Old Liu and the others.
However, the middle-aged man, the middle-aged woman, and the elderly person remained composed.
They all seemed steady and calm. Seeing this, Luo Ge tilted her head and looked at Gu Jinchen.
"Husband, what do you think?"
"As you wish." After carefully examining those people, Gu Jinchen nodded and smiled at her.
"Then let's take them."
"Alright."
Seeing the young couple had made their decision, Old Liu also came over and looked at the elderly person and the man with a limp.
"Brother Gu, young lady, are you sure you want to choose these two?"
He had to admit, Luo Ge was truly good at picking. These few were the ones that had been difficult to sell and hadn't been sold at all.
The woman and child were fine, quite a few people had inquired about them, so they were easy to sell.
But the man's leg was disabled, which made him unfit. And these few were a family, they insisted on being sold together, otherwise they would protest, which was very troublesome.
So, no one had been willing to take them.
As for the elderly one, it was even more straightforward - he was old and couldn't do any work, so no one had inquired about him.
They were planning to get rid of them.
Since Old Liu had acknowledged Gu Jinchen and Luo Ge as friends, he naturally couldn't cheat them, so he gave them a reminder.
The elderly person and the man were visibly tense upon being pointed out.
The elderly person sighed lightly, as if he had already resigned himself.
The man turned to look at his wife and child, then at his own leg, and the light in his eyes dimmed.
To be honest, when Luo Ge had selected their entire family, he was overjoyed.
Finally, there was an opportunity for the family to leave this place together. How could he not be happy?
But now... well, it was better for his wife and child to leave first without him, instead of suffering together here.
As if guessing his thoughts, the middle-aged woman quickly grabbed his arm and shook her head at him.
"Yes, we're sure."
Just as the man was about to speak up, he suddenly heard Luo Ge's firm and decisive reply.
This made the couple look up in surprise.
Hearing Luo Ge's words, Old Liu turned to look at Gu Jinchen.
Gu Jinchen smiled at him: "Follow my wife's wishes. I'm troubling you again, Brother Liu."
"...No trouble, no trouble."
Old Liu waved his hand. Since the young couple had considered it carefully, he naturally had nothing more to say.
He then retrieved the contracts of these few people and calculated the cost.
Lifetime contracts were more expensive than temporary contracts, because temporary contracts had a time limit, while lifetime contracts were until death.
But considering the elderly person's situation and the man's disabled leg, their prices were not high.
The elderly person cost 4 taels of silver, the man 5 taels, and the woman and young boy were 12 taels each.
"A total of 33 taels of silver. If you need anything else, remember to find me."
In the end, Old Liu couldn't help but promote himself again, making Luo Ge and the others laugh.
"Okay."
With one hand exchanging the money and the other exchanging the contracts, these few people officially became the lifetime servants of the Gu family.
