Others are fleeing famine, but I am a salted fish

Lin Xiaoyue has her own considerations.

If she simply bought some strong and capable servants to keep at home, even if they were servants who had signed a death contract, she would have the absolute strength to completely suppress them. However, people's hearts are fickle, and one day they might become arrogant and have their own ideas, and stab her in the back in the back, which would be bad.

But if the whole family buys it together, everyone, young and old, will be bound by the contract. If the whole family is hardworking, then it is not a big deal. But if one of them has a bad heart, then the whole family will be implicated.

In this way, the family is tied together, which can prevent some people from having inappropriate thoughts to the greatest extent.

Finally, under the guidance of the matchmaker, they looked at many people who brought their families with them to sell themselves into slavery, and selected three families from them.

One of the families was surnamed Liu. They had a healthy old man. The couple was in their early 30s and less than 40, which was considered to be in their prime. They also had a pair of children. The older son was 12 years old, and the younger daughter was only 7 years old. The biggest drawback of this family was their 12-year-old son. It was said that he had a high fever when he was a child, but he was not treated in time, and his brain was burned.

The second family is surnamed Chen. Both elderly people in the family are healthy. The husband broke his leg when he went hunting in the mountains a few years ago. He had no money to treat it properly, so he became lame. The wife has some handicrafts, but she is also a country girl. She can't do fine embroidery, but she can do rough sewing and mending. The couple had a son, but when they fled from famine, the child was stolen. The family tried every possible way to find him, but they couldn't find him. I think the result is not good.

The third family’s surname is Zeng. There are two elderly people with three children. The eldest girl is 14 years old, and the other two are younger, a ten-year-old girl and an eight-year-old boy.

These three families were carefully selected by Lin Xiaoyue from a group of people. She had carefully checked that they all had pure and honest eyes and did not have any ulterior motives.

Of course, people’s hearts are hidden. At present, she may look nice, but after a long time, there is no guarantee that she will play tricks on him.

Lin Xiaoyue told them the ugly truth in advance: what they signed must be a death contract.

These people sold themselves into slavery because of natural disasters, when their families lost their livelihoods. Now, after all the hard work of buying their entire families, they all knelt down and kowtowed to Lin Xiaoyue, expressing their willingness to go with her. From now on, they would be hers no matter what.

In the end, Lin Xiaoyue spent eighty taels to buy all 14 people from the three families. On average, each person was worth just over five taels, not even as much as an animal.

It can be seen how cheap the population is in this era.

After paying the silver, everyone followed the matchmaker to the government office and processed slave contracts for them. From then on, these people were equivalent to Lin Xiaoyue's private property, and no one could do anything about it, whether they were beaten to death or buried alive.

After completing the formalities, Lin Xiaoyue brought her people back to the village chief's mansion.

These people originally thought that Lin Xiaoyue and her group were just ordinary people because they were dressed in ordinary clothes. They never thought that their master was actually the Lord of Le'an Township appointed by the current emperor. They were surprised and secretly happy. No one doesn't want to follow a good master, so that they can rise in the future anyway.

Lin Xiaoyue didn't intend to let people wander around, so she slowly asked the three families' names and specialties, then said a few simple words.

It was nothing more than telling everyone that they would not be together in the future, but would be separated into three places, responsible for the chores and other trivial matters in each house, and that they should listen to Xiaocao and Ergou's instructions on weekdays, do their own work well, and not have any messy thoughts, and not think of making trouble outside in the name of her village chief. Although she was not an unforgivable master, if they betrayed their master, the whole family would not even have the chance to be sold, and they would all be beaten to death and thrown into a mass grave.

Lin Xiaoyue's voice was very soft, but it still made the three families tremble in their hearts.

After establishing his authority, he gave a sweet treat, "If everyone can perform their duties conscientiously and do their work well, you will be paid every month in the future. As for how much, it depends on what each person does."

The three families didn't expect such a good thing to happen.

Generally speaking, servants who signed a death indenture were equivalent to signing a lifetime contract, becoming slaves that could not be redeemed for the rest of their lives, and their honor and disgrace were dependent on their masters. This was recognized by the government.

Moreover, after signing the death contract, there will be no wages for working for the master for the rest of your life. Only a few kind-hearted families will give servants monthly wages, but it is just a small token of their appreciation.

The village chief in front of them looked young, but he was serious and imposing, and his awe-inspiring aura showed that he was not someone who could be easily fooled. Moreover, the birth contract was in the hands of the master, and if they really committed a crime, the master would not forgive them.

Therefore, after seeing Lin Xiaoyue's combination of kindness and power, the few people who had been a little relaxed just now naturally tightened their guard and knelt down to ask their master to give them names.

Just by looking at the name Lin Xiaoyue gave Maomao, you can tell that she is a complete waste of naming. She doesn't want to spend time or energy on these trivial matters at all. She waved her hand and asked them to use their original names.

They thought that they would be slaves and lose their freedom, and that they would not be able to use their own names if their employers disagreed. But they did not expect that their employers were very tolerant and allowed them to use their real names.

After explaining the matter, the people were handed over to Xiaocao and Ergou for arrangements, and Lin Xiaoyue put the matter aside and went to look for the left-behind elderly.

She was mainly looking for Di Qing to confirm the return time with him.

Coincidentally, the auction was over, and Di Qing was also thinking about finding an opportunity to say goodbye to Lin Xiaoyue.

He was also in a hurry to bring the trigger crossbow, the bicycle and the roller skates that Lin Xiaoyue had given him back to his Seventh Uncle.

When the two met, before they spoke, Doctor Qiao took a sip of tea and interrupted, saying that someone came to see you this morning and said it was your aunt. However, because Lin Xiaoyue was not there, Doctor Qiao sent her away.

No one was even allowed to enter the door.

What Doctor Qiao didn't say was that the young aunt was so angry that her face turned blue and white, and she was gritting her teeth and stamping her feet. It was obvious that she hadn't held her fart well.

When Lin Xiaoyue heard that it was someone from the old house again, she ignored him and praised Dr. Qiao for his good work. She was thinking that in addition to arranging the people she bought back to work at the gatehouse, she would also have to raise a few vicious dogs in each house. When they could smell the stench of the old house approaching, she would just let the dogs bite them.

Di Qing wanted to talk about the return journey, but he was so amused by the naughty conversation between the old man and the boy that he almost laughed out loud. As soon as he opened his mouth, the subject changed to something else and he asked Lin Xiaoyue if she wanted to find some retired veterans to look after her house.

blind????

Oh my god, there is such a good thing???

Lin Xiaoyue immediately nodded rapidly, as if she was afraid that Di Qing would go back on his word, and hurriedly asked "yes, yes, yes, yes, yes".