I became an official of the imperial court by eating melons when I was still a baby

Xu Qiang was confused after hearing what Lord Qin said. He couldn't figure it out, so he just asked directly, "Lord Qin, are you asking about my future plans? If Brother An Nan is fine, I will naturally return to where I should be."

Madam Qin nodded slightly upon hearing this, and then went straight to the point and said, "Xu boy! There is a nanny named Xu in our mansion who wants to adopt you two siblings, and asked me to ask you what you think."

After hearing this, Xu Qiang was a little confused for a moment. He blinked and looked at Madam Qin with a puzzled look.

Adopt these two people from North Lane?

Seeing this, Madam Qin continued to add: "This nanny is an elder of the Qin family. Her family has worked for the Qin family for generations and is loyal and devoted."

"It's a pity that her husband and son died in an accident a few years ago. Now she is left alone."

"She saw you two siblings yesterday and thought you two were a good match, so she decided to adopt you. That way, she would have someone to take care of her in her old age."

"Xu boy, are you willing?"

Xu Qiang shook his head gently, looked at the old lady sincerely, and said slowly: "Old lady, my son and I are very grateful for Madam Xu's kindness."

"Although our life is a little poor, we can still make a living and not starve to death on the street. Besides, I don't want to be a slave."

He took a deep breath and continued, "Besides, my little sister is still young. As her elder brother, it is difficult for me to make such an important decision for her. If she grows up and feels resentful about this and blames me, how should I deal with it?"

When the Qin couple heard this, they couldn't help but look surprised.

They had never expected that Xu Qiang had thought so carefully about his younger sister and had such a strong character.

You know, for an ordinary person to be able to become a slave in a rich family is something they would love to have.

After all, once you sign a contract to sell yourself, you can get a stable residence and food and clothing guarantee.

Normally, to become a slave in the palace, one had to sign a contract to sell oneself, which came in two forms: a dead contract and a living contract.

A so-called dead contract means completely selling oneself to the master; a living contract means working for the master temporarily and still having the right to redeem one's freedom in the future.

However, this is just a common practice in most mansions.

After selling oneself to become a slave, one loses personal freedom, and one’s status naturally decreases, and one cannot even go to school.

Moreover, even if one gets a job in the government and has better living conditions than the lower class people, as long as the indenture is in the hands of the master, life and death is just a matter of the master's word.

Therefore, both members of the Qin family understood Xu Qiang's reaction very well, and probably understood what he was thinking.

On the one hand, Xu Qiang had a job to do and could guarantee his basic living without having to sell himself into slavery; on the other hand, Xu Qiang was considering his sister and did not want her to be bought and sold at will in the future and not even have the final say in her marriage.

If he had encountered any other mansion, Xu Qiang would have been right to think so.

But the Qin family is different.

Qin Huai, the first patriarch of the Qin family, was originally a poor commoner. His life was even worse than that of the people in the four alleys of the capital. However, with his brute force and intelligence, he won numerous military exploits and thus became a famous general defending the country in the Southern Dynasty.

But fundamentally, Qin Huai was still an ordinary citizen at heart. In his opinion, if he had not had that experience, he might have sold himself into a slave and been controlled by his master at will without any freedom. Therefore, he did not want to use the means of selling himself to suppress his servants.

Therefore, since the Qin family established their mansion more than two hundred years ago, all the servants in the family have never signed a contract to sell themselves, but only used a cooperation contract as a basis to constrain the behavior of both the master and the servants.

This cooperation contract naturally has extremely strict regulations. It requires that the master cannot beat or insult the servants at will, and that the servants cannot betray their master or be lazy.

Each contract has been registered and kept by the government. It can be said that it is essentially equivalent to another form of "living contract", but it is more humane.

As time went by, the servants in the Qin family mansion gradually became unwilling to leave.

In the Qin family, as long as they work diligently, they will not be bullied at will, they can have enough food to eat, and they can receive monthly wages. With such a good master and job, who would be willing to leave easily?

So they lived in the Qin family, generation after generation. Now, almost all the servants in the Qin mansion are Qin family's servants, and their loyalty to the Qin family is self-evident.

Lord Qin explained, "Xu, if you are willing to join my Qin Mansion, you do not have to be a slave. None of the servants you saw in the mansion were slaves, nor did they sign a contract to sell themselves. The contracts they signed were just cooperation contracts."

"Therefore, you don't have to worry about anything else. You just need to think about whether you are willing to accept Aunt Xu's proposal."

Xu Qiang stared at Lord Qin with eyes wide open, his face full of disbelief, and he was extremely shocked in his heart!

He had never thought that there were such things in the world that servants did not need to sign a contract to sell themselves!

However, since these words came from the mouth of Lord Qin, they must be true! Lord Qin had no need to deceive him, after all, he was just a worthless child.

Xu Qiang's gaze slowly moved to his little sister in the cradle. If he could let his little sister live a better life, it would undoubtedly be a great thing. He would also do his best to serve the old nanny until she passed away.

But when he thought of his and his sister's humble backgrounds, Xu Qiang couldn't help feeling a little uneasy. Would this Aunt Xu really not mind their backgrounds?

Everyone present noticed the hesitation and uneasiness on Xu Qiang's face.

At this moment, the nanny who had been standing quietly beside Old Madam Qin suddenly spoke up: "Xu boy, the one who really wants to adopt you and your sister is me, the old lady."

"The reason I asked the old lady to inquire about this matter for me is because I am worried that it would be too presumptuous for me to come here in person and would scare you two. If the old lady asks on your behalf, you will feel more at ease and don't have to worry about being deceived."

"I want to adopt you, not just because I feel sorry for your life experience! The main reason is that I really admire your unyielding and tenacious character."

"Besides, my surname is Xu, the same as you and your sister. Maybe this is also a kind of fate."

This Madam Xu was the same madam who held Xu Xiaoya for Xu Qiang yesterday. When she held Xu Xiaoya, she felt pity for her.

In the past two days, she was very satisfied with Xu Qiang's performance in the mansion. He was neither humble nor arrogant, and was very polite to the servants in the mansion. He would also take the initiative to find work to do. Such a good child should have a better future.

She thought about helping out so that she would have someone to take care of her in her old age.

Xu Qiang felt the old lady's sincerity and no longer hesitated, and nodded heavily in agreement.

When everyone saw this, they all smiled, and Aunt Xu was even more delighted.

"Mammy, I will grant you half a day off. This afternoon, you can help the two children move and take them out to buy some things."

Old Madam Qin said with a smile.

"Oh, OK! Thank you, Madam. I was just about to speak. You know me well."

Aunt Xu bowed respectfully, and Xu Qiang followed suit.

In this way, Xu Qiang and his sister officially moved into the Qin Mansion.

While Aunt Xu was busy moving and buying things with Xu Qiang and his sister, Qin Yue woke up from a well-fed sleep and heard the system's surprised voice...