You are my golden finger

After breakfast, he called the driver Liang Derong and headed to the town.

Lin Xijin felt that she was completely in the dark about the human trafficking in ancient times, so she decided to find the owner of the restaurant and ask about the situation.

When the shopkeeper saw Lin Xijin coming, he immediately came over with a smile.

"Boss, I want to buy a few servants and need your help." When the boss heard that she wanted to buy servants, he immediately asked his clerk to call the steward of the Shangguan family and asked him to take her to the county to handle this matter.

The steward Li Rong came soon. He was a slightly plump man in his forties, with a shrewd look in his eyes. Perhaps because of Shangguan Rui's instructions, he was very kind to Lin Xijin.

"Uncle Rong, I'm sorry to trouble you with Jin'er." After listening to the shopkeeper's introduction, Lin Xijin said to Li Rong humbly.

"No trouble, no trouble, Miss Lin, just tell me if you have anything to say."

On the way, Lin Xijin introduced Li Rong's family situation and what she was going to do, and asked Li Rong what kind of people and how many people she should buy for her family.

Li Rong is worthy of being in charge. After pondering for a while, he gave the result.

"Miss Lin, you have a lot to do. I suggest you buy a nanny and two maids to serve you closely, who will be at your beck and call at any time. Then hire a steward, an accountant, a coachman, and two cooks. You can hire six guards, one of whom will be a junior steward. You can hire ten people in the brewery, and one junior steward. You can hire fifteen people in the pharmacy, and one junior steward. That will be about forty people."

Lin Xijin was a little shocked when she heard this. She thought it was a bit of a big deal to buy 40 people at once. But she also felt that Manager Li's job setting was really perfect. Anyway, she was not short of money now, so she nodded in agreement.

Manager Li ordered the driver to go directly to the largest pawnshop in the county.

"Hey, call your manager over." Manager Li was obviously very familiar with the place. He immediately told the waiter to call Manager Ma from the pawnshop and introduced him to Lin Xijin and the various types of people who were to be purchased next.

When Manager Ma heard that a big business was coming, he immediately nodded and bowed to Lin Xijin.

"Miss Lin, you came at a perfect time. A group of official slaves arrived yesterday. Their masters were high-ranking officials who had committed crimes in the capital. The slaves in these old houses were also implicated and sold. We have all the talents you want. Shall we call them all up to show you?"

"Okay, call them up then." Lin Xijin felt that it would be better to buy people who have been trained by others than to buy a bunch of people for her to train. As for how these people are, it would be enough to select them. In addition, with the indenture in hand, no one can escape the control of the master without personal freedom.

Manager Ma quickly brought the people up, a total of forty-nine people.

These people lined up in a row. Many of them were nervous, not knowing whether they would be selected. However, a few people saw that the main seat was occupied by an unremarkable little girl, who looked disdainful and darting around.

Lin Xijin felt amused. These people were obviously bullying her because she was young. They didn't realize that she was just an old cucumber painted green - pretending to be young! She didn't say anything, but just sorted them out according to the number of people she needed.

Only two people did not stand in the queue.

"What did you two do in your original master's house?" Lin Xijin was a little curious.

"To answer the young lady, I am the shopkeeper."

"I am the court doctor."

Lin Xijin was extremely surprised. One of them was the shopkeeper and the other was the palace doctor. This was a pleasant surprise. Suddenly, Lin Xijin had a plan in mind: to open a medicine shop in the county.

Lin Xijin picked out five people with unclear eyes and asked Manager Ma to take them away. There were a total of forty-four people left, so she introduced her general situation to them.

"Is there anyone who doesn't want to follow me? If you don't want to follow me, you can leave immediately." Lin Xijin said.

Before he finished speaking, a man and a woman came out and knelt in front of Lin Xijin, knelt down and said, "Master, my husband and I are willing to go with you, but we only ask you to buy our two children together."

"How old are your children? Is it a boy or a girl?"

"Master, our children are a girl, six years old, and a boy, four years old."

Lin Xijin asked Manager Ma to bring the two children up. The two children were crying with tears all over their faces, and they hugged their parents as soon as they came up, unwilling to let go.

Seeing that he looked quite good, I agreed to their request.

Just as she was about to sign the contract with Manager Ma, a boy of about fourteen or fifteen years old stepped out and knelt down. Lin Xijin saw that the boy pursed his lips with a resolute look on his face.

"Master, I also have a request. I want to bring my little brother with me to your house."

"What's your name? Can you tell me about your little brother?"

"My name is Ye Jinlin, and my brother is Ye Jinan. My brother is my uncle's son, because my uncle committed a crime with his original master and died. My aunt was already ill, and she died too because of excessive grief. I want to take care of my brother."

"How old is your brother? Can you take care of him?"

"My brother is two and a half years old now. If the master agrees, I will take good care of him while doing my job well."

After saying this, he knelt down with a stubborn look on his face.

Seeing this boy, who was only a junior high school student, willing to take on the responsibility, was truly commendable! Could I not agree to his request? The answer was no.

"Okay, I promise you, get up! I'll give you a three-month trial period. If you don't do well, I'll sell you two brothers out together."

Lin Xijin decided to put some pressure on the boy.

The boy cleverly went to bring the boy's younger brother out.

Lin Xijin signed a sales contract with Manager Ma and also bought a shop and a carriage.

The staff such as the steward, accountant, maid, shopkeeper, and palace physician were relatively expensive, costing thirty taels of silver each; the guard, cook, and coachman each cost twenty-five taels of silver, the remaining adults cost fifteen taels of silver each, and the three children cost five taels each.

It cost two hundred and thirty taels to buy the shop and sixty taels to buy the carriage.

Lin Xijin spent nine hundred and ninety taels of silver in one breath, and also gave five taels of silver to the manager Ma and one tael of silver to the waiter.

Steward Ma and the waiter were even more eager. Steward Ma simply said, "Miss Lin, if you need anything in the future, just tell me and I will do my best to get it done!"

Manager Ma quickly went to the government office to handle the paperwork. Lin Xijin asked the waiter to help rent two ox carts, and the group of people went back in a mighty manner.

When they arrived in the town, Lin Xijin thanked the steward Li Rong and gave him two bags of tea.

Li Rong followed Shangguan Rui and knew that this tea was a rare and good thing, so he was extremely grateful to Lin Xijin.

When they returned to Shiziwo, the people who were repairing the road had not yet dispersed. Seeing Lin Xijin coming back with so many people, they were all dumbfounded, and they didn't know what she was going to do with so many people.

Lin Xijin greeted everyone, didn't explain, and took everyone back.

After returning home, Lin Xijin called Qi Po and a few kids, introduced them to each other, and asked Xihui and Xinfeng to take everyone on a tour of the house. She sat in the front hall drinking tea, with Qi Po, Jiajia, and Xinlan accompanying her.

About a quarter of an hour later, Xihui and Xinfeng brought everyone back. Lin Xijin was too lazy to care about it and wanted to test the manager's ability. So he handed the key to the warehouse to the manager and asked him to arrange accommodation for everyone, collect bedding, and distribute daily necessities.

In less than half an hour, the steward came over with a nanny and two maids.

"Master, I have settled everyone down. Someone has been assigned to guard the gate, and the cook has gone to the kitchen to prepare dinner. But do you think the nanny and the two maids should live in the inner courtyard or in the outer row of houses?"

Lin Xijin looked up at the nanny and the two maids, and saw that the three of them looked neat and clean, and had obviously just washed. Lin Xijin felt quite satisfied and had a little more appreciation for the manager's ability.

"There won't be too many rules here in the future. You just need to do your job with all your heart. Now, introduce yourselves."

"Master, please give me a name."

"No, just keep your original last name and given name."

Lin Xijin thought that it would be too much of a hassle to name more than 40 people one by one, so it would be better to continue using their original names to save time and effort.

"My old servant's surname is Qiu, and my given name is Changxiu." The housekeeper introduced herself first, "My maid's surname is Huang, and the two girls are Chuntao and Qiuyan."

"Madame Huang, Chuntao and Qiuyan can live in the inner courtyard. There are two rooms in the west wing. Madame Huang can live in one, while Chuntao and Qiuyan can live in one. You can go down and settle down. Butler Qiu, from now on, the affairs of this family will be handed over to you."

"Yes, master." Several people responded loudly.

Grandma Qi took the initiative to get up and take the three of them to arrange accommodation.