The Marquise: I Earn My Own Worship

"For example, here: if the parents of a child are interested, they can choose to redeem the child. This may seem like a good idea, but the ransom amount needs to be carefully considered."

Song Shengfu and Duan Jingzong listened quietly. They knew that Lu was not concerned about the ransom. She had considered these matters more comprehensively.

"When the child is sixteen, seventeen, or eighteen, if it's a boy, he'll be an excellent laborer and his value will be self-evident. And if the girl is of marriageable age, Qianqian will take the ransom and go back to set a high bride price and marry her off."

"Since their mother wanted these children to have the ability to live a stable life and support themselves, she certainly didn't want them to end up being exploited by someone with ulterior motives."

Song Shengfu nodded, asked someone to bring her a pen and paper, and began to write and draw again. Lu was right. She hadn't considered this aspect. Her original intention was to consider those children who couldn't support themselves, but she had overlooked that most poorer families would also send their children here.

At that time, they would not have to raise the child, and the Duan family would have raised the child for nothing, and then take the child back when he grew up. If they did so, it would inevitably lead to chaos, and the orphanage would not be able to continue operating.

"Madam, what you said makes sense. So how should we proceed?"

Duan Jingzong looked at Lu beside him with joy in his eyes.

Lu didn't notice this, and thought about it seriously before speaking:

"The Salesian can adopt children in two ways. One is to adopt a child alive. Parents can then sign and seal a ransom if they wish to redeem the child later. A ransom is set based on the child's age, and if the child is not redeemed by the age of fifteen, the adoption will be changed from a living adoption to a dead adoption."

"The second is to raise a child until he dies, which is like selling his body. Once a child like this enters the Duan family, there's no way to redeem him."

Song Shengfu felt a little sad after hearing this. This was how common people were in ancient times. In the eyes of the upper class, they were, to a certain extent, a resource that could be bought and sold at will.

But this is also the law of survival in this era, and no one can change it except time.

When you live in this era, it is wishful thinking to try to change it by your own strength. The only way is to do something meaningful to the best of your ability within its rules.

"Then I'll hand over the full responsibility of the Salesian Home to you. Jingzong, there's one more thing you need to take care of. Don't just hide in your study all day drawing this and that. You need to inquire about the Salesian Home and see if there are any approval documents, specifications, restrictions, etc."

Duan Jingzong stood up and responded respectfully, and Lu also followed suit.

Song Shengfu threw her hands and handed everything to them. With her current status, she could make demands and her subordinates would do it.

Why should she endure the hardship? Isn't it better to be a free and easy old woman?

After making up her mind about one thing, Song Shengfu became much more energetic. Whenever she came up with an idea, she would have someone send it to the main courtyard.

I have to say that the Lu family is really capable. In just a few days, everything was sorted out and we were just waiting for the approval documents to come down.

"I asked, and the court has no restrictions on this. Many families have their own relief halls. But there's only one rule: all children receiving relief must be enslaved."

"That's fine, but this matter still needs to be reported and filed according to the rules, and then we can start preparing for the rest."

Song Shengfu nodded and continued:

"Last year, the mansion still has the produce from my private farm. When the time comes, all the children who are sent here will be exchanged for grain. We'll use the old grain first."

Lu nodded and added a few points. After they discussed and confirmed it, they left.

A few days later, a private school in the outer city was sold out, and some passers-by gathered around to watch out of curiosity.

"Hey, who would dare to open a shop in this year's atmosphere? It's so mysterious."

"Who knows? I don't know who this sucker is. Now that everyone can barely afford to eat, he still dares to open a shop. I bet he'll do it for a month, hehe."

A person nearby was listening and stepped forward to slap the man on the head.

"Who?! You dare to hit me? You'll die."

"Shut up, you know who owns this place? I heard it was bought by the Duan family. You better be careful, you little bastard. You're talking nonsense in front of someone else's door. You might as well be scared of your life."

Lai Sanwazi's face turned pale when he heard this, and his legs were shaking with fear. He grabbed the person next to him and barely managed to stand.

"I, I drank two pounds of horse urine yesterday. Look, my head is confused today. Oh, I'm so dizzy that I have to go back to lie down."

As he spoke, he retreated backwards and ran away after leaving the crowd.

The people next to him sneered at the scene.

"This bastard is so careless with his mouth that he clings to his chamber pot all day long. It's a pity for his wife and two children. They can barely afford to eat."

"You don't know this, right? I heard he found a pimp to sell his family off."

"what?!"

The onlookers immediately pricked up their ears and began to listen.

"Can't you?"

"I live right next to it and I heard it clearly."

"Who is he going to sell out?"

One person was shocked. He didn't expect that the world would be so difficult.

"Who else could he sell? Of course it's his wife and children. They say they can get more money if they sell them together."

"He even sold his son?"

The people on the side exclaimed, and the people around began to whisper. This Lai Sanwazi was really cruel, even selling his own son.

"That's right. People are not worth much these days. They only offered 500 coins. Lai Sanwazi thought the price was too low, so he didn't agree. But I guess he won't last long."

"This is truly a sin. Lai Sanwazi's wife must have run a sesame cake stall before, but she didn't end up like this."

"Oh, stop talking. Look at the food stalls these days, apart from the big restaurants, who else still has food stalls? People can barely get enough to eat, so who has money left?"

Everyone around nodded in agreement. Many stores in Beijing are now closed, and the city looks very depressed.

"Our capital is better off. At least no one has starved to death yet. Look at those refugees outside. They're starving, like they want to eat people. The last time my wife and I went back to the village, we were almost robbed. Now we don't dare go out anymore."

"Yes, that's right, I did the same last time..."

Lai Sanwazi, who was running back home, had no idea that a group of people were teasing him behind his back, but even if he knew, he wouldn't care.

I picked up the broken bowl on the table and prepared to drink water, but found that there was no water. I picked up the teapot next to it and poured it in, but there was still no water.

Lai Sanwazi was so angry that he smashed the only teapot left in the house. As if he was not satisfied yet, he threw the bowl out as well.

"What the hell do I keep you for? You didn't even see the boss coming back, and you don't even have water to drink."

This startled Chunniang, who was lying on the edge of the bed. Listening to the man cursing outside, Chunniang felt disgusted and even a little nauseous.

It's her fault for being blind. Her eyes were covered with shit and she couldn't see the jackal's face. Now she has ended up like this.