Rebirth: Making a Fortune in Ancient Times

Upon hearing this, the broker quickly opened a notebook to search. They were very dedicated; they kept detailed records of everyone who came into their brokerage, including their skills. Those with special skills could be assessed for a higher price.

After searching for a while, he found several people skilled in silkworm rearing and silk reeling registered. The broker stood in the middle of the courtyard and shouted loudly to the people in each pen, "Don't speak, come out when I call your name."

"Meng Xiaomei, 27 years old, from Nanzhou"

"Guan Liushi, forty-three years old, from Nanzhou."

Wang Qiqi, 25 years old, from Nanzhou.

Wang Liuliu, 23 years old, from Nanzhou.

"..." The broker summoned ten women in one go, the oldest being fifty-seven and the youngest nineteen, all dressed as women.

Liu and Xia Yu listened to the ancestral origins, and most of them were from Nanzhou, with two other places as well. They figured they were not too far away.

"Aunt Ma, could you help me choose? There are so many people, it's making my head spin," Liu said softly to Aunt Ma behind her, seeing dozens of people kneeling on the ground, each woman with a child in tow. Liu was getting a headache just looking at them.

"Yes, Madam, I'll go and take a closer look. Perhaps we could call out any men's families too? If a whole family has good ones, we can buy them all together," Aunt Ma whispered in Madam Liu's ear.

"Hmm, you're right. We don't want to finally find a suitable man, only to have another one come along who isn't so great. Let's choose together, no more than ten adults." Liu nodded in agreement, finding Aunt Ma's words reasonable.

Having received Liu's permission, Aunt Ma said to the broker standing to the side, "Call out all the men who are with them."

"Yes, yes, yes." The broker was naturally delighted to hear this, knowing that this business deal was definitely not small, and he became even more respectful to Liu and Zhang Youtie.

The broker opened his book again, found the men corresponding to the women, and called them out one by one. However, there were a few women who came with their families, but since Liu hadn't mentioned it, the broker didn't call them out. He was worried that if he did something wrong, Liu might get upset and refuse to buy from him, going to another brokerage.

After all the men came out, a woman who was standing with her head down suddenly knelt down in front of Liu with a thud.

"Madam, I beg you, I have no man, only an old woman with me. Please, take a look at her! My mother-in-law is old, but she is skilled at weaving. When she was young, the silk she wove was presented to the palace as tribute. Now, although she is quite old, she is still capable. Please, take a look at her too." After saying this, she kowtowed several times on the ground.

Looking at the young woman kneeling on the ground, Liu noticed that although her clothes were worn and ill-fitting, her face was clean and her hair was neatly combed, suggesting that she was a clean and efficient person.

"Get up first. Since you say so, let your mother-in-law come out and take a look too."

Upon hearing Liu's words, the woman was overjoyed and kowtowed several more times on the ground before standing up with the help of the little girl beside her.

Upon hearing Liu's words, another woman without a husband also kowtowed and begged Liu. She was with her sister-in-law, who also knew how to raise silkworms and reel silk, but her specialty was cooking. Hearing her words, Liu also signaled to the broker to call her sister-in-law out as well.

Soon, everyone who could be called out stood together. Liu told Xiaxia to also choose, and Zhang Youtie was chosen as the man.

The group was slowly selecting workers when Uncle Ma finally arrived, driving his oxcart. The brokers remembered him, and were somewhat surprised to see him return with his oxcart. An old broker asked Uncle Ma…

"Old Ma, what brings you back today? Is something wrong?"

"My master and mistress came to buy people today, but I was driving the oxcart slowly and couldn't keep up. Are they all in the backyard?"

"Your master and mistress? You mean those people who came in the mule cart just now?" the broker asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Yes, I saw the mule cart still outside, and my wife was with it. Didn't you see her?"

"I didn't see your wife!" the broker said, recalling the people he had just seen.

"No way, she's with my wife and young lady. They're in the backyard, right? I'll go over there myself." Uncle Ma had important business to attend to and didn't have time for further conversation.

"Uh, yes, she's here, in the backyard. Go ahead," the broker replied after hearing Uncle Ma's words. But he was still a little puzzled; where was Old Ma's blind old woman?

Upon reaching the backyard, Old Ma was surprised to see that it was Li, the broker with a less-than-stellar reputation, receiving his master. Old Ma felt he should be even more vigilant in vetting the client. Having lived at the brokerage for over six months, he knew Li well; Li was opportunistic, going to great lengths to buy from wealthy families, but sloppy with ordinary people. He even withheld their wages, leaving Uncle Ma with a very poor impression of him.

Zhang Youtie, who was selecting people, was happy to see Uncle Ma coming from the front; finally, someone to help had arrived. But he remembered that Uncle Ma hadn't eaten yet. So he said to Uncle Ma, "There are some sesame seed cakes and beef left for you in the carriage. Go and eat something to fill your stomach before you come back to help."

"It's alright, I'm not too hungry yet. Choosing people is the most important thing." Uncle Ma saw a yard full of people and knew that his master had probably bought more than six people. He felt that choosing people was the most important thing.

Zhang Youtie didn't find it too difficult to understand what he was saying. He called the men standing aside and asked them one by one.

About an hour later, the family finally finalized the list of people they wanted. In addition to the eldest daughter and Shuanzhu, who had been chosen in the front hall, they selected three men and seven women in the backyard. There were also ten children, four boys and six girls, the oldest being nine years old and the youngest five.

Xia Yu found it strange that all the families were children; why weren't there any older children among them? Shouldn't older children be more likely to survive when fleeing a disaster?

If you can't figure it out, just quietly ask Aunt Ma. She had just looked at the broker's book and naturally knew about those families.

Actually, all of them had older children with them, but they were all bought separately a few days ago. He couldn't help but sigh after saying this.

“In this situation, once they are separated, it is basically for life, and it is very difficult to see each other again in this lifetime. Fortunately, they met the master and mistress, and the rest of the family can be together. Otherwise, it would be even more pitiful if they were scattered and fragmented again.”

Hearing Aunt Ma's words, Xia Yu felt very bad. No matter what era, ordinary people always have the hardest time.

Li Yaren was overjoyed; the commission from this deal was enough for his family to live on for two months.

The children were all too young, so the price varied depending on their age; some paid five taels, others two. The ten children cost a total of thirty-five taels of silver. Da Niu and Shuan Zhu each cost sixteen taels, the three men forty taels, and the seven women seventy taels. Therefore, Xia Yu's family bought a total of twenty-two people, spending one hundred and sixty-one taels of silver.

Seeing that Zhang Youtie and Liu Shi were poorly dressed, yet they had spent over a hundred taels of silver to buy them, the two maids initially felt a little regretful. They guessed that Zhang Youtie's family must be landlords, which didn't seem so bad. However, there was no chance to regret it now, and besides, Liu Shi hadn't even taken a liking to them in the first place.