In the Northern Song Dynasty, he started by marrying the eighth daughter of the Su family.

Han Zhi led Su Zhen outside, and the waiter, beaming with smiles, said:

"Esteemed guests, there are about a hundred people here. You may choose some to take back first."

Looking outside, there were both men and women, and Han Zhi couldn't decide for a moment. After all, there were nearly a hundred people here, and choosing one by one would take quite a while. So he turned his attention to Su Zhen, who was currently whispering to Yue Ping, discussing something.

Immediately, Su Zhen asked the waiter, "How many cooks and female cooks are there here? You should know who are the stronger and more agile ones, right?"

"Of course, please wait a moment."

The man chuckled in response, then slung the towel over his shoulder and walked into the crowd. A short while later, about thirty people were pulled out and made to stand aside.

Then the waiter said, "Madam, the ten people standing closest to you are the best cooks and chefs here."

There were exactly five men and five women working as cooks.

"The remaining twenty or so are all strong men and nimble maids. Do you think we need anything else?"

Su Zhen looked at these people and asked, "We'll take all of these. We also have some maids who do odd jobs and watering, and some servants who are responsible for running errands around the house. Do you have any suitable ones?"

"My lady, you're joking. These are all suitable."

Su Zhen then tugged at Han Zhi's sleeve and asked, "What do you think of these people, sir?"

"What is Eighth Sister thinking?"

"Well, my idea is that we should take some back first and settle things at home. After a while, once my husband goes to school, I'll see what else is needed and come back to pick out the rest myself."

"I'm not very bright, so I'll listen to Ba Niang." Seeing that his wife was so opinionated, Han Zhi figured he could just laze around.

Seeing Han Zhi's silly grin, Su Zhen knew she shouldn't ask such a question. So she said:

"Then let's take these few people for now, six hundred coins a month, what do you think?"

No one objected, so the waiter took out the contract and said, "In that case, would you two gentlemen like to sign the contract?"

Su Zhen nodded and pushed Han Zhi into the store. One of them signed the papers, and the other paid, and they quickly completed the procedures.

Looking at the names "Han Zhi" and "Su Zhen" on the employment contract, Su Zhen carefully folded the contract and put it in her sleeve. She even patted it carefully, as if afraid of losing it.

……

Upon returning to the mansion, Han Zhi immediately instructed Yue Ping to assign new servants to their tasks. As for the maids responsible for managing the details, they were instructed to follow the old woman around the entire mansion to familiarize themselves with the layout.

The remaining old woman led Han Zhi and Su Zhen toward the master bedroom courtyard. As for Ma Ping, he followed quietly behind Yue Ping with his head down.

When they arrived at the courtyard of the master bedroom, Ma Ping stopped, while Han Zhi went inside.

The courtyard was quite large, planted with many flowers and plants, and was regularly maintained. The room was naturally much larger than the bedroom in Meishan, and fully furnished. Instead of a study, a daybed had been added.

Han Zhi said subconsciously, "If the bridal chamber had been this big back then, how magnificent it would have been for Eighth Sister when she married in..."

After hearing this, Su Zhen said softly, "My lord, although our new house is small, it doesn't feel crowded for the two of us. This large room seems rather empty now."

"Doesn't Eighth Sister want something better?" Han Zhi asked again.

"What I have now is already the best, why would I need anything better?" Su Zhen said with a slight smile.

At this moment, the old woman chimed in, saying, "This room used to be the bridal chamber of Ah Lang's wife. Now the bedding and other furnishings have been changed, and the young master and his wife will rest here from now on."

"In addition, the household accounts and ledgers are already on that table. From today onwards, you are the mistress of the house and will need to keep accounts every day."

Han Zhi and Su Zhen both nodded and dismissed the old woman. At this moment, Su Zhen reminded her, "My lord, I just noticed Ma Ping following us. He seems to have something to say. Should we go and see him?"

As he spoke, Su Zhen pointed outside the courtyard. Han Zhi turned his head and saw Ma Ping standing outside the courtyard, his head bowed low, as if waiting for someone.

"Then I'll go take a look. Eighth Aunt, check the things inside to see if anything is missing."

Su Zhen nodded, sat down at the table, and began to examine the account books. Han Zhi then went out. He walked up to Ma Ping, coughed lightly to acknowledge his presence.

Ma Ping raised his head and respectfully called out, "Alang." He had changed into clean clothes, which were much cleaner than before.

"What's wrong? You seem to have something to say."

“Yes,” Ma Ping nodded and said, “I have a question for you, and I wonder if you would allow me to ask, sir.”

"ask."

“Well… my wife is pregnant now, and I’m afraid she won’t be able to serve you, sir,” Ma Ping explained. “I beg you, sir, not to send her away. I don’t need her monthly salary; I just ask that you provide her with a place to eat and stay.”

But Han Zhi frowned at this moment and said, "What are you talking about?"

After all, having a pregnant maid in the household is like having another mouth to feed without doing anything. Generally speaking, most families won't take her in; they'll just give her a sum of money and send her away.

Ma Ping was terrified, thinking that Han Zhi disagreed, and tried to kneel down again. But Han Zhi kicked him instead, and he ended up sitting down instead of kneeling.

"Go away, go away! Haven't I told you several times? You don't need to kneel." Han Zhi laughed and scolded. "Besides, who said your wife can't serve me? You're just talking nonsense here."

"Ah..." Ma Ping was taken aback, not quite understanding what this meant.

Han Zhi explained, "Although your wife is pregnant, we've just moved here and we still need a lot of help. So I arranged for her to go..."

"Husband! Husband!"

Before Han Zhi could finish speaking, they heard Qian Su's voice. He and Ma Ping looked over and saw Qian Su running towards them. Upon seeing Han Zhi, she instinctively knelt down.

Fortunately, Yueping was there and stopped her.

"This servant greets my lord, may my lord be blessed." Qian Su respectfully bowed to Han Shi first, then helped Ma Ping up and said, "Husband, my lord just sent someone to tell me that I also have work to do."

Ma Ping was still in a daze. He opened his mouth, then asked, "What do you mean?"

Qian Su smiled and said, "Ah Lang said that the family has just started up and the storeroom and other rooms need to be arranged, so he made me a storeroom maid. I don't have to do anything on weekdays, just check the storeroom and the money."

Upon hearing this, Ma Ping was overjoyed—this was usually a task performed by the mistress of the house or a personal maid, and now it had been assigned to his own household. Needless to say, this showed how highly they valued it.

"Thank you so much, Master! Your kindness is beyond repayment. My family has no way to repay you. We only ask to serve you for generations to come, to repay your kindness with kindness, and to never betray you!" Ma Ping bowed very low.

Han Zhi waved his hand and said, "Why are you in such a hurry? Really. I have things to arrange here, so I probably won't need you guys today. Go back and do what you need to do."

"Yes! I'll go feed the horses right away!"

Seeing Ma Ping leave so happily, Han Zhi smiled and shook his head. Even Yue Ping remarked, "My lord is truly kind-hearted."

"Don't bring up these things. There are a lot of things to do at home. Go and help out. Go quickly," Han Zhi said with a smile and a wave.

"Yes."