Transmigrated into a seven-year-old child, my fate is in my own hands, not in the heavens.

After leaving Zuichunlou, Zhaolian didn't go to the Qiao residence again, but went directly to the human slave trading company, intending to buy a few servants there.

"Young lady, you've come to the right place. I just received a new batch of goods." The matchmaker smiled, her eyes crinkling, when she heard that Zhao Lian wanted to buy servants.

"Young lady, are you looking to buy a man or a woman? Do you want a young adult or a teenager? If you're looking for someone to do heavy work, then of course you'll want a young adult."

"But if you want young and middle-aged men, then there are some things to consider!" The matchmaker began to use her professional sales skills.

Zhao Lian glanced around, looking somewhat nonchalant: "My family has a lot of land, and I plan to buy a few men to farm it."

“Then you’ve come to the right place, girl. Come with me.” The matchmaker’s eyes lit up, and she led Zhao Lian to the gate of a small courtyard. While unlocking the door, she said, “Girl, listen to this old woman’s advice. I think it won’t work if you only buy men.”

Zhao Lian raised an eyebrow: "What do you mean?"

"Think about it, if you only buy young and strong men, that won't work. You have to learn to buy combo packages." The matchmaker began a new brainwashing session.

"Ha~"

Zhao Lian was immediately surprised, not expecting this old woman to be so advanced, even knowing about set meals.

In later generations, this phrase would be commonplace in commercial sales, but unexpectedly, there are even package deals for buying servants here.

The door opened, and the room resembled an eyeshadow palette, divided into numerous individual cubicles, each housing a group of people. The cubicles were categorized by size, resembling merchandise for customers to choose from.

Seeing them come in, everyone knew that new buyers were coming in, and it was like seeing hope. Many people craned their necks.

Seeing that Zhaolian didn't understand, the matchmaker continued, "Little girl, you don't understand. Actually, the best thing for people like you is to buy a whole family, with the parents being young and strong, and the children being teenagers."

“There’s one advantage to buying one like this: you won’t be lazy, and you’ll all work together towards a common goal. I have one like this right here; let me show you.” The matchmaker led Zhaolian forward.

After hearing what the matchmaker said, Zhao Lian understood. What she meant by "combination package" was, frankly, that she should buy a whole family's package.

Seeing how hard the matchmaker was trying to sell, she guessed that this family was in her hands. Seeing that she was just a young girl who didn't know anything, she was eager to sell the product.

Haha~

Zhao Lian didn't say anything. She figured it wouldn't hurt to take a look; she wanted to see what kind of people this family was.

As these people watched Zhao Lian and the others walk forward, their newly ignited hope vanished, and they sat back down on the ground, their eyes dimming.

This was Zhao Di's first time visiting this place, and she found it quite novel.

Looking at the people locked in the single rooms, each one was pale, thin, and ragged. Their eyes were filled with longing, yet they also felt a little scared. One hand tightly gripped Zhaolian.

After passing through the middle passage, the matchmaker stopped at the last room.

This room looks about the same size as the others, but it was crammed with nearly ten people of all ages.

"Third Aunt?"

Zhao Di, with her sharp eyes, immediately recognized one of the women as Wang Shi.

The woman shuddered and hurriedly looked up. At this moment, Zhao Lian could also see that it was indeed Wang Shi.

Unexpectedly, after not seeing her for more than half a year, Wang Shi was even thinner than before, her clothes were tattered, and she was shivering from the cold.

The matchmaker was delighted: "Oh! What a coincidence! It turns out you two know each other. That makes things much easier."

The matchmaker was overjoyed. This family had been under her control for a while, but other people were already tired of them and didn't want the whole family.

The two brothers didn't separate their household; there were nine people in total, young and old. Back then, both brothers had children who were sick, and they couldn't afford to see a doctor.

They came to our door, saying they had sold their whole family to pay for their child's medical treatment. We were just being kind, so we negotiated a lower price and reluctantly bought them.

I thought this deal was a sure thing, but I never expected that it would be stuck in my hands for almost half a month and I still couldn't sell it.

It would be easier if they sold them separately, but they insisted on selling them together.

There were buyers who wanted to buy those little babies, but they refused no matter what. So, they just had them stuck in their hands.

The matchmaker was perceptive and knew immediately that the deal was sure to go through. She quickly released the Li family and led them into the courtyard.

Seeing their tattered clothes, barely any warm clothes on such a cold day, and even their shoes with several holes, they looked quite pitiful.

Zhao Lian counted them; everyone was there except for old woman Chen Donghua.

"Zhaolian, Zhaodi, I never expected to see you here. This is wonderful!" Everyone was extremely excited.

"Zhaolian, I thought I would never see you again in this lifetime." Li Chunlan and Li Chunju, the sisters, began to sob.

Seeing Li Chunju cry, the matchmaker immediately said, "Why are you crying, child? This is a good thing." Thinking that this family would soon be able to help, she was happier than anyone else at this moment.

"Yes, this is a good thing," Liu Chunmei said, unconsciously wiping away tears.

They've been very worried these past few days. Buyers have been coming and going, but no one wants them. And since no one wants to part ways, it's even more difficult.

The matchmaker said that if they didn't sell them in the next few days, she would sell them cheaply to those unscrupulous quarries so they could go up the mountain to quarry stones, and she wouldn't lose money.

Otherwise, if they have food in their hands for a day, they'll be losing money on food for that day.

"Third Aunt, Fourth Aunt, where is Auntie?"

Not seeing Chen Donghua, Zhao Lian couldn't help but ask.

When Zhao Lian mentioned Chen Donghua, everyone fell silent. After a long while, Li Erwang burst into tears: "Grandma is dead. She starved to death."

Grandma originally had food, but in order to save a bite for herself, she starved to death.

"woo woo woo woo……"

Hearing Li Erwang cry, even Li Chunlan and Li Chunju wiped away their tears.

Grandma favored boys over girls from a young age. Although she didn't love the two girls much, she never really hit them either.

She usually saves the best food for her younger brother, but compared to Zhao Lian and the others, it's much better.

"Zhaolian, did you come here to buy servants?" Madam Wang asked nervously.

She hoped that Zhao Lian could buy them all, but then she thought it seemed unlikely.

My family has five members, plus my uncle's family of four, that makes nine people in total.

Moreover, those kids are now half-grown, and there's a saying that half-grown boys can eat their fathers out of house and home.

Buying them would cost a large sum of money, and feeding them would also require a considerable amount of food.

Upon hearing Wang's question, everyone's eyes turned to Zhao Lian, their eyes filled with longing.

Not only the Li family members, but even the matchmaker had hopeful eyes, just waiting for her to nod.