The Eldest Daughter of a Rural Family-Chapter 611: Extravagant Confession (4)_1

Pei Qin glanced at the sky, listening to the trafficker praise how great the people in her hands were and how many advantages they had procured for those who bought them. She chuckled, "Buy with your own money."

Pei Qian was in charge of the Kimchi Workshop, which was only busy for a few months a year but made quite a bit of money. Aside from the amount that went into the company’s public account, Pei Qin allowed her and Pei Yuan to take out some pocket money every month. Her little treasury had also saved up quite a few dozen taels of silver.

"I’ll buy it myself if I have to!" Pei Qian pursed her lips, asked for the price, and a maid cost six taels of silver, "That expensive!?" Originally, when Old Pei’s House arranged for the eldest sister to marry into Qian Dog’s family, they only gave Lady Chen two taels of silver, claiming there were two acres of land and that a dowry was necessary to proceed.

The trafficker emitted an ’aiyo’, praising those four maids over and over again, as if there were none like them on earth or in heaven; eight taels of silver would be a bargain and six was an outright steal, "...If it wasn’t for your family wanting them, this price definitely wouldn’t get them out the door! If not for making things right, I wouldn’t sell at all!"

Pei Qian remained unimpressed, haggling with her.

The trafficker nearly popped her eyes out. Those who could afford to buy servants to wait on them were wealthy, and even though some might bargain, she had never seen anyone like Pei Qian – a young lady from an imperial merchant’s family – haggle so hard over a maid.

In the end, the trafficker, hating that she could not vomit blood from anger, reluctantly agreed to give a discount of two taels and three coins of silver for four people.

Those three coins were haggled out by just two people.

The four maids who were bought looked at Pei Qian with a mix of fear and worry that, under the thumb of such a formidable and frugal mistress, there would be little hope for their future.

The trafficker’s walk became unsteady, her face slightly green, and Pei Qian was still not fully satisfied.

After they left with the maids, the trafficker drank two cups of tea and said through gritted teeth to a trafficker sister with whom she cooperated, "If anyone from their house comes again, if it’s Pei Qian, definitely don’t sell! If I have to sell, I’ll talk to Pei Qin! She’s forthright!"

In fact, Pei Qin also bargained, but her way of bargaining was different from others – chatting with her, you’d find yourself giving her a discount without even realizing. That was not like Pei Qian, who forcefully drove down the price.

Pei Qian found immediate tasks for the four maids they brought back home, giving them new names: Chun Hong, Xia Lv, Qiu Huang, and Dong Bai.

Pei Qin heard this and said, "Switch them! Lv Chun, Hong Xia, Huang Qiu, Xue Dong." Chun Hong and Xia Lv indeed.

The four maids looked at Pei Qin with gratitude; just a switch in the names, and everything felt different! However, Lv Chun, Hong Xia, and Huang Qiu had a touch of grievance in their eyes – they were originally greens, reds, and yellows, so why, when it came to Dong Bai, was it not Bai Dong but Xue Dong instead?

Bai Dong... Pei Qin, in her previous life, had spent some time in the Central Plains, and in the Henan dialect, ’bai dong’ means ’don’t move’. Awkward.

Pei Qian repeated the names of the four people and felt they were not too bad. She nodded, "Then let’s call them that!" She began to lay out the rules for them. She even made a special effort to learn the rules for servants from Landlord Chang Yonglin and Xiao Yong.

The rules at Landlord Chang’s house weren’t very strict; Chang Yonglin had lived in Taiping Town for a few years and knew very little about the rules for servants.

Xiao Yong’s house had strict rules, but as the son of Wang Mansion, he didn’t bother learning the servant’s rules unless necessary and knew even less.

However, seeing her enthusiasm, the two of them told her everything they knew.

Pei Qian then listed a whole bunch of restrictions and rules.

Pei Qin merely glanced at them and told her to fuss about it on her own, as she had farming to do.

Xiao Yong had never done fieldwork before, and hearing that Chang Yonglin was going to take them, a few Little Radishes, down to the fields to thresh wheat, cut wheat, and plant corn and beans, he became very interested and looked forward to the farming holiday every day.

The school hadn’t started the farming holiday yet, but Pei Qin took the opportunity of having a break to bring a few Little Radishes down to the fields to get the wheat threshing area ready.