allonlinenovel Chapter 96 Finally, someone is taking care of things!
Chapter 96 Finally, someone is taking care of things!
"What do you have to say?" Wen Dashan asked coldly.
The Lin family problem is solved, but the Wang family remains a troublesome one. Wen Dashan plans to take advantage of the situation and eliminate the Wang family as well.
Wang Ping said with a tearful face, "Back then, my eldest son and his wife died at the same time. Hu Zi was angry and wanted to find a place to vent his anger. It just so happened that Da Ya and her brother brought back a child... In-law, I know I was wrong!"
On one side was his eldest grandson, and on the other was his granddaughter. When he chose to side with his eldest grandson and ignore his granddaughter, he could never have imagined that his granddaughter would have such good fortune.
Sigh, it's a long story. Their granddaughter was very close to them, but because of their eldest grandson's stubbornness… Wang Ping felt that their decision at the time was too hasty.
Wen Dashan calmly said, "I can understand why Hu Zi is grieving the loss of his parents and blames their deaths on Daya, who lost her parents at a young age. However, I will never forgive your indifference towards Daya and her siblings. I'll say it again: the two families will never see each other again. You may leave."
The deaths of Dazhu and his wife made Huzi narrow-minded and intolerant of Wen Yuxia and her brother. Wang Ping sided with Huzi, and Wang Wushi did not try to stop Wen Yuxia and her brother from staying.
Now that Wen Yuxia's status has changed, Wang Ping wants to repair his relationship with the Wen family, and Wang Wu believes she must fully cooperate.
She wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes and cried out sorrowfully, "My dear in-law, please don't you reconsider? After all, Daya came from my daughter's womb!"
The Wang family and the Lin family were different. The Lin family sold Wen Linshi to the Chunfeng Brothel, while the Wang family ignored Wen Yuxia and her brother but did not incite the people of Xiaowang Village to drive them out of the famine-stricken group. Based on this alone, Wen Dashan did not want to go too far.
He slowly began to speak, "For the sake of Fourth Brother's wife, I can give you some money. I'll also make sure Daya doesn't cause you any trouble... May you all live in peace and never have anything to do with each other again."
These words instilled fear in Wang Ping. To get rid of their entanglement, Wen Yuxia might actually do as Wen Dashan said and send people to wipe them out.
Wang Ping wiped the cold sweat from his forehead: "My dear in-law, you're right. Some mistakes, once made, are made. You can't just say sorry and pretend nothing happened..."
Finally, the two reached an agreement: Wen Dashan would pay the Wang family one hundred taels of silver, and the Wang family would no longer harass Wen Yuxia, nor would Wen Yuxia harm the Wang family.
"I'll have my second son send you the money by tomorrow at the latest," Wen Dashan said. He only had a few dozen taels of silver on him, and he planned to have his three daughters-in-law help him raise the money when they returned that evening.
Wen Yuxia once gave gold ingots to Wen Yunhai and his family. Yang, who had the most children, had four gold ingots, while Wen Zibai, who had the fewest children, had two.
Wen Dashan didn't plan to ask Wen Yuxia for the one hundred taels given to the Wang family. He believed that the Yang family, Wen Zibai, and Wen Zihua would all be willing to pay the money.
Xiao Zhang from the brokerage firm asked Lu Zhigang to tell Wen Yuxia that a new batch of government slaves had arrived at the brokerage firm, and that she should go and take a look as soon as possible.
Wen Yuxia was unaware that Wen Dashan had already resolved the potential troubles with the Lin and Wang families for her, and was currently heading towards the city with great joy.
"Brother Zhang!" As soon as the mule cart stopped, Wen Yuxia jumped off and hurried into the brokerage firm to greet Xiao Zhang warmly.
Upon seeing her, Xiao Zhang quickly stood up and bowed, saying, "Princess," before carefully explaining the situation of this group of government slaves to her.
The housekeeper, accountant, and manager that Wen Yuxia needed are all available, but these people all have families, so it's estimated that the whole family would have to buy them together.
After a moment of contemplation, Wen Yuxia decisively said, "Brother Zhang, bring these people and their families up here!"
"Bring them all up, Princess. Are you sure?" Xiao Zhang asked again, confirming.
This group of government slaves came from several families of disgraced officials. There were over ten stewards alone, not to mention accountants and shopkeepers. Add to that their families, and the shop couldn't hold them all.
Wen Yuxia calmly said, "Let the housekeeper bring his family up first!"
She needed to take this opportunity to select more capable people; the two thousand acres of land and two hills bestowed upon her by the Emperor still lacked suitable people to take over.
"Please wait a moment, Princess. I'll go and bring the person up right away," Wen Yuxia called him Brother Zhang out of habit. He didn't take advantage of her kindness, and Brother Zhang politely bowed and withdrew.
Soon, a group of ragged people filed in. Little Zhang pointed to a few of them and said, "Princess, these are the stewards, the others are their family members."
Wen Yuxia calmly had all the housekeepers step forward, told them her criteria for selecting people, and then began a question-and-answer session: "What are the responsibilities of a housekeeper?"
"To relieve the master's worries and troubles, and to be in charge of all affairs in the manor..."
"Be loyal to your master, never betray him, and manage all affairs of the household well..."
……
Wen Yuxia asked three questions in succession, which the stewards answered readily. Then, Wen Yuxia asked the stewards what their families had done in their previous master's household.
Finally, pointing to her favorite candidates, she said, "Brother Zhang, I want all five of them, along with their families."
The five women chosen included embroiderers, cooks, stewards, and elderly nannies—in short, none of them were useless to Wen Yuxia.
Then Xiao Zhang brought in another group of people. "Princess, these are the accountants, and those two over there are the managers."
Wen Yuxia asked Xiao Zhang to find a few abacuses, and casually posed an arithmetic problem. The accountants and the manager started clicking the abacus beads on the ground.
All four accountants and two managers gave the correct answer. Wen Yuxia waved her hand and took all six people and their families into custody.
Wen Yuxia spent over a thousand taels of silver at the brokerage this time, buying a total of 48 people. Government slaves were several times more expensive than ordinary slaves.
Among the people Wen Yuxia bought, the most valuable were the steward, accountant, shopkeeper, and embroiderer, who cost 30 taels of silver each. The others were cheaper, costing 20 taels of silver each.
Wen Yuxia's current status made it unsuitable for her to live in the southern part of the city, where ordinary people lived. Fortunately, she had already acquired two large five-courtyard houses, one in the east and one in the west of the city.
“Old Lu, take them to the mansion in the west of the city. Li Chuan, you are in charge of the affairs of the mansion,” Wen Yuxia said, handing over two five-hundred-tael silver notes to Li Chuan to manage the household.
After parting ways with Lu Zhigang and the others, Wen Yuxia and her two servants drove a mule cart back to their home in the south of the city. Wen Yunhong and his two brothers were still at the academy. Wen Yuxia planned to move house once they returned.
“Aunt Lu, I’m moving to the house in the west of the city tonight. You will stay here. You can collect your monthly household expenses and allowance from Steward Li in the west of the city.”