Chapter 208 Buying People Through a Brokerage Firm

Chapter 208 Buying People Through a Brokerage Firm

After leaving the broker's place, Xie Wanniang thought for a moment and instead of going straight home, she went to visit another broker's house nearby.

The human traffickers who could openly do business on this street were all registered with the government in advance. Although they were selling people, they were considered legitimate businessmen in this dynasty.

The cooks, assistants, and maids in Xie Wanniang's household were all bought from here.

She came this time to see if there were any promising martial arts students. If so, she planned to buy a few and send them to Hao Yu for careful instruction.

The guards she currently employs, who come from the Marquis's mansion, are certainly reliable, but they are not young anymore. Xie Wanniang can rely on them in the short term, but in the long run, she still needs a group of young, domesticated fresh blood who are completely under her control.

To avoid a situation where her defenses become weak due to a lack of replacement personnel, Xie Wanniang decided to formally put this matter on the agenda.

As for the guards of the Marquis's mansion who have been recruited by her, as long as they always perform their duties faithfully, do not betray their master, and do not resign voluntarily, Xie Wanniang will keep them.

She would keep them as guards as long as they were able, and when they got old and could no longer keep up, she would arrange other suitable jobs for them.

She could even help them with their retirement if they served her for the rest of their lives.

Thinking about how much of her money, besides buying a shop, would be left to buy people, Xie Wanniang, along with Haitang and several guards, slowly entered the house of the nearest matchmaker.

After explaining her purpose to the matchmaker who greeted her warmly, the matchmaker immediately had all the boys and girls aged between six and fifteen that Xie Wanniang wanted delivered to the front courtyard flower hall in batches.

To make it easier for buyers to choose their preferred tenants, the flower hall has been transformed from a wall into a window.

The paper-covered windows on the wooden lattice were hung up by the matchmaker herself, instantly brightening the room.

After the maidservant served Xie Wanniang and the others tea and snacks, her son, who had been sent by the matchmaker to fetch people, also led the group of lightly dressed young men and women into the courtyard.

The first group to enter consisted of boys and girls aged fourteen to fifteen.

They stood in two rows according to gender, heads bowed, waiting for buyers to choose.

Xie Wanniang glanced at Haitang and Lao Hong, and the two understood each other. They went over and began to check the physical condition and sturdiness of the young men and women.

The matchmaker, being experienced and knowledgeable, could tell at a glance that Xie Wanniang wanted to buy a sturdy man. The qualities that other buyers valued, such as "cleanliness, good looks, honesty, and discipline," were unlikely to be considered advantages by her.

After a moment's thought, she beckoned her son over and asked him to go to the backyard and bring over another group of boys and girls.

While she was doing this, Xie Wanniang received shake-headed signals from Lao Hong and Haitang.

Xie Wanniang was a little disappointed. She called to the matchmaker, "Change to the next batch."

"Alright!" the matchmaker replied, and hurriedly let in the group of boys and girls aged twelve to thirteen.

Without waiting for Xie Wanniang's instructions, Haitang and Lao Hong went over on their own and quickly began to check.

Among this group, Haitang picked out a dark-skinned, thin, and somewhat simple-minded square-faced girl, while Lao Hong still came up empty-handed.

"Next batch." This time, without Xie Wanniang saying it, the matchmaker called out those three words on her own.

Then, a group of boys and girls aged ten to eleven followed and walked in.

While Haitang and Lao Hong checked each child, the matchmaker put on a smile and pointed to the square-faced girl, saying to Xie Wanniang, "The person you brought is truly discerning. This Xiao Tao, I'm not exaggerating, works harder than all the children here. Don't let her thin appearance fool you, she's incredibly strong..."

The matchmaker praised Xiao Tao highly, making uninformed people think she usually doted on the child. Little did they know that before Haitang chose the child, she had often scolded and berated her.

The reason she disliked the child was simple: although the child was indeed as she said, hardworking and strong, the problem was that she ate a lot, and whenever she saw food, she seemed to be a starving ghost reincarnated.

Xie Wanniang knew that the matchmaker was talking so much just to get a good price for Xiao Tao. She glanced at her indifferently and uttered the familiar three words: "Next batch."

The matchmaker, reminded by her, then realized that Haitang and Lao Hong had already finished making their selections once again.

This time, Lao Hong picked out two boys, while Haitang didn't pick out any.

Of the younger children, Haitang picked out a girl, Lao Hong picked out a boy, and the vast majority of the rest were eliminated.

The matchmaker couldn't help but grimace. All the goods she had were of good quality, yet these two only took a liking to five of them. They were far too picky!

Fortunately, she had another batch.

"Madam, I have another batch here that's even stronger, but you see, they're not very good-looking. You see..."

Xie Wanniang nodded, "Bring it over so I can take a look."

She chose bodyguards, not courtesans, so whether they were good-looking or not didn't matter to her at all.

Upon hearing this, the matchmaker hurriedly called her son to bring the person over.

Hearing footsteps, Xie Wanniang looked up and, along with Haitang, Lao Hong, and the others, headed towards the door.

This time, the matchmaker's son didn't have people come in in batches because the number of people in this batch was far less than the previous batch.

There were more than thirty people in total. At the matchmaker's command, they stood in two lines, men and women, and then Haitang and Lao Hong began to select again.

This time, the two selected three from more than thirty people. Including the five from before, they selected a total of four men and four women, all of whom they found to have good potential and great potential for development.

The two men brought the person to Xie Wanniang. "Miss, that's all."

Xie Wanniang nodded in satisfaction, "That's quite a lot."

She looked at the matchmaker and asked, "How much silver is owed for these eight people?"

The matchmaker rubbed her hands together with a smile, "One hundred and twenty taels, please."

Xie Wanniang glanced at her and said, "You can give me that sick one who's about to die as a bonus."

She was a martial artist, and someone was loudly cursing in the backyard, saying things like "bad luck," "losing money," "go find any traveling doctor," and "whether he lives or dies depends on his fate." The matchmaker didn't hear it, but she vaguely heard it.

The matchmaker was taken aback for a moment, but then nodded without hesitation and agreed, "Okay."

She quoted 120 taels, which actually gave Xie Wanniang a maximum of 10 taels of silver to bargain. Now, Xie Wanniang is not bargaining, but asking her for a child who is about to die and may cause her to lose both her wife and money. Of course, she has no objection.