Chapter 141 Little Teacher
When Qianhuan brought Wenjie back to her teahouse, they saw a large group of people sitting around a big table drinking brown rice porridge.
At this time, the children had all washed themselves and changed into the old clothes that Mr. Cai bought for them.
Although they were second-hand clothes bought from a clothing store (a shop that sold second-hand clothes in ancient times), the children did not dislike them. After putting them on, they all had happy expressions on their faces. These clothes were hundreds of times better than the clothes they had worn before.
Young Master Cai also bought several large bags of coarse grains and asked his brothers to cook a large pot of porridge for everyone in the kitchen.
The children drank the fragrant brown rice porridge, and they were all very satisfied. They were very grateful to Qianhuan, and secretly vowed in their hearts that they would work hard to repay their employer's great kindness.
Seeing Qianhuan and Wenjie coming back, all the children put down their chopsticks and stood up to kowtow to Qianhuan: "Greetings, Master."
"You all should get up and continue eating. You don't have to kneel down every time you see me."
"Yes, Master." Then all the children returned to their seats and continued to drink their porridge.
Master Cai quickly asked, "Shanbo, you and your brother haven't had lunch yet, right? Would you like to have some porridge together?"
Qianhuan had already taken Wenjie to a noodle shop and they each had a big bowl of noodles. She was the kind of person who enjoyed life, and as long as conditions allowed, she would never treat herself badly when it came to eating.
She shook her head and said, "Brother Yunlong, you guys eat by yourselves. My brother and I have already eaten."
After everyone finished eating, Qiu Ming and Qiu Shui took the initiative to go to the kitchen to help wash the dishes.
Qianhuan first asked Wenjie to write a contract of sale for each child. After getting them all to put their fingerprints on it, Qianhuan took the contract of sale to the government to go through the transfer procedures.
After being registered with the government and a stamped deed was issued, the master-servant relationship between her and these orphans was formally established.
Qianhuan then called Potato over, "Potato, this is my younger brother Liang Wenjie. You will serve him from now on. Come here and meet your little master."
Potato immediately knelt in front of Wenjie: "Potato greets the young master."
When Wenjie saw him kneeling down to him, he quickly shrank behind Qianhuan. He himself was born into a peasant family and no one had ever kneeled down to him before.
Qianhuan said to Tu Dou: "Just take good care of the young master from now on, and don't kneel down at every turn."
"Yes, Potato knows."
"Wenjie, you can teach them to read the Three Character Classic today. Tomorrow, when your sister prepares something for them to write with, you can teach them how to write."
Qianhuan thought about it and realized that with so many children learning to write, she couldn't afford to buy so many pens, ink, paper and inkstones. Even if she could afford it, she wouldn't be so generous.
After returning home, she planned to ask Carpenter Sun to make her a dozen wooden boxes with lids, and then ask her father to cut some thin bamboo sticks.
Just put some sand in a wooden box. During class, let the children open the wooden box and write in the sand with thin bamboo sticks. This sandbox can be reused countless times, which is convenient and saves money.
Anyway, she just wants these children to recognize a few big characters and know the basic principles of being a human being and doing things. They don't need to have great knowledge or good calligraphy.
So with Qianhuan's encouragement, Wenjie started to act as a little teacher and taught the children to read "Three Character Classic".
It was his first time as a teacher and he was a little nervous, and he stuttered a little, but luckily the group of kids didn’t laugh at him.
Qianhuan wanted to renovate the entire layout of the teahouse, so she invited a tiler master and told him her idea. Then the eight brothers under Mr. Cai started to work together with the tiler master.
Qianhuan followed Mr. Cai to the pawnshop to buy a servant.
Although human trafficking is illegal in the 21st century, Qianhuan should adapt to local customs. She would not think of pursuing equality for all in ancient times.
As soon as the two entered the human trafficking market, several soliciting agents came up to them, both men and women.
"I wonder what kind of servants you two want? Do you want a boy or a maid?" One of the older women asked the two enthusiastically.
Qianhuan thought that she might need to shop frequently in the future, so she wanted to buy a strong girl to keep by her side.
So she said to the matchmaker, "I want a girl who is strong and can work."
"What a coincidence, we just got a new batch of goods, among which there is a little girl who is very strong, but she also eats a lot. If you don't mind her eating too much, you can consider it." The matchmaker was selling her goods with all her might.
"Sir, we also have girls here who are strong and capable of working. Would you like to come and have a look?" The other brokers were not to be outdone and started to promote their goods.
"Please take us to see it." Qianhuan ignored the others. She was very interested in the strong girl mentioned by the matchmaker.
The woman was secretly delighted and quickly waved away the other agents. She then bowed to Qianhuan and said with a smile, "Sir, please follow me. I guarantee that I can satisfy you."
The matchmaker led the way, and soon, Qianhuan and Cai Xiaoye followed her to an underground cell.
Qianhuan looked at the dark cell with shock. It was dark and damp inside, with a musty smell. Only a few oil lamps were flickering, emitting faint light.
There are more than a dozen huge iron cages on both sides of this underground prison, and each cage contains a group of people, men are locked together, and women are locked together.
Several people walked down the middle road. The people in the cages on both sides desperately clung to the railings and stretched out their hands, shouting non-stop: "Kind-hearted sir, please buy me..."
Looking at these ragged people in the cages, Qianhuan couldn't tell what she felt in her heart. As a modern person, living in a free country, she was accustomed to equality for all. Suddenly seeing such a scene, even though she had prepared herself mentally before, she was still shocked.
Her throat was dry and she felt very sympathetic towards those who had lost their freedom and were locked in iron cages like animals.
No, in the eyes of the brokers and buyers, they are not human beings at all, but just a piece of goods.
She just felt sad, felt sad for the people of this era, but she was powerless to change it. She could only adapt to the times and adapt to the life here.
"Sir, the strong girl is in this iron cage. Look, she is the girl with dark skin."
The matchmaker's sudden words interrupted Qianhuan's sad mood.
She raised her head and looked in the direction of the matchmaker's finger, and sure enough, she saw a dark and thin girl. She was taller than the other women in the cage and stood out in the crowd.
"How strong is she? How much does she eat in one meal?" Qianhuan asked the matchmaker.
"She can lift a stone weighing 200 to 300 kilograms by herself, and her appetite is three times that of a normal woman. If you want it, I can give you a discount."
The matchmaker just wanted to sell the girl quickly. She was not very good-looking, and men didn't have much interest in her, and she ate a lot.
It has been several days since she arrived, but the owner who came to buy her didn't want her after seeing her. It would be great if she could be sold today.
"How old is this girl? How much silver will it cost to buy her?"
When the matchmaker heard that there was a chance, she immediately became excited.