Reborn as the Blissful Wife in the countryside

After hearing this, the five little escort masters immediately knelt down: "Yes, we will remember."

Gu Jinli looked toward Qin San Lang and said with a smile, "Brother Qin, go test their skills."

Qin San Lang nodded with a smile, his figure swiftly moving as he attacked the five men.

The five little escort masters immediately struck back, but even all five of them together were no match for Qin San Lang. In just a quarter of an hour, Qin San Lang had beaten them to the ground.

Gu Jinli frowned; their skills were somewhat lacking.

However, Qin San Lang said, "Send them back to Uncle Six and Grandfather for a couple of years of training, and they should be able to fend off a few strong robbers."

"Only fend off a few robbers?" Gu Jinli was still not satisfied. She purchased these people from the escort agency to contend with soldiers.

The Emperor of Great Chu was too mischievous. Now, with the help of some old ministers, the chaos in the Northwest was suppressed, but given Emperor Chu's reckless nature, Great Chu would sooner or later fall.

For herself and her family, she must train a group of Protectors with combat skills comparable to the military in advance. If Great Chu collapsed, she could use the trained Protectors to safeguard her family and prevent them from dying in the turmoil.

Upon hearing these words, Qin San Lang paused, his gaze turning slightly deeper as if he had guessed her purpose for buying these people. But since there were too many people around, it wasn't convenient to ask more questions, so he could only hold back what he was about to say and helped the five little escort masters to their feet.

"Aunt Lv, we'll take these five people," said Gu Jinli to Aunt Lv.

Aunt Lv was shrewd. Seeing that Gu Jinli seemed to want to buy some martial arts skilled people, she immediately came over and said, "Young customer, our government slave market has dozens of martial arts skilled people. Would you like to buy them? These people have all served as Protectors for some households. It's just that some households ran out of Silver Coin or got into trouble, and they were sent to the government slave market. Shall I bring them over for you to have a look, young customer?"

Third Grandpa frowned when he heard this and asked Aunt Lv, "The households got into trouble; what kind of trouble was it?"

Aunt Lv said with a smile, "It's not a big deal, just crimes of corruption. The households were arrested, and their servants were all confiscated and put up for sale."

She added specifically, "It has nothing to do with the recent river bandit case."

Aunt Lv said this because the river bandit case had caused widespread panic in Jianghuai and Jiangnan regions, and many wealthy families who came to buy servants were unwilling to purchase those related to the households involved in the river bandit case.

Gu Jinli didn't wish to buy servants associated with the river bandit case either.

She then asked Aunt Lv, "Are there any maids skilled in martial arts?"

She wanted to buy a few maids skilled in martial arts to protect Gu Jinxiu in the future or to help her.

Aunt Lv replied, "There are six, shall I bring them all for the young customer to see?"

Gu Jinli nodded: "Okay."

Aunt Lv was very pleased and soon brought over more than sixty servants, divided into three groups: "The group on the left is from households that sold them because they ran out of silver while fleeing famine; the group in the middle is from households that committed crimes and were converted to official slaves to be sold; the six on the right are maids skilled in some martial arts. Take a look, young customer."

After saying this, she handed Gu Jinli three booklets for her to check the records.

Gu Jinli browsed the booklets while covertly observing the six maids. She could see that though nervous, they were very well-behaved, and they did not make any presumptuous moves while her attention was elsewhere.

After a while, she closed the booklet and walked up to one of the maids, saying, "Tong Dayu, sixteen, a born servant from Tong Family, a personal maid to Lady Tong, all sold by the household because of the miss' fatal illness?"

Tong Dayu curtsied and replied, "To report back to the young master, that is correct."

Gu Jinli looked at her wrist and saw a silk flower made from white cloth wrapped around it... This was a custom of Great Chu; if someone in the family died, people would wear white.

Tong Dayu wore a white silk flower on her wrist, probably in mourning for the Lady Tong, yet she feared others seeing it, deeming her bad luck.

"Why are you wearing a white silk flower on your wrist?" Gu Jinli purposefully asked.

Tong Dayu immediately knelt down, choking back tears as she explained the reason, which was exactly what Gu Jinli had suspected. In the end, she pleaded, "Young master, in thirteen more days, it will be the Lady Tong's hundredth day death anniversary. After that, I will take down and burn the white silk flower, is that alright?"

Gu Jinli didn't mind these things.

Aunt Lv remarked from aside, "Youthful guest, don't consider it bad luck. This Tong Dayu is kind-hearted and loyal. Wearing white for Lady Tong is merely her last act of servant's devotion... Sadly, her family has been unfortunate. Miss Tong had been suffering from heart disease since she was a child, and had been sustaining her life with medicines. After Miss Tong's death, despite Elder Tong and Mrs. Tong grieving too deeply, they took out their anger on the servants who attended to Miss Tong, and sold off Tong Dayu's entire family – all seven of them."

However, the Tong Family showed some conscience and didn't sell Tong Dayu's family into the private slave market; otherwise, with the sisters' appearances like Tong Dayu's, they would have likely been bought by a brothel procuress to become prostitutes.

Gu Jinli looked at the records in the ledger and then at Tong Dayu's parents and brothers, learning that Father Tong and the Tong Family Brothers were all Protectors, she was very satisfied and bought all seven family members.

Tong Dayu and her family were crying with joy; they had thought their family would be separated forever, but unexpectedly, they were sold together again. They immediately knelt down to kowtow to Gu Jinli and the others, "The servants thank the young master, thank the Old Master."

Third Grandpa couldn't bear to see this and waved his hand to let them get up quickly.

Gu Jinli and the others spent most of the day at the government broker and bought twenty servants, but Gu Jinli still felt it was not enough; the pharmaceutical workshop had too much work, how much could these twenty people do in a day?

But these were the only twenty that she favored in the government broker.

Aunt Lv, seeing this, hurriedly said, "When will the young guest leave Prefecture City? Our government broker will receive another batch of goods in a few days, about a hundred or so people. Why don't you come back and have a look then? Perhaps you could buy a few that meet your needs."

After hearing this, Gu Jinli didn't nod immediately, just saying, "We'll talk about it then."

After hearing this, Aunt Lv said nothing more and accepted the silver note from Gu Jinli to handle the indentures for the twenty servants.

Now the price of buying people had gone up, and it was even more expensive at the government broker. Although Old Uncle Cheng helped, it still cost three taels of silver per person. However, the government broker would go to the government to exchange for the red deed for her, which saved her some silver coins.

Aunt Lv said, "Young guest should not feel it's expensive. Although the price of buying people has risen recently compared to before, it's still cheaper than in the years without famine refugees fleeing. In years of abundance, buying people really costs a fortune, purchasing someone skilled in martial arts would cost at least ten taels of silver, and they are in high demand, not even available for purchase."

Aside from the twenty servants bought by Gu Jinli, Gu Daya also purchased two households, totaling eight servants. These people could make roast duck or work in the restaurant, and with the indentures, they could be trusted.

After waiting an hour at the government broker, Aunt Lv brought the exchanged red deeds to them, "Young guest, Gu Family's eldest daughter, these are the indentures for your respective households' servants, take good care of them."

Gu Jinli took the indenture and asked Aunt Lv, "Could you help us inquire about a few people who came from the Northwest?"

She told Aunt Lv about Gu Fuya's family situation.

Third Grandpa listened from beside and his eyes reddened; he had also come to the broker to inquire if there was any news about the Fuyan family.

Unfortunately, Aunt Lv helped look through the ledgers for more than an hour, but in the end, shook her head and said, "There is no record of this family; you might try asking at the private slave market, perhaps they can be found there."

Third Grandpa felt very sad, but still thanked Aunt Lv and, along with Gu Jinli, took the newly bought servants back to the Jiang Residence.

But before they arrived at the Jiang Residence, Gu Jinli quietly said to Escort Master Qin San Lang, "There's a little beggar who's been following us, go catch him."

Qin San Lang nodded, "I see him, you go ahead with the people, I'll catch him shortly."