Chapter 3: 3 Heartbeats

This manservant's original surname was Lü, and his given name was Shan. He was originally from the outskirts of Nanjing and was considered a middle-class farmer, owning about ten *mu* of decent land. Moreover, he was hardworking and knew many ways to make money; by selling duck eggs and pickled vegetables, his family had reached a level of modest prosperity, and life was not bad. However, as the saying goes, "unpredictable clouds appear in the sky, and misfortunes strike people unexpectedly." In the forty-fifth year of the Wanli era, a local flood caused a total crop failure, forcing them to become refugees. His entire family was also unlucky enough to be robbed of all their possessions by bandits [in reality, it was a local wealthy family who had their servants pose as bandits to seize the land through coercion; otherwise, they wouldn't have left people injured] and were left to die by the roadside. Just then, the young Master Zhang happened to be passing by on his way back from selling goods in Nanjing. Unable to bear it, he took in more than ten refugees as slaves. Shan was lucky enough to be selected, and since then, he had been a slave in the Zhang household.

After joining the Zhang family, he took their surname and became Zhang Shan, and his wife was named Zhang Qing. Because he was not a "home-born" slave and lacked any specialized skills for service, the side businesses common in Jiangnan were completely unworkable in Shandong. The couple had no choice but to work as general laborers in the outer courtyard of the Zhang residence. It was not until less than half a month ago that they were transferred to the outer residence to guard Zhang Tianhong, which served as a fallback position. Of course, he should now be called Liu Shan.

As for his age, he was actually only in his early forties. A modern person could thick-skinedly claim to be the age of a boy, but as for his specific age, he himself wasn't quite sure. Liu Baiyu couldn't help but click his tongue in wonder; he knew that many farmers in the old days didn't know their exact age, so it was nothing to find strange.

"Guarding a house here is better than being a general laborer in the main manor, isn't it? At least it's quite dignified."

What use was dignity? He was nothing more than a slave! What dignity was there to speak of? Liu Shan said with a bitter smile, "To answer the Master, the work here is light and leisurely, and no one bothers us. It is dignified and peaceful, but making a living has become difficult."

It turned out that he and his wife used to work in the main manor. Although each person's monthly wage was only two *qian* of silver, food was free, as everything was covered by the communal kitchen. Not only did they not go hungry, but their two children could also eat their fill. Since transferring here, he was nominally a sort of half-manager, and his monthly wage had increased to five *qian*, but because he had to provide his own meals, all the firewood, rice, oil, salt, and vegetables were his own expense, meaning the children could no longer get a share of the food. A thirteen or fourteen-year-old child was at an age where they ate a lot; for a family of four to survive on seven *qian*, it was truly a struggle.

Liu Baiyu asked curiously, "What, the children don't have wages? Aren't they also considered the eldest brother's responsibility? The eldest brother is a good person, isn't he?"

"Master Zhang is naturally a good man, but there are many rules. Master Zhang must follow the rules; it is all custom. It is also just my own bad luck that the children haven't been assigned duties yet." Liu Shan shook his head repeatedly. "Without duties, the manor doesn't issue money or rice; we rely entirely on my support." He sighed again. "I originally wanted to get the girl into the inner residence to work, so she could at least earn one *guan* of money, but she isn't pretty and hasn't been picked. I even asked the housekeeper's wife for help, but even ten taels of silver wasn't enough. How could my family ever save up that much money!"

**It really is long-standing and pervasive, isn't it?** Liu Baiyu sighed. Even becoming a maid required money. However, thinking of how in *Dream of the Red Chamber*, Wu'er went through a series of public relations activities just to get a job at the "establishment" of the Red Chamber, which was no less intense than the struggle for promotion in the officialdom, this was not surprising.

"Now that you are working for me, are you willing in your heart?" Liu Baiyu asked, softening his voice.

Liu Shan gave an uneasy glance at this Second Master, who was dressed in Ming Dynasty clothing in a most improper manner and had violated the principle that "one's body, hair, and skin are received from one's parents," and answered honestly, "We are servants; how could there be willingness or unwillingness? Since we are the Masters' people, we will obey whatever the Masters command."

Liu Baiyu nodded and ordered him to lead the way, inspecting the entire house first. The residence was small and exquisite; every courtyard followed a pattern of one bright and two dark sections. The first courtyard was the living room and study; the second courtyard had a building for living quarters; the third courtyard contained the kitchen, wood storage, and mule/horse stables, along with a private well. Although the house was not new, it was built with great care, using laid blue bricks, making it very sturdy. Considering this house was located in a hidden valley and had a secret passage connecting it to Master Wang's residence—likely intended as a refuge during emergencies—the furniture and furnishings looked simple, but the daily necessities were quite complete. The kitchen was also stocked with a significant amount of rice, salted meat, dried fish, firewood, rice, oil, and salt sent from the large manor. Liu Shan handed over a gift list for the Masters to check; Liu Baiyu felt that things in this era were not particularly good and didn't care much, but Liu Shan, who felt the need to prove his honesty, was almost in tears, so he had no choice but to take the list and begin inspecting.

Account books in this era were extremely simple, and the inspection was completed in no time. Returning to the hall, Liu Shan presented the inventory of furniture and household items. Liu Baiyu, who was already a bit annoyed, didn't look much; seeing that the totals roughly matched, he simply accepted them and was done with it.

It wasn't that Liu Baiyu hadn't thought about just rewarding them with these items to settle the matter, but a problem suddenly occurred to him.

On this gift list alone, the rice amounted to forty *dan*. At the current low rice prices at the end of the Tianqi era, that would be forty taels of silver.

That was equivalent to four years of wages for Liu Shan and his wife. If he handed out forty taels now, how much would be appropriate to reward them in the future?

He and them had only just met; he had neither merit nor hardship to show for it. If he suddenly gave them so many things, what would they think? He might just scare them senseless.

Although it would be best to eventually bring him over as a personal servant, the method was a problem. Management wasn't something that could be solved just by throwing money at it; or rather, that kind of management only suited small companies with short-term existence. If one wanted to grow large, such a crude model would definitely not work.

Liu Baiyu felt that at the beginning, he could only offer small favors, gradually letting them feel the benefits of being with him. Over time, they would naturally turn their hearts toward him. *Liu Shan has a face full of misery, a dull expression, and wandering eyes; he is not a shrewd or capable person. He might fail at big tasks, but he's reliable for small ones and easy to control. For such a person, small favors should be given, but they must be arranged properly...*

As he was speaking, the Madam of the Liu family came respectfully to ask how dinner should be arranged. Liu Baiyu checked his watch and realized that indeed, trivial matters were the biggest time-wasters; before he knew it, it was already four in the afternoon.

"No need for dinner for now. Call your whole family over."

At Liu Baiyu's command, the whole family arrived. According to modern standards, the Madam of the Gao family, if she had applied makeup, could pass for a woman in her thirties; her body was dark and thin, and she kept her head down without speaking, looking like someone clumsy with words. Looking at the pair of children, the boy had an ordinary appearance and was of middle age, his eyes not yet having lost their lively spark. Although he tried to act serious like his parents, he kept stealing glances at Liu Baiyu's novel clothes. The girl, however, was a bit different from the rest of the family; her skin was much fairer, her eyes were large, her nose was small and straight, and she was even taller than the boy. She also had no foot-binding, possessing the slender, long-legged look of a young Michelle Yeoh. Liu Baiyu estimated her to be over 1.7 meters tall, and he couldn't help but feel interested. He asked softly

"What is your name?"

The girl did not expect to be asked first; she looked at Liu Baiyu in surprise and was momentarily speechless.

"The Master is asking you, be smart!" Liu Shan reminded her, while smoothing things over with a bow. "The girl hasn't seen much of the world, and besides, she's just a girl, she doesn't have a proper name..." Although he felt Liu Baiyu's gaze wasn't quite normal, Liu Shan didn't think much of it; after all, according to the standards of this era, his daughter was considered unattractive, so the idea of her becoming a concubine or a high-ranking maid was unthinkable.

"This servant... um... is called Zhang... right, I should take the Second Master's surname, it should be Liu Dazhuang!"

*My god!* Liu Baiyu almost spat out the tea in his mouth, followed by a look of pure embarrassment, as if he were desperately suppressing a laugh. *Liu Dazhuang? Might as well call her Gao Dazhuang (Tall and Strong); that name is quite something.* To have a beauty called that name was truly... However, thinking about it, Liu Baiyu considered the girl's height, which stood out like a crane among chickens among the servants of the Wang family, and realized the name was actually quite literal.

The members of Liu Shan's family all stared at their new masters in a daze, unable to figure out what was so funny about the name. Their girl was just naturally tall!

But since the other party was the master, he surely wouldn't be wrong. Liu Shan could only offer a forced smile: "Forgive the Master's laughter... I am a country person, and she is just a girl, so she never had a proper name..."

"In that case, let's just call you Liu Ziqiong. She looks very much like a beauty I wanted to marry when I was young, except her name was Yang Ziqiong." Liu Baiyu laughed heartily. "Since there is no name, let's use this one."

This... Liu Shan's mind went completely blank. The Master's meaning seemed to be that there was a noble lady named Yang Ziqiong who looked similar to his daughter, and because the Master failed to marry her and still thought of her, he wanted to use his daughter as a substitute?