Chapter 4: Discussion of Four Families

But why did the Master say that the noble lady named Yang Ziqiong was a beauty? As for this aesthetic viewpoint, he didn't dare say it was wrong.

Seeing that the Master had been looking the girl up and down continuously since he saw her face, Liu Shan and his family couldn't help but feel frightened, offering nothing but apologetic smiles from the side.

Liu Baiyu thought that by modern standards, this girl was a beautiful specimen, but people of the Ming Dynasty didn't like women like this. Thus, by labeling her an ugly woman, it worked out in his favor. It was just a pity her figure was a bit thin and her "capital" was limited; fortunately, she seemed to be only about fourteen or fifteen years old. He wondered if proper nourishment could improve her physique.

"How old is this girl? Has she been betrothed to anyone?" Liu Baiyu suddenly remembered that he was the Master and possessed privileges. If there was no engagement, he could just take her directly; if there was an engagement, he would likely just treat them as servants. He didn't believe in playing fair—he would use both soft and hard tactics. He didn't believe he wouldn't succeed. Huang Shiren's success followed a general pattern, and it was still several hundred years before the era of "fighting the landlords and rich peasants." What was there to fear?

"Re... responding to the Master, there is no engagement." Liu Shan could barely speak clearly. This Master's eyes were wandering, constantly circling around his daughter, making him feel that things were going south. "She is... fourteen."

Fourteen? A standard little girl. However, he had to establish the formal legitimacy first; otherwise, if someone else snatched her away, wouldn't he cry himself to death? Liu Baiyu had practiced calligraphy for a few days when he was a child, and his university major was Chinese Literature, so he hadn't forgotten how to write traditional characters. He found a piece of scrap accounting paper and wrote in large characters: "Liu Ziqiong," effectively giving her a name.

"Thank you, Master, for granting the name." Liu Shan led his daughter to kowtow in thanks, but his mind could not settle, thinking about the way the Master looked at his daughter.

"Rise, rise. Since we are master and servant, we are one family. No need for such ceremony." In his heart, Liu Baiyu treated Liu Shan as his future father-in-law; how could he dare to put on airs? Being careless with his phrasing, he tried to speak as gently as possible: "The monthly wages for you and your wife will remain the same as the old custom, without any reduction."

"Thank you, Master." Liu Shan felt relieved. He had been worried that the new master would cut their wages to force him to hand over his daughter.

"Your family has many children, the burden is heavy, and it is not easy. How about this: I will give your whole family an extra half-dan of rice every month. This will save you the expense of food for the whole family."

"The Master is benevolent!" Liu Shan was moved to tears, nearly kneeling. Half a dan of rice was enough to feed the whole family for a month. One word from this Master was equivalent to a five-qian silver increase. But in a flash, he realized something felt off. In these times, families usually had four or five children; with only two, how could he be considered having "many children and a heavy burden"? He feared the Master was after his daughter!

It wasn't that Liu Shan had a backbone or anything, but if Liu Ziqiong were a beauty and the Master took a liking to her, even if Liu Ziqiong were unhappy about being a concubine-maid, Liu Shan would still have to hand her over. It was just that Liu Shan felt his daughter was ugly, and Liu Baiyu was treating his daughter as a substitute for that noble lady Yang Ziqiong—to be discarded once he was done playing. What would happen to his child?

Liu Baiyu felt that since he intended to marry someone's daughter, he naturally shouldn't be harsh to them. Thus, he paused and said with a smile, "Can you read?"

Liu Shan gave a troubled smile. He only recognized a few characters from shop signs and naturally didn't dare say he was literate. However, his son spoke up: "Replying to the Master, this humble one can read."

"Oh? Then can you do work?" Originally, Liu Baiyu hadn't held much hope; he wanted to use teaching literacy as an excuse to build an emotional connection with Liu Ziqiong. He hadn't expected his future brother-in-law to have a skill; it was an unexpected joy.

"He hasn't worked since he was small, always hanging around the outer accounting rooms. He knows a few characters and can do some math," Liu Shan hurriedly explained, glaring at his son and scolding him in a low voice, "What are you showing off for!" He knew his son was restless, and since the Second Master had ill intentions toward his daughter, he feared his son would stick his nose out and suffer.

The boy didn't know many characters; by modern standards, he was a semi-illiterate, but because he had learned from an accountant, he knew how to keep books and use an abacus, which was considered a small skill in ancient times.

His name was Liu Di. Liu Baiyu couldn't help but marvel at how simple and direct the names of the ancient working class were.

"Since you can read and keep accounts, the future bookkeeping and expenses here will be your responsibility. Every single entry must be recorded clearly, understood? I will also give you one qian of silver in monthly wages. There will be rewards for no mistakes, and spankings for mistakes. Oh, and come to my room to learn how to calculate, lest you cause trouble." Liu Baiyu spoke with as much dignity as possible, trying his best to hide his intentions regarding the sister.

"This humble one understands." Liu Di was overjoyed and kowtowed repeatedly. How could he make a mistake with such minor accounts? Even if it was free money, and since the Master seemed to have taken a liking to his sister, relying on his sister's influence to be an accountant shouldn't be a problem.

Asking him to keep accounts wasn't about managing money; it was actually a reminder to this family that every blade of grass and every tree here belonged to them, lest that after a long time, Liu Shan, relying on his status as a father-in-law, would have the thought of usurping the household—once such a thought arises, anything is possible. Although ordinary people seem honest and law-abiding, there are far too many instances of people's characters changing drastically when faced with profit.

While Liu Baiyu was discussing the "wife strategy" with his future brother-in-law, Liu Shan and his wife had also discussed it several times. What if the Master wanted to take his daughter as a concubine? His opinion was to oppose it, because his daughter was not beautiful and was merely a substitute for that noble lady Yang Ziqiong. Once the Master grew tired of playing with her and threw her away, she might not even be able to marry an ordinary person. Wouldn't that be worse than death?

Liu Shan's wife, however, had a different opinion. Their family were slaves under a life-term contract; they were merely objects that could speak. If the Master used force, what could they do? If a master beat a slave under a life-term contract to death and reported it as a sudden death, the government wouldn't even care. What could they do? It would be better to offer the daughter up; getting the son a position as a manager wouldn't be a loss. Anyway, the daughter wasn't pretty, and she was destined to belong to someone of a different surname...

"You are selling our daughter! To push her into a fire pit like this, how can you have a heart!" Liu Shan, being from a family of middle peasants, still retained some of the temperament of a decent person. He didn't dare lose his temper with others, but he finally couldn't hold it back with his wife.

"Do you think I don't feel the pain? Ten months of pregnancy, she is flesh from my own body! Selling her? Haven't we sold her long ago! We are already servants, nothing more than objects! Besides, this daughter is so tall, like a wild person, can she even be married off? We don't even have a dowry. Aside from that cripple Wang the bachelor, what boy would want her? It's better to give her to the Master..."

Liu Shan's wife spoke coldly.

"This!!!!" Liu Shan trembled with rage, but upon careful thought, his wife's words made sense. Finally, he crouched on the ground and said in agony

"It's all my fault for being useless, so useless! I can't even hold onto our ancestral land..."

Seeing Liu Shan like this, his wife also shed tears. She went over to embrace her husband and said softly

"The world is like this; it is fate. Master Zhang's sworn brother, Master Guan, is even a County Magistrate, a Marquis of a Hundred Miles! Did he not also fail to keep his family estate? Thousands of acres of good land in Shaanxi, plus dozens of houses and hundreds of people, were all burned to the ground by bandits! It was even more tragic than our family! This is all fate, we must accept it..."

As they spoke, the couple held each other and wept together.

Listening to her parents' response, Liu Ziqiong made up her mind. Since she was just a worthless piece of goods and the Master was blind enough to fancy her, she might as well trade herself for her brother's future. It wouldn't be in vain that her father had raised her all these years.

Liu Di, however, was unaware of the heavy thoughts of his parents and sister. He was solely focused on the dream of becoming the brother of a high-ranking concubine-maid. He jogged along behind Liu Baiyu, constantly praising his sister's virtues, reciting empty words like "virtuous and kind" one after another, leaving Liu Baiyu feeling dizzy.

"Tell me something practical. What does your sister like to eat, wear, and play with?"

"My sister likes sweets just like me, and things like red dates. As for clothes, she naturally wants to wear silk and satin, but we can't afford it. We don't have toys at home either, but my sister likes looking in the mirror." At this point, Liu Di felt very embarrassed; his sister was a bit shameless, being so unattractive yet loving to look in the mirror.

"That's good, that's good!" Liu Baiyu felt that Liu Ziqiong's hobbies would not be hard to satisfy, so he spoke even more directly

"According to your local customs, if I were to become engaged to your sister, how much would the betrothal gifts be?"

"A set of new clothes, some jewelry, some pastries, and bedding should be enough!" Liu Di was selling out his sister with all his might, practically tying her up and delivering her.

"That's not difficult. Just wait." Using his Plane Merchant System, Liu Baiyu had prepared a small single-wheeled cart of goods in a courtyard around a corner, and then he called his cheap brother-in-law over.

"These are all gifts for your sister, and also your family's betrothal gifts... Oh, and if the engagement is settled, there will be more benefits!" Liu Baiyu remembered that his family seemed to value ten taels of silver very highly, so he took out twenty taels of silver ingots exchanged from the future and stuffed them into Liu Di's hands.

"Use this money to arrange things for your family. A few dozen taels of silver is nothing to me, the Master!"