"Qiao'er, tell me your story! Although we have been together for so long, I know very little about you...... Everybody has their own story, doesn't they?

"Well, my story, Miss, why did you suddenly remember to listen to my story......?" Qiao'er struggled to think for a moment with some embarrassment, and then continued, "I can't remember my story for a while...... What are you going to tell me about?"

Gao Ran had planned to learn more about Qiao'er's story, and from the wording she used to tell her story, the tone in which she spoke, and the various body language and eye changes that may accompany her story, she could use these details to deduce Qiao'er's main personality traits and possible habitual thinking patterns...... And then based on these, try to convey to her what Gao Ran really wants to tell her in a way that Qiao'er may be able to accept......

Gao Ran just hopes that by doing so, it will make it easier and more correct for Qiao'er to receive some of the ideas she wants to convey to her......

But she didn't think about it, Qiao'er seemed to be even slower than Gao Ran originally expected - she couldn't even think of a story or two of her own......

"How little does she really pay attention to herself to be so indifferent to her own affairs?!"

Qiao'er's reaction made Gao Ran's heart suddenly have such doubts, and at the same time, she couldn't help but feel a little distressed for Qiao'er......

"Well, that's fine! I asked, you answered. What do you think?"

"Hmm......" Qiao'er pouted slightly and thought for a moment, then nodded, "Hmm! Miss asks! As long as I know, I will answer truthfully!"

"Good!"

Gao Ran smiled with satisfaction.

Since she couldn't let Qiao'er follow her own feelings to recall her own story freely, Gao Ran had to use questions to induce her to tell some key information that Gao Ran wanted to know.

"Qiao'er, how did you come to Gaofu, and how did you get my personal maid?"

Before asking this question, Gao Ran specially reconfirmed the memory in his head. She was sure that the original owner of this body had never paid much attention to Qiao'er, except that she knew that her name was "Qiao'er" and that she was her personal maid, and she didn't know anything else about Qiao'er!

"I really treat people as worthless 'subordinates'!"

Although she has a lot of complaints about the indifference of the original owner of the body to Qiao'er, but after thinking about it, Gao Ran feels that she is actually not qualified to talk about others-isn't she herself a very indifferent person?! In fact, the two of them are just "half a catty" to "eight taels" - neither is much better than the other!

"Miss...... I ......"

Qiao'er was confused by Gao Ran's question, but she didn't know where to start?

"Don't worry, speak slowly, say whatever you want, I'll just pick up the important ones and listen to them!"

"Oh. ”

After eating the "reassuring pill" given by Gao Ran, Qiao'er also put her mind at ease, and after relaxing, she really thought of what to say......

"Hmm...... I'm an 'orphan'...... I don't know who my mother is, and I don't know who my father is...... All I know is that before I can remember, I was bought from the sub-building by the subordinates of the Gao Mansion. That's how big families buy maids......"

"What?...... Isn't that a place where a man without a wife and no children can buy a child?

"Oh, that's the case, the men who go to ask for a child have to hand over ten taels of silver to the government at first, if the baby is born afterwards, then the man can take the child directly, but if it is a female baby, then he must hand over another hundred taels of silver to the government to take the child away......"

"Why?!" Gao Ran couldn't help but blurt out.

"Because the female baby is expensive, and the family background of the man who will come to the Zilou to ask for a child is generally not very good...... The government did this because it didn't want to give such a precious girl to a man from a poor family to raise - even if it was the child's own father!"

"Oh...... That's ......" As soon as Qiao'er said this, Gao Ran understood.

However, the government does not completely deny such a man the opportunity to take away the child. The government usually gives them three years to raise a hundred taels to ransom the child. Well...... I think that if it is a person who has the ability to raise a hundred taels in three years, he should be quite capable himself...... The government should also do this to see if this man is capable of raising and raising a girl alone......"

"Huh, that's good! Qiao'er, I can't imagine how stupid you usually look...... It turns out that once in a while you will have a bright brain!"

Seeing that Qiao'er could analyze things in an orderly manner, Gao Ran couldn't help but half-jokingly make fun of her. But in fact, she just wanted to hide her surprise at the moment because she accidentally discovered another side of Qiao'er that she had never known before, and the faint inexplicable uneasiness that came with it......

"Oh, miss! I know I'm stupid, but you don't have to remind me all the time, do you?!

Qiao'er pursed her lips a little annoyed, and glanced at Gao Ran very unconvinced.

"Okay, okay! Don't be angry! I was wrong! I just wanted to play a joke on you! Besides, you're not stupid, you're just a little slower...... Also, it's pretty cute, at least, I like it!"

As he spoke, Gao Ran gently pinched Qiao'er's cheek flatteringly.

From the first time Gao Ran pinched Qiao'er's face, until now, Qiao'er has long been surprised by Gao Ran's "strange habit". And Gao Ran, but he didn't realize it from beginning to end, he had already developed a "strange habit" of pinching Qiao'er's face at every turn......

"Okay, I'm not going to tease you! Then, according to what you say, the girls in the sub-building were left behind because their father had no money to ransom them......? Could it be that they have always lived with their mother in the Zilou? Also, did you have no impression of your parents because you were ransomed from a relationship when you were too young?!" Afraid that if you were made such a fuss by yourself, Qiao'er would forget where she had just said? Gao Ran took the initiative to guide her and ask her a few questions.

"It's not!"

Qiao'er directly denied Gao Ran's conjecture without thinking, and then patiently explained to her, "Some of the girls in the Zilou were left behind by their father because their father had no money to redeem them, some of them died unexpectedly before they could be ransomed, and some of them had been taken away, but they eventually became orphans because of some accidents, and then they were brought back by the people of the government...... However, although these girls lived in the sub-building until they were taken away by the next person who had the money to ransom them, they did not live with their mothers, but were arranged to live in a separate courtyard in the 'sub-building'. ”

Speaking of this, Qiao'er naturally thought of some other specific information she knew about Zilou......

"Well......" Qiao'er pondered for a while, rearranged the information that came to her mind for a while, and then continued, "As far as I know, in the Zilou, the government will hire a special nurse to take care of the girl who is under the age of three...... However, in general, the girls in the sub-building do not stay in the sub-building for more than five years old. Even if the father is not able to take it away, after the age of three, there will be many families with good family backgrounds, but there are no girls in the family to inherit the family business, come to redeem and consider them adopted daughters, and a big family like the young lady's family will let the subordinates come to the Zilou every year to select one or two girls to go back and train them to be capable maids, and when these girls grow up a little more, they can be used to serve the hostesses of the mansion closely!"

"Oh......"

Gao Ran responded thoughtfully and casually, but before she could sort out her thoughts and ask the puzzle in her heart, Qiao'er interrupted her thoughts again and continued to talk to herself......

"Also, the reason why I say I'm an 'orphan' is because I haven't seen my mother or my father since I was born. I heard that my father was no longer there before I was born...... Therefore, except for me being ransomed by other well-off families after the age of three, no one will come to redeem me before the age of three......"

"Uh......" Gao Ran listened, and for some reason, he felt a little distressed......

Because when Qiao'er said such a heavy thing, her expression and tone were like telling "someone else's story" - plain and calm.

But, after thinking about it, Gao Ran still felt that she couldn't think of any better way to express it than to treat such a heavy matter as a very "ordinary" trivial matter, without praise or disparagement, and at the same time make Qiao'er feel that she really respected her—without any cheap pity and sympathy.

"But...... I can understand that she was ransomed by other well-off families and recognized as an adopted daughter...... However, how could the government agree to sell the girls to big families as subordinates? Wouldn't this be a waste of these girls?

After correcting her mentality, Gao Ran just raised her doubts about what Qiao'er had just said.

She thought that it was impossible for the government and the people to fail to see such an obvious contradiction! Therefore, either Qiao'er did not complete it, or the government had promulgated other targeted provisions and decrees to alleviate such contradictions, and she did not know about it......

Sure enough, in the next second after Gao Ran raised such a question, Qiao'er couldn't help but laugh.

Although she didn't know why Qiao'er was laughing at her, Gao Ran intuitively felt that she might have accidentally asked another "common sense" question that seemed to people here to be stupid......