Since following Zhao Yan, the third girl of Zhao Mansion, the gentle life has changed suddenly, although she has to get up early and go to bed late every day, prepare breakfast and supper for Zhao Yan, and cook for herself and Yaqin and Shulan at noon and night, but after all, it is much easier than when she was a rough maid.

There is nothing to do after dinner, and there is no need to serve in front of Zhao Yan, even if she is lazy and takes a nap, no one will say anything about her, and she has never been beaten and scolded, even if she is sometimes excluded by other maids, but it is also an emotion secretly revealed, and there is much less ridicule in person, as for Yaqin and Shulan, because they have eaten too much of the food she cooked, they feel that they are not happy, and occasionally give her a smile.

Life is much more comfortable, but the gentle troubles have not decreased, how to make money has become the most difficult thing for her, and when she is free, how to spend her days also makes her quite confused. She now lives alone in a small single room, no books, no entertainment, no one even talks and chats, long nights, can only lie in bed, listen to the sound of the wind blowing bamboo leaves or rain hitting plantains outside the window, think about the deceased relatives, think about living in modern times, think about the future that makes her at a loss, often think about it, there is more inexplicable sadness and helplessness.

The money she earned was given to Ruhua's mother, she didn't even have a few of the capital to do a small business, and preparing food for Zhao Yan every day was enough to be painful and annoyed, and she had to take care of her appetite, and she had to often turn over the old and bring forth the new, and she was no longer interested in secretly eating and selling, not to mention, even if she could sell it for money, it was just a few copper coins, how long would she have to save enough money?

It's not that she's not pragmatic enough to be ambitious, but this money is really just a drop in the bucket, and it can't solve her current practical difficulties, and the servants are all poor, and there is no reason to take care of her business every day to buy snacks and eat, and the business will definitely become more and more difficult to do in the future, so she thought about it and thought about it again, and felt that the scope of making money could not be confined to the house, and she had to find a way to expand outside the house, but she didn't have any good ideas, so she could only secretly worry day after day.

"Sister, why are you always frowning these days, do you have any worries?" Xiaohuan beside him looked at Gentle a few times, took the scissors and twisted a dragon claw chrysanthemum with a "click", handed it to Gentle to hold for her, and went to cut another flower, which was a flower prepared for the three girls in the morning, and each one had to be carefully selected.

"Headache to make money." Wen Wen smiled helplessly and said: "There are only four or five days left, and if I can't raise any more money, my family will have to drink the northwest wind." Xiaohuan is the only person she can say two words in the house, although she may not be able to help her solve any problems by telling her about these difficulties, but it is better than muffling the words in her heart and worrying about herself.

Xiaohuan really didn't have any ideas, frowned and thought for a long time, before he sighed and said, "If only my sister could go out." ”

"Get out? It's useless to go out, I'm a girl, and I can't find a job that can make money. "It's not that it's gentle and inferior, but in ancient times, it was too patriarchal, even the little two who ran the hall in the restaurant were all men, and women in addition to picking up some pulp washing and sewing work at home, probably only sold themselves to the hook bar, and those who accompanied the wine and laughed could save a few private money! But on the first point, she won't, and on the second point, she would rather die than do it.

"Listen to my mother, many restaurants outside recruit chefs, if you make a good dish, you can get a lot of wages." Xiaohuan said, and said regretfully: "But what my sister said is also true, women don't want women to be in charge of spoons in big restaurants, and women can be in charge of their own small wine shops, mom-and-pop shops, and small businesses mixed with two hard-earned money to make a living." My mother often complained, but if my father was still alive and could go out to work, maybe one day he would be able to save money to redeem me! ”

How hard it is to redeem oneself! Gently stretched out his hand and stroked Xiaohuan's hair: "How much money do you need to redeem yourself?" ”

Xiaohuan's eyes dimmed suddenly, and he lowered his head and said, "A lot of ......"

"How much is a lot? There's always a price, right? "A few days ago, when Ruhua's mother came, Wen Rouer had already asked the price of his redemption around the bend, saying that when he was sold into the house, Ruhua was only eleven years old, because she looked good, Zhao Fu gave six taels of silver, if you want to redeem yourself, you have to see whether the main family releases people, as for whether you are generous and don't let people go directly with silver, or redeem yourself according to the original price, or even increase the value of silver by one or two times, and only allow redemption after paying enough money, it depends on the meaning of the master's family.

Gently estimating, Zhao Fu would not let her go directly, and it was unlikely that she would redeem herself at the original price, so that she would have to save at least a dozen taels of silver before she had any hope of freedom. Of course, there is no need to be afraid that Zhao Fu will not let go, she has not been "favored" to this point, in this era when human life is not valuable, a few taels of silver can buy out a poor person's life, Zhao Fu took her ransom money, and can still buy two or three younger girls from outside, so why hold her? But then again, a dozen taels of silver is an astronomical amount for her at present, and she doesn't know where to earn it!

Xiaohuan hesitated for a long time before he gestured three fingers and said: "My original worth of silver was three taels, because I was too young to do any work, and I had to raise it for several years." ”

Gently exhaled a breath and said with a wry smile: "It's less than my worth of silver, but you are young, and you can still use it for a few years, and it is difficult to redeem yourself!" ”

"And my mother's, eight taels!" Xiaohuan lowered her head and said softly: "Originally, she was old, and she had become a biological child, and she was not worth much, but she had cooking skills, and the master happened to be looking for a chef with good skills, so she was worth more silver, but now if she wants to redeem herself, it is difficult to ...... Maybe it will cost dozens of taels of silver before the government is willing to release people. ”

"Eleven taels! The two of you are worth eleven taels of silver! "The silver here is far more valuable than copper money, although the exchange ratio is generally one hanging money for one or two silver, but really take silver to exchange, one and a half dollars for one or two, and some people rush to ask, ordinary people have never seen silver a few times in their lives, Xiaohuan and Liu's sister-in-law are worth silver, if they are exchanged for copper money, they can probably be exchanged for sixteen or seventeen hanging money, gentle and curious: "You guys, why did you sell yourself in the first place?" ”

This question involves privacy, if it weren't for the extraordinary good relationship with Xiaohuan, the gentleness really couldn't ask, fortunately, Xiaohuan didn't treat her as an outsider, but her head hung lower, and whimpered: "When my father was sick, I asked the doctor to take medicine and fill in all the money in the family, and there was no reason to watch him die, except for selling myself as a slave, what can I do with my mother...... It's just that I didn't expect that after spending so much money, my father's illness didn't get better, and the few taels of silver left in the end were ...... It's only enough to buy him a thin-skinned coffin......"

Xiaohuan's voice became more and more choked as she spoke, sighed softly, and silently took out a handkerchief to wipe her tears. If she can, she really wants to go back to the modern times where she once lived, where she can always support herself as long as she is honest and diligent in working hard to earn money, unlike in ancient times, when encountering natural and man-made disasters, wars and injuries, the poor are left with the only way to sell their bodies, just to fill their bellies, to have a place to live, in order to take care of those relatives who want to sell themselves, but because of injuries or old age, no one wants to buy them......