Ye Zi’an said: "Well, I’ll ask Uncle Dayong later."
"We can’t wait till later. You should come with me to Uncle Dayong’s house later and show him these papers. Tomorrow we can go into town and see about tidying up that shop."
"Alright, I don’t have to go to the tavern tomorrow anyway, so just let me handle whatever you need to be done." Ye Zi’an said with a smile. After glancing at the blueprint in his hand, he abruptly said, "Xiaxia, you’ve set up so many things, I am afraid Uncle Dayong can’t handle all this stuff on his own."
"Hmm, you’re right. But, I already told Uncle Dayong to recruit a few apprentices."
"That’s not good!" Ye Zi’an quickly retorted with a frown.
Yang Chuxia looked at him questioningly, "Why not? We’re short on hands if he doesn’t take in apprentices. I fear hiring those already skilled could be too crafty."
However, Ye Zi’an shook his head, "Taking on apprentices also poses problems. Uncle Dayong has never had an apprentice in the past, if he takes on one now, who knows about their character? Moreover, they don’t have much of an attachment to Uncle Dayong. What if they mess with these things you’ve drawn and sell them to someone else? That would be a big loss."
"So what should we do according to you?"
"Purchase slaves." Ye Zi’an suggested softly.
"Buy slaves?" This was something Yang Chuxia hadn’t actually considered. While she found the idea of human trafficking abhorrent, it was legal in ancient times and not something she could protest against. However, the key question here is why her family had reached the point where they needed to buy slaves?
"Yes, buy slaves. I heard that the dentistry in town has just brought in a new group of people from other places. They’ve all signed contracts of indentured servitude, and those contracts are binding till their death. Once bought, they would be our people; even after learning the craft, they wouldn’t be able to run away. This is far better than accepting apprentices."
"But wouldn’t Uncle Dayong be unhappy with this? It would seem like we don’t trust him."
Ye Zi’an gently shook his head, "Uncle Dayong can take on an apprentice or two. The slaves we buy will also be learning under Uncle Dayong, so they could also be considered his apprentices. This way, we will always have people watching over everything and even those with different intentions would be hand-tied."
"Makes sense, you make a good point." Yang Chuxia nodded repeatedly and then laughed, "Let’s have dinner quickly. After dinner, we can go to Uncle Dayong’s house."
With that, both of them left. Over here, Mrs. Wang had already brought the food to the table. Seeing the two of them, she laughed and said, "You two sure talk a lot. If you had come any later, the food would’ve gone cold."
Yang Chuxia chuckled, "Mom, your daughter has again found something profitable. Get ready to be a grand lady."
"You silly girl, what grand lady! I would be happy just being a farmer." Mrs. Wang said as she fetched two bowls, "Now hurry up, wash your hands and eat."
After the meal, Yang Chuxia initially intended to visit Land Officer Yang’s home, however to her surprise, Land Officer Yang and Yang Dayong both arrived together.
"Grandfather, Uncle Dayong, have you had dinner?" On seeing the two, Yang Chuxia quickly brought out chairs and stools to offer them seats.
"Yes, we’ve eaten at home." Land Officer Yang waved his hand and sat down in the chair. Turning to look at Old Yang, he said, "You old man are having comfortable days. When your son falls through, you simply run to your other son’s home. Look at all the nonsense you’ve pulled in the past. If I were Dachuan, I’d have thrown you out a long time ago."
Land Officer Yang was simply trying to taunt Old Yang a bit, mainly because of Old Yang’s past foolishness, coupled with the fact that Land Officer Yang didn’t know about the things Old Yang was hiding, hence the mockery often happened.