"I can cure your daughter’s illness," Yang Ruxin suddenly smiled. This was a very united family; although they had fallen into servitude, they still loved each other dearly. The little daughter was seriously ill, yet they never abandoned her. Just for this reason, she wanted to buy the entire family.
Wang Laibao and his wife exchanged a glance and then both knelt down on the ground.
"However, are you sure you can be loyal?" asked Yang Ruxin. Although she opposed kneeling, she did not refuse it this time but raised an eyebrow at the family instead.
She did not know what was ailing the little girl, but if she couldn’t treat her, wasn’t there still Dao Xuzi, the old man? She felt that the old man had been too idle lately. Gu Qingheng’s acupuncture treatment had all been passed on to her, while he himself ran around with Xiaobai every day; hm, Xiaobai had now been bought over by that old man too. The duo frequently ventured up the mountains, occasionally bringing back some game or precious medicinal herbs. So, she needed to find some work for him.
Wang Laibao suddenly kowtowed so hard that his forehead hit the ground: "Miss, I dare not betray you, otherwise may thunder strike me down..."
Yang Ruxin raised her hand to stop the other’s curse: "If you betray me, I won’t wait for heavenly thunder to strike you down. I’ll send you to meet the Lord myself, understood?"
"Miss taking us in is a great kindness. If you can cure my girl, that would be a grace of rebirth," Wang Laibao knelt and kowtowed. "If I, Wang Laibao, fail this favor, I would not deserve to call myself human. Please judge us by our performance..."
Yang Ruxin nodded her head, which meant she agreed to take in the family.
There was another couple as well, but they only agreed to sign a temporary contract, renewable each year, because they were waiting for their son to return. Their one and only son had gone to Beijing three years earlier to take the imperial exam but had disappeared without a trace. Selling all they owned, the elderly couple searched all the way to Beijing, only to receive news that their son had died early. Unconvinced, they searched every corner of the land. Eventually, they ended up destitute in Lianhua Town, having to turn to the Human Trafficking Agency to sell themselves to raise travel funds, planning to continue their search once they had money.
"That broker is acquainted with me. Just last month she asked me to find a buyer for this couple. But no one wants a temporary contract renewed annually, so it was delayed. However, this couple is industrious and doesn’t talk much. I thought you could keep them on for some heavy labor... As for a year later..."
"Agreed," nodded Yang Ruxin. "I am willing to try out people introduced by Uncle Han. Also, I am touched by their persistence." She didn’t say she believed in them, but she was willing to try, because no one can ever truly see another person clearly.
And so, Yang Ruxin bought two families: the four members of the Wang Laibao family with a lifelong contract, and the Xu Shou couple with a temporary contract.
"Please, Miss, bestow us with new names," Wang Laibao said to Yang Ruxin.
It was customary for a new master to rename their lifelong servants as a declaration of ownership, so what Wang Laibao was asking was perfectly natural.
"No need," shook Yang Ruxin, "Even though you have sold yourselves to me with a lifelong contract, you remain descendants of the Wang family. There is no need to change your names."
"Thank you," Wang Laibao’s eyes reddened slightly, but he quickly bowed his head, not wanting to be seen.
"You’re also quite fortunate; your daughters have a blessed fate," laughed Han Baichuan. "Your new master is none other than the renowned disciple of Dao Xuzi from the martial world, that Dao Xuzi..."