Chapter 78 Big Rat Big Rat
Qin Yao stayed in Ding Mansion.
The room the housekeeper arranged for her was in an ear room in Miss Ding's yard.
The room was not big, with only a small bed and a set of black lacquered table and chairs. The window was very small and the light in the room was dim, but it was cleaned fairly well and the bedding provided was also washed.
Although it is a servant's room, it is better than the master bedroom in ordinary people's homes and is just the right size for one person.
Miss Ding's bedroom is next to the ear room. If someone shouts in the room, she can hear it at any time - mainly because of the poor sound insulation.
Miss Ding's yard is not big, and there are four servants in it.
There is an Aunt Qiao who is like the housekeeper of the courtyard. She was Madam Ding's former maid who came with her as a dowry. Apart from Miss Ding, she is the most powerful person in the courtyard.
Aunt Qiao has two maids under her. One is called Cao'er, who is responsible for sweeping the yard.
One of them was called Dou'er, who was Miss Ding's personal maid and was responsible for her food and daily life.
There was also a servant named Zhang Ba, who was usually responsible for running errands and guarding the house, and also served as a groom when Miss Ding went out.
Qin Yao is different from them. She is a commoner, while these four are all slaves.
In theory, the owner has complete control over their life, death and trading rights.
However, there are laws that stipulate that masters cannot beat or kill slaves at will, and their lives are protected to a certain extent, but not much.
The Ding family has a very upright family tradition, and they would never be harsh on their servants. In terms of treatment, they are not as good as the best but better than the worst. If they do their job well, they can live in peace until their death.
Qin Yao had a rough understanding of the labor costs in Sheng State. It cost twenty or thirty taels of silver to buy a slave, and monthly wages had to be paid once the person arrived at the mansion. Food, clothing and shelter throughout the year were all considerable expenses.
If the master treats the slaves too harshly, the slaves will escape and cause economic losses to the master.
Therefore, the number of servants in a family can be used to roughly estimate the economic level of that family.
There are twenty to thirty servants and guards in the Ding Mansion. To feed so many people and maintain their dignity and daily expenses, that amount of money is almost an astronomical figure for a commoner like Qin Yao.
Qin Yao was curious. They were all human beings, so how could Mr. Ding make so much money?
First of all, his father, grandfather, and ancestors were all wealthy people, and there was no prodigal son in the family. The accumulation of wealth over several generations laid a solid foundation for Mr. Ding.
Secondly, Mr. Ding was a man of merit, as he passed the imperial examination and became a scholar at the age of nineteen.
Scholars were exempt from corvée and taxes, which provided a guarantee for wealth accumulation.
When he was 31 years old, he passed the imperial examination and all his direct relatives were exempted from taxes, so all the land of the Ding family was registered under his name. At the same time, many people registered their land under the name of Mr. Ding in order to be exempted from taxes.
This group of people would give a portion of their output to Mr. Ding every year, and a mature economic chain has been formed.
Finally, because of his achievements, Mr. Ding obtained various privileges granted to scholars by the imperial court of that era, and he used these privileges to promote the development of his entire family and become a powerful person in this area.
Butler Yu said that the Ding family had more than just Mr. Ding as a scholar, and more than just him as a juren, but also relatives who were officials in the capital.
But that is the direct line. These collateral descendants have developed for so many generations and can no longer be related.
But no matter what, we are all from the same clan, and even studying is much more convenient than for others.
The teacher at the academy in Kaiyang County was named Ding.
From the moment they were born, the Ding family members were able to access information about reading, imperial examinations, etc. earlier than others.
This time, Mr. Ding invested money to build a clan school to make it easier for young children in the clan to go to school.
In contrast, Qin Yao's own family doesn't even have a single enlightenment book. Everyone knows that reading is good, but no one knows exactly how.
However, the upward path of the imperial examination had nothing to do with Qin Yao.
This path is for men. Women are not even qualified to enter school.
It's just... fucked up!
Qin Yao scooped up some water and patted her face, then looked down at her face reflected in the copper basin.
With a standard oval face with three sections and five eyes, and rough clothes and hair, one can tell at a glance that he is a good-looking person.
Because the person inside had changed, the eyes that were originally full of affection now revealed a sharp light, which made people feel the invisible sense of oppression at a glance.
Such a look is rarely seen in women of Sheng State; most of them are reserved and restrained.
Or she could be like Miss Ding, bright and curious, as clear as a spring, you can see the bottom at a glance.
Mr. Ding and his son set out for Zijing Mansion early yesterday morning. The Ding Mansion, which was bustling in the past two days, was suddenly less than half of its residents and seemed a little deserted.
Qin Yao has become familiar with her work tasks in the past two days. Apart from eating, sleeping and going to the toilet, she stands at the door of Miss Ding's room as a door god.
If Miss Ding leaves the yard, she just needs to keep a distance of one meter and follow for protection.
She doesn't have to do anything else. Instead, someone will prepare food for her and call her to eat on time.
A personal bodyguard cannot leave the person he is protecting, so Qin Yao usually squats at Miss Ding's door and eats.
When I got tired of squatting, I stood in the corridor and leaned against the pillar to continue eating.
Watching her eat is simply terrifying. After watching her twice, Aunt Qiao and Dou'er Cao'er didn't want to watch it anymore. They also didn't allow Miss Ding to watch it because it was too vulgar!
If the young ladies learn this, the master will beat them to death.
During the military training in college, everyone was afraid of standing at attention, but Qin Yao was different. She hated to move and her favorite thing was to stand at attention. She wished she could stand all day long because this way she could let her thoughts run wild.
After washing up, Qin Yao tidied her clothes, carried her bow and arrow, and walked to the door of the next house and stood still.
It was just dawn and candles were lit in the house. Miss Ding had to get up early to study, so she was already up and was washing and dressing with the help of Dou'er and Aunt Qiao.
After getting dressed, I ate half a bowl of fish porridge, sat at the table by the window, selected a book of poetry, and started my morning reading.
"Big rat, big rat, don't eat my millet!"
"A three-year-old girl, no one cares about me."
"I will leave you and go to that happy land."
"Happy land, happy land, where I find what I want."
The girl's reading voice was full of rhythm. Qin Yao found it very cute and couldn't help but read along in a low voice:
"Big rat, big rat, don't eat my wheat!"
"A three-year-old girl is not my friend."
"I will leave you and go to that happy country."
"Le country, Le country, where I can be honest"
The girl in the house curiously poked her head out of the window, "You can actually read?!"
The low recitation in the corridor stopped. Qin Yao turned her head to look over. Miss Ding put her hands on the window sill, leaned forward and showed her fair face. She asked in surprise, "Do you like this article too?"
Qin Yao shook her head. "I just thought the lady's reading was interesting, so I subconsciously followed a few sentences."
The first article she read every morning was "The Fat Rat", which she happened to have memorized.
(End of this chapter)