Chapter 28 – The Beautiful Maid
With Wen Ya’s help. Suo Jia and his mother finally moved out of the dark, damp, and unbearably cramped space they used to call home, and moved to what was originally Wen Ya’s villa.
Originally, Suo Jia had thought the so-called villa would only be the size of a small house, but once Suo Jia saw that so-called villa with his own eyes, his jaw dropped wide open in shock.
Wen Ya felt a surging joy upon seeing Suo Jia’s stunned face. This villa had been prepared by Duke Wen Sha as a birthday present for his daughter; how could it be anything but luxurious? Even though it may not have been as extravagant as a high power official’s personal residence, it still was better in some regards.
In terms of size, the house was not as extensive and splendorous as a majestic mansion, however it had one special floor, the third floor. It was painted an elegant snow white, and was very special because of its excellent panoramic view. Amazing! Even though land in the Holy Light City was extremely costly, the villa still had a beautiful garden and a garden so large that it could be seen from the third floor! This all was beyond simply extravagant.
Surrounding the milky-white house were many lush green lawns scattered between gardens of many colourful flowers in full bloom. Somewhere else along the estate was a crystal blue swimming pool. There was also a dark blue lake fed by a towering artificial waterfall. If you enter the courtyard, you will definitely not feel that you are living in a large city like Holy Light, but will instead feel that you are living in someplace like Tao Yuan.
(TL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoyuan_City)
Standing dumbly in the courtyard, Suo Jia slowly began to back up: “Please no! Sister Wen Ya, this gift is simply something I can’t accept. It is too precious; it’s practically priceless. I cannot take it.”
Laughing slightly, Wen Ya lightly ruffled Suo Jia’s hair: “Suo Jia, a man of virtue cannot fix too much importance on mere worldly possessions. These are simply inanimate objects, which compared to a life, are meaningless!”
After speaking, Wen Ya did not give Suo Jia any chance to reject, and politely bid farewell to Suo Jia and his mother. She then directly left the villa with a group of servants, leaving Suo Jia and his mother standing in the same spot.
Just as Suo Jia and his mother were feeling apprehensive about entering and about to turn around and leave, the milky-white entrance opened. Six people wearing servant attire, along with some young maids, walked out of the entrance one by one. They lined up in two lines at the entrance, bowed their heads down in respect, and chorused, “We welcome Master and Mistress home!”
“Agah!” Seeing the strange scene in front of them, Suo Jia shouted in shock. What was this? Who were they talking to? Looking left and right, other than him and his mother, there were no other people present!
Just as Suo Jia had begun to suspiciously form a conjecture, Wen Ya’s voice echoed from the distance. “Oh right Suo Jia, I forgot to tell you. For the sake of caring for your ill mother, I assigned six maids to tend to her. From now on, they are your people!”
Hearing Wen Ya’s words, Suo Jia finally understood. It turned out that these six maids were sent by Wen Ya. Seeing these girls who had pearl-like skin and beautiful slim figures, Suo Jia’s mouth bitterly frowned. With their delicate and beautiful appearances, how could they be responsible for tending to someone? Exactly who was serving who?
Amidst these thoughts, Suo Jia soon thought of a major problem. During these past three months, he had set up his vendor’s booth every Sunday. So far, he has raised a total of 6000 gold. Although this was no small amount, it was difficult to provide for so many people with that much money!
Nervously swallowing his saliva, Suo Jia hoarsely asked: “Nn…uh, exactly how much are your daily wages?”
“Wages?” Hearing Suo Jia’s words, the few girls looked at each other in confusion. Afterwards, a tall girl stepped forward a bit, “Master, we are all orphans from the chaos of the war. We have been raised by the Duke since we were young, so we do not require any wages. The only thing we need are meals. This alone is enough to make us grateful.”
Hearing the girl’s reply, Suo Jia could not help but let out a sigh of relief. He knew that people like Duke Wen Sha, who had the power to control the world’s largest city, had to raise their own loyal followers. This was most likely the main reason why he raised orphans who had lost everything from the chaos of war.
Even though there was no need to pay wages, Suo Jia’s eyebrows could not completely relax. Right now, he was the only one in the household earning money and having to provide for seven adults was not an easy task. Even if he went to the city center to set up his vendor’s booth every Sunday, he still would not be able to earn enough money.
6000 gold did not seem to be a small amount at first, however this was Suo Jia’s entire income for the last three months. Strictly speaking, this amount was only enough to buy a single expensive dress.
Even though these six maids did not require wages, they still worked hard every day and needed some small allowance right? They still needed to eat well, and wear warm clothes. They still needed to buy some nice clothes occasionally, and they still needed to purchase some everyday products that all girls used, right?
Not only did the large house have such an imposing ambience, maintaining such a large house required a lot of money. Calculating back and forth, if Suo Jia simply relied on his earnings from the vendor’s booth, even if he didn’t starve to death, he would definitely be poverty-stricken.
If you are poor, then you have to find a way to break out of your situation. Since his street business already no longer satisfied his needs, then he needed to change something. Looking at the spacious courtyard, Suo Jia began to think. If he used this villa’s ideal location, he could open up a beautification center, and that would not be a bad choice!
Seeing Suo Jia deep in thought, the tall girl opposite of him said respectfully, “Master, Mistress. My area of expertise is overall management, so if there is anything you need or want to request, please feel free to command me. I will try my best to carry out your wishes!”
Arriving at this point, the tall girl looked at Suo Jia and calmly continued: “Us six sisters individually manage clothing, food, living, expenses, and catering. As for me, my responsibility is to manage and coordinate all of these.”
The tall girl paused slightly, then continued: “Please draw up our daily living standards, as well as Master’s and Mistress’ living standards. After this, allocate the appropriate sums to me so I can take charge of its usages!”
Suo Jia looked at the tall girl in admiration. These six girls were evidently raised together as a group. These six individuals could completely support all of a household’s needs. As long as you give them enough money, no matter what you want to do, a simple command will make it come true.
After discussing for a bit with his mother, Suo Jia took out the money purse from his backpack, and passed it to the tall girl: “This is 6000 gold; for now just hold on to it. As for living standards, don’t split them between master and servant. From now on we are one family that eats at the same table. There will be no differences between us.”
Suo Jia paused for a moment before continuing, “Tomorrow, come back with a carpenter. I want to construct a wooden house next to the artificial mountain. As for the wooden structure’s window, I want it to face the mountain’s waterfall as well as that small man-made lake. The entrance needs to face the artificial garden…”
The tall girl worked hard to remember all of Suo Jia’s quick instructions. After a long time Suo Jia finally stopped and the tall girl finally had a chance to talk. “Master, thank you so much for not discriminating living expenses with us; however please set down a limit. We want to know what our spending limit per month is.”
Wrinkling his forehead, Suo Jia roughly calculated. Food, clothing and other necessities all required expenses. Currently, with three months of practice, Suo Jia was already able to moisturize 500 customers! The rough estimate of Suo Jia’s current income was approximately 2000 gold.
After thinking about it for a bit, Suo Jia decided on the spot: “For now, it’s decided to be 1000 gold. We’ll observe the actual situation for a bit first. If it really is still not enough, then we will alter it a bit later.”
Hearing Suo Jia’s words, the tall girl warmly smiled. “It’s enough Master. In reality, 100 gold already covers the most basic activities. 1000 gold is already a lot.”
Awkwardly scratching his head, Suo Jia did not really think 1000 gold was enough. In reality, 1000 gold could not even buy high-quality clothing. How could it be a lot? At the most, it could only count as an insignificant amount.
