Reborn as the Blissful Wife in the countryside-Chapter 159: Selling the Indenture

"Please, please, excuse me. It’s my fault for blocking the ladies’ way. I really deserve to be slapped." He Sanlai hurriedly cleared the way, making a show of slapping himself twice, but he did not leave. Instead, he followed them and asked, "Ladies, have all of your families gotten their house and land deeds processed?"

"Don’t play dumb." Gu Jinli stopped, turned around, and looked at He Sanlai behind him: "What exactly do you want to say? Say it quickly. If you keep dawdling, I’ll have Brother Qin dislocate your arm again."

He Sanlai shivered in fear: "Please don’t, if you do it again, I won’t be able to use this arm anymore." freeweɓnovēl.coɱ

This arm of his has indeed seen many misfortunes, having been dislocated by Qin San Lang twice. If it happens once more, it would truly become useless.

He Sanlai hesitated for a while, and seeing that Gu Jinli was about to walk away, he quickly said, "Lady, I see that your families are all very busy and short-handed, so I came to seek a job with you."

He patted his lean frame, saying, "Don’t mind my thin appearance; I am very fit and can work hard. Please hire me in your household. In a few days, I’m going to get married, and I need a job to support my family. We also owe our clan five taels and five hundred cents, and if I don’t get a job, not to mention supporting my family, I can’t even pay off the yearly debt."

It costs one tael and a hundred cents yearly just to cover the interest and principal, which isn’t a small sum for someone idle like him.

And Chunyue forbids him from hanging out with Lu Laosan anymore, saying he should live upstandingly so that when they have children in the future, the child won’t be disdained by others.

Having a fiancée, He Sanlai also felt that always messing around was no way to live and wanted to settle down with a stable job. But from all the jobs available, the ones that could both take care of his family and earn money were only the tofu jobs at the Gu Family, so that was why he came to beg Gu Jinli.

Gu Jinli looked at He Sanlai and laughed: "You, a troublemaker, if I hire you, and you sabotage our tofu, wouldn’t all our families suffer huge losses?"

He Sanlai became anxious, hurriedly saying, "Lady, that was in the past. Now I’m not a troublemaker anymore. If your family hires me, I will honestly work hard without causing trouble."

"Do you expect me to believe you just like that? Your reputation is already ruined. Who knows whether you are telling the truth or lying?" Gu Jinli still disagreed: "If our family hires someone, we hire honest and sincere laborers, not a notorious troublemaker."

Hearing this, He Sanlai felt desperate, and after being stunned for a while, he suddenly knelt down to Gu Jinli: "Lady, please hire me. If I can’t find a job, Chunyue will starve to death."

He had been frequently visiting Chunyue these days, growing fonder of her by the day. For her, he would do anything, even if it costs him half his life, to secure this job.

Seeing He Sanlai kneeling did not soften Gu Jinli’s heart. Even though a man’s knees have gold, the knees of a troublemaker like He Sanlai are worthless, having kneeled down before countless people throughout the year.

Still, she asked him a question, "Are you seeking a job for yourself, or for Mo Chunyue?"

He Sanlai said, "For Chunyue, I want her to have a better life!"

The last half of the sentence was shouted out, jolting everyone’s eardrums. Gu Dewang immediately covered his ears, complaining: "Why are you shouting? We’re not deaf. We can hear you."

Gu Jinli looked at He Sanlai and gave him one condition: "If you want to work at my house, you’ll have to sign an indenture, a ten-year hard contract. Not only you, but Mo Chunyue must sign as well. After ten years, if you haven’t committed any malicious deeds against our families, I will return the indenture to you."

"What? Sign an indenture? Even Chunyue has to sign?" He Sanlai was shocked. He came to seek a job, not to sell himself.

Gu Jinli smiled: "If I don’t sign an indenture and hold both of your lives in my hands, why would I hire you?"

He Sanlai said, "Yesterday, I even helped your families. If it wasn’t for the information I gave you, your houses would have been schemed away by Lu Laosan already. Lady, considering that I delivered the message to you, can you hire me, please?"

"No," Gu Jinli decisively refused: "If it weren’t for the fact that you informed us yesterday, do you think I would consider buying you and Mo Chunyue?"

"Nowadays times are tough, with both droughts and wars, refugees who have fled famines are everywhere. In the Prefecture, one tael of silver can buy a person. Our household indeed lacks hands, but we can simply go to the Prefecture to buy people, there’s no need to buy you guys."

That’s why she would relent, truly because of his act of passing on the message yesterday.

He Sanlai knew that Gu Jinli would definitely not budge, his face turned ashen as he sat on the ground.

"If Mo Chunyue and you want to work at my house, you’ll have to sign an indenture, for a term of ten years," Gu Jinli said these words, then picked up firewood, walked past He Sanlai, and continued on her way home.

He Sanlai called out from behind her: "Can just I alone sign the indenture?"

Gu Jinli repeated her stance: "No, Mo Chunyue must sign the indenture with you, a life-binding contract!"

What He Sanlai cared about most now was Mo Chunyue; if he couldn’t control Mo Chunyue’s life and death, what if He Sanlai, driven to desperation, took someone else’s money to harm their families? Where would she find justice then?

Only by controlling Mo Chunyue’s life and death, would He Sanlai have considerations.

Gu Jinli and the others ignored He Sanlai and soon returned home.

After arriving home, Gu Jinli put down the firewood, took a small cloth bag, entered the room she shared with Gu Jinxiu, and took out the ten mountain god mushrooms. She wrapped them in a sackcloth, squeezed out the juice of the mushrooms into a small bamboo tube, and added a few drops of alcohol into the tube.

Alcohol would maximize the toxins of the mountain god mushroom.

After finishing all this, Gu Jinli wrapped the sackcloth and the remaining mushroom debris in straw, took it to the kitchen, and burned it in the stove.

After the burning, Gu Jinli saw that the water tank at home was almost empty, picked up the water bucket, and said to Mrs. Cui, "Mother, I’m going to fetch some water."

"Go ahead, just fill it up halfway, don’t get too greedy and stumble," Mrs. Cui instructed.

"Got it, mother," Gu Jinli carried the water bucket out of the yard and walked down about ten meters to the old well. Just as she filled two buckets of water, Qin San Lang appeared.

Qin San Lang didn’t beat around the bush and directly asked, "Xiao Yu, what did you gather in the mountains today? What are you planning to do?"

Their families were nearly betrayed yesterday, and today she went to the mountains and even picked some unknown mushrooms. These two things must be connected.

He continued, "I don’t mean to stop you, just worried you might get into trouble."

She was still young, and a girl, though she had some skills, she was not as capable as him.

"If you want to do something, you can tell me, I’ll help you," Qin San Lang promised.

"You actually figured it out," Gu Jinli laughed: "In that case, come help me tonight."

She looked around, seeing that no one was nearby, then quietly told Qin San Lang her plan.

After hearing her words, Qin San Lang’s face turned crimson... How, how could she come up with such an idea?