Beijing City, inside Xuanwumen Hutong.
In a large courtyard with four entrances, a girl wearing light yellow clothes was washing clothes in the backyard.
I saw her face with oval seeds, picturesque black eyebrows, small cherry mouth, and graceful figure.
Although she is only wearing the clothes of a servant, she can't hide her charming appearance. She is in her prime, and her youth is infinitely better.
She is a girl from the grandma's room of the Li family in Beijing. Her real name was Zhang. The girl's family was born with a bad fate, and her parents never gave her a decent name since she was a child.
When I was six years old, there was a food shortage in my hometown, so I wanted to keep my two younger brothers alive. Her father took her to the city and sold her to the famous Li family in Beijing.
sells for ten taels of with silver patterns. For the girl's family, it can be said to be an astronomical sum of money.
The master of the Li family is an official in the court, married to a concubine with three wives, and has two sons and a daughter.
There are thirty or forty servants in the family including myself. The Li family's grandparents are very good to the servants. They rarely beat or punish them. Even if they accidentally broke the porcelain vase in the room, they were just verbal scoldings. In two sentences, the matter was revealed.
After the girl entered the Li family, the eldest grandmother saw that she was handsome and had a voice as clear and moving as an oriole, so she named her Ying'er .
Ying'er is now thirteen years old, and her body is slowly sprouting like a thin willow branch. Her facial features were already straight, and now she is a veritable beauty.
Everyone said that in the future, the eldest grandma would ask her to serve the eldest young master and be a wench girl. If she could give birth to a son and a half in the future, she might even be able to be the concubine of the Li family.
You must know that this is a blessing that cannot be achieved in eight lifetimes. The Li family is a famous family in the capital, and three generations have been officials in the court.
Not to mention someone with a humble background like Ying'er, even a lady from a serious official family might not have such a blessing.
Thinking of the eldest young master's young and handsome face, Ying'er blushed. If she could really be by the eldest young master's side in the future, she would be proud and proud in this life and bring glory to her ancestors.
Just as she was thinking this, someone suddenly pinched her shoulder. She turned around hurriedly, only to see a young man who was a few years older than her standing behind her. .
is the second young master of the Li family. He is only fifteen years old now. He is the son of the second mistress. His temperament is incompatible with the gentle Li family.
He didn't learn well at a young age. The gentleman Mr. Li invited to teach him how to read and write was so angry that he ran away several times. Not only that, he also loved teasing the maids and maids in the house.
I heard that several sisters had been poisoned by him. He usually did something to her, but with the protection of the eldest grandma and the eldest young master, he didn't succeed.
Ying'er secretly complained in her heart. There was no one in the backyard at this time. No one answered her even if she called for help. What's more, this was the second young master of the Li family, the youngest son he loved most.
My identity is just that of a slave. Even if I am harmed by the second young master, others will only say that I seduced the second young master on my own initiative.
The fat man opposite looked at Ying'er's pretty face, which was blushing with embarrassment, and burst into laughter. His hands stretched straight towards Ying'er's collar.
Ying'er didn't dare to escape, she could only close her eyes and wait for the next insult.
But unexpectedly, the humiliation she imagined did not come. After waiting for a long time, Ying'er opened her eyes. The scene in front of her made the little girl's eyes red and tears kept rolling in her eyes.
It turned out that at some point, a tall man wearing a green shirt was standing in front of him.
I just heard him say lightly: "Second brother, our Li family has inherited Shili, please don't ruin the family tradition!"
The fat man opposite had his outstretched hand firmly grasped by the man, unable to move. At this time, he heard At these words, his face suddenly turned red, for the man in front of him, his eldest brother.
Deep in his heart, in addition to fear, there was also deep jealousy.
He said nonchalantly: "Brother, I just want to make a joke with the little girl."
But a look of contempt flashed in the man's eyes, and said: "Oh? Really?"
The boy nodded hurriedly and broke away from the grasp of others. After holding his wrist, he yelled and ran out quickly.
The man looked at the boy coldly, not at all like he was looking at his younger brother.
At this time, he put on a warm smile, turned around and looked at Ying'er, smiled apologetically and said: "Is everything okay? My brother has lacked discipline since he was a child, which scared you."
There is no difference in his words. The tone of a young master speaking to his servant is more like an elder brother comforting a frightened sister, so gentle and considerate.
Ying'er couldn't control it anymore, her little head suddenly got into the arms of the eldest young master, and she started to cry.
Two years later, it was Ying'er's birthday. As expected, the eldest lady gave Ying'er to the eldest young master. From then on, Ying'er became the maid of the eldest young master in the Li Mansion, and the red gauze curtain was worth thousands of gold.
Since then, Ying'er has gradually lived the life she once expected and dreamed of. However, as time goes by, the man in her impression of taking care of her like an older brother has unknowingly changed.
It seems that the tall and sunny boy has been lost in the years. Now all Ying'er can see is a young man with a gloomy face all day long. He is middle-aged and is no longer the young man in green shirt of the past.
Slavery
China's political system was gradually reformed and evolved from the original tribal system, but the first "family world" dynasty in history was the Xia Dynasty, which was also the first slave dynasty in Chinese history.
The so-called slavery is actually a system in modern society that does not respect human rights and treats similar people as goods and items for trading.
In other words, in ancient times, even if they were the same human beings. But as long as you are a slave, even if the master beats you to death, it is not a crime for the master.
Because according to the provisions of the law, the law protects free people, not enslaved slaves.
Since the Song Dynasty , slavery was legally abolished. The relationship between master and servant is no longer a relationship between objects and owners, but a relatively equal employment relationship.
However, the essential things have not changed much. For example, the wrapping of in the Qing Dynasty and was just following the old path of slavery.
The price of maids in ancient times
In ancient times, people's living standards were very poor, and once natural disasters occurred, they would cause great famine.
During great famines in ancient times, it often happened that children were exchanged for food. Therefore, poor families often sold their children to maintain family livelihood when life was difficult.
At that time, what people considered most was not human rights and freedom, but how to survive.
Taking the Ming and Qing Dynasties as a reference, in ancient population transactions, the price of girls was lower than that of boys.
Generally, the price of an underage girl is at most 5 taels of silver, which is equivalent to about 20,000 yuan based on the price level of the Qing Dynasty. Moreover, this was during the peaceful and prosperous times when the world was good.
As for adult girls, the price is slightly higher, about 10-20 taels of silver.
What can a girl who is bought as a maid do? Generally speaking, if you have outstanding looks or certain talents, you may be accepted by the owner as a maid, or as a housekeeper in the backyard of the home.
If you don't have talent or looks, you can only live as a coolie and a handyman, doing odd jobs all day long.
