Chapter 6 Chapter 66 Each has a mind

Ding's mansion is a large courtyard with three entrances and nine floors. The third and third courtyards are not far away from Ding Hao's residence, but this is the first time he has entered this place in his life. If you don't come here, you don't know how rich the Ding family is.Every brick on the wall, every tile on the house, every column under the hall, and every square stone under the feet are all carefully crafted and skillfully used. The stones are arranged in a well-proportioned manner, showing the atmosphere and grace. Lan'er, a maidservant of the inner palace, got the orders from Steward Yan, and led him into the back house. He walked through the Quyuan, walked around the corridor, crossed the stone bridge and crossed the small pavilion, went straight to the deepest part of the back house, and finally stopped in a solemn and luxurious courtyard.Even the doors and window lattices here are made of expensive golden nanmu. The flowers and trees are sparse and the red fences and red tiles are all enclosed within the high courtyard walls.

This sister, where is the master?Ding Hao asked politely. Lan'er rolled his eyes at him, with contempt and disgust in his eyes, and said disdainfully: The master just took a nap, so you can wait here.Master is awake, someone will call you in.After finishing speaking, he flicked his sleeves and walked away. Ding Hao was stunned, and immediately became angry. Since you want to take a nap, what are you calling me for? He raised his eyebrows, turned around and walked away, his eyes hidden in the dark corner of the wall could not help but light up, but Ding Hao stopped suddenly when he walked to the moon gate, he looked up at the sky, his lips moved slightly, and he didn't know what to say. He said something, and after a while, he turned around, walked down the corridor step by step, and stood there calmly, with a relaxed smile even on the corner of his mouth.

The eyes in the corner of the wall showed a slight surprise, and after a little thought, they quietly disappeared. Ding Hao had been standing under the corridor for more than an hour, and his feet were sore. At this moment, someone coughed inside, and Master Ding got up. As soon as Ding Tingxun woke up, the maid who was waiting in the outer room went in with a spittoon and teacup, and asked the master to wash his mouth and change his clothes. After some busy work, Ding Tingxun came out with his clothes on, and asked the maid: "Go and see, is Ding Hao here?" ?If he arrives, call him to come in and meet me.

yes!The little maid responded, opened the door and saw Ding Hao standing in the corridor, so she pursed her lips and said with a smile, "Dumb, the master asked you to come in." Ding Hao let out a foul breath after hearing this, and walked towards the door. As soon as he entered the door, he saw Ding Tingxun sitting upright on the chair in the main room, his face was as calm as water, but his eyes looked at him with some strange eyes, and his expression was a bit complicated. Ding Hao has seen the master!Ding Hao hesitated for a moment, stepped forward, and crossed his hands to salute this old man of the Ding family who was facing him head-on for the first time, but who was related to his own body.

That's all, stand up and answer.The voice is flat and majestic. yes!Ding Hao stood aside, neither humble nor overbearing, without squinting. Ding Ting watched his actions, the corners of his eyes twitched slightly, and then he drooped a little, and said slowly: "Ding Hao, this time you are transporting grain to Guangyuan, you have contributed a lot in planning and planning all the way.The eldest lady has already told the old man what happened, and the old man is very pleased. The master praised, it was all because the eldest lady presided over the overall situation and Ding Hao worked hard.If it weren't for the fact that the master has managed the Northwest for many years and made many connections, he wouldn't have turned bad luck into good fortune and made good fortune in death.

The corner of Ding Tingxun's mouth twitched to show a smile: You have done a great job in assisting the young lady, so you should be rewarded. I wonder what kind of reward you want?If you want to take a job in Ding's family, the old man will promote you to be a steward; if you want to stand on your own, then the old man will give you a thousand silver coins, and then build a house and two or three mu of land for you. You can choose between the two. One, what do you want? After Ding Tingxun finished speaking, he looked at Ding Hao calmly. Ding Hao bowed slightly, and said calmly: Master, Ding Hao doesn't want the money and things that the master rewards, and he doesn't want the manager promoted by the master. Ding Hao only wants to ask the master for one thing.

oh?Ding Tingxun stopped stroking his beard, looked deeply at Ding Hao, and asked: What is it? My mother's deed of sale! Ding Tingxun's back straightened up all of a sudden, and then he realized his gaffe, and sat back slowly: Yang's deed of prostitution?Well, what is the purpose of you asking for her deed of prostitution? Ding Hao's slightly bowed waist gradually straightened, and there was a solemn expression between his brows: Ding Hao wanted to give his mother a clean status, so as to fulfill the way of a son of man, that's all, and he didn't have any intentions.

Before the Song Dynasty, a domestic servant was a domestic slave, and it was the private property of the family owner. Although the government still had to deal with such things as killing a servant girl with a stick, for example, Yu Xuanji, a famous female prostitute in the Tang Dynasty, killed a maidservant, which was also a felony. .However, except for major events such as killing and killing people, the owner of the family has very extensive power to dispose of the servants. And even if slaves are killed with sticks, it is usually the government of the big cities and big towns. In the mountains and villages, the big clans can punish those who violate the clan rules at will, let alone the rich and powerful families who kill slaves.As long as no one reports, the people don't raise the case, and the officials don't investigate, the government won't bother to care about it.The power of the rich and powerful families in the local area is like that of the earth emperor. Who would dare to report a servant if he really wanted to beat him to death?Therefore, domestic slaves actually did not even have personal protection.

In the Song Dynasty, the imperial court had issued a decree that the hired servants were servants rather than slaves.Servant is a profession, although the status is low, it is completely different from slave.Servants have greater personal rights than slaves. If you can get along, you can come or if you don’t, as long as you have the ability, you can take the imperial examination and be an official, regardless of your experience as a servant.Although servants are still incomparable with modern employed persons, they are vastly different from previous domestic slaves. However, since the Song Dynasty had just been established and was in the period of transition between the old and new systems, slaves and servants were still in the coexistence stage, and many large families had a large number of domestic slaves.These domestic slaves left over from the old system are not protected by the new law, so let alone commoners, even domestic servants are somewhat contemptuous of domestic slaves.Being a slave is a humiliating and lowly status. Out of filial piety, Ding Hao wanted to get back the contract of sale for his mother, which is a good reason.

Ding Tingxun's eyes flickered, and his surprise quickly faded away. He looked at Ding Hao carefully for a long while, and then said calmly: "The old man cherishes your ability. I intended to allow you to be a steward. If you are a steward, you will naturally have considerable power. At that time, even if your mother She is still a domestic slave, who would dare to underestimate her in this Ding's manor?Why give up something that is really helpful to you for a false name? Master, as a son of man, there is no one who wants his mother to be a slave forever. Ding Hao doesn't want to be in charge, he just wants to get his mother's freedom.Since the master said that it was just a false name, then there is no harm in giving back the freedom of my mother.

Ding Tingxun stared deeply at Ding Hao with his cloudy but shrewd old eyes. Ding Hao looked calm and calm. After a while, Ding Tingxun slowly lowered his eyes and laughed twice: Remember, even if you No matter how much credit you have made, you are also a servant of my Ding family. As the head of the house, the old man wants to reward you, not to do business with you, so you can bargain.A steward status, a thousand coins and a house, you can choose one of them, there is no third choice. Ding Hao only wants his mother's contract of prostitution! Ding Tingxun raised his eyelids, and two sharp gazes shot out from his slightly cloudy old eyes: No one in the Ding family has ever dared to defy me for what the old man has decided! Master, Ding Hao is not disobeying your orders.Ding Hao said calmly: "What I want is not much, but to return my mother as a commoner. Such a request is not too much."If the master is afraid of arousing the delusions of other slaves, then please ask the master to offer a price, and Ding Hao is willing to redeem his mother. Ding Tingxun raised his eyebrows, not angry but arrogant.Ding Hao did not show any weakness, the two exchanged their eyes for a long time, Ding Tingxun smiled instead of angry: How many people want to ask me to be a manager of the Ding family, but you are avoiding it for fear of not being able to do so, it is also an anomaly.Don't fight with the old man anymore, how about this, your mother is sick, and the old man will send you a relatively easy job, but the monthly fee is quite a lot, so you have both leisure and spare money to take her into the city Seeing a doctor is good for recuperation.Let's take half a year as a period. After half a year, if you work hard and achieve a lot, the old man will consider returning her deed of prostitution to you, how about it? Ding Hao's heart skipped a beat: What's his intention of staying with me for half a year?Half a year later, it was time for the Ding family to deliver a large amount of grain and grass to Guangyuan to fill the official warehouse.It is estimated that General Cheng sent troops to the Northern Expedition at that time, and the situation will meet, and it will not miss my important event.Now he refuses to hand over his mother's contract of prostitution, and I can't force him to do so. Besides, my mother is seriously ill, so she can't travel long distances, and she doesn't want to go. I might as well make a deal with this old fox and recuperate my mother's body. Alright, let's convince her again, and once the half-year period is over, I'll come and discuss with him Ding Tingxun again. If he still makes excuses to delay at that time, it's because he made a mistake first, maybe I will sacrifice General Cheng to suppress him Pressed. Thinking of this, Ding Hao asked: only half a year? Yes, just half a year. good!That being the case, Ding Hao is in accordance with the master, we make a deal! Today, when he said the decision he had been thinking about for a long time, Ding Hao felt relieved immediately. He walked out of the room without looking back, looked up at a white cloud in the blue sky outside the courtyard wall, and felt relieved: After half a year, I will He left the Ding family compound completely, and from then on, Haikuan relied on the fish to leap, and the sky was high to let the birds fly. Looking at Ding Hao's leaving back, after a long silence, Ding Tingxun murmured: Unexpectedly, you want to leave Ding's house forever, this old man really underestimated you.In this way, after half a year, I might as well give you a rich Cheng Yi.Now the old man wants to see if throwing a squid into this muddy water can drive out the bone in the mud (loach) hidden deep in the ground