Chapter 29.1 Second Step to a Tavern
There was a slave market in the West Market, and Shen Shaoguang took A’Yuan there for a visit.
In this dynasty, it was an universal norm to own servants. Rarely would people hire others to do labor; if manpower was needed, most would directly purchase more servants or maids.
According to Shen Shaoguang's analysis, the reason was because this type of relationship was safe and reliable. The servants and maids were private property, and they dare not easily disobey their master's commands, so much so that the ‘slaves can’t confess the crimes of their masters’. Except for major crimes such as conspiring against the state, slaves weren’t allowed to denounce their master, otherwise they would be punished by law. Furthermore, servants were a cheap commodity; an adult male servant with some trade skills was only a couple taels of silver.
Since she had crossed over, Shen Shaoguang had dropped all moral principles, and in terms of the existence of slaves, she had decided to ‘do as the Romans do’.
The slave market was very close to the horse market, and after browsing the various feeble and glossy-fur mules and horses, the two soon arrived at the slave market.
The slave market was quite grand in scale, with some even offering the legendary ‘Kunlun slaves[1]’ and ‘Silla maids[2]’. There were merchants who only sold beautiful singers and dancers, some smaller scale vendors only sold two or three slaves, and some large slave merchants had dozens of slaves tied together on display.
She inquired from a few casual sellers, but none of them were suitable. It made sense, if their slave was an excellent cook, the owner would not sell them so easily.
Thus Shen Shaoguang went to a middle aged slave merchant. He was trudging around twenty or thirty slaves, they all seemed to be for sale.
As if purchasing livestock, there were two buyers scrutinizing the ‘quality’ with their faces, and soon four attractive maids were selected. Someone was then sent to the Market Administration to apply for the business transaction deeds.
Seeing Shen Shaoguang approaching, the slave merchant asked politely, "Do you have any requests, Miss?"
"I’m looking for a male servant, it’s best if he can cook."
The origin, age, former master, and skills of each slave were all recorded by slave merchants. Many slave merchants work in teams. The merchant in charge of acquiring new slaves and the person in charge of selling these slaves were often not the same person. Thus it was essential to keep a record of all of their merchandise.
Although Shen Shaoguang was only looking to purchase a single slave, the merchant didn’t neglect or slight her as he replied with a smile, "One moment please. I’ll have someone to look through the booklet."
"Coincidentally, this Yu San was originally a cook." The slave merchant pointed to a male slave standing on the farthest side.
Shen Shaoguang studied Yu San’s appearance. He looked about twenty-six or seven years old, tall, with an upright face, and could even be considered a refined-looking man. However his brows were furrowed and his eyes cold and detached as if his whole demeanor was emitting ‘Laozi’s done with my life[3], do whatever you want’.
Well, what a personality.
Shen Shaoguang went to take a close look. Perhaps it was a special treatment due to her pretty looks, or just out of occupational integrity, the slave merchant continued to accompany her.
"Do you know how to cook?" Shen Shaoguang asked.
Yu San opened his eyelids a little to look at Shen Shaoguang. "Yeah."
"What are your best dishes?"
Yu San replied flatly, "Okra soup, bean stew."
The slave merchant frowned. "Properly respond to her question!" Okra soup was a commoner’s household food, and bean stew could almost be considered coarse. How can a cook say that he was the best at those two dishes?
Probably out of the mentality of ‘a wise man knows better than to fight when the odds are against him’, Yu San finally replied, "When my previous master still had some money, I used to make dishes such as roast goose, barbecue lamb, and freshly sliced carp."
Shen Shaoguang nodded, "Why were you sold?"
"My master was poor, so he sold me in exchange for a Feast of Fish at Spellbound Willow Restaurant."
Shen Shaoguang: "..." Fair enough. She could finally empathize why he was so ‘void-of-life’, and also understood how his previous master became poor– selling the cook for a meal, what a loss-making transaction!
The slave merchant would rather believe he was a bad cook, or he was just talking nonsense, and inwardly laminated the unreliability of his partner who bought such slaves. He apologetically smiled at Shen Shaoguang, "Miss, if you are not in a hurry, there will be a new batch tomorrow. You are free to come tomorrow and browse."
Shen Shaoguang smiled at the merchant. "No need, he’s fine. How much?"
Abled male servants were usually three taels of silver. With his apparent lackluster culinary talent, in addition to his bizarre and passive-aggressive conduct and manners, the merchant was disinclined to retrain him, so he took the initiative to lower the price, and only asked for 2,700 wen.
Believing that this was a fair price, Shen Shaoguang thanked the slave merchant, paid the money, and went to complete the process for acquiring the deed for their transaction.
Shen Shaoguang then led A’Yuan, whose head held high and chest puffed out, and Yu San, who kept looking at the ground, back home.
The West Market sold almost everything, so on their way back, Shen Shaoguan bought a new bedding for Yu San.
Even though they had spent so much on Yu San, the latter’s expression still remained as ‘do whatever you want, just bury me when I die’. Seeing this, A’Yuan could not help but become quite angry, and rolled her eyes at Yu San several times.
Shen Shaoguang laughed; she hadn’t expected A’Yuan to be such a bully to strangers…
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Footnotes:
[1] Kunlun slaves (崑崙奴) - or Negrito slaves were people from several diverse ethnic groups who inhabit isolated parts of Southeast Asia. They were one of the most sought after commodities in the Tang Dynasty, known for their large physique, majestic figure, and dark skin. During the Tang Dynasty the term 'Kunlun' referred to all things black. Please don't confuse this with African Americans, Negrito were from parts of Asia.
[2] Silla maids (新罗婢) - These are also foreigner slaves. Silla was a Korean kingdom located on the southern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula. During the early Tang, Silla was facing times of unrest. At that time, in the face of the Tang Dynasty, which had a strong army, a strong economy, and unprecedented national power, the rulers of Silla also realized the importance of making good friends with the Tang Dynasty. And to do so, a common method was through tributes. Silla women was one of them.
Due to Chinese influence, most of the women there were very soft spoken and beautiful, on top of that they have famously delicate personalities. Before they were sold, these girls were usually trained and educated, so with their pretty faces and well-behaved and docile characters, Silla maids were loved by the upper class of the Tang Dynasty.
[3] Laozi (老子) - this would usually be translated as ‘I’, but this sentence would read in a completely different tone. Basically this is a first person pronoun 'I' that is used arrogantly or jocularly. Like the Japanese word ‘ore-sama’.