Book 8: Chapter 65: Details
The next week was busy, but mostly quiet. Sen arranged for an auction and let a few hints slip about what manner of natural treasures and elixirs were going to be up for grabs. There was extensive complaining about the incredibly short notice, most of which Sen shamelessly foisted off onto Long Jia Wei’s shoulders. He couldn’t really avoid the half-hearted complaints that Lai Dongmei made while they were in bed. Those he dismissed because he got the distinct impression that she did it because she felt like she ought to, not because she actually cared. The reality was that most of what got sold was going to go to the biggest sects. It probably wasn’t fair, but Sen decided that it wasn’t his job to be the arbiter of fairness at auctions for two key reasons. One, it sounded incredibly tedious. Two, he didn’t want to. This was little more than a money grab designed to make Grandmother Lu’s life a little easier. That meant he wanted the most money possible for the items, and the biggest sects had the most money to spend.
Supplies for the trip north started piling up in the manor, which brightened Sen’s day up every time he saw them. It was visible evidence that this trip to the capital was almost over. Unfortunately, it had come with one unpleasant detail that Sen had completely overlooked, but that Grandmother Lu’s eminently practical mind had spotted almost immediately.
“But why do I have to talk to them?” Sen complained.
“Because you’re going to be the one actually employing them,” said Grandmother Lu. “It’s not unreasonable for them to want to meet you. Just as importantly, don’t you think you should meet the people you plan to have help educate all of those children?”
“This is punishment for something, isn’t it?” asked Sen.
“Of course, it is. It also happens to be necessary, which means the punishment is really just a nice extra for me.”
“Will you at least tell me what it’s punishment for?”
“I’m sure if you’ll figure it out if you think hard about it.”
When Sen thought about it, there were a depressing number of things she might be punishing him for. Heaving a defeated breath, Sen spent a large part of one day talking to people he could hire to teach the children essentials like reading and math. He was a tiny bit annoyed to discover that it had been a good idea for him to meet the people. There were a few in the group that he simply couldn’t stand. They would have been a constant source of irritation if he’d been forced to deal with them on a regular basis. There were also a few that, for reasons Sen couldn’t put his finger on, he just didn’t trust. It was an instinct that told him that he shouldn’t hire those people. He did manage to hire what he hoped would be enough people to do the work.