The maid's road to success

After the rooms on the left and right sides were repaired, the steward of the Tongpan Mansion came over and invited several ladies to move in.

"My Lord said that they still have to deal with government affairs, so I'm afraid they are quite busy every day. Let Madam and the women live in the rooms on the right. We will clean up five rooms that can accommodate people. Please make the arrangements, Madam."

The magistrate's wife looked at the noblewoman wearing a ochre-red double-breasted long dress and the four or five ladies around her.

"The current conditions do not allow it, so please bear with it and live with your own daughters. Madam Liu has three daughters, so they will occupy two rooms. The remaining three rooms will be occupied by each of us."

Mrs. Liu, who was sitting in the main seat, nodded.

"This place is different from our house. It's good to have a place to shelter from the wind and rain. The stewards went to the temple on the mountain in advance and were afraid that it might collapse, so the monks moved down. Now there is no other place to go except here. Let's squeeze together and look for another place to live when the rain stops."

Several ladies nodded. Although they had never lived in such a shabby house, it was raining so heavily that the carriage got stuck in the mud many times along the way and could not move forward. Now they could only rest here with difficulty.

"This is already good."

Wen Niang and Bi He clearly noticed that the two young ladies were not convinced and they muttered why Wen Niang and the others didn't give up their houses as well so that it would be more convenient for them to live in.

After being glared at by Mrs. Liu, he dared not say anything.

Wen Niang sneered in her heart as she watched the ladies, who were served by their maids, go to the next courtyard with a look of suspicion on their faces.

"There are at least five families here today. The officials from the Tongpan Mansion and the Zhizhou Mansion are all here. Although I don't know the others, they are not low-ranking officials. But look at these gentlemen, how could there be only these young ladies and ladies in their homes?"

Bihe didn't need to finish her words, everyone knew what happened, it was simply that the rainstorm was too heavy and they couldn't bring all the masters out immediately, so they had to make a choice.

Among all the masters and lords today, I am afraid that only the legal wife, legitimate sons and legitimate daughters can come out with them. As for the rest of the illegitimate children and concubines, if they do not return to find another one, they will be placed somewhere else at random.

But if the resettlement site for those people was really safe, they would not have come here and lived in such dilapidated and abandoned houses in such a wronged way.

Fortunately, I renovated it some time ago. Although it is not yet complete, it is much better than before.

It's true that human nature cannot be seen at ordinary times, but it can be tested when encountering major events. This group of people usually claim to be noble and come from a prominent family, but in the face of disasters they really only care about their own lives.

"Look, those servants don't even have a place to live."

Bihe pointed at a dozen servants who were standing in the rain, hugging their bodies, shivering as they were soaked by the rain.

"Go and ask Wushan to fetch all the bamboo and bamboo mats he has stored, so that we can at least build two bamboo houses for those people. Are we really going to let them stay exposed to the rain like this?"

Wen Niang looked at the worried children behind her and said that Wushan had stockpiled a lot of bamboo before, some of which had been made into bamboo mats, and some had not yet.

It took up about half of the backyard, enough to build two bamboo houses.

"Help me, carry the bamboo over and build a bamboo house for everyone."

The steward was fine as he still had an umbrella in his hand, but the other dozen or so servants were standing in the rain wearing straw raincoats, how could they not be cold?

Hearing Wushan's words was like the sound of life-saving from nature. He didn't care that he was soaked all over and ran up to help move the bamboo.

"Thank you for troubling us today. We don't take the things here for free. This is some money as a token of our appreciation. At this time, you are willing to give us servants some supplies to shelter from the rain. It is like timely help. Although it is not much, I will definitely make up for it when I return."

Bihe refused to accept it.

"Your family usually takes care of our business. The steward also helped in the last incident. We will keep it in mind. Today is a good opportunity for us to repay you."

The steward was deeply moved. They were leaving today. There were limited carriages in the mansion and the mountain roads were difficult to travel. No one knew where to go. They just thought of finding a safe village nearby to stay in, but they didn't find a suitable place after walking all the way.

Along the way, he witnessed how the mistresses abandoned their concubines and illegitimate children for their own safety, and found a farm relatively close to the city for the maids to take them to settle down.

The steward's child also followed them to the farm. He knew very well that the farm was halfway up a mountain. If there was a landslide, it would be very dangerous. But he had no choice because the family's deeds were in the hands of the master, so he had to obey orders.

There are limited houses here.

Several masters and their sons filled the left side, leaving only the kitchen and the woodshed for a dozen servants to live in. Several ladies lived on the right side, and the remaining four storage rooms were occupied by the maids.

The chief steward could barely take charge of the affairs of the magistrate, but there were still a dozen servants who had not been settled. Wen Niang's house was home to more than a dozen people, big and small, and the one without an owner was filled with groceries, so they could not speak up anymore.

Who would have thought that when they were at a loss, the other party was willing to take out the bamboo he had saved to build a bamboo house for them, which at least provided a place to shelter from the rain.

Let them feel some warmth.

Many hands make light work. With the help of more than a dozen people, two bamboo houses were built in front of the house on the left. Although they were not big, they could provide a place for a dozen people to sleep and shelter from the rain.

"You have experience. The bamboo house is built high, so there shouldn't be any water seepage. But I see these people don't have anything to keep warm. We still have five or six quilts and mattresses left. If you don't mind, you can use them."

An Ning, An Ze and others stood at the door holding bedding.

They saw that some of the younger ones had red eyes. The steward looked at these people with wet clothes and did not refuse. He just said that he would double the reward the next day. As a result, he carefully protected the bedding with straw raincoats. They relied on these quilts to keep warm these days.

When the masters went out, even if there were spare carriages, they would only carry the things they usually used, and they never thought that the servants would also need things when they went out.

The prefect's daughter even brought with her an incense burner and curtains, as well as two large boxes of clothes. She didn't even have a carriage free to carry some clothes and bedding for the servants to keep them warm.

"The carriages that have come with us now belong to the masters. I wonder if the young lady could lend us a carriage to go nearby to buy some clothes?"

Wen Niang nodded. The quality of their carriage was definitely not as luxurious as that of the Tongpan Mansion, but it was practical.

Now the official road is full of people and carriages coming out of Yuzhou, so it is not realistic to return by the original route.

"Go a few miles along that open space. There is a village next to the mountain. There should still be people there. Maybe you can buy some clothes and bedding there."

The chief steward nodded. He couldn't leave himself. It was very kind of the magistrate to allow him to send someone to buy some supplies for the servants. However, he needed to be on duty at all times, so he could only send other servants to buy them.

During this period, many maids and nannies came and asked to buy some women's clothes and bedding. The steward did not refuse, but only said that if they could be bought, they would be brought back.

Wen Niang waited until everyone had found a room to stay in before returning to her own room. But after looking around for a while, she felt her hands were cold.

Bihe looked at the noisy voices on both sides and felt a little annoyed. She thought that she and her people were kind and helped others, but now it seemed that they abandoned their concubines, children and countless servants, and fled to a safe area. She didn't know whether she should save them or not.

“I feel like we’re helping the wrong people.”

Wen Niang held her hand and said.

"Don't think like that. Even though they have given up some of their families, we still have to help. Yuzhou cannot do without their management. This flood also depends on the dispatch of these adults. If we are unwilling to help and they are in danger, it will be bad for the people of Yuzhou."

Bihe gradually felt better.

But Wen Niang's face became more and more ugly.

She had this feeling when she rescued An Lan and An Huang. Because she rescued the two people, An Lan immediately killed his father, stepmother and their entire family.

Although I know that An Lan’s father and stepmother did not die unjustly, there must be good people in the family, and those people probably did not escape.

My mood at that time was the same as it is now. I knew in my heart that I had done nothing wrong, but I just felt bad.

Fortunately, the steward sent people to bring back a lot of warm clothes and bedding. Although they had all been used by villagers, it was good to have something to cover yourself at this time.

After all, it was late autumn and there were heavy rains, which could freeze people to death at night.

"I didn't bring back much, but with the bedding that the young lady gave me just now, it's barely enough. Thank you for the carriage, young lady."

Wen Niang didn't say much, but just asked them to have a good rest, close the gate and prepare to rest.

Just as it was getting dark after dinner, there was some commotion in the house on the right. Finally, it was Xier from the Tongpan Mansion who came and knocked on the door.

"I'm really sorry to bother you, young lady. Madam Liu's daughter's room is cold and gloomy. When I was resting here today, I noticed that there were charcoal basins in the room. I wonder if you can sell some to us?"

Xier forced a smile, but her eyes were full of grievance.

Given the current conditions, if we are to find a place to stay before dark, the stewards in the mansion will have to explore the way back and forth.

The two best and most spacious rooms had already been given to the young ladies of the prefectural government, but they were still not satisfied.

They kept finding faults and complaining about this and that, but that was not too bad, as Mrs. Liu suppressed them and made them dare not do anything rash.

But the nights were getting colder and colder, and I could never keep warm even with the quilt. Even with two hot water bottles, I still wasn’t satisfied.

He complained that he couldn't sleep because the room was dark, damp, and smelled, and even incense didn't work.

The lady was at a loss as to what to do, so she asked herself to talk to the manager of Yufuzhai to see if there was any extra charcoal to sell to them.

Because I often buy cakes for the young lady, at least I am familiar with her.

But Xier didn't want to come. After all, everyone was feeling wronged now. The hot water was reserved for the young ladies. Even the young ladies in her own family didn't dare to cause more trouble for others, so the young lady of the prefectural government had all kinds of problems.

"I do have some to share with you, but it's not enough. Do you want some?"

Xier nodded happily. Even if it was only a few pounds, she could report back and her wife would also be able to look good in front of Madam Liu.

"Come in and rest for a while. Bihe will entertain Miss Xier. I will go and load the charcoal."

Bihe took Xier's cold and icy hand and walked into the room.

He put the hot water bottle he had prepared into her hand first.

"Look, your hands are frozen. A girl's body cannot be exposed to cold air, or she will get sick in the future."

Bihe quite likes the girl Xier. She is usually very kind and sensible, and she doesn't speak with arrogance.

"No one is here right now. I won't hide it from you. We suffered a lot on our way back. The ladies felt sorry for us following the carriage all the way here, so they let us change into clean clothes before serving us."

"The prefect's young lady didn't have enough servants with her, and she couldn't handle the work, so she clamored for us to come and help. I changed my clothes just now because Madam An Dunchun came to ask for charcoal, and I was covered in mud and water, which was not suitable."

"If the room over there wasn't bigger, Miss Zhizhou would have asked you to vacate your room for them to live in. It was only after Madam Liu reprimanded them that they dared not say anything."