The maid's road to success

Early in the morning, Julien felt satisfied when he saw his younger brothers and sisters sleeping soundly in their beds.

He got out of bed, put on his raincoat and went to the front yard to help.

Bihe and Wen Niang sat under the porch, one making clothes and the other boiling honey tea.

"Niang Wen, this rainstorm caused a flood. The prefect will definitely report it to the court. I don't know who the court will send."

Wen Niang was calm and didn't even raise her head.

"No matter who is sent, the inspector will most likely come. This disaster requires disaster relief. The Duke's Mansion has just returned to Kyoto. This is a good opportunity to make merit."

Bihe raised her head and looked at Wen Niang nervously.

"Isn't the Fourth Young Master the Inspector?"

Wen Niang nodded and comforted her not to be nervous.

"Don't worry, our place is suitable for temporary stay, but when people from Kyoto come, firstly, there is not enough room here, secondly, it is too shabby, and thirdly, we need to check the river affairs and disaster situation, and this place is far away."

Bihe relaxed only after hearing this.

The yard on the right started to make noise again early in the morning, and Xier's crying could be vaguely heard.

"Wulan, go and ask Miss Tongpan to come over and tell her that we want her help."

Wulan happily held up the newly painted oil-paper umbrella and went out in wooden clogs.

After a while, Wulan came over with Xier and Miss Tongpanfu.

The young lady from the Tongpan Mansion had a smile on her face, but her eyes were full of grievance. Xier's eyes were red, she had just cried, and her eyes were still a little swollen.

"I wonder what the two ladies want from us?"

Bihe smiled and pulled the master and servant to sit down.

"Nothing, our little family doesn't need any help from Miss Tongpan. I just saw that you have a lot of things to do and many people around you recently, so I asked you to come over and talk with us so that we can have some free time."

The young lady from the Tongpanfu sat aside and said with a smile.

"We have a lot of people there, and we talk loudly."

Xier looked at her young lady and had to help her to save face, she looked at her young lady with grievance.

"Miss is obviously..."

Miss Tongpan looked at Xier and reprimanded her harshly.

"Xier!"

Wen Niang knew everything about Miss Tongpan's appearance, but as a lady from the inner house, she could not talk about other people's faults at will.

If it gets out, you'll be labeled a gossip, which won't be good for you either.

"The young lady is also free next door, and we are planning to make some new tea, why don't you come together?"

In fact, Miss Tongpanfu didn't want to stay in the Right Courtyard. She was usually detained in the mansion and had no sisters.

I've been living with Miss Wu recently. There are not many maids to take care of, so it's definitely not as comfortable as living in my own home.

But Miss Wu was overbearing and directly asked Xier and other maids to serve them.

Serving tea and water, dressing, changing clothes, washing clothes, preparing meals and snacks, and grinding embroidery lines and tracing in red.

I didn't sleep well yesterday, so Xier followed me and served me the whole time. She didn't go when I was called.

Miss Wu's maid got angry on the spot and accused Xier of being lazy.

The mother came out to mediate. Fortunately, Mrs. Liu was sensible. She scolded the servants of the prefectural government for being restless and said that since they could not serve their masters themselves, they had to find servants from other families.

But Mrs. Liu caught a cold on the road and has been feeling unwell ever since. She stays in her room every day to recuperate and most of the time she can't take care of much.

But both she and Xier felt aggrieved. In order to save face, she often had to ask Xier to help. But today she was not feeling well, and Xier was worried.

He was reprimanded for not going once. Why should a servant of the Tongpan Prefecture be reprimanded by a servant of the Zhizhou Prefecture?

Fortunately, the ladies at Yufuzhai asked me to come over, and my mother didn't want me to get involved, so she let me come over to play.

"My name is Jin'er, you can call me Jin'er from now on."

Bihe looked at Miss Jin'er, pulled her to sit on a bamboo stool, and stuffed her with a plate of snacks and fruit nectar.

"Take a rest here and try the snacks and fruit tea we made. Even if we don't have good ingredients, we can make some homemade red bean cakes and white sugar cakes. Try them."

Xier also sat aside, eating snacks like a hamster.

"Now there are many people living in each courtyard, but we are all children here. If you don't mind the noise, you can come and sit with us for a while."

Bihe’s skill in making tea is very good, and Jin’er likes it just by watching her.

She had always liked the dim sum at Yufuzhai, which was very similar to the ones she used to eat at her grandmother's. After that incident, she had an even greater appreciation for the ladies at Yufuzhai, who acted calmly and measuredly and knew when to advance and retreat.

After experiencing this incident, I feel that the character of these two ladies is even more precious.

She usually has no sisters to talk and play with, and this time her mother didn't want her to be dragged into the trouble in the right yard, so she agreed to let her come over here, which is actually a good thing.

It is more comfortable than getting along with those noble ladies in the inner palace.

"Here are some travel notes. You can take a look if you like."

Wen Niang brought out a few books and handed them to Jin'er. In fact, they were helping the Tongpan Mansion just to show their goodwill. Since they planned to stay in Yuzhou permanently, they also took in so many children.

Having someone to protect you can only be a good thing.

She didn't want to get involved with the prefect's mansion. The previous incident with Babaozhai was because the other party was protected by the prefect's concubine.

It can be seen that the backyard of the prefectural government is also very chaotic, and I don’t know who I have offended.

But the Tongpan Mansion is much better, as the Tongpan is a sensible official.

The population of Tongpan Mansion is simple. There is one concubine but no children yet, and the several sons and daughters are all well-educated children.

The wives and daughters of the Tongpan Mansion were all kind and righteous. Such people were the most suitable people for Wen Niang and Bi He to rely on.

"My father and his men are sending people to find another place to take shelter. They have been bothering you too much recently. They should be moving out soon."

Bihe smiled and said they were too polite.

"Miss Jin'er has been taking care of our business since we opened our store. She has also taken good care of us in the past few months. How can it be considered as a bother? However, this place is indeed too crowded. It will definitely not be convenient for you to live here for a long time."

Jin'er smiled and shook her head.

"In fact, I feel that I have been very happy these past few days. There are a lot of rules in the mansion, and my mother is very strict with me. I rarely live with my mother. Recently, I have been eating and living with my mother every day, and my mother has become much closer to me."

"Also, on weekdays, there are no sisters in the mansion to play with me, and the girls dare not get too close to me. Recently, we have become much closer, and I can meet you. I have always been curious about what the shopkeeper of Yufuzhai looks like. When I heard my father say that it was a girl, I became even more curious."

Seeing how straightforward she was, Bihe liked her a little. Most of the rich ladies would sneer at the news that a woman was doing business, thinking that she would eventually become a lowly person.

They did not look down on us, but were always very kind to us, which showed that they were well brought up at home.

Jin'er watched them doing needlework and talking about their travels, and she unknowingly became interested and joined them in chatting about the customs and culture of Yuzhou.

We had tea and snacks all the time, so I didn't feel hungry.

It was not until someone from my mother's side came to inform me that I realized it was already lunchtime.

"I'm so sorry to have been sitting here for so long. I guess I've delayed your meal."

Wen Niang asked about Wulan's cooking and tried to keep Jin'er.

"We have prepared the food here. It's not as good as your cooking skills, but there is a lot of game prepared by Wushan before. Why don't you stay and try it?"

Jin'er's eyes lit up, and she expectedly asked the girl to go back and ask her mother if it was possible.

After waiting for a while, the other party said.

"Madam said that if Miss wants to stay for dinner, she can stay. Thank you two ladies for taking care of her."

The wife of the magistrate actually had a box of bird's nests sent over.

"Madam Tongpan is so generous. It's just some ordinary food, but she sent such a precious thing as bird's nest."

When Wen Niang looked at the bird's nest, she understood what was going on.

Young ladies from the ordinary inner courtyard cannot go out at will, and even if they go out, they will be followed by a group of maids.

Although conditions are limited now and there are few maids around, she would not let her daughter eat at the home of someone she doesn't know about the situation, unless something happens there and the magistrate's wife doesn't want her daughter to be there, or she sincerely wants her daughter to avoid it.

Wen Niang's guess was correct. In the morning, because her own maid scolded the maid of the Tongpan Mansion for being lazy, things got out of hand and Madam Liu had to drag her sick body out to take care of things.

The first to be punished were the maids who served the young ladies personally.

"The mansion is paying you to stay, not for you to show off your power and bully other people's servants."

The youngest daughter of the Wu family refused to accept the defeat and looked at her mother stubbornly.

"Mother, I didn't say anything to Jin'er. It's just that we don't have enough servants, so I'm lending her a maid. Is that worth getting so angry?"

Mrs. Liu saw that her daughter was still stubborn and refused to change her ways. The other two older daughters were equally unconvinced.

"You are too presumptuous. Jin'er's father and your father are both officials of Yuzhou. They have worked together for this disaster and are not much worse than us. You are so arrogant that you dare to order the servants of the Tongpan Mansion. Who are you? Your father has to respect the Tongpan. Are you more powerful than your father?"

Mrs. Liu only regretted that she had been so busy fighting with her concubines and striving for power for her sons that she neglected the upbringing of her daughters and was misled by someone with ulterior motives.

He developed such a spoiled character, but it was not very obvious because there was a nanny and a group of servants in the mansion to take care of him.

Ever since she escaped from Yuzhou, she has been making trouble all the time. Even when the master was so busy, he would scold her for not disciplining her daughter well.

"You had few servants with you, and you were selfish at the time, unwilling to give up the carriage for the servants to sit in, and to carry your clothes and jewelry."

"Why do we have to order others around when we don't have enough manpower? Besides, what's the point of not having enough manpower? Young ladies from other families only have a maid by their side and can serve them well."

"Although you only have one maid with you, the prefecture has brought four or five maids with you, which is much better than other families. You are still not satisfied and there are not enough people. What does your own maid do?"

The young lady of the Wu family couldn't help but mutter.

"My maidservants have to accompany me in embroidery, conversation, and pitching pots. Who will do the work of making tea and grinding?"

Madam Liu was furious when she saw that these servants, who had worked so hard for her, were still restless and were urging their master to find others to serve them while they themselves were lazy.

"I didn't know that the servants in our house had a more leisurely life than the masters. The master and your brother had to dress themselves, eat, pour tea and water by themselves, and ride horses to check the disaster situation at risk. But the maids in our house could even embroider and play pitching pots. They let others do all the dirty work?"

"In that case, my house cannot accommodate such a precious maid. I will report it to your father and sell her off."

The girls were so scared that they knelt on the ground and begged for mercy.

"You have such evil intentions, but you have not taught my daughter bad things. Usually in the mansion, you are lazy and bully others. Do you think I don't know? It's just that the young ladies value you and spared you. Now that you are out, you dare to instigate the young ladies to mess around. In the future, you will be known as overbearing and spoiled, but it will not affect you."

When the youngest daughter of the Wu family saw that her mother was going to sell her maid, she immediately wanted to persuade her mother to stop, but her eldest sister grabbed her arm and prevented her from going over.

"Eldest sister, why are you pulling me?"

The eldest daughter of the Wu family also realized at this time that her mother was actually saving her three sisters, and that this incident was indeed too terrible.

"There are more than just our family living in this courtyard. We are all crowded together. I am afraid that others will know everything. You were instigated by the maids to force someone else's maid to serve you. Then the news will spread that you bully others and have a reputation of being a tyrant who does not tolerate others. Do you still plan to propose marriage? I am afraid that by then, good families will despise you for your bad character."

The eldest daughter of the Wu family is usually the most aloof and unwilling to take charge of things. In order to serve her mother more conveniently, she lives with her mother. When she heard that her two younger sisters asked other people's maids to serve them, she felt it was inappropriate, but she did not care. She just thought that her younger sisters were too spoiled and could not adapt to the life here.

Only after my mother reminded me did I realize that there are ladies and daughters from other families now. If the reputation gets out, it will have a great impact on the unmarried women in the family. I am afraid that even I will not be able to stay out of it.

"These maids have evil intentions. For their own enjoyment, they instigated the master to go out and ask for servants. Others will only think that you are too domineering and bullying. Who will care that it was actually the maids who instigated it? There are people serving you, but they are lazy. You have the bad reputation. They are harming you."

The maids had never expected that the eldest lady would point out all their thoughts and put all kinds of bad reputations on their heads. They knew that they were really in trouble this time.

Relying on the young ladies' favor, they usually acted domineeringly in the mansion, and forgot for a moment that now, everyone was taking refuge and it was not the time to stay in the mansion.

"Your sister is right. These girls have been instigating you to do wrong things. You can't stay here. If you don't handle today's matter properly, not only will your reputation be damaged, but you won't be able to expect any good family to want you in the future."

Madam Liu was furious and asked her maid to take the two maids to the left courtyard to ask the steward to report to the master.

The girls knew they had no way to escape and they trembled with fear on the spot.

How many good maids are there among those sold? Besides, there are floods everywhere and everyone is seeking refuge. Who would spend money to buy the criminal slaves sold by the prefecture?

Besides, who would want the servants sold out from the prefectural government? Except for the lowly brothels or the crippled men who couldn't get married, who would want them?

"Madam, the steward said that the master is out busy. If you trust him, please ask him to handle it."

Mrs. Liu nodded. She naturally guessed how to deal with what the steward said.

Under the current circumstances, it is impossible to sell servants. No one will buy servants at this juncture, especially those who have committed crimes and were driven out by the prefectural government.

The only way to deal with these people is to send them to the military camp to serve the soldiers, or to kill them directly.

Under normal circumstances, she would not have had the heart to do this, but these girls would ruin the reputations of the daughters in the family at this time. With disasters everywhere, they couldn't even set up a porridge stall to distribute porridge and earn some good reputation, so they could only hide here for refuge.

Not only do they not save their troubles, but they also make things more troublesome. If this is allowed to continue, my daughter will become a vicious woman tomorrow.

"Leave it to the steward to handle it."

Several maids were shouting, but no one paid any attention. Madam Liu handled today's matter in this way in order to give an explanation to the ladies and young ladies, indicating that the young ladies in their mansion were instigated by several maids to do these stupid things.

If he lost a few maids, the only thing that would get out would be that his daughter was not good at judging people and was fooled by a servant. This was better than having a reputation of being domineering, overbearing and arrogant.

If you fail to discipline your servants and are instead instigated by them, you can still save him and educate him. But if he is still unruly and unreasonable at this age, then that is not a good thing.

The wife of the magistrate originally did not want her daughter to stay in the next yard for so long, but Mrs. Liu was disciplining her daughter, and since everyone was in the same yard, it would inevitably be embarrassing if others found out. She was afraid that her daughter would suddenly come back and catch them red-handed, which would be bad.

She simply asked her to eat next door. Besides, she didn't want her daughter to see the appearance of those girls.

The servants in the Tongpan Mansion were almost all family-born children, with clean family backgrounds, and they served attentively, so they seldom punished or beat the servants.

In order to save her daughter, Madam Liu pushed the maids out to die and even sold out the servants.

Any mistress of the house would have thought about the fate of these people. They would either be sent to the military camp to serve or be beaten to death. They would never let the tiger go back to the mountains.

The magistrate's wife hoped that her daughter would never experience such a cruel and ruthless thing.

Actually, what happened next door couldn't be concealed. Mrs. Liu knew that she couldn't conceal it, so she dealt with it swiftly and decisively, so that everyone would know that their daughter was instigated by someone to do so many stupid things.

When Wen Niang and Bi He found out, they looked at You Yuan coldly.

It would have been fine if today's incident hadn't exploded. If it had, no matter if it was instigated by the maid or not, it would have been handled like this in the end.

The servants in this world are never as valuable as their masters. How can the lives of a few servants be more important than the reputation of the master's family?

Not everyone treats servants as well as the Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion. Even on the road of exile, they would not use servants to exchange for their own food.