The maid's road to success

In spring, the women in the marquis's mansion become busy with various flower shows, tea parties, and poetry gatherings.

This is also an unspoken custom in the Lan Dynasty. People would look for their own children at various tea parties and flower shows in the spring.

The old ancestor was old and seldom attended, but the mansion still held several banquets every year, and the female relatives who came would come to Fu Shou Tang to pay their respects. It would be very conspicuous if Fu Shou Tang was short of a second-class maid.

Sister Yulan selected many people, but among the third-class maids in Fushou Hall, there was not one who satisfied her in every way.

The contrast in the previous part is too obvious. Bihe is eloquent and has a great skill in making tea. Chunxiu's bun is the most elegant in the mansion.

Needless to say, Wen Niang is now a popular figure in Fu Shou Tang, and her needlework has won the favor of many masters. The following Qius are similar to Wen Niang, but none of them are particularly outstanding.

After thinking it over, Yulan went to ask the ancestor, but the ancestor said that the person was only responsible for serving meals and it was fine as long as he was useful. However, Yulan believed that what went into the stomach was the most important, so she had to carefully select a suitable person.

She also thought about asking the other three second-class servants to take care of the food, but Bihe and Chunxiu were unstable and Wen Niang was weak in character, so it seemed that she had to ask the eldest lady to send someone suitable.

The eldest lady has always been filial. She and the nanny beside her went through all the people in the mansion and chose one person.

Then it's Chunlu from the Third Miss's room. Chunlu is a notoriously black-faced maid who doesn't give face to anyone. Only the Third Miss Chen Luolan's courtyard can keep her.

But with such a straight-forward character, she is not suitable to follow Luo Lan and marry into the Xu Mansion.

Moreover, none of the maids around the Third Miss Chen Luolan are outstanding in appearance. She needs to find a good-looking and attractive maid as soon as possible and train her well while there is still a year left. She will be a helper to her in the future.

Moreover, the people in Fu Shou Tang would give some face to them in the mansion, and it would be safer to have a righteous person like Chun Lu in charge of the meals.

Yulan thought about it and she knew Chunlu, who was indeed a good person. In the past, she often quarreled with the servants for the benefit of the Third Young Miss. But when she went out to do business in Fushoutang, all the servants had to give her some respect, so she was suitable for doing business in Fushoutang.

"Grandfather, my mother said you are short of people. Chunlu has been with me for a long time and is very careful and thoughtful. Let her follow you."

The old ancestor looked at Chunlu and nodded.

"Give it to me, aren't you abandoning someone again?"

Chen Luolan has a cheerful personality and said with a smile.

"I'm not afraid. Just pick two more."

The old ancestor nodded. She also felt that the maids in Sanniang's yard were all plain-looking. They were fine at home, but not when they went out.

"Okay, let your mother carefully pick two younger ones for you."

Chunlu is fourteen and Sanniang is fifteen. By the time Sanniang needs someone to help maintain her favor after three or five years, the girl will be seventeen or eighteen years old. Besides, all the people in Sanniang's courtyard are of this age, so once they are needed, they will not be able to be replaced.

Wen Niang looked at Chunlu's dark skin, calm eyes, and her stature which was taller than everyone else, and she understood what the old ancestor meant.

It is a pity for these women who are slaves. They are born to be the beasts of burden of their masters and devote their whole lives to the interests of their masters. Fortunately, they are lucky enough to be able to escape from slavery.

"Chunxiu, Chunlu will live in the same room with you from now on. Take her to get familiar with the place. You will take over Chuncao's job tomorrow."

Yulan led Chunlu out of the house to give the old ancestor and the third young lady some space to talk.

"Yes, Sister Yulan."

When Chunxiu brought Chunlu over, Wenniang and Bihe were already helping to clean up their rooms.

The third wife, the eldest wife, felt guilty about giving Chunlu away, so she prepared many things for her.

"You must be Chunlu, I'm Bihe, the tea manager."

Chunlu returned the gift and spoke to her with a smile.

"I recognize you. Every time Sanniang comes, she drinks the honey tea you make. This must be Wenniang, right? Sanniang asked you to help embroider a purse before. I brought you the silk thread."

Wen Niang nodded and exchanged greetings with her.

"Our ancestors were very generous. Entering Fushoutang is like entering a blessed home. As long as you work hard, you will be able to live a comfortable life."

Chunlu nodded. She had known this for a long time. She always knew that she would not marry after Sanniang. She didn't expect that she would have the good fortune to come to Fushoutang.

In the past, I used to be very envious every time I saw the maids of Fu Shou Tang going out and having so much fun that even the kitchen manager had to flatter them. But now that I have become a maid in Fu Shou Tang, I feel uneasy instead.

"Pack your things first, and I'll take you around Fu Shou Tang later."

After leaving the house, the little maid said that several young masters and young ladies had arrived, so Bihe hurriedly took Wen Niang to the tea room to help make tea.

"That's good. Chunlu is here. I don't think she is as mean and cunning as people say. Once they have sorted things out, we can go out and see our yard."

Wen Niang nodded and said, "Yes, we have got the documents, but we haven't gone to the yard to take a look. At least we have to light a fire and cook a meal in it."

"Sister Yulan said that after the tenth day of March, the peach blossoms in the mansion will be late, and we can go home to see them."

Wen Niang took out different teacups, including glass cups for mixing honey, white porcelain cups for brewing tea, and colored pottery cups for fruit juice.

"Is the tea ready? Sister Yulan asked me to serve it."

Bihe nodded, picked up one and put it in Chunlu's hand.

"The glass cup belongs to the fourth young master, the red porcelain cup belongs to the third young lady, and the celadon cup belongs to the second young master."

Bihe picked up another tea tray and went to the main room.

When Wen Niang saw them go out, she sat in front of the small stove, watching over it while doing needlework.

The third young lady was also there. Chunlu chatted with her and then left. She didn't know where to go. Seeing that Wen Niang was the only one in the tea room, she came in to help her.

"You are so good at sewing. I can't do this kind of work."

Chunlu was full of envy. She had learned needlework from the maids since she was a child, but her fingers were so worn out that she couldn't even make a stitch. Now she was fourteen years old and could only make a purse sock.

"That's all I know. I don't know as much as you do about food."

When it comes to food, Chunlu looks very confident. She is born to love eating. She can tell whether the food is fresh and what ingredients are used when it is served in front of her.

To be honest, she quite likes cooking, but being a maid means she can serve her master personally. Who would want to be a maid in the kitchen to make fire?

"If you want to learn, I'll teach you. I'm better at eating."

Wen Niang nodded and brought Chunlu a cup of Biluochun tea.

"When you arrive at Fushou Hall, things will get better and better. Although you and the Third Lady have a deep master-servant relationship and you are reluctant to leave after being together for so long, the old ancestor is kind-hearted and there is no grudge here. You will also have face when doing your work, and your family will also benefit from it."

Wen Niang noticed that Chunlu seemed to have been crying, and thought that she was reluctant to leave Sanniang.

But as a slave, don't you have to consider the needs of your master? When you are a lady, you don't like the maid to be too beautiful, which will overshadow your beauty. You mostly like to use Chunlu.

But after getting married, he cannot be without a beautiful bride by his side. Chunlu is not suitable and will be abandoned.

Fortunately Chunlu is lucky and entered Fushoutang. Things will only get better in the future, and she will feel a sense of belonging here.

"I know. Thank you."

Chunlu has a straightforward personality and is very gentle to people who are on good terms with her, which makes Wen Niang feel more at ease.

She was really afraid that Chunlu was too upright and difficult to get along with. Now it seems that she is just straightforward and calls people black when they are black and white when they are white.

Such a person is actually suitable for Fushoutang and can replace Chuncao's duties.

The first lady and the third lady have really put in a lot of effort in selecting people for Fu Shou Tang.

"I heard from Madam that she has already started selecting maids to replace the Third Miss. They are all selected from good-looking girls who are eight or nine years old."

Wen Niang was horrified. The Third Young Miss was fifteen now, and would be sixteen when she got married. Even if she got pregnant later, it would only be two or three years later. By then, these two girls would only be twelve years old. Would they have to win over the future Third Young Miss' husband on her behalf?

Even though the girls in Lan country get married at a young age, it is rare to see girls serving others at the age of 12.

Wen Niang was once again thankful that she was a member of Fu Shou Tang and that she had the chance to save her master and regain her body.

The two of them looked at each other in the tea room, wondering whether they were sad for the little maid who was about to be chosen by the Third Miss, or whether they were glad that they were now in a safe home.

At dusk, the Marquis returned to the mansion in the setting sun, and the first thing he did was to pay his respects in Fushou Hall.

Seeing so many people here, he was feeling very satisfied with his filial children at home, when he saw Chen Luoxi hiding behind him.

His face immediately turned stern again. Among his children, the fourth one was the most lively. As soon as spring came, he went to race horses and play Cuju with a group of friends.

He either had headaches or diarrhea because of studying, and his angry husband complained to him every day.

The day before yesterday, he even had a cockfighting contest with that playboy of Shounanbo. Even after winning, he didn't want to stop there, and forced the playboy to bark like a dog.

Shoushan Bo was so angry that he fell backwards, and some people in the court implied that he did not discipline his children well enough.

"You're not going to school today?"

The fourth young master Chen Luoxi shrank his neck, his eyes wandering, and looked at the old ancestor, asking her for help with pleading eyes.

"I am in high spirits today, so I asked the children to come and talk."

Chen Yuanzhi frowned as he watched his mother blindly defending Chen Luoxi, but after all, his mother had spoken, and he couldn't ignore his mother's face in front of the younger generation.

"Mother loves her children, you should respect her well. Luo Xi, you should stop playing around, a man should study hard. Tomorrow I will hire a new teacher to teach you. If you complain to me again, I will not forgive you."

Chen Luoxi was shocked. He had to change his husband. Life would become difficult now.

The old ancestor didn't say much about the child's upbringing, but Chen Luoxi was a little naughty, so she hoped he would study hard and pass the imperial examinations, so that she could find a good family to marry into in the future. She also agreed with this.

The fourth young master of the Chen family ate his meal as slowly as chewing wax, and before the Marquis could start lecturing him, he found an excuse to sneak away.

It was Chunlu's first day, and it was not her turn to be on night duty, so she took the silk ribbon and made a knot.

Wen Niang was very interested. She rolled the straight red silk thread into thicker threads in her hands, and with a twist of her fingers, a pomegranate knot was quickly completed.

"I'm at the third girl's place. I like to cook food on weekdays. I'm not good at anything else. My mother said that if a girl doesn't have a good family background, she won't know anything, so she let me learn the rope-braiding skill, which is pretty good."

Wen Niang nodded. Chunlu's skills were already very good. She could not compare with her. Although she was good at needlework, she could not remember the braids. She kept going around in circles and got dizzy after a few tries.

"Your weaving is so beautiful. I can't do this job."

Chunlu smiled and said that Wenniang was the most peculiar person in Fushou Hall. She was not as steady and well-spoken as Yulan and the other two, nor as good-looking as Chunxiu, Bihe and Qiaoyan. Her needlework skills were not the best in this mansion.

But people just like her. She listens to whatever you say patiently and never cares about doing more or how much reward she gets.

The third lady had said before that although it seemed that she had received a lot of rewards because of the eighth lady Chen Luozhu's matter, it was nothing in Fushou Hall. Those first and second class officials all had three or five hundred taels in their hands.

But among all the awards, she is the most eye-catching. But look at the people in Fu Shou Tang, those who have said anything bad about her are all those who have a good relationship with her.

It can be seen that if this person is not pretending to be kind, then he is a real good person.