A car accident, our family of three crossed

The mother and son followed the lively sounds and soon arrived at the back room where the servants lived.

The servants' quarters were unusually quiet today. The women and girls were all gathered there cutting paper snowflakes, chatting and laughing, creating quite a lively atmosphere.

Even Granny Dou had lost her stern expression and was enjoying herself.

Wow! It's really lively today.

"Oh! Madam and young master have arrived."

Everyone quickly stood up and bowed, then brought over chairs.

After Song Ning sat down, she became curious about what they were all doing gathered here. So, Granny Dou presented her with some of the more beautifully patterned window decorations that she had selected.

"Madam, look, these are all paper-cut window decorations made by everyone. We've picked out some pretty designs, and we'll put them up in each courtyard later."

The paper-cut window decorations were all stacked together, and the clever Baozhu unfolded them one by one in front of Song Ning so that she could see them more clearly.

Yangyang clapped her hands as she watched, exclaiming, "Wow! It's so good!"

Then he turned to his mother and said, "Mother, I want to put up paper-cut window decorations in my room too. I want to choose them myself."

Such a small request, of course a mother would fulfill.

"Alright, alright, then you can choose for yourself!"

"Come, come, young master Yangyang, come sit here and take your time choosing." Granny Dou quickly placed the tray on the empty table next to her so that this little darling could choose carefully.

Yangyang went over excitedly, and also dragged Baozhu along to be his advisor. The two children stood head to head, carefully selecting cards one by one.

Seeing that everyone was chatting and laughing but still busy with their hands, making her the only one with nothing to do, Song Ning decided to join in.

This is no ordinary item.

In terms of technique, she may not be the best, but in terms of variety, she is definitely far ahead of her time.

"Wow! Madam, your cooking skills are truly superb!"

"These patterns are so beautiful. With Madam's work, all the patterns we've made suddenly seem insignificant."

"Isn't it?"

Song Ning knew that their praise was somewhat exaggerated, so she smiled and changed the subject, stopping them from continuing their flattery.

"Alright, hurry up and cut as much as you can, and stick them all on before noon. There's nothing to do this afternoon, so I'll give you all a half-day off. If any of you want to go out and stroll around the market, then go ahead!"

Sure enough, upon hearing that they would have half a day off in the afternoon, the girls forgot to continue flattering him and all jumped for joy.

After all, we're all women, and there are always things we want to buy, especially with the new year approaching, who doesn't want to decorate their appearance?

Even though they were servants and slaves, what woman doesn't love beauty?

In the past, we were always short of money, and even small wishes were hard to fulfill, but things are different now.

Now they not only have monthly allowances, but also receive occasional rewards from the lady of the house, so they are quite well-off. They can now afford the things they used to want to buy.

At this moment, the girls couldn't help but drift off into thought, each pondering what they should buy at the market.

Granny Dou glared at them, annoyed, and said, "Are you all so happy that you've gone mad? Have you forgotten to thank the Madam for her kindness?"

The girls then came to their senses and bowed to Song Ning to apologize.

Song Ning naturally wouldn't hold it against them. Instead, she said to Granny Dou, "Granny Dou, they're just having a rare opportunity to leave the manor. They're overjoyed. Please forgive them!"

Granny Dou's stern face immediately fell. "You just have to spoil them!"

With Song Ning's promise, the girls worked even harder, thinking only of finishing their tasks as soon as possible so they could leave the mansion sooner.

Before long, the servants of the mansion began to put up Spring Festival couplets in every courtyard, and then they came to the back room in a lively manner.

With many people working together, efficiency is indeed quite high. Apart from the main courtyard and the gate, this is the only place where the Spring Festival couplets have not yet been posted.

The girls also began to tidy up, pasting the paper-cut window decorations they had made onto the doors and windows of the courtyards that had not yet been decorated with them.

Seeing that everyone was busy, Song Ning took Yangyang, who had chosen the window decorations, back to the main courtyard.

As soon as you enter the courtyard, you can see Shui Sheng and Hang Shuyun setting up a ladder to paste Spring Festival couplets.

One person was directing from below, while the other was gesturing from above, and they were arguing incessantly.

"Higher, higher... No, no, it's too high, lower... No, no, it's crooked, a little more to the left... No, no..."

"No, Uncle, are you even capable? If not, you come up here and stick it on, I'll go down and direct you. You're going up and down like this..."

"Hey, stop talking nonsense and hurry up and stick yours on!"

After much effort and struggle, it was finally pasted up.

As soon as Yangyang climbed down the ladder, she took the window decoration stickers and went to look for them.

"Uncle Yun, Brother Shuisheng, please help me put up paper-cut window decorations! Look, I have so many."

So, while putting up paper-cut window decorations, the uncle and nephew, who were not much different in age, started a new round of arguments.

"Uncle, I think this shouldn't be posted here, it should be posted somewhere else..."

"Tch, what do you know? I just think it should be posted here..."

The result of the endless arguments was that little Yangyang ended up directing the two of them to do things.

His pose—one hand on his hip, the other pointing at the landscape—is so comical it's impossible not to chuckle.

Soon it was noon. After lunch and everything was tidied up, the young ladies and servants of the mansion left in batches under the careful arrangement of Granny Dou.

There can't be a single servant absent from the manor. What if something happens to the master and there's no one to serve him?

Song Ning had no objection to Dou Mama's arrangements.

Although they didn't need servants to do everything for them, since Granny Dou had made this arrangement, it was out of consideration for them as masters, and they, as masters, naturally couldn't spoil the mood.

Shui Sheng also quietly went out and lingered outside the gate of the Zhou Mansion on Jixiang Street for a long time until a girl came out.

"Hey, Vanilla Girl, I'm here."

Hearing the commotion, Xiangcao walked over to him: "Why did you send the servant to call me here?"

She looked at Shui Sheng suspiciously and teased, "You summoned me here alone. Aren't you afraid Xiang Huan will be unhappy if she finds out?"

Shuisheng was a little embarrassed by her teasing, but he still shamelessly inquired about Xianghuan's recent recovery. He was relieved to learn that she had improved a lot.

Before leaving, she slipped a small box into Xiangcao's hand and asked her to pass it on to Xianghuan. Then she disappeared in a flash.

"Tsk, this person runs really fast, like a ghost chasing him."

Vanilla watched Shuisheng's retreating figure and clicked her tongue in disapproval.

Then, he weighed the box in his hand, turned around, and went into the mansion.