The Virtuous Concubine

E Can and Chen Lianhai were both capable people, and they did not dare to leave Malu alone. Before Bai Xia had time to meet Aunt Shu Yu at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, two managers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs each brought a group of palace maids and eunuchs to let Malu choose.

As expected, there were Qian Shunxi and Zhou Quanfu, as well as Xiao Chengzi and Xiao Zhuozi, who were specially stuffed in by Chen Lianhai. Ma Lu pretended to take a round of inspection among the twenty eunuchs who looked humble and compliant, and then scanned all of them with the probe, and found that half of them had a normal initial impression of her.

The four candidates who had been arranged in advance had a significantly higher favorability, and the favorability of the other six was surprisingly low. Malu knew that these were probably spies planted by other forces in the harem. She didn't care who they were, and of course she didn't choose any of them.

She asked a few more questions casually, and finally selected these four eunuchs. But the palace maids were not so relaxed, and they had to be questioned carefully. One reason was that there was no reliable person to recommend them, and Jingyi and Dachun's affairs had to be planned slowly. Another reason was that the things that the palace maids could do were more personal and important, so they had to be more careful.

Malu carefully questioned the twelve maids with normal favorability for a long time before selecting two maids, one named Cuiqiao and the other named Jinliu. Their names sounded like a pair of sisters, and in fact, they were.

It was indeed the poor bondservants who sent their two sisters to the palace to be maids. When Malu heard this, he immediately thought of himself and Mayanzhu and shook his head.

The two sisters thought they were not favored and were disappointed. Later, Malu found out that the two sisters were the only ones in their family and their father was counting on their monthly salary to support the family and buy a concubine and give birth to a son. So whether they could come to Yonghe Palace this time was actually very important to them.

Unexpectedly, Malu finally chose the two of them because they were sisters and would definitely get along better. If one of them was bribed by others, she would have to take the other into consideration.

If both of them were bribed, then she could only consider herself unlucky. It would not be unfair for her to lose to the rich man.

Malu selected the right people, stuffed a red envelope into the steward's pocket, and gave 500 copper coins to each of the unsuccessful candidates. She cleared her throat and said to everyone below, "You are all good people, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs has taught you very well. But I really don't need so many people. Each of the unsuccessful candidates will receive copper coins as tea money for your hard work."

The people below were naturally delighted and grateful, and at the same time they were even more envious of the selected ones. When they returned, they all talked about how good the master of Yonghe Palace was, saying that he had given rewards even though he was not selected, and even praised himself a few times!

Others who heard this thought that it was useless for Concubine Wuya to praise you, because she still didn't want you. But obviously, those who heard about this matter still had a little more envy and respect for the people from Yonghe Palace when they walked around, and they were more enthusiastic and serious about the work of Yonghe Palace - what if she rewarded me and praised me too.

Some even wanted to replace the people in Yonghe Palace and take over themselves. Bai Xia and Bai Fu had been following Noble Lady Wu Ya and couldn't take over anymore, so why couldn't the other newcomers do the same? The four eunuchs could still be stable, after all, they had connections and would not be easily replaced. The newcomers Cui Que and Jin Liu were trembling with fear every day.

The good reputation of Lady Wuya and her skill in controlling her subordinates spread. The concubines in the palace were either disdainful or imitating her. Kangxi mentioned this matter once, but Malu fooled him by saying "put your heart in others' shoes". Kangxi thought Malu was thinking of her own hard days as a palace maid, so he never mentioned this matter again.

Of course, Malu didn’t know so many things would happen later. At the moment, she was busy managing her “small and micro enterprise” in the east side hall of Yonghe Palace, striving to make it bigger and stronger one day!

The core business was to please Emperor Kangxi, win his favor, give birth to children, and live a happy life as a concubine. She suddenly had an idea and wrote down all the tasks on paper, listing them very clearly one by one. She wrote down all the tasks related to food, clothing, housing, transportation, daily cleaning, etc., and then divided them into types, and then assigned tasks and arranged shifts for these people one by one.

Bai Xia and Bai Fu were naturally responsible for the most core personal work, while Cui Que and Jin Liu helped and did some odd jobs. Qian Shunxi had the most experience and the deepest bond with the Wu Ya family, so he became the chief eunuch beside her.

Bai Fu would temporarily lead these people to do all the work of running errands and picking up things. Bai Xia would supervise them in the daily work of Yonghe Palace. All the work was signed and sealed after being taken away, and the rights and responsibilities were clearly defined.

If Bai Xia Bai Fu found someone who did not do a good job during the process, they would automatically accept the punishment. If it exceeded three times, they would be sent back to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. There was no room for quibbling or laziness, but to be honest, the overall workload was not large, and there were even rotations. There was no question of who had more or less work, and Malu deliberately distributed it very fairly.

Then Bai Xia, with a little pride, gave the six newcomers a welcome gift, saying that in the future, when encountering six major festivals such as the New Year, the Golden Award Festival, and the Shengshou Festival, those who perform well will be rewarded with one month's salary, and those who are rated as excellent will be given an additional two months' salary. If someone is sick, the master will also give money to let the people of the Wuya family help buy medicine and see a doctor. If anyone has difficulties or outsiders have bad intentions and contact the people of Yonghe Palace, they can come to the master and the master will find a way.

This set of things confused the people below.

How did the noble master come up with these ideas? Qian Shunxi was really amazed. He had been in the palace for five or six years, and because he was dumb and timid, he was always excluded and did some unprofitable work. Unexpectedly, when he arrived at Yonghe Palace, his hope for the future was revived a little.

Following a master like this, life will definitely get better and better!

Bai Fu was a little anxious. She certainly enjoyed and appreciated Malu's kindness to them. But when she thought about how everyone followed this routine, she felt jealous and worried that if this continued, Malu's money would not be easily available.

The master is favored now, but what about in the future? Will these people still be loyal to the master without money? Bai Fu knows the situation of the Wuya family. Without the support of the family's strength, she feels that these white silvers can't feed this group of people at all.

Malu actually doesn't care. She doesn't demand "loyalty" that much. In her opinion, loyalty is actually a requirement for people who abuse their employees. Being loyal is the kind of person who won't run away even if they abuse them, and who makes all kinds of unreasonable demands.

As long as the people below do their job well and don't harm her, she will be satisfied. After all, times are different. When Malu knew about Bai Fu's thoughts and worries, he would only joke that Bai Fu didn't believe in him. But she also told her people below that they should just keep the benefits to themselves and not brag about it outside. Yonghe Palace cannot accommodate such people.

This method was put into operation under Malu's insistence and Bai Fu's strict supervision. The originally quiet Yonghe Palace was rejuvenated and became more vibrant.