I was a queen in ancient times, no, a maid!

Cheng Yu didn't have any major conflicts with Xiaoli, who lived next door.

Normally, Xiaoli works in the mansion, and even if Cheng Yu works in the mansion, she is in the outer courtyard, unlike Xiaoli who works in the second lady's room. Although she is a maid, she does have a serious job in the inner courtyard.

People like Cheng Yu, who do odd jobs in the outer courtyard, are called here and there by the master of this room, and are ordered around. However, no master wants them.

In terms of status, Xiaoli is more respectable than her.

Cheng Yu didn't know why Xiaoli took the initiative to look for her and said such useless nonsense.

After Cheng Yu finished using the prince to pressure her, Xiaoli rolled her eyes and went straight back to her room.

Cheng Yu was sitting in the yard. She had just rested for a while in the house. Maybe she was used to the work and when she relaxed and went to sleep, she couldn't sleep well.

Nanny Cheng came back early, before dark. Cheng Bin came back a little later, but he brought some food for Cheng Yu.

The braised pork from Wang Erniang’s family, the pancakes from Wu’s family, and the meat pie from Li Niangzi’s family.

There are really a lot of food in the market.

Most of the time people call each other "family", so that they can make a name for themselves.

Cheng Yu started preparing dinner after Nanny Cheng came back.

The ingredients bought today were abundant. She made one grilled fish with a sauce flavor, and the other one was treated with coarse salt and hung under the eaves to dry to make salted fish.

Salted fish has been stored for a long time, so when Nanny Cheng is at home and wants to eat it, she can just cut off a piece and steam or stir-fry it.

She cooked the pig's trotters in full. She had soybeans at home, so she stewed the pig's trotters with the soybeans.

We don’t cook often at home, and we only have a small stove. We have to finish this dish before we can cook other things, so it’s naturally a bit slow.

When Cheng Bin came back with the food, Cheng Yu was stewing pig's trotters with soybeans on the stove, and it smelled delicious.

The lowest quality pig's trotters that no one eats can be made into such delicious food.

Cheng Bin walked up to his sister and felt distressed when he saw her busying around.

"I've never seen my sister so diligent before. It must be because being a maid during the dowry was too hard and she was beaten by her master, so she had to learn to cook.

"Yu'er, go and take a rest. I'll take care of the fire."

"Brother bought you some food, go eat it quickly, don't wait for Mei'er to come back and give it all to her."

Cheng Bin is also very close to his cousin. After all, no matter how noisy they are, they are still family and will always be closer to her than outsiders.

Cheng Bin doesn’t buy food often. As a man, he just needs to have enough food to eat.

But Nanny Cheng was an old lady who loved to buy food. If she bought anything, she would leave some for her grandson. She knew that Cheng Bin worked in the stable and even if there were some good things, they would not be his turn, so Nanny Cheng would pay extra attention to it.

Cheng Mei was in the second girl's yard. She was smart and always got a share of any delicious food or drink.

Relying on the fact that her grandmother is Nanny Cheng, the maids and servants under her will also give her some face.

Don't worry about her.

But whenever Cheng Mei saw the food that Nanny Cheng left for Cheng Bin, she would always steal and eat it all.

Cheng Yu was obedient and gave the small fan to his brother.

She took two slices of braised meat from the food in the house.

"Brother, you eat too."

"Yu'er, eat by yourself. Don't worry about me. I work in the mansion and I don't have any good food to eat. But you, go to your husband's house with the eldest lady. If you are wronged in the future, I can't help you even if I want to."

They are brothers and sisters from the same mother, so naturally they are very close.

Cheng Bin also begged his grandmother to not let Yu'er be a dowry maid.

Grandma said it was the princess's idea.

As a servant, she couldn't even speak in front of the princess, so how could she ask for help from anyone?

I can only accept my fate.

It can be seen that Cheng Bin is very worried about himself.

Cheng Yu said, "Brother, don't worry too much about me. The eldest lady is kind-hearted. It may not be a bad thing for me to follow her. You, just follow the prince and do things. I will come back to see you when I have the chance in the future."

The aroma of stewed pig's trotters fills the entire courtyard with the flavor of stewed pig's trotters with soybeans.

The black dog tied under the eaves of the west house kept moving around when it smelled the fragrance.

Xiaoli's mother next door opened the window and looked out.

He muttered, "What kind of food did Mrs. Cheng cook at home? It smells so delicious."

"I don't know." Xiaoli snorted, unwilling to pay attention.

Xiaoli's mother said, "There are still a few salted duck eggs at home. Take two and send them to the neighbors next door."

Xiaoli's mother wanted to ask Xiaoli to deliver the food because she wanted to eat food from Nanny Cheng's house next door. However, Xiaoli didn't want to go because she had just had an argument with Cheng Yu.

But she was afraid of her mother.

Reluctantly, I took two salted duck eggs and went next door.

She didn't look for Cheng Yu, but went straight to Cheng Bin.

"Brother Cheng, these are salted duck eggs that my mother pickled. The yolk is oily and delicious. I'll give them to you to try."

Cheng Bin said seriously, "I have some at home, so we don't need yours to give it to me. You have many brothers and sisters, so I'll take it to your house to eat."

Xiaoli's mother might have given birth. In addition to Xiaoli and her two sisters, there are three sons. Xiaoli's mother had just come out of confinement not long ago and was still breastfeeding her children. Not only was she very hungry, but she also wanted to eat something delicious.

Xiaoli, who was rejected by Cheng Bin, stood there without moving.

Cheng Yu didn't want to give it.

But at this time, Nanny Cheng came out of the house.

She looked at Xiaoli with a smile, took the salted duck egg, and called Cheng Yu, "Yu'er, serve two pieces of pig's trotters to your sister Xiaoli. These pig's trotters are good for milk production, and they are just right for your aunt to eat."

Cheng Yu was reluctant, but still listened to her grandmother.

I served two pig's trotters to Xiaoli.

Nanny Cheng went back to the room to put the salted duck eggs in, and Cheng Yu followed her in.

"It's strange, why should I change the food for Xiaoli's family when I don't like her?" Nanny Cheng took the initiative to speak first.

"Xiao Li's mother is a petty greedy person. No one in the courtyard likes her, but I have some friendship with Xiao Li's grandmother. She doesn't come to exchange food on weekdays. I guess there is nothing to eat at home, and she is greedy, so she came here because she smelled the fragrance of your cooking."

Cheng Yu hummed softly.

Matron Cheng sighed, "It has not been easy for the servants in the palace in recent years. I heard a few days ago that the princess wanted to cut down on expenses in the palace, and some of the servants in the backyard should be released."

The so-called letting you go means that the palace doesn't want you to work here, and won't pay you. They'll give you a contract to sell your body, and you'll leave the palace and fend for yourself.

It feels like there are too many people in the company and we need to lay off some employees.

Obviously, those who were laid off were old and useless. Even if the young ones were a bit stupid, they could still be sold for money.

On the contrary, those who are older or have many children, who usually only take care of their children and have no time to do things, are more likely to be driven away.

What Nanny Cheng meant by this was that Xiaoli's family was very likely to be driven out, which made Nanny Cheng feel a little sympathetic.