Don't be a salted fish, the daily life of the concubine in the palace

...

The next day, word quickly spread that Concubine Shen of Liuli Pavilion would take charge of Prince Yan's Mansion. Surprisingly, all the hundreds of servants in the palace were very happy.

In the past year, Shen Wei occasionally showed small favors. When it was hot, she prepared green bean soup and sour plum soup for the servants. When it was cold, she urged the storehouse to distribute warm cotton clothes to everyone on time. Some time ago, the princess's people miscalculated the monthly salary, and it was the old nanny in Shen Wei's yard who personally checked for the missing and filled the gaps for everyone.

It can be said that Shen Wei is very popular.

When Shen Wei took over, everyone was secretly delighted.

This news soon spread to the ears of other concubines. Zhang Miaoyu of Huaxiang Courtyard was the happiest, but she was also worried that Shen Wei didn't know how to manage the household, so she rummaged through her own dowry and found a few housekeeping guides, and personally delivered them to Shen Wei.

In the desolate Mingyue Courtyard, concubine Liu Qiaoer was sewing clothes. When she heard the maid mention that Shen Wei was the head of the household, Liu Qiaoer was stunned.

"She is a farmer's daughter, how can she know how to control her subordinates?" Liu Qiaoer frowned, puzzled.

Since the rebirth, many things have happened in the backyard of Prince Yan's Mansion, all of which have deviated from the track of the previous life.

In the previous life, the son of Concubine Zhou also died of illness. The queen was furious and reprimanded the princess, but she did not take away her power as the housekeeper. The princess learned from her mistakes and took charge of the household again. The palace was generally stable.

Later, the Prince of Yan ascended the throne and the princess was named the Queen. She was targeted by the concubines. The Queen's power to rule the six palaces was divided up by the concubines. The Queen became a lonely person and was depressed all day long.

The maid encouraged, "Master, why don't you suggest to the prince that you become the housekeeper."

The princess made a mistake and was detained in Kunyu Courtyard to "recuperate". The huge palace naturally needed a mistress to manage the house. Before Liu Qiaoer got married, she also learned the skills of a mistress to manage the house.

Zhang Miaoyu is greedy and lazy, Liu Ruyan is indifferent to worldly affairs, and Shen Wei is illiterate. There is no one more suitable to be the head of the family than Liu Qiaoer.

Liu Qiaoer shook her head, lowered her eyes and continued to sew clothes: "Showing my face in public will only make me a target of public criticism. As the head of the Shen family, the princess will be the first one who will not let her go."

A peasant girl of humble origin, even though she had a brother who passed the imperial examination, she was empty-headed and had nothing but her beauty.

If the palace is handed over to Shen Wei, trouble will arise sooner or later.

Liu Qiaoer gave a sarcastic smile as if she was watching a good show.

...

On the other side, in Qixue Pavilion, Liu Ruyan, wearing a plain white dress, was painting. The snow-white rice paper was spread out, and the black plum blossoms were blooming.

Holding the brush in her hand, Liu Ruyan heard Xuemei's laughter coming from beside her.

Liu Ruyan raised her eyes and said, "Girl, you kept laughing this morning. Did something happy happen to you?"

Xuemei smiled and said, "Master. Master Shen of Liuli Pavilion will start to be the housekeeper today. As a first-class maid in the mansion, as long as you don't make mistakes and work hard, your monthly salary will be increased by one hundred yuan."

This is to encourage people to work hard.

Servants who work diligently and have extensive experience can receive additional bonuses.

Liu Ruyan said calmly: "The happiness brought by money is vulgar."

Xuemei: ...

Xuemei forced a well-behaved smile and was too lazy to refute Liu Ruyan.

Xuemei was not a daughter of a rich family, she was just an ordinary servant. As long as she could get her salary on time every month and have money in her purse, Xuemei was very happy.

“It makes no difference to me who is the steward of the palace.” Liu Ruyan continued to paint, not caring about worldly affairs.

...

In Kunyu Courtyard, the princess did not sleep all night. At dawn, the princess got up like a zombie. Most of the maids and eunuchs in her courtyard had been laid off, leaving only Liu Ma and a few others to accompany her.

In the morning, the court doctor brought some medicine and asked Madam Liu to boil water for the princess to take the medicine every day.

To outsiders, it seemed that the princess was really sick.

The princess was in a state of anxiety. She looked at the square courtyard, and the sky was cut into irregular pieces by the eaves. Overnight, she went from being a noble princess to a bird trapped in a cage.

"Princess, the two young masters have already gone to the Imperial College. The four old maids sent by the Queen have cleared out many of the ancient books in the study." Nanny Liu brought the princess a cup of hot tea.

The princess sneered and did not take the tea.

The princess walked into the temple step by step and knelt down on the soft cushion. She stared at the compassionate statue of Bodhisattva and murmured, "My mother is so heartless and tortured me time and again. She separated me from my son and let a lowly peasant girl step on my head..."

The princess hated the queen.

The princess also hated Shen Wei.

He even felt a little resentful towards King Yan.

"Take away my child, take away my housekeeper rights." The princess frowned and clenched the Buddhist beads in her hand, "I will take it back bit by bit."

First of all, we must take back the stewardship.

The gray-haired Madam Liu stood by silently, neither trying to persuade the princess nor encouraging her as she had done in the past. In the past, Madam Liu always considered the princess in everything. But recently, Madam Liu realized that the princess was unfeeling.

Even if the princess took back the housekeeping power from Shen Wei, it was still Madam Liu who suffered. Madam Liu was old and could not stand the daily hard work of serving the princess.

Nanny Liu began to understand the difficulties faced by the wealthy steward.

People live for most of their lives, working diligently and busy in the first half, just to enjoy leisure in the last few years of life.

When people get older, they really don’t want to do hard work anymore.

In the Buddhist hall, the princess was still mumbling, "Mrs. Shen is illiterate and relied on the favor of the prince to climb to her current position. It's not easy to manage the household affairs. Madam Liu, go collect the rotten account books piled up in the palace and send them to Mrs. Shen."

The princess is a daughter of a prominent family. She has been taught to manage the household since she was a child. She is exhausted physically and mentally even when dealing with the complicated affairs of the palace. Can Shen Wei, a girl from a peasant family, handle the huge backyard of the palace?

The princess wanted her to give up.

Madam Liu replied expressionlessly, "I will do it right away."

...

Glazed Pavilion.

Nanny Liu brought all the old accounts to Shen Wei.

Madam Liu looked at Shen Wei's young and beautiful face. Shen Wei was no longer the humble maid in the palace. She had been reborn and was radiant.

Madam Liu couldn't help but remind her, "Master Shen, you are still young. There are some things you really don't need to get involved in."

Being the head of a household is not an easy task.

If she didn't do well, Shen Wei would probably be abandoned by the King of Yan and the Queen. It would be better for her to continue to be a favorite concubine and give birth to children for the King of Yan, so that she could at least live a good life for a few years.

"Madame Liu is so kind today that she wants to guide me?" Shen Wei smiled, but there was a look of inquiry in her eyes.

Madam Liu kept silent. After handing the account book to Shen Wei, she left Liuli Pavilion without looking back.

Shen Wei looked at the piles of account books, which contained the bad debts of Prince Yan's Mansion over the past decade, including housework, finances, sacrificial rituals and social events.

If one person is busy, he will definitely not be able to handle everything.

But Shen Wei was very smart and had trained a highly efficient elite team early on. There was Rong Mama who was good at planning, Cai Lian and Cai Ping who were shrewd and capable, Ji Xiang De Shun who was smooth in dealing with things, and two guards who were fast at running errands and had superb martial arts. The rest of the maids and eunuchs were beaten and trained one by one. Although they did not have outstanding talents, they were at least obedient and willing to do things.

An excellent leader does not have to do everything himself and can always make use of his employees to work for him.