Chapter 17 Chapter 17 Helping Others and Getting into Trouble

Jinniang had eaten too much and happened to go to the toilet, but she didn't expect to meet Deng Xiaoniang who was tied up. She had seen this Deng Xiaoniang before. She was a person with painted eyebrows and eyes, extremely shrewd and favored, but she was like this.

I only heard the leading Madam Sun say, "Master and Madam, please treat her with respect. She has become a thief. Who would dare to keep such a thief?"

It turned out to be theft. Jinniang always felt that it was unlikely. Although Deng Xiaoniang was not the principal wife, she was famous for being rich and favored. She could get whatever she wanted. This was too much of a waste of time.

But no one can explain what happened in the house. For example, Lanxiang secretly said, "I heard that the second lady's brother was harmed by her. She wanted to use the same trick to harm others again. The eldest young master's wife accidentally saw it and reported it."

"So that's why. But why did I hear her stealing things with my own ears?" Jinniang was puzzled.

Lan Xiang smiled and said, "How can there be news of a quarrel between such a big family? We have to make a big thing small, otherwise what will people say if they hear about it? Our second young master is about to get engaged, and the girls are not married yet. We can't overturn the jade vase for a mouse."

Jinniang suddenly realized: "That's true."

"So was she sent home, or somewhere else?"

Lanxiang said, "According to the family rules, she was beaten with 20 sticks and sent home without a penny. This young lady Deng used to be a wine seller. Her husband is not a good guy either. The whole family depends on her. When he has money, he only wants to take it from her. When he has no money, does he still care about her?"

Jinniang thought that she could compete for favor, but harming a child was too shameless. If this matter was really exposed and sent to the authorities, her fate would be even worse than it is now.

However, the fourth girl was very dissatisfied. Deng Xiaoniang had been so bad to Miao Xiaoniang that she just drove her out. She said to Miao Xiaoniang in dissatisfaction: "Isn't this too cowardly? Deng Xiaoniang doesn't have any family background, so what is there to be afraid of?"

Miao Xiaoniang understood very well: "It would be bad if this matter became a big deal."

"But the targets of the Song Dynasty Criminal Law are the 'Ten Evils' and the 'Four Killings', and what Deng Xiaoniang committed is one of the Four Killings." In her previous life, the fourth girl had specifically looked it up in order to complain. The "Four Killings" refer to murder, fighting and killing, robbery and killing. Those who committed these crimes were all sentenced to death, or lingchi, beating to death, or beheading, etc.

People like Deng Xiaoniang deserved to die, but Mrs. Wu handled her case so stupidly and let her go so easily. It was Deng Xiaoniang who killed her own son.

Miao Xiaoniang has now avenged her grievances, and the best thing for her is to rest and take care of her baby. Seeing her daughter say such scary things, she originally wanted to wait for the master to come over for dinner and let her accompany him, but she didn't expect her daughter to speak so recklessly, so she had to pretend not to hear it and just said, "This is not what you should say as a girl. You should do needlework first. It's the eldest lady's birthday soon. You didn't want to bind your feet before, and I was blamed by the eldest lady. It's better to be at peace."

The fourth girl was a little confused. She liked Miao Qiuhong because she felt that she was different from the feudal heroines in the book. She was ambitious, daring to think and act, and would not feel inferior to others because of her status.

Therefore, although she realized that the relationship between mother and daughter and father and daughter in ancient times was different from that in modern times, she was still willing to share everything with Miao Xiaoniang, but Miao Xiaoniang was not like that.

…

In the three days of working in the second room, Jinniang received a salary of two taels and three cents. She even found a side job, copying scriptures for others. Wu's maid weighed out one tael of silver on a scale and gave it to her: "This is five rolls of silver."

One volume is worth two strings of iron coins, which means each volume is worth two hundred coins, and five volumes are exactly one tael.

Perhaps Mrs. Wu didn't know how well she wrote, so she asked her to write five volumes first.

However, when Jinniang was studying, she focused on writing and copying paintings. She would buy the cheapest paper at home every day to write well. Knowledge can really be converted into money. It's a pity that she had no famous teachers to teach her, and no books at home, so she couldn't really learn painting and piano like others. She heard that people who sold paintings made more money.

Back in the room, she first cut the paper with bamboo strips and began to grind and copy.

She usually copied Liu Gongquan's regular script. Liu Gongquan's calligraphy was well-balanced, thin and rigid, imitating the decisive momentum of Wei steles. The strokes were crisp and elegant, with strong bone structure and tight structure. Compared with Yan style, its calligraphy was slightly more well-balanced, thin and rigid, so it was known as "Yan's muscles and Liu's bones".

The Diamond Sutra has more than 5,000 words in total, and she has to copy five volumes in total. These are intended to be burned in front of Zhou Du's spirit when the time comes. There must be more than these.

Anyway, she has finished the tasks she was supposed to do, so it's okay to earn some extra money.

Fang Qiaolian felt a little jealous when she saw Jinniang like this: "Now you are really making a fortune..."

"It's just some hard-earned money. I love to eat, and if I add a few more dishes, it will be gone. If I had your good skill of embroidering the dragon and phoenix quilt, I wouldn't have to do these odd jobs." Jinniang wrinkled her nose and cried poor without any panic.

Yesterday, Madam Chen gave her the task of making clothes and swaddling clothes for Miao Xiaoniang, meaning that she should receive extra reward money.

Hearing this, Fang Qiao Lian was too embarrassed to say anything. She focused on her work first. She had not finished making clothes for her servants yet, and there was also work for Miao Xiaoniang, which was quite complicated.

Qin Shuang'er felt uncomfortable and depressed when she saw that Madam Chen favored Jinniang and Fang Qiaolian. She now wanted to create an opportunity to see if she could establish a good relationship with the people in the Second Young Master's room. It happened that Cuixian's sister was working in the garden, so she took some fruits that she had saved and went out.

Only Sister Shan couldn't get enough sleep. She now believed that she could live one day at a time here.

Jinniang finally finished copying a scroll and stretched. Fang Qiaolian tapped her shoulder and said, "I'll go to Miao Xiaoniang first. You can help me keep an eye on this."

"Okay." Jinniang nodded heavily.

Fang Qiao Lian quickly went to Miao Xiao Niang's place. She was just instructing the kitchen to prepare wine and food when she saw people from the sewing room coming. She also saw Fang Qiao Lian wearing a silver-gilt double butterfly hairpin on her head and was dressed very smartly. She knew very well what these servants were thinking. How many of them didn't want to climb up, especially when they were dressed like this?

So, Miao Xiaoniang sent her away: "You should go back first. It's not cheap now. Come back later."

No one knew when this late hour came, and Fang Qiao Lian did not dare to ask any more questions. She just felt that there was a difference between being a concubine and being a wife. The first, second and third wives were all very polite, but they only made things difficult for the servants.

Miao Xiaoniang didn't care about all these and waited for the master to come over. Even though she was pregnant, she accompanied the master to drink a cup of wine. In fact, the master didn't particularly like her, but although Lu Xiaoniang was pretty, she was too serious, Yanhong was young and shy, and Jiang was old, and the two of them had long been respectful to each other. Only Miao Xiaoniang was willing to do anything and any posture.

"These days the eldest lady has to worry about Cun'er's marriage, marry a second wife to help, and also have to take care of the old lady. It's really hard for her to handle all the work alone. If you have any problems on a daily basis, you don't have to go to her." Master Zhou said to Miao Xiaoniang.

These words sounded like they were spoken with sympathy for the eldest lady, but Miao Xiaoniang sneered in her heart. She only felt that this eldest master was hypocritical, just like Zhou Duzhi from the second house, whose cause of death was actually excessive sexual intercourse, and the reason for the excessive sexual intercourse was also done by someone she secretly sent. Didn't he die just to win favor by taking some aphrodisiacs?

There was nothing that could be done about it. If anyone wanted to blame someone, it should be Mrs. Wu for not saving her all those years ago. But Zhou Duzhi still had deep feelings for her as his stepmother, so she had to send someone to instigate things. Originally, she just wanted to alienate the mother and son, but she didn't expect that the woman would take stronger and stronger drugs in order to get pregnant, to the point of exhaustion.

With such a big handle, the woman was afraid, so Miao Xiaoniang took advantage of her and deliberately blamed Deng Xiaoniang, and also placed a talisman. Anyway, Deng Xiaoniang's hands must be unclean. She had been keeping an eye on Deng Xiaoniang, but she didn't expect that a casual investigation would really find out about her problems. She deserved it.

But in front of Master Zhou, she smiled sweetly and said, "I thought so too, so I stayed at home during my pregnancy. I also troubled Madam to worry about me and send people to make clothes for me, and to take care of the child in my belly."

Master Zhou was happy to see that his wife and concubine lived in harmony, and was very pleased.

Miao Xiaoniang was happy here. Fang Qiaolian was sent back by Miao Xiaoniang and lay down because she was upset. Jinniang yawned while writing and lit the oil lamp again. Although it was not dark yet, the room was a little dark, so it was better to light the lamp.

Just when everything was quiet, someone came outside, walking in a hurry.

"Sister Shan, why are you still here? Did Auntie ask you to come over?"

Sister Shan suddenly sat up from the bed, looked at the person in front of her, and recognized her as the maid that the old lady had assigned to Auntie: "Sister Chunyan, the sewing room will be busy soon--"

Jinniang heard the noise and came out, saying, "Yes, the Dragon Boat Festival is coming soon, and we have a lot to do here."

Sister Shan was very touched when she heard Jinniang's words of help. She knew very well that people like Qin Shuang'er would only speak nicely, but they would never see her when something really happened. Jinniang seemed to be a person who only swept the snow in front of her own door on weekdays, but she would stand up once something happened.

"Oh, my sister, I know your situation very well, but who dares to disobey the orders of the aunt? How can we servants decide whether to do something or not when our masters tell us to do it?" Chunyan was also in a dilemma.

Shanjie immediately looked at Jinniang, and Jinniang shook her head. She had no choice. Even though they are maids and not ordinary slaves, their masters have the right to transfer the right of use.

Seeing her shaking her head, Sister Shan's face turned gray with dejection, and she followed Chunyan step by step.

Jinniang sighed slightly and was about to turn around and go back to the room when she saw Qin Shuang'er coming back and said, "I think Shanjie will be punished even more severely this time. She will definitely be targeted. If I had known this earlier, why would I let her come back? It's just to fulfill your kindness."

"You have been creating problems, so can you solve them? Since you can't, why bother saying all this. If you have difficulties in the future, we will just shut up and not say anything for you." It is certainly not right for Jinniang to say that she has a deep friendship with Sister Heshan. After all, it is difficult for colleagues to be friends. But they are also doing their best. It is not the aunt's fault for treating the servants harshly, but the blame for being kind-hearted.

Qin Shuang'er was so angry that she was speechless. She never thought that this fat girl had such an honest face but such a bad temper.