Chapter 43 A New Job (2)

Granny Qi returned around 9:00 AM, followed by a woman in her thirties and two little girls around eleven or twelve years old.

She led the three women to see Madam Liu, pointing to the woman and two maids, and said, “Madam, these are the three women I found at the brokerage. This is Sister Lin, who lives in Huai Shu Lane. She usually does rough work like washing clothes for wealthy families. I’ve seen her; she’s very strong and can help Madam Mao without any problem. These two maids were found by Yun Ji and are sold on a contract. The taller one is called Second Sister, and the shorter one is called Fourth Sister. Let them learn etiquette from Liu Zhi for now, and they can come into the house to serve you after they’ve learned the etiquette.”

Liu asked Lin Sao a few questions. Lin Sao was very respectful. Because she had always done odd jobs for wealthy families, she knew some of the rules. When she stood in front of Liu, she didn't look around. She kept her head down and answered each question directly without saying a word of nonsense.

Upon hearing about the task, she didn't seem to mind: "Please rest assured, Madam. I'm used to doing rough work, so carrying water and firewood won't be a problem for me."

Unlike Er Ya and Si Mei, Lin Sao was an employee, not a contractually obligated one. She could work in the backyard of the county government office during the day and had to go home at night.

Liu was from a wealthy village, unlike the rich families in the county. She was used to employing people who had signed indentures. Although it cost a lot more money, this way the servants' lives and property were in her own hands, and they dared not betray their masters or speak ill of their employers outside. This was the first time she had used an employment method like Lin Sao.

When asked, Lin's wife learned that her husband's family were locals who ran a tofu business. Her parents-in-law and husband sold tofu, and she took on odd jobs such as washing clothes to supplement the family income.

Liu was somewhat puzzled. If she had a tofu stall at home, she shouldn't need to come out to find work, right? She learned that her son was studying at Maosheng Private School in the county. The cost of studying was too high. The tofu stall had to support the family and pay for the child's education, so there was really no surplus. That's why she came out to help wealthy families with laundry to subsidize the children's tuition and living a rather poor life.

This is also why she insisted on not signing a death contract. Her son is very smart, and the private tutor said that he has a chance to pass the imperial examination. Her family members must never be sold into slavery.

Aunt Lin said, "Don't worry, Madam. My home is just two alleys away, very close. I can come early and go late. Apart from not resting at your residence, it won't cause any problems."

Although she could get some laundry work, it was unstable and unreliable. If she could get a job at the county magistrate's office, she could have a fixed income of several hundred coins a month, and her family's situation would improve immediately.

After asking her questions, Liu looked at her hands and found that she was indeed used to doing rough work. She asked Mao's mother to take her to the kitchen to try out the job, and Mao's mother was quite satisfied.

Lin Sao carried water three times without getting out of breath, which shows she's quite strong. Of course, a monster like Li Xiaoxiao is a once-in-a-century find. What surprised Mao's mother even more was that her family made tofu, she was a local, and she could also make many authentic snacks from Biyang County. Mao's mother felt that she had more in common with her.

Since Madam Mao was satisfied, Madam Liu had nothing to say. She had Granny Qi teach her the rules of the household and then officially hired her.

As for the two young maids who had signed a life-or-death contract, Liu renamed one to Xingge and the other to Taoxiang. For the time being, Liuzhi taught them manners, starting with sweeping the yard and pulling weeds.

After Yingchun left, Liu Shi did not hire another head maid. Liu Zhi was moved to the inner room to serve Liu Shi personally. Fortunately, her grandmother was Liu Shi's wet nurse and could help her from time to time. Liu Shi was not a very difficult mistress to serve, so Liu Zhi was very happy with her promotion.

Li Xiaoxiao didn't expect that the inner courtyard had changed so much in just two days since she started working in the outer courtyard. Even Mama Mao, who was almost crying when she talked about her transfer, was now chatting and laughing with the new Aunt Lin.

Li Xiaoxiao complained to Asheng, "Liars! They're all liars!"

Yingchun didn't know why she was sent away, and no one told her that she had only been transferred to the eldest young master's side for two days when a new batch of people had been assigned to the inner courtyard, and they were adapting well.

She got up early in the morning to help Mama Mao fetch water, but the newcomer, Lin Sao, quickly snatched the bucket from her and rushed to the well as if she were about to steal her job.

Sigh, it seems she takes herself too seriously.

Ah Sheng forgot he was still holding a pen, scratched his head again, and rubbed his face until it was black: "Sister Xiaoxiao, who lied to you?"

Li Xiaoxiao looked at Asheng, who looked like a little tabby cat, and sat a little further away in disgust.

If she weren't so bored, she wouldn't want to talk to this new colleague with his ink-stained face at all.

If Ah Sheng were a woman, she would have so much to talk about.

Like a willow branch, she has such a talkative little mouth, chattering away in a crisp and sweet voice. She's also very clever, and you can get along very well with her.

Ah Sheng is quite clever, but for some reason she feels there's a barrier between them, and they often talk at cross purposes, making their conversations unsatisfying.

She wanted to go back to the inner courtyard.

Yes, she somewhat regretted taking up a post with Meng Guanqi. She had thought she could go out with him, but she discovered that he had stopped going to school and was now being personally taught at home by Magistrate Meng...

Reading at home =_=!!!

He was a very serious child, often sitting for a whole day. When he got tired of sitting, he would walk around the yard a couple of times to get some exercise. Because his master was too easy to manage, even Ah Sheng didn't have any work to do, let alone with the addition of her.

When she was in the kitchen, she could fetch a few tubs of water each day to expend some energy, then bicker with Mama Mao, chat with Liuzhi, and help her sweep the yard, weed, and wipe the table. But in the outer study, apart from helping with cleaning when she came over in the morning, there wasn't enough work for Asheng to do, and Asheng refused to share any of the chores with her.

Because he was also very bored, Li Xiaoxiao finished the work for him, so he could only stare blankly.

So after standing at the door of the study staring at each other for two days, Meng Guanqi spoke up and told the two of them to learn to read.

Ah Sheng started going to and from school with Meng Guanqi when he was eight years old. He already knew quite a few characters, but he had never held a pen or written on paper before. So when he first started writing, he often made a mess of things. Not only was the table covered with scribbles, but he also got his face all dirty.

When it comes to literacy, Ah Sheng is very proud, thinking that he must be able to learn faster than Li Xiaoxiao. However, he did not expect that Li Xiaoxiao could also read! Moreover, she knew more characters than him.

But she can't write either.

Meng Guanqi was also surprised: "You can read too? Where did you learn it?"

Li Xiaoxiao lowered her head: "I only recognize some of them, but I can't write them."

When Meng Guanqi thought of her background, he couldn't bear to ask any more questions. He coughed lightly and said, "Alright, then your basics should be about the same. It's just that you can't read if you can only recognize characters but not write them. You should start practicing writing from today."

After saying that, he generously gave each of them a ream of paper so they could practice writing.

On the first day, he wrote down a sentence: "At the beginning of life, people are inherently good, and their natures are similar. □□".

This sentence has twelve characters, but two of them are the same, so it only has ten characters in total. Meng Guanqi gave them two days to learn how to write it.

Ah Sheng felt that he had followed the young master to and from school since he was a child, and was often the one carrying the book basket. It was understandable that he knew fewer characters than Li Xiaoxiao, but neither of them knew how to write. He didn't know as many characters as Li Xiaoxiao, but he would learn to write faster than her, right?

Didn't the young master already say that the younger you are, the better your memory? Xiaoxiao is already so old, she definitely can't learn to read as fast as him!

As a result, he became depressed again. Li Xiaoxiao not only recognized characters faster than him, but she also learned to write faster. She only spent half a day learning how to write, and she wrote neatly. However, he only learned five characters on the first day. He chose to learn five characters with very few strokes first, and even so, he still wrote crookedly.

The little boy pouted, tears welled up in his eyes, and snot was flowing from his nose.

He wiped his ink-stained hand haphazardly and continued writing, his face instantly turning into a little cat's mess.

Ah Sheng is under a lot of pressure. Not only is Sister Xiaoxiao strong, but she's also incredibly smart! She learned such difficult characters in no time. Hmm, the young master will definitely like her more and not him anymore…

The more nervous you are, the more likely you are to get confused. After a while, a little head cautiously peeked over: "Sister Xiaoxiao, what character is this?"

Li Xiaoxiao opened her eyes wide: "Shan, you've written it on five sheets of paper and you still don't know it's the character 'Shan'?"

Ah Sheng looked aggrieved yet envious: "I forgot again, Sister Xiaoxiao. I feel like I can only remember five words a day. It's so hard!"

Li Xiaoxiao glanced at the paper on his desk, which was almost half torn apart, and sighed.

Well, she didn't really know if learning five characters a day was fast or slow, but she was able to learn to write these ten characters very quickly. The biggest reason was probably because she had already read and written characters! It's just that the characters she knew weren't classical Chinese, but simplified symbols and numbers from the post-apocalyptic world. But she was someone who had gone to school and undergone systematic training, so her starting point was different from Ah Sheng's.

She can memorize the characters she knows after writing them a few times, and she can also quickly memorize the characters she doesn't know because she understands the structure of Chinese characters.

But Ah Sheng is different. His method of learning to read is like building a skyscraper from scratch, completely bypassing the foundation. Without any basic knowledge, he has to memorize by rote, which is very difficult to remember, especially since he also has to learn to write.

Seeing how crookedly he wrote, and how he forgot what he had written, Li Xiaoxiao felt that he shouldn't have written characters first; he should have practiced strokes first.

She snatched the pen from his hand: "Stop writing on the paper. You've written five pages and haven't even remembered a single word about kindness. You could squander mountains of gold and silver. Just write on the ground with a stick first."

Ah Sheng said timidly, "But the young master said it wouldn't look good if it wasn't written on paper..."

Li Xiaoxiao put her hands on her hips and raised her eyebrows: "You can't even crawl, yet you want to run? You can't even write, yet you care if it looks good or not! Hurry up, learn how to write in the sand before you use paper."

She only found out by chance that a ream of paper cost eighty coins!

Only a few sheets! Ah Sheng writes so big, he can't even finish a single sentence with a whole ream of paper. Meng Guanqi doesn't know the value of money when he's not in charge of the household; he just casually gave them two reams of such good paper to practice their calligraphy.

The problem is, practicing is a waste of time. You haven't even learned how to write properly; your handwriting is crooked and messy, like a snake swimming in water. What's the point? It's a waste of money.

With 160 coins and two knives of paper, she could buy a lot of meat... She absolutely couldn't let Ah Sheng waste it.

She pulled him into the yard and set up a sand table for him to write on.

Even when holding a tree branch, Ah wrote crookedly on the sand.

Li Xiaoxiao looked utterly hopeless.

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Author's Note: I'm speechless. I only made it onto a list where I barely even got a glimpse of it. I'm so heartbroken. I knew ancient costume dramas were unpopular, but I didn't expect them to be this unpopular. [crying emoji]