Chapter 55 Preparations: Jiang Zhenniang carried the gifts to the purchasing manager and...

Jiang Zhenniang carried the gifts and went to the homes of the purchasing manager and the servant.

The head maid in charge of purchasing, surnamed Liang, was a servant of the eldest daughter-in-law. When she saw Jiang Zhenniang coming over, a smile appeared on her plump, round face, and she looked very friendly. She first asked the maid to make tea, and then took Jiang Zhenniang's hand and said, "Speaking of which, I have met you before, Zhenniang. It's a pity that your mother took you away a long time ago, and we never had a chance to get close."

Jiang Zhenniang glanced at him with feigned suspicion, and just as Steward Liang was wondering, she smiled and said, "No wonder you look so familiar, Mother."

"Back then, did Mother serve her alongside Madam?"

“My mother brought me to kowtow to the eldest daughter-in-law, and afterwards she said that my mother looked kind and lovely, and was favored by the eldest daughter-in-law, and that her future was limitless.”

Jiang Zhenniang flattered her, saying that she had kowtowed to the eldest daughter-in-law with her mother, but after so much time, she had long forgotten which maids had served the eldest daughter-in-law back then.

However, this doesn't matter. Yesterday, Jiang Zhenniang inquired about the details from her daughter and learned that Steward Liang was a maidservant of the eldest mistress. The fact that she could reach such a lucrative position as the purchasing manager shows that she is capable and favored by the eldest mistress.

Therefore, she said those words.

As soon as Jiang Zhenniang finished speaking, the smile on Steward Liang's face became even more genuine. The two talked about the past and declined the gifts for a while before finally accepting them.

Steward Liang instructed a maid to call in a servant boy, and introduced him to Jiang Zhenniang, saying, "This is Tan Ping, you can call him Brother Ping."

“Ping-ge’er, this is Han-jie’er’s mother from the main kitchen. You can call her Madam Jiang. From now on, Madam Jiang will work here. You can take her under your wing.”

Su Zhihan originally intended to look after Jiang Zhenniang and teach her a thing or two from the purchasing staff, but unexpectedly, Manager Liang relented and Jiang Zhenniang was given a formal position in the purchasing department.

The purchasing office is the most lucrative place in the entire government, bar none. Countless people are eager to get in.

"Mother, you are truly capable."

"Ha, you're really something." Jiang Zhenniang was happy, but she knew exactly what was going on.

Steward Liang wouldn't let anyone into the purchasing department just because of a few nice words. If it were that simple, there might not be a hundred or so people in the manor willing to call her "mother," but there would be more than enough to fill in every finger and toe.

"She did that to win you over."

"Why would you try to win me over?" Su Zhihan shook her head. You should know that one of the lucrative sources of the purchasing department is the main kitchen. For example, the meat chef and soup chef all have the power to purchase ingredients.

For those who cook for the servants, such as Su Zhihan, Wu Mama, and Cao Mama, the right to purchase ingredients is almost zero. If they want to make a little extra money, they have to take it from the ingredient budget allocated by Chef Xu. Not only do they have to curry favor with the purchasing department, they also have to do the opposite.

“Your young age is your advantage.” Jiang Zhenniang rubbed her daughter’s head, knowing what Liang’s mother was thinking.

Adding flowers to brocade is not as good as providing charcoal in the snow. Su Zhihan is still young, but she has already developed some good skills. When she gets older, she may be able to take over the work of Chef Xu, or become a professional chef such as a meat chef or soup chef. She will be dealing with the purchasing department for the next few decades.

Unfortunately, Steward Liang's plan was good, but he didn't expect that the mother and daughter had no intention of staying in the Marquis's mansion at all, and were determined to get out.

Jiang Zhenniang was full of energy. In just half a month at the purchasing office, she became familiar with the purchasing affairs of the Marquis of Zhongyong's mansion. She knew which shops in the city had the freshest fish and meat, which shops raised their own pigs and sheep and slaughtered them every day, and she even knew the shops selling firewood, rice, oil, salt, vegetables and fruits very well.

When she had some free time later, she gossiped with Su Zhihan: "This purchasing office is really lucrative, almost frighteningly so, like bamboo shoots after a spring rain..."

Even at home, Jiang Zhenniang couldn't help but lower her voice and whisper, "They say they were all taken from Lin'an, but in reality, they were all purchased from the surrounding area, left for two days, and then mixed with the ones from Lin'an and sent into the mansion."

"Really? How did Mother find out?"

“I overheard it secretly, without showing it to anyone or telling anyone about it.”

Su Zhihan was also hearing about this for the first time, and she couldn't help but gasp repeatedly: "So much money, could it all have been embezzled by Mama Liang?"

Jiang Zhenniang hesitated for a moment: "...If you ask me, most of it was probably given to the eldest daughter-in-law."

These weren't just her wild guesses; the main reason was that many of the people in the purchasing department were Madam's people.

For more than half a month, Jiang Zhenniang ate and drank with everyone every day, and often heard people inside boasting about various things about the main house, including news about the eldest daughter and the eldest son.

For example, the eldest daughter who married into the royal family had her dowry emptied half of the manor. Now that the good news of her pregnancy has arrived, the eldest daughter-in-law is sending gifts and picking out suitable men, causing quite a stir for the entire manor.

At this crucial moment for the eldest son, the eldest son's family provided him with the best food and supplies, and also sent gifts to his master and classmates, and helped with daily affairs.

In addition, the eldest daughter-in-law has other daughters who are also getting on in years and are about the age to be considered for marriage. To find a husband, they need to prepare a dowry list, which will cost a lot of money.

Jiang Zhenniang said, "Madam is very short of money."

Su Zhihan couldn't help but think of what Cao Mama had mentioned before. Cao Mama was originally a purchasing agent, and was later transferred to the kitchen to cook for the servants. Before that, when the old lady was in charge of the household, even the servants had to have one vegetarian dish and one meat dish, as well as vegetable and meat steamed buns, flatbreads, and millet rice.

Shocked, she was also puzzled: "Madam is also from the Earl's family, how could she be in such dire straits? How could she be so greedy for the family's money?"

"These days, the trend of competing in dowries is getting stronger. Every household wants to prepare a good one. I heard that it's not just our Marquis of Zhongyong's family, but also other marquis and earl families. Even the lower-ranking officials' families have emptied their coffers because they have too many daughters."

Jiang Zhenniang shook her head: "Firstly, the eldest daughter-in-law has four or five sisters, so the dowry she gets is probably not much. Secondly, that was twenty years ago. Dowries were expensive back then, not to mention that the trend of comparison nowadays is much stronger than it was then."

Su Zhihan frowned: "But it's not just in the last few years. According to Aunt Cao, it's been at least ten years..."

Jiang Zhenniang shrugged: "Who knows?"

Su Zhihan thought about it for a while, but couldn't figure it out, so she simply put the matter aside. She devoted herself to her studies and spared no effort to learn about the various banquet procedures, dishes, plating, and even the smallest rules in the mansion from people like Chef Xu.

Meanwhile, Jiang Zhenniang was also thriving at the purchasing office. Su Zhihan was right; her mother was truly skilled in this area. After Jiang Zhenniang had been at the purchasing office for a month, she not only mastered the purchasing process but also had a thorough understanding of the entire capital.

In the past, when she was serving in the Third Sister's courtyard, Jiang Zhenniang didn't have time to take a leisurely stroll around the capital. Now, taking advantage of the shopping trip, she took a thorough tour of the capital.

Jiang Zhenniang not only inquired about which restaurants and eateries were affordable and thriving, but also about which areas in the capital were the quietest and had harmonious neighbors, and which areas seemed cheap and affordable but were actually dens of prostitution, mistresses, and were surrounded by scoundrels.

This discovery led Jiang Zhenniang to find that although many shops and residences were exorbitantly expensive, there were also very good shops and residences with reasonable prices and sizes, and the prices were much more reasonable than she had imagined.

As Jiang Zhenniang spoke of leaving the mansion, she was always uneasy, fearing that, like last time, she would not only fail to have a good life but would also face increasing hardship.

However, after she learned about it herself, Jiang Zhenniang suddenly realized that living in the capital was much more suitable than living in the village. Although the cost of living was higher, there were also more opportunities to make money, and she immediately began to look forward to the future.

Back home, she kept talking to Su Zhihan, much of the content of which Su Zhihan had asked Wei Yaren to tell her, but Wei Yaren was unwilling to say: "...I originally thought that buying a house would cost at least a thousand strings of cash, but now I know that's the price for a house near the market. A house the size of Grandma Chen's, if placed further away from the market, would only cost less than a hundred strings of cash, and even a larger one would be enough for two hundred strings of cash."

"As for cheaper land, there is also that."

"But after taking a walk around there, I know that it's inhabited by all sorts of filthy people." Jiang Zhenniang curled her lip, referring to the place where mistresses and prostitutes lived.

Respectable people wouldn't buy those, but those places are in good locations and cheap, so people from other places can easily be tricked into buying them, and then find problems later and find it difficult to sell.

Jiang Zhenniang was glad that she had time to inquire and look around now, so that she wouldn't be fooled if she left the Marquis of Zhongyong's mansion later.

Living in such a place, especially with two frail women, would be a real problem if they encountered idlers or drunkards.

Su Zhihan knew less than Jiang Zhenniang, so upon hearing this, she handed the matter over to Jiang Zhenniang and took out the money from the box, carefully counting it: "The money we've saved is almost enough."

Jiang Zhenniang licked her lips: "Then..."

Su Zhihan nodded, and the mother and daughter sat on the kang (a heated brick bed), quietly discussing what to do next.

...

A few days later, Yinghong brought up the matter in the kitchen: "Han'er, I heard that your mother said she found your brother?"

Su Zhihan nodded: "Yes."

Many servants around were listening intently, and upon hearing the affirmative answer, they immediately gasped in surprise.

Cao's mother squeezed through the crowd and asked, "Is your brother really in the frontier army?"

Su Zhihan nodded with a smile: "What a coincidence. I heard that my elder brother is in the Zhenguan Army where the Marquis is located."

This only amplified the gasps of surprise from the servants. The coincidence was truly astonishing, prompting many servants to ask a barrage of questions.

In the end, even Wu's mother couldn't help but step forward and ask, "I heard that Madam Jiang wants to redeem herself and leave the manor to reunite with her son. Is that true or false?"

The meaning behind the words is obvious to everyone.

Cao's mother and Yinghong couldn't help but look at Su Zhihan, who smiled and nodded, "That's right."

And what about you...?

Mrs. Wu opened her mouth as if to speak, but then awkwardly closed it again. She had a falling out with Su Zhihan over the work in the main kitchen, and pressing her for an answer now only made her seem petty.

Fortunately, Cao's mother couldn't hold back and spoke first: "And what about you, Han'er?"

Su Zhihan hesitated for a moment, then said, "Of course I want to go with my mother."

Exclamations of surprise echoed throughout the large kitchen.

In the evening, Cao Mama went to the Jiang family's house and talked to Jiang Zhenniang for a while. But Jiang Zhenniang was determined to drag her daughter to find her son. She said that her son knew about the fact that the two of them had sold themselves into slavery and felt very sorry for them. He sent someone back with money to redeem them.

"Why would you go out for no reason?"

“Look at what we use and wear in our mansion, how is it inferior to what people outside do?” Cao Mama tried to persuade her earnestly, but she couldn’t understand why Jiang Zhenniang, who had been deceived once, didn’t like staying in the mansion and preferred to go outside.

The mother and daughter couldn't reveal the inside story.

Especially at this critical juncture, they couldn't reveal a single word. The two women seemed to be bewitched; one insisted on going out to reunite with her son, and the other insisted on going out with her mother. In the end, they made Cao's mother so angry that she fell backward and stormed off.

After Cao Mama left, the mother and daughter in the room quieted down. Jiang Zhenniang gave Su Zhihan a reproachful look: "Look at the good idea you came up with, everyone thinks I'm a fool."

Su Zhihan chuckled: "It's alright, I'll be a scatterbrain tomorrow too."

Just as Su Zhihan had said, the news of their affair quickly spread throughout the mansion, and eventually even the eldest mistress heard about it and specially summoned Liang Mama to question her.

"Yes, madam, that's true."

"...They actually made contact?" Madam Zhao clicked her tongue in amazement, then questioned Liang Mama in detail: "They even said they would teach the mother and daughter to redeem themselves? Can soldiers afford that much money? Our family's people are not cheap, at least ten times the price."

It wasn't that Zhao was heartless and wanted to fleece the redeemed servants, but rather that the Marquis's mansion's reputation was irrelevant.

Maids and servants who left the Marquis's mansion were highly sought after. Countless people offered high prices to marry one of the maids or hire the matrons to teach their children.

Zhao had always looked down on those things. Although she was short of money, the Marquis's mansion had not fallen into ruin. If she sold off servants at will, what would become of the Marquis's mansion's reputation?

“Madam Jiang said that her son has done a good deed.” Mother Liang actually knew some inside information. Jiang Zhenniang had asked her how much it would cost to redeem the two of them: “...I heard from Madam Jiang that her son sent someone back with three hundred strings of cash to redeem the two of them.”

Zhao was stunned for a moment, then exclaimed in surprise, "Three hundred strings of cash?"

What surprised her was the amount, yet not the amount itself. Three hundred strings of cash was nothing to the Marquis's family, but it was a considerable sum for ordinary people or soldiers.

"I can save up three hundred strings of cash..." The old lady lowered her eyes and carefully calculated. You should know that the annual income of ordinary soldiers of the Imperial Guard stationed around the capital is only thirty to sixty strings of cash, and with all the subsidies, they can get an extra ten strings of cash.

However, they were the central army, while the local garrison troops received only half that amount annually, and the militia-like village soldiers received only a small amount of subsidies, with their income being only a quarter to half of that of the garrison troops.

The maidservant beside her couldn't help but sigh, "Madam, it seems that Madam Jiang's son is quite promising. He must be at least an eighth or ninth-rank military officer to have saved up this much money, right?"

Zhao nodded: "The army can't possibly save all of it. To be able to produce all of this at once, one must be at least an eighth-rank military officer."

"I remember her son had only been in the army for a few years, how did he rise so quickly? And how did he manage to save up so much money?"

After thinking for a moment, Madam Liang said, "I heard that Madam Jiang's son is in our Marquis's army. Perhaps he is fighting and making meritorious contributions on the frontier?"

"They're from the Marquis's army?" Zhao was taken aback and blurted out, "Then they must be the Marquis's direct subordinates!?"

The maidservant laughed and said, "Madam, the Marquis is the commander of an army. How can low-ranking soldiers of the eighth or ninth rank be considered his direct subordinates?"

Zhao shook her head: "That's not how it works."

Those who come from the Marquis's army are naturally on the Marquis's side. Moreover, if Jiang's son can rise through the ranks with solid military achievements within a few years, his future will be limitless.

Such a meritorious official will surely be rewarded upon returning to the capital. Although the specifics of his merit are unknown, he may be promoted several ranks.

As Zhao thought about this, a thought suddenly occurred to her: what if the list of commendations were sent forward and people discovered that the mother and sister of a meritorious official were working as servants in the Marquis's mansion...

"What level of monthly salary do Jiang Zhenniang and her daughter receive?"

“Jiang Zhenniang receives the monthly salary of a third-class servant, while her daughter is better off; she is now the head cook,” Mother Liang replied respectfully.

They were still third-class servants and cooks...

Zhao frowned, sensing that this was not a good thing.