...
The next day, the news that Concubine Shen of Liuli Pavilion would take charge of Prince Yan's Mansion spread quickly. All the hundreds of servants in the palace were surprisingly very happy.
Over the past year, Shen Wei has occasionally shown small favors. When it was hot, he prepared mung bean soup and sour plum soup for the servants. When it was cold, he urged the warehouse to distribute warm cotton clothes to everyone on time. The princess's people miscalculated the monthly salary some time ago, and it was the old nanny in Chen Wei's courtyard who personally checked and filled in the gaps for everyone.
It can be said that Shen Wei is very popular.
Shen Wei took over, and everyone was secretly delighted.
This matter soon reached the ears of other concubines. Zhang Miaoyu of Huaxiangyuan was the happiest, but she was also worried that Shen Wei didn't know how to manage the household, so she rummaged through her dowry and found a few housekeeping guides, which she personally delivered to Shen Wei.
In the desolate Mingyue Courtyard, concubine Liu Qiaoer was sewing clothes. When she heard the maid mention Chen Wei being the head of the household, Liu Qiaoer froze in place.
"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, Concubine Zhou’s son also died of illness. The queen was furious and scolded the princess, but ultimately did not take away her power as 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 Empress, and was targeted by all the favorite concubines. The power of the Queen to rule over the six palaces was divided up by the concubines, and the Queen became a lonely person, 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 Kunyuyuan to "recuperate". Such a huge palace naturally needs a hostess to take charge of the household. Before Liu Qiao'er got married, she also learned how to be a housekeeper.
Zhang Miaoyu is greedy and lazy, Liu Ruyan is indifferent to worldly affairs, and Chen Wei is uneducated. There is no one more suitable to be the head of the household 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 Chen Wei to manage, 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, dressed in a plain white dress, was painting. The snow-white rice paper is spread out, and the black plum blossoms bloom.
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 Chen 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 can 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 lady from a wealthy 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 happy.
“It makes no difference to me who is the housekeeper of the palace.” Liu Ruyan continued to paint, not caring about worldly affairs.
...
In Kunyuyuan, the princess didn't sleep a wink all night. At daybreak, the princess crawled up like a zombie. Most of the maids and eunuchs in her courtyard were laid off, leaving only Liu Ma and a few others to keep her company.
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 uneasy. She looked at the square courtyard. 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 Buddhist hall step by step and knelt down on the soft cushion. She stared at the compassionate Bodhisattva statue 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 advising the princess nor encouraging her as she had done before. In the past, Nanny Liu always considered the princess in everything. But only recently did Nanny Liu realize the princess's indifference.
Even if the princess took back the housekeeper's power from Shen Wei, it would still be Madam Liu who suffered. Nanny Liu is an old woman and can't 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 was a daughter of a prominent family. She had learned housekeeping from her family's instruction since childhood. She was exhausted both physically and mentally from handling the numerous affairs of the palace. How could Shen Wei, a peasant girl, withstand the huge backyard of the royal palace?
The princess wanted her to give up.
Madam Liu replied expressionlessly, "I will do it right away."
...
Glazed Pavilion.
Nanny Liu sent all the old accounts to Chen Wei.
Madam Liu looked at Shen Wei’s young and beautiful face. At this moment, 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 that you really don't need to get involved in."
Being the head of a household is not an easy task.
If she fails to do well, Shen Wei will most likely be abandoned by the King of Yan and the Queen. It would be better for her to continue being a favorite concubine and give birth to children for the Prince of Yan. At least she could 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.
Nanny Liu kept silent. After handing the account book to Shen Wei, he left Liuli Pavilion without looking back.
Chen Wei looked at the piles of account books, which contained the bad debts of the Prince of Yan's Mansion over the past decade, including household chores, finances, and sacrificial and social events.
If one person is busy, he will definitely not be able to handle everything.
But Shen Wei was very smart and cultivated a highly efficient elite team early on. There is Rong Mama who is good at planning, Cai Lian and Cai Ping who are smart and capable, Ji Xiang De Shun who is smooth in handling matters, and two guards who are fast at running errands and have superb martial arts. The rest of the maids and eunuchs were all beaten and trained. Although they did not have outstanding talents, they were at least obedient and willing to do their work.
An excellent leader does not have to do everything himself and can always make use of his employees to work for him.
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