Although he had only been dealing with Yu Zizhen for a short time, the old fox Yu Sheng could tell from their brief interaction that Yu Zizhen was a very opinionated and strong-willed person.
Yu Sheng knew that as servants or subordinates, they must never fool a master with this kind of personality, no matter how young he was. Otherwise, when he came to his senses, he would definitely make you pay a terrible price for your deception.
Yu Sheng didn't want to get into trouble when he was about to leave, so he spread the word "out of courtesy" before choosing people, letting the servants in the mansion who had connections and backgrounds realize that he was not selecting people to suit their needs, but simply needed to pick some honest, hardworking and capable people to do the hard work.
Servants with connections and backgrounds naturally don't want their children or relatives to do hard work, so they avoid it. On the contrary, servants who don't have any connections or backgrounds and whose families urgently need one more person to do the work and earn a living can't wait to bring all the relatives who meet the requirements over.
Although these people were not all honest and hardworking people who met Yu Sheng's requirements, there were fewer people who only wanted to be small managers or deputy ladies. When Yu Sheng screened them again, the difficulty and workload of the work were much smaller.
Originally, those relatives who chose to give up this opportunity had some doubts about him because of his quick decision. However, before their doubts could be realized, Yu Zizhen used her actual actions to prove that Yu Sheng had not deceived them at all.
Not only did she drastically reduce the number of people responsible for doing rough work, but when the housekeeper suggested that there were not enough people, she directly changed the rules of operation in the palace.
Because of her bold actions, many servants who were originally willing to come to Lu Mingxuan could not control themselves and began to back out, not to mention those servants who were unwilling to do the rough work from the beginning.
They were extremely grateful that they had connections and channels that allowed them to find out the inside story in advance and successfully avoid the big fire pit of Yu Zizhen.
At this time, they didn't know that Yu Zizhen actually didn't want to use home-grown sons like them who were used to being slick.
What she needed was a capable subordinate who was absolutely loyal to her and could be used by her in some way. She didn't need the so-called servant who worked for a monthly salary and slacked off every day while trying to enrich himself at the expense of the public. She also didn't need the noble deputy lady who was a hundred times more pampered than her master, who said she was serving her but was actually being served by other maids together with her.
Behind the first little girl who stepped forward, a total of twelve people took the initiative to stand in front of Yu Zizhen.
As for the rest of the maids and servants, they all hung their heads, expressing their immense resistance to this job with silence.
These people either have families that can barely make ends meet and have no other choice but to endure the hardship, or they are too smart and think they are at a disadvantage by earning the same amount of money as others but having to do more work than others.
In short, they all chose to give up this opportunity.
Yu Zizhen did not express any opinion on this. Seeing the housekeeper killing a chicken and slitting its neck, and winking at those "head-down people" with a fierce look on her face, she even laughed out loud in a good mood.
"Don't force a cow to drink water if it doesn't want to. Things like the relationship between master and servant should ultimately be based on mutual consent."
The housekeeper never expected that Yu Zizhen was so insightful at such a young age. As she bowed in response, she secretly cursed those blind maids and servants in her heart, "You stupid people who are not worthy of being on the stage. You only care about the palm-sized area on your face. Sooner or later, you will regret it!"
Yu Zizhen didn't know what the housekeeper was thinking. She simply asked the thirteen people some questions and then kept them all.
She said to the housekeeper who had brought the people over, "I'll keep these people here, and you can take the others back. Oh, by the way, are there servants watching over the other courtyards in the third courtyard as well?"
The housekeeper replied "Yes," and said, "My Lord, the chief steward has assigned four servants to each courtyard to take charge of cleaning and maintenance."
Yu Zizhen nodded, "Then take them out as well. Those courtyards are now under my management."
The housekeeper was stunned. She suspected that there was something wrong with her ears.
The maids and servants who had voluntarily given up their job opportunities were all shocked and confused. They had never dreamed that Yu Zizhen wanted to occupy the entire three courtyards of the palace alone.
Seeing that they didn't move, Yu Zizhen had to say one more thing, "I've already said hello to Grandpa Sheng."
Since Yu Sheng had already agreed to it, it didn't matter whether these servants understood or were willing to do so.
The housekeeper had a complicated expression on her face, "I'll take them away right away."
Yu Zizhen nodded and said, "Please count and register all the items in the yard, including the flowers, plants, and trees, before you take everyone away, so that my people won't be confused later."
The housekeeper was silent for a moment before she said, "Yes, I obey your command."
The palace is so huge that the daily expenses are unimaginable for ordinary people. However, at least half of this expenditure is not actually spent, but is embezzled by the people in charge of the work under them under various pretexts.
Take the item of precious flowers and trees for example. Those who are in charge of flowers and trees just need to pick a few flowers and trees that their masters think are common, but can be sold for at least one hundred or eighty taels outside. They will cross them out from the list on the grounds of death, disease, accidental loss, etc., and then find similar flowers and trees to replace them. With this in and out, they can easily take out hundreds of taels from the master's pocket to fill their own pockets.
There are countless examples of such clever tricks. Having lived in the servant circle of the palace for most of her life and having been in charge for a long time, the housekeeper is naturally well versed in the ins and outs of it.
But how did their prince, a child who had never been involved in the palace affairs, know all these things?
Carrying this unspeakable mystery in her heart, the housekeeper bowed respectfully and took her leave.
As soon as she left, Yu Zizhen immediately introduced Madam Zhang, Yuheng and Yaoguang to her new servants.
Madam Zhang’s external identity is her trusted housekeeper, and internally she also serves as the head manager of her small kitchen.
Well, there is no other permanent member in the small kitchen except Madam Zhang, so in addition to being the manager, she is also the capable cook who takes charge of the whole thing.
As for Yuheng and Yaoguang, they have always been female guards.
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