Chapter 2357 Travel
Madam Liu smiled and patted his shoulder. "I originally thought that since you were the only one in the family and our relationship with the family was not good, only Dalang and Erlang could help you. I didn't expect that Manbao could also make a difference in the officialdom. Now it's great. With her around, you will have more support in the officialdom in the future."
"The officialdom is no more peaceful than the battlefield. You must be careful in the future..." Old Lady Liu gave many instructions and did not let Bai Shan leave until late at night.
The lights were on in the main courtyard, and Manbao was writing something under the lights. Wuyuejiulan and Xibingxihua were standing on the side, serving tea and grinding ink for Manbao. They were really a lovely couple, but Manbao couldn't bear it.
She held up her pen and looked at them, then asked, "Aren't you tired? Do you want to rest for a while?"
The four of them shook their heads together, indicating that they were not tired at all.
Manbao had no choice but to let them go.
The house became quiet again, but Manbao's area became much more lively. Four little maids followed her every day, almost as if they could walk for her.
Bai Shan and the others were so happy to see this that even people outside knew that Zhou Man had two new women from the Western Regions as maids, which made the maids around him jealous and they were competing for his favor recently.
The reason why people outside knew about this was because when it was Manbao's turn to be on duty at the imperial farm, the four of them went together to deliver things to her, including spare clothes, various daily necessities, food and drinks, and they almost wanted to move their home there to her.
At that time, Doctor Liu and others came to check on the cow's condition. Before they left, they saw four little girls fighting for the favor of another little girl.
This is really... rare.
On the 13th day of the first lunar month, all five cows had smallpox. However, the 14th and 15th days were holidays, and it happened to be the turn of Doctor Zheng and Doctor Lu on these two days. Manbao was lucky enough to go home. As soon as he got home, he said to Bai Shan, "Let's take Xibing and the others out for a walk during the Lantern Festival."
Bai Shan was puzzled: "Why?"
Manbao casually made up an excuse, "This is their first time in the capital, so why don't we take them to experience the scenery of Chang'an."
Bai Shan: "Just give them a holiday. Every year during the holidays, Grandma also gives the servants a holiday and lets them go out and have fun. There are so many people in the mansion, why would you need to take care of them?"
"Okay," Manbao could only speak the truth. "I don't know who's been spreading bad things about me. These past few days, whenever I go to the Imperial Hospital or Chongwenguan, everyone stares at me curiously. A few people even asked me to my face why girls are vying for me when I'm not tall and handsome. Humph, I think they're just jealous, so this time I'm going to take them out for a walk, to places like Zhuangyuan Tower and Qingfeng Tower."
These two are the restaurants that officials in the court like to go to most during the New Year and other holidays. Apart from these two, there are also horse farms in the east and west suburbs.
Manbao decided, "I'll take them to the horse farm during the day and to the restaurant in the evening."
Manbao did what he said and called back the four people who were making ointments in the shop. He took the ten girls from the Western Regions, plus Wuyue and Jiulan, a total of twelve people, and set out.
Zheng was cheered up when she saw this. She grabbed Manbao and said, "What's the point of going out like this? You should dress up properly."
Manbao was confused, "Is it too late to make new clothes now?"
"We have some ready-made at home," Zheng said with a smile, "I'll have people make new clothes for them after they arrive. Also, a lot of clothes for the maids and servants for the changing of seasons have been made this year, so I can take them out now and give them to them in advance."
So Manbao took the twelve people back and asked them to go to the sewing room to get new clothes to change into.
The clothes of the servants in the Bai family all look similar. They all wear waist-length skirts, with light green tops and rose-red skirts that are particularly eye-catching.
The fabric for the clothes was chosen by Zheng. She liked to see bright-colored girls, so the fabric for the clothes that the maids in the family changed every year was selected by her and then given to the housekeepers to purchase and sew.
Twelve young girls in their teens and twenties put on these new clothes and immediately became a beautiful sight.
Zheng liked the flowers and said to the maid beside her, "I have some silk flowers in my room. Bring them and put them on them."
She and Manbao said happily, "It will be more prestigious to take it out this way."
Bai Shan looked at the smile on his mother's face, and his heart moved. He came over with a smile and said, "Mother, why don't you come with us."
Zheng was slightly stunned and said with a smile: "What should I do?"
"Let's go have some fun," Manbao also hugged her arm and said happily, "Let's go to the horse farm first and take them for a walk. I heard that the West Suburbs Horse Farm and the East Suburbs Horse Farm are competing for customers. Both of them have horse races in the past few days, including women's horse races. Only the winners will get prizes. Let's take them to a few races, get the prizes and leave. After we come back, we can go for a walk around the restaurant..."
Zheng was a little tempted, but still shook her head, "Forget it, you guys go have fun, I'll be standing there with you guys, you'll be uncomfortable."
"It won't be uncomfortable," Manbao said. "We're not playing with strangers. We're all acquaintances. It's just the three of us and Yin or Liu Huan. Oh, I don't know if Liu Huan can come out. If not, then it'll just be us."
Zheng became more and more moved, but she still refused to agree.
Bai Shan ran to find his grandmother, and Old Lady Liu smiled and said, "Just go with the children. It's the Lantern Festival, and you can join them in the fun."
Zheng finally agreed. She looked at her clothes and touched her hair, "I'll go change into some going-out clothes..."
Comb your hair or something.
Zheng turned around and quickly went back to the house, and her maids immediately followed.
Manbao also went to join in the fun.
Although Zheng was a widow, her clothes, both for home and outing, were mostly light-colored, but she still had some bright clothes.
Some of them were made by her own favorites, while others were specially selected for her by Old Madam Liu.
Old Lady Liu did not insist that her daughter-in-law wear plain clothes. In her opinion, the person had been dead for so long, so it was okay to wear plain clothes on the anniversary of his death, and she could do whatever she wanted on ordinary days.
She herself wears plain clothes, partly because she is old and partly because she likes it. But Zheng is different. She has a simple nature and likes bright things.
You can tell by the fact that she makes clothes for Manbao every now and then. They are all brightly colored clothes, and even the shoes have large areas of colorful paintings. If it weren't too extravagant, she would have wanted to inlay pearls on Manbao's shoes.
Zheng stood in front of the cabinet, having a headache about which dress to wear. Manbao squeezed in to help her choose. She and the two maids decided immediately, "Auntie Zheng, this one will look good on you."
Zheng hesitated, "Isn't it too bright?"
"No," Manbao said, "It's spring now, when everything comes back to life. The peonies outside are about to bloom, and it's the perfect time to be beautiful. Wearing this suit will make you look like spring is coming. It will definitely look great."
Zheng whispered, "But I'm a widow, it's not appropriate for me to wear something so bright."
"Be happy for yourself," Manbao said. "We don't wear clothes just for others to see. The most important thing is to please ourselves. If you like it and are happy, it's more important than anything else."
Zheng thought about it and felt that it made sense, so she took the clothes and went downstairs to change with the help of the maid.
See you at 8pm
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
