Chapter 4 Chapter 4 Entering the Mansion
It was late at night, Jinniang closed her eyes, and she felt like she was in a university dormitory. She had just paid off her mortgage in advance and had her house renovated before she traveled through time. She hadn't even moved in yet when she traveled through time.
It can be said that her previous life was similar to this one, in that she started her career halfway through her career. She originally studied a minor language in college, but later, because she loved watching TV series, she tried to become a screenwriter. At first, she started writing as an amateur, and later she gradually joined a studio. Finally, a drama she wrote became a minor hit, but a small blogger on a certain platform began to complain about it frame by frame and scolded it harshly.
In addition, the drama also featured a very popular traffic star who had a lot of black fans who spread them everywhere, causing her to finally become popular but then fail. Fortunately, she persisted and had a good income. The girl who came from an ordinary family in the 18th tier and was not good-looking finally bought a house in a first-tier city.
Alas, we are back to the time before liberation.
Fortunately, she is definitely not someone who is easily defeated. She has been supporting the family in the past two years. Her daily salary is more than eight strings of coins a year, plus the rewards from the shopkeeper during festivals, the total is more than ten strings of coins. She gave all five strings of silver coins to her family, and used the rest to learn tailoring from a tailor. Now she only has two strings of silver coins in her hand.
She turned over and quickly fell asleep.
The days on the boat were very boring. The boat was shaking too much and it was difficult to read or do needlework. Everyone either slept or chatted. The He family hired someone to cook, and they ate the He family's meals along the way. At noon, they had mixed rice, and the dishes were sauerkraut and tofu. There was sand in the sauerkraut, and Jinniang picked it out with chopsticks.
Qin Shuang'er threw her chopsticks in anger: "My teeth are almost falling out."
"Yes, it's even worse than the rotten leafy vegetables we eat in the embroidery workshop." Fang Qiao Lian also said so.
In fact, Jinniang was the same. Her mother's cooking skills were quite good, but now she had no choice but to take out her mother's pickles and eat them with rice: "Well, my mother's pickled radish is sour and sweet, and it goes well with the soup. It's delicious."
Qin Shuang'er didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Why do you say everything you eat is delicious?"
Jinniang was a little embarrassed and said, "I'm not a picky eater, so drinking cold water can easily make me fat." She really wasn't a picky eater. Two years ago, she ate pickled vegetables for a whole year, and her mother scolded her, but she was still able to swallow them.
"Jinniang, actually I saw you when you first entered the embroidery workshop. I was quite stunning at that time. I'm sure you will look better when you lose weight." Fang Qiao Lian said seriously.
Jinniang smiled and shook her head. In her previous life, she was disgusted with herself for having gained thirty pounds in a short time, and she was so angry that she wanted to lose weight. Unexpectedly, because of her excess fat, she was hit by a car. She only sprained her foot, and she didn't even have any physical problems. After that, she gradually accepted that it didn't matter what she looked like as long as she was healthy.
Moreover, she felt that it was a good thing for her to enter Zhou Mansion with such an unattractive appearance.
But when Jiang Shanjie came in with the urine bucket, she said indignantly, "So we are eating the inferior food of the He family. They went with the steward of the Zhou family and had four dishes and a soup. Mrs. Dou had ten dishes. Even Mrs. Chen had several dishes. I took a glance and saw deep-fried big dry meatballs."
"Ku" is a dialect word, which means fried very dry.
Jinniang was a little greedy after hearing these words, and then she heard Fang Qiaolian say, "We are not from the He family, so it's good enough to have a meal of inferior quality. Only the maids around the master and the maids who serve him personally have special meals. I don't know about the Zhou family, but in the He family, it's like this."
Among the four of them, only Fang Qiaolian's mother worked in a wealthy family, so she knew the situation best.
It turns out that eating is also divided into different levels. Fang Qiaolian even said, "There are differences between favored masters and unfavored masters. Although their allowances seem to be similar, there is a big difference. Their monthly allowance may not be as high as ours, but it includes money for clothes and jewelry that the master can't wear all the time, and if there are children born in the family, all the weddings and funerals are included."
Everyone was stunned after hearing this, but Jinniang knew the difference very well. It was similar to the difference between the system and private enterprises. The salary in the system did not seem high, but in fact the bilateral provident fund and social security payments were quite high, so it was still a stable job. Private companies are unstable. Sometimes the salaries are high, the turnover is high, and there is no security.
When traveling, everyone is actually very frugal. When the boat docked at Xiangzhou Prefecture on the southwest road of Beijing, she was only willing to spend one penny to buy two steamed buns to satisfy her hunger, another penny to buy a cough medicine, and another penny to buy a handful of pickled vegetables.
Fortunately, after passing the southwest road of Beijing, they entered the territory of Henan and soon arrived in Bianjing. They abandoned the boat and took a cart, sightseeing Tokyo along the way. There are rows of colorful buildings and gates, with uncles standing at the door to greet and see off guests, and waiters with blue and white cloth turbans tied around their waists changing soup and pouring wine for the guests. In addition to the main store, the foot shop is also very lively, with people coming and going in an endless stream.
"Bianjing is indeed much more prosperous than our Jiangling."
Jinniang couldn't help but nod when she heard Sister Jiang Shan's sigh.
After crossing the center of the street, we headed north to Ma Xing Street, where there were many medical shops, specializing in gynecology, obstetrics, pediatrics, and even medicines for treating deafness. The doctors sitting on both sides of the street were all dressed in golden and purple clothes, looking very impressive.
These girls wanted to see more of Bianjing, but they soon arrived at Zhou's house in Wuque Lane from Yonglu Street.
Jinniang tugged at her clothes. They all took out their new clothes before getting off the boat. She had a light purple raccoon sleeve top, which of course was not made of fox fur, but made from the cotton from the cotton-padded jacket she wore as a child. It was paired with a milky white skirt, a long purple ribbon she made herself tied around her waist, and two hanging buns on her head. She looked fresh and elegant.
Compared to her, Qin Shuang'er was dressed more pleasingly, with a gardenia yellow jacket and an apricot yellow skirt embroidered with butterflies. She had the same double bun, but she adorned it with two pompom-like flowers.
However, they arrived at an inopportune time. Madam Zhou's cousin Jiang's sister-in-law had passed away, and she went to attend the funeral. Even Jiang's maidservant went with her. Jinniang, the other three embroiderers, and Madam Chen sat in a narrow courtyard waiting.
Jinniang thought that feudal oppression meant beatings or scolding, but in fact, from the moment they entered the door, they dared not say a word more, dared not take a step more, and even dared not say no while sitting here waiting for arrangements.
The real oppression is being completely ignored.
Wait, keep waiting.
I dare not eat or drink anything while sitting here, for fear that I will need to relieve myself. But I don’t know where to go, and I need to trouble others to lead the way.
It was not until the afternoon that a girl wearing a green silk jacket and a red silk skirt came in. She had two gold hairpins in her hair and was tucking her clothes together. She stood at the door and did not come in. Mrs. Chen stood up quickly and said, "Greetings to you."
The girl smiled and said, "You are the embroiderer sent by Aunt He, right? I am Yanhong, who is by the side of the eldest lady. She is coming back from the Jiang family and wants to see you. You have come all the way here, it must be hard."
"It's not hard. We took the government boat and it was very safe all the way." Madam Chen never mentioned any faults of the He family.
Yanhong led them over again, and Jinniang followed behind Chen Niang. Because her monthly salary was higher than the other three, she stood in the same position. She didn't have time to take a close look at the Zhou family's courtyard. She just felt that every brick and tile, every blade of grass and every tree here seemed particularly different.
Entering Jiang's courtyard, there is a small path leading directly to the main house. The grass and trees on both sides are lush and green. The three rooms of the main house are covered with bright Korean paper. As you enter the door, you will see a round screen inlaid with red gems and ancient patterns. After you walk around the screen, a maid who is responsible for opening the curtain will lift up the bright red felt. What comes into view is a Longquan celadon incense burner on a thin ivory table, emitting curls of green smoke and a sweet fragrance that fills the air.
Before I could take a closer look, I heard Yanhong in front of me bow and say, "Madam, the embroiderers are here."
After Madam Chen led everyone to kowtow, she said, "I, Chen, pay my respects to the Madam."
"Get up, get up quickly. I saw the embroidery you did for the eldest daughter of the He family. I liked it very much."
It is said that Jiang is almost forty years old. She has a bun on her head, a white horn crown on her head, an oval face and beautiful features. When she raises her hand, a bracelet with flower patterns appears. Perhaps she was attending a funeral, for her clothes were very plain, just a plain satin cotton jacket with a front opening. Only the brocade ribbon around her waist made her look special.
Jinniang stood up with Chen Niang, and after listening to Chen Niang's polite words, she began to introduce them: "Don't underestimate these girls because they are young. They have been holding needles since they could talk. They are all good at sewing, cutting, and embroidering. For example, Jinniang is not only good at embroidering flowers and birds, but also good at embroidering Buddhist scriptures. And Shuangjie is an old craftsman in Pingjiang Prefecture. Her embroidery of the Hundred Sons and Thousands of Grandsons Quilt is exquisite. Qiaolian's dragon and phoenix quilt cover was sold out in our Jiangling Prefecture last year. Finally, Shanjie's landscape embroidered screen is also famous far and wide."
"We originally had maids in each room who were good at sewing, but they were just for minor repairs. Normally, we had to ask the craftsmen in the embroidery building outside to make clothes. Now that you are here, we don't have to trouble others. And as the New Year is approaching, I will let you make the winter clothes this time. If you do a good job, I will reward you handsomely." Jiang said.
After hearing these words, everyone was very happy, and Jinniang also decided to show her real skills.
Then Yanhong arranged for them to stay in the three rooms to the west of the back house behind Jiang's main house, and the main room was used as an embroidery room.
Yanhong also introduced: "The people living in the back room are all the people who serve our eldest lady. Your sewing room is newly added. Next door is the tea room. The upper and lower floors on the east side are the storehouses. The courtesy room is next to the storehouse. You have to go to the big kitchen to get your meals on weekdays. Two people will be arranged to take turns to get the meals every day. You can get a food box from me later. By the way, I live in the east ear room. Madam Chen, the embroiderers are all young girls. Don't go out easily. Those daughters-in-law don't need to come over often on weekdays."
Mrs. Chen responded hesitantly.
Jinniang thought Yanhong was very considerate. Married women were not allowed to come to the residence of unmarried women casually, for fear that they would say some indecent and obscene words.
"The teahouse staff pours tea, serves snacks, and boils medicine every day. It's all their job. When you take a bath at night, you can bring a bucket to get hot water from them. It's cheap."
After saying that, Yanhong continued, "You five only need to take care of the sewing work in our main room. The other rooms have their own people. Yesterday, our family bought ten maids from Wang Yaren. When the time comes, we will assign two of them to help with the cleaning and unpacking."
Jinniang was surprised and asked, "Your family bought so many maids?"
Yanhong smiled and said, "We have four young ladies in the first house. They are all grown up now and need to have more children."
After Yanhong left, everyone was still sighing. After a while, Yanhong and another tall girl came over, each holding a bag, saying that they were clothes for them.
"I am also a maid serving the madam. You can just call me Luying." The tall maid was very talkative.
Jinniang and the others all shouted, "Sister Luying."
Luying smiled, and then looked at Yanhong and said, "You came in a hurry, and we are not prepared. The maids in the house have two sets of clothes and shoes for spring and autumn, and two sets of clothes and shoes for autumn and winter. The eldest lady is kind and asked us to pick some clothes for you. These are the clothes that Yanhong and I have worn several times. Please don't despise them because they are half-worn and half-new."
Everyone said they didn't dare, and Jinniang breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, they were not treated differently, and it seemed that the treatment here was quite good.
Jinniang received a pair of silver-gray cotton trousers, a green jacket, and a gray-green swirl jacket. She took a look at the clothes and saw that they were rarely worn and looked very new. She immediately expressed her gratitude.
After the two older girls left, the waiter next door brought some snacks and hot tea, and said with a smile, "You missed the meal, so just make do with it for now."
Madam Chen thanked them again, and after closing the door, she said to Jinniang and the others, "I will live in the outer wing, and the other two rooms are for you. The inner room is for Jinniang and Qiaolian, and the outer room is for Shanjie and Shuang'er. The four of you came here together, and you were originally from the same embroidery workshop. I brought you to this mansion, and you have seen that officials and their families are extremely generous. If you do well, the eldest lady will keep you here in the future, and you will be a permanent member of the family, which is better than anything else. If you do not do well, and it affects everyone, everyone will be in trouble, so we all prosper together and we all suffer together. Don't say that what she did has nothing to do with us, or we will all be implicated."
Jinniang and others responded quickly, not daring to be careless.
Then I heard Madam Chen say, "Don't think that Yanhong and Luying are very nice to you just now. That's because you have skills. Look at those little maids who just came in. Some of them were naughty and were punished by the housekeeper to kneel on tiles in the snow. You will be punished the same way when you enter this mansion."
Only then did Jinniang understand that it was precisely because they had such skills that everyone would ask them for help in mending clothes, so the waiters and maids were happy to have good relations with them, because they were useful. But if they were really poor girls with no skills who were sold here, they would probably have been intimidated into kneeling on tiles and having their palms hit.
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