"I hope you are well, Madam."
Tang Baozhu stood in front of the noblewoman, clasped her hands together, and slowly squatted down to greet her. This was what her mother had told her before she came: when meeting a noble person, one should greet them with a bow.
"Get up! Lift your head and let me see you."
No one knew the lady's exact name; everyone just called her Madam An. At that moment, looking at the little girl standing in front of her, bowing to her, she nodded in satisfaction, wanting to see what the little girl looked like.
Tang Baozhu slowly raised her head, her eyes fixed on the noblewoman's neck and below, standing obediently.
Madam An looked at the little girl in front of her. She had heard that the little girl wanted to learn a craft, so she specially bought a house next door for this purpose. Looking at the little girl's pretty face, she nodded with satisfaction. She had a strange quirk that no one knew about: she liked to look at young girls, and pretty ones at that, because it made her feel that she was still very young.
"You've probably heard of the rules here, right? The tuition is ten taels of silver a year. If you eat lunch here, you'll have to pay an extra three taels of silver a year. You'll have to leave after five years. I'll try my best to teach you while you study. How much you learn depends on your abilities. You'll have to prepare everything you need yourself. After five years, you don't have to come here anymore. Once you leave, you'll have nothing to do with me anymore."
Tang Baozhu only knew that it cost ten taels of silver a year, and she really didn't know there were any other rules. However, she agreed to all the conditions she mentioned. She would teach her as much as she could, just like when she was in school. There were always some people who learned well and some who didn't, and she couldn't blame the teacher for that.
"Yes, I understand."
"Since you've agreed, then go prepare the embroidery. You can also get a set of the necessary items from me, though they're a bit pricey. If you need anything, just tell the maid who brought you here when you leave. If there's nothing else, you can go now."
"yes."
Although she didn't say when it would start, I figured I could start learning embroidery once I bought the necessary items. I didn't know what I needed for embroidery, so I figured I'd just buy it from her.
The maid was still waiting at the door. "Sister, how much silver would it cost to buy a set of embroidery tools?"
The maidservant bowed and said, "Miss, you can just call me Xiao Xiang. A set of embroidery tools costs three taels of silver. It includes a piece of pure cotton white cloth, fine pure cotton embroidery thread, coarse pure cotton embroidery thread, embroidery needles, scissors, a embroidery hoop, and an embroidery frame. Because you are still young, we can only provide you with the smallest size of some tools. When you get older, you can gradually replace them with larger tools. The smaller tools can be recycled and replaced with new ones for a little extra money."
Xiao Xiang spoke very carefully, it seems she has said it quite often, it has become a jingle, and she can just say it directly.
"Father, Mother, what do you think?"
"Father and Mother think it's great. They think the things here will suit you, so they bought them here. But when will you start school?"
When Old Man Tang finished speaking, he looked at the maid Xiao Xiang. Xiao Xiang quickly realized what they were asking.
"Sir and Madam, after you have paid your tuition and the cost of the tools, you can begin your studies immediately. You can come to pick up Miss at dusk."
Tang Baozhu could tell that this maid was very well trained. Even when facing her father and mother, who were ordinary people, she could answer questions with a very good attitude and without any extra emotions. She was simply a model maid.
"Okay, let's go pay now! We'll come back to pick up Baozhu at 5 PM."
"Master, Madam, and Miss, please come with me."
The family of three followed Xiao Xiang to the accounting office and paid 16 taels of silver. This was for the tools, the annual maintenance fee, and the cost of lunch here for the year.
Tang Baozhu felt that learning a skill in ancient times was quite expensive. It required a large initial investment, and people without a certain amount of wealth would be reluctant to do so. However, once the skill was mastered, it was easy to earn the money back.
Xiao Xiang received a complete set of tools, fabric, embroidery thread, and the like from the accounting office; she had just bought them for three taels of silver.
“Miss, please come with me. I will take you to the beginner class. The young ladies there are about your age, maybe two or three years apart at most. I think you will get along well with them.”
Perhaps because she had paid the money, Tang Baozhu felt that the maid's tone was even better. Could this be the legendary "one of our own"?
"Okay, but what about my parents and mother?"
"Don't worry, Miss. After I take you there, I'll see the master and mistress out. They're only allowed to come in today because it's the first day. They won't be allowed to come in from tomorrow onwards."
"Thank you so much, sister!"
"Miss, just call me Xiao Xiang. You'll know all this if you stay here a couple more days. I'm just adding my two cents."
Following Xiao Xiang to the west wing, it can be seen that this room is two rooms combined into one, making the whole room seem very spacious. With the addition of two windows, the whole room looks bright. There are already five little girls, about five or six years old, sitting inside.
"Miss, you can choose a seat yourself, and then that seat will be yours alone."
Tang Baozhu looked around and finally chose a spot by the window, but one that wasn't in direct sunlight. She was very satisfied with the location.
When the maid Xiao Xiang saw that Tang Baozhu had chosen a spot, she put her things aside. There was a shelf next to her with cloth draped over it and two small drawers underneath, which were locked with two small padlocks hanging on them. It was very cute and dainty.
“Miss, you can put some private things in these two drawers. You can keep the key safe, and you can also put valuables in there. Now, Miss, just sit here and wait for the gentleman to arrive. I'll take my leave now.”
"Okay, thank you for your help."
Just as Tang Baozhu finished speaking, a soft laugh came from the side, the tone of which was disdainful and mocking.
Tang Baozhu ignored the barking of a dog, since the person hadn't mentioned her name. She figured it was just like a dog barking, and since the person wasn't pointing at her and blatantly smiling at her, she wouldn't even glance at her, lest she offend her eyes.
She carefully examined the table in front of her. The tabletop was quite large, about 1.5 meters long and 70 centimeters wide. She carefully sat down on the embroidery stool and tidied up her things. There was also a small basket for needles and thread on the table, which was quite thoughtful.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
