Chapter 143 Warming up the house
Lu Yao coughed lightly, accepting their address.
"As I've said before, for the time being, please follow the housekeeper's instructions here. Once your accommodation is repaired, I will make other arrangements."
Lu Yao paused for a moment, then continued, "Let me introduce myself to you again. My last name is Lu, and my husband's last name is Rong. From now on, I will be your master. I hope you will keep your promise and work diligently and never betray me."
It’s okay to be a little stupid, and it’s okay to know less, but your character must be guaranteed.
She doesn't want a fire to break out in her backyard one day and be stabbed in the back by her own people.
Everyone made assurances.
The old man stepped forward and said respectfully, "Madam, we are so grateful to you for being so generous as to buy our entire family out. How could you do such a cruel and heartless thing?"
He then glanced around at his family members and said, "If anyone truly does something so unscrupulous, I, the old master, will be the first one to punish him, even without the master's permission!"
"Dad, don't worry, we will never do such a thing."
"If we were such people, we wouldn't have been left to fend for ourselves in Zhuangzi by our stepmother."
“…”
Lu Yao suddenly became interested when she heard what they said: "What's going on?"
Hearing that their master was curious about their past, the old man and others naturally could not hide it.
But the old man is not good at speaking, so the old woman will do the talking.
The old man took over the old man's words.
"This story begins with our late wife," the old woman began. "We were originally the children of a wealthy merchant in Taikang County. Later, the young lady married a scholar at the time. The mistress was worried about the young lady, so she arranged for us to be her dowry."
In fact, this story is very clichéd and happens frequently in this era.
In a nutshell, the story is about a rich young lady who was rescued by a scholar by chance, and they fell in love at first sight. The young lady ignored her parents' opposition and insisted on having her own way.
final,
The parents compromised and allowed the lovers to finally get married.
only,
The ending later...
With the support of the young lady, the scholar continued his studies, passed the imperial examination, and rose to prominence with the financial support of the young lady's family. His status and identity changed, and his mentality also changed.
His wife, who used to be perfect in every way, became an eyesore no matter how he looked at her. Especially the expressions of his colleagues when they knew that he had married a merchant's daughter, which further hurt his pride and self-esteem. His superiors also took a fancy to her and wanted to marry his concubine's daughter to him.
One was intentional and the other was intentional, and they hit it off immediately. The concubine contacted him privately, under the pretext of cultivating feelings.
Because the position of the wife is occupied by someone else, and the concubine is unwilling to be a mistress, if the two want to be together openly or not, they need to make some plans.
They had intended to plan slowly, but they didn't expect that the concubine's daughter was pregnant. For the sake of the child in her belly and to make room for her this morning, the two men bribed the servants to drug the young lady.
The final outcome is self-evident.
As soon as the wife was buried, the second wife was married into the family.
With a stepmother, there will be a stepfather. Naturally, the children left by the original wife will not have a good life. Fortunately, they are protected by them and will not be too badly off. But because of this, their family is hated by others, and they are driven to a remote village with a reason.
The young master is intelligent. Although he is young, he is mature. He saw through his father's true nature when his mother was seriously ill. However, he was too young to do many things. When the stepmother came into the mansion, she targeted him everywhere, and he was at his wit's end. He had to pretend to be crazy and stupid to let many people know about his current situation, which made the mansion restless. At this time, a rich businessman who received the news came and took the man back.
Now that a scholar who has become a high-ranking official has committed a crime and his property has been confiscated, these people will naturally be dealt with again.
After hearing this, Lu Yao felt terrible. Could it be that this poor scholar was Shen Shiren's student? The disciple surpasses the master.
only……
"Since you're here to pick someone up, why don't you come along?"
The old woman gritted her teeth and said, "Our indentures are with the stepmother."
They had no idea when and how the other party took it away.
Otherwise, they would have returned to Taikang County long ago.
"So, do you still want to go back now?" Lu Yao asked.
After she finished speaking, she realized that her words were ambiguous and explained, "You had no choice before, but now if you want to go back, I can give you the indentures." She coughed lightly, "Of course, we spent a lot of money to buy you, so you have to pay."
The old man and his family never expected such a good thing to happen and they were all in disbelief.
"Don't worry, I won't go back on my word."
Lu Yao said this to test the waters. If these people really missed their former master, then she couldn't stay with them. But those who had feelings for the master proved to be loyal and righteous. If they stayed, she would feel at ease. If they were hesitant, it wouldn't matter if she did them a favor.
"Thank you, ma'am." The old man bowed to her, and everyone behind him followed suit.
Lu Yao: “…”
She was still not used to being polite.
She tried to remain calm and listen to what these people were saying.
"We've been away from Taikang County for over a decade, and because of our stepmother's interference, we couldn't return," the old man said frankly. "It's good now. We've met a kind host."
In fact, their family did not live very well in Taikang County before.
Although he had only been in contact with this family for a short time, he could tell that they were not the kind of people who treated their servants harshly but were sweet on the outside but cruel on the inside.
Lu Yao was relieved to see that they truly had no attachment to the past, but she still had to say something upfront: "Since you've all decided not to go back, if we meet again in the future..."
"We are Rong family members in life and Rong family ghosts in death!"
Before Lu Yao could finish, these people responded first.
Lu Yao: “…” That’s not necessary.
Now that everything was said, Lu Yao started to follow the process and asked everyone to introduce themselves.
In fact, they were introduced when they met, but at that time it was just a simple name and what they did in the original owner's house. The rest was just what they asked and these people answered.
At that time, everyone hoped to be bought and answered with trepidation. Now, it feels completely different.
The old man spoke first: "I am Yang..." He paused for a moment, then continued, "This is the surname given to us by the master when we were in Taikang County. Now our family has no relationship with them anymore. Please give us a name, master and mistress."
Lu Yao was surprised.
In her opinion, a name is just a code name, but in the eyes of many people, it has extraordinary meaning.
When in Rome, do as the Romans do. She also knew that many masters would give surnames and names to the slaves they bought. She had not planned to do so, but now that her previous master was mentioned, Lu Yao changed her mind.
She thought for a moment and asked, "Do you still remember what your original surname was?"
The old man was silent for a moment, then said, "My father's surname is Zhong."
"Then your surname will be Zhong from now on," Lu Yao said nonchalantly. "As for your name, you guys should think about it now."
This time it was the old man's turn to be surprised.
"how?"
The old man shook his head and knelt down: "Thank you, ma'am!"
He never dreamed that he could change back to his own surname.
Father, I think your spirit in heaven would be happy too, right?
The others behind him all knelt down in unison: "Thank you, Madam."
Being able to use their own surnames is a sign of respect for those who sold themselves into slavery, rather than being like animals without any sense of self.
Of course, there are also many people who are proud of being given names and surnames by their master, but for those whose names have been passed on many times, it is another matter.
So, after a brief discussion, they decided on their name.
"My last name is Ding, Ding Ping. I followed my father from a young age to learn about being a shopkeeper and accounting. Later, when my young lady got married, I became the housekeeper."
"The old woman's surname is Liu, Liu Cuihua. She used to serve the Madam. After the young lady became a nun, she became the housekeeper."
After they got married, they had two sons. The two sons were hardworking, studious, and learned a lot from them since childhood. Because of this, they gained the trust of the lady, and she simply arranged their whole family into the lady's dowry team.
Next are Zhong Pingcheng’s two sons.
The eldest son Ding Chunsheng and the second son Ding Wansheng were both literate because of their family background. They were capable of doing anything from keeping account books to driving a cart and sweeping the floor.
Otherwise, they would not have been chosen by the mistress of the house who doted on her daughter.
As the saying goes, good things should be kept within the family. Naturally, their wives were also ladies or ladies. One was called Qiulu and the other was called Dongxue.
The one who said before that she could embroider and was very good at it was Dongxue.
Although Qiulu doesn't look very impressive, she is quite capable. As she has always been serving the young lady, she not only knows a lot of things, but also knows some simple fighting skills.
Lu Yao:!!!
She felt like they had found a treasure!
The two sons of the Zhong family have two children each. The eldest son has a son and a daughter, and the second son has two sons. The youngest child is the youngest son of the second son. He is the same age as Xiao Yunhao, but due to limited conditions, he looks only about four years old.
Lu Yao and the others had discussed this before. As the two children grow up, they will need to have their own people. It’s great that the children in this family are of such good age.
While Lu Yao was understanding the situation with these people, little Yunhao and little Xinyue came back with their father and uncle.
That’s great. Lu Yao let the two children choose who would follow them.
Although she was just a little girl, Lu Yao was wise enough to let Xiao Xinyue choose for herself.
Ahem,
If Xiao Xinyue wants to choose the older Qiulu and Dongxue, that's fine too.
Fortunately, the little guy wanted to play with the little sister and didn’t want to stare at the aunt.
The little girl is nine years old this year and her name is Dingxiang. Lu Yao chatted with the little girl for a few sentences and found that she was a little shy, but not timid. She was well-mannered and knew a lot of words. She was a very well-educated little girl. She followed Yueyue and not only could she accompany Yueyue to study and play, but she could also take care of Yueyue to a certain extent, so they could feel more at ease.
Among the other three boys, except for the youngest, the other two were not young anymore, one was ten years old and the other was seven years old. Xiao Yunhao finally chose the ten-year-old Ding Feng.
Lu Yao was a little surprised. She had thought that they would choose someone of similar age so that the two children would have something to talk about.
When I came down, I asked Xiao Yunhao, who smiled a little embarrassedly after hearing what I said: "I want to grow up quickly."
Router has to admit that this reason is very strong.
The arrangements were almost done, so Lu Yao asked Butler Rong to take everyone down there to adapt for a few days.
Butler Rong was also very considerate. The Ding family father and son and his two sons would stay by his side to explain things personally. If he was not available, he would ask other housekeepers to take care of them. Madam Liu and the others would ask the housekeeper nanny of the mansion to take care of them.
After handing it over to Butler Rong, Lu Yao and others started to busy themselves with their own affairs.
The men were studying in the study all day long, and Lu Yao, Ye Jiayue, Lan Xin and others were not idle either.
After returning to the capital, their previous properties were back in their hands. With their previous success in Xikang County, they naturally had to make good plans.
During this period, Lu Yao and Rong Yan went back to see the shops left by their mother. These shops had always been controlled by the Shen family and managed by Wang Yalan and others. After the seizure, they were managed by special personnel from the Ministry of Households. After they came back, these shops were handed over to them again.
The shop owner and waiter had been replaced a long time ago, and they had never met each other. Naturally, no one recognized them when they came.
However, they did not reveal their identities.
After visiting around and getting a general understanding of the situation, the two of them returned to their respective careers.
Speaking of career, Rong Yanhui's most important thing at the moment is naturally the scientific examination, while Lu Yao, based on the current situation of several shops, began to write the next project plan.
She doesn't fight a battle she's not prepared for.
Time passed quietly in such a busy schedule.
Soon, the side rooms of their house were renovated, and the Ding family members followed their master to the place where they would live and give everything in the future.
The group followed the carriage to their destination and saw the words "Rong Zhai" at the door. They felt like they were returning to their roots.
Lu Yao and Rong Yanhui were the first to go in. Rong Yanhui personally took everyone to familiarize themselves with the house, and finally let them settle down first, and assigned new tasks.
Because Ding Ping used to be a housekeeper, Lu Yao and the others just let him go back to his old job. Liu Cuihua and her two wives took care of all the affairs of the house with their two children, while Ding Chunsheng and Ding Wansheng followed Mo Zhu to do some work.
Now that the master hasn't moved in yet, there isn't much to do and the whole family can handle it. But when the stall is set up in the future, just a few of them won't be enough.
These days, Lu Yao discussed with Ye Jiayue and Lan Xin, and finally decided to do their own thing.
Each of them has a different personality and different industry directions. Although they can complement each other and share risks together, no one knows what will happen when it comes to interests. In order not to affect the current relationship, it is better to distinguish them clearly.
but,
Although we no longer do business together, we can still cooperate. The specific steps to do so require further discussion.
Finally, before the New Year, the renovation of the house was officially completed.
In this day and age, everything is pure natural and pollution-free, so there is no need to worry about formaldehyde and other harmful substances to the body. The whole room is filled with the fragrance of wood.
Lu Yao waited for some time to ventilate the house and moved in on the 26th day of the Lunar New Year.
Lu Mingxiu's two-story house was not small, but it was much smaller than their house. It didn't take long to renovate it, and they moved in twenty days ago.
Today, his younger sister moved back into the house, and he came to help early in the morning.
When moving into a new house, friends and family are invited to come and warm up the house.
Rong Yanhui has no friends in the capital, and he has no relatives in the Shen family who can visit him. The only relatives he can visit now are the Rong family.
Even within the Rong family, they had many close friends and in-laws. They either wanted to befriend the young man who had built the waterwheel, or to curry favor with the Rong family, or out of consideration for old ties...
In short, there are actually several tables in a greenhouse.
A few days ago, Lu Yao and her friends went to a pawnshop to buy five servants, who were mainly responsible for doormanship, driving the carriage, cleaning, and kitchen work.
Rong Yanhui has been concentrating on reading lately, but it is convenient to have someone around. Lu Yao asked Ding Chunsheng, who is relatively stable and introverted, to stay by his side, running errands for him when necessary and taking care of him. When he is free, he will go out with his younger brother or help his father with household affairs.
Everything is just starting now. It may not seem like much, but when we actually do it, it’s a lot.
Just like today's greenhouse warming, it kept Lu Yao, Ding Ping and others busy for several days.
Now that they have settled down in the capital, they have to start preparing for some personal relationships.
For today, Lu Yao prepared a lot of inexpensive, but novel and presentable return gifts.
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