Chapter 7 Chapter 7 Entering the Mansion (3)
Meanwhile, in the east wing of the county government's backyard, the county magistrate's wife, Madam Liu, lay reclining on the couch, her head pressed to one side. Her maid, Yingchun, was massaging her legs. With her eyes half-closed, she asked Granny Qi, "Have they all been sent away?"
Granny Qi said, "Except for that fire-tending girl, everyone else has been sent away."
Liu said calmly, "Find another brokerage firm and have them bring people to choose. Focus on the front yard first, and bring anyone from the back yard to meet us. Send them away under the pretext that we can't find anyone we like. Just say that we don't like the people from Biyang County and that we need to find better ones."
Granny Qi half-squatted down and replied, "Yes."
As Liu's confidante, Granny Qi knew all too well how difficult things were for the master after being sent from the capital to such a poor and remote place. She could understand Madam's attempt to put on a brave face, but after all, they came from the capital. No matter how poor the family was, they couldn't lose their dignity. Otherwise, if people found out that the family couldn't even afford servants, the master's reputation would be even worse.
They would send a slave trader once or twice a month to select people, giving them a few dozen yuan as a reward. Afterwards, they would simply say they didn't like them, making it impossible for outsiders to see through their true intentions and preventing them from underestimating their abilities.
Madam Liu sighed, "With Master Peng's departure, he took many of Master's trusted confidants with him. Seven or eight out of ten of Master's capable people are gone, and there are hardly any left in our backyard who are truly willing to stay. Such a large garden, more than half of the rooms are now empty. Compared to half a year ago, it's like heaven and earth. I don't know when this will end." As she spoke, she took out a handkerchief to wipe away her tears.
Granny Qi hurriedly advised, "Madam, please don't be sad. The old master of the manor has already abandoned the master. We must place our hopes on the young master. As long as he becomes successful, our family can rise again."
Liu wiped away her tears and said, "I thought that since my husband had caused this trouble, I could just suffer with him and let it go, but it shouldn't involve my son. Even though I knew that Qi-ge had already passed the county-level imperial examination, the old master still refused to let him stay in the capital to study. He insisted on driving us all out and even forcefully asked the clan head to divide the family property. Qi-ge has come with us to this poor and remote place. Where can he find a good teacher to study? It's difficult enough to pass the provincial-level imperial examination, let alone the imperial examination." As she spoke, tears streamed down her face.
Granny Qi knew in her heart that the old master's insistence on dividing the family property when the master was in trouble meant that he wanted to sever ties and kick the family out, and that he had already abandoned the master's family. However, she dared not say a word against it. She could only change the subject to comfort Liu: "The eldest young master is a promising person. Madam, please don't say such things in front of him. I have heard that reading a thousand books is not as good as traveling ten thousand miles. Maybe the eldest young master will be even more inspired when he is in this beautiful place. We must not say discouraging things now. We must cheer up and manage the inner quarters."
After being persuaded for a while, Liu finally calmed down and pulled Qi Mama aside, saying, "Let's gather the account books and see how much silver we have left. The refugee camp in front of the city gate is a bottomless pit. How much wealth do we have to keep pouring it in every day?"
Speaking of this, Granny Qi couldn't help but sigh: "Master is only soft-hearted, not knowing that the family is in dire straits and can't even afford to hire servants anymore."
Speaking of Master Meng, Madam Liu sighed again. He had been an official for more than ten years and only knew about Confucian classics and poetry. He didn't understand officialdom or economics at all. In the past, he could rely on the family's abundant funds, but the old master had already separated them. From now on, the family would have to be responsible for its own profits and losses. How could the master be so extravagant with his money?
Madam Liu sighed, "We should keep a few capable people in the inner quarters, but we must have enough people around the master, lest we appear weak and be looked down upon."
Granny Qi said, "This old servant knows, Madam, you don't need to worry too much. We women can stay in the inner courtyard and not go out anyway. We don't need many servants, just enough. It's quieter when there are fewer people in the house... Just like the kitchen maid that Mama Mao has taken a liking to this time, one of hers is worth two..."
Madam Liu said, "There should have been three people working in the kitchen. But the family is in a bad situation now, so we can only add a helper for Mama Mao for now. That fire-starting girl is so capable, we don't need to add any more people in the future. Let's give Mama Mao an extra 100 coins a month starting this month. From now on, she has to take care of all the meals in the mansion. Pass down the word that from now on, people in the inner courtyard can just send their maids to get their meals. The kitchen will no longer deliver meals."
Granny Qi replied "Yes" and went to deliver the message.
In the west wing, Aunt Luo hurriedly asked Xiumei, the maid who had just returned from outside, "How did it go? How many did you pick?"
Xiumei looked puzzled: "You only picked one."
Aunt Luo's face changed: "What? Only one was chosen? Didn't you say you brought about twenty people? Why is only one left?"
Xiumei said, "According to Granny Qi, most of these people were selected from the refugee camp. They don't know any manners at all, yet they dared to cling to Steward Zhao's leg and beg to come in and serve. We had already told the brokerage to try to find literate people first, but who knew that the twenty or so people they brought would be so unruly. Granny Qi quickly sent them all away, saying that we would find better ones later when we changed brokerages."
Aunt Luo complained, "It's such a poor, remote place that we can't even find a suitable maid! That Master Peng and his wife are such ungrateful dogs. Not only did they betray Master, but they also took most of the people who came with them with them. Now, Miss and I only have two maids left. Madam, why don't you hurry up and add more people? If word gets out, we'll be laughed to death."
Xiumei lowered her head and dared not speak.
Not to mention that the concubine's household is short-handed, even the madam only has Granny Qi and her daughter and Yingchun left. The madam hasn't even been provided with all her maids, so it's even more impossible for Aunt Luo's household to have any.
Since the madam refused to hire anyone, she had no choice but to pin her hopes on the next selection: "You said you kept one person; what vacancy did that fill?"
Xiumei said, "We've made some changes to the kitchen; Mother Mao is just too busy."
Aunt Luo instantly lost her spirit: "I was thinking that if I could fill the vacancy for sweeping, I could at least put some pressure on the master and get someone to do the housework. But since I've put her in the kitchen, she's obviously too rough and clumsy to do any fine work. What good is she?"
Speaking of this, Xiumei perked up: "That's right! I heard that this girl can carry two large food boxes in one hand and walked around several times without even panting. Mama Mao said she has superhuman strength and nodded on the spot, so the lady bought her."
Aunt Luo's eyes widened: "So strong?!"
Xiumei nodded vigorously: "It's huge. They say she used to work in a mine. Auntie, think about it, each ore weighs dozens of kilograms. She must have been used to that to have such strength."
Aunt Luo sighed, "What's the use of being strong if you can't help us? Forget it, bring out the pattern I embroidered yesterday. There's no sewing room left in the manor. From now on, we'll have to make our own clothes and shoes. The eldest young lady is already twelve this year, so we need to start preparing some things slowly."
Meanwhile, Li Xiaoxiao followed Liu Zhi to the kitchen, where Mama Mao was busy wearing an apron. When she saw Li Xiaoxiao, she washed her hands and greeted her, "Everyone in the manor calls me Mama Mao, so just call me that too. This will be your workplace from now on. Come with me."
She led Li Xiaoxiao to two small side rooms behind the kitchen and raised her chin, saying, "This is where we'll be staying. I'll stay in the first room, and you can stay in the next one."
Li Xiaoxiao nodded and pushed open the door to the next room. It was a small room with two beds on either side. A simple wardrobe was placed behind it as a screen. A square, dark brown table with two long benches was placed in the middle of the room. There was a wooden shelf at the head of each bed with two washbasins on it.
Mother Mao said, "There used to be two kitchen helpers who slept in your room. Now you're lucky; you can have your own room now."
Li Xiaoxiao looked around, occasionally touching the furniture in the room, and seemed quite satisfied.
It's all made of wood, and there's even a mosquito net to keep out mosquitoes. In all the time Li Xiaoxiao has been in this world, the most threatening insect she's ever encountered is the mosquito. One bite and you get a welt. Although there's no need to worry about infection or mutation, it's still incredibly annoying.
She was very satisfied.
Seeing her extremely satisfied expression, Madam Mao couldn't help but shake her head and sigh, "If you had seen what the mansion used to be like, you would know that even a third-class maid wouldn't deign to live in a house like this... But there's nothing we can do. Who told our master to be demoted to Biyang County? I heard that the backyard of this county government office was expanded by the previous magistrate, who added a huge garden and made it a two-courtyard house. Otherwise, the master of this house would probably have to live like everyone else in other county government offices, crammed around the courtyard..."
Li Xiaoxiao stared blankly at her with her ignorant eyes, completely unable to understand what she was saying.
What do you mean by saying even a third-class maid wouldn't deign to live here? What do you mean by saying the whole family lives around the courtyard?
Seeing that she looked like she was listening to gibberish, Mao's mother simply assumed that she came from a peasant family and had never seen the world, and that her family probably couldn't even afford a mud-brick house.
Where else can one find the opportunity to see a multi-courtyard house?
She shook her head, a hint of disdain in her voice, "A girl of your background would never have been considered good enough for our household in the past. We only bought maids and boys when they were seven or eight years old, starting with cleaning and chores, training them as they went. After a few years of training, they could be sent to serve in the courtyards of various masters. Even second- or third-class maids were highly sought after, more prestigious than the young ladies of ordinary families. Unlike you, you're already fifteen, the age to be married off to a servant, yet we still bought you to serve..."
Using her limited knowledge, Li Xiaoxiao pieced together the information she heard and finally understood that the general idea was that this family used to be very prominent, but now they had fallen on hard times, so they lowered their hiring standards, and she, who had no manners, was hired.
She exclaimed "Oh!" and asked, "Aunt Mao, what kind of high-ranking official was the magistrate's family?"
Madam Mao puffed out her chest: "Before our old master retired, he was the Minister of Rites. He had five sons, and our master was the fourth. He was known as Fourth Master in the mansion. Before coming to Biyang County, he was already a principal officer in the Ministry of Personnel."
At this point, her pride vanished, replaced by a hint of resentment on her face. "My husband is an upright man, incapable of currying favor. Half a year ago, he offended some high-ranking official, who seized upon this and impeached him before the Emperor. That's why he was demoted to be the magistrate of Biyang County..."
Moreover, the master was born out of wedlock. When he was in charge of the household, everything was peaceful. But after he was demoted, the old master, who retired five years ago, was afraid that the master would implicate the future of the other men in the household. Instead of helping him, he hurriedly separated their branch of the family.
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