The two of them had eaten half of the sweet potato when they arrived at the Dong'an Marquis's Mansion. Fang Weiyan wanted to carry Mi Niang back to her room, but she refused: "It's not good for the servants to see us. I can walk by myself."
Seeing Fang Weiyan wanted to support her, she refused: "No need, go back quickly, I'm so sleepy."
In the middle of the night, apart from the rustling sound of people walking in the snow, there was the occasional sound of old women drinking and playing cards. Fang Weiyan frowned and wanted to go up and say a few words, but was stopped by Mi Niang.
"Those people are the old lady's people, and some of them were the former lady's companions. We can't control them at this time." No matter how powerful Xu's housekeeper is, he cannot touch the elders casually.
Unless you can manage the family, otherwise, you will only attract hatred.
Fang Weiyan nodded: "You are right, I actually forgot all this."
Mi Niang smiled and said, "You haven't forgotten. In fact, it's right for you to do this, but the two of us can only do it. We can't manage the entire mansion right now."
After saying this, Mi Niang yawned. It is not one's business to meddle in other people's affairs. If she were the housekeeper, she would certainly curb this kind of situation. But now she and her husband are just juniors, and there are several elders above them, so they can't do anything about it.
Arriving at Fengwu Courtyard, Mi Niang washed and dressed casually, then fell asleep holding Fang Weiyan. Fang Weiyan originally wanted to have a chat with her, but seeing how deeply she slept, he found it funny.
If it were someone else, they would probably not be able to sleep well because of what happened today, but she ate and drank as usual.
Such a person was probably shaped by the many things he had gone through. He heard that Mi Niang had a very hard life when she was a child and couldn't even afford to eat. Second wife Ding was even more mistreated by her in-laws so she had never been able to get pregnant. It was only after her father passed the imperial examination and became a scholar that the family's life gradually improved.
From now on, he should love her even more.
The next day, Xu specially sent someone to deliver rice noodles with chicken soup. The yellow noodles looked very tempting. During lunch, Mi Niang also went to Xu's place.
In fact, Fang Weiyan had already told Xu about it once, and now Mi Niang repeated it. Xu was a little worried and asked, "Will he make things difficult for Weiyan in the future?"
Mi Niang smiled and said, "Madam, the Fourth Master is a disciple of Master Lu, and Master Cui would not have promoted him. I heard that he is going to the Ministry of Personnel to be the Right Vice Minister, so it is possible that all the affairs of the Hanlin Academy will be handed over to Master Lu."
"So that's how it is." Xu sighed, "In fact, I'm also worried that Wei Yan will continue like this. It's really humiliating."
Although she knew it, when it came to Fang Weiyan's future, Xu still put his future first and would not offend anyone easily. This approach was considered smart. She could endure for a while but achieve success for a lifetime. There was nothing wrong with it.
"Please forgive my impulsiveness, Madam." Mi Niang had to admit her mistake. She ran out alone yesterday without discussing it with Xu.
Who knew that Xu patted her hands and said, "It's okay. You are doing this for Wei Yan's own good. Those people from Shen's family are waiting to see a joke. I heard from Wei Yan that you did a great job on this matter."
She had never thought that people could do this. Although it was risky, it was indeed a good idea.
Mi Niang shook her head: "It's all because my wife loves me that I can be so bold. If my wife were to criticize me, I wouldn't dare to do anything."
Xu didn't believe this, but the thing had already been done. She was able to convince the great scholar Cui and even control the situation in the end, which was enough to show her ability.
She insisted on having the doctor feel her pulse, and only felt relieved when the doctor said there was nothing wrong.
She smiled and said, "I'm not worried about anything else, but my stomach."
People are easily affected when they are extremely sad or happy. Xu was most afraid of her belly.
Mi Niang smiled and said, "Don't worry, Madam. I will definitely take good care of the baby in my belly."
In fact, Mi Niang didn't want to keep bringing up the matter of Mr. Cui. She thought that it was over once it was resolved. There was no need to emphasize how capable she was, because those who are capable get more work. If you really raise yourself to that level, would you help others when they ask you to do something or not?
Therefore, after this incident, Mi Niang stayed at home except for occasionally paying respects to her parents, and even when she was pregnant, she did not ask for more allowance than other women in other courtyards. She never showed off when meeting her sisters-in-law, which made it impossible for Shen Shi to find fault with her.
Yu had always been taken care of by Mi Niang and had a good impression of her.
The county lord's opinion of her changed greatly.
Like others, she had her parents' home to return to, but her husband's relatives were all in the fiefdom, and she was a young daughter-in-law, so she couldn't go out often. Now that she was hungry, she stayed in Zhenxiayuan most of the time.
Only the two maids, Lanru and Tongye, who were brought from her mother's home, often kept her company and talked to her heart, which made her feel much happier.
"My fourth brother's wife hasn't been out much these days, has she? I heard that she did something big, but she didn't show any pride at all."
Lan Ru has always been smart and careful. When she heard Xiangjun say this, she couldn't help but say, "If you ask me, it's better to say this. A tree that stands out in the forest will be destroyed by the wind. Since ancient times, the first bird to stick out has always been shot down. I think Fourth Madam is not someone who likes to show off. For example, regarding the matter of the housekeeper during the New Year, I heard that Madam wanted Fourth Madam to help with the housekeeping, after all, she is her own daughter-in-law. But Fourth Madam refused, and instead pushed Third Miss, Fourth Miss, and Fifth Miss to help with the housekeeping. As for those girls, Third Miss is okay, after all, she and Fourth Master were born from the same mother, and Fourth Miss and Fifth Miss are very close to her sister-in-law."
Tong Ye smiled and said, "I heard that Fourth Grandma said, if you want to thank someone, thank Madam. It is Madam who wants you to take on more tasks so that you can go to your husband's house in the future."
The county lord nodded: "If she has a secret motive, it will be useless even if she tries to please those courtesans. I think she really can't afford it. It's more important to take care of the baby. This is exactly what I think."
At the end, the county lord could not help but nod his head: "I don't think she is a bad person. In my opinion, she is better than my eldest sister-in-law. Although my eldest sister-in-law treats us well on weekdays, it is because our Third Master is the prince's brother and she wants to win over our Third Master. But she is not like this to the servants. The concubines and maids in our courtyard all say that I am strict, but they have never met someone like her. A woman will sell people back to the kiln at any time, and then send them to some shameful place. I don't think even the Marquis' Mansion treats servants like her."
Lan Ru agreed: "I heard from Madam Tang who is beside my wife that in a family like ours, there has never been anyone who sells out, only people who buy in, and they sell to such a filthy place."
As a maidservant, if your master wants you, do you have to fight to death or never marry? You are at the mercy of others. Your fate is miserable to begin with, and now you have to be sold out just because your master wants you.
The girls can't make their own decisions after all.
The lady stood up and said bitterly, "The Third Master has been coming to my room quite often recently, but why am I not pregnant?"
Now, except for the unmarried Fifth Master, all the daughters-in-law who have married into the family are pregnant. This is the only thing that can make Xiangjun think of Jing'er, and nothing else can bring him up.
Everyone in the mansion has his or her own little thoughts, and no one is too lazy to care about anyone else.
What made Mi Niang most satisfied was that her husband could have dinner with her every night. Today, the couple ate hot pot. In winter, only eating hot pot could keep them warm. The dish was tender Chinese cabbage. Such fresh vegetables were not available all the time. The marquis's mansion had a special greenhouse to grow these vegetables, which were specially provided for the masters of the family to taste.
The pot was filled with braised pork ribs with Chinese cabbage inside, and Mi Niang insisted on eating an extra bowl of rice.
Fang Weiyan asked her as usual: "Are you feeling unwell today?"
"If you're talking about whether it's comfortable or not, being pregnant is uncomfortable, but fortunately they all took good care of me. After Chuntao married Changshou, she was also not as good as me, and there was no change."
The little maids Baizhi and Zisu have all been brought out, and Shuxiang Moxiang, a maid originally from Fengwu Courtyard, has also gradually become available. Xia Lian is keeping an eye on them, and Chuntao comes to take care of them every day, which saves Mi Niang a lot of worry.
Fang Weiyan said, "I heard from Madam that she knew you were pregnant and wanted you to be the housekeeper. Why did you refuse?"
In fact, with Mi Niang's ability, Fang Wei Yan is very confident that she can definitely manage it.
Mi Niang smiled and said: "I am the most impatient of taking care of people. Look at my yard, the people taking care of people are all Chuntao Xialian. They are strong and soft at the same time. They really can't do the master's work. I will make the decision. I I know my wife wants me to take care of the housekeeper because she is kind to me and thinks highly of me, but I really don’t want to worry about it.”
Now Xu is the mistress of the family. She is the only person in charge of the household. No one else, not even her, can show any desire for power.
Otherwise, there will be too many constraints, which is not good.
If there are too many constraints on something, what's the point of pulling it out?
She had already come to the fore because of Fang Weiyan's affairs. Although Xu did not blame her, she felt that one could be high-profile in doing things but had to be low-key in life. Therefore, she did not come to the fore and instead pushed a few other ladies to go.
The third daughter, Yaqing, was originally supposed to learn to be a housekeeper. She did this because she was someone else's daughter-in-law in the past and worked for her uncle. Although she learned some housekeeping skills, she didn't really do anything. Not to mention the fourth and fifth daughters. The fourth daughter was okay, but the fifth daughter was timid. Although her aunt knew that being a housekeeper would be good for her and would be a good experience, she was still afraid.
The three girls are now housekeepers, which is something they will do after they get married.
Xu proposed this to Old Lady Weng, who nodded her head: "That's great. The girls are all young, and the housekeeper can be more tolerant. I don't have to worry about it in the future."
Because Fang Furong was so frightened after this incident, she often stayed at home to accompany Old Madam Weng. Old Madam Weng's health was getting better day by day. The Marquis of Dong'an and his wife used all kinds of good medicine on the old lady. In order to make Fang Furong's life more comfortable in the mansion, Old Madam Weng also secretly suggested to Fang Yaqing to add some makeup. Although the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law did not say it explicitly, everything was implied.
Now Old Madam Weng found that Xu was doing things very properly. Although she used to regard the children born to Aunt Ding as thorns in her eyes, which made her unhappy with her daughter-in-law, when the second child committed a crime, she took good care of Yu, and now she is also kind to the concubines. This is very appropriate.
"What the old lady said is true. I think so too. The third, fourth and fifth girls are not young anymore. They are so weak when they are guests at home. They will be the masters of other people's homes in the future."
Old Madam Weng asked again, "How is the fourth son's wife? It's freezing cold, I can't ask her to come and pay her respects."
Mrs. Xu smiled and said, "It's fine. Don't worry. The child knows how to take care of herself. She refuses to walk any more. She is being nursed in the yard. The doctor we called in said the fetus is stable and there's nothing wrong with it."
"Amitābha, that's good, that's good." Old Lady Weng said, and then gestured to Mrs. Xu, "I rejected the request of the eldest aunt to come earlier."
Xu looked at Old Madam Weng in disbelief. She wondered why the eldest aunt didn't come to visit anymore. It turned out that it was Old Madam Weng's idea.
I only heard her laugh and say, "Although Dizhu is my granddaughter, she is too weak in character, like a wild horse, and needs someone to control her."
"I don't know what to say to what the old lady said. Dizhu is my own niece. I watched her grow up. But my enemy doesn't have a good temper like his brother. He has a violent temper. I wish I could find someone stable to take care of her, but I'm afraid Dizhu will be wronged." Xu was overjoyed. Congratulations, Dizhu's problem had been solved. Now it was time for her to find a daughter-in-law for her son.
After choosing her eldest daughter-in-law, Mi Niang, she felt confident in herself and thought she could pick a better one.
But then I heard Old Lady Weng say, "I have a clever trick here. What do you think of it?"
After hearing this, Xu thought to herself that it was no wonder that the old woman was so kind as to block He Dizhu for her. It turned out that she was trying to force someone else in. She was a little angry in her heart, but she still said, "The person the old lady is talking about must be a good person."
"Originally there was a suitable age match, your cousin's beloved daughter named Yan'er, but her father is only a Tongzhi now, so it would be a shame for her to be a match for our Weijun."
Um?
Xu thought that the Weng family was not living well now. The cousin of the Weng family was probably in his forties. It was not acceptable for him to be only a Tongzhi in his forties or almost fifty.
Even though Wei Yan's wife was only observing government affairs in the Ministry of Revenue, she was willing to do so because her father was only in his early thirties, had a second-class place in the imperial examination, and had a close relationship with the Li family, so he had a bright future.
Later it was proved that Nguyen Gia Dinh was indeed a good man. In just a few years he had already become a fifth-rank doctor and was highly regarded by the Governor-General of the Grand Canal.
Then I heard Madam Weng say, "Later, I found a girl. She is the eldest daughter of the Jian family, the granddaughter of the great minister Jian. You know the background of their family. They are also from a famous family."
It turned out to be the Jian family. The Jian family is not bad, but...
Xu asked, "Please forgive me, old lady, for not recognizing her. I wonder which girl she is from their family? I only recognize the one who married Zhang Yuanfu."
"Oh, she's the granddaughter of the eldest son. She has good manners and a graceful temperament. She's proficient in poetry and calligraphy, and is especially good at needlework. She's better than Wei Yan's wife." Old Lady Weng didn't really want to force someone in this case. She probably knew Xu's plan. Fang Wei Yan's position as crown prince was in jeopardy, and Fang Wei Yan didn't want to be seen as playing both sides, so he didn't want the title.
Most likely the title will go to Fang Weijun, so Fang Weijun’s wife cannot be an ordinary person.
When Xu heard that she was the granddaughter of Minister Jian's eldest son, she asked, "Is she Madam Lu's son?"
Minister Jian's original wife's surname was Lu, from the Fanyang Lu clan, which was considered a prominent family.
"That's right. Her mother was married to her by Madam Jian, and she is also the daughter of a wealthy family. Her father is highly regarded by the Grand Marshal in the Ministry of War, and is now a doctor in the Ministry of War. No one who has seen this girl has anything bad to say about her. Everyone says that she is a perfect girl, with no flaws in her."
After hearing this, Xu was somewhat tempted. The conditions of this Miss Jian were indeed top-notch.
Mrs. Weng couldn't help but laugh when she saw Xu's expression.
After finishing the pot, Mi Niang was so full that she waved her hands and said, "Why do I eat so much every night recently? No, I can't do that tomorrow. I have to eat less."
Fang Weiyan was amused by her: "What should you do if you are always hungry? I was still hungry at midnight yesterday. You should eat a full meal and then you will be fine."
"Don't talk about my belly, Wei Yan, my eyelash has gotten into my eye again, help me get it out quickly."
This was really a question that had troubled her in her past and present lives, why her eyelashes always fell into her eyes.
Fang Weiyan said carefully: "Don't move, I'll get it out for you."
He was looking closely at Mi Niang's eyes. The maids were used to it because the young lady's eyelashes would fall into her eyes almost every now and then.
When Fang Yaqing came in, she saw that the couple were very close. His brother was very patient. His sister-in-law was stroking her belly, facing her brother, and holding her brother's sleeve with one hand.
"It's out, it's out." Fang Weiyan finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He looked at Mi Niang's moist eyes and said distressedly: "Next time, read less and close your eyes more to rest your mind, then this won't happen again."
Mi Niang was about to say something when she saw Fang Yaqing. She stood up and said, "Sister, why are you here so late? Is there something wrong?"
Fang Yaqing had never seen this side of her brother, being so gentle to a girl. She was extremely envious of this kind of affection, but now she was afraid that her brother and sister-in-law would feel uncomfortable, so she said, "I'm here to patrol tonight. It's still early now, so I'll come to your Fengwu Courtyard and sit down first."
"It's windy at night, you should wear more clothes. Your brother and I just finished dinner and have nothing to do. Please sit with me for a while."
Fang Yaqing's coming here was not without purpose, of course. She had received careful instruction from Xu as the housekeeper, and of course she knew a lot, but knowing a lot did not mean that the actual operation would be like this.
When she asked Xu again, she was afraid that her fourth and fifth sisters would be resentful, as they always thought that Xu taught her privately and not them. In that case, it would be better for her to speak to her sister-in-law.
"Sister-in-law, I, the housekeeper, know what it means to be hypocritical and to take advantage of others. It's not easy for my mother to manage the family. For me, it depends on who she is. I always thought I was the daughter of a marquis, but now I know how difficult it is."
Mi Niang knew that Fang Yaqing had actually done a good job, but the girl had always been very well protected in the past. Now that she was dealing with things on her own and seeing so many people's faces, she couldn't help but feel uncomfortable.
She comforted him, "This is normal. Think about it, people are like this. When there are no vested interests, everyone speaks nicely and is a good person. Once vested interests are involved, those who used to call themselves sisters can become enemies. It's a good thing that you knew this earlier."
"Don't think too much. Just follow the rules. Since it's in your hands, you should take good care of it. Who dares to say anything?"
Mi Niang certainly didn't want to manage the family. If Fang Weiyan was the head of the family in the future, it would be fine. But if Fang Weiyan was not the right person, she couldn't take over the family. Her situation was different from Fang Yaqing's. Fang Yaqing was a girl of the Fang family, a member of the family, a guest, of noble status, and a woman of the Xu family. Even if she managed the family now, she would marry off in the future and would not pose any threat to the Xu family.
On the contrary, for Fang Yaqing, this is an experience for her. If she is afraid in her own home, how can she start a business in the future?
After hearing what Mi Niang said, she finally understood and said self-deprecatingly, "Just like my cousin Jin used to be the best friend to me, but in the end, she didn't care about anything because of a man."
Thinking of this, she patted her head again, "Oh, by the way, sister-in-law, I heard from my mother that the eldest daughter of the Jian family, not Jian Yuehua, but the real eldest daughter of the Jian family, will come to visit my grandmother in a few days. She is said to be a perfect girl, and everyone praises her."
After that, he whispered, "I heard it was prepared for Fifth Brother to see."
All girls?
Mi Niang frowned. Could this be referring to her?
The wife of the man she feared most.
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