Chapter 52 Idea "Han-jie, have you heard? Second Mistress's room..."
"Han-jie, have you heard? The Miao family in Er Niangzi's house has been sold off." Qiu Yue rushed into the main kitchen, immediately seeking out Su Zhihan and the others to gossip.
From that day on, Madam Xu, the second wife, did not leave her home for several days, only appearing before the New Year's banquet. According to the maid who delivered the food, Madam Xu's face was covered with unusually thick makeup, but her clothing and appearance were the same as before.
Most importantly, the second wife, Xu, had her power to manage the household affairs taken away again. However, this time, the power did not fall back into the hands of the third wife, Zhou, but was instead held by the old lady herself.
When the news spread, it immediately caused a stir in the mansion.
Some say that the second daughter-in-law got into a fight with the second son because of jealousy, which angered the old lady. Others say that it was because Granny Miao betrayed her mistress and secretly leaked the news from the mansion.
There were many different opinions and speculations within the mansion.
Su Zhihan listened intently, glancing at Chef Xu out of the corner of her eye, but remained silent. That day, Chef Xu returned with a sullen face and summoned Su Zhihan, instructing her to keep it a secret and not to spread the word. At the same time, Su Zhihan also learned that although Chef Xu was not implicated, she was still punished by losing three months' worth of monthly allowance, and even last year's bonus was gone.
“That’s not all.” Yinghong, who was processing chicken, stopped what she was doing and turned around to say, “I heard from my father that Manager Pang’s family, along with his godsons and apprentices, were all sent to the countryside.”
"Wow, really?" Cao's mother, who had been listening to the gossip, exclaimed in surprise.
She spoke the words, then thought back carefully; indeed, it had been quite some time since she had seen Steward Pang and his family. Cao Mama couldn't help but stammer, "It's almost the end of the year..."
As the year draws to a close, everyone, from royalty and nobility to ordinary citizens, hopes for a peaceful atmosphere. When it comes to neighborhood squabbles or petty theft, the government usually tries to mediate or postpone the matter until after the new year; this is even more true within the household.
Even if servants make mistakes, their masters will usually choose to let them off lightly so as not to spoil the festive atmosphere of the New Year.
This was the first time Cao Mama had ever seen the manor sell off its servants and drive away its stewards at such a critical juncture. She muttered a few worried words, but in the end, Su Zhihan's gaze at Chef Xu grew increasingly sharp, and she silently raised her elbow to nudge Cao Mama.
Cao's mother promptly shut her mouth and became much more efficient in her work.
At the same time, Jiang Zhenniang followed behind Xu Mama, lowering her eyes as she entered the house. As soon as the thick curtain was lifted, a wave of heat and a sweet, cloying fragrance rushed out. The smell was so strong that Jiang Zhenniang couldn't help but hold her breath, and it took her a long time to adjust.
She stood in the room with her head bowed and her expression composed, not daring to look up.
The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Third Sister Zhou sat on a stool, her gaze fixed on Jiang Zhenniang.
Logically, Jiang Zhenniang should have rewarded and praised the Second Mistress for discovering her unusual behavior. However, the prevailing atmosphere in the mansion only made Zhou Shi feel exhausted, and she couldn't care less about this matter.
Now that everything has settled down, Madam Zhou finally remembered the matter and called Jiang Zhenniang in to talk.
Seeing that Jiang Zhenniang was hanging her head and looking extremely reserved, she quickly asked someone to bring over a small stool for her to sit down, and then had someone bring over a fragrant drink for Jiang Zhenniang to drink.
Jiang Zhenniang had visibly become bolder.
Zhou smiled, but there was a hint of regret in her eyes: "You've done a great job this time."
If Jiang Zhenniang hadn't noticed Miao Mama searching for human traffickers, it would probably have taken several more days for everyone in the household to find out what Madam Xu had done.
If it had been a few days later, after the New Year's banquet, the joke about the Marquis of Zhonghou's mansion would probably have spread throughout the entire capital.
Nowadays, although there are some rumors circulating, as long as the year-end banquet is handled smoothly, those rumors will naturally disappear completely.
The old lady said she ate vegetarian food and worshipped Buddha every day, and was compassionate, but when she actually got into a fight, her momentum was still as fierce as it had been in her younger days, showing her thunderous methods.
When Zhou saw Xu's misfortune, the resentment in her heart vanished completely. The last bit of competitive spirit she had left disappeared without a trace after seeing the old lady's methods.
However, Madam Zhou still felt some pity for Jiang Zhenniang. She was generous with her rewards, giving Jiang Zhenniang a gilded silver headdress and a money pouch.
Jiang Zhenniang didn't notice at first, but after following Xu Mama out of the house and squeezing the money bag, she was surprised to find that the money bag was surprisingly thick.
Xu's mother led her into the back room.
Jiang Zhenniang wanted to share some of the rewards with Xu Mama, but when she opened the money pouch and glanced at the denominations of the paper money inside, she was immediately shocked: "...This is!"
Zhou was generous and naturally wouldn't give out small amounts of paper money like three or five strings of cash; each one was worth ten strings of cash.
The problem lies in the quantity.
Jiang Zhenniang's hands trembled as she counted the items: "This, this, this... Mama Xu, isn't this too much?"
There were ten of them, which is one hundred strings of cash.
When Jiang Zhenniang saw that Han Jie'er had set up a stall and was doing a great job, she asked her about it and learned that her daughter had saved up nearly a hundred strings of cash. Only then did she grit her teeth and spend fifty strings of cash to set up the stall.
Sister Han worked very hard to save up this sum of money.
Jiang Zhenniang was both surprised and delighted, but more surprised than delighted. Her hands, holding the money bag, trembled slightly: "Mama Xu, is this...is this a mistake, Madam? How...how could you give so much?"
"Didn't you say before that your daughter wanted to send someone to look for your eldest son?" Xu Mama seemed to know the amount of money involved, and appeared unusually calm. She looked up at Jiang Zhenniang and said, "You've already given me a reward, so you don't need to give me anything else."
After a pause, Xu's mother added, "Keep the money safe; you might need it someday."
Hearing this, Jiang Zhenniang responded verbally, but something felt off. After thinking for a moment, she quietly asked, "Mother, do you... do you know something?"
Xu's mother hesitated, then said, "Zhenniang..."
After a long pause, she took Jiang Zhenniang's hand, feeling deeply regretful: "I originally felt that we were destined to be together and wanted to adopt you as my daughter."
“Godmother, I am willing.” Jiang Zhenniang had already thought of this, and upon hearing this, she knelt down on the ground as Xu Mama said. However, before she could kneel down completely, Xu Mama pulled her back, her eyes filled with tears: “But you… but your indenture is not with the wife, but with the old lady.”
"The lady originally wanted to ask the old lady for your and your daughter's indentures so that they could return to the Xu family together, but she didn't expect the old lady to learn that you were Jiang Mama's daughter from back then, so she didn't agree..."
Jiang Zhenniang was still a little dazed. She was about to tell Xu Mama that it didn't matter if her indenture was still in the mansion, and that it was her own choice to recognize Xu Mama as her godmother.
Before she could finish speaking, she felt Madam Xu squeeze her hand tightly. Changing the subject, she said, "They say Steward Pang was sent back to the estate, but actually..."
Mrs. Xu said softly, "The Pang family was not sent to the estate."
"Could it be..." Upon hearing this, Jiang Zhenniang temporarily forgot what she originally wanted to say, and only looked at Xu Mama's face and shivered.
Jiang Zhenniang couldn't remember the conversation after that.
She returned home in a daze, her steps unsteady. As soon as she closed the door, she felt as if all her bones had been removed, and she collapsed to the ground.
Mother Miao's decision to seek out human traffickers to act as intermediaries in order to find ingredients caused a great uproar, which was a huge mistake. It was only natural that she would be sold off by the government.
But that Steward Pang had gone through a lot of trouble to purchase the necessary ingredients, so he had done a good job. They thought sending him to the countryside was already a severe punishment, but they never expected the manor to be so ruthless, even selling off an old man who had worked diligently in the manor for decades.
A chill ran through Jiang Zhenniang, causing her to shiver uncontrollably. Decades later, she finally recalled the conversation her parents had when they left the Marquis of Zhongyong's mansion.
"The girl is ruthless and shows no mercy."
"While we still have some influence with the girl, we should make a clean break as soon as possible."
“Zhenniang is naive; we must find a way for her.”
"If I really go with the girl, what if the girl makes her a concubine and she ends up like Hu Niangzi?"
My mother's cries seem like they happened just yesterday.
When Jiang Zhenniang was young, she did not understand her mother's thoughts. She only felt that after leaving the Marquis's mansion, life became increasingly difficult and her parents quarreled more and more.
Only now that I'm a mother myself, standing in the same position my mother was back then, do I understand why she resolutely left the Marquis's mansion.
She and her daughter had just escaped one danger only to fall into another. Jiang Zhenniang was in a state of utter confusion. Not wanting her daughter to worry, she forced herself to get up from the ground and sat blankly in front of the mud stove, poking at the fire tongs listlessly.
When Su Zhihan arrived home, she thought Jiang Zhenniang hadn't returned. But when she opened the door and saw Jiang Zhenniang poking at the stove that hadn't been lit, she was immediately stunned.
She closed the door and approached: "Mother?"
Jiang Zhenniang jumped in fright, dropping the fire tongs to the ground with a loud bang. She jumped up in fright, and after a long pause, seeing her daughter behind her, she breathed a sigh of relief and forced a smile: "Han'er? You, you're back? I was starting a fire… starting a fire…"
Jiang Zhenniang picked up the fire tongs and turned around to see the empty mud stove. She was stunned.
"Mother, what happened?"
"No, it's nothing."
“…Your face screams that something’s wrong.” Su Zhihan was both amused and exasperated. She took some charcoal, lit the clay stove, and put the food on it to keep it warm. Then she rummaged through the rice bag next to her and scooped out a spoonful of rice: “We’re almost out of white rice. I’ll buy more when I go out tomorrow, otherwise it might be hard to find later.”
“We don’t have much white rice, so we’ll just buy some brown rice,” Jiang Zhenniang replied instinctively. “If you want white rice, I’ll just buy it and grind it for you.”
? ? ? ? ?
Su Zhihan now truly realized that something was wrong with Jiang Zhenniang. After rinsing the white rice, she put it in a pot, added water, and cooked it. Then, after wiping her hands, she questioned, "Mother, why are you suddenly thinking about saving money?"
It's not that Jiang Zhenniang is wasteful, but ever since life gradually improved, she has frequently replaced and added things to the house, not to mention fabrics, headwear, and other items, which she has accumulated quite a bit of.
Just a couple of days ago, she bought brightly colored silk fabric, saying she wanted to make shoes and socks for herself, for her, and for Xu's mother and others.
“I used to be very frugal.”
“But last time when we were grinding brown rice, you complained that it was too hard on your hands and that you would just buy white rice from now on.”
Su Zhihan recalled Jiang Zhenniang's earlier words and then carefully examined Jiang Zhenniang's expression: "What exactly happened? Is there an urgent need for money somewhere... Wait? Mother, you didn't go to play cards with someone, did you?"
“How could that be!” Jiang Zhenniang immediately retorted. She detested anything related to gambling. Even though the card games played in the manor were mostly for entertainment, she kept her distance and would never touch them.
"Where would you need money?" Su Zhihan was completely puzzled. The mother and daughter didn't have many close friends in the mansion, most of whom were well-off and didn't have any problems, so there was no question of them borrowing money.
"...You know Steward Pang, right?"
“Yes, Yinghong said her whole family was sent back to their village in the countryside.” Su Zhihan didn’t understand why Jiang Zhenniang brought this up, but she could make some connections: “Is Mother worried that we’ve made a mistake? There’s no need to worry so much…”
“It’s not being sent back to the estate.” Upon hearing this, Jiang Zhenniang finally couldn’t help but interrupt Su Zhihan, tears streaming down her face.
"Mother?" Su Zhihan's heart skipped a beat. She guessed the gist of Jiang Zhenniang's words and remained silent for a while.
After a moment, Jiang Zhenniang finally came to her senses. She roused herself and told Su Zhihan that Steward Pang had not been sent back to the manor, but had been taken elsewhere to be sold. She also told her that Third Sister had failed to get the indentures of mother and daughter from the old lady.
Su Zhihan remained silent for a long time before finally saying, "Is Third Master... about to pass away?"
When Jiang Zhenniang heard Su Zhihan's words, she was first taken aback, and then subconsciously recalled the sweet and cloying fragrance she had smelled when she entered the room.
Jiang Zhenniang entered the room several times, and the fragrance she smelled was never this strong. It was either the scent of pears or plums, all of which were long-lasting, elegant and refreshing. But this time the scent was exceptionally strong, as if it were trying to cover something up.
Jiang Zhenniang thought for a moment and then realized what it was all about. Her fingers trembled slightly: "So that's how it is. No wonder you wanted to ask the old lady for our indentures."
Nowadays, marriage views are more open, and it is very common for widows to remarry among ordinary people, and it is not uncommon for them to do so in the homes of officials and the wealthy.
In addition, if a widow's family is wealthy and both her parents are still alive, many widows will choose to return to their parents' home to live, even if they do not choose to remarry.
Third Sister Zhou asked the old lady for a contract of indenture, hoping that after Third Young Master's death, she could bring Jiang Zhenniang and Su Zhihan home with her.
Jiang Zhenniang wiped away her tears, feeling both moved and regretful. She stuffed the money pouch she was clutching into Su Zhihan's hand and said in a trembling voice, "Third Sister gave me one hundred strings of cash, and Xu Mama also gave me twenty strings."
Su Zhihan glanced at it and became even more alarmed. No matter how great the merit, the manor would not directly give a hundred strings of cash as a reward. They usually preferred to reward the servants with jewelry and personal items, so that the servants would wear them, showing that the master valued and loved them, and also appearing rich and respectable.
Su Zhihan felt that there must be another reason for Third Sister's generosity. After thinking for a while and asking more questions, she quickly came to an answer: "Mother... are you worried that the manor will sell us off as well?"
Jiang Zhenniang was already restless and silently shedding tears. After hearing Su Zhihan's words, she sobbed even more: "My daughter and I have been in the manor for so long, and the old lady has never asked about me. Even if Third Miss knew, why did you have to tell the old lady about my background..."
While talking with Xu Mama, Jiang Zhenniang was already secretly wondering why the Third Sister would suddenly reveal her origins and why she couldn't even get her indenture.
After much deliberation, she finally came to a chilling answer: Could it be that the old lady had already decided to sell the mother and daughter off, which was why the Third Sister had to reveal their origins to dispel the old lady's thoughts?
However, after revealing their origins, both of them became the descendants of old servants in the manor. If they were to so easily hand over the indenture to the Third Mistress, it would seem that the manor was not acting with any kindness.
Jiang Zhenniang choked back tears as she slowly revealed her guess. She threw her soaked handkerchief aside and covered her mouth with a towel: "...Mama Miao's family was sold, Steward Pang's family was sold...Tell me, tell me."
“Things shouldn’t have gotten to that point yet.” Su Zhihan’s palms were sweating as she forced herself to calm Jiang Zhenniang down: “Look, nobody in the manor has brought this up anymore.”
The government's intention is to let the turmoil pass as soon as possible.
Su Zhihan never expected that the old lady would be so heartless, selling off the old woman she had served for decades.
Jiang Zhenniang stopped crying and choked out, "Really?"
Su Zhihan nodded and said to Jiang Zhenniang, "It seems that since Third Sister has graciously given you her hair and makeup and secretly given you money, she has the idea of reminding Mother to redeem herself."
"But how can we get the old lady to agree to our redemption?" Jiang Zhenniang calculated the money, her face full of worry: "Although with the money given by Third Sister, we can probably save up enough money to redeem ourselves if we save for a while longer."
As soon as Jiang Zhenniang spoke, she still felt dazed. The mother and daughter had sold themselves into the household to avoid the Su family and to pay off the gambling debts left by Su's father.
Su's father's gambling debts amounted to about 32 strings of cash, which was an astronomical figure for the mother and daughter six months ago, but now they have nearly 200 strings of cash in hand!
Even if they have to pay compensation to redeem themselves, plus the rent and living expenses after leaving the mansion, they only need to save for a while longer.
The difficulty lies in getting the host family to agree.
Jiang Zhenniang once overheard gossip about how in poor, low-class families would use various excuses to swindle money from servants who wanted to redeem themselves, then gag them and sell them off.
She had never contacted the Marquis of Zhongyong's residence before, but now she couldn't help but feel a little suspicious.
"...It shouldn't be that bad, right? The Marquis of Zhongyong's mansion is such a large mansion, wouldn't it become a laughing stock in the whole capital if it did such a thing?" Su Zhihan never expected that Jiang Zhenniang would go to such extremes. She used to trust the Marquis of Zhongyong's mansion as much as she could, but now she really doubted it completely.
"I'm just... worrying too much." Jiang Zhenniang saw the meaning in her daughter's eyes and looked embarrassed. She quickly changed the subject, saying, "Besides, what if your uncles and aunts come looking for us after we redeem ourselves and leave the manor?"
Mentioning this, Jiang Zhenniang couldn't hide her anxiety again, while Su Zhihan hesitated for a moment and whispered, "Do you still remember Uncle Li who sells tofu?"
Jiang Zhenniang certainly remembered, and also knew that her daughter was still working at Uncle Li's house selling tofu.
Seeing that Jiang Zhenniang remembered, Su Zhihan told her about the snow disaster last time. While they were chatting, Uncle Li told them that the villages around his home had also suffered. In many villages, eight or nine out of ten people froze to death, and most of the survivors could not survive in their original places and chose to go their separate ways to make a living.
"I asked around."
"..." Jiang Zhenniang's eyes widened, unsure whether to be happy or to feign shedding a few tears. She pressed down on the corners of her mouth, which she was trying to force a smile, swallowed, and said, "Could it be—"
Su Zhihan nodded and wiped away non-existent tears from the corners of her eyes: "Poor uncles and aunts, they went down to find Father so early. We used to think that Father was lonely down there. Now that the brothers are reunited, they will surely feel very close."
"That's right... cough cough!" Jiang Zhenniang laughed out loud, but then felt it was not right and quickly changed her words: "You child, why didn't you say so earlier? If we had known, we should have swept their graves, lit incense, and burned some paper money on the winter solstice."
People are still alive on the winter solstice.
Su Zhihan hesitated, glancing at Jiang Zhenniang, whose eyes were red and who was trying hard to suppress her laughter. After thinking for a moment, she swallowed back what she was about to say.
With her worries gone, Jiang Zhenniang, after laughing, began to discuss with her daughter how to get the master's permission to redeem herself and leave the mansion.
Su Zhihan had inquired about these things before, and then explained to Jiang Zhenniang the different types of exits from the Marquis's residence.
Or like Granny Zhao, who was expelled from the mansion but whose indenture was still in the mansion, or the mistress's concubine or foster mother who was able to leave the mansion after her husband's death, or like Jiang Zhenniang's mother who was released by grace. They were usually either old, had served for a long time and had a good relationship with the master, or their children chose to marry commoners and had to have their lowly status revoked.
"...Isn't this the only option?" Jiang Zhenniang was stunned upon hearing this. After her own ordeal, Jiang Zhenniang dared not casually choose a "suitable husband" for her daughter; who knew if he was a human or a ghost?
She climbed through the tiger's den again and again before finally getting her daughter out, and she didn't want to climb through the same place again.
"No, there is a way." Su Zhihan mentioned the matter she had discussed with Jiang Zhenniang before. She planned to send someone to the border to deliver a message to find her brother: "If my elder brother is still alive, that would be the best."
"If your brother were gone..."
“We’ll have someone impersonate him,” Su Zhihan said decisively without hesitation.
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