Chapter 147 If you piss me off, I'll chop you all up with one knife!
The side rooms of the second courtyard are well-ventilated from north to south, with open windows allowing for a cool breeze.
Little Fatty sat on the straw mat playing with wooden toys, Dan Niang sat at the door cutting meat, and Yao Shisan sat to the side skewering meat.
Dan Niang had met many employers before, and they would be scolded for even glancing at them, let alone asking them to do work.
"Madam Yao, I'll go and light the charcoal fire in a bit, and I'll grill some for you first."
Yao Shisan gathered the skewered meat together to the side.
"I just had some fish porridge from Xiaopangxi, and now I'm getting extra special treatment for myself. Before autumn even arrives, these clothes will be several sizes too small."
Dan Niang laughed.
Little Fatty didn't know what his mother and aunt were laughing at, but he grinned from ear to ear.
"Knock knock knock!"
There was a knock at the door.
"I'll go take a look." Dan Niang made a move to get up.
Yao Shisan stopped her, "There's only a little left, you can cut it. Please wash your hands again, I'll go check."
The courtyard wasn't very big to begin with, and Shuang'er and Aunt Zhang used to do the cleaning and chores.
Everyone has their own things to do now, and we still need to buy two more maids.
The door was being knocked on loudly.
It was as urgent as a death warrant.
"Coming, coming, don't rush me!"
Yao Shisan has lived here for so long and has never encountered such an rude person.
When I opened the door, there were two strangers inside.
She frowned slightly. "Who are you looking for?"
"We're looking for Luo Danniang."
Granny Duan peeked through the crack in the door. Smooth, large blue bricks! Pillars as thick as a man's embrace! If she could live in a house like that, she would die content!
Yao Shisan noticed the fleeting greed on their faces and said, "You've come to the wrong place."
As the door closed, a muddy foot reached in.
"We all saw it. Duan Feiyang even came to deliver fish and called Luo Danniang out!"
Duan Feicheng impatiently pushed open the door.
"Don't meddle in our family affairs!"
After her son finished speaking, Granny Duan reached out and patted his arm, saying, "What are you doing? You scared him."
Then she looked at Yao Shisan with a smile on her face, "You also work in this mansion, right? Danniang is my eldest daughter-in-law. She's been out for a long time, and I was worried about her, so I came to check on her."
“Hey, my eldest daughter-in-law is ambitious and wants to leave home. She persuaded my eldest son to come to the city, and now no one is farming the land at home.”
“It’s good that the children are ambitious, but they have been away from home for several months and have only been back once. I’m really worried.”
Yao Shisan glanced at him coldly, "What does this have to do with me?"
"If you don't move aside, I'll call the authorities and have you arrested."
Duan Feicheng and Granny Duan stood guard at the door, neither of them moving.
Granny Duan glanced at her youngest son, knowing this wasn't the place to throw a tantrum. "Call Luo Dan's mother out, and we'll move aside."
Yao Shisan turned to the side, and they thought things were looking promising.
"Little Bone!"
"Woof woof woof!!—"
A large yellow dog, about half a person's height, rushed out with its fangs bared.
"There's a dog!"
Duan Feicheng was quicker; he pushed his mother aside and ran off first.
Granny Duan was so angry that she chased after him, cursing as she went!
When Yao Shisan told Danniang about this, Danniang laughed and then burst into tears.
"Originally, Duan Feicheng was the one who proposed to me. But when I was about to get married, my mother fell ill, and all the money in the family was used to treat her."
“The dowry that was originally agreed upon could not be provided, and Duan Feicheng wanted to break off the engagement, saying that my family cheated me out of money.”
“My family was already destitute at that time. We had used all the dowry money to treat my illness, so where would we get any more money?”
Dan Niang smiled and said, "In the end, the Duan family saw that they had already spent money, so they couldn't do a losing business. They let me marry the eldest son, Duan Feiyang. So the old lady always thought that I was a wife that his family bought with money."
"Even though my younger brother worked for more than three years and saved up ten taels of silver to send to me, and even though the old lady took the money, she still thought I was bought and my sister-in-law was married into the family."
Yao Shisan patted her hand, "Your life is in your own hands. Don't be afraid. They won't dare to do anything to you here."
Dan Niang shook her head. "I saw it all a long time ago. Even if I presented them with gold bricks, I wouldn't get a single kind word. Besides, they almost killed my Xuan'er."
Yao Shisan said, "When you go through life, you will always encounter some unpleasant things and unpleasant people. Don't let them trip you up halfway."
"Protect your money; that's what gives you confidence in the future."
Dan Niang smiled, her eyes crinkling. "Now I finally understand why I like this place. We think the same thing."
She had barely finished speaking when there was another knock at the door.
Dan Niang's eyebrows furrowed, and she gritted her teeth, saying, "This shameless mother and son dare to come here!"
"I want to see what they're up to!"
"Danniang..."
Yao Shisan couldn't stop her; Dan Niang had already rushed off to open the door with her knife in hand.
He looked like he was about to risk his life.
She shook her head with amusement. Dan Niang wasn't one to suffer a loss, and she figured that the Duan family mother and son wouldn't dare to make a move here.
"You dare come here again! If you piss me off, I'll chop you all up with one knife!"
Dan Niang opened the door with a fierce and menacing look on her face.
But it wasn't the Duan family mother and son outside the door; instead, it was a young woman with scars all over her face.
The young woman was so frightened by the kitchen knife in her hand that she took two steps back.
Dan Niang realized what was happening and quickly hid the knife behind her back. "Sorry, I startled you. Who are you looking for?"
"I... my name is Hu Chunniang, and I'm looking for Yao Niangzi."
Chunniang looked at Danniang, whom she had never seen before, and her fingers trembled slightly as she clenched them.
"I...I used to be a wet nurse..."
Her voice trailed off. If she hadn't made a mistake, how could she have lost such a good job?
"Oh, oh... wait a moment, I'll go call Madam Yao."
Dan Niang had never asked how the wet nurse had resigned, and now that she had returned covered in wounds, she couldn't let her in just out of pity.
"Chunniang?"
Yao Shisan never expected that Chunniang would come back.
“Tell her that we don’t need any more people right now, and that she should go find work somewhere else.”
"Oh, okay."
Danniang relayed Yao Shisan's words, and Chunniang's eyes darkened slightly.
Then, a helpless twitch appeared at the corner of her lips. "Th-thank you..."
Dan Niang felt sorry for her and pointed her in a direction.
"Rongji is hiring, you can give it a try. The employer is a bit stingy, but at least you'll be able to survive."
Seeing her sincere expression, Chunniang nodded before leaving.
Dan Niang looked at her unsteady steps and sighed softly.
"Sigh, what a day this has been like..."
"Luckily, the kids will be back soon, and only seeing their little faces can make me feel happy!"
When the children returned, chattering away, Danniang was starting a fire.
"Mother."
Xuan'er ran up and hugged her mother's leg.
The children chattered and gathered around. A piece of meat with alternating layers of fat and lean meat was placed on the stove, and soon it began to sizzle and ooze oil.
The fragrance instantly filled the entire courtyard.
It even drifted outside the wall, making the people outside drool!
"That idiot! He's living the high life inside!"
Granny Duan only knows that her eldest son's family is now living in the city and has forgotten that her parents-in-law and younger brother-in-law are still at home!
"Mother! It's my eldest brother!"
Duan Feicheng had sharp eyes and spotted Duan Feiyang immediately.
He felt a pang of jealousy. He was the first one to learn to swim when he was a child. What was this "naval officer" thing? It's just swimming, right? He could swim too!
With three taels of silver a month being so easy to earn, who would be willing to toil away farming, where a three-month harvest might only yield a maximum of two taels?
His older brother swam around in the water for a few seconds and he already weighed nine ounces!
Granny Duan nimbly darted out in one step, shouting, "Boss!"
She grabbed her eldest son by the collar with such force that she showed no trace of her previous excuses about needing to take care of her granddaughter because of hand pain.
"mother?"
Duan Feiyang glanced at his superior, Lord Zhou, and immediately pulled Granny Duan a few steps toward the wall.
"Mother, how did you find this place?"
Duan Feicheng snorted, "Mother, now that my eldest brother has become rich by following a powerful figure, he looks down on us country bumpkins."
Granny Duan was always a good person. She slapped her youngest son and said, "What nonsense are you talking about? From childhood to adulthood, what has your eldest brother never given you? Don't be ungrateful."
Then she turned to her eldest son with concern, "Eldest son, you've lost weight. Did Dan Niang not cook for you?"
Duan Feiyang chuckled, "No, Dan Niang used to bring us food all the time, but she's busy now. Besides, there's food in the camp, so we won't go hungry."
Granny Duan glared at him disapprovingly, "Your own husband is working himself to the bone outside, what is she busy with? Can she possibly earn you an ingot of gold?"
“Mother, you don’t know, Dan Niang is now helping the master take care of the children, earning three taels a month! She’s sheltered from the wind and rain, where else can you find such a good job? I can just do whatever I want!”
He smiled smugly, feeling proud that his wife could earn money too.
Looking at his smiling face, Duan Feicheng felt even more envious.
The couple earns six taels a month, and a total of seventy-two taels a year!
Granny Duan was also surprised, "Just taking care of the children? Nothing else?"
"Don't let your wife run away before you even know it!"
"Mother, what are you saying!" Duan Feiyang's face darkened. "The mistress of the house is a good person. Xuan'er is even going to school with the young lady of the manor."
"Yes, yes, Mother misspoke. I was just worried that Dan Niang would suffer a loss."
Granny Duan quickly tried to comfort him; she knew her eldest son best—he was easy to coax and deceive.
He handed over his money with just a few words.
"Hey boss, could you ask around if they need anyone else? Your sister-in-law stays home and takes care of the kids, she's really good at it!"
Money and work.
Of course, you should choose the job: the egg-laying hen.
Duan Feiyang thought of his two nephews, who were as black as charcoal, and whose winter coats were so black they shone with blackness that they never washed them.
"this……"
Judging from the way his sister-in-law takes care of the child, even he, let alone the clean and tidy landlady, can't stand it anymore.
Seeing his unwilling expression, Granny Duan plopped down on the ground.
"Eldest son, it's not that your mother is forcing you, it's just that this year's harvest is really bad, and your father's old ailment has flared up again! We don't even have money left to buy medicine!"
"Mother, get up first. If the family needs money, I'll give you some."
Duan Feiyang helped Duan Pozi up.
Duan Feicheng's eyes lit up, and he was about to reach out when Duan's mother, who had stood up, slapped his hand away.
“You don’t earn money easily, so we can’t always take your money.”
"Actually, your parents' farming is enough for us to make a living. It's just that your little nephew is getting old and should be sent to school."
Granny Duan had an expression on her face that said, "It's all for your own good."
"When your younger brother and sister-in-law have jobs and earn their own money, they won't need to ask you for money anymore!"
Duan Feiyang was persuaded by his mother.
Danniang just thought her brother's family was a bottomless pit, too lazy to do any work at home.
When my sister-in-law has a job and my brother stays home to farm, they can both earn money, so there won't be any conflicts.
"I'll ask later..."
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