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Another report arrived, and the ministers of the Council of State were like crazy. They discussed the crimes of the three kings in one day and obtained the approval of Kangxi.
Prince An Yue Le was fined one year's salary because he was the main commander of the enemy troops who led them out of Changsha for battle, but he failed to defeat the enemy, resulting in the death of more than seventy people, the failure to collect their remains, and the loss of shipbuilding materials. However, his merits and demerits offset each other, so the punishment was lenient, and he was exempted from the dismissal of the Council of State and the Ministry of Clan Affairs, and his salary was fined one year.
Prince Kang Jieshu had his military merits stripped and his salary fined for one year because he "led a large army to Zhejiang, but failed to wipe out the bandits and pacify the local area to comfort me. Instead, he stayed in Hangzhou, Jinhua, and Youyou for several years, wasting food and money."
The worst off was Prince Jian Labu, who was stripped of his royal title. The reason was that as a general, he did not make advance arrangements during the campaign in Jiangxi, which led to defeats in Luozi Mountain and other places.
Shujia didn't know the details of the war, nor did she know how each individual performed during it. But judging by the punishments, the first two weren't serious, showing Kangxi's leniency. The second was much more difficult to deal with; even his title was revoked. Heshuo Jian, the hereditary, iron-hat prince, was stripped of his title.
Is Hua Shan, the prince consort, enough to make up for it?
No one dares to say it.
Shi Wenbing's brow furrowed as he wrote back, inquiring about the situation in Beijing. Shujia, breathless, obediently ground ink for him. It was December of the 21st year of the Kangxi reign, and the Lunar New Year was just a few days away. Receiving this news was truly depressing.
Shi Wenbing finished writing the letter and looked up at his daughter. Shujia was mechanically grinding ink, her head lowered in thought. He didn't notice anything unusual. But he still warned, "Don't tell your mother."
"Huh?" Shujia nodded blankly. Did he figure out something? Shi Wenbing saw her puzzled look and thought, how old is she? She has just read the news and probably can't understand the connotation. He smiled, blew on the letter, and after it was dry, folded it and put it in the envelope. Shujia was concerned and couldn't help but turn her eyes to the letter. Shi Wenbing rubbed her head and said, "It's getting late. Your nanny is still waiting outside. Go back quickly. You have to go to school tomorrow."
Shujia pursed her lips and went out with a lot on her mind.
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Shujia sat in her room, lost in thought, staring at the pages of her book. She flipped through the pages and realized that Hua Shan's problems were all caused by Kangxi's thoughts. She couldn't help but worry. Then she thought, even if he made a mistake, her father was still a hereditary earl and a vice-captain, so he wouldn't be implicated. And her great-uncle was now the governor, and he seemed to be quite respected by Kangxi. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been sent to the wealthy Zhejiang province to serve as governor.
She thought about it for a few days but had no answer at all - she knew too little information. She didn't even know what Hua Shan had done in the process of pacifying the Three Feudatories, or whether his merits and demerits could be offset. She really couldn't judge whether his situation was more serious or less serious than Prince Jian's.
The festive atmosphere in Hangzhou didn't diminish in the slightest. Everyone paid their respects and visited relatives and friends. Shi Wenbing, along with his wife and children, went to pay New Year's greetings to Shi Lin. Then, they paid a visit to the Hangzhou general, Mahada, and together they left the camp to meet the governor and the provincial governor. Shujia collected a large number of purses filled with various New Year's coins, a bountiful harvest. Then, Shi Wenbing waited at home for others to come and pay their respects.
Judging from the treatment they received when they went out, the situation of the Shi family might not be that bad.
At this time, letters from home arrived from the north. Shujia had not seen the one addressed to Shi Wenbing, but there were letters from Fu Dali and Qingde, greeting each other and addressed to Xiluo. Xiluo ordered Shuxian and Shujia to read one letter each. The contents of the letters were roughly the same, but they said everything was fine at home and there was no need to worry. They also said that they had received the new clothes and they fit them perfectly.
Amidst this anxiety, the 22nd year of the Kangxi Emperor arrived. The first month of the year was marked by various taboos and a variety of fun activities. Apart from the specter of punishment, the suspension of classes and the absence of anything else during the first month of the year seemed incredibly relaxing. This time, Shujia had learned her lesson, but she didn't dare slack off. She kept up her daily writing and reading schedule. Her needlework, though slowed by the New Year's traditions, did pause, though she managed to make two brocade threads in her spare time.
There was only one major event concerning her during the first month of the year—Shi Xiluo Te was going to match her and her sisters with two maids of similar age. Shi Xiluo Te had already made her selections before heading south, and the maids she brought with her were mindful of the age balance. Shujia's sisters, Chunxi and Xiaxi, were already in their teens and ready for marriage, while the maids were aging and could no longer provide for her; it was time for them to retire. It was the right time to start pairing them with younger maids, so they could be trained and brought up slowly, and used later as they got to know each other better.
Shujia and Shuxian sat on the left and right of Xiluo. There were three rows of people kneeling on the floor in the room. The housekeeper led several little maids to kneel on the floor. Zhang Lujia said, "Madam, these are all the girls we brought this time. We will pick the girls first. We also know a few of the traffickers from outside. We have to be more careful when buying the one we like." At the same time, she introduced that this was the daughter of a certain family and what her parents did.
Xiluo Te asked the sisters to choose their partners. Shujia asked Shuxian first. Shuxian picked two girls: one was the daughter of the Wu family, a needleworker whose father was a rickshaw driver, and the other was the daughter of the Zhao family, a laundryman. Xiluo Te asked Shujia again, "Which one do you want?" Shujia thought for a moment and chose the daughter of Wang You, who had gone out with Shi Wenbing, and the other was the daughter of the Qian Hui family, an accountant.
The four little girls, all around seven or eight years old, were neatly dressed. Their parents were respectable—unrespectable children wouldn't be chosen to serve the young lady, and one must believe that Mrs. Xiluo wouldn't bring anyone to her daughters without first selecting them—and they seemed to have received some education in their own home. Mrs. Xiluo asked for the names of several of the maids, but finding some of them unpleasant, she intended to give them all regular names. In the future, the maids' chambermaids would take a backseat, and with the increasing number of maids, it would be convenient to name them next to each other.
Xiluo Te's maids were named after flowers and plants, so she let her daughters choose their own names, but they had to follow a certain pattern. Shuxian named her maids more conventionally, after jewels: the Wu family's maid was called Pearl, and the Zhao family's was called Amber.
Shujia silently wiped away a mouthful of blood, telling herself that the young woman before her was her sister, not Jia Baoyu's grandmother. She abandoned the use of words like "qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting," and renamed Wang You's daughter "Hongxiu" and Qian Hui's daughter "Qingjin"—sounding more like a young master's maid. Xiluotai was quite receptive to Shuxian's names, but she found Shujia's names less catchy, but she didn't object because she couldn't bear to offend Shujia.
The young maids had to be trained and educated before they were selected. They were then assigned to different rooms and courtyards and given detailed instruction by senior servants. Nanny Yin was in charge of Shujia's place. When Shujia arrived at the courtyard, Nanny Yin was explaining the important matters, such as when to get up and when to go to bed.
Shujia waited until Nanny Yin finished speaking before she said, "It's the New Year, it's not easy. Give them separate rooms, so they don't have to live here all the time. Let them go home to see their parents, and come back to obey orders after the first month of the year." Nanny Wuya said, "Now that the young lady is here, they are already residents of this courtyard, and their parents will not be in charge of them. It's the young lady's kindness, but we can't let them get into trouble." In the end, she agreed with Shujia's approach and asked Hongxiu and Qingjin to kowtow to express her gratitude.
Shujia internally stuck out her tongue and stopped talking. When she went back into the room to read, Chunxi still grumbled, "Young lady, you're so kind to us servants." Shujia smiled at her and listened as Wuya Mama spoke in a moderately loud voice, "Young lady is kind, but you must not break the rules. Your parents also have to work, and they don't see us when they go home during the day. From now on, you still have to come and serve during the day and learn the rules. You're allowed to go home at night." She then went on to say a few more rules.
Shujia pointed out the window and said to Chunxi, "Mammy, you've said it all. I'm embarrassed to keep a straight face." She blinked and Chunxi smiled and turned away.
The first month of the year was filled with things to do, from visiting relatives and friends to celebrating the Lantern Festival. It was a time for fun, and the days flew by. By the time I sat in class again, it was already February. Hongxiu and Qingjin had returned to their duties, and when they returned home that day, their parents were shocked, believing they had been sent home for some misdeed. They finally felt relieved after hearing what the maid who had escorted them back had to say. They couldn't help but scold their daughter again when they got home.
Hongxiu was more lively, while Qingjin was silent. They were little girls after all, and Shujia could tell they all seemed to understand what was going on. She didn't say much. Nanny Wuya and Nanny Yin were watching. As they put it, "Once you're in charge, you can't break the rules. The young ladies can do whatever they want with them, but the servants must teach them everything they need to know before they can even answer the mistress."
She also hinted that Shujia should not indulge them: "Miss, you have a good heart and love them. But think about it, you love them now, but can you indulge them for the rest of their lives? Doesn't Madam love you too? Why ask you to learn needlework when there are people at home who do needlework? Let you suffer a little now, and you will know the benefits when you grow up." Shujia was silent. The sentence 'can you indulge them for the rest of their lives' really hit the nail on the head.
But looking at the first-grade girls, I really couldn't bear it. Using child labor is always a cause for concern. Well, Mammy was right. If they really didn't know how to do anything, their lives would be truly tragic. But Shujia decided to be kind to others within her control. Making things convenient for others is also convenient for herself.
Besides, these days, maids and young ladies are symbiotic, some practically serving as lifelong companions. They accompany the young lady as she grows up, and when she gets married, some maids become concubines, helping to win over the son-in-law, while others marry the housekeepers, becoming the housekeeper's wife and helping to secure the reins of the household. As for betrayal, it's a rare occurrence in melodramatic dramas—the maids who grew up with the young lady, the maids who came with the dowry, and any conditions required them to be chosen from among the family's own daughters. The entire family is with the young lady's family, hereditary servants, with shared interests and guaranteed loyalty.
Shujia was absolutely certain that the two girls came from families that were at least trusted by the Xiluo family. Bringing them here meant they could be trusted. How precious! Someone you might spend your entire life with, naturally, had to be treated well.
Shujia had put a lot of thought into selecting the right person. Hongxiu's father was also a prominent figure in the outside world, and he was specifically in charge of traveling with Shi Wenbing, so he would be well-informed. Qingjin's family was in charge of the accounting department, so their importance was self-evident. Shujia also felt very sorry. Fuhai's family had a maid who came with Xiluo Te as a dowry, but unfortunately, his daughter was old and had already married in Beijing before going south to Hangzhou. She married the son of Bai Shou, the steward of the second gate of the mansion. Zhang Lu's family, however, had no daughter.
Shujia fell asleep while thinking.
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