Chapter 086 Chapter 86

It was noon in the Hanlin Academy when Shen Linfeng looked up from his pile of books and heard someone outside say that his servant had brought him food. This was the first day after Mr. Shen and his wife left.

After seeing his parents off in the morning, he came to work at the yamen. Unexpectedly, his family brought him lunch at noon.

I heard Brother Xiaoqing say, "Master, today it happens that Madam Liu and Miss Liu are here, and our grandmother asked someone to prepare roasted pig. She picked some vegetables and asked me to bring them over, saying that you like this."

"My wife always thinks of me for everything." Shen Linfeng was very happy.

There were four dishes in the lunch box: a plate of roasted pork, a plate of three-strand dried tofu, a plate of cold and hot cabbage, a plate of goose with five flavors and apricot cheese, as well as two snacks: lotus crisps and jade bean cake. The staple food was a bowl of yellow rice and a bowl of tung bark noodles, all served in extremely small bowls.

The most thoughtful thing is that his wife knew that he didn't drink alcohol while working, so she specially sent him lactose real snow.

Shen Linfeng's peers in the Hanlin Academy thought that what his family sent was very ordinary, not the grand banquet that they had imagined by aristocratic families. Of course, the most interesting thing was that Shen Linfeng actually ate Lactose Real Snow first.

One of the editors from Lu even laughed and said, "Brother Gongding, why are you eating this? Isn't this something that girls and children like to eat?"

Shen Linfeng waved his hands: "My throat hurts, I need some ice."

Actually, when he was a child, his family always told him that eating this would upset his stomach, so they didn't let him eat too much. Recently, when Yao Niang was eating, he would deliberately tell her not to waste the food she couldn't finish and to give it to him. Yao Niang was not the kind of person who would let others eat her leftovers, and he would even ask someone outside to bring her an extra portion.

It's really delicious. I can finish the meal with just one hand, so it won't be wasted.

Yao Niang and Madam Liu also had a very happy meal together. She said, "My birthday is in ten days. I would like to invite Madam to come to my house again then."

"Are you not going to hold the coming-of-age ceremony?" asked Mrs. Liu.

Yao Niang smiled and said, "The coming-of-age ceremony requires a hairpin to be inserted, but I have already combed my hair up, so I thought it would be easy on that day. I can just invite everyone to come over for dinner and play for a while. I don't plan to invite outsiders."

Mrs. Liu said, "I will come to your birthday. Now that your parents-in-law have left, you are the head of the family. If there is anything I can help you with, just tell me."

"I won't be polite with you. Now we have three families separated. We have rebuilt the wall and installed a door between us and the second house. It will be more convenient to invite guests to our separate houses, and Sister Shan can come to play with me often." Yao Niang said with a smile.

Yao Niang invited Madam Liu to come over to ask her for advice on household matters. Madam Liu was young and yet she was in charge of a household, so she should learn from her.

Mrs. Liu said without reservation: "The first priority for a housekeeper is to be strict with the family. Only when the family is strict can the home be safe. Otherwise, even if you are a good housekeeper, if someone breaks in to steal something or sets a fire, you will be in trouble."

"That makes sense, but most of the servants in this family were left behind by my mother-in-law, and I'd like to take this opportunity to see if they really lean towards me." Yao Niang had an idea instantly.

Mrs. Liu also liked to eat the Shen family's roasted piglet. After eating a piece of it, she said, "The second is that everyone should do their job, and finally, rewards should be given according to merit and punishments should be given according to crime."

These three points are easier said than done.

But a steward, like a manager, must enforce orders.

After seeing Madam Liu off at noon, Yao Niang called all the servants from the main house. Some of them were her dowry participants, and many were originally from the Shen family.

"I called you here because I will be in charge of the eldest wife's family from now on. I don't know you and I don't know what you are good at. Five people each come forward and tell us your name, age, what you are good at and where you have worked before. That's all." Yao Niang didn't like to talk about feelings deliberately. If she played the emotional card with these unfamiliar people now, she would be looked down upon.

Hongxiu was there to inquire about the matter. She was the eldest maid and usually served as Yao Niang's servant. She learned to read and write, which was different from other maids.

In fact, now that Madam Shen has left, Yao Niang is most worried about the spies from the second and third rooms, especially Madam Shen II. She often helps Madam Shen with household management, and she doesn't know how many people she has stuffed in.

When Hongxiu was recording, Yao Niang was listening beside her.

The servants were originally terrified, but when they saw Hongxiu just made a note and let them go first, they also breathed a sigh of relief. Yao Niang did the second thing, and asked people to clean up the courtyards that were not occupied, and then locked them up. For example, the courtyard where Shen Bangyan and his wife lived and the courtyard where Han Ruohua and Shen Mo lived were no longer occupied. All the items in them were registered and placed in the warehouse.

After finishing her work, she was very tired, so she lay on the couch and took a nap. In the evening, she drank a bowl of soup and went to bed.

Mrs. Shen Er's side is also seeing new buds sprouting from the old tree. After Mrs. Shen left, she became the de facto hostess. Therefore, today she specially called craftsmen and carpenters to renovate the house and make furniture for her, and she was busy and happy.

That evening, I heard Mother Qian say, "The big house has started registering and has locked up all the empty courtyards."

"Really? She's a smart person. Even though her methods are immature now, she can still build a framework to some extent." Mrs. Shen Er was not very happy about the division of the family property as she had wished.

The house in the capital was divided equally, but according to Second Madam Shen's observation, the first wife's income was obviously more than the second and third wives. She helped Madam Shen to manage some things many times, and the money deposited from outside was very large, so Second Madam Shen suspected that Old Lady Shen was partial to her.

When the family was divided, Old Lady Shen said that except for the eldest branch of the family, which had some extra land, the rest of the property was to be divided equally. However, the eldest branch's income was much higher than that of the second branch. It was definitely a private affair. When she married, her parents-in-law disliked her family because it was in decline. She was much more capable than her eldest sister-in-law, but they only praised her eldest sister-in-law.

Whenever Shen Linfeng goes out, he would invite everyone in Chunfeng Manyue Tower to a drink, and he would bring a lot of peonies. The eldest sister-in-law would casually spend hundreds of taels to prepare a wedding for her niece. However, the second branch of the Shen family is completely different.

"How is the Second Madam's health? She has been married for more than half a year, how come there is no movement at all?" asked Mrs. Shen.

Mother Qian shook her head and said, "I don't know what happened in this brother's room."

Second Mrs. Shen sometimes had a bold idea that if Shen Linfeng was gone, everything in the first house would belong to her.

Before she could react, she heard someone outside come in to announce the good news: "Second Madam, the eldest grandmother of the Bi family is pregnant, and someone is sending someone to announce the good news."

Mrs. Shen thought, why should she be happy? She is not her own daughter-in-law. But she waved her hand and said to Mother Qian, "Please send someone to bring some supplements for me."

The Bi family is her natal family, and she relies on her to take care of her. In the past, Mrs. Shen Er was afraid of being laughed at when the Bi family came to visit, but now she just gives away the supplements at home, and no one will say anything.

However, she thought of another thing. Previously, the main kitchen was managed by Mrs. Shen. The family invited chefs from Fujian, Zhejiang and Guangdong. No matter who came, they all praised the food in the Shen family kitchen.

But now when Mr. Shen and his wife returned home, they brought two cooks with them. Yan also said that her family had four departments and six bureaus as a dowry, so the first room had a special kitchen. The food they ate today was still sent by the first room, but tomorrow the door between the two rooms would be closed, and the first room would not send any meals.

"Mother Qian, send someone to Chunfeng Manyue Tower to reserve a banquet tomorrow, and then send someone to invite the chef." Mrs. Shen said.

Compared to the head of the household, the Third House was a mess. Before Lu Shaner came, Mrs. Shen had been the housekeeper. The Third House did not give money, so the First House helped to cover it. Mrs. Shen had been a clan wife for many years and did not care about these things. Grandma Qing and Grandma Jiang also respected Mrs. Shen very much, and sent everything good to her.

But now that the third branch has split up, Lu Shan'er and Grandma Qing both thought that the other would be the housekeeper. When Shen Xun left, he asked Madam Shen to take care of them. The third branch has six sons, three of whom have started families, and the other three are studying in Beijing. This is a large family, and they now feel that it is tiring and troublesome, and no one is willing to take over, for fear that there will be less money in the account and they will have to supplement it, so no one is willing to take the initiative.

As usual, Yao Niang asked the kitchen to deliver meals to the two rooms today. After all, she was inviting Madam Liu and her daughter today, and she also wanted to give the servants in the first room a good meal. So she didn't delay and let them eat their own meals tomorrow.

The next morning, breakfast was prepared by the former Shen family chef. This chef was trained in Cantonese cuisine, so he made very good soup and snacks. Yao Niang asked him to be responsible for breakfast. Usually, Yao Niang liked to eat Cantonese breakfast, but today she stipulated that she would only cook the breakfast of the eldest wife.

She didn't have to greet him, as she could have a good sleep after having dinner with Shen Linfeng.

It was okay with Mrs. Shen Er, she called from outside, but it was not so timely.

Elder Shen Er was still unhappy and said, "Why is it mutton steamed buns? I never eat leeks and mutton in the morning. I always eat shrimp cakes in the morning. And this porridge is bean porridge. I don't eat mixed bean porridge. It's easy to get bloating."

This was the first time that Mrs. Shen felt that her husband, with whom she had lived for so many years, was a stranger.

She had no choice but to hold back and said, "Tomorrow, I'll ask the chef to come over tomorrow."

I was used to eating in the public kitchen every day, but when Mrs. Shen left, I realized that it was difficult to satisfy everyone's taste. Fortunately, Mrs. Shen Er was one of the few people in my family. After Mr. Shen Er and Shen Bangyan left, it was just the two of them, the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law, who had the banquet at Chunfeng Manyue Tower, and they didn't complain much.

The third branch was in a terrible situation. There were six brothers in the branch, some of them had different mothers. As the eldest sister-in-law, Grandma Qing had to buy seven portions, including Lu Shan'er. She didn't want to be a sucker.

Grandma Qing opened the box to get some snacks and asked Shen Linqing to go outside to eat. Grandma Jiang was pregnant, and Mrs. Shen asked the kitchen to start cooking in order to take care of her. But now nothing has been delivered. She hasn't even reacted to the division of the family property. She held her belly and said, "What's going on? Why is the kitchen so late today? Aunt Nan, come with me to ask the first house what's going on? It's okay to let me go hungry, but you can't let the baby in your belly go hungry."