Chapter 167: The First Lesson for a Young Lady
Early morning.
Officer Xiao He, the official who had greeted them yesterday, delivered a large stack of indentures.
Sending people without their indentures—who did he think he was looking down on?
Officer Xiao He had returned home last night and had nightmares.
Although he had experienced the Rebels breaking into the Prefecture City and had seen people killed.
However, he had never seen anyone kill such a beautiful woman right in front of him.
Generally, a man, whether he was a Rebel or not, shouldn’t have the immediate urge to kill such a beautiful young woman upon seeing her.
The Jiang Family was somewhat abnormal; they were a bit too terrifying.
Officer Xiao He had thought about it all night, and upon waking up early, his first task was to rush over to deliver the indentures.
Other Rebels might not care, but Lord Sima surely would.
He had also deliberately observed them yesterday.
He was specifically responsible for greeting and entertaining Rebels who had been granted amnesty, so he was well-versed in this routine.
When other Rebel families saw the high gates and deep courtyards, they all looked excited, their voices grew louder, and they couldn’t hide their joy.
As for Commander Jiang’s family, let alone his family members, even a servant woman was incredibly calm, and she even seemed to have many complaints while looking at the courtyard.
It is said that to observe the most genuine reaction of a household, one should look at their infant.
Because infants are too young to hide their feelings, a child’s reaction is usually the most genuine reflection of the whole family.
As it turned out, the child acted the most indifferent, and judging by her eyes, she even seemed quite critical.
This made Officer Xiao He’s heart drum constantly; could the background check have been wrong?
The Jiang the Second family couldn’t possibly be ordinary; just looking at Jiang the Second’s face, he couldn’t be ordinary either.
Looking at Commander Jiang’s face, one could understand why his family didn’t even glance at Xiao Fengxian before cutting her down with a sword.
Xiao Fengxian wasn’t as good-looking as Commander Jiang.
Of course, Officer Xiao He didn’t dare to look too much.
In any case, judging by the behavior of the Jiang Family’s youngest infant, not only were they not awed by this grand mansion, but they also found quite a few faults with it.
It was just that The Eldest Miss of the Jiang Family acted a bit unsophisticated, but that was surely an act. She was the only daughter-in-law of the Meng Family in the capital, and the Meng Family had only one heir; people in the Prefecture City all knew this tidbit.
Wasn’t it the Meng Family who came to the Prefecture City to buy a mansion a while ago? That mansion wasn’t any smaller than this one.
Thinking about it this way, he felt they were becoming increasingly inadequate. Using this little bit of property to test an official like Commander Jiang—what a load of nonsense; it wasn’t even as good as what they already possessed.
Upon delivering the indentures early in the morning, he was received by the same servant woman who had been holding Commander Jiang’s young daughter yesterday.
Commander Jiang did not appear, but Officer Xiao He did not feel slighted; on the contrary, he breathed a sigh of relief.
However, the servant woman took the indentures, looked them over, and asked him with a kind face, “Officer Xiao He, where are the indentures for the entire families of these maids, Liu Yue, Qinghe, and Lücao? You’ve only sent one person’s indenture for each. If they are held hostage, we wouldn’t dare to keep them. Either take them back, or bring the whole family together, don’t you agree?”
Officer Xiao He, who had just breathed a sigh of relief, felt sweat breaking out on his forehead again for no reason after hearing this question.
…Why was he being held in check by an old servant woman?
Why did the phrase “the whole family together” sound so unsettling here?
Officer Xiao He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said, “Yes, yes, you are absolutely right. I will bring their families and their indentures immediately.”
Having received his new task, Officer Xiao He trotted back.
Aunt Yin watched the man and felt that he was unreliable; he only cared about the present and not the consequences, so he had no future.
Even Little Huang from Ming County did things better than him; at least he was thorough and considered things more carefully.
In the morning, no strange maids crowded around her; it was still Great-Aunt who dressed and washed her.
Breakfast was also prepared by Mother and her elder sister.
Other than the place being a bit larger, it felt just like being at home; there wasn’t much difference.
It was just that her brother-in-law seemed to have a bump on his forehead.
Her brother-in-law’s head was a bit soft and often swelled up with bumps.
Jiang Mianmian ate her breakfast unhurriedly—a bowl of small noodles, a bowl of small wontons—and she even slurped on a vegetable stalk, spitting out half of the stem, making it perfectly clear that she was a picky eater.
After eating.
Great-Aunt took Mother, her elder sister, and her to organize the maids and manservants in the mansion.
Her brother-in-law, older brother, and Father had gone out together.
Everyone had been gathered by Great-Aunt.
Since they had just arrived last night, they hadn’t let them run around.
So many people were now gathered in the central courtyard, the square that looked like a large playground.
Jiang Mianmian was in the room with Mother, Great-Aunt, and her sister, and they could see them by looking outside.
There were men and women, old and young, and some even wearing theatrical costumes; a rough count showed there were over a hundred people.
She didn’t know until she looked; it was quite a shock.
Jiang Mianmian thought, how many people were in her own family? She could count them on one hand.
There were over a hundred people serving them; this was just too many.
Qin Luoxia also felt it was too many.
In the village, everyone managed their own affairs, and the people her husband had gathered were all capable of working and producing.
She swept her eyes over them; there were one hundred and forty-seven.
If they all lived in this mansion, they would have to pay salaries every month. How could her husband have enough money? He couldn’t just go out and hunt bitterly to sell meat for money.
As Lady Qin, the wife of the Commander, Qin Luoxia couldn’t quite wrap her head around the shift in mindset.
Jiang Yu also felt a lot of pressure looking at so many people.
How much food would so many people eat in one meal? How much would ever be enough?
In the morning, when she went to the kitchen with Mother, she saw a storeroom next to it filled with several dou of coarse and fine grains, and a whole room of vegetables and meat. She thought the people in the Prefecture City were quite kind to prepare so many good things.
But now, looking at so many people, would it even last a few days?
And in the bedrooms, there were so many fabrics prepared, all new; it felt like enough to make clothes for the whole family for a year.
But with so many people, it wouldn’t even be enough to give each person one outfit.
Worrying.
Aunt Yin listened to the Mother and daughter chattering away, looking speechless.
The little girl was fine; she hadn’t said anything.
Jiang Mianmian looked at the dense crowd of people below, a sea of black heads, and wondered if the director had felt the same way when she and her classmates went to the hospital for their internship.
While waiting for the servants below to gather, line up, and quiet down, Great-Aunt was not idle.
“Madam, the indentures for these people are all here. In a while, you can choose some suitable people to keep, and for the ones who aren’t suitable, I will simply have the people from the slave agency take them away.”
Seeing Lady Qin’s expression, Aunt Yin added, “The people from the slave agency will pay silver.”
“Below, there are maids who serve in the rooms, rough-work maids, errand-running manservants, and those who work in the courtyards; there are those for the inner and outer courtyards. They are generally households. If you want to sell them, it is best to sell them by the household. There are also some who sing and perform opera; these people are a tier lower, and they are usually on their own, without families.”
Aunt Yin explained it once.
Jiang Mianmian sat obediently and listened attentively.
Since she would be living in the mansion in the future, she would have to adapt.
Thinking about having people to serve her—someone to fan her in the summer, someone to swat mosquitoes, someone to warm her hands in the winter, and being waited on hand and foot—this kind of life actually seemed quite nice.
Mianmian shifted her little bottom to get comfortable and continued listening to Great-Aunt’s lecture; she felt she was quite well-adapted to the life of the ruling class.
Then she heard Great-Aunt say, “When it comes to maids and manservants, if there is anything you are dissatisfied with or don’t like, never beat or scold them. It’s not that you can’t beat or scold them, but if a person is injured, they can’t work. They are assets, just like your own livestock. If you break them and they can’t work, it is you who loses out.”
“Moreover, if you beat and scold them excessively, even if they recover, they will harbor resentment in their hearts. You will feel disgusted and still won’t dare to use them. If you see someone unsuitable, just sell them off directly; there is no need to learn those so-called household struggle tactics! When teaching maids and matrons, with the indentures in hand, we hold the power of life and death.”
Seeing the Mother and her two daughters listening obediently, Aunt Yin continued, “As for others, if they know too much, see too much, or are disloyal and you worry that selling them out would lead them to talk nonsense, those types can be killed to leave no future trouble.”
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