In the afternoon of that day, Mr. Huang was invited by Mrs. Shen to visit Shen Mansion.
"Mr. Huang, please sit down quickly." Old Mrs. Shen greeted enthusiastically, "Come here, please serve tea to Mr. Huang."
Mr. Huang hurriedly bent down and cupped his hands: "The old lady is too polite."
After Mr. Huang sat down, Mrs. Shen began to recall the past and said: "I think back then, I spent a lot of effort to invite Mr. Huang to come and assist Quanzi.
"In the past few years, Quanzi's official career has been so smooth, and it is inseparable from Mr. Huang's help."
Mrs. Shen's words were extremely polite and her words were extremely formal. Master Huang couldn't help but feel a little panicked.
To be honest, when Shen Zhonglei was first sent to Yongzhou Prefecture, he really knew nothing about official matters.
In fact, this is also a common problem among most new officials. After all, in the first ten or twenty years, they spent their time studying the books of saints and sages, and did not understand the common affairs.
Even the children of officials who have been officials in their families for generations are only a little bit better than others.
So in the first two or three years, Master Huang really helped Shen Zhonglei a lot.
But Shen Zhonglei is different from those mediocre people who just want to live their lives and plunder the people's wealth. He really wants to make some political achievements.
Therefore, during those years in Yongzhou Prefecture, he devoted almost all his energy to official matters. Not only did he have an amazing learning ability and made rapid progress, but he also knew how to draw inferences from one example.
In the following years, the help of his staff began to be limited. They mostly discussed political affairs with him, provided him with some ideas, or carried out some work to check for omissions and fill in the gaps.
If you are a person with a strong personality and likes to be in power, you may feel that you cannot demonstrate your talents by assisting such a person.
But Master Huang doesn't think so.
From the beginning, he positioned himself as a helper.
The reason why he followed Shen Zhonglei to take up the post in Yongzhou Mansion as a master in the first place was that it was difficult to evade the favor, and secondly, the Shen family indeed offered him a good offer that he could not refuse.
The three-year term was agreed upon at the beginning, and whether it will be renewed later depends on his own wishes.
During this period, Shen Zhonglei's talents and pragmatic spirit made him more certain that this was the person he wanted to help. The cooperation between the two has always been very pleasant, and everyone invariably did not mention the initial three-year agreement again. That's how it got to now.
So listening to Mrs. Shen's words, Mr. Huang was a little confused for a moment. Did he not want to continue using himself?
While Master Huang was recalling whether he had done anything wrong recently, he wondered whether Shen Zhonglei had found a more suitable candidate for Master than him?
But I heard Mrs. Shen say again: "Mr. Huang has been assisting Quanzi for many years. You should know that he is good at everything else, but he is always a bit unlucky when it comes to his wife's luck. There is no one to take care of the back house now.
"I really want to help him take care of it, but after all, I am old and I am always a little unable to do what I want."
As soon as she said this, Mr. Huang became more and more confused.
What does Mrs. Shen mean by this? Is she anxious to renew Shen Zhonglei's string?
Although it may seem unpleasant to marry Mrs. Xu less than a year after her death, it is not a big deal, so why bother to discuss it with yourself.
Master Huang even went through all his daughters, nieces, nieces, etc. in his mind, but there was no candidate with the same age and conditions!
He could only continue to listen to Mrs. Shen with a smile on his face, waiting to see where she would end up talking.
"I've been feeling better these days, and I finally have the energy to go through all the arrangements in the house. Who would have expected that I discovered why Mr. Huang's sister actually works in the kitchen!
“The kitchen area is dirty and tired, and it’s extremely hot in summer. I really don’t know who made the arrangements in the first place!
"Well, now that everyone is gone, we won't talk about this anymore.
"But now that I've discovered it, I can't do this anymore.
"That's Mr. Huang's biological sister, so she must be properly accommodated!
"Mr. Huang, do you think it would be better to work as a steward in another hospital, which would be more leisurely and comfortable, or to work as a shopkeeper in a shop, which would be nice and decent?"
Master Huang never expected that the final destination would be his sister.
My sister works as a steward in the back kitchen of the mansion, which was originally arranged by Mr. Xu.
Although I work in the kitchen, I don't actually have to do anything by myself. I still manage a dozen people. Not only do I get rewards during the New Year and holidays, but I also have a good cooking routine, so I can often take ingredients home.
My sister often said that this was a leisurely and lucrative job, thanks to his support as an elder brother.
But Mrs. Shen would not mention this for no reason, something must have happened.
Master Huang's mind was spinning. Could it be that his sister did something wrong and offended Mrs. Shen?
"Old lady, my roommate has never read a book and has no ability to make a living. If she can find a job in the kitchen, it is already taken care of by Master Shen. As for you asking her to take care of other courtyards or shops, where will she be?
You have that ability!"
Mrs. Shen said with a smile: "Mr. Huang, don't refuse in a hurry. It's better for the brother and sister to discuss this matter before making a decision."
If Mr. Huang can't tell the truth in Mrs. Shen's words, then it will all be in vain.
He stood up and said, "Okay, let me first thank Mrs. Shen for her kindness. As for how to decide, I will give you a reply after I go home and discuss it with my roommate."
"Okay, then I won't keep Mr. Huang."
Master Huang left Shen's Mansion, thought for a moment, and instead of going home directly, he walked one more intersection to the north and went to his sister's house first.
The courtyard door was open and there was no one in the courtyard, so he walked straight in. Before he reached the door of the house, he heard Mrs. Huang's voice.
"Isn't it just that I deducted a few sips of supplements from Ping Niang? What a big deal!
"The third girl is just a concubine, but she really thinks of herself as her master! How dare she yell at me?
"And the eldest girl, the master asked her to temporarily take charge of the affairs of the back house, but she really thinks of herself as nothing! She will get married in less than two years, how dare you let me be locked up?
"What do you think now? As long as the old lady says a word, she will obediently let me be released!
"This is just right, and it also shows those people in the kitchen who seem to do one thing behind the scenes, that I have someone behind the scenes!
"As long as my brother is still with the master, everyone in the Shen family will look down on me!"
Listening to these words, Mr. Huang felt his blood rushing upwards and his brain was about to explode.
The two options that Mrs. Shen just gave him suddenly appeared in his mind, like two slaps on his face.
He wanted to go into the room and scold his sister, but his body suddenly refused to obey him.
A fishy sweetness surged up in his throat, his eyes turned black, and he fell to the ground suddenly.