There is an unwritten rule in the Duke's Mansion of Yue State that the whole family must have dinner together every day. Breakfast is not so particular. It must be cooked separately from the big kitchen or set up in their own small kitchens. Once upon a time, Xiahou Tan, the second bedroom
When the family was still in the capital, they often had two tables for dinner, one for adults and one for children, and they had a great time. After the second-fang family members followed Xiahoutan to Jinfeng City to take up their posts, the family became particularly cold, and the remaining people even
Not even one table can be filled.
On weekdays, Xia Houyuan goes out early and comes back late every day. After attending the morning court, he either goes to the Yamen to work or goes to the western suburbs camp to train troops. Only on holidays will he be at home with his wife or discuss practical economic strategies with his staff; Zhong Yuqing has to take care of the whole house every day.
It was rare to have leisure time for everything big and small; Mrs. Guo was either taking care of Xia Houling's studies, food, clothing, housing and transportation all day long, or she would shut herself up in the small Buddhist hall and chant sutras;
Moreover, after he found out about the poisonous flower, he suddenly became very busy, and often no one was seen, even dinner was often absent.
Xia Houshu had developed the habit of getting up early and doing morning exercises when he was in Boyunguan. In the past few years, after getting involved in Changqingmen, he did not dare to be lazy. If the weather was good, he would do some exercise in the yard. If it rained or snowed, he would
Then I stretched my legs and exercised my waist in the corridor.
The weather was very good that day. As usual, Xia Houshu got up early and practiced a set of boxing. As soon as it was over, Yunxi hurried over and handed over a clean towel. She took it and wiped the sweat from her forehead and asked: "Two
Did brother come back last night?"
Yun Xi shook his head and said, "I went over to inquire early in the morning. Sister Jieying said that Prince Gong sent someone to invite the second young master to discuss matters at noon yesterday. Later in the evening, he sent someone to say that the second young master was staying at Prince Gong's mansion at night.
When I came back, I didn't see the second young master either."
"It shouldn't be." Xia Houshu murmured, "Since the last quarrel between my third cousin, my second brother rarely went to Prince Gong's Mansion. When he went there occasionally, it was only in his uncle's big study. Why did he suddenly stay overnight?
What?" At this point, she thought of Zhong Lufu's marriage again, and asked, "Is there any plans for third cousin's marriage?"
Hearing her ask this, Yunxi immediately showed her ability to "know everything". But a woman's marriage is a private matter, and she cannot talk about it casually before it is settled. Even in Qingfengzhai, Yunxi is still very
Cautious. She deliberately lowered her voice and said: "Princess Gong came to see the princess a few days ago and brought some gifts for the young master and you in the mansion. I went to collect them, and I heard Aunt Qin next to the princess talking to Qingfang.
The sisters complained, saying that in the past two months, the princess had seen seven or eight candidates one after another, and she had not yet made a decision for Prince Gong, so Aunt Zhu started to cry again. Miss Zhong San also stopped eating or drinking.
People also spread the word that she would rather die than find someone to marry. Princess Gong was so angry that she was sick for several days, but she couldn't really ignore her, so she came to the princess to talk and get some air."
Xia Houshu sneered after hearing this and said: "This Aunt Zhu is really capable. She never keeps her words in mind, and she often goes back on her words to embarrass her aunt. I don't know what my uncle saw in her in the first place. Speaking of my aunt,
It's really generous. Over the years, she has been allowed to cry, make trouble, and hang herself without any decent punishment. If she were a powerful mistress, how would she be able to make trouble? It's the second uncle in our house.
Those aunts who gave birth to a son, I haven’t seen them dare to make such a fuss."
Yun Xi nodded in agreement and couldn't help but continue gossiping, saying: "I also heard from Nanny Qin that Aunt Zhu was born beautiful since she was a child and was recognized as a beauty from all over the country. However, the Zhu family was very poor and her parents wanted to provide for her.
Her brother was getting married and was going to sell her in exchange for a betrothal gift. At that time, Princess Gong wanted to get some good concubines for Prince Gong, so she asked a matchmaker, and then she was brought into the palace. Princess Gong was kind-hearted and wanted to
Seeing that she had had a hard life before, he not only gave her many rewards, but also tried every means to introduce her to Prince Gong, and then Miss Zhong San was born. Who would have thought that Aunt Zhu didn't know what was good for her, and always went against Princess Gong, causing trouble
Princess Gong is not a human being inside."
Xia Houshu became even more angry when he heard it, and felt very sorry for Princess Gong, but after all, this was the Zhong family's matter, and her mother didn't care about it, so why should she get involved? She could just pretend she didn't know.
She handed the used towel to Yun Xi and said: "Yuhu came back yesterday. I saw that she has become very thin these days, and her eye sockets are deep. Please let her rest first and let the things in the house go.
Put it away. Go back to the warehouse and get two taels of bird's nests to stew in the small kitchen and send them to her. Talk to her more and enlighten her." At this point, she sighed, "I thought her mother was just sick.
When it got a little more serious, people even brought medicinal materials to her, but she never expected to fall ill and pass away."
"The girl is really kind-hearted, so I'll thank her for Yuhu first." Yun Xi said, "But she is not someone who has a lot of time. As soon as she came back yesterday, she asked us to hand over the account books in the house to her for verification.
I went to check the warehouse again this morning, because I was afraid that during her absence, the little maids would be too careless to take care of the house for the girl."
As the master and servant talked, they walked towards the main room. Before they got close, they heard a noise coming from the house, and they both stopped.
Qingfeng Pavilion is Xia Houshu's residence. Except for herself, no one would dare to make noise or make trouble in her house. Yunxi immediately walked up to find out the reason.
Xia Houshu did not stay any longer and followed him slowly.
In the main room, there were three or four little maids standing close to serve Xia Houshu. All of them had red eyes. The maid who had made a louder noise earlier had been silenced by Yun Xi. Only Cui Yan was still sobbing quietly.
Yuhu stood among them angrily, presumably after reprimanding them.
"What happened?" Xia Houshu glanced at everyone and found no outsiders. He was sure that there was a conflict between the maids in his room. Fang continued, "What are you arguing about so early in the morning? Fortunately, we can live here.
Stay away, otherwise you will attract people from other courtyards."
"Girl, you came back just in time." Yuhu met Xia Houshu and immediately explained the reason, "When I took leave a month ago, I gave Cui Yan the account books and warehouse keys in our house. All the accounts are clear.
Everything is available. But I checked the account overnight last night and found that the one hundred taels of silver in the general ledger were not correct no matter how I calculated it. I asked Cuiyan, and she said it was a girl, so you took it away. I checked the warehouse again, and
There are no additional items, but a piece of mutton-fat jade pendant is missing. I remember that the piece of mutton-fat jade pendant was given to the girl by Prince Gong in the past. It is of excellent quality and is worth a lot of money."
Xia Houshu secretly admired Yuhu's memory and housekeeper's ability to calculate accounts, and it was right to hand her his money box.
"Girl!" Yuhu saw Xia Houshu's nonchalant look and immediately raised his voice, "I know that girl has always been generous with money. I don't know how much she has brought in and how much she has given out, but one hundred taels is nothing.
For a small amount, even if it was brought to the Yamen, it would still be a major case and require a sentence. I suspected that the people in the house had dirty hands or that someone had misappropriated it secretly, so I called them in for questioning."
After hearing this explanation, Xia Houshu's face became a little confused. What does it mean that she didn't know what she was thinking? She just felt that since there was someone specializing in taking care of these things, she would just be lazy and use her thoughts and energy elsewhere.
That's all. However, the one hundred taels of silver that Yuhu was struggling with was indeed spent by herself, and she couldn't let the little maids take the blame. She cleared her throat and said, "Cui Yan is right, the one hundred taels of silver
I did spend the money, and I didn’t buy anything valuable, so if I didn’t put it on the list, you wouldn’t be able to find it. As for the piece of mutton-fat jade pendant, I asked Yun Xi to find it and use it before," and then looked at Yun Xi
, "Go find the jade pendant and show it to Yuhu."
Since the jade pendant was carved into the shape of a peony flower, Xia Houshu was worried that someone with intentions would see it and cause trouble, so he gave it to Yunxi for safekeeping.
After hearing this, Yun Xi hurriedly went to the ear room and took out the mutton-fat jade pendant from his cabinet, and presented it with both hands.
Yuhu carefully looked at the peony flower jade plaque that had long lost its original appearance, and returned it to Yunxi with doubts, and said: "Since the girl has asked me to take care of the money, silk and silver in the house, that is her trust in me.
I definitely don't dare to neglect or let you down. Even if the girl withdraws the one hundred taels of silver herself, she still has to give an explanation, otherwise it will be difficult for me to deal with it if asked in the future."
Xia Houshu can say that she used the money to smoothen her relationship. Part of it was converted into gold to bribe the Qiu couple to help, and the other part was used to recruit people who gave her information about Yi Wu. In the face of Yu Hu being so sincere and sincere,
She could not offend her face by asking and persuading her unselfishly, and she could not encourage unhealthy tendencies just because she was inconvenient to reveal the true reason, lest people in her yard would follow the same example and break the rules in the future, so she would have to say: "You said
You're right, there has to be a reason for the money coming in and out. But the one hundred taels of silver was indeed spent by me, and it was used for doing good deeds. Since it was a good deed, it's not good to make a big deal about it. I didn't think about it.
You have to be thorough. Now that you asked, I have nothing to hide."
The Duke of Yue often set up tents to provide porridge, or donated money to charity, or helped poor tenants on the village. When Zhong Yuqing went to the temple, the amount of sesame oil he donated was at least 500 taels of silver, so Xia Houshu gave up the 100 taels of silver.
It doesn't seem that important anymore.
Yuhu figured this out quickly, but what urgently needed to be solved at the moment was no longer the whereabouts of the one hundred taels of silver, but the few maids in the room who were suspected and scolded for no reason. Each of them felt wronged.
He looked at Yuhu blankly, expecting her to give an explanation.
"this matter……"
"Yuhu has done a good job in this matter." Xia Houshu took over Yuhu's words before she apologized, glanced at the few maids, and said seriously, "Yuhu is in charge of the gold and silver in my yard.
When it comes to money and important responsibilities, one must be cautious. Since you are in charge of my accounts, every entry and exit must be carefully registered. Even if I spend money myself, I must explain the amount and reason. You all should
Learn from her well. As long as it is for me and good for me, I will not treat you badly."
The little maids were full of grievances, but they all answered "yes" with low eyebrows and submissive eyes.
Yuhu felt very unhappy. After all, she didn't expect that her preconceptions and misjudgments would ruin the friendship and trust between everyone who worked together.
Xia Houshu originally chose Yuhu to manage his accounts because she was serious and meticulous in her work and could distinguish between public and private matters. Now that she had offended the other maids in the house, she was afraid that word would get out and she would become known as mean and falsely accuse others, so he thought about her.
She had just experienced the pain of losing her mother, and I really couldn't bear for her to face this alone.
"Today Yuhu was in a hurry, so he wrongly blamed everyone and made everyone feel wronged. Now that I know it, I will come to bring justice to everyone." After saying this, Xia Houshu winked at Yunxi, "Look back, each of you.
Go to Yunxi and get 500 copper coins. You can eat or drink if you want. I'll make amends for you on Yuhu's behalf."
"girl……"
"girl……"
Yuhu and Yunxi spoke at the same time. Yuhu felt guilty, but Yunxi felt too surprised.
There are fixed quotas for the maids and servants in the mansion. The first-class maids are worth 1,500 cash a month, the second-class maids are 1,000 cash, the third-class maids and the rough messenger maids are all 500 cash. And as soon as Xia Houshu takes action, it is
One hundred words, I'm afraid it will break the rules.
Xia Houshu waved his hand and said generously: "You all work for me. I said I won't treat you badly, so I have to keep it true. Now that I have said this, everyone should not take it to heart in the future and just pretend it never happened.
Pass."
The little maids will be aggrieved when they are wronged, but how can a maid not be a little aggrieved, and Xia Houshu is so generous, how can they have trouble with money? If anyone dares to be stubborn at this time, he will be regarded as blocking other people's way of making money.
of evildoers.
The few maids happily followed Yunxi to collect the money, and in an instant only Xiahou Shu and Yuhu were left in the house.
"Girl, I..." Yuhu's eyes turned red before he could say anything.
"No need to say more." Xia Houshu interrupted her, "I know you are not a bully who doesn't distinguish between right and wrong. Brother, please settle the accounts clearly, not to mention you are in charge of the accounts for me. Listen to me, what happened today
Just let it pass and we won’t mention it anymore.”
Yuhu nodded gratefully and said, "More girls should be tolerant."
Xia Houshu clicked his tongue and said: "You are a good accountant, why did you act stupid again now? This matter was originally caused by my lack of thinking. Don't take the responsibility on yourself. And your mother's.
You should also be more open-minded. Although she is gone, as long as you still think of her in your heart, she will always be there. Also, don’t just worry about checking accounts these days. Take good care of yourself. I am
Although the yard is not big, it is not too small either. If you fall ill again, where can I find a responsible female accountant like you?"
After hearing this, Yuhu couldn't help but burst into laughter. This chapter has been completed!