Poor children

Chapter 182 The Great Situation But Seemingly Declined

一
In the afternoon of the next day, someone from the village sent the carriage and the poor boy back.
The second lady had not seen the poor boy for two days in a row, and the second lady was already a little anxious. When she saw the poor boy coming back, she hurriedly came out to greet him.
"My son, where have you been? Why did you come back after so long? You are so worried about me..." The second lady hurriedly took the poor boy's hand and returned to the room to sit down. "Look at your cold hands. Xiangxing, go and prepare some hot tea..."

"Don't worry, ma'am, I just went to stay at a friend's house for a day." The poor man took off his cloak and wanted to hand it to Wu'er, but suddenly remembered that Wu'er had gone to the northwest

When the second lady saw her, she asked, "Where did Wu'er go? Why didn't you see her come back with you?"

"Oh, something happened in her hometown. I'll allow her to go back and have a look. I think it will take a while before she comes back," Pao'er replied.

"Then you can't live without someone to take care of you." After thinking about it, the second lady said, "Ask Xiang Xing to take care of you. She is the best and most reliable."

Hearing this, the pauper smiled and said, "How can that be possible? Auntie, how could you miss Sister Xiangxing for a moment? If I wanted her, Auntie would have to lean on the couch at night and cry with regret?"

"You kid, why are you making fun of me so well?" After saying this, the second lady also smiled and said, "No matter what, you can't live without people here. Let's do this. The old lady has two good ones there, or else I’ll ask you to come over and take a look. If you think it’s okay, you can stay. If it’s not okay, I’ll send you away with the others..."

"How come everyone in the old lady's house has to be sent away?" Pao'er asked. Such a big prince's palace has a lot of food and clothing for those few people. How come it seems like a down-and-out family, and they are reduced to sending them away? It's for the servants' sake to go out.
"You don't know that your father's position in the court is not as good as it used to be. Many titles and salaries have been cut. I originally thought that no matter how hard the family was, it would not be a problem with the savings from the past. But these years, the third wife has been in charge. But she always clamored that the family had too much money to spend, and the old lady was gone. Anyway, the family couldn't use so many people, so just send them away..."

two

The pauper and the second lady had a cup of tea in the room, then Xiangxing brought two little girls in. They looked like they were fifteen or sixteen years old, and they were very smart and lovable.

The two of them greeted each other as soon as they entered the door.
"How is it? Does it look okay?" The second lady asked, "If there are other people in the old lady's room, I dare not ask you to use them. Those are all monkey spirits, and they might bully you, the master." The head went up, but these two are different. They were bought when the old lady was seriously ill and lacked manpower. They are not of the same mind. I met them a few days ago. They are quick and appropriate, smart and sensible, although they are younger. But it doesn’t matter, doing things well has nothing to do with age.”

"Well..." Pao'er responded, "Of course the ones chosen by my aunt are the best. I see how cute they are and I like them in my heart. So let's stay." When the two heard that they could stay, they naturally Happy, busy and thanks again
"The girl likes you. Since she has kept you, the slave must be dedicated to the master so that she can repay the kindness of the girl for caring for you today. Otherwise, if she sells you, she will not know where she will go to suffer," the second lady said
Both said "yes"

"No matter what names the old lady gave you before, just forget it. From today on, you will be called Qiu Huai and Qiu Tao. From now on, you will only listen to the girl in everything. If you don't serve me well, you have to be careful." The skin..."

After hearing this, Qiuhuai Qiutao hurriedly responded, saying that she would do her best.

Seeing that the two of them were so frightened by the second lady, the poor boy sang red-faced, "I heard that everyone else in the old lady's house has been sent out today. You don't have to be sad. I see that you are still young. Only here I will treat you like my own sister. You can go ahead now. I will come back soon. Your fifth sister is not here and the room has not been settled yet. You go clean it and prepare dinner later. …”

The two of them hurriedly agreed and left.

When the pauper saw them going out, he smiled and said to the second lady, "My aunt is so good, why bother to scare them?"

"If I don't scare them, how can I be a good person like you?" The second lady complained, "If this personal servant is not of the same mind as you, you will definitely suffer in the end..."

While the two were talking, they heard the third lady coming in with a loud voice outside. As soon as they entered the door, they saw the pauper and the second lady sitting together drinking tea, so they sat down unceremoniously.
"I heard that my sister kept the people she was going to send out to sell?" the third lady asked
"Keep it..." the second lady replied
"Now he must be my housekeeper. Why did you keep someone like this without telling me that you wanted to keep him?" The third lady looked unhappy.
"Now that you are the steward, what's wrong with me leaving only two slaves? Why do you expect me to ask for your permission first? In the future, if a cup or dish is smashed in my yard, will I have to ask for your permission? "Excuse me? If I eat two more bowls of rice, I have to ask for your permission? You are a little too lenient, right?" The second lady has a good temper. I have never seen her behave like this.

"Is it true that my sister is trying to disgust me? How can rice be the same as two living people? Nowadays, the family is tight and we will soon run out of rice to cook. How can we support so many people? How can you know the difficulties of being a master if you are not a master?" Three The lady saw that she was different from the past, and she became weaker without knowing the reason.

"Yes, I'm not a master, but I'm not a fool either. Our ancestors have accumulated a lot, and our prince has also accumulated a lot. How come you, the master, don't have any money to take advantage of now?" Are you here? Do you want to ask the prince to check your account? I would like to see if the family is poor because I only have two slaves left..." the second lady said
The color of the third lady's face changed instantly when she heard this. Now that the old lady is no longer here, she can no longer be as domineering as before. If she is really serious, her hands and feet are naturally unclean. If some things are known to the prince, Divorcing her is not much, and without the support of the old lady, the four ladies are now in the same situation, and no one can be proud of themselves.
"Sister, it's true. I just came here to ask. If you really stayed, you should let me know no matter what. Otherwise, wouldn't I have to count two less money every month? At that time, if the two girls Wouldn't it be disgraceful for us to be masters if we didn't get the monthly money and started to make trouble?" The third lady's success today is definitely not because of luck, and how much a person can do depends on how much she can put herself Low, being able to assess the situation is her advantage, but it is also her scary thing.
"If my sister says this, then think about it, it's really my fault. This family is owned by my sister, and I didn't think it through. I'm going to apologize to you first..." The second lady also softened upon seeing this. After living in the same house for more than [-] years, I have already figured out each other's attitude. If I just had a head-on confrontation with her, I don't know what she would do with her vicious personality. Fortunately, the children are already gone. Adults, but the two grandchildren are still young after all...

(End of this chapter)