After the whole family was swept away, I lay down flat

Chapter 320 Sisters’ Narration

Although Zhou Ma was just pretending to be sick, he looked so haggard that he looked as if he was really sick.

She basically doesn't leave the yard now. Although she is just pretending, and no outsiders come or go in the house, in order to prevent the servants borrowed from the Zhenguo Government from seeing the truth, she still pretends to be as much like a patient with limited mobility as possible. , and asked the girl next to him to boil some tonic in the yard, and use the smell of the medicine to scare people. However, the household chores still have to report to her every day, so even if she is just pretending to be sick, she is still busy every day and has no time to rest.

Mrs. Ma brought her granddaughter Haitang to visit, giving her some time to breathe and relax for a moment from the busy chores.

When Ma saw her like this, she couldn't help but said: "Sister, why do you have to tire yourself out like this?! Now that you have the power of the housekeeper, you don't have to look at the face of the old woman in the west courtyard anymore. You want to live a more relaxed life, so why not?" Are you more haggard than before?!"

Zhou Ma said with a smile: "I just took over Zhongfu, and things are so messy. Isn't it busy? After I straighten out the family affairs, I won't be so tired. Don't worry, I will take good care of myself. Now. It’s just that after many years of leisure, I suddenly became busy, so I wasn’t used to it for a while.”

Madam Ma mumbled, "How many things do you have to do during the Chinese New Year? In the past, when Madam Ma was taking care of the house, I never saw her working so hard."

Zhou Ma touched his nose and was too embarrassed to defend himself. This is actually her own fault.

Mrs. Ma's housekeeping is easy because she has already trained enough helpers, and all the housekeepers can share her worries. However, Zhou Ma had not been able to care about the family for many years and had not trained enough helpers. The most capable Ma Li and his wife had long been given to the girl, leaving only two trustworthy girls around, both of whom were still young and inexperienced. The ladies who were originally in charge of the family either went to the side of Mrs. Ma of the West Courtyard and were useless at all, or they were suspected by Zhou Shigong and kicked them out to the village. She was not prepared in advance and had insufficient manpower. What else could she do except work hard on her own?

The male and female servants borrowed from the Zhenguo Palace can be used, but first of all, they are the head of the house. Zhou Shigong does not mind letting them serve his daily life, but he is not happy to let them intervene in the purchase of money and food. Secondly, these people will sooner or later They are going back to the Zhenguo Duke's Mansion. If they get used to them, Zhou Ma will still be blinded when they leave in the future. It is better to choose available ones from among the servants!

It's just that the number of servants still staying in the third room of Zhou's family is really limited, and it happens to be during the first month of the year, so it's inconvenient for Zhou Ma to buy people, so he's still short of people, so he's so tired. But she believes everything will ease after spring.

After listening to Zhou Ma's explanation, Mrs. Ma didn't know what to say. She could only ask: "If eldest sister is really in need of someone, how about returning Mr. and Mrs. Ma Li to you?"

Zhou Ma smiled and waved his hand: "What I gave to you is yours. I won't take them back! But I have already made an agreement with the people in other villages. After the spring, they will allocate people from the fourth house to the house. Wait, then you won’t have to worry about who will be in charge of the lady!”

Fine. Ma didn't ask much about the eldest sister's household chores. He only asked about her daily life and food these days. He found that she couldn't even guarantee three meals a day because of her busy schedule, and couldn't help but get angry.

Zhou Ma could only bow his head and accept his sister's scolding. Although she is pretending to be ill, she has indeed been feeling unwell recently, which is somewhat related to her irregular diet during the first month. However, during the New Year period, the three rooms of the Zhou family have been living in a low-key manner, without inviting guests or visiting guests. It is so cold that it hardly seems like they are celebrating the New Year. Zhou Shigong has been living in the study in the outer courtyard, and the eldest brother has also closed the door to live his life. Zhou Ma sent his granddaughter to the Zhenguo Duke's Mansion, and he began to slack off in his diet. When she was busy, she would not even eat a proper meal, and would only eat a few snacks. She ignored the girls' advice, and it was not until her granddaughter came home that she was persuaded to change. Nowadays, it is extremely common for her to slip up in front of her little sister and be scolded by her for a few words.

Zhou Ma repeatedly promised that he would not do it again. In order to divert Ma's attention, he hurriedly talked about the troubles he had encountered recently. The main reason was that after Mrs. Ma's years of hard work, the family's industry was generally poorly managed and suffered serious losses. Zhou Shigong hoped that they could regain their strength, but he had no idea, so Zhou Ma could only worry about it himself. She also had a headache because of this and wanted to ask her sister to help her think of something. Haijia Ke has always been known for being good at business. However, Mr. Ma was not interested in the property management of the third family of the Zhou family: "The eldest sister really had no choice, so she left the property to her brother-in-law to worry about. He is a grown man, and he studied and became an official. Everyone knows that he is a member of the Zhou family. How can the smartest person still not be able to think of a way to solve the problem of his own property? If he really can't think of a way, he will deal with all those properties, sell them when they need to be sold, close them when they need to be closed, and let him worry about it and make his own decisions! You worked so hard, but in the end you can’t save him, and he will blame you for your incompetence!”

Mrs. Ma is more concerned about Mr. Zhou's recent troubles: "Um, I heard that Mrs. Tang always comes to visit patients? What's going on? Doesn't she have some deep friendship with the guy from the West Hospital? Does she want to come to that person? Do you have any support?"

In fact, Ms. Zhou Ma herself couldn’t explain clearly: “They were very good friends in the past, but A’s family often gossiped about his family in private. When A’s family was in trouble, she didn’t even come to care about them. It can be seen that they were just superficial friends. That's fine. I don't think she's here to support the family. If she really means that, she should let his master talk to our master directly..."

Mrs. Tang wanted to visit the patient in the third room of the Zhou family. It was actually a private act and was not made public. Every time, she would send her confidant and mother-in-law to the third room of Zhou's house in a small car to pay her respects. She seemed to want to avoid being seen. Mrs. Zhou Ma didn't know what she wanted to do, but Zhou Shigong gave an explicit order, prohibiting anyone from entering the West Courtyard to see Mrs. Ma. Mrs. Zhou Ma had no choice but to comply, rejecting Mrs. Tang's request again and again.

Zhou Ma felt that Mrs. Tang should be a very polite and discerning person. She has rejected him so many times. Anyone who is not a fool should understand what she means. She still insists on handing out invitations, which seems too uninteresting. Is there some grudge between Mrs. Tang and Mrs. Ma that others don't know about? Is she coming to seek bad luck?

Zhou Ma complained to Ma in a low voice: "Didn't you complain that you were sick these past two days? When Mrs. Tang sent someone to deliver the greeting card again, she used this as an excuse to reject her again. Who would have thought that she sent someone again yesterday? She said she was coming to check on her health! I'm really afraid that if she actually comes, she will say that she wants to stop by to pay a visit to the family. What can I do then? I can't ask anyone to stop her..."

To be honest, Mrs. Tang was getting a little annoyed when she was going through so much trouble. If it weren't for Zhou Shigong's insistence on not disturbing the eldest brother, she would have wanted to go to Zhen Guo Gong's wife to complain, and let Zhen Guo Gong's wife advise her niece and daughter-in-law not to go to relatives' houses to cause trouble.

Mrs. Zhou Ma told Mrs. Ma about her troubles, but Haitang, who was sitting next to her, saw Zhou Yijun wink at her, so she quietly got up and left the outer room, and went out of the upper room with her.

Zhou Yijun still lives in the small courtyard next to the main courtyard of the Zhou family's three-bedroom house. Although the place is not big, it is spacious and comfortable for her and her two girls.

After dragging Haitang in, she sent everyone away, poured tea for Haitang herself, and whispered a secret to the latter: "Mrs. Tang probably refused to give up. She even secretly found someone sent to our house by the Duke's Office. Servant, ask her to send a message to the West Courtyard..."

Haitang was surprised: "Really or not? Have you caught someone?"

Zhou Yijun nodded slightly: "The servant girl was stopped before she entered the west courtyard. Grandma didn't want to make a big fuss, so she didn't alert anyone, but she had already written to tell the eldest sister..."

(End of this chapter)