Mistress

Chapter 16

Taking a nap at noon, Li Yan couldn't fall asleep, so she chatted with Nanny Cui for a while, and watched how Nanny Cui did her needlework carefully, and she secretly learned from the side.

Nanny Cui persuaded her to take over the power of the family as soon as possible, "Madam, the master knows about the lost and recovered property, and has nothing to do with the madam. The master will not blame you. Besides, the master is sitting in the mansion. No one dares to make any more fools, take advantage of this opportunity of holding a family banquet, and you should take care of it more, so that Aunt Zhang can't intervene, and she will know what Ma'am means."

Li Yan knows that no matter modern or ancient, one cannot succeed without diligence.If she doesn't want to be a director for the sake of leisure, or wants to live a quiet and comfortable life, she will definitely be replaced by Aunt Zhang one day, and she will never have a peaceful life from then on.

Li Yan thought about it for a while, then nodded, this prime minister is quite the mistress of the house, she must be sure of it.

Seeing that she had finally settled down, Cui Nanny, Qi'er, and Qing'er all had excited smiles on their faces. They immediately helped her dress and helped her go out.

When she came to Xianghe Building, Li Yan saw the servants and women in a hurry to set up tables, chairs, spread tablecloths, boil tea, and prepare tea leaves. Several servants in the management room carefully brought the good wine they bought.

Before Li Yan came, she thought this family banquet was too simple, there were only twelve masters in the house, and she thought it would only take two or three tables, so it would take a lot of trouble.It wasn't until she saw it with her own eyes that she understood the general idea.

Instead of setting up a few round tables in the banquet hall, there are more than a dozen small square tables from east to west, arranged in two rows facing each other.Li Yan suddenly had some impressions in her mind. The banquet here is very particular. Everyone does not sit around the table, but each has a small square table. When the food is served, each host will be served with a small dish.

These seats are particular, they are arranged according to their seniority, and there must be no mistake in the ranking.Not only the styles and carving patterns of the tables are different, but also the heights are different.

There are five or six kinds of drinking utensils, teacups, and various containers placed on each small square table, which makes Li Yan dazzled.

This time the family banquet was held for Xu Cheng, and the standard was of course the highest, so it had to be held very grandly.Li Yan saw a few maids coming over with flowers to put in the vase, she was really surprised, this is the cold winter months, where did these flowers come from?Moreover, they are all delicate and charming, very glaring.

She walked over and sniffed to make sure that these flowers were real and definitely not tied with colored paper.Except for the plum blossoms that can be picked and folded in the yard, other flowers have never been seen in the yard, such as the fragrant snow blue and the four seasons crabapple.Presumably, these should have been picked from the Qinyuan in the backyard. She had heard from Nanny Cui that many flowers bloomed in the Qinyuan as soon as the master came back, which was an auspicious sign.

Being able to enjoy these fragrant flowers of different colors in winter, Li Yan felt happy and relaxed, and thought that she would have time to go to Qinyuan for a stroll.This kind of famous family is good. Although there are some open and hidden arrows to be guarded against, the quality of life is still quite high.

When the servants saw Madam coming, they all gathered and knelt down in front of her, and when Li Yan asked them to get up quickly, they happily went to work separately.The servants knew in their hearts that the wife had come, and it seemed that the wife would be the head of the house in the future, so they were naturally happy.Because the wife is generous to the servants, and Aunt Zhang is mean to the servants, they have been looking forward to this day for a long time.

Li Yan was not familiar with how family banquets were held in the past, so naturally she didn't know how to arrange and mediate.In fact, there was no need for her to speak, Nanny Cui, Qi'er, and Qing'er were already busy with their work, calling the servants to do this and that very skillfully.

In the past, Li Nianyun took care of all the big and small matters in the mansion. Nanny Cui, Qi'er, and Qing'er had already learned how to deal with and make arrangements, and they had a thorough understanding of Madam's preferences.In the past, Li Nianyun seldom opened his mouth when he came, but sat on the side drinking tea and enjoying the flowers, just sitting in the town.

It didn't take long for Xianghe Tower to take on a new look, with new blankets on the floor, new paper-cuts on the windows, intricate flower knots around the beams and columns, and even the pictures of old pine trees, tigers and cranes on the walls were removed. When it was down, a few landscape paintings, calligraphy and paintings were replaced.

Li Yan Dingqing took a look, oh, there are Xu Cheng's signature and seal on it, it seems that these are Xu Cheng's own handwriting, which aroused her interest, she got up and stopped in front of the painting, and looked at it carefully.

Rows of lanterns were hung, and colored candles were also placed. As long as the sky darkened, these would be lit up, and the whole Xianghe Tower would be adorned with lights and festoons.

When everyone was looking forward to the arrival of the unitary hour, when Xianghe Tower would be lit up, Aunt Zhang hurried over.She went to the pawn shop to redeem antiques and utensils, but was delayed for several hours, because some calligraphy and paintings that the master usually loved were bought at high prices.

The pawn shop owner also thought that the prime minister would die in Jiaoyang City, and felt that the Xu family would not be able to redeem these things, so he would sell them as soon as others offered a high price.Aunt Zhang scolded him first, and then told him to quickly find the calligraphy and painting, otherwise he would not have to open this pawnshop again.

The pawnshop owner was so frightened that he took the shop assistants and his family to look for the person who bought the calligraphy and painting. Fortunately, the person who bought the painting was also from the capital.They tried hard to persuade the man for a while, and then used the name of the prime minister to coerce and lure him, and finally bought the calligraphy and painting from the man.

When Aunt Zhang redeemed all her belongings, she heard from Li Qing's family that her wife had gone to Xianghe Tower, and Aunt Zhang came angrily without saying a word.

Before coming to Xianghe Tower, she suppressed her anger first, and tried to calm herself down as much as possible.Seeing Li Yan, she first saluted respectfully, and then said with a half-smile: "I'm a concubine... my sister was delayed by something, I didn't expect to trouble Madam."

Li Yan's eyes turned, she glanced at Aunt Zhang, and thought to herself, she didn't call herself a concubine but called her younger sister, maybe it was not for the sake of getting closer, but because she felt that the word concubine was degrading her status, right?
Li Yan said calmly and calmly: "Sister Yuliu's words are wrong, this is not troublesome, this is just my job. I feel really sorry for making you work so hard on my behalf for the past two months , I should tell you 'I'm sorry', I hope Sister Yuliu can't be blamed."

Aunt Zhang opened her mouth halfway, her face flushed a little, and then she smiled and said: "My sister has always been strong and healthy, and it is only natural to share some household chores for my wife. My sister has always regarded it as an honor, how can I call it a Excuse me. It’s just that my sister has already arranged the tasks for the servants to do before leaving the house, so there’s no need to keep an eye on them. Madam is here to watch, and my sister is very disturbed. Is it possible that Madam is worried about my sister’s work?”

Li Yan shook her head and said with a smile: "Where is this? How can I be worried? Look at your overheartedness. It's just that some slaves work rashly. If there is no master in charge, they will break valuables without knowing how serious they are, or they will not distinguish between them. What's wrong with the high and low, when the time comes to lose the interest of Mrs. Tai and the master, how can you and I take care of it?"

Aunt Zhang smiled coyly, and replied: "It's still Madam who has considered the matter carefully. This is a banquet for the master's safe return. It is true that there can be no mistakes."

Li Yan turned her face sideways, and instructed Qi'er who was beside her, "Go to the dining hall and have a look, and see how the various dishes are prepared."

Qi'er raised the hem of her skirt and walked in small steps.Li Yan said to Aunt Zhang again: "Sister Yuliu, let's go back and rest first, you must be tired after working all day. It's fine if I'm here, you don't have to worry about it."

Aunt Zhang felt resentful. If Madam took over everything, wouldn't her busy work for the past two months be in vain? "Listen too..." she said two words, then hurriedly changed her words, "Madam, your body is just getting better, but you are still very weak. You need to take care of it carefully. My sister is worried that you will wear out your waist after sitting for a long time."

Although she changed her words in time, Li Yan also understood the way.In the morning, Mrs. Tai just said that she hoped that she would not take care of the affairs of the house, and only need to take care of her body and raise Xiao'er. Unexpectedly, Aunt Zhang knew about it in half a day, and she didn't know who was placed by Aunt Zhang in Mrs. Tai's room. , report fast enough.

Li Yan sighed secretly, she wasn't made of tofu, and her waist would be exhausted after sitting for half a day?Aunt Zhang really takes power very seriously, she really doesn't want to let it go.

Li Yan smiled like a breeze, "Sister Yuliu's kindness is accepted by me. In fact, I don't feel too tired after sitting for half a day. I enjoy drinking tea and admiring the master's calligraphy and painting."

Aunt Zhang was speechless, feeling aggrieved and panicked.But this Li Nianyun seemed to want to stay here, she was too embarrassed to be here with his wife, and told the servants to see her jokes, so she turned around and left with a smile on her face.

She was walking outside, but her silver teeth were clenching loudly, regret in her heart, why didn't she not do one thing at the beginning and send Li Nianyun to the west?Now I have to face her stinky face and force a smile.

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became, and she stretched out her hand to rub her cheeks. She had been smiling just now, but her cheeks were really sore!
She didn't go back to her Fuliu Pavilion, thinking that sister-in-law Xu Jing and second master Xu Ze should have gone to Mrs. Tai's place at this time, so she took Li Qing's family and others to Cuishongyuan.

She can be as close as a family with Mrs. Tai and Prince Bao, can you, Li Nianyun, do it?Although you bear the title of Mrs. Tai, does Mrs. Tai treat you as a real daughter-in-law?Will Princess Bao Xu Jing regard you as a serious sister-in-law?She, Zhang Yuliu, is the serious daughter-in-law in Mrs. Tai's heart and the real sister-in-law in Xu Jing's eyes. With these two chips, it is not certain who will be the mistress of the Prime Minister's Mansion in the future!

Aunt Zhang snorted coldly, and came to Cui Song Courtyard swaggeringly.After entering the door, she found that not only the second master Xu Ze, but also Princess Bao's concubine Xu Jing, and even the master Xu Cheng also came.Xu Cheng's body and bones have always been strong, and he was as strong as iron and tireless. After suffering for two months, he recovered his vitality after lying down for only three hours, and he was already refreshed.

Aunt Zhang walked in and saluted them one by one with a smile on her face.Walking in front of Xu Cheng, seeing Xu Cheng's deep eyes looking at her as if examining her, she was inexplicably flustered.

Avoiding Xu Cheng's eyes, she came to Xu Jing, took Xu Jing's hands, and said happily: "My good princess, how long has it been since you returned to your mother's house?"

Xu Jing just had a bit of a childlike heart, she curled her lips and said: "Sister-in-law, you don't know that as a princess, you can go back to your mother's house casually, and there are a lot of rules to restrict it. Even if I return triumphantly, I won’t be able to get out.”

Hearing Xu Jing call her sister-in-law affectionately in front of so many people, Aunt Zhang was very happy and smiled even sweeter, "The rules are for people to see. If you really want to go back to your mother's house, maybe you still want to go back to your mother's house?" Can you figure it out? Let me see, it's Prince Bao who can't leave you, and you can't leave Prince Bao either, and you'll miss him so much if you don't see him for a day."

Xu Jing stomped her feet in embarrassment, "Sister-in-law, you just make fun of me!"

The second master, Xu Ze, sat there and coughed softly. He had always disapproved of his younger sister calling Zhang Yuliu his sister-in-law. sister-in-law.

Mrs. Tai pretended not to hear, and followed her daughter's yelling, seeing that her two sons and one daughter were by her side, she was very happy, her eyes were crooked with a smile, and only a small black slit remained.

And Xu Cheng looked at the two women talking and laughing coldly, and felt that even though his sister became a princess, she was still not very sensible.As for Aunt Zhang, Xu Cheng thought that she was getting more and more presumptuous!

(End of this chapter)