Mistress

Chapter 7

When Aunt Zhang turned back to Fuliu Pavilion, she was stopped by a servant woman in Ji Yanqiu Pavilion, because this servant woman was Zhang Chun's wife, and Zhang Chun was Xu Cheng's entourage, he was quite trusted by Xu Cheng on weekdays. So Aunt Zhang is also very polite to Zhang Chun's mother-in-law, at least she will not play the role of the aunt who is the head of the family.

The members of Zhang Chun's family followed up, first bowed down respectfully, then said "Wanfu", and talked about how hard Auntie has been working these days, and then politely said that Aunt Ji had to go to the palace for a visit tomorrow morning. He also said that Concubine Yu had made an appointment with Aunt Ji three months ago, and that she would pick a good day to enter the palace at the end of this month.

When the emperor gave Ji Yanqiu to Xu Cheng, he had already said that Yumei and Yanqiu were cousins, and they were very close. From now on, Ji Yanqiu would often visit her cousin in the palace.

In the past four years, Yu Meiren has been promoted to the status of Jade Concubine, and recently she is quite favored by the emperor, and Ji Yanqiu must go to the palace every three months, and even thunder can't stop her.This was approved by the emperor, and no one dared to say no to it.

Aunt Zhang readily agreed, but asked Zhang Chun's family to go back and tell Aunt Ji not to tell the concubine what happened in the mansion, lest the emperor would be furious if he found out, and blame the head of the Xu mansion for not being able to manage the family.

As soon as Zhang Chun's family left, the maid serving Aunt Song also came.This servant's man is Zhu Yan, who is the master's right-hand bodyguard. Aunt Zhang has always been a man, so she greeted Zhu Yan's family politely.

Aunt Zhang usually feels dissatisfied when she thinks that the master assigned the wives of his capable people to Aunt Song and Aunt Ji.But thinking that the woman serving by her side belonged to Li Qing's family, she was not at a disadvantage, because Li Qing was the big tent in the mansion.

Zhu Yan's family is a straightforward person, as soon as she came, she said that Aunt Song was going back to her mother's house in the afternoon, because Master Chi and Master Jiao had been arguing a lot these past few days, saying that she missed her grandpa and grandma, and they were arguing to go to Song's residence.

Aunt Zhang agreed without saying anything.She knew that these two aunts were in a hurry to leave the house, and they were looking for someone to discuss countermeasures. If they refused to agree on the surface, they would secretly ask someone to go out to spread the news.

At this time, Jinxiu Courtyard was not peaceful. After Xu Jun and Xu Xiao were coaxed back to their own residence by Li Yan, Li Yan asked Cui Nanny to inquire about things secretly, for the sake of her future life and for Xu Xiao, She can't sit still.

Nanny Cui has worked in the mansion for so many years, and she is a person with a lot of contacts. Before noon, she had already inquired about Aunt Zhang's meeting with his father, and Aunt Song and Aunt Ji's going out of the mansion. , and then reported to Li Yan one by one.

"Ma'am, Aunt Zhang has been in charge of the house for the past two months. She took care of the house a while ago, and nothing went wrong. But in the past two days, you can see how chaotic the house has become. Except for her Beating the boards of the servants, staining the steward's room red, but nothing was found. Her father brought people here, and I don't know if they found out. Madam's health is better now, so I can take advantage of this The power of the head of the house is coming back, you are the serious head of the house!"

Li Yan's mind was a little messed up, she wasn't very clear about these things in the Prime Minister's Mansion, and many things were vaguely recalled, and now that this kind of chaos happened again, she was still not sure who was behind the scenes. I don't know how much eyeliner is hidden in the mansion.

She felt that first of all, she must not mess up her hands and feet, and must be stable, so she shook her head and said: "No, the mansion is a big mess now, even if I take over, it is impossible to recover the gold, silver and jewels, and I will only give them to myself." If you get into trouble, wait a few days and see the situation clearly."

After lunch, Li Yan lay down on the kang for a nap.

Seeing that his wife stopped coughing, Nanny Cui, Qi'er and Qing'er tiptoed outside to wait.The three of them sat around the brazier, chatting softly.

Qing'er is a straightforward girl, she pouted and said: "Madam's body seems to be really healed, mama, can you stop urging Aunt Zhang to send someone to buy medicine? Whether Mrs. Tai is short of medicine has nothing to do with Madam. Related, we don't need to trouble that god."

Nanny Cui snorted: "That's right, Aunt Zhang is Mrs. Tai's niece, she doesn't even think about Mrs. Tai's medicine, and others don't need to worry about it." Then she sighed again, "It's just... If so When Master Jun became the eldest son of Rizhen, Aunt Zhang would be even more arrogant. If she used the excuse of lack of silver in the house, she would sell off the wife, Master Xiao and those who are used in the house by the eldest lady, leaving only some clumsy people. If you are a servant who is not considerate of your master, the days to come will be even more difficult."

After hearing this, Qing'er became anxious, and said with a flushed face, "Madam is the serious headed mother. Aunt Zhang is a concubine, what kind of master is she? But Madam doesn't want to take this opportunity to take back the power of the house, doesn't it? Is it okay to let an aunt bully Madam, Young Master Xiao, and Missy? Or...when Madam wakes up, how about we persuade Madam?"

Cui Nanny cast a sideways glance at Qing'er, "Girl Qing, you have to calm down and don't rush around. The madam has already said that the house is a big mess now, taking over will only cause trouble for the upper body, so you have to play it by ear." yes."

Qi'er didn't say a word just now, but she is a smart person, so she also spoke at this time, "Auntie is right, we have to calm down, Madam has been calm, she must have an idea in her heart. Now that the master can't go back to the mansion, Mrs. Tai has always been partial to Aunt Zhang, so Madam will naturally suffer. If Madam wants to return to the power of the family, but Aunt Zhang has the cheek to refuse to let her, and she also takes this opportunity to tear her face, or secretly murder Madam, then this mansion It's completely Aunt Zhang's fault."

murder?Qing'er was dumbfounded when she heard this, her heart thumped for a while, and she was a little scared.After thinking about it carefully, I feel that what Qier said is reasonable, if Aunt Zhang really wants to harm Madam, and Madam's family is far in the northwest, and there is no one to rely on here.

Nanny Cui just thought about this point, she didn't expect the young Qi'er to think about it, and she couldn't help but look at her niece with admiration, "From now on, we have to be more careful about the diet of Madam, Young Master and Eldest Miss. Not only the food, but also the cakes and tea must be inspected carefully. You both have to go to the rooms of Young Master Xiao and Missy to give instructions. The steward Lin’s family and the Zou Lin’s family are also old people in the house. After a little bit of dialing, they will naturally understand and will protect Young Master Xiao and Miss Xiao."

Qi'er and Qing'er hurriedly got up and went out, not daring to delay this matter for a moment.

When the two of them returned to Jinxiu Pavilion, Li Yan had already woken up. Although she had been lying down for more than an hour, she only fell asleep for a while, but she was relieved a lot and her body was quite comfortable.

It's just that when she woke up, all these messy things in the mansion filled her mind. If she couldn't keep her lovely children and live a comfortable and comfortable life, wouldn't she be cannon fodder as the wife of the wife?She didn't want to be cannon fodder, but she couldn't think of a countermeasure, so she was still quite anxious.

Qing'er and Qi'er were arranging her clothes when they heard Xue'er report outside the door that Aunt Zhang had come.

Li Yan really wanted to see what Aunt Zhang looked like, and from Nanny Cui's description of her in the morning, she should be a formidable character.

After Aunt Zhang came in, Li Yan was a little surprised.I saw Aunt Zhang's respectful and gentle expression. After giving Li Yan a big gift, she came to help Li Yan to sit down.The aggressiveness, arrogance and sophistication that Li Yan imagined just now, can't be seen from Aunt Zhang's words and deeds at this time.

Aunt Zhang's red phoenix eyes are extremely agile, and the light flickers, as if she can speak.She has a small mouth with thin lips, and others can feel her cleverness before she speaks.But Li Yan's eyes were clear and calm like the surface of a lake, her expression was calm and natural, the contrast between the two sitting together was sharp.

Qing'er looked at Aunt Zhang angrily at the side, and cursed in her heart: You have a knife in your smile!

Qi'er touched Qing'er's elbow lightly, gave her a look, and then the two went out together.Qi'er was afraid that Qing'er's words would be inappropriate and cause trouble, so she took her out, leaving only Nanny Cui to wait on her inside.

Aunt Zhang looked at Li Yan's increasingly dignified and beautiful face with a smile in her eyes, and then glanced at Nanny Cui who was making tea for her, her heart was filled with resentment like a dagger, wishing to poke their hearts.

She had been looking forward to Li Yan's sickness for a long time, but she didn't expect that Li Yan not only didn't whine, but lived in high spirits, and then thought that there were so many loyal servants around Li Yan, she snorted secretly, and said in her belly: Sooner or later, I have to find out the mistakes of these slaves, and tell them to get out of here quickly!

Aunt Cui met Aunt Zhang's eyes without any fear, and said in a casual way: "Aunt Zhang is becoming more and more like a mistress, and those servants were beaten so hard that they didn't even dare to make a sound." , Whether they live or die depends on their own creation."

Aunt Zhang knew that Madam Cui's words were mocking her as a concubine who was not worthy of being the head of the house, but the real head of the house was sitting beside her.She followed Nanny Cui's words and said: "I can't be considered as the mistress of the house, but Madam thinks highly of me and is willing to leave the affairs of the house to me. I'm just a little worried. Such a disaster happened suddenly in the mansion, I don't know if Madam blames my sister..." She lowered her head guiltily, as if she felt ashamed to see Madam.

Li Yan hurriedly said: "Sister, don't worry, how can I blame you? Even if I am the head of the family, I can't prevent such disasters. On the contrary, it is my sister who handles many things in the mansion. It is really hard work. Listen to Cui Mama Today's matter has been reported to the officials, so you don't have to worry too much. Dr. Xu and Sun Deng are both little grasshoppers with nowhere to go. After a few days of jumping around, Chengtian Mansion has always handled cases vigorously and resolutely. They will definitely recover our mansion's silver and jewelry. back."

Aunt Zhang's face was a little stiff when she heard it, but it was only for a moment, and she smiled relieved after a while, "My sister feels much better with Madam who is so considerate. I am here, and I have something important to discuss with Madam, although There is Chengtian Mansion to investigate the case for our mansion, but there are more than 100 people in the mansion right now, and they have to spend money for everything, and they can’t break the silver taels in a day. The thief Sun Deng only left 3000 taels of silver. Not enough for a month's expenses of the mansion, so... I wondered if I should pawn some valuables from the antique wares and playrooms. I guess these could be worth 5 to [-] taels of silver, enough for the mansion It lasted a year and a half."

Just now Li Yan saw that Aunt Zhang was not worried about the lack of money in the mansion, so she knew that she was thinking about it, nodded and said: "Sister is thinking about it, let's pawn it for some money to solve the urgent need. If Cheng Tian's mansion fails to solve the case, In the future, the mansion can still make a living, there is always a way, there is always a way."

Aunt Zhang was a little surprised when she saw that Li Yan was so wide-eyed. When Madam was in charge of the house, she was often troubled by small things. Why did she become so angry after being ill?She was very puzzled, but seeing that Madam didn't seem to be suspicious of her, she was relieved a lot.

(End of this chapter)