Legend of Concubine's Daughter Minglan Chapter 174: The Household Chores for a Madam (2)

Chapter 174: The Household Chores for a Madam (2)

Translator: Iris

Minglan was sitting in the right side room to eat her breakfast. As she was chewing the not-so-delicious fried cake in her mouth with her eyebrows knitted, she also tried to slowly recall the things that she had read last night. Then she decided to put the accounts aside and checked on the people first. After Minglan had taken over the na list of the personnel, she started to sort out the information in her mind quickly.

All the servants in Commander’s mansion added up to 62. That number was too little for a huge mansion like this indeed.

anwhile, those people could be classified into three groups. The first group of the servants who had been bought by Gu Tingye from the outside had no roots. However, it was still likely that they had already been at soone else’s service. The second group of the servants had been awarded by the Emperor. Most of them had used to be the family servants of the guilty officials before. There might even be so ladies or young masters among them, which was worth paying attention. The third group consisted of four families which were from Marquis Ningyuan’s mansion. Two families had been sent by Old Madam Qin while the other two families had been sent by the Fourth and Fifth Old Madam respectively.

Well, Minglan almost forgot to count the servants who had co with her from Sheng’s family.

After she had finished eating the breakfast, she checked her appearance quickly and then put on an informal front opening coat embroidered with plum flowers on twisted branches and a virescent gauze cloak. Today she chose the bright color and gorgeous dressing style. Then she was led by a few maids to the Morning Sunlight Hall.

At present, the sun was shining brightly in the sky. The doors on the four sides of the hall had already been opened. There were four Central Scroll Paintings on the eastern and the western walls. On the front wall on the north hanged the tablet which was granted by the emperor. A glossy rosewood square table was right below the tablet with armchairs of the sa material by both sides. Two rows of wide chairs with short backs were arranged trimly by two sides of the hall. There was a small tea table carved with Ruyi patterns between each two of the wide chairs. The floor was paved with polished Blue Flagstone with a dark red woolen carpet in the middle.

What a hall of the mansion! It was grand and magnificent of great montum.

Minglan looked at that rosewood huge chair with high back while thinking that only a woman in Old Madam Sheng’s age would look so commanding on that chair. However, since she was the madam of this mansion, there seriously was no one who could sit on that chair other than her.

After she had walked steadily toward the chair and took her seat, the elder servants who had carried the tea tray there for a long ti stepped forward right away to give their obeisances. Minglan then nodded to them slightly. As she raised her head to have a look, she saw that the swarm of people who stood under the stairs had already been divided into a few groups. So groups stood there neatly while the other ones being rather attentively.

Liao Yong’s wife took a step forward and said reverently with her head lowered, “Madam, that’s all the servants in the mansion except for four doorn. I have also brought the servants who work in the kitchen.”

Being very satisfied with the straightforward style of Liao Yong’s wife, Minglan glanced at the latter with admiration and nodded.

Liao Yong’s wife seed to be inspired. Then she pointed at several rows of people who were standing outside of the hall and introduced shortly, “These ones are in charge of the cleaning, these ones do the needlework. These ones take charge of the purchase work. These ones guard the yards. As for them...” After her long speech, she pointed at dozens of girls who seem very young and said, “They haven’t been assigned to anything yet. Momo Chang said that after Madam married into our family, those girls should be taught about the rules before they serve. Minglan morized secretly of which groups of people stood there orderly and which groups looked less disciplined. She also morized the leader of each of the groups.

At last, Liao Yong’s wife hesitated for a second and then said in a low voice, “Also, the lady in the House of Thorns Leaf... Eh, That Lady Fengxian in House of Ling Ding, the two maids who serve her aren’t from our mansion, so... they didn’t co.”

Minglan frowned and asked, “What’s the na of the place she lives anyway?”

Liao Yong’s wife reacted fast, “It used to be called House of Thorn Leaf, but Lady Fengxian changed the na to House of Ling Ding... Master doesn’t have ti to care about this, so we just use that na too.”

Minglan didn’t comnt anything but only smiled at Liao Yong’s wife, which made the latter’s heart beat fast. After that, Liao Yong’s wife stepped back with her head lowered. Minglan laughed inwardly while thinking, “It looks like this Lady Fengxian is a proud girl. Not only hasn’t she tried to win favor of others, she seems to have annoyed lots of people.”

After that, Minglan turned around to look at Mama Lai. Then she found a few people who dressed fine clothes showing on the stairs by the door. Mama Lai smiled and introduced them to Minglan, “Lai family and Hua family were sent by Old Madam Qin. Tian family was sent by the Fourth Old Madam. Diao family was sent by the Fifth Old Madam.”

After the introduction, those people went down on their knees and kowtowed to Minglan while paying their respects together.

Minglan was not very comfortable about the scene of so many people kowtowing and giving obeisances to her, but she still managed to endure that. After she had told them to stand up with a gentle smile, she put down the tea cup and overlapped her hands on her legs leisurely, saying in a loud voice, “Master has said that the Morning Sunlight Hall should only be opened at festivals or when the important guests arrive, instead of any random occasions. I considered eting everyone here today a big event. So I ventured to open the hall. Now we finally et each other officially.”

Hearing her words, the people had different reactions. So were touched, so were joyful, so were suspicious, so put on a fake smile and so on.

Minglan noticed everyone’s reactions and then said with a smile, “After today, we’ll live under the sa roof. Since I didn’t know about you before, I’d like to get to know about everyone here.”

Her words confused everyone there.

Minglan didn’t explain anything and only waved to the place behind her. Danju had already prepared a desk in the hall with papers, inks and inkstone on the surface. Then Ruoi stepped forward and sat down in front of the desk, preparing to do the writing. Danju then stood next to Ruoi. After that, Xiazhu walked toward them shyly.

Danju said with a smile, “Don’t be afraid. Let ask you this, how old are you, where are you born?”

Xiazhu was in a daze while answering blankly, “I’m thirteen, Hillock...Village. I was born in Hillock Village on the west of Tong Prefecture.”

“How many people are there in your family?” Danju asked fluently with a paper in her hand.

“My father, my mother, my grandmother, three brothers, two sisters, I... I am the youngest one in my family. My families are all farrs.”

“How did you co to our mansion?”

Xiazhu looked at Minglan, finding the latter nodded at her gently. Then she nerved herself while replying, “When I was eleven, it hasn’t rained for a long ti. We had a poor harvest that year and my brothers wanted to get married. Then my father found a trader and sold my two sisters and to be maids. I was so lucky to be here that I could eat good food everyday!”

Soone was already tittering in the crowd. Minglan then cast a slight glance at them. They fell into silence right away while standing there sternly. Ruoi took notes of Xiazhu’s words quickly. There was only the rustle of the writing brush rubbing the paper.

“What happened next?” Danju asked in a soft voice.

Xiazhu, getting more and more courageous, said smoothly, “Afterwards, Momo Chang picked and taught rules for more than half a year. Then I was capable of serving Master.” When facing Danju and other maids of Minglan, Xiazhu always felt inferior spontaneously, like a middle school students admiring a master student in the sa workplace.

Then, Ruoi stopped writing while saying with no expression on her face, “Co leave your fingerprints here. If we find out that you have lied to our Madam, this will be the prove. Don’t bla anyone at that ti.”

“I won’t, I won’t!” With Xiazhu’s head shaking ceaselessly, she left her fingerprints right away.

Minglan smiled and said, “All right. Good for you. Co here now.”

Xiazhu let out a sigh of relief and ran toward Minglan as if she had heard of her pardon. All the other servants who stood there already knew what this was all about. Soone’s face turned pale. Soone showed a hesitation on the face. Soone seed not to be convinced.

Minglan didn’t pay any attention to them. She looked to Mama Lai’s direction and waved to a beautiful girl. This girl who had arched eyebrows and two big eyes as well as slender waist and large breasts did look very pretty and charming. Minglan then ordered, “That’s right, you. Co here.”

After the girl had looked at a middle-aged woman beside her with doubt, she took a deep breath and stepped forward. Danju dragged the girl toward her with a tender smile. That girl seed to be a bold one. She didn’t show a single sign of timidity while asuring Minglan up and down constantly. Lvzhi who was quite unhappy to see that walked over and pulled Danju away. Then she turned around and said smilingly, “Madam, may I question this sister?”

Minglan nodded with a smile while telling Qinsang to replace Ruoi.

Before Lvzhi ca up with a question, that girl started to speak with a beaming smile, “My na is Mingyue, I am...”

“You can’t use this na!” Lvzhi interrupted her all of a sudden, “It’s so similar to Madam’s na. Tell your parents to change another one for you. Get rid of the front four syllables!”