The sun shines through the newly-pasted paper windows, making the room bright. 【Read full text】
The house was newly built and had just been decorated. It was white and very bright. There is a big bed and a combing table, which are very clean. There is also a vase on the table with a few wild flowers.
Siniang Wang was finishing her makeup at the combing table. Although she is a country woman, the area around Hangzhou has always been a land of plenty and rich in tea and silk, making it much richer than other places. As long as the years are better, even farm girls are very particular about their grooming.
It has been said since ancient times that beauties come out of Suzhou and Hangzhou. Firstly, the water and soil here are warm and nourishing, and secondly, this place is rich. Even women from poor families have the ability to beautify themselves, so they have the feeling that there are many beauties.
She combed her hair carefully, put a pearl orchid in it, put some lipstick on her lips, dressed her hair smoothly, changed into clean clothes, and then opened the door and came out.
The main room was empty, with no decent furniture except for a table and four benches. A few wooden boards were fixed on the wall to serve as shelves to store some sundries. But Siniang Wang is already very satisfied - at least the family has a decent home again. This home is much better than before. Although my home also has three houses and a courtyard, it still has a thatched roof, which is nothing compared to the tiled roof and skylight of this house. Both bright and neat.
In the middle of the main room, there are several embroidery frames. The door of the room is open. The peach blossoms outside the door are in full bloom. Bees are shuttled in the sunshine, and from time to time they will break into the main room and circle around. It makes people feel happy when they look at it.
My “wasp luck” is finally over! It turned out that her family was also very happy: they had seven or eight acres of mulberry garden, and they raised silkworms and reeled silk themselves. Although the family is not well-off, it is still relatively well-off. Since the year before last, the man wanted to make a little fortune and borrowed money from "Shouye" to expand silkworm farming. Unexpectedly, a silkworm disease destroyed all his income, and he was completely defeated. He was forced to sell land and houses to repay the debt of the king of hell, which was compounded by profits. Having lost everything and no way to survive, he had no choice but to ask Cai Shi to introduce him and became a slave to this master from Guangdong.
Being a slave is a desperate choice - otherwise the family can only live on the streets, but once they sell themselves. You can't control your wealth. It's okay if the host's family is generous and responsible, but if you encounter someone who is cruel and lustful. Families are broken up and people are destroyed in a matter of seconds. Fortunately, Cai Shi was an old acquaintance and said that although this gentleman was a stranger from Guangli, he was kind-hearted and treated his servants extremely well. Many refugees were also taken in to work. Care for the orphans and support the old. What a great kind person.
Even so, Wang Siniang was still doubtful. However, now that I have no choice but to take a risk, I have no choice but to take a chance.
I didn’t expect that this step was really the right one. Since arriving at the Zhao family's door, my family's fortune has improved step by step.
This old man took care of him and settled the family in the villa in Fenghuang Mountain. Wang Siniang's husband, Shen Jun, was a good mulberry planter. After he came to the Zhao family, he became the "head", specializing in leading people to plant mulberry trees on the hillside. He was also very skilled. In one breath he said that he would plant five hundred acres of mulberry orchards.
Wang Siniang thought she would arrange for them to raise silkworms, and she mentioned it to Cai Shi. If you want to raise silkworms, you must first prepare the people who raise silkworms, and you must also go to the "little leaves" in advance - it will take several years after the mulberry saplings are planted before the leaves can be harvested. You can't wait until you need mulberry leaves to buy them - it's hard to buy them even if you spend a lot of money when raising silkworms is the most stressful time.
But last year there was no sericulture at all. Not only was there no sericulture. The job assigned to Wang Siniang was to lead the female workers in the tea garden to plant and pick tea. Wang Siniang’s natal family was a tea farmer. She could not only plant and pick green tea, but also fry green tea. He can be regarded as a "female head" in Phoenix Villa.
Both of them are "heads", so they get more monthly money. Not long after, the master built a group of houses in the villa for his servants to live in, and the couple also got one. One light and two dark, the place is not big, but it is comfortable and convenient to live in. The master also had a kind heart for his three daughters, so they all studied in the "school" in the villa. This is something Wang Siniang never dreamed of - all the children who attend this kindergarten are the children of slaves in the villa, and all children under the age of thirteen are admitted to study.
Girls as young as six or seven years old can work as maids, and boys as young as seven or eight can be sent out to cut grass and herd sheep, or even do some odd jobs at worst. There is no such thing as a master who gives free meals and also provides students with education. Did Mr. Zhao really go all the way to Hangzhou to do good deeds?
Doubts are doubts. My daughter has gone to school and her knowledge is different from before. Not only can she talk about many things that her parents don't know, but also about things like planting mulberry and raising silkworms. The eldest daughter can now tell a lot of things - It turns out that this "free school" teaches not only the Thousand-Character Classics and Hundreds of Family Surnames, but also many practical things.
As for why we need to teach these things to the children in the villa, I think Mr. Zhao wants to do a great job here. These children will all be "heads" and "managers" in the future? Then it wouldn’t require so many people.
In her opinion, the master is a very mysterious person. When the villa was first built, several strange people came - it was said that they were all Mr. Zhao's "friends". They were said to be friends, but they were all gesticulating in the villa as if they were the owners of the place. Sometimes I'm there, sometimes I'm not. The master is also very friendly with them. You can often see them walking around Phoenix Mountain together, holding large rolls of paper in their hands and pointing from time to time.
Later, these people disappeared one after another. But occasionally I will see some new faces coming here - it is said that they are also Mr. Zhao's "friends".
Every time a "friend" arrives, there will always be some new construction in the villa. For example, building a house or repairing a canal. There is also the strange house with a chimney that was newly built on the mountain. Ever since that house was built, when the reservoir on the mountain was about to dry up, there would be a burst of black smoke, and the reservoir would be filled with water again.
In short, the master is a very mysterious person. However, Wang Siniang never dared to ask more about her master's origins. Moreover, she rarely saw Mr. Zhao throughout last year. According to Butler Cai: Master is very busy, what are you busy with? Wang Siniang didn't dare to ask. She was not a domestic slave of the inner house and was not allowed to enter the inner house of the villa without being summoned. The master's whereabouts were not within her scope to inquire.
But what the master is doing can be understood with just one look: The master is really investing in this Phoenix Villa! Over the past two years, the hillside that was originally covered with tall weeds and miscellaneous trees has now been opened up into mulberry orchards, orchards and tea gardens. Several workshops were built. A large charity hall was built along the river at the foot of the mountain. Last year, the local area suffered a major flood. The master came forward to jointly build this charity hall with the local gentry to take in the victims and provide food, shelter and housing. They also take care of clothes, and every one of them is fat and rosy. Some people stayed in the villa as slaves and were assigned to work and farm in various places. After a while, others would have boats to the docks on the riverside to pick up the refugees - they were said to be sent to Mr. Zhao's village to open up wasteland. As for where exactly they were going to open up wasteland, Wang Siniang neither knew nor dared to ask. At any rate, her family can still stay in their hometown, which is thankful to God.
She doesn't ask for anything else, she just wants to live a peaceful life here. The daughters are getting older. If one of them can catch the eye of the master and serve him as a "follower", then the future of this family will also be better. There is more hope.
Wang Siniang's thoughts were not random thoughts. When she kowtowed to Mr. Zhao, she noticed the strong masculine desire in Mr. Zhao's eyes when he looked at their mother and daughter. The master is young, and the mother and daughter are quite pretty, so this is not surprising. If the master is lucky enough to fancy his own daughter, it would be a good way out.
But since then, Mr. Zhao has had nothing to say to them. The dead man in his family breathed a sigh of relief, but Wang Siniang felt a little disappointed - isn't she as good-looking as that ugly Feng Hua?
Speaking of Mr. Zhao, he has neither a wife nor a concubine by his side. The only maid who often accompanies him is Fenghua, who is dark and thin. To say that he is a seductress, the master's personal servant Jiying is not handsome at all, but looks like a killer who does menial work. In the entire villa, there are no maids or servants who are particularly favored. Although He Ning was rescued from the bridge by the master, although he looked like a beautiful woman at first glance, the master is still indifferent to her, not even the maid who is close to her.
This gentleman is really a weirdo. Wang Siniang thought about taking off the blue cloth "skirt" from the shelf and wrapping it around her body. She picked up the scarf to wrap her face and head, and put on a bamboo hat - today she was going to the tea farm in the villa to pick tea. Go for a full day. The spring sun is already very bright.
It was quiet in the servants' group room, most people had already gone to work. There are dozens of group houses for servants built along the mountain, just like a small village. In addition to the houses, there are also public wells and toilets. The houses are neatly built, and there are roads paved with bluestone slabs at the door of each house - all of them are cleaned cleanly. The sanitation here is guaranteed, with shifts, and dedicated inspections. Whichever company does not do well will have its monthly payment deducted. Not only public places need to be inspected, but also homes. This mandatory health inspection is the most effective way to ensure public health safety.
Wang Siniang walked all the way up the hillside. Pass by the public well in the village - below is the reservoir. Water is transported here from the reservoir on the mountain through culverts. There were several maids who were washing clothes around the public well. They all said hello when they saw Wang Siniang coming. She is also the "leader" in the villa, and her status is much higher than that of ordinary women. (To be continued...)
