As soon as he got off the sedan chair, he saw two young boys laughing and joking at the door of the Song Mansion. He glanced at the master coming back. They were all frightened and frightened, and hurriedly stood aside to wait for scolding.
Master Song suppressed his anger and turned around the screen wall. He saw that none of the servants in the main courtyard were working seriously.
What made him most angry was that there were five or six mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law sitting cross-legged on the floor playing cards in the verandah, laughing so loudly that they could be heard outside the yard.
Only then did Mr. Song realize that his wife had managed the Song Mansion like this when he was away!
You can use your toes to figure out where Mrs. Song is and what she is doing now.
He rushed into the hall angrily, turned to the left and entered the wing room. When he reached the door, he saw the little maid on guard making crickets out of grass leaves.
At first glance, she saw Mr. Song's dark and green face. She was so frightened that her hands trembled. She opened her mouth and shouted into the ear room: "Madam, Mr. Song is back!"
There was a sound of panic in the house. Without saying a word, Mr. Song kicked the door open. Mrs. Song screamed, and the leaf cards that had not been collected fell out of her sleeves and scattered on the floor.
The three card players immediately shrank aside and looked at Mr. Song with their mouths closed and guilty.
Mr. Song passed them and walked quickly to Mrs. Song. His face had turned purple.
As soon as he opened his mouth, he could only hold back the word "you". Suddenly, his vision went dark and he fainted from anger.
"Ah, Master!" Mrs. Song hurriedly supported Master Song and shouted for someone to come.
A quarter of an hour later, Mr. Song woke up in the chair in the main hall. When he opened his eyes, he saw Mrs. Song kneeling in front of him.
Lu Ling, Doctor Chu and Liu Qingyun were all standing aside, except Song Wenzhou.
Seeing that Mr. Song woke up, everyone heaved a sigh of relief.
Mrs. Song took Master Song's hand and began to admit her mistake.
Lu Lingze said to Xiao Rong calmly: "Send Doctor Chu out." As he said that, he put some reward money in her hand, which was for Doctor Chu.
Then he turned to Haitang and said, "Father has been busy with official duties recently and is exhausted. Please go and make a bowl of Confucius Pillow Soup yourself."
Haitang responded, and Lu Ling turned to look at Mr. Song, and met his slightly satisfied eyes.
Lu Ling just smiled faintly, then stood aside and stopped talking.
Master Song regained his breath. Mrs. Song wiped the corners of her tearless eyes with a handkerchief and said, "Master, you scared me to death!"
Mr. Song sighed, struggled to sit up straight, and said, "You all want to make me angry to death."
Mrs. Song felt guilty for a while, and Liu Qingyun quickly said: "Uncle, aunt has been busy managing the back house and working hard. She just wants to relax while playing cards today."
Mr. Song snorted coldly and did not give Liu Qingyun a good look.
Three years ago, Liu Qingyun's mother died, and her father was an alcoholic. When he was drunk, he liked to take it out on his children.
Mrs. Song felt sorry for her sister's child, so she took Liu Qingyun to the Song Mansion.
Liu Qingyun was also accustomed to saying nice things to coax Mrs. Song, so Mrs. Song loved her very much.
But Master Song is not like that.
In his opinion, this niece has no advantages other than her outstanding appearance.
He didn't dislike Liu Qingyun, but he definitely didn't like her. He just regarded her as an ordinary relative.
Now that Mrs. Song has managed the mansion like this and ignored the family rules and gathered people to play cards, Liu Qingyun actually said that she worked hard?
Master Song was naturally unhappy.
When Liu Qingyun saw that Mr. Song didn't look good on her, she immediately regretted what she said, shut her mouth and pretended to be obedient and stood aside.
Mr. Song looked at Mrs. Song again and said, "Last time you promised me that you would never touch the leaf cards again. I just thought you had really quit. Today, if I hadn't come back for an emergency, I wouldn't have known that Song Mansion was there. It’s become a bustling city under your management!”
Mrs. Song defended herself with a shy face: "Master, I'm not usually like this. My servants are usually very obedient. If they make mistakes, I'll give them a thumbs up! It's just that they saw me accidentally playing cards today. Only when you are addicted do you dare not take the rules of the Song family seriously. I think these unscrupulous slaves who do one thing in front of others and do the same thing behind the other are itchy, I will beat them all tomorrow!"
Hearing this, Mr. Song sighed heavily, shook his head and said, "You have been in charge of the house for twenty years, and you still haven't learned the knowledge involved."
Mrs. Song raised her chin and said disdainfully: "It's just about disciplining servants. What kind of knowledge is needed? Those who don't obey should be punished! They have suffered so much that they naturally don't dare to disobey their master!"
Master Song sneered and said, "Really? If that's the case, then why is there such chaos in the mansion today? Since you are sure that you can control the servants with a board, why do the servants in the mansion neglect their duties when they see you playing cards? I treat the Song Mansion as a vegetable market and walk around at will without following the rules?"
Mrs. Song was speechless, and I covered her mouth with a handkerchief for a long time without saying anything.
Mr. Song turned to look at Liu Qingyun and said, "Qingyun, what do you think?"
Liu Qingyun was surprised and happy when Master Song suddenly asked her, thinking that her uncle was interested in her!
She straightened her back quickly, thought for a while, and said: "Uncle, Qingyun thinks that aunt is right. Those disobedient servants should be punished, but those who have meritorious service should also be rewarded. If you just blindly If you punish the servant, he will appear obedient on the surface, but secretly do something disrespectful to his master or even betray his master."
Speaking of this, she paused and then added: "These are the principles I have learned from my aunt in the past three years."
Mrs. Song was very satisfied after hearing this.
Mr. Song nodded lightly and said, "You are right, clearly distinguishing rewards and punishments is indeed very important."
When Liu Qingyun heard this, she felt even more happy.
She couldn't help but glance at Lu Ling secretly, showing a proud expression.
Lu Ling didn't care about her.
Mr. Song then turned to Lu Ling and asked, "What do you think?"
Lu Ling smiled faintly and said, "My mother and cousin are right. The people under management should have clear rewards and punishments."
At this point, she lowered her eyes. Mr. Song thought that she had finished speaking. He was about to sigh when he suddenly heard her voice again:
"But my daughter-in-law has something to add."
Mr. Song quickly pricked up his ears.
Lu Ling said: "It is better to manage people than to care for them, and to care for people is not as good as comforting others. To comfort others, you need to cultivate yourself first, and to cultivate yourself you need to be honest and sincere.
"As the saying goes, what the master does, the servants who always follow him will also imitate the master's behavior. Therefore, if you want the servants to know the rules and understand the etiquette, the master must first be upright. He must be upright and do things without being told. If his body is not upright, he will not obey orders. This is one of them."
This is about the people in the mansion imitating Mrs. Song in playing cards.
Mr. Song stroked his beard and nodded.
Lu Ling added: "The ancients said: 'Don't worry about scarcity, but worry about inequality.' We should ensure that every servant can get fair treatment. We should give appropriate rewards to servants who work hard and are conscientious. To motivate them to keep working hard.”
