Cheng Wenwen was frightened yesterday and her body was in pain. It was inevitable that she slept for a long time the next day, but it was He who shook her awake.
"What's going on? Let me sleep a little longer."
"Miss! Manager Wu is here to see you!"
"Who is it? If you don't want to see her, go and entertain her!"
Seeing how lazy her young lady was, Mr. He felt a little annoyed.
"Manager Wu is already waiting for you in the courtyard! Get up quickly. She has been in charge of the affairs of the General's Mansion. If you want to take over the affairs of the General's Mansion from her, you must get up and see her, so as not to be looked down upon!"
Cheng Wenwen couldn't stand Mother He's words, and sat up after talking: "Okay, okay, I'll get up, you put down the curtain and say I'm not feeling well, just entertain her in the outer hall!"
He followed Cheng Wenwen's approach and introduced Manager Wu into the outer hall.
Manager Wu's full name is Wu Li, and she is a woman who looks to be in her twenties.
It was really surprising that such a young man could be the steward of the General's Mansion, but He found that Steward Wu still wore his hair in a spinster bun, which inevitably made people think too much.
It's just that Manager Wu was mediocre and could only be described as delicate. Even Pei'er's appearance was much prettier than hers, let alone compared with the young lady, so He didn't think about it.
Wu Li walked in and was the first to see the curtain hanging down in the room, as well as the graceful figure of a woman sleeping in the curtain, and her eyes couldn't help but dim.
He said: "Manager Wu, if you have anything to do, just tell me directly. My young lady is injured and can't get up."
Wu Li raised her head and said to the girl behind the curtain: "The general asked me to send a message to my wife. The general has military matters to deal with. I will come back to marry you when the general's affairs are finished."
Cheng Wenwen responded: "I understand."
Wu Li added: "I'm afraid that Madam's side will not have enough manpower, so I called two maids over, Xiaodie and Xiaolan. If Madam is used to it, let them serve them. If they are not used to it, let them clean the courtyard. That’s it.”
Cheng Wenwen responded again: "Okay!"
Cheng Wenwen may not have noticed Wu Li's strangeness, and felt that she was considerate of herself.
But when Mr. He heard Manager Wu speak in a high-pitched voice, his eyes were raised high, and there was no friendly expression on his face, it made people feel uncomfortable.
Her young lady will be the owner of the General's Mansion from now on. From now on, the entire General's Mansion should be managed by their young lady, but this little steward has such an attitude.
"If Madam finds out! Then I will retreat."
Before the people inside agreed, Wu Li turned around and left.
"Wait a minute!" Mr. He inevitably had a bad tone. He looked at Wu Li and said directly: "I heard that you are in charge of the middle minister in the mansion, Mr. Wu, right?"
Wu Li frowned and replied: "I have been taking care of it."
Mrs. He smiled: "There is no mistress in the house, but I have heard of the concubine as the housekeeper! I have never heard of a servant as the housekeeper. It can be seen that there is no mistress in the house. It is really a mess of rules and decency. A servant It would be a joke if word got out about the butler!”
Wu Li had been in charge of the General's Mansion for many years, and she had never had anyone treat her with such contempt. After hearing these words, she looked at Mr. He fiercely, which seemed a bit extreme, and coldly replied: "It was the General who handed over the gift to me. Who cares, does Mother He think there’s anything wrong with the general’s arrangement?”
But He was not afraid of her at all, and said: "Don't use the general to pressure me. After all, you are just a servant. You don't understand the rules. That's because the general is magnanimous and doesn't care about you. But you have to know the owner of this backyard." Who is it? Since there is already a mistress in the house, you don’t need to take care of the middle minister Wu, manager Wu, just leave it to the madam today!"
Wu Li frowned and was very displeased. She obviously didn't want to hand over the middle feed, so she thought of a way to retreat as a way forward: "Originally, when the new lady came in, I should have handed over the power of the middle feed to her. But Madam, you haven't married the general yet, and it's inevitable that you are not familiar with all the matters in the house when you are here for the first time. It would be better to wait until you are married to the general, and after asking the general, I will hand it over to you."
"You..." He wanted to argue again.
"Okay, Mother He, let's do it as Manager Wu said."
If Cheng Wenwen stopped He, she was planning to run away, so she wouldn't spend the general's money, so as not to get into trouble later.
She didn't want to get involved in the complicated things in his backyard.
So she didn't care whether Wu Li's attitude was good or not. As long as this person didn't offend her in the future, she wouldn't care about it. She didn't come to this backyard to make friends.
"Miss! But..." He walked in and hesitated, as if he wanted to say something.
Cheng Wenwen looked at Wu Li's figure standing outside and asked her: "Manager Wu, do you know when the general will come back from finishing his work?"
After hearing this, Wu Li thought that the young lady from the capital city was just like that. Just like the concubines in the general's mansion, she couldn't wait to inquire about the general's itinerary and wanted to get close to him.
Wu Li thought so in her heart, and had no fear of Cheng Wenwen, so she answered casually: "I don't know about this. Generals who focus on military affairs may return in three to five days if they are young; if they are more, they may not return for several months or even half a year." Once you come back, you can’t say for sure.”
Wouldn’t it be great to come back after half a year?
When Cheng Wenwen heard this, she became happy and couldn't help but curl up the corners of her mouth.
Wu Li listened to the sound of gasping for breath inside, thinking that the young lady was crying because of anger, and even more felt that this person was careless.
"Is there anything else, madam?" Wu Li's attitude made it seem like she wanted to leave immediately and had no patience.
Cheng Wenwen finally said: "Manager Wu, your general and I have no relationship. You don't have to call me madam. Just call me Miss Cheng. Please inform everyone in the house."
Wu Li was slightly startled, but she was a little surprised by her move. Logically speaking, when a new lady arrives, she usually wants to win over everyone or declare sovereignty and authority, but why did Miss Cheng do this?
Retreat to advance?
"Yes! Miss Cheng!" Wu Li didn't want to think about it, she really wanted her to be like this.
After Wu Li left, Mrs. He walked in and said slightly anxiously: "Miss, what should we do? If the general doesn't come back for more than half a year, your marriage will have to wait until the Year of the Monkey and the Horse."
"If it doesn't work, it won't work!" Cheng Wenwen didn't care anyway.
"Miss, you put it lightly. How can you get a foothold in the house without getting married? Look at the attitude of that little steward. He doesn't take you seriously, let alone the general's concubines -
I saw yesterday that the General's concubines are more beautiful than the last, and they are not much worse than you, Miss. "
Cheng Wenwen was only sixteen years old. Although she was a beautiful girl, she was not fully developed yet. Compared with those charming concubines, she was somewhat inferior. He was inevitably worried that her young lady would not be able to compete with those concubines and win the heart of the general.
Cheng Wenwen felt even happier when she heard that the general's concubines were more beautiful than herself.
In this case, if she deliberately acted ugly when she saw the general in the future, maybe the general would look down on her!
If you don't like yourself, you won't come to her room, but go to those concubines. Why isn't this beautiful?
He began to ramble: "Miss, the general's house is complicated. This woman still has to have a child to consolidate her status. You have to take advantage of your wedding to get pregnant with the general's child as soon as possible and give birth to the legitimate son as soon as possible."
Cheng Wenwen quickly excused her and said, "Mama He, I know, I know, please stop talking. I'm a little hungry. Please ask someone to give me something to eat."
Seeing that her young lady was so careless, Ms. He felt a little resentful and said anxiously: "Miss, you should have asked for the right to be a middle-income person just now!"
“Isn’t it the same thing to take care of things early and late!”
Cheng Wenwen didn't care. She didn't want to help the general with his housekeeping. If she didn't have the energy, she still had to make money and plan to escape!
He said anxiously: "Miss! We were robbed by bandits this time, and we don't have much silver left! If the general doesn't come back for more than half a year, how will we manage our expenses in the house? Pei'er and I can do without money. Money, but the escorts and cooks we brought are more than a dozen people! We need to pay monthly! The money we have left can only last for a month at most!"
Mr. He began to explain the reasons in a piecemeal manner, and Cheng Wenwen finally understood why Mr. He was so eager to seize the power of the housekeeper.
Because she was robbed by bandits, she became poor!
When she got married, her grandmother gave her some private money, but it was suddenly robbed of her. I felt so distressed!
Cheng Wenwen endured the heartache and began to think about it carefully.
Without money, the employees brought by her dowry would have no wages. Without wages, they would naturally be unwilling to work.
So whether it was for current survival or a future escape plan, she had to make money as soon as possible.
"I'll go to Wu Li and ask for the rights to the middle fund!" He made up his mind.
Cheng Wenwen stopped her: "No! We won't spend his money!"
She had thought about relying on men to support herself, but she could not rely on just any man.
She was happy to rely on a man like Cousin Wang, who was handsome, good-looking, and highly motivated.
But she doesn’t want to rely on old men, ugly men, or philandering men with three wives and four concubines.
If you expect this kind of man's money to support yourself, you must sacrifice something, such as sex and human rights. Cheng Wenwen doesn't want to sacrifice herself.
How could she serve an old man in this small courtyard in her prime years?
…
His own lady was so indifferent to matters in the house, but He couldn't help but take care of it, so he took advantage of the opportunity to go to the kitchen and planned to find out some information in the house first.
"Do you think the new lady will treat the young master well when she comes in?"
"Who knows? But at the beginning, we probably won't attack the young master and the young lady. When the new lady has children, we won't be able to tell for sure!"
There was a new master in the house, and when the cooks were slacking off, they became more or less curious and started talking about it.
"Shut your mouths and do your work well. Do you dare to trick the masters? You are not afraid of being listened to!"
The steward of the kitchen is a woman named Zhou. She looks to be in her forties, with a round face and a very rich appearance.
"Mother Zhou, aren't you curious about the new wife?"
"What are you curious about? You will definitely be able to see it in the future."
Although the general's mansion is large, it is managed by Wu Li, who is extremely frugal. There are not many servants in the mansion, so even if you want to be lazy, you can't do it.
Mother Zhou was eating melon seeds and planning to go out for a walk.
When he arrived outside the door, He quickly heard this and thought, "It's terrible, it's terrible."
Not only does the general have many concubines, but he also has a pair of children. Then when her young lady gives birth to a child, won’t she have to be ranked behind others?
…
