Legend of Concubine's Daughter Minglan 知否知否 应是绿肥红瘦

C174. The Household Chores for a Madam (2)

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 come."

Minglan frowned and asked, "What's the name 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 name to House of Ling Ding... Master doesn't have time to care about this, so we just use that name too."

Minglan didn't comment 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 meeting everyone here today a big event. So I ventured to open the hall. Now we finally meet each other officially."

Hearing her words, the people had different reactions. Some were touched, some were joyful, some were suspicious, some 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 same 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 Ruomei stepped forward and sat down in front of the desk, preparing to do the writing. Danju then stood next to Ruomei. After that, Xiazhu walked toward them shyly.

Danju said with a smile, "Don't be afraid. Let me 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 farmers."

"How did you come 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 time. 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 me to be maids. I was so lucky to be here that I could eat good food everyday!"

Someone was already tittering in the crowd. Minglan then cast a slight glance at them. They fell into silence right away while standing there sternly. Ruomei 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 me and taught me 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 same workplace.

Then, Ruomei stopped writing while saying with no expression on her face, "Come leave your fingerprints here. If we find out that you have lied to our Madam, this will be the prove. Don't blame anyone at that time."

"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. Come 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. Someone's face turned pale. Someone showed a hesitation on the face. Someone seemed 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. Come 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 seemed to be a bold one. She didn't show a single sign of timidity while measuring 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 Ruomei.

Before Lvzhi came up with a question, that girl started to speak with a beaming smile, "My name is Mingyue, I am..."

"You can't use this name!" Lvzhi interrupted her all of a sudden, "It's so similar to Madam's name. Tell your parents to change another one for you. Get rid of the front four syllables!" Next chapter ↓↓ (External Link Below ↓↓)