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

C176. The Household Chores for a Madam (4)

The compartments in the hall by the Inner Rite Door became quite busy right now. The people there had been divided into three groups. In the first group, Cuixiu was in charge of asking the teenage girls while Bisi took the notes. The rest of the servants were questioned by Danju and Ruomei in the second group as well as Qinsang and Lvzhi in the third group. The duration of the question varied from each person. The younger ones who didn't have too many experiences finished the process very quickly. While the older servants all got lots of stories to tell.

Danju, as considerate as she was, had taken out a few screens from the inside as temporary barriers. In this way, the servants who were questioned didn't need to worry that their personal details would be eavesdropped. For example, Hao Dacheng's wife who did the needlework was actually in her second marriage now. Her ex-husband had been beaten to death when his master's property had been confiscated. As for Hao Dacheng who was in charge in the outer yard, he had been a wifeless servant of a guilty official. Then, the widower and widow had got married and also had a few kids.

The Morning Sunlight Hall was so spacious that Minglan always felt it like the exhibition hall of the museum. Therefore, she moved to the side hall next to the Morning Sunlight Hall and started to hear Sir Gongsun reporting the family accounts. Gongsun Baishi showed a super leisure look while stroking his bear in an even more elegantly way than Sheng Hong. There were a few stewards and accountants standing there. Minglan pointed at some places on the account book and asked them a few questions. As a result, they answered the questions fluently in a very reverent attitude.

"Thanks for your hard working." Minglan turned around to thank Gongsun Baishi, "It's so hard for such a superior man like you to handle those trivialities!"

Gongsun Baishi watched Minglan pointing at the account book while putting on a wry smile, "I'm a man who likes to be unrestrained. Those are not the things I am good at. Ever since Commander has established his own mansion, I really have had a tough time."

Minglan ordered Xiaotao to serve the tea while saying smilingly, "Why did you say that, sir? If commander deals with those things by himself, he will feel the same. Sometimes people break a fly with wheel. However, we all know that it is not an efficient way."

With the corner of his mouth curved to a smile, Gongsun Baishi agreed, "That's absolutely right!"

As they were talking with each other, he found Minglan having a refined style of conversation and an active mind. Although he enjoyed their conversation, he knew it was not appropriate for them to talk too long since he was a man and hadn't signed a contract to be the servant of Gu's mansion. Thus after a short while, he stood up to bid his farewell. When he left, he asked a boy servant to lead Minglan to the inner study.

"My name is Gu Quan. Madam, you can call me Little Quanzi." Gu Quan was around thirteen or fourteen with a round face and two narrow eyes. The smile on his face made him look quite smart. As he walked ahead of Minglan by the side to lead the way, he grinned and said, "... Master is my great benefactor. At that time I was just a beggar on the street. If it were not for Master, I would have died miserably on the street."

Minglan wanted to say, "Well, you might also become the leader of beggar gangs."

After they had walked along an east-west lane outside of the Morning Sunlight Hall and crossed a floral-pendant door which had the flowers and woods as decorations, Minglan finally arrived at the front of the Inner Study. The wall in the study which had used to separate the two large rooms had already been got through. On the left and the right of the study were two side rooms while on the front and the back were two small warm rooms and Baoshas for people to rest. Minglan nodded inwardly while thinking that she could sleep here if she had a row with Gu Tingye in the future.