si-mexico Chapter 287 Chun Shao is in trouble
Chapter 287 Chun Shao is in trouble
Zhao Fangyu held Meng Yanzhen's note and thought all the way in the carriage.
According to the emperor's character, he is indeed capable of doing such a thing. Zhou Qinghe left in a hurry and did not even return to the palace. If he had the chance, he would definitely come back to take a look.
Zhao Fangyu carefully stroked the note in his hand, his eyes fixed on one place.
All I could think about was what kind of dangers a military clerk might encounter.
Zhao Fangyu didn't know much about the military, but he knew that many wealthy families would use their connections to send their unsuccessful children to the army during wartime to work as clerks and write letters for others in order to gain some credit.
It is hard to say whether the emperor asked Zhou Qinghe to write a letter to humiliate him or to create confusion. However, Zhao Fangyu was worried that the number of people he had sent to protect Zhou Qinghe was not enough.
Accidents may happen in the army, and we cannot relax on the road. Now that the cliff is gone, home is no longer a safe place.
The next morning, Zhao Fangyu's letter was delivered to Li's old house in a box used by the Fourteen States to deliver goods to major mansions.
Since Zhou Qinghe was not around, Zhao Fangyu brought Shu Jie'er over to rest together.
She had a lot of things on her mind, so naturally she couldn't sleep well.
"Princess, Miss Cui sent a visiting card."
Xingzhi gently placed an exquisite ink-and-wash plum blossom visiting card on Zhao Fangyu's dressing table, then turned around and hung up the curtains around it.
Zhao Fangyu knew that Cui Zimin had a younger sister, but wasn't he the only one living in the Cui family mansion in the capital?
"When did Miss Cui Jia come to the capital?"
Xingzhi had expected Zhao Fangyu to ask this question: "Princess, let me tell you about what happened yesterday."
"I entered the city at noon yesterday. Master Cui went to pick me up personally."
Zhao Fangyu nodded, looked at the time, and put the visiting card aside.
There was no news coming from the Li family's old house yet. Zhao Fangyu gathered all the servants together in the Hewang Mansion.
There are few masters in the Hewang Mansion, but after all, it is large enough, so there will always be a lot of people to clean the house. The Ministry of Internal Affairs often sends people to ask if more people are needed.
The news of Zhou Qinghe's passing has been around for a few days. Zhao Fangyu had been busy outside before and had no time to take care of these things. As a result, when Xingzhi went out today, there was no one in the greenhouse. Upon asking, he found out that these daring people had even dragged Chunshao to do the cleaning!
Zhao Fangyu blocked the front and back doors immediately.
Zhao Fangyu sat in the corridor. The sun was getting hotter. After all, it was summer and the sun was scorching high in the sky without any shelter. With so many people standing in one place, it was naturally uncomfortable.
A low buzz gradually emerged from the crowd.
Zhao Fangyu finished his breakfast in front of everyone. All these things were taken away, and Xingzhi and others helped Zhao Fangyu wash his face and hands.
After completing the whole process, Zhao Fangyu sat under the corridor. The breeze was blowing gently, and it was clean and refreshing. Everyone standing in the yard was sweating profusely.
Zhao Fangyu picked up the fragrant tea and rinsed his mouth, then put the cup on the table and someone brought another one.
As he scanned the crowd, the buzzing sound became louder instead of smaller.
"Who transferred Chunshao out today?"
A female steward stood out from the crowd. She was plump and quite old. A belt was tied tightly around her clothes, almost making her look like a gourd.
The female steward spoke to herself, first bowing deeply to Zhao Fangyu, and then earnestly said, "It's true that there are too many things to do in the garden these past two days. Miss Chunshao is in the flower room and knows how to take care of flowers and trees, so we temporarily borrowed Miss Chunshao to help."
Zhao Fangyu's eyes fell on the old mother who was speaking, and one of the maids following behind her had already hummed softly.
"What kind of work is done in the garden? Let me tell you. I remember that the palace originally had only a few dozen servants. Later, when several gardens were completed one after another, we bought a batch from outside and made up a hundred of them."
"There are twenty servants in the main courtyard. Xingzhi and the others are my dowry and are not counted among the servants in the palace. There are also thirty people in the prince's courtyard. These people do not enter the inner courtyard and are not counted."
If we remove a few people who work in purchasing and the kitchen, the number of people doing cleaning alone would exceed sixty!
The old lady remained calm and said, "Princess, you don't know that although there are not many masters in the palace, there are many courtyards. Every day, it takes 20 people to sweep the courtyards. It takes until the evening to finish the work."
"In addition, in summer, many flower trees need to be pruned. This year, the prince ordered that some water chestnuts and water caltrops be planted in the garden. People have been assigned to take care of them every day. In addition, there is a lotus pond. There are also many fruit trees planted in the garden. In order to prevent mosquitoes, many people have to spend money on fumigating insect repellent."
It sounds busy, but it's far from it.
The Zhao family is not as big as the royal palace, but they have a lot more masters, so twenty people are enough to clean the garden.
It's not like we need to prune flower branches every day, so the idea of using fumigation to ward off insects is simply nonsense.
The government's accounts clearly show expenses for insect repellent sachets. It would be sufficient to just hang the sachets filled with insect repellent in the woods and replace them regularly. Why would it be necessary to find someone to burn fires in the woods every day to fumigate the insects?
Water chestnuts, water caltrops, lotus roots, all of these grow in water and have production capacity depending on the season. Two people at most would be enough. Why would they need so many people as the housekeeper said?
It's obvious that they are just gathering together to be lazy.
"When was Chunshao transferred?"
The female steward bowed her head and said respectfully, "Your Highness, she was transferred today. Before she even arrived at the garden, Miss Chunshao was taken back by Miss Xingzhi."
Zhao Fangyu calculated the time and it matched.
"Who did you meet along the way?"
The female steward didn't dare to answer this time. After hesitating for a moment, she said, "I met Steward Yang who was doing the shopping."
Zhao Fangyu, the manager of Yang, knew about this. It was said that Yang was left in the inner courtyard to do purchasing because he was born with a disability.
Otherwise, you should go to the outer courtyard.
Another breeze blew over her face, and the female steward suddenly heard Zhao Fangyu say, "I remember, you are Steward Yang's sister?"
When Xingzhi came to report, he said that he saw the female steward taking Chunshao to talk to Steward Yang.
The female steward broke out in a cold sweat, and immediately felt doubtful, wondering if her little thoughts had been seen through. She felt guilty, but she still had to force herself to answer, "Yes, Steward Yang, who is in charge of the shopping, is my younger brother. We met on the road and talked for a while. It was rare that Miss Chunshao was there, so I also talked to her."
Zhao Fangyu's eyes fell on Chunshao.
Manager Yang is a eunuch who cannot marry. It happens that there are many things to do in the garden, so his sister summoned Chun Shao, who made a mistake and was given a mute drug. However, the beautiful Chun Shao happened to be out of the flower room for the first time, and she met this Manager Yang...
Chun Shao was now standing aside, with an unperturbed look on her face, and no expression could tell whether she was happy or angry. Only when she saw Zhao Fangyu looking at her did she suddenly kneel down in front of him and kowtow heavily.
She used great strength and was not afraid of knocking out her brain. Bright red blood immediately flowed down her forehead and dripped onto the bluestone slab in front of her.
She dipped her finger in her own blood and wrote on the slate: He wants to marry me, but I don't want to.
From the moment Chunshao started writing, the servants looked at her with envy and respect.
Slaves spent most of their lives running around busy, and reading and writing were things only the young masters and young ladies from respectable and wealthy families knew.
Chun Shao can actually write...
In fact, all the maids around Zhao Fangyu can read and write. After all, there are so many accounts to handle, and not being able to read and write will really delay work.
Once a person can write, the only way to stop her from talking is death.
Otherwise, even if he was cut into a human pig, there would be ways to leak the information.
Zhao Fangyu's original intention was to raise Chunshao in the greenhouse, just like he had done with Zhao Fanglan in the past, keeping a close eye on her and using her to fish to see if he could catch anything.
Unexpectedly, what they caught was the dirty tricks among their own managers!
"Did they force you?"
Chunshao nodded and continued writing: Manager Yang has bad intentions.
Chunshao had seen how Zhao Fangyu dealt with Zhao Fanglan, so she naturally knew Zhao Fangyu's intention to keep her. Fortunately, she was still alive, just not as decent as before, but her life was still acceptable.
Working in the greenhouse was a bit tiring and hard, but it was protected from the wind and rain, and there was always an endless supply of charcoal in the winter, so it wasn't a hard job, but the plan was to let her die of old age in there.
Chunshao knew that this had exhausted the last bit of the master-servant relationship between her and Zhao Fangyu, so she was usually very cautious and never stepped out of the greenhouse.
As a result, Manager Yang forcefully transferred her out of the greenhouse today. She thought he was using her as a bait, but she didn't expect that she would meet a purchasing manager who looked at her with lustful eyes.
There was nothing Chun Shao didn't understand. It was nothing more than that these people saw that she was in such a state of poverty and wanted to humiliate her.
But to this day, she still doesn't know whether Zhao Fangyu will make the decision for her.
Zhao Fangyu glanced at the female manager and manager Yang, then found the purchase account book from the pile of account books.
The items above are recorded correctly and are all market prices, but you can't tell what they are by looking at them. You have to go and check the actual items.
The cleaning lady took back the fresh vegetables that had just been bought today from the big kitchen and took a look. Except for the food supplied to the main courtyard and the outer courtyard, the others were far inferior and wilted, not as juicy as those in the main courtyard.
It is common to have two sets of standard dishes for the master and servants, but the dishes are bought together and recorded together in the account book. The difference in price goes into the Yang family's pockets.
When the water is too clear, there will be no fish. Zhao Fangyu usually catches the big ones and lets the small ones go. He will not be too harsh on corruption below a certain amount.
But the Yang siblings, the elder sister picked the fruits from the fruit trees in the palace and sold them for money, and the younger brother stole the food expenses of the servants in the palace. In addition, their mother and father served them in the stable, and occasionally they would withhold some hay and beans from the stable food and take them back.
"The Crane King's Mansion actually has a family of Pixiu."
Chunshao knelt on one side and couldn't get up, while Manager Yang and his sister also knelt there trembling.
There were guards everywhere, and the servants didn't dare to breathe.
Zhao Fangyu called out Yang Mama's assistant from the crowd and asked, "Can you take over Yang Mama's stall?"
If you can't, write a letter to the Zhao family, there are plenty of people who can do it.
Girls from other families might not visit their parents' home so frequently, but Zhao Fangyu didn't think so. To family members, being too polite would make them seem distant.
Family disgrace should not be made public. It depends on who it is. The Zhao family is fine.
The deputy was not very old, no more than twenty years old, with a neat bun and two silver hairpins. He had a round face and small eyes, but looked quite kind.
The woman didn't expect Zhao Fangyu to ask so directly. A trace of surprise flashed across her face, but her body was faster than her brain, and she immediately knelt down to express her gratitude.
When Manager Yang saw this, his heart sank, and he immediately shouted, "Princess, my sister and I have been running the palace for many years. Even if we have no credit, we have worked hard!"
This sentence, even if there is no merit, it is still hard work, really touched the hearts of many people. The next moment, Zhao Fangyu's cold voice came: "Hard work?"
"Did my Crane Palace fail to give you monthly allowance, or did it fail to provide money for your parents to buy a wife? Did it make you short of food and clothing, or did it make you die of illness without finding a husband for you?"
"You talked about giving me money as if it was supposed to be given to you for free. I didn't know that the master should be grateful to the servants for their work."
In one sentence, everyone woke up from their dream.
Even if they have no merit, they have worked hard. Since ancient times, the money and goods have been exchanged for each other, and the Hewang Mansion has never delayed the payment of money for a single day or month. Even if there is a lack of food and drink, it is not because Zhao Fangyu treats them harshly, but because the Yang siblings treat them harshly.
This should not have been said. Besides, among all the people present, the Yang siblings had the least confidence to say this!
The servants were paid to help others get rid of their troubles, and the work in the Hewang Mansion was not heavy. However, Zhou Qinghe suddenly left the capital these days, and some rumors spread. The servants thought that the male master was not at home, so they relaxed.
Who could have thought that Zhao Fangyu would settle accounts with them after touching something that shouldn't have been touched.
"They were given a mute drug, their arms and legs were broken, and they were driven to the farm. Their parents were also fed the drug and sent along."
The old mother standing outside the door had a face full of flesh and responded in a flattering manner. She tied up the Yang siblings with a hemp rope and dragged them away.
The remaining servants were trembling with fear, and dozens of pairs of eyes were staring at him. However, Zhao Fangyu remained calm, sat in the rocking chair, and slowly pulled out another account book from a pile of account books that were half a person's height.
In the morning, many things were done.
Now she is the only master of the main courtyard, and there is nothing better to take care of than now.
The rest were not purchased either, and the people in the mansion were asked to take over. When no one could be chosen, the matter was reported directly to Zhao Fangyu.
In just three to five days, a new manager was brought in.
Zhao Fangyu was not the type to sit and wait for death, so he took care of the affairs in the mansion that day and sent Chunshao back to the greenhouse. He spent the rest of his time quickly dispatching caravans from fourteen states to speed up the construction of the underground palace.
The Li family and Zhao Fangyu were at the same pace, both were building underground palaces and mountain chambers.
The person Zhao Fangyu sent to inquire about Zhou Qinghe's news had not returned yet, and the day of the invitation from Miss Cui arrived.
Zhao Fangyu brought Shu Jie'er to the banquet, followed by three maids. Zhao Fangyu wore an exquisite filigree gold flower crown on her head, two fingertip-sized pearl filigree three-yuan hairpins on her forehead, and a dark green velvet peony jacket. He held the hand of the chubby Shu Jie'er, who wore a light lotus headband to hold up her two buns.
When she got off the car, she saw a woman in plain clothes standing by the side. She had a water-colored inner lining and a jacket with a green mountain ink-wash pattern on the outside. She was waiting for her in front of the door.