CHAPTER 19 PART 3
All the children left separately, and Su Wanniang took the new maid and followed Shen Wen, who was still crying. Walking along the illuminated path towards their yard.
The new maid asked in a low voice: "What's your name, sister? This little sister is honoured to meet you."
Su Wanniang said indifferently: "You look older than me, so you don't have to call me elder sister. Since you are a member of the Second Young Lady's courtyard, you should be named after "Xia" and the colour. From now on, you will be called "Xia Zi.”
TN note: Xia is the surname for maids in Shen wen Courtyard following by name by colour. Zi is purple 💜. So Xia Zi夏紫. 瞎子 which also pronounced as Xia Zi means blind person.
"Blind person? !” The girl choked unconsciously. She glanced at Shen Wen walking in front of her and asked in a low voice: "Is this the name the young lady gave me?"
Su Wanniang said sternly: "I was the one who named everyone in the young lady's courtyard. If you don't like it, you can go and tell Madam." This meant that there was no need to tell the young lady, as it would be useless.
Xia Zi lowered her head slightly and stopped talking.
Su Wanniang remembered Shen Wen's whisper last night: "Sister Wanniang, tomorrow my father will bring back a girl. She is an informer. I will put her in my yard. You name her 'Xia Zi'.. ..."
Xia Zi, an informer was named as "Blind person", this must be Shen Wen's prank.
Early the next morning, Xia Zi was called up. She was a newcomer, and Su Wan Niang assigned her to the lowest level of maid. The leading maid of that level naturally assigned her to the dirtiest job: cleaning the toilet.
Xia Zi had been brought up to be sweet and charming. Of course, she had never done such hard work before, and it was not easy. Su Wan Niang asked that the toilet be cleaned every hour, and someone would come to check. If it was unqualified, it is necessary to watch the people clean up on the spot according to the listed regulations, and they can't leave until they are finished.
On this day, Xia Zi spent most of her time in the toilet and couldn't clean it.
In the evening, Shen Wen sat indifferently at the table, listening to Xia Zi's crying occasionally coming from the distance.
In her previous life, Xia Zi was assigned to Shen Xiang. Shen Xiang pitied her miserable life and did not let her start as a rough maid. She directly became a second-class maid. She usually only wiped tables and chairs and served tea. After Shen Xiang's personal maid Chun Lu got married, Xia Zi, at that time Chun Zi, became Shen Xiang's head maid.
When she first entered the mansion, Chun Zi tried to fling with the young masters in the Marquis Mansion. The Marquis Mansion is the home of military commanders. It is taboo for boys to wallow in the boudoir. They fear that if they lose their bodies, they will not be able to survive on the battlefield. Some young men never use maidservants. They have been practising martial arts since they were young. Of course, when they see a woman, they can keep their minds together and keep their vitality intact.
Besides, Shen Yi was about to get married, so he was thinking about Liu shi's docile appearance and had no intention of caring about others. Although Shen Jian smiled on the outside, he was actually indifferent in his heart. He stayed away from everyone and never got close to any of his page boys. In this life, he had always had doubts in his heart because he had investigated Su Wanniang's life experience. He was wary of even a stunning woman like Su Wanniang, so he would be even less likely to be attentive to Chun Zi in his previous life. And Shen Zhuo has a crush on the elegant Zhang Yunjin, so naturally he doesn't like others.
Unable to gain favour from the young masters, Chun Zi showed her charm to the servants of several young masters. The servants in the Marquis' Mansion usually travelled with their masters in the capital, and had seen many beautiful maids, so they did not take her seriously. Geng Biao, who had just entered the mansion, was a little dazed. He followed the eldest son wholeheartedly and actively practised martial arts and literacy, lest the eldest son would think he was stupid. Only the smart-looking Wang Zhi took her flirtations seriously and he was soon fascinated. He used his monthly salary to buy her various cosmetics and snacks.
But when Shen Xiang found out and asked her privately if she wanted to marry Wang Zhi, she cried and swore to Shen Xiang that she would serve Shen Xiang for the rest of her life.
In the future, Shen Xiang went to war, but Xia Zi refused in every possible way on the pretext that she did not know martial arts and could not cause trouble to the eldest lady. Chun Lu, who was already married, returned home after hearing the news and accompanied Shen Xiang to the battlefield, and finally died together.
Shen Wen sneered: She would not take the initiative to harm others, but she would not pity the spy sent. This was an errand that Xia Zi received from the other party, and she should pay some price. Besides, Shen Wen believed that soon, she would no longer do these drudgery tasks.
Sure enough, after five or six days, Su Wanniang whispered to Shen Wen at night: "Xia Zi gave me this today." She let Shen Wen look at the thing in her hand: a greenish-white jade pendant, carved with a double lion playing ball representing good fortune and longevity, looking very exquisite.
People often say: gold has a price and jade is priceless. A good piece of jade can sell for a sky-high price, not to mention a good engraving.
Shen Wen chuckled and said, "Where did this come from? She was just wearing clothes when she came here."
Su Wanniang said, "She said her mother left it for her, and she kept wearing it around her neck."
Shen Wen whispered: "Although it was not given by her mother, it cannot be regarded as a lie. After all, her biological parents are still alive, but she has just sold herself. You must handle this properly. It depends on whether there is more silver or not. If there is more, you can use the silver to treat your mother's illness. If it's not much, take the pawnshop note and show it to her, saying that it's not much money and you can't see it."
Su Wanniang nodded and said: "Otherwise, it won't show that I need money. Then, if she is transferred to sweep the floor, do you think she will be settled?"
Shen Wen slowly shook her head: "It's quite trouble. In winter, she still can't stand the wind and snow every morning. You wait for her to bribe you with another object given by her biological father, this time it will be more expensive. Once she has bribed you, move her to the needleworks and tell her that this is the greatest favour you can do. Tell the people in embroidery to leave her alone, she can come out as she pleases, and also let her stay with someone who has given you money before."
Su Wanniang said, "So that it looks like we're not wary of her?"
Shen Wen smiled and said nothing: Otherwise, how could she seduce people from all sides again? How could you confuse Wang Zhi again? How could you deliver the message? Do you want the other side to send someone else?
The next day, Su Wanniang went to the pawn shop. The jade pendant was very valuable, but she only pawned it for ten taels of silver. Then she returned to the yard happily and immediately transferred Xia Zi to sweep the streets. Although sweeping the street requires getting up before dawn every day and cleaning the courtyard three times a day, it is still much better than cleaning the toilet. Xia Zi immediately agreed.
Shen Wen naturally couldn't go to the Crown prince's enthronement ceremony. Unlike the festive atmosphere in the city, the Zhenbei Marquis's mansion was filled with a heavy feeling on the day of the prince's enthronement ceremony. Zhenbei Marquis would return to the Northern Frontier after the ceremony, and Yang Shi packed the items for Zhenbei Marquis to take back, but she couldn't be happy.
The Marquis of Zhenbei left early in the morning, and for the whole day, none of the children went out of the mansion. It was getting dark, and word spread that the Marquis of Zhenbei had returned to his residence. Everyone gathered in the hall. The Marquis of Zhenbei looked calm and didn't say anything. He let the food be served around and had dinner with everyone.
The banquet was filled with rich dishes. The mistress of the house, Yang shi, once again served the meal for her mother-in-law and the Marquis of Zhenbei. The meal was very dull, the old Furen ate very little, and Yang shi always looked like she wanted to cry but was barely smiling. When Shen Wen saw Zhenbei Hou these days, she gave him some consciousness massage. Now his shoulder has completely healed, but Zhenbei Hou held up the chopsticks as if they were heavy. Shen Wen looked back and forth at her father and the old Furen while chewing like a little mouse, thinking that something should have happened at the ceremony.
In her previous life, she was not close to her father. He did not come back often. Shen Wen always felt that her father was far away from her. Until her father died in the end, Shen Wen never understood her father. When she thought of her father, she only remembered that he looked very old and often had a sullen face without a smile. Shen Wen has never acted coquettishly towards her father, and her father has never said a few words to her. Even when she thought about it after her death, her father's face was still unclear.
Now that she looked at it with the matured millennial eyes, the Marquis was nothing more than a middle-aged young man not yet forty years old. He was the only son of his family and had been burdened with heavy responsibilities since he was a child. To his father and mother, he had never uttered a word of disapproval. Naturally, he never rebelled against the emperor.
Shen Wen felt that her grandfather had died too early, allowing her father to inherit the title in his thirties, and that he had become the leader of an army too soon. He could only concentrate on the battlefield, and had not yet had time to familiarise himself with politics, so naturally he had no way of fighting with the Crown Prince.
After the meal, Marquis Zhenbei said some words to the children, such as practising martial arts and studying hard, and then asked them to go back to sleep.
Shen Wen hurriedly returned to the yard, yawning all the way and said to Su Wanniang, "I'm so sleepy!"
Su Wanniang knew that when Shen Wen acted like this, it was when she wanted to go out at night, so she hurriedly said: "Miss, go to bed quickly." She loudly asked the people in the yard to prepare bath water and so on.
After Shen Wen washed, she changed into the new dark clothes that Su Wanniang had made for her in the dark room, and covered her face with a black cloth.
Su Wanniang asked in a low voice: "Where are you going?"
Shen Wen replied in a low voice, "It's the Marquis' residence, I need to hear if Father is speaking or sleeping.”
Su Wanniang was taken aback, but then she was relieved: What if she was caught? This is the second miss. She laughed and said, "If you get caught, just cry." Another thought: "Actually, you don't need to cry, just play tricks."
