Red Mansion: Picking up a Lin Daiyu

Chapter 97 Lin Daiyu Manages the Household

"Sir, something happened."

A servant came running in from the second gate in a panic and came to Jia Zhen to pass on a message.

Frowning, Jia Zhen looked unhappy and asked, "What happened? What could have happened?"

The servant glanced at Qin Ye standing nearby, then stepped forward cautiously and whispered something to Jia Zhen.

Jia Zhen was furious, his face changed immediately, and he asked angrily: "What?"

Turning to Qin Ye, Jia Zhen grabbed him by the collar and said in a fierce tone, "You really made a good deal. You took a thousand taels of betrothal gifts and married a maid to me? Who are you humiliating?"

Qin Ye waved his hands and explained: "No, no, this is not my intention. My daughter sneaked away. I have sent people to look for her."

Jia Zhen snorted coldly, "Today, the room is full of distinguished guests. You caused this mess. Where do you put the reputation of Ningguo Mansion?"

It was supposed to be a happy day, but on that day, a feud was created. Qin Ye was very distressed. In order to calm Jia Zhen's anger, Qin Ye hurriedly said, "Why not return half of the betrothal gift and treat it as a gift to honor the master."

With a look of contempt, Jia Zhen let go of Qin Ye.

"My Ningguo Mansion is a wealthy family, how could I treat your girl badly? You are such an ungrateful person. I will discipline you personally when I find you back."

Jia Zhen suppressed the smile on his face and ordered, "First, arrest the two maids and interrogate them to find out where Rong's wife has fled to. Then send someone to the military headquarters to help search for her whereabouts. This embarrassing incident will bring shame to the family."

……

"Master, I'm back."

"Master, An."

"Master, Miss Lin is waiting for you in the hall."

"Okay, got it."

Yue Ling walked all the way back to the mansion, passing through the hallway and greeting everyone in the mansion along the way.

During this period, Yue Ling went out every day to visit the families of his personal guards, and new people kept coming into the mansion. However, the mansion had always been in order in recent days, and it seemed that they had all integrated very well. Everyone even greeted him with a smile, without any sign of fatigue, which really surprised Yue Ling.

He left all these matters alone, leaving the inner curtain to Lin Daiyu, and the outer curtain to Jia Yun and Ni Er.

At that time, Qin Keqing followed Yue Ling timidly, glancing around worriedly, but no one looked at her strangely, which made her feel a little better.

And she also discovered something strange.

In this mansion, the young man in front of him was called Master, which meant he must have no parents at home. But for some reason, most of the servants were old women, and there had never been a woman as young as her.

Yue Ling led Qin Keqing all the way to the hall. The curtain-rolling maid Ni Ni opened the felt curtain and bowed to Yue Ling, "Hello, Master Yue."

Yue Ling rubbed her head and said with a smile: "Go, go back and find your father and mother. You don't have to stay here."

Ni Ni nodded obediently, looked at the strange older sister behind Yue Ling, and left happily.

This seemed to be the first time Qin Keqing was noticed in the mansion, and she shivered involuntarily.

Yue Ling noticed something and comforted him, "Don't be afraid. This is not the street. It's not easy to find a bad guy in the mansion."

Qin Keqing nodded and continued to follow Yue Ling.

In the hall, Lin Daiyu neither looked at the accounts nor the books, but just sat in a chair in a daze. Zijuan was beside her, also in a daze, but Xueyan was the same as usual, always eating fruits and looking carefree.

Hearing the noise of Yue Ling's return, the three little girls all looked over.

"What are you doing? Have you had a meal yet?"

Lin Daiyu shook her head. "It's useless. I'm waiting for Brother Yue."

Yue Ling took a few steps forward, and the three little girls realized that there was someone behind him, and it was a girl.

Yue Ling didn't pay attention to so many things. He walked straight to his room and ordered without looking back: "Zijuan, Xueyan, help her take a bath and find a set of clean clothes for her to change into."

Seeing the new girl, Zijuan was also startled and felt a little uncomfortable, but since she had Yue Ling's order, she didn't dare to get upset. That was not something a maid could do.

"Yes, General Yue, we will go right away."

Afterwards, Zijuan took the two of them to the bathroom.

Not long after, Yue Ling changed into clean clothes and came out, and saw Lin Daiyu with a stern face, looking unusually serious.

Yue Ling sat next to her and asked in confusion: "What happened? Did someone in the mansion make you angry? Tell me, and I will send her away." Lin Daiyu glanced at Yue Ling and said seriously: "Brother Yue, I want to interrogate you."

Yue Ling had just come back from interrogating someone else, but when he arrived at the mansion, he became the one being interrogated. He couldn't help but ask with a smile: "Oh? What are you interrogating me about?"

Lin Daiyu hesitated and blushed, but she couldn't explain it clearly. Finally, she asked, "Why did Brother Yue bring back a girl?"

Yue Ling said truthfully, "I just came back from the government office and met her on the road. She seemed to have been abandoned by her family. I saw that she was all alone, squatting on the street. She would either freeze to death at night or be captured by the military. So I took her in and brought her back to the mansion."

"Besides, I'm short of a maid. It's not good to always ask Zijuan to help with things. After all, Zijuan is Sister Lin's maid."

Yue Ling's words were well-reasoned and convincing, and Lin Daiyu couldn't help but nod her head.

"It's really pitiful. No one in the mansion has an easy life. It's appropriate for you to come. But, it's okay to trouble Sister Zijuan. She...she won't complain."

Yue Ling nodded. "She is a little older than you. If there are things that are high up or heavy, you can ask her to get them. More people can always help share the work."

Changing the subject, Yue Ling asked, "When I returned to the mansion, I saw that the servants in the mansion all had badges on their waists. Was it your arrangement?"

Speaking of housekeeping, Lin Daiyu has put a lot of effort into it these past two days, and she immediately said, "Yes, and no. I wrote to the Crown Princess and asked for advice on how to discipline her."

"The badges correspond to each person's errands. There are a pair in total. One is hung on the wall, and the other is kept at the waist. Every day, you have to go to work and get your badge. Only with the badge can you do your own work in the mansion. The maids in the mansion are all quite old, so each person is only assigned a small amount of work. After the work is done, it is returned and hung back on the wall."

"Yingmao's room is in the back hall outside the second gate. Because most of the maids suffered from long-term overwork and many hidden injuries when they were young, a pharmacy was set up in the inner room. Yingmao, each of you will receive a packet of medicine, which you can take back to your room to make a tonic soup to nourish your body. Those who don't want to drink the soup can also choose Chinese medicine for foot soaking, which is always beneficial to the body."

"The courtyard in the mansion is very large. You can walk along the outer corridor to the courtyard to relax after work, but you cannot walk along the main road, so as not to hinder others. The maids are old, and there are no night watchmen now. However, this place is adjacent to the imperial city, so I have never seen any trouble."

"The treasury has been arranged. The maids get one tael of monthly salary each, the maids get half a tael, the doormen in the outer courtyard get two taels of monthly salary for rough work, and the two housekeepers get five taels of monthly salary. As for Zijuan and Xueyan, I think they don't need monthly salary either, so Brother Yue can decide. So the monthly expenditure is eighty-two taels of monthly salary, and if you add in the sundries, rice, oil, salt and other miscellaneous items, it's about less than one hundred and fifty taels of monthly salary."

Listening to Lin Daiyu telling him this in a very measured way, he was shocked by Lin Daiyu's intelligence and also had a new understanding of her.

No wonder the mansion is in such good order. On weekdays, one can see some maids treating Lin Daiyu with great respect. She is really too thoughtful, and it is not just for Yue Ling's own reasons.

Lin Daiyu tilted her head towards Yue Ling, looking as if asking for praise, which made Yue Ling laugh out loud.

No matter how smart Lin Daiyu is, she still acts like a child when she is around him.

Rubbing Lin Daiyu's head, Yue Ling praised: "It's amazing, it's not just the Crown Princess's credit. Understanding the principle is one thing, but the difficulty lies in how to implement it. You are amazing."

Originally, Yue Ling planned to assign some housekeeping matters to Lin Daiyu after he was busy for a while, but now it seems that it is not necessary at all.

Yue Ling was in a very good mood. He immediately stood up, put his hands on Lin Daiyu's waist, and lifted her up.

The thin Lin Daiyu was at a loss for a moment. She was stunned for a moment. When she came to her senses, she realized that Yue Ling was holding her and spinning around.

"Sister Lin is amazing. She is becoming more and more reliable."

Lin Daiyu was a little afraid of heights, but she also laughed and played with Yue Ling, "Alright, alright, Brother Yue, please put me down. I'm the head housekeeper, and if someone sees me like this, wouldn't it be embarrassing?"

……

Qin Keqing followed Zijuan and Xueyan carefully, keeping her body as low as possible.

She just wanted to find a place that could shelter her, and she never thought that she had chosen the right place. She saw that the owner of the mansion treated the servants very peacefully, and the mansion was much more luxurious than the Qin family's. Just looking at the stone lions in front of the door, it was comparable to the mansion of a nobleman.

Qin Keqing secretly sighed, "Perhaps being a servant in this family is better than being in Ningguo Mansion. A young lady without support will only be a servant in Ningguo Mansion. Even the evil servants in the mansion can't help but bully their masters. It's better to serve a good master. I just don't know what the young master of this family does."

Xueyan took a step back, looked at Qin Keqing, and asked, "Where are you from?"

Qin Keqing lowered her head again and whispered, "I ran away from home. When I was hiding on the street, I ran into the master. The master was kind enough to bring me back."

Zijuan opened the door of the bathroom and said to the two of them, "Come in first, and chat while you wash. Xueyan, go find some clothes nearby."

After hesitating for a while, Zijuan said, "Go find some clothes I don't have, and I'll take measurements for her in two days."

After adding hot water, Zijuan gestured to Qin Keqing to take off her clothes and sit in the wooden tub.

Qin Keqing did as she was told.

I saw Zijuan sprinkle some soapberry, flower petals, and other spices into the wooden barrel, just like when she usually took care of Lin Daiyu's bath.

Then she wiped her back with a face towel to remove a layer of dust. Zijuan said in amazement: "Your skin is so good, as white and smooth as jade, and your figure..."

Xueyan came over to take a look after hearing the noise and breathed a sigh of relief, "What's wrong with this figure? It's obvious that he doesn't eat much."

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(End of this chapter)