maidservant

Chapter 6: The Third Aunt's Plan for Revenge Causes a Dissension Between the Lady and the Master

As dusk fell, the third aunt came over with a bowl of ginger soup. The hem of her skirt brushed against the blue bricks and was stained with dew.

When Fifth Aunt looked up, Gan Tang saw tears in the corners of her eyes, but she was biting her lips stubbornly.

This is really a pitiful person. Her family sent her to the Shangshu Mansion in exchange for the opportunity for her younger brother to enter the school and take the provincial examination, but since she got married, she has never seen her family come to visit once.

All Fifth Aunt could count on was her generous dowry, which, like her last remaining blood, was disappearing so quickly.

During the confinement, the incense in Fifth Aunt's room became much fainter.

Gan Tang often saw the third aunt carrying a food box into the corridor.

Once she heard Fifth Aunt say in a hoarse voice: "Sister, why did you come to see me?"

The third aunt's voice was so soft that it sounded like a sigh: "We are both people who have been cast away into the world."

After the ban was lifted, Fifth Aunt came to Yushuyuan more often.

Gan Tang often heard them whispering in the ear room. Two silhouettes were reflected on the window paper, one straight as a bamboo, the other hunched like a willow.

Miss Yu tugged at her sleeve: "Gan Tang, why doesn't mother see me?"

Gan Tang touched her hair and said, "The ladies are talking in private."

Gan Tang led Miss Yu to a side room to embroider, counting her stitches to pass the time. She embroidered a half-opened magnolia, its petals stained with dew, like the tears of Fifth Auntie.

Miss Yu suddenly asked, "Why does Fifth Aunt always cry?"

Gan Tang didn't answer. She was so young, how could she understand everything? She just felt sad.

She saw the crabapple blossoms outside the window, and the petals floated into the ear room and landed on the embroidery frame.

One day, while combing her hair in front of a diamond-shaped mirror, Gan Tang noticed a new crack on the edge. This was the one she had been assigned to Miss Yu the first time she was assigned to her. Gan Tang touched the crack over and over again, wanting only to smooth it out.

The Third Aunt called Gan Tang and Gan Qing over. It turned out that she wanted to promote them to second-class maids, and her monthly salary would be doubled.

This was such a happy event that the two of them enjoyed themselves for the entire day and felt much more energetic when doing things.

The service of second-class maids was naturally different. Although the maids came to Liang's body shape and size, they were not shown any styles.

A few days later, the new clothes arrived, only one set for each.

The autumn clothes sent by the third concubine were stacked on the camphorwood box. The mauve bodice was embroidered with silver chrysanthemums and the collar was decorated with two coral buttons. Miss Yu didn't want this last year because she thought it looked old-fashioned, but now it was changed to a perfect fit.

"Please dress carefully." Gan Qing came in, his eyes dark blue. "The master stayed in our courtyard last night."

She took off the squirrel-skin vest she wore for night duty, revealing a new silver bracelet on her wrist.

Gan Tang counted the fallen hairs between the teeth of the comb, and remembered that he had seen a pair of jade pendants dangling from the earlobes of the third concubine the day before, which were of the same quality as the jade pendants around the master's waist.

Gan Tang walked through the corridor holding the four treasures of the study. The autumn wind brought the fragrance of osmanthus. She suddenly saw her master coming out of the main house. There was a ginkgo leaf on the hem of his official uniform. It should be the leaf of the century-old tree behind the wall of Yushu Courtyard.

This courtyard is deep, and the concubines have to rely on the favor of their master.

The third concubine leaned against the door frame to see him off, and the new red gold hairpin on her temples drew a golden line in the morning light.

Miss Yu went to the private school as usual. The ginkgo leaves in the private school also covered the ground like a golden carpet, and Gan Tang waited in the corridor to count the fallen leaves.

Li Song, wearing an indigo robe, always appeared at the east wing window half an hour earlier than others, but the ink in his inkstone was the last to dry.

He was Li Yin's eldest son. Gan Tang noticed that the servants treated him differently and were very respectful to him, and he also had high demands on himself.

Several servants and maids sat on the chairs in the corridor at the end of the school, listening to the old teacher's talks, and they did learn a lot.

When she got bored listening to the lecture, she would wander off and steal a couple of fruits. Li Song's servant Mingyan would often come to her with hot chestnut cakes: "The young master said that eating cold food hurts the stomach, so he asked someone to prepare some chestnuts."

Gan Tang felt the remaining warmth on the oil-paper package, feeling moved by Li Song's nobility and kindness, but also recalled the cold, fishy smell of the vegetable soup from Nuyi.

"We should cherish the present days," Gan Tang thought to himself.

Every evening, when the twilight dyed the eaves red, Miss Yu would always stay in the back garden of the Li Mansion.

Gan Tang followed behind with a sheep-horn lantern in his hand, and saw Li Song's silhouette reflected on the window paper, like a tall green bamboo.

Mingyan was used to it. "My young master probably needs to review it again. But your young lady doesn't like studying, but she doesn't want to go back to the Yan Mansion. Why is that?"

Gan Tang didn't want to talk about the Shangshu Mansion, so he kept silent. Ming Yan felt bored and, like a magic trick, pulled out some sesame candy and stuffed it into her hand. "This is what my cousin brought from Jinling. Give me a portion of whatever our young master has."

Gan Tang smiled sweetly, and the dimples on her cheeks were filled with the sunset glow.

His eyes unconsciously stared at the pile of "Collected Annotations on Policy Essays" on Li Song's desk, but he saw a yellowed piece of paper at the bottom, with the three words "Prince Jing's Mansion" faintly visible.

Gan Tang guessed that maybe Li Song and Prince Jing were good friends and they were of similar age.

On the eve of Frost's Descent, Gan Tang counted the months in the ear room.

The allowance for a second-class maid should have been raised to eight cents, but she only received six cents. Gan Tang was also puzzled, but at least it was more than before. She didn't want to think about unhappy things, so she persuaded herself like this.

Including the income from embroidering handkerchiefs for each room, there are already thirteen taels of silver in the piggy bank.

She touched the silver hairpin given by the Third Aunt, remembering what Madam Zhou had said: "If you save up 20 taels, you can redeem yourself." If she could exchange this thing for silver, she might be able to add a lot more.

Suddenly, the fragrance of osmanthus wafted in from outside the window, mixed with the sandalwood leaking from the main house, making the money strings smell sweet.

A few days later, on the Double Ninth Festival family banquet, Gan Tang put a dogwood branch on Miss Yu's hairpin.

The sound of stringed instruments came from the direction of the main courtyard. She saw the fifth concubine helping the third concubine to sit at the table. The hems of their skirts were embroidered with the same color of twined branches.

The master's eyes lingered on the Third Concubine, but Gan Tang caught a glimpse of rouge on his sleeves, which was exactly the same lip balm that the Fifth Concubine had used this morning.

The fourth concubine still sat coldly aside, and her non-competitive nature made the lady feel at ease.

When Gan Tang went out to help Miss Yu change her clothes, he heard the maids in the Madam's courtyard chatting:
"The master has been very busy lately and hasn't come to the madam's courtyard for a long time."

"But the servant downstairs said that the master often went to the Third Concubine's room. I'm afraid that the Third Concubine will regain her favor. Even the Fifth Concubine served him for two days this month."

"Then the lady will lose her temper again."

"Let's be more careful these days."

Late at night, when everyone was asleep, Gan Tang practiced tying his hair in front of a bronze mirror.

The newly learned double-ring Wangxian bun made the red mole between her eyebrows even brighter. She suddenly remembered Li Song's praise yesterday: "Miss Gan Tang's mole is so beautifully placed, just like a fine brushstroke." The tips of the person's ears felt slightly hot in the mirror, and she hurriedly took off her bun.

Although Gan Tang is only 13 years old, he also knows some stories between men and women.

There are some things that a maidservant like her cannot imagine. Master Li Song is in a bright and sunny mood, and even as a concubine, it is not her turn.

Besides, her marriage might be decided by the Yan family.

On the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, snowflakes rustled into the copper vat under the eaves. Gan Tang, carrying a red lacquer lunch box, walked across the veranda when he saw Mrs. Zhao in the kitchen, worrying about the order: "Switch the eight-treasure duck for boiled chicken, and cut the golden bird's nest in half."

The cured meats that used to pile up like mountains in previous years are only 30% left this year, and even the boxes for storing dried fruits have been made of ordinary poplar wood.

At the New Year's Eve banquet, the master returned home at the hour of Xu to the sound of the palace drum.

Gan Tang knelt behind Miss Yu to serve the dishes and smelled ambergris on his clothes - it was a gift from the palace the day before, but it was mixed with a burnt smell.

The Third Aunt picked up a piece of pickled goose feet and handed it over: "I heard that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince knelt in the Imperial Study all day?"

The master's silver chopsticks landed heavily on the green jade dish, startling Miss Yu so much that the golden bell on her wrist trembled.

At dawn on the first day of the first lunar month, Gan Tang stood under the corridor of Yushuyuan holding a copper basin.

The master's black boots stepped on the snow, leaving a wet mark on the threshold of the main house.

When the Third Aunt got up in the morning and dressed up, she specially wore a gold filigree and red ruby ​​hairpin, which was the same color as the jade pendant chain that her master had just bought.

Nanny Zhou lowered her voice and said, "On the night of New Year's Day, the master was supposed to rest in the lady's courtyard, but the entire set of tea sets was smashed in the lady's courtyard, and even the kumquat tree where they were staying up all night was overturned."

Sure enough, after the master left, the lady asked the third concubine to go and give her a lecture, and Gan Tang helped Miss Yu hide behind the hanging flower door.

The Buddhist beads on the lady's wrist were entangled in the armrest of the nanmu chair, leaving several dents: ".The fox seduces the master."

The Third Aunt stroked her jade earrings and chuckled softly, "Don't be angry, sister. The master is just pitying Sister Yu for losing her brother."

Before he could finish his words, the master suddenly kicked the door open and came in. The python pattern on the hem of his official uniform was stained with ink: "Jealous woman, you are calling the shots on my head!"

(End of this chapter)