Chapter 115: Past Events (Part 1)

  Toward the old woman in front of Amber, she was extremely diligent, going back and forth, and Amber also knew some things about her family.

  She had only one son, who died of illness before the age of twenty, leaving behind a son and a daughter. She couldn't bear to see her young daughter-in-law live in widowhood, so she let her remarry. The old man helped with feeding horses in the stable, eating and drinking were provided by the government, and he received 500 wen as monthly allowance, but he didn't have any proper job, and bringing up his grandson and granddaughter was really a difficult life to bear.

  The eleventh girl listened and fell silent for half a moment.

  Not to mention that the rough servant girl in her house is still doing her job with all her heart, even if she wants to replace someone, it's impossible to use a gossip. In her previous life, she had a smooth sailing, but when she was forced into the dust by the environment at Luo's house, she also begged people with humility and felt deeper than ordinary people. What you don't want for yourself, don't do to others. Giving such great hope to Xiang servant girl, and then lightly dismissing her with a sentence "not replacing anyone for the time being", I'm afraid she won't be able to sleep for half a month. And those two roasted chickens, I don't know where the money was saved from to buy them. She pitied herself, related to her own experience. But when Huan talked about this matter with guilt in her heart, it made her very surprised!

  "How old are your grandchildren now?"

  Amber's eyes lit up: "The granddaughter is older, twelve years old this year, born in April, named Fangfei. The grandson is younger, ten years old this year, named Suoer."

  Eleventh Girl remembered that there was a girl named Fangfei in Yuan Girl's house: "Is she working as a maid in Elder Sister's house?"

  "No," Amber laughed, "I've heard that you're also very clever and quick-witted, so the people in the mansion, big or small, all call out to you affectionately."

  Eleventh Girl said, "Auntie's words are too lengthy and not suitable for staying here with us. When the time comes, take a look around to see if there is any place that needs someone like you, find a job for Fangfei, and give her some guidance. Don't let her be as talkative as her grandmother, and naturally, she will be able to keep the job for a long time."

  Amber is the most capable and reliable maid beside 11th Miss, everyone in Xu's household knows that. Although 11th Miss doesn't manage the household, if there's a vacancy in the mansion and she wants to put someone in, Third Madam won't refuse her face for this matter. This thing isn't difficult to handle. Amber happily agreed, and the two of them started discussing matters about the household.

  “……The old master had taken in three concubines. The first one was originally a servant by his side, and she gave birth to the third son. She died of illness in her thirties. The second one did not have any children, and she also died of illness within two years after the old master's death. The third one was taken in by the old master in his later years, and when he passed away, she was only in her early twenties. The madam gave her some money and let her go. When the old master was alive, each concubine would spend five days with him, and the rest of the time they would stay in the madam's quarters. After the third wife married into the family, she also followed this rule, just like the previous eldest sister-in-law did.”

  "Doesn't know that Third Master also has a concubine: '...how many madams are there? Know what their backgrounds are?'"

  "There is only one, surname Yi, who is the secondary wife of the third madam. The third madam had a good relationship with her when she was pregnant with the young master. She has never given birth to any children. And she gets along very well with our Qin niang."

  They all originated from maidservants, so they have a common language!

  The eleventh girl nodded slightly.

  "...... Second Master passed away on the tenth day of the first month of Jianwu 52. Madame Wen was brought into the mansion on the sixth day of the eleventh month, and Madame Qin and Madame Tong immediately showed their true colors afterwards. Old Marquis left on the seventh day of the twelfth month."

  Qin and Tong were both born as maidservants, serving Xu Lingyi from a young age. It is said that Tong had passed away early on, while Qin was promoted to be the madam because she gave birth to the eldest illegitimate son...

  "I remember, Qiuluo didn't lift his aunt?"

  "You're not mistaken. It's not that the madam wasn't promoted." Amber knew what Eleventh Lady wanted to ask and said in a low voice, "Tell Auntie Bao that when Madam Tong passed away, she was already four months pregnant. If the child could be born, I'm afraid Master would have been even older... Also, it's said that Madam Tong's appearance and temperament are still unmatched in the entire household to this day. When serving Master, she never went out to watch the excitement, not even on New Year's or Mid-Autumn Festival when everyone else was out having fun. She stayed in her room to warm Master's bed and tea, which made Lady Tao very fond of her, so she promoted Madam Tong."

  Beautiful, sensible and polite, after getting married she gave birth to her first child... but in the end they both died!

  "Do you know how he died?"

  Amber's face turned slightly pale: "It is said that the fetal movement has been disturbed..."

  Isn't it said that the first three months are the most unstable? How come it's still like this in the fourth month...

  "Where is Master Hou?" asked Eleventh Sister in a low voice. "Master Hou knows that Concubine Tong has died, what's his reaction?"

  "At that time, the capital was in a state of unrest, and Madame Tai sent Master Hou to his hometown in Henan to guard the tomb of Old Master Hou. When he returned, it had been almost two years since Concubine Tong passed away. Upon his return, it didn't seem like Master Hou was any different. However, not long after, Master Hou got into a quarrel with Second Madame and Eldest Sister-in-law over some matter. From then on, the two of them gradually drifted apart."

  "Oh?" Eleventh Sister listened with a straight face, "Why are you quarreling?"

  "We now live in this house, to the east of the main hall, is the upper courtyard where generations of marquises and their wives lived. After Second Master got married, he originally lived in the courtyard where our aunts now reside. At that time, Dianchun Hall had not been demolished yet, and Marquis and Eldest Aunt lived there. Fifth Master was still young and lived in the west wing of our courtyard. Later, Second Master passed away, and Second Mistress became a widow. According to reason, she should have moved to a more secluded place, but at that time, she was seriously ill and would say things like hearing Second Young Master coughing in the study during the day, and asking the maids to send him a cloak... Eldest Aunt heard this and cried along with her, and no one dared mention moving. Later, when Second Mistress recovered a bit, Old Marquis passed away, and Eldest Aunt fell ill. Coincidentally, something happened at home, saying that Old Marquis was involved in some party or other, and if things didn't go well, the title would be revoked. Fortunately, our family's old master intervened and smoothed things over, so everything turned out alright. So when you married into our family, everyone said that the Xu family was repaying the Luo family's kindness!"

  Xu and Luo's families had such a thing, 11th sister heard it for the first time.

  “…The two masters, Hou and San, were out every day. Eldest Aunt was in charge of the household chores, Third Madame was pregnant, and Old Madame's place was inevitably neglected a bit. It was all thanks to Second Madame, who despite her illness, took care of Fifth Master in front of Old Madame, serving medicine and soup, and also supervised Fifth Master's studies. At that time, people were thin as skeletons. After the incident passed, Masters Hou and San went to their hometown in Henan to guard the tomb, and Second Madame helped Old Madame manage the family property, spending nine out of ten nights in Old Madame's quarters. Naturally, no one mentioned letting her move again.”

  The eleventh girl was shocked: "Did the second lady help the old lady manage the family's property?"

  "Hmm." Amber said solemnly, "I've asked repeatedly. I told Auntie that back then, the managers of the outer courtyard would report everything to the second madam. Matters of the inner courtyard were reported to Big Sister-in-law."

  Eleven fell into deep thought.

  Amber continued: "Later, the second master and third master returned. The third master took over the management of the family's property, and the second lady proposed moving to where the old lady now lives. The second master disagreed, saying that he didn't return to drive his sister-in-law out. The second lady felt embarrassed to mention moving again. Seeing this wasn't working, the old lady had two more courtyards built next to Dianchun Hall, which are now where the fifth master and the original eldest aunt live."

  "So it seems that both Wu Ye's courtyard and Da Gu Niang's mansion were built later on?"

  "Hmm!" Amber nodded, "And when these two houses were built, Auntie invited the Long Spring Taoist from the Imperial Observatory to examine the feng shui. The Long Spring Taoist said that the location of Auntie's residence in the west clashed with Master Hou's birth eight characters, resulting in a lack of offspring. If they could move into the Xu family's Kun position mansion, not only would Master Hou turn bad luck into good fortune and have prosperous descendants, but Auntie would also be able to give birth to a dragon son. Auntie immediately asked the Long Spring Taoist to perform rituals..."

  When the eleventh girl was dealing with her divorce case, she had seen too many melodramatic things. She thought that even trivial matters that others considered insignificant could become a trigger for divorce. Later on, she could guess a few points: "As it turned out, the Xu family's Kun position is exactly where our current courtyard is!"

  Amber nodded repeatedly: "At that time, the courtyard next to Dongchun Hall had not been built yet. The second lady heard it and immediately moved to the current mansion in the back garden. Lord Hou complained that Eldest Madam was being too nosy. He also said that Second Lady, as a woman, lived alone in the back garden, you might as well directly send her to the nunnery, at least there would be someone to accompany her. Eldest Madam felt very wronged and said, I have been living in the upper house of the Xu family for three years without making a sound, if I wanted to drive her out, I would have done so long ago. Who knew that Lord Hou heard this and became even more angry, saying that Eldest Madam was always thinking about the upper house, and also said, now that I am the Marquis of Yongping, I have risen in status, are you satisfied? Are you happy? Eldest Madam cried so much that she became a tearful person, saying, didn't we not live together as husband and wife when you weren't yet the marquis? The two people's words went deeper and deeper. Lord Hou, who usually never spoke loudly in front of Eldest Madam, surprisingly slapped the yellow pear wood stove table next to him with one palm, shattering it into pieces, scaring Wanxiang to go find Lady Tai."

  "Then Madam Tai scolded Master Hou?"

  Amber's eyes widened as she stared at Eleven: "How did you know?"

  The eleventh daughter smiled slightly: "The old lady is someone who only helps the weak and not the strong. The second lady is alone, so she pities her; Fifth Master is like a child who never grew up, so she's afraid that Fifth Lady will be bullied; Third Lady has two sons by her side, and Third Master listens to her, so the old lady won't worry about her having a hard time, and naturally pays the least attention to her." Such mothers-in-law are common. The daughter-in-law often feels that the mother-in-law is not being fair, but the mother-in-law hopes everyone will be fine, thinking that if you have the ability, she doesn't need to help you anymore. "Now that Big Sister and Master Hou are quarreling, of course, she'll take Big Sister's side and scold her son, trying to calm things down!"

  Amber's eyes flashed with a hint of admiration: "As a result, the usually silent Hou Ye in front of Tai Furen moved to live in the backyard in anger."

  "What's wrong?"

  Amber-colored head and mouth.

  "Then Eldest Sister also moved to her current house in a huff." Eleventh Young Mistress couldn't help but smile, "So how did the two of them make up afterwards?"

  Otherwise, how would there be a brother like you?