Volume 1 Chapter 122: Success and Withdrawal (Part 1)

  Chapter 122: With Great Success Comes Retreat (Part 1)

  Qiu San Niang was practicing calligraphy, still writing a line and then taking a break in a relaxed manner.

  Mozi was grinding ink on the side. Because the person practicing calligraphy was not focused, the person grinding the ink could not grind out the ink, so they just ground it in a circle and took a break.

  Although they seemed careless, their ears were both perked up.

  Outside the study, Hongmei, the newly arrived senior maid, was teaching the new maids rules.

  Qiu San Niang took Hongmei to thank the old Wang consort, when Hongmei hinted that the little maids in Mochen Residence were not clever and clumsy. The old Wang consort ordered them all to be replaced, and also dismissed the servant women from Mochen Residence, saying that they would be re-trained from scratch, so as not to be swayed by rumors and flattery, thinking that she was an elder, and whoever the masters favored, she would curry favor with them.

  This batch was selected by the best tooth-picking girls, personally chosen by Qiu San Niang. The names of the coarse-serving little maids are known as Zhi, with suffixes Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, Rain, Snow, Qing and Nuan. The three second-class maids, with the surname Mo, were separately named Mo Yan, Mo Yun and Mo Xin.

  "Mo Zhi Ju, Mo Zhi Ju, you have to work harder and speak less here." Hong Mei mixed the name of Mo Zhi Ju into her reprimand, which made some sense. "Normally, you should listen to orders, think carefully about what can be said and what cannot be said. If I hear any careless remarks about Master from any of you, I will immediately report back to Madame, and even if only one of you is at fault, all of you will be sold to the slave trader together. Madame is kind-hearted, but she's not someone to be trifled with. Do your work properly, keep your mouths shut tight, and naturally, you won't be treated unfairly..."

  Three white lotus green chrysanthemum small clothes standing under the corridor listening to that delightful sound.

  Qiu Sanniang shifted her gaze back, "What a racket, it's disturbing me from practicing my calligraphy."

  "Isn't this setting things straight? I think Hongmei made some sense. Since ancient times, many of the rights and wrongs in the inner quarters were stirred up by gossipy mouths." Mozi smiled slightly.

  Qiu Sanniang looked at her with a cool expression and said, "However, a red plum has arrived, and you're so happy? Logically, she should be above you, and you shouldn't feel so comfortable. Moreover, there are now three more second-class maids." According to the rules of the Wang Mansion, in the courtyards of the young mistresses, if there were no older servant women or matrons, the maids were divided into four first-class, four second-class, and eight third-class.

  "What am I afraid of? With the title of being a concubine's maid, everything is taken care of by my mistress. No, Madam, you are protecting me." The master and servant in the study could often exchange jokes with each other. Because, Mozi was the only one who could discuss books, characters, and paintings with Qiu San Niang together.

  Qiu San Niang shot back with a white eye, "So I've become your shield now?"

  Mei Zi smiled and blinked her eyes, "Is it that Miss is taking pity on this old man?"

  Qiu San Niang was amused and then asked seriously, "In your opinion, can this red plum be used?"

  "Why can't it be used? She came under the banner of Old Princess Wang, wanting to use Miss's hand to suppress Jin Si. That Jin Si has the eldest illegitimate son in her hands. If Xiao San remarries Miss again and has no legitimate son, he will have to establish the illegitimate as the legitimate, and Jin Si will naturally take the position. The royal family is a family that loves face, how can they let a concubine become the official wife? Although Miss's family is a merchant, her ancestors were officials, and she is not comparable to the daughters of famous families, but she is also worthy of Xiao San. I think that this time, the elders in the royal family will definitely help Miss suppress Jin Si, if Miss doesn't succeed, they will be anxious. Red Mei's arrival is timely, everyone knows she is Old Princess Wang's confidant. Miss was originally lazy and didn't want to bother with these trivial matters in the house, let her stand behind Miss and make decisions, use whatever can be used, and save Miss from worrying about it." In short, Red Mei's arrival is not a bad thing.

  Qiu San Niang's temperament is like fire. She is intelligent and returns intelligence, but she doesn't deign to use it in household struggles. Thinking back to when the conflict with Zhang Shi escalated, it was because of her open ridicule and veiled sarcasm that refused to back down, the whole mansion smelled gunpowder. It's easy to make this young lady resort to ruthless measures. But making her swallow her anger is almost an impossible task. Mozi needs to stay by her side and use some clever tactics to persuade her to handle things calmly, while Baihe and the others are basically useless.

  This Hongmei is a smooth talker. She is extremely respectful to Qi San Niang. To the four senior maids, although Mozi's status is one level lower than hers, she is still quite friendly. But towards other maids, she strictly follows the rules and speaks in a formal tone. Even Jin Si seems to be intimidated by her when speaking in front of Old Princess Wang, being overly polite.

  "Are you saying that she is even more clever than you?" Jiang San Niang said, seeing Mo Zi's endless chatter, that Hong Mei was good.

  "That's natural. Hongmei has been serving the old queen since she was a child, and the people and things in this palace are all familiar to her, definitely more than me. If I can make Hongmei sincerely care for the young lady, then there will be no need for me to intervene, and I can retire with a sense of accomplishment." The despicable palace struggle, Mozi actually found it very annoying. In her opinion, it was truly a case of being bored after eating too much, and without a gym or other places to exercise, the lives of these women were too luxurious, yet they had no great pursuits, so they could only entertain themselves by plotting against each other.

  "It's precisely this - let Hongmei be sincere and genuine. Otherwise, you think I'd like to waste my resources, trapping you here without making any money? Although this Hongmei is useful, she's only good for facing the people in the mansion. Our own affairs must be kept confidential, hidden from her. The two estates in my dowry are public knowledge, but the business at Wangjiatun cannot be known to my mother-in-law. In the future, if there are any other businesses, they can only be revealed slowly to the elders as insignificant profits."

  Jiang San Niang's consideration was thorough. If she knew about her large business, not being satisfied with a daughter-in-law who is too loose is one thing, and attracting envy is another matter.

  "However, you're also right in a way. After achieving success, retreat. This Hongmei can temporarily help me out at the Wang mansion, so you should focus on external matters. It's already been five or six days, and we can't leave the house or receive any news, which is frustrating."

  It's a matter of ink purple material, but his expression doesn't show any excitement at all, and instead he even makes a slight reverse tone, "I'm not going out either, what if Red Plum asks..."

  Qiu Sanniang interrupted her, "If she asks, just say I sent you to the garden to take care of something. In my opinion, this Wang Fu has one advantage - it's big enough that if you go out for half a day or a whole day, you won't be able to find anyone."

  "That can't be used as an excuse all the time. Once or twice is fine, but three or four times and Hongmei will definitely become suspicious." Mozi thought to herself, people aren't stupid.

  "Worst comes to worst, I'll just say I've assigned you some carpentry work and lock the door. No one will be able to disturb us then. As the mistress of the house, I can do as I please, and if Hongmei doesn't even understand this much, it's hard for me to find a use for her." Madam Qi had already made up her mind.

  "The girl is right." Mozi smiled and saw that the ink marks on the paper had dried, then asked, "Will you continue to practice calligraphy?"

  Qiu San Niang was just about to say no practice when she suddenly heard Hong Mei's overjoyed voice outside the house.

  "Three Grandpas have arrived"

  "Third Master is coming, what's she so happy about?" Qiu San Niang had originally put down her brush but picked it up again. "She wants to replace Jin Si, I won't stop her. If anything, Xiang San Duo has collected a few more, then not everyone will be staring at me."

  With a purple splash, the continuous motion of turning her wrist sent out a few drops of thick ink. "Miss, your words make sense. Otherwise, Miss can also follow the example of the fourth aunt in her mother's family?"

  "He's willing to help, I'll just help him, as long as I can have some peace and quiet." The land outside the house is now unattended, Mu Zhi Ju is remote but not cold enough. The elders are concerned about her well-being, that's good. Hong Mei insists on setting rules, the concubine comes to serve her meals every day, her appetite is gone. She has to keep an eye on Xiao Yi all the time, just in case.

  "Miss, after marrying a man, you can't be quiet." Only when becoming a nun, can one be quiet. "According to the rules, both of Jin Si's children should be raised by Miss. I guess Red Mei or Wang Fei will mention this soon. At that time, Miss will have to become a mother again. A good life is just about to begin."

  Mozi said with a sneer, rarely seen with an evil smile.

  Qiu Sanniang saw her being complacent, stretched out her hand and drew a stroke on her face - from the bridge of her nose to her right cheek, looking very comical, couldn't help but laugh.

  Mozi raised her sleeve to wipe it, but someone refused to let her.

  "Wait, don't wipe it away, let me take a look." Xiao San pushed open the door and came in.

  "Brother-in-law is so cruel, his face is blackened, what's there to see?" Mozi ignored him and continued to wipe down.

  "Alas, I just wanted to see if the draft of the imperial edict on Han Huangmen's face has a hint of recklessness. Anyway, it can't be erased, so why not let me take a closer look?"

  "Why must you look at my face, there is a large piece of paper with the Huangmen Zhang chapter that the young lady has just practiced, and each character is enlarged to the bottom of her eyelids." Mozi pointed to the Xuan paper under Qiu San Niang's hand.

  Xiao San hummed twice and walked to Qiu San Niang's side, bowed his head and took a look, "San Niang's chess is well played, I didn't expect her calligraphy is also good."

  "Not only is her handwriting good, but she also plays the piano well and paints well." Mu Zi imitated Hong Niang for a moment.

  Qiu Sanniang shot a glance at Ziyan with her eyes narrowed, meaning to tell her to speak less.

  Also. Miss Yuanyuan has a crush on Zhang Sheng, and naturally feels grateful to Hongniang for matchmaking. Qiu San Niang and Xiao San are two threes colliding with each other, without the reality of husband and wife, only the name of husband and wife, and now they still belong to the stage of just getting acquainted.

  "What brings you to me on such a sunny day?" Chou San Niang already knew that Xiao San had been demoted to a idle compiler clerk and spent most of his time reading books in the Jingquan Pavilion.

  "I just went to my mother's place and ran into Aunt Yu, who was showing her a poem. I thought it was great, and Aunt Yu said you wrote it? These past few days I've been so engrossed in reading that I forgot you'd just arrived, so I came over to apologize." Xiao San said, then called in Qing Que, "This is my book boy."

  "The Green Sparrow pays respects to Third Granny." The Green Sparrow held a scroll in his hand, handed it over to Xiao San, then knelt down on both knees and paid his respects.

  Qiu San Niang called out to Qing Que, saying to Xiao San, "It wasn't me who wrote the lyrics, it was Mo Zi Nian who recited them, I just wrote them down once. As for apologizing, that's not necessary. Reading books is like playing chess or playing the zither, once you enter the realm, there is no self."

  Xiao San saw Qiu San Niang speaking straightforwardly without losing her true intention, and couldn't help but burst out laughing, "What a selfless person!"

  Mozi thought that these two could still get along, but accidentally chimed in, "I heard that the young master also practices calligraphy, I wonder whose handwriting is better between you and the young lady?"

  "This is better than passing by." Xiao San became interested, "San Niang, how?"

  "Let's talk after dinner. When I'm hungry, there's no interest in anything." San Niang was a competitive person, "Mozi, let someone set the table. You don't need to serve here anymore, go do what you should be doing."

  Two orders, one clear and one vague.

  Deep purple smile retreated.

  Today's first update.

  Chapter 122: With Great Success Comes Retreat (Part 1)

  Chapter 122: With Success Comes Retreat, To The Website