Chapter 133: Accompaniment (Part 1)

  When the eleventh daughter arrived at Tai Fu's place, San Fu had already arrived and was sitting on the windowsill with Tai Fu: "...there are 150 pots of wax plum blossoms, 150 pots of golden tangerines, 200 pots of wintergreen trees, and 100 pots of mountain tea flowers..."

  Hearing the noise, she looked over and found it was Eleventh Sister coming in. She smiled and stopped talking, enthusiastically getting up to greet her: "Fourth Brother's wife has arrived!"

  The eleventh daughter smiled and shouted "Third Aunt", made a courtesy to Madame Tai, and then bowed to Third Madame.

  The third madam warmly said to her: "I know you like to eat fermented fish dices, so I specially ordered someone to make this dish today."

  "Thanks for troubling you, Third Sister." Eleventh Daughter thanked Third Madame and a young maid brought over a taishi chair. Eleventh Daughter sat down, smiling as she chatted with them: "Discussing the New Year's flower arrangements?"

  The three wives nodded and said: "This year's weather is bad, everything has gone up in price." They looked very troubled.

  "No matter how expensive things are, we must celebrate the New Year." The old lady smiled and said, "You just go ahead and prepare everything!"

  The three ladies smiled and nodded in agreement.

  "Eleventh Sister then brought up the topic of maids: '...I've found five, when do you have time? I'll bring them over for you to take a look.'"

  "Then let's make it this afternoon!"

  The eleven girls handed over a piece of paper with several small servant girls' names written on it: "These are the names!"

  The old lady received it in the drawer of a small table behind her back.

  The third madam listened and turned her eyes, smiling: "Since the afternoon mother is free, I'll bring over the carefully selected little girl for you to take a look. You help Brother Qin take a look."

  The old lady smiled and said: "It's settled!"

  As soon as the words fell, the wet nurses brought over Zhen Jie and Yun Ge.

  The adults stopped talking and smiled as they accepted the two people's courtesy.

  The old lady stood up with a smile: "It's a big deal, let's talk about it after dinner!"

  The three madams hurriedly and smilingly supported the old lady, and they all went to the eastern wing for dinner.

  After lunch, the children were taken away by their wet nurses for a nap. The old lady kept Third Lady and Eleventh Sister in the western wing to chat.

  "In two days, the Zhongshan Marquis's family will be marrying off their daughter," she said with a smile to Third Madame, "you should prepare for this big family's New Year's celebration, and Danyang is pregnant again." As she spoke, her gaze turned to Eleventh Mistress, "Eleventh Mistress, come with me!"

  The eleventh daughter was shocked.

  Since Xu Lingyi returned from his great victory in the northwest, the Xu family had closed their doors to visitors. For any happy or sad occasions among relatives and friends, it was always Third Master or the managers of the household who would attend on their behalf. Unexpectedly, when the Marquis of Zhongshan's family was marrying off their daughter, Madame Xu actually wanted to attend in person. Not only that, she also brought her own entourage!

  She felt a stir in her heart and vaguely sensed that Mrs. Ta's actions had a great deal to do with herself... yet she couldn't find any reason for this change.

  But the result is optimistic.

  At least this shows that Tai Fu Ren is willing to give her a chance to prove herself capable of being the Madame of Yongping.

  Eleventh girl thought of what happened early this morning.

  At that time she was lying comfortably in her quilt, when Xulinyi suddenly arrived.

  She hastily got up and washed, serving him breakfast.

  He sent away all the people around him, but hesitated several times as if he wanted to say something.

  Eleventh girl thought that he went out with San Ye last night and didn't come back until midnight, and then she thought of Tao's mother coming to whisper to her just now, saying that Xu Lingyi was resting in Qiao Lian's house, but the east room study had been lit all night. She guessed that he might have talked about his heart with San Ye, and then his thoughts were ups and downs, unable to fall asleep. Getting up early this morning, she wanted to come and say something to herself, but didn't have the habit, and found it hard to open her mouth.

  Being able to think of oneself when wanting to say something is already a big step forward.

  She broke the "no talking while sleeping, no speaking while eating" rule and smiled as she told him some trivial things about herself: "... Wan Yizong has three sons, the youngest one doesn't seem to be doing well. The eldest two are very capable, especially the eldest, who is diligent and down-to-earth. He was afraid that the heavy snow would collapse the house, so he took his younger brother to sweep the snow in the middle of the night. Otherwise, the mansion on the other side of Jin Yu Xiang might have collapsed more than just the wing room!"

  Now that Xu Lingyi is going to make a big cleanup at Waiyuan University, if he can find a decent job for Wan Daxian and Wan Erxian, the days after Dongqing gets married will be more comfortable. Forcing it is definitely not suitable, the best way is to silently influence like gentle rain.

  Xu Lingyi listened and indeed looked much more at ease. Although he didn't respond to her, he also didn't frown or look at her with disapproval, implying that she had ruined the meal's etiquette.

  Now Mrs. Tai also asked herself to accompany her out for social events...

  The eleventh girl was in a great mood and smiled obediently "yes", suddenly feeling that everything in front of her had become brighter.

  The three wives listened with awkwardness in their mouths.

  The old lady's status is noble, and the Xu family is also the first among the aristocratic families. To be honest, the Marquis of Zhongshan is younger than the old lady in both age and seniority. When their family marries off a daughter, if the old lady attends, it would be giving them face; if she doesn't attend, that would also be acceptable. After the Xu family closed its doors to guests for half a year, the old lady suddenly changed her usual low-key approach and personally took the eleventh young lady to attend the wedding banquet. Isn't this because she wants to personally instruct the eleventh young lady?

  She is also not someone who lacks self-awareness.

  Try to put a smile on your face, Third Madame stood up: "When are you and Fourth Brother's wife leaving? I'll also have someone prepare the carriages!"

  "Tomorrow is the first day of the new moon," said the old lady with a smile. "Just in time to go and have some food."

  The eleventh girl heard the tone of Mrs. Tai's words with a hint of teasing, and followed suit, laughing: "Well, I'll eat less in the morning."

  Everyone burst out laughing.

  The third lady got up and bid farewell: "I'll go tell Li Quan's wife to prepare the carriage."

  "You may go!" The old lady smiled and nodded, and the third lady withdrew.

  The old lady pointed to a nearby stool: "Sit down and talk!"

  The eleventh girl sat smiling on the brocade couch.

  The old lady took out several large red and gold invitation cards from a drawer on the side of the bed.

  "The families written on this are of high social status, and when visiting each other, they need to be polite and courteous." The old lady handed her a card. "These few families, as long as you don't lose etiquette, it's fine." The old lady handed her another card. "These few families are close relatives, so being casual and generous is best." As she spoke, she handed her another card, "These few families, if you have time, go visit them, if not, let the person in charge of the household go." She handed her another card... Along the way, she handed her seven or eight cards. Some only had four or five households written on them, but with a long string of titles, while others had over ten households listed, with just some names. Among them, the Zhongshan Hou family was within the "don't lose etiquette" range.

  The eleventh girl knew that this was Xu's social circle.

  She solemnly accepted it.

  Old Lady smiled and said: "Although there are also name lists in the back office, we do things, if everything has to be done by the people in the back office, after a long time, those who manage affairs will inevitably produce a light and negligent heart. It's better to remember it in your heart. When something happens, say it out loud, let them know you're not a fool. After a long time, even if you have any negligence, they won't dare to cheat you under the accumulated prestige."

  That is to say, you must be familiar with your business, so that the people below will not dare to bully you for not understanding the industry.

  Knowing that Tai Fu Ren was gradually instructing herself, Eleventh Lady suppressed the small excitement in her heart and responded seriously.

  The old lady saw that the eleventh girl had changed from her previous lightheartedness to a serious tone, knowing that she understood her meaning and was very satisfied with her cleverness. Smiling and nodding: "The Zhongshan Hou family is the most widely connected among our official families, I'm afraid that when the time comes, half of the people on this list will meet. How to speak and act, you remember it, and when the time comes, you'll have a plan in mind."

  Eleventh Girl replied respectfully with a "yes", and helped Madame Tai lie down, then returned to her own room. She didn't even take a noon nap, but instead started reciting the names and titles on the list of postings.

  My body has become younger and my memory is much better than before.

  By the time her mother arrived, she had memorized three or four posters.

  Mrs. Tao looked at the name tag on her bed and had a complicated expression: "Are you going to follow the madam to the back door, ma'am?"

  The eleventh girl smiled and nodded: "When the Marquis of Zhongshan married off his daughter, Madame Tai took me with her."

  "Madam... you've won over the mistress's heart so quickly." Her smile was somewhat forced.

  Eleventh girl can very understand her mood.

  She has to support herself fully for the sake of her brother now, but that doesn't mean she's willing to be a yes-woman every day. Once their interests are broken, the first one to jump out and make things difficult for herself might just be Tao Mama. This is also an important reason why she must carefully cultivate her own power in the mansion while avoiding Tao Mama.

  Eleventh didn't have this interest and also didn't have the time to sympathize with Tao's mother, she smiled: "You've brought all the little maids? Let them come in and take a look!"

  Taoma returned to her usual gentle and composed self, smiling as she called in the little maids.

  Five little girls, the oldest not more than ten years old, the youngest only seven years old. All of them have braids, dressed neatly and cleanly. Wen Zhu is slender, just like her name; Bi Xiang has a round face with baby fat, very lovely; Tao Liu's eyebrows are clear and elegant, looking very gentle. Lian Jiao has a hint of shyness in her expression, making people feel affectionate. Taohua and Wei Zi look very similar, a bit rough around the edges.

  The eleventh girl nodded secretly.

  These little girls each have their own characteristics, and Madame will surely find one she likes.

  She smiled and said a few words of comfort, "Don't be afraid", "Later when the old lady asks you questions, just answer them properly" and so on, then she took them to see the old lady with Tao's mother.

  The three wives arrived earlier than she did.

  Gan's mother led five or six little maidservants to stand under the eaves. Those little maidservants were no more than twelve or thirteen years old, and the youngest was around ten years old, all with very pretty faces. When they saw the eleventh lady, Gan's mother immediately smiled and welcomed her: "Fourth Lady, you've arrived!" But her eyes kept rolling back to look behind her.

  Eleventh girl smiled and nodded to her, leaving Tao's mother and several little maids with Gan's mother waiting, while the little maid lifted the curtain and entered the house.

  The old lady was talking to the third lady about the maid's affairs: "...... I think Fangting is also good. Let's keep her as you wish!"

  It seems Mrs. Tao has seen those little girls already.

  It's also hard for her to think of this, rushing to settle the maid in Qingen's house before she arrives, so that when she is present, it won't be like Yuan Niang's time, where an outsider was brought in.

  The eleventh girl smiled and stepped forward to pay her respects to Madame Tai.