Heart and mind

  Three wives gathered at the Hou Mansion, after a few days of adjustment, everyone resumed their usual routine of paying respects to the old lady. Wanyu gave her sisters some small gifts and they still had a good impression of her, able to smile when meeting and play together, but many things would not be said, after all, they were from different houses.

  After greeting her mother, Wan Yu came to Li's courtyard and said, "Mother, I'm hungry. I want to eat eight-treasure rice."

  Li was calculating the accounts and heard the shout, raised his head and smiled, "What kind of food is this, if you want to eat, let your auntie Ma make it for you."

  Wanyu leaned against Mrs. Li's bosom, flipped through the account book, pursed her lips and smiled, "Mother is calculating again, I'll help you, I calculate quickly."

  Li didn't let her calculate as usual, instead she pressed down on her and shook her head, "Don't bother with this anymore, tomorrow you hand over the small kitchen to Old Lady Ma, focus on learning the rules, don't get involved in this mess."

  Wan Yu was nine years old, last year under the guidance of Li Shi and the old lady, she took charge of the small kitchen, also to let her learn about the rules here, managing household chores is mainly about how to manage the people below, letting them follow arrangements, busy but not chaotic this is the key, as for keeping accounts Wan Yu had learned it early, these years she has been helping Li Shi with accounting.

  Wan Yu heard Li say this suddenly, and didn't rush to refute her. She lowered her head, thought for a moment, nodded in agreement, "I understand, I'll go settle the account with Ma Niang in a while, and won't make things difficult for Mother."

  She thought that Li's instructions should be related to Wang, the second wife. It was okay for one child to experience and learn a bit, but it was enough, and they couldn't be too arrogant, lest they give others an excuse to gossip. After all, several aunts had returned, and they really didn't need a young child pointing fingers and giving orders.

  Li saw her sincere intention and smiled, nodding, "How was your play with Wanyi and them?"

  What are the personalities of Wen Yi and Yun Qing? Can they get along, need to have a bottom line in mind, can't let the second room be fooled, but we also need to have the demeanor of an elder sister, can't let people look down on us.

  Wan Yu lazily leaned into Li's arms, "Wan Yi is very intelligent and elegant, with a lively and clever personality. Yun Qing appears slightly reserved, with deep thoughts, and having been raised by Second Aunt, she has a bit of a petty housewife air about her. In terms of interacting with people and handling things, she's not as agile and poised as Wan Yi, but she's still sensible. As for the other daughters, I haven't seen anything notable yet." She thought for a moment before candidly sharing her impressions of the two sisters.

  Li nodded slightly, "I heard you gave Yunqing a southern pearl hairpin yesterday?"

  Wan Yu nodded, "Mmm, I think Yun Qing looks like she doesn't have anything, but her clothes yesterday looked about 80% new. Actually, the sleeves were short and the floral pattern at the cuffs was newly embroidered. It should be an old dress that had been altered to make do with adding a foot of fabric. I wanted to give her a few pieces of cloth, but I was afraid it would get her into trouble, so after thinking about it, I didn't dare to."

  Yun Qing's jacket was obviously shorter, and on a spring morning it was still very cold. Wearing thin clothes, her hands and feet were all shrunk together, giving people the impression that she was timid and lacking in grandeur. But who knew the hardships of a humble daughter?

  Li sighed, she knew Wang well enough to say that he wouldn't be overly cruel, but it was unlikely that he would be very generous either. At most, he might not deduct from her monthly allowance, but a monthly allowance only covered four sets of clothes for the year, and children grew up quickly, four sets of clothes were far from enough.

  Last spring's clothes are worn again this year, won't they be too small? If there isn't time to make new clothes for the moment, how can a concubine not shrink from the task? It's not as if she can go tell her husband's first wife, "My clothes are too small, please make me another set." That would just give people an excuse to laugh at her until she dies. Not to mention that even the second wife would also be implicated and lose favor.

  In addition, although the second wife has been away from home for many years, she still sends a lot of gifts to the mansion, but the benefits are limited. The only thing that increases is her appetite. In fact, Wang's family also had their difficulties. Ruan Yi was her own daughter and could use her dowry to make up for it, which she was willing to do. But if you asked her to use her dowry to support a concubine's daughter, no one would be happy about it.

  Of course, there may be some small thoughts in this, but Wang also didn't overdo it, and I guess the second brother is also turning a blind eye.

  "Don't send clothes, I'll have someone from Jinxiu Pavilion come over next month to take your measurements and make some clothes for you, it's just a matter of making one or two more pieces. If you send clothes, it would be inappropriate, it would seem like you're pitying my sisters. As an elder, it's okay for me to give my nieces some fabric, but you can't do that directly, understand? Li Shi carefully explained the methods and techniques of being a good person and handling relationships."

  Wen Yu hadn't thought of this before, and she stared blankly for half a day, thinking that if she were in her sister's shoes, she would feel like her sister was looking down on her, using her as a stepping stone to gain a good reputation.

  She thought for a moment and understood, hugging Li's arm and smiling coquettishly: "I know, I'll be more careful in the future. I also picked out many for Yuanyi, more than Yunqing. The palace flowers were also first picked for Yuanyi, and Yunqing was later." After thinking about it, she felt that impulsively giving the big pearl flower to Yuanyi might make her think too much, fortunately, most of what she gave to Yuanyi was beautiful, light, and precious, otherwise, it would be hard to justify.

  "Remember you are my daughter, you are the legitimate daughter, you can take care of your younger sister, but you cannot stand on the same ground as the illegitimate daughters. From the day you were named, you have been in a different class than them."

  Wan Yu was taken aback for a moment, then nodded thoughtfully. Her eyes, looking at Li Shi, were filled with gratitude. She glanced at Yun Qing and then at herself, thinking that she had so many new clothes that she couldn't wear them all out, and many of them were only worn once before being put away. Some didn't even get a chance to be worn before they became too small, and could only be given to the maids as a reward and charity.

  "Mother, it's great to have you." Yuwen didn't say anything big, she really relied on Li.

  "Li knew that this girl was very attached to her, so she smiled and patted her hand. 'If you really sympathize with Yun Qing, wait until I send over some good fabric that the slaves can't wear after I've finished sending it to you. That way, we'll have an excuse, and I'm sure she won't be as resistant.'"

  Wan Yu nodded, "I know, I'll go back and pack my clothes, choose two pieces of good fabric like satin or silk to send to her."

  "Uh, even if you want to be a good person, you need to grasp the measure and know the method. If it's not done well, it might backfire." Mr. Li instructed Yuwen that doing good deeds also requires a method, otherwise, it would end in an unfavorable outcome, which wouldn't be beautiful.

  Wanyu and Li said a few words and bid farewell, she had to go settle the kitchen account and make some soup for her grandmother. She would have lunch with her grandmother in the afternoon.

  At noon when Wanyu was serving soup, Li Shi, Wang Shi, Wanyi Yunqing and several others including Zhao Shi were all there.

  "Oh dear, I'm late, Grandma. I've made some seaweed tofu soup for you, try some." Wanyu smiled and had Peony present the soup to her.

  "Good, good, just right after eating greasy food, have a bowl of light and refreshing soup." The old lady happily had someone serve her a bowl.

  The old lady saw that everyone had eaten enough, and only then did she wave her hand to let people take away the dishes. After rinsing her mouth, she asked: "I heard today that you returned the kitchen account?" She smiled at Yuwen with a warm and loving gaze.

  Wan Yu quickly looked up and observed the old lady, couldn't help but admire her mother's foresight, with a warm and lovely smile. "Yes, Wang Ayi said she wanted to increase my pharmacology homework recently, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to finish it so I thought about it and decided to hand over the kitchen accounts instead. Mother also said that knowing roughly is enough, no need to think about it every day, I'm not at that stage yet." She glanced slightly shyly at the old lady.

  The old lady nodded in approval. The girl was too overbearing and it wouldn't be good for her reputation if word got out, but this way was just right.

  "Hmm, you'd better learn from your aunt, she's a capable person. Don't be lazy or try to sneak around, or I won't forgive you." The old lady deliberately scolded Yuwen with a stern face.

  Wan Yu leaned over and rubbed against the old lady's chest, her soft and gentle voice making her ears tingle, "Grandma, I didn't slack off, I studied very seriously, look at my hands, they're all pricked by needles." She even deliberately stretched out her pale and tender hands for her to see.

  The old lady patted her and smiled: "Good, good, my granddaughter is the most obedient." A comfortable smile spread across her face.

  "Of course, I'm the most obedient." Yuwen nodded without hesitation, causing several people to shake their heads and laugh.

  The Wang family watched as Wan Yu and the old lady interacted, feeling a little jealous in her heart. She smiled after rolling her eyes: "Mother, I heard that Wang Ayi is the Empress Dowager's personal Ayi, I didn't expect our family to be able to invite her over. I think Wan Yi and Yun Qing are also about the same age, why don't we ask Wang Ayi to teach them together? After all, teaching one or a few is the same, they're all children of the Mu Rong family." She looked at the old lady with expectation in her eyes.

  The old lady turned the Buddhist beads of Huang Huali with her right hand, her expression slightly solemn, as if she was really thinking.

  It was a long time before he said, "Wang's nanny is the empress dowager's person and not someone we can order around. We need to ask first." After finishing speaking, he swept a glance at Yuwen Wan.

  Wan Yu sighed inwardly, indeed her weight was still not enough.

  Wang looked at Yuanyu with shining eyes and advised her in a gentle tone, "Yuanyu, why don't you go ask your aunt? Your younger sister is also getting older. If she can have a good nanny to guide her, it won't be easy. I'll definitely thank you for that."

  Wanyu looked at Li with some difficulty, and Li calmly opened her mouth. "It's rare for you to speak up, Auntie. Why don't you go ask Wang Nian's opinion as well."

  Wan Yu thought for a moment and nodded, "I'll ask Auntie on your behalf, but it's not necessarily going to work out. Wang Nai Nai is a fourth-rank female official, I'm not in a position to order her around. Even the Empress Dowager has asked me to go and ask, she's afraid that our family will offend Wang Nai Nai. Let's get the ugly words out of the way first, this is someone the Empress Dowager cares about, it's not someone I can boss around just because I'm a little maid. If it doesn't work out, don't blame me."

  The Wang lady was slightly stunned, she really didn't think that the palace maid who had left the palace would still be remembered and asked after by the Empress Dowager. It seemed that it wouldn't be possible to get out of this without shedding some blood. She had originally thought about taking advantage of the situation with the main house, but it seemed that this advantage wasn't easy to take either. She couldn't help but furrow her brow tightly, but seeing Yuanyi's eager eyes, she steeled herself and thought, at worst, she would just shed some blood, for the sake of her daughter, what was there to be stingy about?

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