HCB Chapter 213 A Servant
Chapter 213 A Servant
But then she thought about the fact that officials of the fourth rank and above, or ladies of the imperial court, needed to attend various large banquets. She couldn't help but feel fortunate.
If you haven't reached the fourth rank, you don't have to go to the palace to attend banquets. It's not a good place, and you might lose half your life if you go there.
What's more, the emperor gave her a slap and then a sweet date, and then sent her ten more servants.
Lin Dashan and Lin Jingce helped move the rewards into the warehouse and put them together with the original items.
It's called a warehouse, but it can actually be said to be Shen Wanning's private warehouse. After all, everything here basically belongs to Shen Wanning, and even the key is in her hands.
After packing up, Shen Wanning looked seriously at the ten servants the emperor had given her. "Come in first! Although I'm a county lady, I've always lived in the countryside. My family is so poor. If you follow me, you won't be able to live like before."
One of the two maids looked Shen Wanning up and down, then looked at the Lin family's house, curled her lips, and said nothing.
"Since the emperor has bestowed me as a reward to the county lady, I belong to her. If she can live this kind of life, I can too." Another maid immediately lowered her head and said.
Shen Wanning remained calm and nodded secretly. "Well, introduce yourselves first!"
The old woman who had just spoken stepped forward and said, "My maiden name is Gui, so you all should call me Gui Ma. When I was in the palace, I taught you all etiquette."
The other maid who was looking around stepped forward and introduced herself, "My husband's surname is Hong, so everyone calls me Madam Hong. I used to serve Lady Li."
"Husband's family? Have you been married? Where is your husband's family now?" Shen Wanning asked curiously.
Married slaves like her wouldn't normally be sent to such a remote place. Furthermore, it was even rarer for married slaves to continue serving others.
"In reply to the county lady, my husband passed away early before I even had a child, leaving me alone." Madam Hong replied.
The remaining people introduced themselves one by one. The four maids were newcomers who had just entered the palace this year. They had never served anyone before and were sent here.
The four maids knelt down together and said, "Please give me a name, my lady."
Shen Wanning thought about it and decided that the most important thing was to make them memorable. "You can call them Baizhi, Baiying, Baisu, and Baiwei, respectively!"
"Yes, Baizhi/Baiying/Baisu/Baiwei, thank you County Lord for the name."
"Well, you guys should get up first. What about the remaining four people?"
The four servants, like the four maids, knelt down and begged her to give them names.
Shen Wanning thought for a moment and said, "Let's call the four of you Beichen, Beidou, Beiluo, and Beiji!"
"Yes, Beichen/Beidou/Beiluo/Beiji were named by Xie County Lord." The four servants said in unison.
"You get up first! I haven't decided how to settle you yet. You can stay in Daqing Village for the time being. If there are other arrangements, I will tell you. There is nothing to do today, so you can walk around and get familiar with the environment." Shen Wanning said.
The ten people responded, and except for Aunt Gui, everyone else went around for a walk.
Shen Wanning turned around and asked, "Madam Gui, why don't you go and familiarize yourself with the environment? After all, we have to live here for a while."
Nanny Gui bowed her head slightly and said respectfully, "I am the servant of the county lady. Naturally, I will be wherever the county lady is."
"Nothing, Madam Gui, please go and look around. I don't need anyone to wait on me for the time being."
"Yes, Lady, do you know where I will live? I want to clean up first." Nanny Gui still asked respectfully.
Shen Wanning thought for a moment and said, "With so many of you, there's definitely not enough room here. We used to have a house, but the conditions weren't very good, so we could only barely get by. You guys go and rest there first, and I'll make new accommodations for you later."
"Yes, as long as we have a place to stay and shelter from the wind and rain, it will be fine." Aunt Gui responded again.
As she spoke, Shen Wanning took Nanny Gui to the old house. On the way, they met several other servants and took them along.
Everyone looked at the house curiously. Madam Hong frowned, "My Lord, if it rains, it's probably going to leak, right? It's been uninhabited for a long time. Are there going to be snakes, insects, rats, or ants?"
"If it rains, I will definitely not let you live here. Although it is simple, it is definitely no problem for people to live here. We lived here before." Shen Wanning replied.
"What about the quilts and the like..." Nanny Hong continued to ask.
"We don't have that many quilts at home, so we can only put some hay underneath for now. You can go get another quilt later."
Nanny Hong opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but didn't know where to start.
"My Lady, let's clean up here first and then go to the Lin family to get the quilts." Aunt Gui said while still bending over.
Perhaps because they were so used to it, the eight young people didn't care about the shabby thatched house. Instead, they followed Aunt Gui and started cleaning the house with brooms, buckets, rags and other tools.
Shen Wanning thought about it and agreed. Only when their families couldn't afford to support them would they send them to the palace to serve. Their own houses might be as shabby as this one. Maybe some families lived in places even worse than their old houses.
"You guys clean up first. If you have any problems, you can come to the Lin family to find me." After saying this, Shen Wanning left the old house.
Back at the Lin residence, Aunt Zhang came over and asked, "Wan Ning, why did you arrange for the two maids to live in the old house? They're both so old, and we still have two guest rooms at home, so why not just let them stay in the guest rooms?"
Shen Wanning shook her head. "They are here to serve others, not to enjoy themselves. If they don't even have self-awareness and only know how to enjoy themselves like they did in the palace, then I can't afford to have such servants."
Seeing Madam Hong's behavior today, she understood a little. As for Madam Gui, she still needed to observe her for a while.
She was not one to mistreat her servants, but she still had to punish them when they deserved it. She had to punish them right from the start, otherwise, they would become more difficult to control later on if they became careless.
"Oh, okay. Mother has never been served in her life, so she doesn't know much about how to discipline servants. It's good that you know what to do." Aunt Zhang said.
Shen Wanning placed her hands on Aunt Zhang's shoulders and said, "Mother, didn't the emperor give us a lot of gifts? Let's go and take a look."
Lin Dashan and Lin Jingce followed in together. They knew where the things they had just carried in were.
As soon as the door was opened, Shen Wanning was rummaging around in the house. "Hey, Dad, I remember the imperial edict just said that the emperor rewarded me with a house. Let's look for the title deed and see where the house is."