Wrong Changhuan

After Lin Changhuan recovered from his injury, another day later, he returned to the city with Lin Xun and Yang Yan in the afternoon.

At the east gate of the city, there are yamen servants posting notices, and pedestrians gather to meet and discuss.

Chang Huan got off his horse and squeezed into the crowd. After a second glance, he got back on his horse and said to Lin and Xun, "It's a notice from the government to recruit craftsmen for repairing the posthouse."

Lin Xun frowned slightly and said nothing, Yang Yan said, "It's nothing new, let's go."

When they got to the gate of Lin's mansion, they saw two sedan chairs parked at the gate.Aunt Li, who was in charge of the backyard, happened to come from the west with four women carrying small bundles.

Aunt Li hurried forward to salute, and hurriedly called the woman behind her to also salute.

Lin Xun asked, "What's going on?"

Aunt Li hurriedly said with a smile on her face, "The backyard happened to be lacking a few handymen, so I chose a few for Steward Lin to have a look at."

Lin Xun entered the door together with Yang Yan. Chang Huan looked at Aunt Li and the women, turned his mind quickly a few times, and then followed happily, not forgetting to look back twice.

Lin You, the housekeeper at the entrance of the front hall, came up to greet him, and Lin Xun asked, "The sedan chair at the door belongs to the Garrison Mansion?"

Butler Lin replied, "Yes, I handed over the name card at noon, please see Mr. Wen, no maids and servants are allowed to serve you. We are still chatting now."

Lin Xun asked again, "Does the elder sister know about this?"

Butler Lin said, "I know, it's lunch time when the name card is delivered, and the young lady is also there."

Lin Xun frowned, and said, "I see, you can go first."

Yang Yan leaned closer and asked curiously, "But what's wrong?"

Lin Xun didn't answer, just a glance, Yang Yan knew that there must be something wrong.Seeing Chang Huan approaching, Lin Xun turned his head and said, "Go, go and say hello to your mother first."

Lin Changhuan drooped his head, followed Yang Yan obediently, and went to the main courtyard.

The door of the room was open, and there was an account book on the table. Lin Yu'er was facing the door of the room alone, drinking tea thoughtfully.

Chang Huan hurriedly stepped forward to salute, "Mother—"

When Lin Yu'er saw Chang Huan, she was furious. She put down the tea cup in her hand and said, "Did you make your second uncle angry a few days ago?"

When Chang Huan heard this, he knelt down in fright, twisted his clothes involuntarily with his hands, and whispered, "Yes."

When Lin Yu'er heard it was true, she found Chang Huan not pleasing to her eyes. She patted the table and said angrily, "What the hell did you do again? It made your second uncle whip his whip?"

Just as Chang Huan was about to defend himself, Lin Xun leaned over and saluted first and said, "Sister Chang, it's nothing serious, but I said a few words to her, but she replied a few words in dissatisfaction. I have already punished her, and she also Got it wrong."

After Lin Xun finished speaking, he said to Chang Huan, "Why are you still kneeling there? Why don't you go back to your courtyard and meditate behind closed doors."

When Chang Huan heard this, he got up quickly, saluted again, and then walked out quickly.When he reached the door, he straightened his back, patted his chest with one hand, and murmured, "Thank God, luckily there was no danger."

Lin Changhuan did not go directly to his west courtyard, but went directly to the management office in the backyard.Nominally, the steward of the backyard is under the rule of the housekeeper Lin, but Lin You usually only pays more attention to the affairs of the front office and the accounting room, and let the others be responsible for the rest.

The steward of the backyard is responsible for the kitchen meals, garden maintenance, daily cleaning, and servants in various yards of the entire Lin Mansion. It is not difficult, but things are a bit miscellaneous.

Aunt Li has been working in the Lin Mansion for more than ten years, and she can be considered an old man in the courtyard. At this moment, she is kowtowing melon seeds in the courtyard, and a little maid next to her is still pinching her shoulders.

There are also a few little maids who wash clothes and a few middle-aged women who pick vegetables in the courtyard.From time to time, there are young servants coming and going to fetch water and run errands.

When a group of people saw Chang Huan enter the door, they all put down their work, stood up and stood in a row with their heads bowed.

Aunt Li wiped her hands on the hem of her clothes, and said with a smile on her face, "Miss, why are you here when you have time?"

Chang Huan sat down unceremoniously, and said to everyone, "You go on, don't worry about me." Then he said to Aunt Li, "You sit too. I just have something to ask for advice."

Upon hearing this, Aunt Li smiled and said, "Miss, what you said, how dare you ask me for advice? If my old lady knows, it is your blessing to help me." After all, she sat down .

Chang Huan leaned closer and got straight to the point, "You are the one who buys the maids and servants in the mansion, right?"

Aunt Li nodded.

Chang Huan said again, "Then, can you tell me about the purchasing process?"

Aunt Li said happily, "That's not easy. The slave loan market in the west of the city opens on the first and fifteenth day of every month. If there is a shortage of people in the mansion, they will go there and pick one first. Seeing that there are some decent-looking people , there is nothing wrong with your body, you can get started in a few days after you buy it—tune—teach it.”

Chang Huan asked, "Today is September 21, where did those people you brought with you come from?"

Aunt Li stared wide-eyed, and said in a serious manner, "Those were not bought in the slave market. I specially asked Mrs. Wang, who sells vegetables in the city, to pay attention to them. She introduced them... If I didn't tell you Good morning, these few people have been snatched away by other families long ago. Many of them in our mansion were introduced by Mrs. Wang, so I am satisfied with all of them... How many of them are there today? , the cooking skills are good, it happens that the old Liu in the kitchen is sick and needs to be replaced by someone. One who can read and write, Lin Butler said that he must find someone who can read and write to transcribe the list or something. There are also two embroidered female reds Alright, I took all of them in."

Chang Huan was puzzled, "Didn't you say that Mrs. Wang is a vegetable seller? Why do you care about this?"

Aunt Li explained, "Vegetable sellers have the most contact with people every day. The owners are short-lived, and it is very clear who's chickens laid a few eggs on a certain day. Anyone who is looking for a job will ask her to keep an eye on them. When the people who buy vegetables in the house go, they will inevitably chatter a few words. The owner needs a girl to cook fire, and the west family needs someone to cook vegetables. Isn't this nagging news all right? Are you on?"

Chang Huan nodded and said, "It makes sense—it's interesting..." After a pause, he thought about it, "Do you think other people's houses need maids every now and then?"

Aunt Li shook her head and said, "Not necessarily, it depends on whether the family is a big family or a small one. There are also those small families who have not entered for three to five years. As for the big families, such as our Lin family, The family is big and the business is big, there are new recruits every month."

Chang Huan clapped his hands and smiled, "Great!" Then he said, "Who are those people this morning? I'll ask them something."

Aunt Li hurriedly got up and called out the four people from this morning. These people had just changed into the uniforms of Lin Fu's maids, and they thought they were going to give a lecture, so they stood stiffly in front of Chang Huan.

Chang Huan walked around in front of them, stood still beside the woman on the far side, and asked, "Don't be nervous, I'm just curious, why do you want to come to Lin Manor to do business?"

The woman said, "My father wants to marry me to the rich man in our village, but the rich man is 20 years older than me, and he already has a fifth concubine. I didn't want to, so I ran away, and my money was almost used up." , I just want a place to settle down. The Lin Mansion pays me a lot of money, so I'm here."

Chang Huan frowned silently, walked up to the next person, and asked, "What about you?"

The woman said, "My father is sick and my younger brother is young. I will work to subsidize the family."

Chang Huan shook his head again and said, "Next."

Another said, "I'm not a local. My hometown is Qingtian County. This year, there was a flood in the local area, and there was an accident at home. My parents died, so I came to Jiangling to join relatives. Unexpectedly, relatives have moved away and are not here. Yes, I ran out of money and couldn't afford to stay in the inn, so the owner of the inn helped me find Mrs. Wang, who heard that the Lin Manor was recruiting people, and I did a good job as a maid, so he let me in."

When Chang Huan heard this, he couldn't help but feel a little excited.After walking a few times, he smiled unconsciously, "Okay, this is good!"

Turning his head and seeing the woman in front of her crying after talking about her tragic experience, Chang Huan felt that what she said was inappropriate, and hurriedly apologized, "That's not what I meant, don't cry... I deeply sympathize with what happened to you. "

The last woman just said, "I..."

Chang Huan interrupted, "No need." As he spoke, he took out a few pieces of silver from his waist, and handed it to Aunt Li, "This is your reward, buy a few pots of wine when you're not on duty. Give them the rest How many points?"

Satisfied, Chang Huan walked away and returned to his courtyard.

Hongying was patting the quilt in the courtyard, and when she saw her young lady, whom she hadn't seen for more than a month, came back, she hurriedly stepped forward and grabbed Chang Huan's arm, saying, "Miss, you can count yourself back. It will be a month after you leave. Let Hongying think about it for a long time."

When Chang Huan saw Hongying, seeing that she was about the same height and size as himself, he took out a large ingot of silver from his bosom and stuffed it into Hongying's hand.

Hongying lowered her head and saw so much money, and said in surprise, "Miss, you don't mean to drive Hongying away, do you? What did I do wrong?" As she spoke, she was about to cry.

Chang Huan hurriedly said, "Stop--I'm not driving you away... I'll discuss something with you, give me a set of your old clothes, and I'll buy you."

Hongying was even more dazed when she heard that.

Chang Huan added, "It's the kind of old clothes made of rough cloth. It looks like the kind of poor or good people. The older the better."

Hongying accepted the money dubiously, went to her room to look for clothes, looked back at Chang Huan as she walked, and saw that Chang Huan was still smiling and waving at her to urge her to go quickly. kind of.

This ingot of silver can buy a lot of fine silk, but she wants her own set of coarse cloth and old clothes.

Either it is pie in the sky, or there are other plans.

Hongying never believed that pies would fall from the sky.I said in my heart, I don't know which family's unlucky ghost is about to be teased by the little lady this time.