[Red Mansions] The big maid struggles daily

The mother-in-law took six little girls' photos and sent them to the second gate, and a woman who was dressed more richly than the previous one took them.The old woman pointed to the woman and said, "This is my wife's companion. Your name is Wu Da Niang."

Wu Xindeng's family put on a serious face, and urged: "Go, go! Come with me and kowtow to my wife." As he said this, he entered the Chuihua Gate. Inside the Chuihua Gate, there are hand corridors on both sides and a hallway in the middle, but Wu Xindeng's family did not They were not allowed to walk along the veranda, but walked along a very narrow passage.

Turning around three times and walking around in front of a large courtyard, there are five main rooms above, wing rooms on both sides with deer roofs, and ear gates drilling into the mountains, extending in all directions, grand and magnificent①.He didn't go in, and was still far away from the courtyard gate. Wu Xindeng's family raised his chin and nodded forward.

Seeing this, Huazhu hurriedly knelt down to meet each other, and the rest of them followed suit.

The man from Wu Xindeng's house beckoned over to the servant girl who was waiting quietly in the porch, and said, "After kowtowing to your wife, you are considered to be from the Rongguo Mansion. Follow this sister-in-law, so that she can learn the rules, and run around and beat her to death." When she spoke, her eyes didn't look at the faces of the few people, and she looked very disdainful.

After another two or three hands, the six people saw the old Song mother who took care of them during this time.Lao Song's mother has two other children here who are listening to the teaching. They said that they will go in to work in two days.

The first thing I did when I came in was to shave my head and take a shower. I said that the outside was not clean, and I was afraid that some lice and fleas would be brought into the house.

The two wives who helped out seemed to be used to rough work, like shedding pigs, holding down a group of little girls, stripping off their clothes and rinsing them vigorously. After two slaps, there was burning pain immediately, and after that, no matter how hard the old woman's hands were, and the skin was broken, Zhu Xiu didn't dare to hide.

All the clothes, shoes and socks they brought would be thrown out, Zhu Xiu feared that her purse would also be thrown away, and secretly begged her mother-in-law for kind words while taking a bath, but the mother-in-law just looked her up and down.Zhu Xiu was squatting in the bucket, naked, even if she thought she was thick-skinned, she couldn't help feeling ashamed behind her back.Fortunately, my mother-in-law has heard that one of these newly purchased girls may fly up to the branch to serve Master Bao in the future, and she doesn't want to offend her, so she returned the purse to Zhu Xiu with ease. It's just that everything in the purse was taken out and thrown away.

Zhu Xiu used to rub the pomegranate peel juice off, which can be seen from the ruthless force.Fortunately, the six girls who had finished washing had stubble hair on their heads, and their skin was red and red. She was inside, unobtrusive.

Old Song's mother was quite kind, and asked the girls to talk to each other one by one, telling them about their age and background.The two sons of the family chattered and pointed as if they were watching a play, but Lao Song's mother ignored them.

It was Zhu Xiu's turn. Hearing that Zhu Xiu knew some cooking skills and knew some characters, Lao Song's mother was wrinkled with a smile, and Hua Zhenzhu hurriedly raised her eyes to look at her.These few, except for Huazhuzhu and Zhuxiu, who have first and last names, don't have names. Old Song's mother only said that in the future, the masters of each family will name the servants, so they yelled.Here, Xiaoyan'er is eight years old, Zhu Xiu is seven years old, Hua Zhenzhu is one year younger than Zhu Xiu, and the other three are older.

Sure enough, it is the Duke's Mansion, but it is more grand than other places. Although it is only a temporary place for the little girls who are not on duty, the room is also very spacious and bright. It is not a common bed, but everyone has their own bed curtains.The six maids shared a room with three, so Zhu Xiu and Xiao Yan'er naturally stayed together, but the other four who were in the group got one.

No one could have imagined that it was Hua Zhuzhu who took the initiative to stand up and said softly, "I feel close to sister Zhuxiu when I see her. I am also the youngest, so I dare not be stronger than my sisters. I will live there." The other three There are those who are grateful, those who curl their lips, and those who regret—no matter how ignorant they are, they also know that a literate girl film is a rarity, and if they don't keep it all, they will stand out. If they get closer now, they may be able to support themselves in the future.

This girl surnamed Hua is too cunning, she didn't look down on her when she was whispering yesterday, but now that she sees her, she pounces on it like a fly seeing shit.

As soon as Hua Zhenzhu opened her mouth, Zhu Xiu felt a little disappointed: she has good ears, and she clearly heard that Hua Zhenzhu also rejected the two of them last night. If Hua Zhenzhu kept ignoring them, she would still take a high look. The flattering appearance made Zhu Xiu feel a little scary.

Listening to what she said, it's very straightforward to please both sides.Although in the eyes of adults, it still looks immature and pretentious, but this flower pearl is no better than Zhu Xiu, a society person who is only six years old and knows how to play tricks and double-deckers. It's not scary. people?The future "Western Flower Idea Habaer" is still young now, and there are some signs.

Zhu Xiu felt faint in her heart, but she didn't show it on her face.On the contrary, he smiled, and he didn't seem to like Huazhu very much.In the next few days, while there was no one else around, Zhu Xiu secretly asked her why, and said with a smile: "This sister Hua is clever and clever, but I just can't get close to her when I see her. I think I used to listen to me Niang said, "Smart, clever and treacherous, you can't beat honesty and honesty." Maybe it's because of this."

Hearing this, Zhu Xiu teased her: "I'm not smart, unfortunately? Why aren't you afraid of me?" This girl is like brown candy, sticking to her tightly, she will do whatever Zhu Xiu does, only a few minutes away. Did not follow into the latrine.

Unexpectedly, the smiling eyes said confidently: "Seeing you is like seeing my mother, and my heart is at ease. In the past, when you were with Mrs. Chai, you ignored everyone, so I didn't dare. Later, you really saved me , I knew that you are like my mother." Xiao Yan'er was at home, and only her mother was good to her. Although she dared not teach her the skills of a stable woman, her mother never said anything when others beat and scolded her. She was protected, and later her grandfather fell ill, and it was because of her that she was able to sell her when her mother was not at home to deliver the baby.Although Xiaoyan'er is honest, she knows who treats her best.

Zhu Xiuxin said, don't you, I'm still young, I really don't want to be your mother!Listening to what this girl said, it's really ridiculous, but this girl is simple and innocent, and she still has a little animal intuition.

At this time, no one thought that thanks to this intuition, the lives of the two people were saved.This is for a later story, so I won't show it for the time being.

…………

Lao Song's mother here is just a place to rough up the little girl, there is nothing oily, and she doesn't care.It is often just to order a young daughter-in-law to lead six people to learn some rules of saluting and kowtowing.The next thing is to distribute some rags and embroidery thread, let them learn how to do it - because the Rongguo Mansion has strict rules, although there are special needleworkers, most of the masters are only willing to wear the ones made by the maids in their own rooms. Well, the sewing room was mostly used to make clothes for the slaves in the house.Therefore, no matter where they are assigned in the future, these girls have to know some needlework. If the female reds do well, it is easier to win the favor of the master.

That daughter-in-law is just hanging around outside the three gates, so she is not qualified to do some dignified work in front of the wives in the back, and she doesn't know much about the rules inside, but she just speaks a few words in response to the situation.More often, the daughter-in-law muttered some gossip with jealousy and sourness, such as so-and-so's family climbed up so-and-so, and she was going to be proud; the man who stole from another house was caught and paid a penny to that man. , that man doesn't care about his wife; Mr. Xianzhu's former housemate was sent out to marry someone, and I heard that the wife of that family sold him to a flower house and so on.

The daughter-in-law was happy with what she said, and they were also happy to hear it, but Zhu Xiu looked at everyone secretly, smiling purely as a pleasure to listen to the story, and the others were also thinking secretly.Only Huazhu is the most touching, and the daughter-in-law who is always flattering is so happy that the daughter-in-law is willing to pull her to talk about gossip alone.

Zhu Xiu relied on her sharp ears and often listened.Today, the daughter-in-law was talking with Hua Zhenzhu again, talking about Jin Cai, who was looking at the house in Jinling. Deaf daughter-in-law, it’s impossible to think that this daughter-in-law is deaf but looks very good, and she gave birth to a daughter who is not deaf and looks good. The old lady thought she was well-matched and liked it, so she called the daughter to the hospital. Waiting in the house, the eight-year-old hairy girl surpassed others and was promoted to the second class, and also made up for the previous mandarin duck's vacancy. Now the whole family knows that this new mandarin duck will definitely be the first class in the future.

Huazhu's eyes lit up: "How can I say this?"

The daughter-in-law coquettishly said: "You people outside don't know, our old lady is the most blessed, and the girl who is brought out by her old man is also very blessed. The old lady is the most particular, her girl is old enough to go out to match someone, make up for it The old girl is still called the old girl. The original mandarin duck is one of the eight first-class, and the new mandarin duck will naturally be the first-class in the future, but it is still young, so I will learn from the other first-class first. .”

"So that's how it is, good sister-in-law, since this mandarin duck sister is second-class, then there are only seven first-class sisters?" Hua Zhenzhu thought for a while and asked.

Hearing this, the daughter-in-law sneered and laughed: "The old lady is still short of someone, so she chose a good one to make up for it. There are sixteen second-class ones in the upper courtyard. Who doesn't covet the first-class ones?" Example?"

Hua Zhuzhu became more and more puzzled: "My sister-in-law just said that the name of the first-class girl of the old lady is determined. Since the elder sister of the mandarin duck has already been named by this name, how can she make up the other girl? It's rare that there are two mandarin ducks?"

The daughter-in-law said: "You are stupid if you say you are clever. There are eight first-class and sixteen second-class in the old lady's house. There are not many little girls who clean the house and go to work. The little girls are all first-class sisters." I changed my name casually, and I only have the face to kowtow in front of the old lady and ask the old lady to give me a name. Although second-class people don't often show their faces, they still have names and surnames. Could it be that they were second-class people before? It was called Cao'er at that time, so I had to change it to Hua'er after I was promoted? The old lady is used to being called Cao'er, so I have to trouble her to change her name too?"

After a pause, he said: "It was just for the old lady's order. Among the 24 people, those names are called back and forth, but there is no need to insist on the rules. For example, your name Hey, last year there was a second class named Pearl in the old lady’s courtyard, but it was given to someone else, and the old lady who added it up casually called it Amber. The name of this Amber was also the first class in front of the old lady a few years ago, but The old lady didn't like that girl very much when she died of flowers before, and she hasn't been given this name for several years, and it's better now."

Hua Zhenzhu suddenly realized, and Zhu Xiu, who was eavesdropping from a long way away, also understood: No wonder when she was reading, some of the girls' names were in pairs, and some were just one; some names suddenly disappeared. Yes, some names popped up again.Thinking about it, at the very beginning, giving names to girls was often in pairs, but then various changes happened, maybe they died or they were kicked out, and gradually they became no longer a pair.

…………

In a few days, it's time to assign errands, and the girls are secretly working hard, hoping to go to a good place.In the past half a month, Zhu Xiu also sneaked into the space with a smile on her face and carefully embroidered a few brightly colored purses, preparing to bribe the manager.

Zhu Xiu didn't intend to join the hot pot, and he knew that in the courtyard of the old lady, Mrs. Wang and others, those girls fought openly and secretly.This is like watching a palace drama. Those court ladies entering the palace, the queen's favorite concubine is good, but they are likely to die quickly; while the deserted palace is bitter, but they can live for a long time.What she fell in love with was Li Wan's yard. Li Wan had a kind and gentle personality, so he could ask to leave his nationality in the future.Xiaoyan'er has identified her, and only wants to be with her.

It's just that she forgot at this time that the lives of servants in the deserted palace are like worthless, and they may die faster, and if they die, they will die in vain, and they can't even beat a splash.

She didn't expect it, but it actually happened.

Before Zhu Xiu bribed the manager, something happened that made her hate her stomach and chill her heart and lungs.I vowed to sharpen my head and go to the most prestigious Rongqing Hall in Rongguo Mansion.

The author has something to say: Note ①: "There are five large main rooms above, with deer roofs on both sides of the side rooms, and the ear doors drill into the mountains, extending in all directions, majestic and magnificent" quoted from the third chapter of the original work.