Chapter 38 Personal Maid
The old lady was finally persuaded by Mengxi and agreed to take Hongyu in, but only as a concubine. Mengxi was shocked when she heard this. She had gone to great lengths to promote Hongyu to be a concubine just to make her move out of the main room so that she would have one less spy around her. The Second Master did not like him, but now she was employing the Second Master's team, which made her walk on thin ice all the time and she dared not be careless at all.
It turns out that the status of a concubine is much lower than that of a concubine. She does not have an independent courtyard and her status is only slightly higher than that of a maid. She usually lives in the master's room and only serves the master when the master is unwell. To put it bluntly, they have all the work that a maid should do, but they have one more task: to go to bed with the master. If they can give birth to a boy or girl in the future, they may be promoted to a concubine because of their status as a mother.
Although Mengxi is not Hongyu's formal master, Hongyu is Xiao Jun's maid. She entered the house as the legal wife, so Hongyu naturally treated her as the master . Now that she has become a concubine, she is naturally placed in Mengxi's room to serve her.
Thinking of this, Mengxi kowtowed and begged: "Old Madam, Hongyu is kind and gentle, and has the potential to give birth to a son. My granddaughter-in-law wants to promote her to be a concubine. If she really gives birth to a boy or a girl in the future, the status of the children will be more noble. I beg you to help me."
Everyone in the hall looked at Mengxi, wondering why she was praising Hongyu so much. Didn't she know that every time the Second Master took in a new wife, his love for her would be diluted?
Xiao Jun looked at her with a strange look. In his opinion, it was already a privilege for Hongyu to be a concubine. She was born as a slave and was not worthy of being a concubine. She wanted to kill Hongyu just a moment ago, but now she was trying hard to praise her. What was she thinking? He was more and more confused about Mengxi's fickleness.
The old lady silently examined Mengxi, "Silly girl, do you think Jun'er's status as a concubine is as worthless as cabbage? As a daughter-in-law, you can send one to anyone you like. There are quotas for them, and not just anyone is qualified to be one. For a slave, being a concubine is already a great honor for her."
After a long while, Mengxi knelt there, her palms sweating with nervousness, and then the old lady spoke:
"Let's just settle this. You'll be my concubine first. If you can really give birth to a boy or girl in the future, we can discuss it later. If Xi'er is fine, you can leave now."
Mengxi saw that it was hopeless to promote Hongyu to be a concubine, and thought to herself, since she was in her own courtyard , she could think of a way later. Suddenly, she remembered something else. This was a great opportunity, how could she miss it? She hurriedly said:
"Thank you, old lady, for your help. I will follow your arrangements. Old lady, I have one more favor to ask."
The old lady was already impatient, thinking to herself, everyone in the room is waiting to eat, why is it taking so long? She asked impatiently:
"What else does Xi'er have to say?"
"Replying to the old lady, when my granddaughter-in-law got married, she didn't bring any personal maids with her. She has been using the second master's maids these days. Now that Hongyu has moved in, the second master's maids are not enough. My granddaughter-in-law wants to buy two big maids for personal use. I beg the old lady to help."
After hearing this, the old lady turned to look at the eldest wife. She didn't understand why Xier hadn't been arranged to have a maid after so many days of marriage?
Little did she know that the eldest lady had always disliked Mengxi because of her niece Zhang Xiu and the rumors in Pingyang City. She was now the housekeeper, and had been withholding the rations that Mengxi should have received since he entered the house a few days ago. She was afraid that her son would suffer, so she did not dare to cut back on the food. Now that she saw the old lady looking over, she secretly hated Mengxi for being nosy, and quickly said:
"Old Madam, I have been so worried about Jun'er's illness these past two days that I forgot that Xi'er didn't bring any maids with her. I will pick four smart maids and send them over now."
After hearing what the eldest wife said, the old lady understood the situation. She had also fought her way through the mansion, so she knew the difference between Mengxi saying "buy" and the eldest wife saying "send" and the twists and turns in it. Thinking that Jun'er was always in the wrong after accepting Hongyu, she didn't want to embarrass Mengxi on this matter, so she said to Mengxi:
"When Xi'er mentioned this, I suddenly remembered that some time ago, your mother-in-law and I were discussing that the maids in this mansion had grown up and some of them should be married off. We had already asked a boy to find some for them, but Jun'er got sick, which delayed the matter. It's just right that Xi'er mentioned this. I'll send a servant over in the afternoon to help with the matter. According to the rules, Xi'er should be married off with four big maids. When the servant arrived in the afternoon, Xi'er picked out four smart ones herself and asked the eldest lady to send someone to teach them the rules and send them over."
The eldest wife's eyes turned cold and she quickly stood up to respond. Mengxi also kowtowed to thank her and stood up to sit aside. The old lady then ordered the meal to be served.
…
The eldest wife was sitting on the couch in the bedroom with her eyes slightly closed. Baozhu was massaging her shoulders. Ziyue pushed the door open and came in. She went forward to greet the eldest wife. Seeing Ziyue coming back, the eldest wife opened her eyes, emitting two cold rays of light, and asked:
"I found out what happened."
"Replying to the eldest lady, I have inquired clearly. The eldest lady guessed correctly. I heard from Duo'er in the second master's courtyard that the second lady came back from the old lady today and happened to see Hongyu and the second master having sex in bed. The second lady got angry on the spot. She first asked Nanny Su about the rules. After listening, she wanted to beat Hongyu to death according to the rules. The second master was so angry that he slammed the table and broke the teacup , stabbing his hand. In the end, it was the second master who took the responsibility for the matter, saying that he liked Hongyu, not that Hongyu seduced him. Only then did the second lady give up, and the two of them came together to beg the old lady for help."
With a bang, the eldest wife dropped the teacup she had just picked up to the ground:
"This coquettish vixen has only been married for a few days, but in order to tie down the Second Master, she even brought out a fortune teller. She can even say such shameless words in front of the First Master and the First Uncle. This little thing made Jun'er so angry that he even hurt his hand. When she heard Jun'er say that he liked it, she tried her best to take it back into the house. Tell me, what is she thinking?"
Baozhu and Ziyue were so frightened that they knelt down in panic. Ziyue replied:
"I don't know. I guess she took the red jade just to please the Second Master, or because she saw that the Second Master liked the red jade, she took the red jade and put it in her room, so that the Second Master could visit her room more often, right?"
Seeing Zi Yue talking, the eldest lady became even more angry and pointed at her nose and said:
"And you, what a bad idea you gave me back then, saying you wanted to put down her power, but now the old lady has asked her to buy her own maid, and even our own people can't get involved."
Zi Yue was so scared that she kowtowed repeatedly: "I was wrong, I should be punished. I didn't expect that the old lady would be so good to the second wife, trusting her in everything and letting her do whatever she wanted."
"Tell me, how good is she? Why does the old lady obey her every word?"
Seeing Ziyue and Baozhu kneeling there trembling, not daring to breathe, how could she dare to answer? The eldest wife knew that they couldn't say anything, so she was silent for a long time, then sighed and said:
"All of you go down, let the people below keep a close eye on her, I will be the one in charge, I don't believe she can cause any more trouble."
…
