Chapter 224 New rules
After Zhang family left, Gu Xun led Gu Xiran to the study to explain some business matters. He (GX) told him (GXR) about some of the situations that could happen in a business and the experience that he had learned from doing business over the years.
Shu Huan also suddenly became busy. Servants from various parts of the house went back and forth to report to her and when they needed some things, they all sought her. She knew in her heart that this must be Lin shi putting on airs. She (L) wanted to embarrass her (SH) and make her unable to build authority in the residence. Otherwise, the transfer of the housekeeper’s affairs could be as slow and gradual as the transfer of business by Gu Xun and not threw everything to her at once when she had no clue about various situations at all.
Shang Xin watched her (SH) being busy, she felt injustice for her and said, “Madam is too much. It’s obvious that she’s trying to make things difficult for you!”
Meijing also said, “If only old madam’s illness isn’t so serious, we can still ask her for advice, but now….”
“What’s the use of saying these?” Liangchen interrupted. “It’s better to think about how to handle these matters for second young mistress so that people can’t find mistakes.”
Meijing’s face became bitter and said, “Big sister Liangchen, you’re taking it lightly. We were all serving in the inner residence, doing things like fetching and passing things, and reporting back and forth-work. I have never seen how old madam or madam manage the house affairs at all. How do we come up with a solution at this moment?”
Liangchen said again, “Then keep an eye and learn carefully. Quietly pay attention to what the people inside the residence are talking about. If we can know what those people are thinking, second young mistress can handle things more smoothly.”
Shu Huan was sitting at the window at this moment. She was holding a writing brush in her hand and biting the end of the brush, thinking about something. After hearing their dispute, she turned her head and said, “That’s right!”
“What?” Meijing hurriedly moved forward. “What idea did second young mistress come up with?”
Shu Huan shook her head and said, “How can it be so easy? I just remembered Qiaoyun. Who wants to go bring her here?”
“Big sister Qiaoyun?” Meijing frowned and said, “She’s not tight-lipped, what if….”
“It’s all right. You go find her. I’ll just let her inquire about some information. She won’t be used for anything else.” As Shu Huan said that, she also became optimistic. She had so many maids on hand, each one with their own specialties. Naturally, she had to make the best use of them. Otherwise, wouldn’t she be exhausted to death with only her being busy and attempting all tasks at once?
Seriously speaking, she had a carefree character so she didn’t like housekeeping but she knew that it was like a job. If she hadn’t gone through time-travelling, she would have to find a job to support her family after she had graduated from school. This was necessary for survival. There was no saying in whether she liked it or not. Besides, it was clear with the current situation. If she wanted to live a good life, she must fight side by side with Gu Xiran and make herself stronger first, so that she wouldn’t be at the mercy of others and be passive all time.
To create a warm and comfortable environment for the happy life in the future and so that Gu Xiran would no longer have worries, this was what she must do and it was also her duty as a wife. She truly wanted to be lazy, ah! First, she had to understand the situation at home and then groom a few smart and capable maids, so that she could relax in the future with all things under her control.
Thinking until there, she slightly curled her lips up and said with a smile, “After the disaster, many things weren’t brought out. The household register with the names of the servants could also not be found. Shang Xin, I will leave this matter to you. List the household register book with the names of the servants, their date of birth, whether they are married, personality characteristics, what kind of things they are good at, and how much money they get paid every month. All of these things, you have to clearly write it down!”
Shang Xin agreed and then wanted to go out.
Shu Huan shouted to her (SX) and asked, “Where are you going?”
Shang Xin answered, “I’m not familiar with the people of the household, so I’ll go ask them first.”
“Don’t worry, you’re not familiar but Qiaoyun is. When she comes, let her tell us and you write it down.” As Shu Huan said that, she turned to Liangchen again and said with a smile, “Go to second madam. Borrow two account books that you can borrow, and also, it’s best to ask her about the rules of this house. Even though we can’t do it exactly like that but using it as a reference is also good.”
When Liangchen heard her (SH) say so, she (L) was delighted and said, “That’s how it should be! Second madam is nice. We can’t ask madam for advice but asking second madam is the same.”
Shu Huan nodded. She had exactly this in mind. It was just that she was busy at this moment, she didn’t have time to get away. Otherwise, it would be best that she went personally, but fortunately, there would be ample time for that later. In the short term, they would still stay here. When she has the time to pay her a visit, she could go to Chen shi to pay her respect and ask for advice anytime. It would be the same.
As for sending Liangchen at this moment, it was because this maid handled matters steadily, was thoughtful and would never hear things wrongly. As for Meijing, in spite of her sweet talking and cuteness, she was still young. There were some things that she couldn’t see as clear as Liangchen. It was better to send Meijing to do things that weren’t very important such as pay respects to somebody and delivering things.
Liangchen just left, Meijing had already brought Qiaoyun over. After Shu Huan gave the orders, Qiaoyun and Shang Xin carried the writing brush, ink stick, paper and inkstone and went out to register the names of the servants. Afterwards, Shu Huan let Meijing go to Gu Xun’s study to look if there were any notable books of family precepts and rules. If there were, borrow them all.
Without rules, nothing can be done. She wanted to follow the experience of others first and then establish some family rules according to Gu household’s current situation. Of course, there would be a lot of mistakes at first, but she had plenty of time to slowly revise and do additions and deletions later. Afterwards, classified these rules and regulations into books according to the various situations, and list the page numbers of the catalog.
Without rules, nothing can be done: one must follow some rules; nothing can be accomplished without norms or standards.
Someday, as long as one looked through these booklets, everything could be solved in accordance with the rules. Therefore, whether she wanted to be lazy or after these maids got older and got married, it would be extremely convenient when she needed to groom new people again to become familiar with the ways of the affairs of the household.
Laziness could be justified! There was nothing wrong with being lazy!
All inventions and creations of human beings had appeared because of laziness! She would continue to work harder in the future and come up with more simple ways to be lazy!
Shu Huan grinned slightly, pondered for a while and then took the brush to write on the snow-white paper.
Not to mention that she was busy at this end. When Gu Xiran saw Meijing going to the study to look for books, he became curious. He wondered how Shu Huan was going to deal with the problem set by Lin shi but he was also worried. Therefore, as the sky was about to darken, he helped Meijing find the books and then told Gu Xun that he would come over early tomorrow morning to continue to talk about things and look at account book. Afterwards, he went out with Meijing to find Shu Huan.
When they were outside the curtain, Meijing was anxious to lift the curtain to report back to Shu Huan but didn’t think that Gu Xiran pulled her back. He put his index finger on his lips as a gesture for her to be silent. He then stood close behind the curtain and looked quietly through the curtain to the inside.
There were three people inside the room. Shu Huan had her head down and was looking through the account books. Liangchen was pouring tea for her and there was an old maid standing before them, saying something, “Second young mistress, there is no such rule before in the house. This matter, you see, would you like to think about it again? Otherwise, when madam questions about it later, it would be difficult for me as a servant to answer.”
She (old maid) was using madam to pressure people again!
After this old maid finished talking, Liangchen already showed an angry face. It was just that Shu Huan didn’t speak, so she (L) couldn’t reprimand. Gu Xiran wanted to see how Shu Huan was going to deal with it, so he hid outside the curtain and didn’t enter.
He only saw that Shu Huan was still looking down at the account book, making the old maid anxious. After a while, she looked up after she turned to the last page of the account book and looked at the old maid with a smile that was not yet a smile, “You mean that I handled this matter wrongly?”
That old maid hurriedly shook her head. “I’m just a servant, how dare I point out second young mistress’s mistake? It’s just that there is no such rule at home before….”
When she was halfway her speech, Shu Huan’s expression turned cold and scolded “I’m the one managing the household now. I pay you all your monthly salary, then you have to follow my rules! From now on, we’ll only look if it’s right or wrong. Whoever says to me that there is no such rule in the past, then go find the one who gave you those past rules to feed you! All right, just do what I have just told you to do. If there’s nothing else, you can retreat!”
That maidservant hit a snag and knew that second young mistress was hard to fool. She was afraid to speak anymore, so she just agreed and then retreated.