BXBX NOVEL Chapter 244: Grudge (1)
Chapter 244: Grudge (1)
Translator: Iris
“Why didn’t you report such an important thing to me earlier?!” Minglan turned around and asked angrily.
“I did.” Qinsang, a bit scared, said in a low voice, “Before Master left the mansion, he has left everything in the outer yard to Sir Gongsun. Sir Gongsun said that this thing was urgent and then ordered Gu Quan to report to Master first, then to you. However, on that night, Gu Quan came back and said that Master instructed us not to bother you with this because you were busy with something else. Master also told us to send a message to Marquis Ningyuan’s mansion-- ‘It’s a huge event that His Majesty comes to review the army. Second Master Ye is busy with the military affairs and couldn’t leave at the moment. No matter how anxious you people are, we can do nothing about it.’”
Minglan got relieved a bit, thinking, ‘This man still has some conscience that he has left me out of this. These days’ hard work on bed truly is worth it.’
After Minglan get dressed, she already didn’t have time to ask Qinsang more questions. So she followed Gu Tingye out of the door right away. The moment they walked out of two of the festoon doors, they saw Rong standing on the other side of the white stone path on which were beautiful flowers and grass. The girl was pondering with her head lowered while using her feet to rub the ground. The maid beside her kept persuading her to go back to her room.
When Rong saw Gu Tingye and Minglan walking toward her, she dodged them right away and hid herself by the tree. Gu Tingye paused for a second, finding Rong still thin and timid. Then he couldn’t help but frown. He raised his head to look up while saying in a heavy voice, “What are you doing here? If you have time, you should learn to read. Don’t run about outside.”
Seeing Rong shrinking her body with a depressed look, Minglan said tenderly at once, “The sun at this hour is the brightest of the day. You father was only afraid that you would get a sunburn. Right now you father and I have something to do, you should go back to your room. At night, you can come to my room to talk.”
Rong still lowered her head, without saying a word.
With Gu Tingye’s eyebrows knitted even more tightly, he didn’t know what to say. Then he only uttered ‘Yes’ and walked ahead. Minglan turned around to wink at Danju and then followed Gu Tingye immediately.
Danju understood Minglan’s intention. Then she stepped forward to hold Rong’s hand, saying smilingly, “Young Lady Rong, Master and Madam have missed you the whole time when they were in the mountain. They have brought lots of great stuffs for you, such as two palm-size rabbits, a lark that could sing and many delicious fruits...”
As Minglan and Gu Tingye were about to disappear at the crossroad, Rong suddenly raised her head and stared in that direction.
Seeing that, Danju only sighed slightly. Then she squatted down in front of Rong and said in a gentler tone, “Young Lady Rong, Master and Madam needed to handle some important affairs during the last few days. Otherwise they wouldn’t leave you alone in the mansion. Show Master the words you have written these days. After Master sees that you are making progress in reading, he would be very happy...”
Before Danju finished her words, Rong suddenly pushed her away and ran away fleetingly. Danju stood up slowly while sighing, “After all Master is her natural father. She must have missed him. I just don’t know if Rong appreciates what Madam has done for her these days.”
Lvzhi walked to Danju while saying with her lips curled up, “Madam feeds her well, gives her pretty clothes, asks about her condition from time to time and drives away those servants who mistreat her. How considerate! But Rong is even reluctant to call her ‘madam’ for all these days. Actually, Rong is just a...” When saying this, Lvzhi suddenly remembered Minglan’s temper and rules. Then she bit her lips and shut up.
In the meantime when they were talking, Minglan and Gu Tingye were sitting in two sedan chairs in tandem, heading to Marquis Ningyuan’s mansion. As they arrived at the gate, before they got off the sedan chair, Minglan already sensed the cheerless atmosphere in the mansion. Gu Tingye got off the sedan first. Then he said to Minglan in a low voice across the door of the sedan, “Don’t say anything later, just echo my words.” Minglan had been quite worried just now. Gu Tingye’s words were exactly what she hoped to hear, so she agreed right away.
Even when they arrived at the Inner Rite Gate, there were only two servants dressed in normal clothes waiting for them. Mama Xiang was also standing there, stretching out her neck to look for them. Seeing Gu Ting and Minglan arriving, Mama Xiang led them inside right away.
“Second Master Ye, Second Madam, everyone is waiting in the Peaceful Hall. Please follow me.”
Minglan paused for a second and then followed her Second Master Ye into the hall.
As they walked to the inside, they felt this place quite silent without so many people there. There were lots of fallen leaves on the path and many duckweeds floating on the pond, which gave Minglan a bleak and chilly feeling. Gu’s family had existed for several generations. Those servants who had social connections or some savings had already run away or begged their masters for freedom. The rest of the servants were very jittery now because they were afraid that they would be incriminated by their masters. If so, they might be sold or even exiled. As a result, they were not in the mood of cleaning at all.
Minglan got a bit scared. Then she glanced at Gu Tingye’s handsome profile, finding him walking slowly with a calm look.
After they had arrived at the Peaceful Hall, they saw lots of people already sit there. Nearly all the people in Gu Tingye’s generation had come except for Gu Tingyu who was too weak to get up. Old Madam Qin was sitting in the middle, and beside her were Fourth and Fifth Master and their wives. The rest of the men in Gu’s family sat in order according to their ages. Behind the rosewood partition board with flower carvings sat a few women.
Seeing Gu Tingye arriving here, they all stood up and started to greet him.
“Second Brother is here! Now we are saved.”
“Second Brother Ye, you finally come. We don’t need to worry now. We’ll be fine!”
“Second Brother, you have to help us this time. We are depending on you!”
...
It was quite surprising that Gu Tingye didn’t act impatiently at all. Now he was giving obeisance to his brothers with a gentle attitude. As Minglan walked to the partition board, she saw her five sisters-in-law already sitting there. Plus Minglan, there were six women there, every two of them from the same family. The looks on those women’s faces were a bit sullen, however, they didn’t dare to babble and could only wink at each other. Zhu shi seemed to want to say something to Minglan, but at last she still didn’t utter anything with her lips moving a bit.
Madam Xuan was the most collected one. She dragged Minglan over to let the latter sit beside her and said smilingly, “I heard you have gone to the countryside to deal with the affairs in your estates. How’s everything going there?”
“That’s right, I heard those estates of Second Brother Ye are shockingly large. It must be very difficult to manage them. Sister-in-law, if you are short of hands, I have some capable people who could help. They have worked for me for a long time. I know them well.” Second Madam Di said with a smile.
“Thank you both, my sisters-in-law. I rogered your words, Second Sister-In-Law, maybe someday I’ll come to ask some servants from you.” Minglan gave her obeisance smilingly. Second Madam Di also chuckled with satisfaction.
When Old Master Gu divided up the family property, each family had their own share. However, Fifth Old Master mingled with the scholars all the time and Fifth Old Madam regarded herself as an aloof and graceful woman. Therefore, they were both bad at dealing with the family affairs. Besides, Gu Tingyang, their eldest son was a man who had nothing but a nice appearance. As for Madam Yang, she was a very reticent woman. Since those four people in the Fifth Family were all like this, Second Madam Di who was in charge of their family affairs actually had many difficulties managing the family.
Therefore, the First and the Fourth Family both ran their estates and stores a lot better than the Fifth Family. As time went by, the stewards in the Fifth Family didn’t have so many things to do. The profits of the estates and the stores couldn’t meet the needs of the people. Lots of the crews only had low salaries because they didn’t do anything. Even if those stewards never complained about anything, their wives or children were already very discontented. The complaints toward the Fifth Family also gradually spread out.
Minglan happened to lack the manpower right now, so she paid attention to the servants in Gu’s family long ago and asked someone to inquire about those servants sometimes. If there really were some capable ones, she didn’t mind recruiting them. No one in this world would only be loyal to one person. Minglan thought that hiring the servants who had clean backgrounds and were willing to work hard was better than buying servants from outside. After all, she was able to know the family background of those servants from the Gu’s Family.