<h4>Chapter 330: Enlightened by an Experienced Woman (III)</h4>
Trantor: Ning LL
Minn nodded and drew a line on the paper while saying in a clear voice, “Since then, these expenses could be wiped out from the beginning of this year… I should add the expense for Eldest Brother’s funeral and Seventh Sister’s wedding… That’s all. Third Sister-inw has recently hired a wet nurse and a servant… Rong and Xian both grew up. They need more clever maids in their rooms. That’s another expense…” Every time she said about an expense, the servants would respond to her.
Peng Shou’s wife listened to Minn for a long while. Then she asked gently with an intention, “Madam, since the two Old Masters both moved away, now we are fully staffed. Maybe we shouldn’t spend too many silvers on hiring other people to demolish and build the walls. Why don’t we let our own servants take charge of some of the construction works? First, we can save some money. Second, the servants who don’t have anything to do now would have some ie too.” Work brough ie as well as extra profits. If the servants do nothing, they could enjoy a peaceful life indeed, but also had to live in poverty too.
Minn raised her eyebrows, “Oh, can any of our servants do the mason’s job?”
Peng Shou’s wife, embarrassed, said, “Well, eh… no, but I think the job wouldn’t be that hard, it’s just…”
“Nonsense!” Minn reproached her, “The construction project is a big matter. We either don’t do it or do it nice. Also, the walls are very important in the construction work and have to be firm and thick. The mason group we have invited is already the best in the capital, but Master still couldn’t fully trust their skills. You are an experienced servant in our family, how can you say something so unreasonable?!”
Peng Shou’s wife, with a frustrated look on her face, admitted her fault continuously and didn’t dare to say a work.
Another square-faced servant nced at Peng Shou’s wife with a sarcastic look on her face and stepped forward, “Madam, I have a suggestion. In early spring, the masons worked with three shifts a day. The three meals and the snacks we provided for them are of a great amount. My old sisters in the Cheng Manor already got super busy making meals for them. Maybe we should…”
Minn didn’t say a word with her eyebrows knitted, seeming to be thinking of the practicality of that proposal.
That servant observed the look on Minn’s face secretly and continued in a hurry, “We worked in the kitchen before. In the old days, all the masters and madams live in our mansion, so there were also lots of servants working in the kitchen. Though the two Old Masters had brought a few cooks with them when they left, lots of us were left unupied. We do nothing every day but still get paid, that truly makes us nervous.”
Minn nodded without giving an opinion. Actually, the Cheng Manor was understaffed indeed. There were enough servants to serve the masters and madams, but Minn did feel short of hands when she tried to organize some activities. That had bothered her for quite a while.
“But someone has already taken charge of this…” Purchasing was a profitable post.
Seeing that Minn was a bit convinced, that servant added at once, “Madam, there’s no need to be bothered about this. We will only assist our sisters and not dare to get involved with other stuffs.”
Minn stared at the servant for a while, “Wouldn’t the job be too tough for you? Those masons have to eat before dawn. You have to walk over in the middle of the night. Or… do you have any other solution about this?”
The servant understood Minn’s hint right away and raised her head surprisedly, “Well… Madam, if you trust us, we can collect our wages every three days and prepare for the meals in the empty kitchen here. Then we can bring the meals to the masons in time just like our old sisters. The two construction sites are not far away from our ce and all the kitchen wares are avable. Madam, what do you say?...”
Minn nodded and waved her hands softly, “Fine. We’ll do it this way.”
The servant knelt down and expressed her thanks at once while kept saying, “Madam, you are so kind and capable.” Seeing that, the other servants all got jealous.
“You are Fan An’s wife, right? You can go find Liao Yong’s wife when you go back and ask her to advance you the money this afternoon. Tomorrow you can start working. Will it be on time? Great, then it’s settled.”
Fan An’s wife kowtowed to Minn ceaselessly. Minn then said with a smile, “I still have to warn you first. Since you decided to work for me, you have to do things ording to my code. If the meals aren’t good enough or you arete at work, I won’t pardon you easily.”
Fan An’s wife raised her head and said loudly, “If I don’t do my jobs well, you can do whatever you can do to me, Madam!”
Minn couldn’t help but burst intoughter. The maids in the room also tittered.
Some of the servants who had worked in the kitchen and a few housemaids had been left here by the Fourth and Fifth family. Old Madam Qin and Zhu shi also didn’t want them. As a result, those servants and maids had their hands free all day. Minn had nned to expel them before. They hadn’t been put into any important positions before and didn’t have the chance to make any achievement in their career in the future. Minn then decided to give them a try. Later, she would check those servant’s file.
“Madam…” A servant who worked with the ounts asked, “Then, what about the ounts?”
“The construction work hasn’t been done yet. We’ll continue to deal with the ounts separately. You guys only need to take care of the ounts of Old Madam Qin, my Eldest Sister-inw, my Third Sister-inw and the wages of the servants, but you need to report ounts to me. Let me tell you the rules. You’ll go to Steward Hao to collect wages every month. Then you can record all the ounts on the booklets… I don’t need to teach you all of this. The past is the past, now we shouldn’t follow the ancestor’s established customs of the spending of the madams and the servants.”
The servant got shocked as she heard that while thinking, ‘You have the control of all the money and I am no difference than an ornament as an ountant. It will all depend on you if I can have the money to dispose or not.’ “Then… what if there’s an emergency and I don’t have enough money at disposal?”
Minn chuckled, “Mama, you are so funny. Everyone knows that the money you can dispose is limited, it’s not like they will kill you if you can’t give the money. If anyone needs money for an emergency, tell him or her to go to the ountant at my ce and draw money from here! The money that you govern now is for specific uses. Do not use the food money to buy make-ups!” The servant understood Minn’s words while praising Minn’s capability inwardly.
Shao shi was a sensible woman. Zhu shi was a proud person. As for Old Madam Qin… She wouldn’t be so shameful to travel so far to ask for money to buy the antique vase or gem head-ornaments. Gu Tingwei’s mother and wife both had lots of savings, so he wouldn’t ask for money to purchase the birds or horses. Actually, even if Old Madam Qin and Gu Tingwei squandered the money, Minn still had a solution for that. She would ask the ountant in Cheng Manor to record every purchase they made. Then, on the day when the family property was divided, Minn could show all the numbers on the ount. The things the mother and son had bought with the family’s money shouldn’t be considered as their private property and should be divided by all the family members.
“What if any master of madam is incensed…?” The servant still seemed a bit worried.
Minn interrupted her resolutely and said slowly, “I am the one who asked you to take care of the ounts. You only need to make sure that I won’t be mad at you.”
The servant was finally enlightened and got a clear head. ‘First, this new madam looks gentle. It’s very likely that she wouldn’t go after the former ounts and only wants me to do a great job from now on. Second, she is my madam now. If I don’t make her satisfied, I will lose my job.’
Minn blew the white fungus soup in her hand slowly while ncing at the looks on the servants’ faces.
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