Chapter 40 The old lady will be disappointed

“Oh,” Madam Gu Liu’s face became even uglier, and she put down the beads in her hand heavily. Her daughter stood aside with a pout, saying, “Mother, your beads are not pretty, not as pretty as my sister’s.”

The sister she was talking about was born to Aunt Huang.

Aunt Huang was from Suzhou and Hangzhou. She was clever and skillful, and she often made small things to please the children.

This was like adding fuel to the fire. Madam Gu Liu became even more annoyed and scolded her harshly, “You think your mother is not doing a good job? Go find someone who knows how to do it.”

My daughter pouted her lips and was about to cry.

Master Gu Liu opened his eyes unhappily and said angrily, “I have been restless all day.”

He waved his hand and called his daughter over to him: “Don’t mess with your mother, she got bit by a firecracker.”

Mother Cai heard it clearly from outside and guessed why Madam Gu Liu was in a bad mood, but she had no choice but to wait.

You can only go to Curry to get things if you have a note.

The old lady was in high spirits, and everything was related to Wutong Garden, so of course she had to get it done quickly.

After waiting for a long time, the maid came out and let her in.

Madam Gu Liu had an unhappy look on her face, but she didn’t say no. She just wrote a random note and went into the inner room.

Mother Cai took the note and tried to move something, but couldn’t.

The warehouse said that the style of the note was wrong, as the style had just been changed in the mansion and Madam Gu Liu might have forgotten about it, so they asked her to go back and open a new one.

Mother Cai ran back and forth under the sun, and accumulated a lot of resentment, but she had no choice but to bear it.

This time, Mrs. Gu Liu was busy with something and was too busy to pay attention to her.

Mother Cai was so anxious that tears welled up in her eyes.

It’s really a fight between gods and devils.

After a long while, Mrs. Gu Liu finally let her in. She looked gloomy and snorted coldly, “Mother Cai was so quick to repair the small kitchen. I asked you to rebuild the screen wall, but you kept dragging your feet.”

Madam Cai’s heart skipped a beat and she said, “Sixth Madam, it’s not that I don’t want to do anything. The reconstruction of the screen wall requires the foundation stone to be moved. The money given by the mansion for purchasing is not enough, so we can’t start the work. I have already reported this to Sixth Madam. The mansion can pay for these things used in the small kitchen, so it will be faster.”

“Alright, alright, you guys are not good at doing things on a daily basis, but you talk in one way and when you try to curry favor with others, you can do anything.”

Mrs. Gu Liu hastily wrote a note and threw it in her direction. Before Mother Cai could catch it, it fell to the ground.

Mrs. Cai held her breath, picked up the note from the ground, checked it carefully again, and said, “Sixth Madam, the number of bricks and tiles is a little less, I’m afraid it’s not enough.”

Madam Gu Liu snorted with a gloomy face, and said, “Do you think I don’t know? Isn’t it usually this number?”

Mother Cai said, “There has never been a stove in Wutong Garden before. If we want to open a small kitchen, we not only need to separate it, but also build a chimney and flue.”

Madam Gu Liu said impatiently, “You can use it first, and come back if it’s not enough.”

Madam Cai did not move and said, “Why didn’t Sixth Madam let me spend it first, and then return it to the mansion if there is any left? I don’t have the money to embezzle these bricks and tiles.”

Madam Gu Liu was about to lose her temper.

The nanny came over and coughed, saying, “Sixth Madam is not afraid that you will embezzle money, she is just worried that you will waste too much. Madam Cai is an elder in the mansion and she knows how to do things in moderation. How could Sixth Madam not know that?”

Then he winked at Madam Gu Liu and said, “Madam Liu, the materials used to rebuild a small kitchen and to renovate a small kitchen are different. Madam Cai didn’t charge more.”

“Oh, oh,” Madam Gu Liu followed Madam Madam’s instructions and opened a new note. Madam Cai took it, thanked her again and again, and left. “Why is that?”

Mrs. Gu Liu asked in confusion.

The nanny said, “Sixth Master said that her husband is employed by the Marquis outside, so there is no need to offend her for such a small matter. I think you have almost let out your anger. If you irritate her and she makes a scene, it will not look good.”

The servants in the mansion are all family-born children. Their ancestors had followed the old marquis through life and death, so they are quite respectable. If they make a fuss, she will not look good.

Madam Gu Liu was silent for a moment, then asked, “Where is Master Liu?”

“He went to Wutong Garden to look for the Marquis,” the nanny said, “Sixth Master said he wanted to do business with the Marquis and the Third Madam.”

“Oh,” Madam Gu Liu rolled her eyes in disdain, “What kind of business can he have? He spends his days reciting poems with those literati, or he invites a group of prostitutes to go boating on the lake together.”

The nanny smiled and said, “Speaking of pepper, isn’t Third Madam going to spend money to stock up on pepper? Sixth Master remembered that he heard someone say a few days ago that he had a batch of pepper, and he was looking for a buyer.”

Mr. Gu Liu is trying to find an excuse to sell himself to the Marquis.

Madam Gu Liu couldn’t help but laugh and said, “Shopkeeper Leng said that the deal couldn’t be done, but the old lady and the marquis doted on her. I think the money will really go down the drain.”

The personal nanny said, “The Third Madam is good at currying favor, but if she fails this time, the old lady will be even less confident in letting her run the household.”

Madam Gu Liu’s expression immediately became much better. She said, “Wait for Master Liu to come back and warm up a bottle of wine for him. We will have a good chat.”

Wutong Court.

Qin Yuan came back from the upper room and went to take a nap.

Gu Jinghui called Gu Shiliu to apply medicine to him and asked him questions.

“Madam, have you been troubled by those shopkeepers?”

Gu Shiliu looked at the wound on the marquis’ buttocks with distress. While applying medicine, he said, “The master hasn’t fully recovered yet. He has been sitting for so long. He needs to rest for a few more days.”

“Nothing,” Gu Jinghui said without caring, and asked again: “You followed Madam today, what do you think of those shopkeepers?”

Gu Shiliu said, “They are all old shopkeepers who treat people differently based on their status. However, Madam is very capable and has made them obedient. She doesn’t need my help at all.”

“Tell me, how did she clean it up?” Gu Jinghui became interested.

His little wife coaxed his mother so much that she even put her son behind, and she was also able to control a group of slick old shopkeepers so well that even Gu Shiliu said she was very capable and amazing.

He was very curious.

But Gu Shiliu didn’t see it at all, so he couldn’t make it up.

Gu Shiliu rolled his eyes and said, “Madam sent me to buy cakes for the Marquis. From the way Madam spoke, it seemed that she knew that there were many people lining up at Meixiangzhai and was afraid that they would not be able to buy the lotus cakes, so she sent me to do it.”

“When I came back, those shopkeepers were all submissive and respectful to Madam. I could tell they were not pretending.”

Gu Jinghui really didn’t blame him, and said with a smile: “Madam specifically asked you to buy me lotus cakes, and she was afraid that you couldn’t buy them?”

Gu Shiliu nodded heavily and said seriously, “Yes, Madam said long ago that the Marquis likes to eat the hibiscus cake from Meixiangzhai. When we arrived, Madam looked at the account book and asked me to buy cakes. She said I could buy anything else, but the hibiscus cake and the cakes that the old lady likes must be there. When I came back, Madam said that she thought the queue at Meixiangzhai would be very long.”

Gu Jinghui smiled and said, “Madam still cares about me.”

(End of this chapter)