Nineteen former servants

  The structure of Mingyuelou is very simple, it's a two-story small building with a courtyard. As soon as you enter the gate, there is a square courtyard. The area of the courtyard is not small. In the northwest corner, a section of land was fenced off under a tree, and several cranes were enclosed inside, but now in the severe winter, the cranes have been taken to another place for feeding, leaving only an empty enclosure.

  As soon as Gu Man entered the courtyard, she saw several maids dragging a few large frames, wrapping up the roots of those trees with old quilts. Qi Hua was directing them on the side, and when she saw her coming in, she hastily turned around to shout at Shanhu and Biyu to bring over the warmers, while herself went forward to greet Gu Man, asking if she was cold or not.

  Gu Man let out a sigh of relief, seeing that the trees on both sides of the courtyard had already been wrapped in cotton batting. She smiled and said: "It's not cold, it's not cold, Auntie. So early in the morning, how did you think of doing these things? Didn't you give all the flowers and grasses in this garden to Ma Niang to take care of? Why do you have to worry about it for her?"

  Qī yí yí sighed and complained, "Just saying, the flowers and trees in the garden outside have all been bundled up with cotton batting, but our courtyard is still quiet. How can we expect her to take care of it? This western-style crabapple tree was sent by your maternal grandfather, it's very precious. I haven't even seen it bloom yet, if it freezes to death, what will happen?"

  Gu Man's heart was filled with thoughts as she walked. At this time, the western courtyard's peach blossoms had not yet bloomed, and the tree trunks were bare, with few leaves in sight.

  But Gu Man still remembered the beautiful scene when this western-style peach blossom tree was in full bloom, as if all the clouds and mist had burst into bloom, like a brocade of flowers, so beautiful it was hard to take in. At that time, there were even two cranes penned under the fence, and Mingyue Tower was truly like a divine residence. Unfortunately, such days did not last long, for since his aunt Gu Yun's daughter came to live with him, Mingyue Tower was no longer the same as before.

  Peiyin saw her staring blankly at the western-style peony, and thought she was thinking of those two cranes again, so she advised: "Miss, don't worry, when spring arrives, those two cranes will be sent back, and our courtyard will be lively again."

  Gu Man nodded and was about to speak when he saw the courtyard gate open and several smiling old women walk in.

  The first one was dressed differently from the several women behind her, she was dressed quite dignifiedly, with a silver hairpin on her head and a silver-encased hairpin inserted at an angle. Gu Man recognized her, she was Wu Yin's wife, who was in charge of the gate and managed the cleaning work of the inner courtyard servants. Everyone in the mansion called her Wu Jia.

  At this moment, she was all smiles as she greeted Gu Man and asked about her well-being. She then pointed to a servant girl and said with a smile: "Miss, there should be four rough-serving servant girls in this courtyard originally. Last time, when Ying'er left, one position was vacant. Now, I've finally found a good one, so I'm hurrying to fill the vacancy for you."

  "Thank you, sister-in-law, for your concern." Gu's face still wore a smile as he said to the kneeling woman, "Since sister-in-law has agreed, then let's have her stay. Pei Qiu, have one of the younger maids take this mother away."

  Wu's family saw the prompt response, and his smile deepened again. He turned to the kowtowing woman and said: "Our Ninth Miss has a great errand for Mingyuelou this month. Don't be lazy or sloppy, if I find out, you won't be forgiven!"

  Gu Manming knew she was trying to curry favor with him, but he just smiled and didn't take the bait.

  This is Wu's wife, Mrs. Fan's side room, usually in charge of the rough work and cleaning of the various parts of the Hou Mansion, and also got a lot of benefits.

  She still stood under the eaves watching the people in the yard busy, but inadvertently saw that old woman hunching over and coughing a few times.

  She was taken aback and hastily shouted at the little servant girl who led the way: "Wait!"

  The little girl was taken aback and hastily led the person to a stop, standing respectfully aside without daring to speak.

  Wu's family suddenly heard this sentence and had already stepped out of the yard with one foot, but then brought it back.

  Gu Man ignored everyone's astonishment and asked the old woman, "What is your name?"

  The old woman's body was bent and twisted, her hands shaking as she clutched her bundle, but not a single word could she utter.

  She didn't speak when she saw him, Gu Man suppressed his smile and said in a low voice: "Lift up your head!"

  The old woman raised her head, and her face was still clean. Her hair was all tucked into her headscarf, revealing only a forehead full of wrinkles. If it weren't for the black mole on her lip, this old woman would actually be quite presentable.

  But it was this mole that made Gu Man suddenly forget what he wanted to say.

  She remembered her, and would never forget, was Liu Pozi! The cloud-colored mother beside Gu Yan!

  Madam Qi saw Gu Man just staring off into space, his face a mixture of shock and disgust. She thought that this servant must have done something wrong to Gu Man in the past, so she asked Wu's family: "Where did this servant used to work? Was he born in our household or bought from outside?"

  Old Mrs. Liu saw that Qiaoyi was asking her like this, and she didn't dare to raise her head to look at Man, so she quickly kowtowed again, which made the people around her confused.

  Qī's face was still stern, but Gù Mǎn couldn't help feeling a pang of sadness. Who would have thought that in her previous life, this unassuming old woman had used a laundry mallet to bludgeon Qī to death?

  This woman, who is now so humble and fearful that she cannot even work in this courtyard, was the one who, under the indulgence of Qiu Cangyu's mother and Gu Yan, had beaten Qi Hua'er to death with a stick, her facial expression not changing at all.

  The Wu family's habit of observing words and expressions, seeing Gu Man like this for so long, only frowning and not speaking, still thought that this Liu Po had offended her before, and for a while, it was indeed somewhat difficult. This Liu Po had given herself many benefits in order to come to Mingyue Building to do business, but if this matter failed, these benefits would have to be returned.

  An old man who has lived for two lifetimes, thinking carefully, would certainly understand the cat's trick in between. It must be that Gu Yan wants to plant his own people in his own house.

  It was unexpected that from this moment on, Gu Yan began to fight against himself.

  Thinking of this, the fire in her heart burned brighter and brighter. Come on, Gu Yan, bring out all your tricks, let's see who's tougher, you or me!

  She raised her hand to stop Qiu Mama from saying that she wanted to return this servant, and smiled at the Wu family: "Anyway, it's just a servant who does cleaning in this courtyard, and it's not necessary to be overly demanding about being born into the household. Let's just leave it like this, Mingyuelou will take this servant."

  The Wu family and Liu Pozi both involuntarily let out a sigh of relief, and felt that this Ninth Girl had a somewhat strange temper, but thinking about it, she was just an eight-year-old little girl, choosing people was just based on intuition, so they didn't take it to heart.

  Qiao's maid looked at the old woman with a thoughtful expression and helped Gu Man take off his gloves.

  Gu Man saw Wu's family still standing in the courtyard and smiled: "It's freezing outside, sister-in-law, why don't you stay for a cup of tea before leaving?"

  The Wu family was shocked and hurriedly refused with a smile, saying that there were still things to attend to, and then took the remaining women out of the door.

  I see that you are very... ( translation ends abruptly due to incomplete or nonsensical input )