The sun in April is not scorching, but the noon sun is still a little unbearable.

Jade Qilin and Jiang Xiaoxuan sat at the stone table in the pavilion in the center of the lake, taking advantage of the coolness of the lake water to discuss the birthday banquet.

Jiang Xiaoxuan took out a piece of paper and gave it to Yu Qilin: "I read the menu of Mrs. Jin's birthday banquet last year, and this is a new menu that I adjusted on the basis of last year. Most of last year's dishes are retained, and a few flavors of Jiangnan are added. A large part of this year's guests are officials from the South, and I guess the dishes will suit their tastes. ”

The jade qilin took it with a smile: "You are really a female Zhuge Liang." After a while, we took the menu to my mother and let her decide the last. ”

At this time, several servants came over, "Say hello to the young lady, what are the instructions for the young lady to pass us over?" ”

The jade unicorn put on a young grandmother's posture: "I came to you for the old lady's birthday banquet, and I need your help." ”

"Young lady is polite, how dare we be."

The Jade Qilin looked at a few people and asked, "Which of you is in charge of the treasury?" ”

An old man dressed in dark gray short brown stepped forward: "The villain Li Fu is responsible for taking care of the warehouse." ”

"You go back and find someone to count the decorations and decorations used for the old lady's birthday banquet last year, and see how many can be reused this year, and how many have been damaged and need to be repurchased. I've made a list of them. ”

"Mrs. Hui, there are too many items, it is a little difficult to count, and there are not enough people."

Jade Qilin frowned: "When the items are put into storage, they should be inventoried, and I just ask you to find someone to check it now." What's so hard about that? ”

"Young lady Hui, according to the past practice, the old lady's birthday is all purchased new."

The jade unicorn was a little unhappy. pretended to be angry and scolded: "Are you in charge or am I in charge?" ”

"Naturally, the young lady is in charge, and I just report the routine to you." Although Li Fu said this, he obviously didn't put the jade qilin in his eyes, and his attitude was not necessarily groveling.

The jade qilin looked at him deeply: "Since I am in charge, I will do what I say." Who is responsible for procurement? ”

Immediately, there was a man wearing a dark green gown. The man with two mustaches stood up: "Mrs. Hui, the villain Zhang Cheng, is in charge of procurement." ”

The jade unicorn handed him the list of prepared items in his hand: "The items on the list." You go to the purchase, go to the account office to pay a thousand taels of silver, I calculated it with Xue'er, it should be more than enough. ”

Zhang Cheng glanced at the list. smiled: "The young lady is talking about the price of goods in Nanjing, right?" Prices in the capital are very high. A thousand taels of silver can't buy anything decent. ”

As soon as she heard this, the jade qilin became angry, and she was about to get angry, but Jiang Xiaoxuan pulled her sleeve.

Then, Jiang Xiaoxuan's tone changed, and she said softly to those people: "You go back first, I have something to discuss with the young lady, and I will come back to you another day." ”

Several of the servants agreed and withdrew.

"I'm. Obviously, they are secretly playing tricks, and they dare to squeeze me. The jade unicorn slapped the list on the stone table. But it hurt to shoot his hand.

Jiang Xiaoxuan shook her head: "Have you seen the face of this kind of servant in the mansion?" ”

"Alas......" Yu Qilin sighed: "It's really a headache, forget it, it's noon, don't think about it, I'll go back and sleep for a while!" ”

After saying that, he strode towards the pine and bamboo garden.

Back in the new house, the jade unicorn directly ignored the gold ingot, fell directly on the bed, and lay on it in large characters.

Seeing her tired appearance, Jin Yuan couldn't help but feel a little distressed: "If you don't have this King Kong, don't do porcelain work, look at you are so tired." ”

"Don't be noisy, I'm tired now, let me sleep for a while." The jade unicorn was dissatisfied.

"Hey!" Jin Yuan Bao called out to her, "I kindly ask you, what are you ......?" However, he immediately found that the person lying on the bed was motionless.

The gold ingot walked over and nudged her gently.

The jade qilin opened his hand in a daze: "Don't make noise, sleep ......"

The gold ingots cried and laughed: "I fell asleep so quickly." ”

Looking at her sleeping face frowning slightly, Jin Yuan only felt that there was a place in his heart, as if something was missing, a little empty, a little painful, for the first time, he felt a little regret about what he had done.

"It seems that you are indeed tired enough during this time." Jin Yuan sat quietly for a while, helped her cover the quilt, and tucked the corners of the quilt. Then I walked to the desk, spread the paper, grinded, and picked up a pen to write on the paper.

Half an hour later, the jade unicorn woke up with a big yawn, and when he opened his eyes, he found that the gold ingots were sitting on the edge of the bed looking at him with a very strange expression.

The jade qilin nervously covered his chest with his hands: "Why are you looking at me like this." ”

The gold ingots with a tender face, I didn't expect her to make such an action, and in an instant, all the tenderness turned into contempt: "I'm not a wolf, can I eat you?" ”

The jade qilin looked at him vigilantly, and his sharp eyes found something in his hand, "What are you holding in your hand?" ”

"Purchase order."

"Purchase order?"

The gold ingot smiled proudly: "This is written on the items that need to be prepared for the birthday banquet, and the price of each item is marked on the back and where you can buy it at a good price." If you know a little bit about that, you can also prevent people from taking kickbacks. There is also a specific method for organizing a birthday banquet below, as long as you follow what is written above, I guarantee that you can use 20,000 taels of silver to hold a sound and impressive birthday banquet. ”

This guy, why is he so kind? The Jade Qilin looked at him dumbfounded.

The gold ingots smiled slightly, and stretched out the purchase order to the jade unicorn.

Yu Qilin was stunned to pick it up, but unexpectedly, he suddenly withdrew his hand, and then showed a wicked smile: "Please me." ”

I just know that this product is not so kind! The jade unicorn was indignant. Seeing his villain's ambition and lack of ambition again, the jade unicorn was even more angry.

"Pigs beg you! I don't want it. ”

Jin Yuan raised his eyebrows: "You have to think about it, with this list, you just need to do it according to the list." ”

The jade unicorn flipped up: "Don't think it's a slap." I'll thank you for another sweet date. You want me to beg you, no way! I could have done it myself without your help! ”

What the? What does this stinky girl think?! The gold ingots were very unhappy and said, "You were kicked in the head by a donkey, right?" You see clearly. I'm here to help you, don't be ignorant of good people. ”

Jade Qilin raised his head: "Xie Lu Xie, I don't need it." With that, he looked in the mirror, wiped the corners of his eyes, and walked out quickly.

"I don't know what to do!"

The voice of the gold ingots came from the house.

"I didn't know them in the first place!" The jade unicorn then replied. However, I just walked out of the pine and bamboo garden. Her confident and high-headed appearance immediately dissipated.

She drooped her head listlessly. It's like a frosted eggplant, and I want to cry without tears.

"Gold ingots, you bastard, no. You bastard. If it falls into my hands next time, I won't kill you, aunt! ”

The jade unicorn was in a depressed mood, and even the flowers blooming in the garden were not pleasing to the eye, only feeling that the delicate flowers were like the despicable and shameless smiling face of the gold ingot, when even if he walked up angrily, ripped off a flower, and gritted his teeth and tore the petals on his hands.

"Stinky gold ingots. You pushed me into the fire pit, and now you're here to pretend to be a good man. And let me beg you, daydreaming! ”

"Young lady."

The sudden voice behind her head startled her, and the jade qilin hurriedly turned around, "Huh? Cousin......"

Liu Wenzhao looked at the broken flower in her hand and asked gently, "It's awkward with Yuanbao again." ”

The jade qilin threw away the flower in frustration: "Don't mention it, I get angry when I think of him now!" He knew that he was bullying me in one day, so he had to make a birthday banquet for me to organize. ”

Seeing her distressed appearance, I don't know what Lu Dao is for, Liu Wenzhao is also a little uncomfortable in his heart. He took a step towards her and gently comforted: "I also felt at a loss when I celebrated my aunt's birthday for the first time, you can tell me if you have any difficulties, I may be able to help." ”

"Cousin, I heard that you were punished for kneeling in the ancestral hall for three days for the first birthday banquet, and you thought about it behind closed doors for a month, what mistake did you make?" The jade unicorn is scheming, and he just exposed it in front of others.

Liu Wenzhao was embarrassed for a moment, and his face changed, but then he found that her eyes were clear, and she didn't seem to be making fun of him, so she put her mind at ease and pretended to be casual and said: "I was young at the time, inexperienced, and I didn't think about it for a while, and the reception staff was not allocated well, which made a distinguished guest dissatisfied. ”

"What?" Yu Qilin hugged unevenly: "There are so many guests, it's normal to make a little mistake, it's not your fault, obviously you worry the most and contribute the most, but you are punished the most!" If it is replaced with ingots, not to mention provoking the dissatisfaction of one nobleman, it is to disfavor ten nobles, and the mother will definitely be reluctant to punish so much! ”

Unexpectedly, the first person to comfort herself about that incident would be her...... That incident was a shame buried in his heart, and others couldn't mention it, but Liu Wenzhao himself didn't expect that after hearing Yu Qilin's words, he wasn't angry at all, and even a little moved.

"My aunt is also afraid that I will not succeed, and she wants to urge me to learn well!"

Thinking of the hard days before he was adopted by his adoptive mother, Yu Qilin also nodded, and said: "Although they are relatives, but my aunt is my aunt after all, my cousin lost his parents at a young age, and he had to take care of his young and ignorant sister. ”

My heart trembled...... Liu Wenzhao didn't expect that the sadness and pain she had endured for so many years would be said by her. It's been more than 20 years, and it's not that no one has cared for him. However, no one has ever stood in his perspective and really thought about him......

He was always able to speak well, but he couldn't say anything more, and the decent smile on his face disappeared, and his expression was a little sour.

Seeing that his face changed slightly, Jade Qilin's sympathy overflowed, and he said softly: "No matter how hard it is, it has already survived, and it will only get better in the future." After that, he patted him on the shoulder comfortingly.

Why, instead of her, she came to comfort herself? Liu Wenzhao smiled, looked at her gently, and said, "Yes, it will definitely get better and better!" ”

Hearing this, the jade qilin took a deep breath, cheered up, and smiled even brighter: "My cousin is very capable now, and the previous birthday banquets were all very good!" This time, my cousin must help me! After that, I remembered the faces and mouths of those servants and the attitude of the gold ingots just now. His face was sad and angry: "You don't know that those subordinates bullied me and didn't understand the situation in the house, so they didn't listen to me at all, but showed me a face." ”

"Is there such a thing?" Liu Wenzhao frowned: "That's it." I'll send a hundred servants at your disposal later, and I'll be in charge of the preparations for the birthday feast. ”

The jade qilin immediately jumped up: "Cousin, you are really my savior!" ”

Seeing her happy smile, Liu Wenzhao felt extremely comfortable: "If the young lady is in need, just tell me, I will do my best!" ”

Jade Qilin thought for a moment and asked, "Is there anything else to pay attention to?" ”

Liu Wenzhao looked at her, then raised his head and looked at the sky. The most embarrassed wanted to make up her mind to glance at her, and suddenly lowered her head and looked at her in a daze. Said slowly: "The golden mansion tree has deep roots, and some unwritten rules have long been formed, such as organizing a banquet every time. People will find ways to get oil and water out of it. Get a kickback. The budget for organizing the birthday banquet this time is only 20,000 taels, so you must be careful in your calculations. If you can reduce the chances of getting kickbacks, you can save a lot of money in the budget. In fact, there are traces of people taking rebates, I will go back and write down the places that are prone to problems for you, and you can check according to the list. ”

"I see...... Yu Qilin looked at Liu Wenzhao, his eyes were gentle like water, and two small round dimples floated on his cheeks, looking so kind and sweet: "Cousin." Thank you so much. ”

Liu Wenzhao was stunned for a while, and after a while. Only then did he smile slightly and replied: "If you have any questions in the future, you can come to me, and I will definitely try my best to help." ”

"Then it's going to trouble my cousin."

Soon after the two separated, Liu Wenzhao gathered a hundred servants to gather at the martial arts training ground in the Jin Mansion.

The servants were scattered, and they came unhurriedly.

The jade qilin stood on the high platform of the martial arts training ground from afar and watched coldly, those servants, all with lazy expressions and unhurried steps.

When the last servant arrived unhurriedly, Liu Wenzhao suddenly came out of the shadows and said coldly: "Today, the young lady summoned everyone here to see your state. If you look at your appearance, lazy, negative, unhurried, is this the state that you should be in today's life? The last person to arrive just now stood up. ”

But the family hesitated and refused to come out.

Liu Wenzhao looked at him with burning eyes: "Don't let me say it a third time, the last person to arrive, stand up." ”

Xu was intimidated by his fierce momentum, and the man stood up from the crowd helplessly.

"You will be fined two months' wages, and you will be given ten boards as a small punishment. In the future, if someone reoffends, the punishment is doubled. ”

"Steward Liu...... "That family asked for mercy.

"Say one more word, play ten more boards!" Liu Wenzhao said angrily, "Drag it down!" ”

When even two guards came up and dragged the wailing family away.

"From today onwards, one hundred of you will stop what you are doing and be at the disposal of the young lady to organize the old lady's birthday banquet. You must obey the command of the young lady and work together to do everything that the young lady explains. You all know the importance of the old lady's birthday feast. So you all put away those slave bullying tricks for me, don't bully the young lady's first housekeeper, I will always keep an eye on you. If I find that you are not doing things well, you are passive and slacking off, lazy and slippery, and disobeying the command of the young lady, you will be severely punished, and you will never be tolerated. Do you understand everything? ”

When the servants heard this, where did they dare to be disobedient, and when they all replied loudly: "I understand." ”

Liu Wenzhao nodded in satisfaction, and then looked at the jade qilin.

The jade unicorn smiled gratefully.

Liu Wenzhao replied with a sincere smile.

The next morning, the sky was just dawning, and the gold ingots were still asleep, but there was a neat and high-pitched slogan outside.

"Strengthen your body, defend the Golden Mansion, work hard, and earn money to support your family!"

It's noisy! The gold ingots covered his head with the quilt dissatisfied, but the voice still came in endlessly. The gold ingots were helpless, shook the quilt, sat up, and shouted loudly before they opened their eyes: "Ah Fu, Ah Fu!" What's going on out there! ”

Ah Fu hurriedly trotted in from outside the door.

"Young Master, is the young lady training people outside?"

"Training?" Jin Yuan Bao opened his eyes with difficulty: "What is this stinky girl doing?" After sitting for a while, Jin Yuan finally woke up, lifted the quilt and got out of bed and said, "Let's go, go out and have a look." ”

Ah Fu hurriedly went over to serve him to get dressed.

The gold ingots walked out of the new house with their clothes on. I saw the jade unicorn wearing the same outfit as the chief nurse, with all his hair tied up behind his head and tied into a neat ponytail, standing in front of the rows of servants. Valiant.

At this time, Liu Wenzhao also came from the other side, standing in the distance to watch the jade qilin training the servants.

What a dress up this! Jin Yuan frowned dissatisfiedly and asked, "What are you doing here?" ”

"You can see it when you look at it." The jade qilin looked back and smiled, and then said sharply to the group of servants: "Everyone stand up, assemble, and stand upright." ”

The servants hurriedly gathered together. Stand in a line.

However, it is crooked and crooked!

The jade unicorn glanced at it. picked the most conspicuous angry and said: "The fifth person from the bottom of the third row on the left, you stand for me." ”

"Young lady, you woke us up so early, and we didn't even wake up."

And the servants listened. He immediately chimed in: "Yes." Young lady, what do you want us to do? ”

Jin Yuan Bao and Liu Wenzhao also looked at her curiously, waiting to see what she was going to do.

The jade unicorn took a step towards the servants with his hands behind his back: "From today onwards, everyone will gather in the square at three o'clock every day and exercise for half an hour in the morning. If you don't come to train or are late, you will practice for half an hour. ”

The crowd began to talk to each other.

"Don't talk during morning exercises, don't train seriously. I also have to practice for half an hour. ”

The crowd immediately ceased to talk.

The jade unicorn walked in front of them with square steps: "The plan of the day lies in the morning, and morning exercise can not only make people clear-headed. It can also strengthen the body. Therefore, during my housekeeping, I must exercise in the morning every morning, and I will also accompany you to train together, and you must know that I will be with you, share weal and woe, and advance and retreat together. ”

Although the fighting spirit of the jade unicorn was high, the servants were still not highly motivated, and some were even drowsy.

Seeing this, Liu Wenzhao stepped forward with a slight smile, and said softly to the jade unicorn: "Young lady, I will exercise with you in the morning in the future." ”

"Yes, welcome." The jade unicorn was too late to be happy.

So, Liu Wenzhao stepped forward and stood at the end of the first row.

All the servants cheered up because of Liu Wenzhao's joining, and they didn't dare to make a mistake, and they held their heads high one by one.

Seeing that Liu Wenzhao stepped forward to help the jade qilin and train with the servants, Jin Yuanbao was also extremely unhappy and wanted to step forward, but he couldn't pull it down, and the foot that had just taken half a step retreated.

Seeing this, Ah Fu persuaded in a low voice: "Young master, you can go if you want to." ”

"Shut up!" The gold ingots glared at Ah Fu, thought about it, and stood aside silently to watch.

After the servants finished running the circle, the jade unicorn taught everyone to practice push-ups, and personally corrected the posture of the subordinates, and the hands inevitably patted and patted the subordinates, "Ass, put it down!" ”

Jin Yuan Bao looked angry on the side, gritted his teeth and whispered: "Stinky girl, I don't know what it means to be a man and a woman to kiss or not?" ”

Seeing this, Liu Wenzhao on the side also relaxed a little,

The jade qilin looked around, and sure enough, he walked to his side, pinched his arm, and touched his waist again: "Cousin, not only must you use your arms hard, but you can't relax your stomach, by the way, that's it." Then he happily said to everyone: "You see, what Steward Liu does is the most standard, everyone should learn from him." ”

After doing a hundred push-ups, Liu Wenzhao took the lead in standing up.

The Jade Qilin knew that everything he did was to help her, and immediately ordered the servant to bring a bowl of water, personally handed the water to Liu Wenzhao, and smiled softly and brightly: "Cousin has worked hard!" ”

Liu Wenzhao took it with a smile and drank it all.

Seeing the appearance of these two people's concubines, Jin Yuan couldn't bear it anymore and rushed forward.

"Isn't it just a move, what's so difficult?"

The jade unicorn raised his eyebrows, with a provocative expression: "What?" Do you want to try it too? ”

Jin Yuan Bao looked directly at her and pointed at Liu Wenzhao: "What's the point of just making movements, I want to do more with him!" ”

"Yuanbao, forget it, it's actually quite difficult." Liu Wenzhao was a smiling general.

Jin Yuanbao's brain was hot, and he was really fooled: "Less nonsense!" I say it's comparative. ”

With that, he immediately lay down on the ground and got ready.

Seeing this, Liu Wenzhao also shook his head helplessly, sighed, handed the bowl in his hand to Yu Ruyi, and also fell down.

When the two of them put on a posture, the jade unicorn gave an order, and the two of them immediately rose one after another, and they did not show weakness.

The people had a lively look, and when they gathered around, shouting and cheering on the side, the scene was very lively.

The speed of the gold ingots was very fast at first, but soon the physical strength was insufficient and the movements slowed down. Liu Wenzhao has always maintained a constant speed.

A subordinate Liu Wenzhao: "Thirty-five, thirty-six......"

The other is responsible for counting gold ingots: "Thirty-three...... Thirty-four ......"

The jade qilin squatted down and said with a smile: "Gold ingot, why are you doing it slower and slower, can you do it in the end?" ”

Hearing this, Jin Yuan Bao frowned, and suddenly made a few fierce moves, surpassing Liu Wenzhao in one fell swoop, and then suddenly shouted: "Stop!" It's time! ”

"What?" The jade unicorn looked at the gold ingots in surprise.

Jin Yuan stood up, barely calmed his breath, and gasped: "I made thirty-nine, Wen Zhao made thirty-six, and I won." ”

What the? The jade qilin was stunned for a moment, and then reacted, "Gold ingots!" You deceive! ”

Jin Yuan patted the ash on his hand, and said as a matter of course: "There is no time set, do you want to keep doing it?" It's time to end when it's time, it's because you haven't thought it through. ”

Liu Wenzhao also got up slowly, and said calmly: "It's true that we didn't take it into account, this time it was Yuanbao who won." ”

Jin Yuan Bao glared at him: "I don't have a brain, and I think others are too smart!" Ah Fu, let's go! ”

"You!" Jade unicorn qi knot.

Watching Jin Yuan Bao and Ah Fu swagger away, the jade qilin said to Liu Wenzhao very unfairly: "Cousin, your heart is too soft!" It's clear that he's cheating. ”

Liu Wenzhao smiled indifferently: "Yuanbao is my younger brother, and I should let him do something." ”

Hearing him say this, Jade Qilin's face couldn't help but soften: "Isn't it too much of a loss for you to do this?" ”

Liu Wenzhao looked at the back of the gold ingot, and said in a voice that only he could hear: "That's not necessarily. ”

The Jin family's account room is not set up next to the treasury like other people's homes, but on the edge of Mrs. Jin's Furong Courtyard, in order to facilitate Mrs. Jin's accounting. Mrs. Jin is late to read the accounts on weekdays, and it is closer to go back to the yard to rest.

There was a small row of shrubs planted on the edge of the book, verdant, and some morning glories crawling on it, one in the east and one in the west, scattered and beautiful.

Jade Qilin and Jiang Xiaoxuan were sitting in the room checking the progress of the servants' work, and there was a pile of silver tickets on their tables.

Zhang Cheng knocked on the door and came in, handed over the list and said, "Young lady, the fireworks to be used for the birthday banquet have arrived, and you need to settle eight hundred taels of silver, this is the details." ”

The jade unicorn took the list, glanced at it, took one from the silver ticket, and handed it to him.

As soon as Zhang Cheng left, Li Fu came in and reported: "Young lady, the arrangement of the singing and dancing program has been communicated with the music workshop according to your wishes, and their boss said that there is no problem, just ......"

The jade qilin put down the ledger in his hand and looked at him: "Just what?" ”

"It's just a matter of paying a part of the deposit as soon as possible."

"How much?"

"Two thousand taels."

"So many ......" Jade Qilin frowned, took out another one from the silver ticket, and handed it to him: "Go and do it." ”

As a result, in this afternoon, there were only seven or eight servants back and forth, and there was not much left of the stack of silver tickets high in front of the jade qilin.

The jade qilin looked at the fewer and fewer silver tickets, and was anxious: "We have done our best, we can compress what we can, and we can reduce what we can, but this silver is still lacking." ”

Jiang Xiaoxuan frowned and sighed: "I can only think of a way again." ”

In the distance, a figure flickered, and then quickly slipped away.

"Someone looks like it?" Jiang Xiaoxuan asked.

"Hmm......" Jade Qilin replied nonchalantly, "It's Ah Fu, I've seen it a long time ago." It must have been the gold ingots who asked him to come and see our jokes! (To be continued......)