The darkness was still all over the sky, countless stars broke through the curtain clouds and poked out, the cold humidity infiltrated the air, and the atmosphere in Duanren Garden was even more sad after the baptism of the sound of the flute. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Ziqiao lay on the soft bed, and the curling incense lit in the bedroom filled the room, driving away the maid who had planned to turn off the lights for him, and he couldn't sleep for a long time.

A few days ago, he inexplicably received a sentence saying that the young lady was in trouble and came to Mufu for rescue. These days, he has broken his head, and he doesn't understand the meaning of this.

Young lady? Could it be that something happened to Yanrou?

Zi Biao gasped, and after thinking about it, he felt that it was impossible, he knew in his heart the power of the Zhou Mansion, if something happened to Yan Rou, why didn't he go to the Zhou Mansion to come to the Lu Mansion?

For this reason, he also deliberately went to his mother to inquire about the situation, but Qin Xirui thought that Ziqiao had changed his mind, and he was happy for a while, making himself baffled.

Just when Zi Biao was clueless, suddenly there was a "bang bang" sound outside the door that startled Zi Biao, and then he heard a shout: "Brother Ying Feng, Brother Ying Feng, open the door quickly!" ”

Zi Biao was stunned when he heard this, why did Xiao Jiaqi come to Dongyuan Residence so late without sleeping? In Duanren Garden, because the heirs of the landing mansion live, there is a very strict ban, the so-called ban is that except for the Yahuan and the nursing home designated by the lady and the governor, the rest of the people are absolutely unauthorized to enter, and the violators will be severely punished!

But this rule has no effect on Xiao Jiaqi at all, because even if he breaks through, Qin Xirui has no choice but to purse his lips, and Wan Ruoling is even more difficult to say.

Ziqi was also very helpless, walked down the small steps in the room and came to the door, as soon as it was opened, Xiao Jiaqi rushed over, knocked Ziqiao staggered, and quickly flashed to the side, looking at it in surprise.

I saw Xiao Jiaqi holding a letter paper with something written on it, and a pen in the other hand, blinking his eyes and looking at Zi Biao with a smile and saying: "Brother Yingfeng, there is a word I can't write, you teach me!" ”

Zi Biao was stunned for a long time, you came here at night to learn to write? Xiao Jiaqi handed the letter in his hand to Ziwei as he spoke, and said, "I wrote it to Brother Jiu, and I can't write the word 'hinder' that is unhindered." ”

Zi Biao took the letter and read it suspiciously, of course, this letter was written by Ye Luchang and Xiao Jiaqi before, and there were not many words, it didn't take long for Zi Biao to laugh, it seems that his cousin is quite concerned about himself, before the imperial doctor came to Lu Mansion to diagnose Zi Biao, saying that Zi Biao's body is healthier than several of their old people, and there is no major problem at all, as for the poisoning, it is even more nonsense.

The imperial doctors have decades of medical experience, and the credibility of the words they say is quite high, and Zi Biao doesn't know what's going on, and he heard the words of the Ying Hou in the cave tomb of the Wolf God Mansion that day.

Zi Xiao pondered for a while, and couldn't think of why, looked at Xiao Jiaqi on the side, and smiled helplessly: "I'll write it to my cousin, you go back to rest soon." ”

As he spoke, he wanted to turn around and walk towards the steps, but he saw that Xiao Jiaqi was still standing there motionless, I didn't know what else was going on with her, and just wanted to ask, I saw the corners of her mouth curled, "I'm not going back, I'll live here tonight!" With that, Xiao Jiaqi ran to the steps.

"Hey! You! ”

In the early morning, the first rays of sunlight shine through the clouds towards the Narufu Manor. Winter is approaching, the chill is rising, the autumn leaves are falling, and it is lonely and lonely.

The servants in the Lu Mansion had all gotten up early to start their busy day.

House of Affairs.

Wan Ruoling led six subordinates to clean up the dust in this room, tidying up potted plants and various decorative porcelain.

This room is specially prepared for the management of the subordinates, and the internal affairs hall is very large and can accommodate at least hundreds of slaves, and it is the place where the governors of the Lu Mansion summon their subordinates to hold them accountable, reward, and punish.

The internal affairs hall is arranged in the form of a meeting, but it is generally not a very important and formal work, and the managers rarely arrange people here, but more often come here to discuss things.

Although the internal affairs hall is large, there are still six people to tidy up quite abundantly, Wan Ruoling is more idle at this time, with her back to the front door, looking at the Merlot bear forest on the wall, a little dazed, as if she is thinking about something.

At this time, three people walked in from outside the door, and in front of them was a deputy chief in the backyard, Chanatama, whose Chinese name was Gao Wentao.

In addition to a vacant Wang Bin Pinggao sitting in the head of the housekeeper in the Lu Mansion, the highest status among the servants is Wan Ruoling and Yang Liang, the two of them are one in charge and one outside, and there are eight deputy directors under them, two each in the front and back courts, and one in each of the affiliated courtyards, the division of labor is very detailed, and each has its own duties.

Gao Wentao and the two people behind him walked to the middle hall to stop and said lightly: "Manager Wan." ”

Not?

Wan Ruoling was startled, came back to her senses, turned to look at him, and then her eyes were quickly attracted by the two people behind him, one was a middle-aged man in his forties, with dark skin, skinny, unkempt hair, and ragged clothes, which made him shiver a little in this cold weather.

Behind the man was a little girl, dressed in coarse cloth, but much thicker than the man, who kept her head down and bit her lip.

Wan Ruoling's gaze lingered on the little girl, then looked at Gao Wentao, and asked suspiciously, "Are they?" ”

"Mr. Wan is really forgetful!" Gao Wentao smiled, "Do you remember that Grandma Liu introduced us to a little girl surnamed Tang?" After saying that, he turned sideways, stepped forward, and continued, "This is the little girl and her father Tang Er, who came to me this morning and wanted to discuss the matter of entering the mansion. Weizuo paused and said with a smile, "I can't be the master of this big matter such as accepting slaves and maids, so I specially brought it to let you see it, Lord Steward." ”

"Oh?" Wan Ruoling was overjoyed when she heard this, "Sit down and talk." With that, he walked around the main table and sat down on the main chair in the inner hall.

A maid stepped forward to make them a pot of tea.

Tang Er came to Lu Mansion for the first time today, but the shock to him was still quite small, the slaves and maids in this mansion lived thousands of times better than the poor people in the village, if Lu Mansion could really take in her daughter kindly, it would be her blessing.

And the girl stood silently beside Tang Er, and there was still a shallow tear on her pale face.

The Lu Mansion was a large family with more than 200 subordinates, and the number of servants in the mansion was far greater than that of other nobles in Zhongjing City, but if you got rid of the apprentices and men in the wine room and the money house, the family members, the guards and guards in the various courtyards, etc., there were very few slaves who were actually used for labor.

There are two courtyards in the Lu Mansion, and there are Huaxiang Hall, Mo Yuxuan, Sacrificial Beast Sanctuary and other luxurious buildings in the front yard, whenever Lord Lu feasts in the capital, the royal family, princes and nobles are gathered here, so the family servants who need to maintain and secure are naturally better than the backyard, so that the slaves and maids who serve in the backyard are far from enough.

The former slaves of the Lu Mansion are still quite abundant, at the peak of the heyday, the slaves and maids in the backyard of the Lu Mansion alone reached as many as two hundred, but one day more than ten years ago, Lu Yaozong suddenly shocked the entire Lu Mansion with an order, and the Lu Mansion finalized the plan to lay off employees overnight, in just three weeks, the backyard went up to the housekeeper and down to the family, and the slaves and maids were all sent away, and only three people were left in the backyard.

In the next four months, in addition to the training of the Fire Qilin team members, all the slaves in the Lu Mansion, including the guards and guards, were all replaced, which was the big layoff of the Lu Mansion that shocked the capital city!

In the three years since, the Lu Mansion has been struggling, Wan Ruoling called it the "Dark Period", and during those three years, the Lu Mansion still relied on the help and support of Master Zhou and his Liao court magnates to gradually come out, but despite this, Lu Yaozong was firm in the layoffs, and when he re-accepted slaves and maids, he also formulated a rule that is still puzzling to this day.

Five years later, there were more and more servants in the Lu Mansion, and their daily life gradually stabilized, but judging from the number of servants in the backyard, it was still too small. So someone came to sell herself as a maid, and Wan Ruoling was naturally very pleased.

It's far away. A_A

Wan Ruoling looked at Tang Er and the little girl beside him, and estimated that she understood seven or eight points in her heart, and said lightly: "Show me the deed of sale." ”

"Huh." Tang Er answered, took out the deed of sale that had been prepared a long time ago, got up, put it on the table in front of Wan Ruoling, and sighed, "It's really forced by life, and I ask the chief manager to take a look." Tang Er should be learning Gao Wentao's words, but he didn't know that he was joking with Wan Ruoling.

Wan Ruoling didn't pay much attention to the thin paper folded on the table, she paid more attention to the little girl who came with Tang Er, this child was the same age as Ziqiu, his face was pure, revealing a hint of paleness, his eyes were clear, but there was a trace of gloom, the eyelashes were slender, and the ice muscles were like water, like the snow lotus of the Yao Pond, and the beauty was like a fairy of the Nine Heavens. Pity such a beautiful woman but fall into the poor lower class, sigh the creation of the sky, pity... It's sad.

Tang Er saw that Wan Ruoling was indifferent, thinking that he didn't understand the rules, so he hurriedly stepped forward, completely unfolded the folded paper, and placed it in front of Wan Ruoling.

Wan Ruoling came back to her senses and smiled bitterly, she didn't mean that, just picked up the contract and looked at it. Its book cloud:

Tang Er, a poor kiln man in Shaba Village, outside Dading Mansion in Zhongjing, has a daughter and an unknown name. Winter is coming, and there are many people in the family who are helpless, and they are willing to sell their daughters into the Lu Mansion as maids, and they will be disciplined, without complaint or regret, and will never return.

Today, I also cut off relations with my daughter, and I will never come again, and I will not ask about it in the future.

Because of the poverty of the family, life is compelled, and the thin clothes cannot survive the winter, and the poor fields cannot be cultivated, I hope that you will have mercy. Therefore, selling women for four taels of silver, I am afraid that there will be no basis in the future, and there is a license to sell words.

Wan Ruoling took a deep breath after watching it. Grandma Liu is specifically looking for slaves and maids to sell themselves to work in the Lu Mansion, so she understands the rules in the Lu Mansion, and the deed of sale is also very clear, and she smiled slightly. In fact, she also liked this little girl very much, so she took out the ink, and when she was about to press the handprint, she asked by the way: "Is there anyone you know who has been a slave and a laborer in our house?" Wan Ruoling said as she did her own thing, she didn't expect any answers, just boring casual questions.

"Yes." Tang Er replied truthfully.

Not?

Wan Ruoling was startled, stunned for a while, her brows furrowed slightly, and even what she was doing stopped with her. After hearing this, Gao Wentao looked at Tang Er and asked in surprise, "What's the matter?" ”

Tang Er was also frightened when he saw that the two of them reacted so much. must have said something wrong, so he hurriedly said: "Two adults, Xiaomin is stupid, if you say something wrong, please don't worry about it!" ”

"What so much nonsense, hurry up and talk about who has worked as a laborer in the house!" Gao Wentao looked at him and scolded angrily.

"Oh~Oh~" After Tang Erying, he thought for a moment and looked at them lightly, "My brother Tang Da used to work as a long-term worker in the house, and after being dismissed more than ten years ago, but because of his poor family... Starved to death at home. There are also many villagers in the poor kiln who have worked as laborers in the house, and I have heard from them that your house has been recruiting slaves and maids in recent years, so they brought their daughters to try it, first, to save the lives of little women, and secondly, they can also exchange some silver taels for the wives and children at home to make some winter clothes. And there are many slaves and servants in the village, but they are not familiar with them, and they do not associate with them. ”

Wan Ruoling listened to her brows still not stretched, it is estimated that she is a little angry now, according to the rules customized by Lu Yaozong, Tang Er's daughter Lu Fu cannot accept it, but she likes this little girl so much, called Gao Wentao, and whispered: "Tang Er's family background is unknown, I don't know if what he said is true." ”

Gao Wentao was stunned, glanced at her, and asked in surprise, "What does the manager mean?" ”

"Tell Hechar to investigate the news of this Shaba Village, oh~ By the way, don't forget Tang Er!" Wan Ruoling said coldly.

"Steward!" Gao Wentao was shocked, and hurriedly said, "The chief manager knows that Tang Er's family is like this, why should he..."

Wan Ruoling interrupted him with a gentle wave of her hand. At this time, her heart was also very confused.

Gao Wentao sighed slightly, nodded and responded: "I know, my subordinates will do it immediately." With that, he left.

Before leaving, he also deliberately paid attention to the little girl who had been keeping her head down and silent, Gao Wentao, as the deputy head of Wan Ruoling's subordinates, naturally knew the puzzling regulations in the Lu Mansion, although she didn't know what it meant, but the master formulated it so no one dared to ask why, it has been like this for more than ten years, but today Wan is in charge of her...