Early the next morning, Zhuang and Old Man Sun were ready to set off in a carriage bound for the Guangling Merchant in Qiongzhou.

In front of the gate of the Wu family, the people of the Wu family who came to see off the Zhuang family talked to the Zhuang family and told the Zhuang family to pay attention to safety all the way. The dealer did not come, there were no relatives of the dealer, and even the dealer did not even send a maid, it seemed that he was silently protesting in this way.

Wu Yuan'an stood quietly in the crowd, a little silent. For as long as she can remember, she has been saying goodbye to her parents. What is different from the past is that this time the Zhuang family is going to Qiongzhou, which is thousands of miles away, and it is to go to a wild place that is not even familiar to everyone in the Wu family, it is a place of exile, and this time the Zhuang family does not know when he will be able to come back.

The old lady of the Wu family pushed Wu Yuan, "Yuan Niang, go and talk to your mother, your mother will leave in a while." Just go. ”

Zhuang hugged Wu Yuan, hugged her in his arms, and said silently: "Yuan Niang, listen to your grandmother at home, listen to the words of the second and third uncles, and write to tell your mother if you have anything, and your mother will often write to you in Qiongzhou." Mother is useless, I can't take care of you, you have to be considerate of your mother's difficulty. ”

Wu Yuan was silent and didn't speak, she didn't know what to say, she wanted to say goodbye to her mother with a smile, but she couldn't. She wants to tell her mother not to worry, just take care of her father's safe return, but she also wants to grow up with her parents like others. These are all luxuries for her.

Wu Yuan wiped Zhuang's tears, reluctantly pulled out a smile and said, "Mother, don't worry, Yuan Niang will take care of herself." You just take care of your father, and Yuan Niang is obediently waiting for you to come back at home. Yuan Niang also has to learn embroidery, and when her father and mother come back, Yuan Niang will embroider jade pendants for you by herself. ”

When Zhuang heard this, tears fell even more, and Old Man Sun coughed, "Okay, everyone stop, let's hurry up and get on the road, this way will be thousands of miles, and we can't delay." ”

Only then did Zhuang let go of Yuan Niang and bowed to everyone, "Yuan Niang, I will entrust it to you." I hope that my uncles will take good care of her. ”

The old lady secretly wiped her tears, waved her handkerchief and said, "Let's go, let's go, remember the letter when you arrive." ”

The rest of the crowd also cried, "Sister-in-law, you have to take care of yourself, what is missing, where is it inconvenient, just write to me." ”

Zhuang looked at Wu Yuan, gritted his teeth as if he had made up his mind, and directly boarded the carriage without looking back.

Wu Yuan saw the carriage walking away, and couldn't hold back any longer, so he ran straight to the carriage, chasing the carriage and shouting "Mother".

Everyone in the Wu family was taken aback, and hurriedly grabbed Wu Yuan, "Yuan Niang, Yuan Niang, be obedient, let your mother go with confidence." ”

The old lady of the Wu family held Wu Yuan in her arms and did not let Wu Yuan break free. Wu Yuan lay on the old lady and cried quietly, seeing the carriage going farther and farther.

Zhuang heard Wu Yuan's voice in the carriage, and turned around sharply to get out of the car, but after all, he didn't pull the curtain, but just opened a small slit in the curtain of the car window, and looked at Wu Yuan who was held in the arms of the old lady with tears.

Wu Yuan was still a little unable to come back to his senses when he returned to the middle courtyard, and she was the only master in the huge middle courtyard.

Chun Tao entered the house, saw Wu Yuan sitting silently on the Luohan bed and did not speak, and comforted: "Miss, don't be sad, when the old man is well, the eldest grandmother will come back." Miss now has to study hard with Mr. Li and let the grandmother rest assured. ”

Wu Yuan still didn't speak, just caring about himself in a daze.

Seeing this, Chun Tao sighed and quietly retreated from the house, and Wu Yuan suddenly stopped Chun Tao.

"Aunt Chuntao, you go and bring me the account book of the middle courtyard to me."

Chun Tao was a little puzzled, but she didn't dare to disobey Wu Yuan, although Wu Yuan was young, he was a serious master, the eldest lady of the Wu family, and the master of the middle courtyard. But she is so young, can she read the account book, and she has never seen the eldest grandmother teach her to read the account book housekeeper. Chun Tao muttered in her heart as she went to get the account book.

Wu Yuan has his own plans, he is the only one who is the serious master of the middle court, and he is young, so he is afraid that the subordinates of the middle court will play some tricks when they see that they are small and can be bullied in the future.

Although it's just ** peach to get the account book, this is also a warning, warning those who want to play some tricks with Joe that they will check the accounts and manage the middle court, let these people weigh the proportions of doing things, don't think that the master of the middle court is easy to bully. Besides, Wu Yuan really needs to learn how to manage the house, even if the Zhuang family is now in the middle courtyard, Wu Yuan should start learning to read the account book.

Chun Tao took the account book, a large stack of books neatly placed on the desk, Chun Tao asked worriedly, "Miss, do you know how to read the account book?" ”

"I won't read it, but I also have to learn to read it, otherwise I don't know how many silver taels are in and out of the middle courtyard." Wu Yuan flipped through the account book, and suddenly said to Chun Tao, "Aunt Chun Tao, my mother trusts you the most, and now I trust you the most in the Intermediate Court, so it's better for you to be the steward of the Middle Court directly." I'm relieved that way. ”

When Chun Tao heard this, she said with some hesitation: "According to the rules, Miss, you are still young, and the housekeeper should ask the old lady to appoint someone over." ”

"Grandmother's assignment is not as good as you to reassure me, besides, aren't you such a ready-made candidate? You don't have to excuse yourself, it's decided, the account books and keys will be kept by you in the future, and when I went to school in the small cross-courtyard, you happened to stay in the middle courtyard to take care of it. The middle court cannot be empty. I'll go to my grandmother later, and I'll talk to her about it. Wu Yuan made up his mind without waiting for Chun Tao to resign.

In the evening, sure enough, the old lady sent her grandmother to invite Wu Yuan to Sanfutang for dinner.

As soon as Wu Yuan arrived at Sanfutang, Cui came out of the house to pick up Wu Yuan, hugged Wu Yuan and said pitiful.

Wu Yuan was a little lost by Cui's heart-wrenching emotion, and he almost wanted to cry.

The old lady hurriedly said: "The second family, Wu Yuan is finally getting better, look at you, she provoked her tears again." ”

Cui Shi hurriedly let go of Wu Yuan, brought a handkerchief to Wu Yuan, wiped his tears, and said: "It's all my fault, I came to provoke Yuan Niang again, okay, the second aunt will not compensate Yuan Niang." ”

Wu Yuan was deeply blessed to the old lady, and said respectfully: "Don't blame the second aunt, it's the granddaughter who is not angry, it's the granddaughter who wants to live alone in the huge middle courtyard, and her heart is a little empty." ”

When the old lady heard this, she said even more distressedly: "The middle courtyard is indeed a little empty and not lively when you live alone. Otherwise, we would have moved to live with my grandmother, who was spacious, and it was easy for us to talk with each other. ”

Wu Yuan hurriedly refused: "Don't dare to disturb your grandmother, otherwise your father and mother will blame your granddaughter for being unfilial." My granddaughter has reached the age of going to school, and she has to get up every day to freshen up and go to school, and only go back to the house when she is young, for fear that she will disturb her grandmother to rest. Besides, the father and mother are not there, and the granddaughter has to take care of the middle yard and wait for the father and mother to come back. ”

When the old lady heard this, she had to give up.

Cui Shi smiled and said: "Mother, look at Yuan Niang, we thought she was still a child, this blink of an eye, she is already so sensible, you can rest assured, they all live in a house, if you miss her, you can send someone to invite Yuan Niang to come to Sanfutang to talk to you, and we will also take care of the middle courtyard." I think the top priority is to assign a big girl in charge to the Intermediate Court. Yuan Niang is not yet the age of a housekeeper, she doesn't understand many things, there is a big girl in charge of things, and those subordinates will also behave a lot. ”

When the old lady heard Cui's words, it made sense, and asked, "Do you have a candidate for a housekeeper?" ”

"There are a few candidates, aren't they just waiting for your old man to assign one to the middle courtyard after he looks at it?" Cui Shi said with a smile, giving the personal maid a look, the door curtain was lifted, and three maids of some age came in.

Cui Shi pointed to a few maids who came in and said: "These three are all born in the family, they know the roots, and they usually behave well, the first one is the daughter-in-law of the mother-in-law's family who is in charge of the kitchen, the middle one is the daughter of the porter called Liu Ye, and the one on the edge is the daughter of our grandmother, Hua Rui, all of them are top-notch among the maids." Mother, what do you think? Which one do you want to choose to go to the middle court? ”

The old lady looked at a few maids and was about to ask, Wu Yuan hurriedly said: "Actually, you don't have to bother the second aunt so much, I think the spring peach in the middle courtyard is good, honest and loyal, and I am used to serving my mother, I think it is better to use the housekeeper of the spring peach middle court." ”