Flowery Hair: A Maidservant

Chapter 19 Plan

Manager Cao left behind a bundle containing cloth and departed from the back room.

After seeing Steward Cao off, Meng Shu entered the room and saw two tear tracks on Green Willow's round face. She kept muttering to herself, "Why did she lie to me? Mother comes to see me every month. I don't necessarily want to be redeemed. Why did she lie to me?"

Looking at the zongzi in the bamboo basket by the window, Meng Shu lost her appetite. She tossed the zongzi she had previously placed aside into the basket and turned to Green Willow, asking, "Why were you sold two years ago?"

Today, although Green Willow's parents were dressed in coarse cloth, they were clean and presentable. Moreover, judging from Meng Shu's cold gaze, Green Willow's mother's expression of heartache for her child was genuine.

Green Willow paused for a moment, staring blankly at an old amulet beside her pillow, and began to recount her family's past.

Two years ago, Lin'an was hit by a flood. The floodwaters even reached the city. Green Willow's home was in the suburbs. The farmland and houses were destroyed, but fortunately, no one in the family was hurt. However, the disaster made it difficult to make a living, and they had no choice but to sell Green Willow to a human trafficker for five taels of silver.

“My mother said there was no other way at the moment. My two older brothers were getting married, the house needed to be rebuilt, and the grain needed to be bought. I knew that my family was in a difficult situation, so it wouldn’t matter if we were sold.”

Some people in our village have been sold into slavery, but they usually come back after five or six years.

"Mother said she knew that the slave trader was working for the Tang family. She said that if I worked as a maid in the Tang family for a few years and saved enough money to buy my freedom, she would find me a good marriage. Then I would have two older brothers to help me out..."

Upon hearing this, Meng Shu couldn't help but sneer. These parents really had a brilliant idea.

If there had been even a shred of kinship when he sold Green Willow, he would have chosen a living contract instead of selling his own daughter at the price of a dead contract, and then coming back to pretend to be a kin to leech off her.

Green Willow has always lived frugally. In the public kitchen, you only need to give the old woman two or three coins to get some soup. Meng Shu knows that she has never spent this money. With her monthly allowance, she only buys some needles and thread. In the past two years, she has probably given all her monthly allowance to her family.

"Now that you know their true colors, you should be more vigilant and stop trying to fill the void." Meng Shu's advice sounded dry and unconvincing. Lü Liu wasn't decisive enough; no matter how much her parents pretended to say nice things, family ties weren't something everyone could easily sever...

Holding Green Willow's cool hand, Meng Shu thought for a moment and then said:

“A death contract is nothing. If we serve diligently and do our job well, and we also bribe the higher-ups, there’s a chance that we can serve our master closely one day. If our master is merciful then, we can ask for a favor and have our contract lifted.”

Meng Shu gazed out the window, lost in thought. That was indeed what she was thinking. She made up her mind that if she wanted this opportunity, she first needed to be able to serve her master closely.

Several plans flashed through his mind in an instant. His current situation was different from being trapped in a brothel; there was always a chance.

In the end, Green Willow couldn't withstand the blow and fell ill for a few days. Manager Cao also instructed her to take special care of her for two days. She didn't need to do any other work. She only asked Green Willow to be fully recovered before the middle of the month, because the head managers were going to the Tang family in mid-June.

Starting from June 7th or 8th, two second-class maids, Xia Zhu and Luo Mei, who had been announced in advance by Steward Cao, along with two servants, also entered Langya Courtyard.

Green Willow was almost fully recovered, and Meng Shu immediately rolled up her sleeves and joined the procession to welcome the head manager. Xia Zhu directed Meng Shu and her maids to clean the main house and the side rooms, while Luo Mei arranged for Green Willow and the others to thoroughly clean the entire Langya Courtyard, including the two passageways outside the courtyard.

The following institutions have moved into Langya Academy this time:

Gong Facai, the head manager of Yongbaolou;

Tang Hanjing, the manager of Yongzheng Pawnshop, and the pawnshop's clerk, were known as the Second Uncle.

Qian Wanlai of Yongtai Money Shop.

These three were the top managers who had won the awards in spring and summer. After receiving the news of the final selection, Meng Shu went to the corner gate alone that afternoon, gave Wang Pozi at the corner gate a few copper coins, and after about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, she heard the sound of a rattle drum.

Li the peddler also seemed to be in a hurry. Just as he put down his carrying pole, a little girl in a light green dress walked up to him.

"Miss Meng, your skills are truly excellent. I went to the pleasure boat street yesterday, and guess what?"

Meng Shu smiled and said, "Could it be that a big customer has come and bought the handkerchief and more than a dozen tassels?"

Li the peddler couldn't help but look at him with newfound respect, clapping his hands and saying, "It really is! I vaguely heard that it was Miss Chun... Huanyun's maidservant who came down to make a round."

“Huanyun…” Meng Shu said casually, without showing any emotion, “Maybe she just thought the new design was interesting and bought it for the novelty.”

Knowing he had just said the wrong thing, and how could he mention courtesans in front of an innocent young girl, Li changed the subject.

“Not bad, not only is the pattern on the handkerchief good, but the knot is also good.” Li the peddler took out the money he had calculated.

"Seven handkerchiefs, sold for twenty coins each, twelve tassels, one of which was cloud-shaped, the seller said was interesting and sold for thirty-five coins, the rest were also twenty coins, for a total of three hundred and ninety-five coins."

Meng Shu took out forty coins and handed them to the peddler, smiling as she reminded him, "This is the consignment fee, Brother Li, please keep it safe."

After finishing her business, Meng Shu noticed that no one was around in the corner, so she leaned closer and whispered to Li the peddler, mentioning a few names in the conversation. Li the peddler raised an eyebrow and then nodded.

Afterwards, Meng Shu chose a silver lilac hairpin and casually asked if they had any plum blossom hairpins, and it turned out they did.

"Miss, you want to buy? I've sold over a dozen of these plum blossom hairpins. They're exquisitely crafted and inexpensive. These few are from a jewelry store I just bought yesterday."

Meng Shu: ...I just wanted to ask...

"Keep one at the bottom of your drawer, I'll buy another one next month."

With the council meeting imminent, the young maid had no money left.

After arranging a time for the next transaction, Li the peddler hurriedly left again, carrying his load on his shoulder pole, leaving only the sound of his rattle drum on the empty street.

Granny Wang squinted at Meng Shu with her old eyes, saying slyly, "Young lady Meng, you've done a good job. You must have made a lot of money from those handkerchiefs."

The two had kept their conversation quiet, so Wang Pozi couldn't hear them, but that didn't stop her from making connections, and the more she thought about it, the more envious she became.

Meng Shu had already given the money as a gift, so she naturally wouldn't be taken advantage of again. "If it's as profitable as Mother-in-law says, that would be great. The fabric all belongs to the sisters, and we're only earning a small fee for the work. After settling the bill with the manager and the sisters, there won't be many copper coins left."

Granny Wang finally breathed a sigh of relief, but she didn't back down: "That's your skill, isn't it? This old woman is old and we're lucky that our master didn't give us up to be a doorman. We can't earn a penny from any other way of making money."

Meng Shu was furious; this was clearly an attempt to show filial piety.

“What Mother-in-law says is true. This is the only skill we have in embroidery. If you have any extra fabric, you can give it to me, and I will embroider a full and rich pattern for you later, how about that?”

Granny Wang rolled her eyes. She didn't have any extra fabric, and knowing that the girl wasn't going to agree, she turned and went back to the gatehouse.