After the whole family was swept away, I lay down flat

Chapter 1003: One Thousand Chapters and Three Old Friends
Haitang avoided talking about "asking for advice" and only asked Jin Jiashu: "Has Mammy told me how she plans to deal with the problems in your mansion? Report all the inappropriate people to the palace and request a replacement?"

"That's not the case." Jin Jiashu thought for a while before saying, "Some people are not meant to be slaves. They can report to the palace and request a replacement, so that they can go back to do things that are more suitable for them. People who come from the imperial farm can also find excuses to replace them. These people are originally from the royal family, so it's easy to replace them. Mammy knows who are the honest and hardworking people who don't like to cause trouble, and who the palace is willing to replace. It's not difficult to replace them, and she will handle it. But the first batch of male and female servants in the mansion were originally confiscated slaves of criminal officials. These people are not easy to replace, and there is nowhere to replace them. Mammy means that as long as I report to the palace and the palace does not replace them and allows me to deal with them on my own, Mammy can drive them to the farm on my behalf, and then select the loyal and honest children of tenants from the farm to serve as servants."

In this way, the servants in the Jin family mansion can be basically replaced. Those who stay and those who are replaced are mainly honest people who can work and don't like to cause trouble. At that time, even if the servants come from different backgrounds and there are many of them, Jin Jiashu can control them with confidence. If someone wants to cause trouble, the manager among the servants will handle it properly, and he doesn't need to worry too much.

Jin Jiashu believes that Ma Ma will probably transfer some royal servants she knows to his mansion, most of whom are old or sick and need to recuperate. They may no longer be competent in their original positions, but they will have livelihood problems if they leave the royal family and cannot make a living on their own. However, they have many years of management experience and are knowledgeable. It is no problem for them to be a housekeeper for Jin Jiashu, a small relative of the emperor, and they can have no worries about food and clothing in the Jin family. How much can Jin Jiashu do alone? No matter how busy the servants at home are, they are limited, which is just right for them to recuperate. This may be Ma Ma's selfishness, but Jin Jiashu doesn't care. As long as the people who come don't cause him trouble, he will take them in at home as a reward for Ma Ma's care and love over the years.

It doesn’t matter if the people who come here are restless. The Datianzhuang in Yutian County and the hot spring villa in Xiaotangshan both need people to take care of them. The countryside is also quiet and suitable for the elderly to recuperate.

Jin Jiashu even thought that since his new mansion and new property were both large, it would be no problem to set aside a small area for Ma Ma to live in. He could also provide for her in her old age, and if she ran into any trouble in the future, he could ask her to solve it. It was perfect!
Haitang listened but didn't make any comment. The housekeeper issue would no longer be a problem after she got married. It would be a good idea to let Ma Shangyi take care of it for now, so that Jin Jiashu, a young man with no housekeeper experience, wouldn't have to mess around. She didn't think Ma Shangyi would stay in the Jin family for long. She had relatives and nephews, and she also had friends in Beijing. Why would she give up her good life and become someone else's housekeeper?

Ma Shangyi has made great contributions recently and received a generous reward. It is more than enough for her to buy a house in the capital. She can also call her relatives and younger generations in Chang'an to the capital to accompany her and seek a better future for them. No matter how comfortable the life of being a housekeeper in the Jin family is, how can it compare to the feeling of being the master of your own home?
Thinking of this, Haitang did not comment on Jin Jiashu's plan, but only asked him: "There are many servants with problems in your mansion. Brother Jin, you must trust Mammy completely and give her enough power to deal with the problems. But Mammy is old and not in good health. How many people did she bring to the mansion? If Chunyu is the only one, I am afraid that those servants with questionable identities and origins will not obey discipline and pose a threat to Mammy."

Jin Jiashu said hurriedly, "Of course there is more than just Chunyu. I only know Chunyu. The rest were lent to Mammy by her old friends. I see that many of them are strong and skilled. Even the maids know some martial arts. In addition, there are accountants and experts who are proficient in needlework, cooking, and tea art. I guess they will also take the opportunity to inspect the skills of the servants in my house. With so many capable people around, I don't need to worry about Mammy's safety at all."

Haitang was a little surprised: "This is a big deal... Who is Mama's old friend? How could she lend so many people to her at once?!"

Jin Jiashu went to ask Ma Shangyi to come out of retirement in person, and he had some understanding of the "friend"'s home where she was currently staying: "Mammy's old friend, surnamed Ji, was also from the palace. I heard that he was the eunuch in charge of the imperial court during the Longding Dynasty, and he has been friends with Mammy for decades. He has raised many adopted sons and daughters, one of whom manages his property on his behalf and runs a pawnshop on the street outside Zhengyangmen, doing a lot of business. Many of his adopted sons and daughters have made a name for themselves outside, but the old man Ji doesn't like to go out and see people. Apart from his own adopted sons and daughters, he only interacts with old friends who also came from the palace. His family has a large garden with many pavilions and towers. Mammy Ma lives in one of the courtyards and lives very comfortably. But after a long time, she felt very quiet and wanted to move. She said she wanted to live in a new place, so she accepted my request."

Speaking of Ma Shangyi's old friend, Eunuch Ji, Jin Jiashu remembered something again: "Sister Hai, I met your newly found cousin Qiao at your house the day before yesterday. Coincidentally, when I went to invite the nanny yesterday, I also ran into him at Eunuch Ji's house. He was standing and talking with Eunuch Ji's adopted son who runs a pawnshop. It is said that they have been friends for many years."

Haitang was stunned. She never expected that Ma Shangyi's old friend could be related to Qiao Fu.

Her heart moved slightly, and she suddenly remembered that Hai Baozhu first met Qiao Fu on the way from Yongping Prefecture to Beijing. Ma Shangyi and her old friends were entrusted by Hai Jiao to find someone to escort Fang and Hai Baozhu to Beijing. The person in charge of the escort was a businessman who ran a pawnshop and a grocery store, and was also the adopted son of a certain father-in-law. Qiao Fu was one of the accompanying guards. Hai Jiao suspected that Qiao Fu had finished his secret mission in other places, disguised himself as a caravan guard, and used the caravan to cover his whereabouts and return to the capital.

Now it seems that this is not a coincidence. Qiao Fu did not just find a caravan as a cover. The businessman who opened the pawnshop was the adopted son of Ma Ma's old friend. He had known Qiao Fu for a long time and had cooperated with him in disguise and stealth activities many times. The two parties were actually acquaintances!
Thinking back to the previous life that Haijiao mentioned, there was also a eunuch Xin in the Jinyiwei who was good at torture. It was not uncommon for some of the old palace people that Ma Shangyi was familiar with to have connections with the Jinyiwei spies.

In this case, could the "matchmaker" that Qiao Fu mentioned be related to Ma's old friend, Eunuch Ji?

But if Qiao Fu really had been in contact with Eunuch Ji for a long time, with the other party's connections in the capital, it would be easy for him to help Qiao Fu. How come he has been wasting time in the Jinyiwei spy circle until now?

Haitang was suspicious, but she couldn't tell Jin Jiashu some things, so she could only ask tentatively: "What is the name of that eunuch Ji? Cousin Qiao has known him for a long time, right?"

Jin Jiashu said, "Eunuch Ji's real name seems to be Jineng. I don't know if he and Brother Qiao have known each other for a long time. That day in Ji Garden, Chunyu told me that it was Eunuch Ji's adopted son, Shopkeeper Xiao Feng, who had an old friend visiting. I think the person Brother Qiao knew was Shopkeeper Xiao Feng, right? Shopkeeper Xiao Feng lived in Ji Garden that day, so Brother Qiao had to come to Ji Garden to visit him."

So, Qiao Fu may not know Eunuch Ji, but is just good friends with Shopkeeper Xiao Feng?
Haitang pondered for a moment, suppressing this question in her heart, and changed the subject with a smile: "Cousin Qiao said that he would ask a matchmaker to propose to my sister. Could it be that the person he wants to ask is that shopkeeper Xiao Feng?"