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

Chapter 1147 Hidden dangers
Mother Li and Vanilla and her daughter only stayed in the Jin family for half a day, and the information they were able to obtain was limited, but they had already tried very hard to find out.

In addition to the good news, there was also some not-so-good news. Mother Li also reported to Haitang worriedly: "Although Master Jin is a clean man, the servants of the Jin family are almost all sent by the palace. Master Jin doesn't like to manage things, and Ma is old and can't manage so many things, so many people are not very obedient. Although they all seem to be honest and polite, I don't know how many calculations they have in their hearts!"

Mother Li noticed that the Jin family actually had quite a few young and pretty maids, but Jin Jiashu didn't allow them to enter the inner courtyard to serve, especially not to come near him. But not all of these maids were willing to do that. Right now, they were just serving in the outer courtyard, but when Haitang married Jin Jiashu, the Jin family would have a mistress, and maids would definitely move into the inner house. Wouldn't these ambitious pretty maids take the opportunity to make trouble? !

In addition, there were many male and female servants who seemed to be very busy but actually did not do any real work and were suspected of being dishonest.

Although Mother Li had not been in the Hai family for a long time, she had been on duty in the upper room of the main courtyard most of the time. She had witnessed how Ma and her confidante Aunt Cui handled household chores, and had also learned a lot of tricks in managing servants. Therefore, she could easily identify which servants of the Jin family were pretending to be lazy and which were loyal to their duties and willing to work silently.

She found that the proportion of servants in the Jin family who were lazy was too high. Some of them were even bold enough to do small things in front of their master Jin Jiashu and his friends. This was clearly because Master Jin had a good temper and would be lenient to the servants, and Ma Shangyi, who could control them, asked not to be in charge of the Jin family.

Master Jin is the nephew of the current Empress Dowager, and knows many royal relatives. Today, many princes and nobles came to congratulate him. With his status, the servants of the Jin family dared not take him seriously. What attitude would those servants have towards their own girl, who was only the granddaughter of a fifth-rank official?
Mother Li felt cold sweats coming out of her back as she thought about it: "Girl, you must be careful about this! The servants of the Jin family only look honest, but who knows what kind of people they are behind the scenes. You must be calm and don't let them fool you easily!"

Haitang blinked and smiled, "Don't worry, mom. I know what's going on. Brother Jin mentioned it to me earlier, and Mammy Ma will remind me too."

The current servants of the Jin family, apart from the mother and son of the Lu family brought by Jin Jiashu from Chang'an, are either attendants attached to the imperial mansion or those transferred from the imperial farm by Empress Dowager Xu. The latter inevitably have the problem of being too arrogant. Earlier, they did not take Jin Jiashu, the new master, seriously and asked Jin Jiashu to invite Ma Shangyi to rectify the situation. The first few troublemakers were cleared out, either returned to the inner court or sent to work in the farm. Therefore, those who are still serving in the Jin family mansion are all honest and obedient people - at least the personality they show is honest and obedient.

Haitang was not worried about these people. Those who could stay and work peacefully after being disciplined by Ma Shangyi were at least not arrogant fools. They had no one to rely on, so how could they openly oppose their new master? As long as they behaved on the surface, even if they had some ulterior motives in their hearts, Haitang had a way to deal with them.

Even if there were many pretty girls who wanted to climb into her bed, what would that do? She didn't have to use them in the inner courtyard, and she wouldn't give them the opportunity to take advantage of it.

Vanilla provided another piece of information: "Qiu Baisheng and Dunzi were in contact with the male servants of the Jin family in the outer courtyard. A tea room steward came to Qiu Baisheng to ask him questions, as if he wanted to curry favor with us. His words were hinting that they are willing to be loyal to the girl after she gets married!" He is already a steward, but he is still so attentive and polite to the errand boy who serves the future mistress. Doesn't it seem a little abnormal?

Haitang raised her eyebrows when she heard this: "Tea steward? I remember that Steward Li was the tea steward earlier, right?"

Mother Li said hurriedly, "That's right. Steward Li was originally the steward of the tea house, and was chosen by Mammy Ma to be the chief steward. The original chief steward went to the farm, and his son stayed in the house and took over the position of steward of the tea house." This was also the news she had heard in the Jin family mansion. She saw someone talking to her youngest son with a puzzled look on his face, and someone immediately told her who that person was. Obviously, the steward of the tea house was not the only one who wanted to show his courtesy to the future mistress's dowry servants. Haitang listened, lowered her head and thought about it, and understood what was going on.

The former butler of the Jin family must have violated Jin Jiashu's taboo. He might have looked down on the new master or neglected his duties, so he was kicked out by Ma Shangyi. He certainly couldn't accept this. Now that he couldn't come back, he instructed his son to show his favor to the new mistress who was about to come in. As long as he could gain the appreciation of the new mistress Haitang, he could surpass Ma Shangyi, the confidant of the Empress Dowager, and return to the position of the butler of the Jin family.

It was a very clever calculation, but why would Haitang do what he wanted?

Didn't he look down on Jin Jiashu? Didn't he refuse to work hard? Then just accept the punishment honestly. There's no need to force yourself to do something you don't want to do. Haitang respected Ma Shangyi, but she didn't intend to slap her in the face. She called back the people she had driven out, confident that she could manage people better than Ma Shangyi - the former butler was not a rare talent in the world, so was it worth it for her to do this?

If the teahouse steward is still so ignorant after she marries into the Jin family, then she can just go and reunite with his father! She doesn't need anyone to serve her.

After making up her mind, Haitang continued to calmly say to Mama Li and Xiangcao: "Alright, I will remember this and will not be easily fooled by those people. Mama Ma has her reasons for replacing the person. There is no need for me to go to trouble myself and replace the current housekeeper Li who is doing a good job."

Mother Li smiled and said, "The young lady has always been capable, so we don't have to worry. But the housekeeper Li also has his shortcomings. If one day you can't tolerate him anymore, at least you should know who is reliable and can take his place."

Haitang blinked: "What's wrong with Steward Li?"

Mother Li lowered her voice, "I don't know either, but someone quietly told me that housekeeper Li is a rigid person and is very strict in managing the family. He has to decide what Master Jin wants to eat and wear. Master Jin wanted to move the furniture in the study, but he refused, saying that it was the rule. It would be fine if Master Jin didn't argue with him, but he has always had this problem. I'm afraid that sooner or later he will annoy Master Jin, and even the young lady won't be able to stand it."

It turned out to be the case.

Haitang remembered Jin Jiashu's previous complaint that he had no say in how to decorate the rooms in the Jin family mansion. Now she could understand why he was happy that she had decorated his study room in the same style as his old residence in Chang'an. Although the Jin family mansion was magnificent, he had no say in many things. In comparison, every brick, every tile, every blade of grass, and every tree in the villa were designed according to his wishes, and it was more like his dream home. No wonder he was so anxious to decorate the villa. Fortunately, he would move there with Haitang after the wedding!
"I understand." Haitang smiled at Mother Li and Xiangcao, "I already know about the hidden dangers of the Jin family. When I go to the Jin family, I will find ways to solve these problems. All you have to do is help me pay more attention to news from all sides."