The Book of Raising Children by Houmen

Chapter 213
The afternoon sun shone warmly into the window panes, Zhao Jing walked to the bedroom with the box in her hands, and sat down in front of the dressing table.She wore a peach heart bun today, and only put a pearl flower made of pearls on the place of the peach heart, which looked simple and elegant.Zhao Jing reached out and picked the bead flower, and took a jasmine hairpin of hibiscus jade from the brocade box, and put it in her hair. The hibiscus jade exudes a faint pink color, which sets off Zhao Jing's icy skin and clear eyes.

The little maid outside happened to come in to answer, saying that Zhang's mother had come back and had brought Miss Zhao to Ziwei Garden.Zhao Jing stood up from the dressing table, stood up and went out to meet her.Zhao Da Niu was holding a bag of small broken flowers, and timidly followed behind Zhang's mother. When she saw Zhao Jing coming out, she became a little more courageous, and couldn't help but rushed into her arms and shouted: "Auntie!"

Zhao Jing rubbed her forehead, looked down at the clothes Zhao Da Niu was wearing today, Yuan Shi dressed her up well, she was wearing a pea green floral bija, and a white skirt with thread, It's not outstanding, but it's also refreshing and tidy, which is pleasing to the eye.

Zhao Jing took Zhao Da Niu's hand, raised her head and said to Zhang's mother: "Mom, you should go to the Songhe Hall of the old lady, I guess she still has something to ask you, so Da Niu and I have a few words first , I will go to Songhe Hall to pay her respects to the old man in a while."

Mama Zhang nodded with a smile and said hello, she resigned from Zhao Jing and went to Songhe Hall. By the way, I came to the small Buddhist hall.

Mrs. Xu was kneeling in front of Guanyin Bodhisattva and reciting sutras, and Zhang's mother also knelt down.When the old lady opened her eyes, she asked curiously, "Why are you here too? Didn't you say you have something to go out today?"

"I'm back, I bought a dozen or so little maids, and there are children of the same age in the family, so they can come to the house to serve." Mother Zhang stepped forward to help the old lady up, and the two went from the small Buddhist hall together out.

Mrs. Xu said quickly: "I have something to ask you, what is a domestic slave and what is not a domestic slave, how come I don't know at all? Today, Mr. Zhao said that there are fifty or so people in the house who are not Is it a big deal to be a slave born at home?"

When Mother Zhang heard Mrs. Xu asking this, she became a little curious, and couldn't help but said, "Why did the old lady ask this? The old slave used to chatter in front of you, and you might not be able to listen to a sentence. To put it bluntly, those people are pitiful, they finally came to the Hou Mansion, they are all your fellow villagers, you can't bear to drive them away..."

"Did I say that before?" Mrs. Xu began to pretend to have amnesia.

Zhang's mother was choked to the point where she couldn't continue, so she just revealed these things and didn't mention them, she just smiled and said: "The old slave doesn't talk about the old things, but now that the old lady asks, then the old slave should tell the old lady about it." Said. The so-called family-born slaves are those who have been slaves in the Marquis Mansion for generations. When the old Marquis was named Marquis, these people who were rewarded by the first emperor to the Marquis Manor are family-born slaves. The sons and daughters are all slaves of the Marquis Mansion. Unless the master is kind enough to cancel their slave status and let them go out, they can be ordinary people. Otherwise, even if they go out to make a living for themselves, they will still have to be sent to the court if they are caught. The Hou Mansion is here."

Mrs. Xu nodded as she listened, and then asked Mama Zhang: "You mean, these people are all from our Hou's mansion no matter what. As long as we don't let him go, they will be from the Hou's mansion for generations. slave?"

Mother Zhang nodded, and said: "As for those who are not born at home, they are just like the guys hired by shops outside. Most of them just sign a contract and they can leave when they reach the limit. If such people don't want to do it halfway, If he ran away with the money, the master’s family may not be able to hold him, because he is not a slave, and he can survive elsewhere, and his descendants can still pass the imperial examination and enter the gentry. There are so many servants like this in the house, if they want to leave, it's just a matter of packing up, it's just that they don't leave."

"Then why didn't they leave?" Mrs. Xu had figured out the relationship between the two, but she hadn't figured out anything else.

"Why did they leave? The Hou Mansion raised them, and they raised their children and grandchildren outside the mansion. Old lady, you don't know that you are the Maitreya Buddha with a big belly in their hearts!" Zhang's mother wanted to tell the old lady Xu again. A few words, I saw her frown tightly, as if she was thinking about something, Zhang's mother thought about it and still didn't say any more, lest the old lady detour into a dead end again.

Mrs. Xu went back to the middle hall, and the little maid outside came in to spread the word, saying that Zhao Jing brought Mrs. Zhao over to pay her respects.It just so happened that Qi Jiahui's acupuncture class was also over, Qi Jiabao woke up from her afternoon nap, and the two of them were sitting on the kang inside and eating the fresh red bean dumplings from the kitchen.

Zhao Jing had already told Mrs. Zhao the rules in Ziweiyuan. Mrs. Xu always liked children, and she must love Mrs. Zhao too.

(End of this chapter)