ebookland Chapter 724: Serving Everyone Is Serving
Chapter 724: Serving Everyone Is Serving
When they carried water, their legs didn't even tremble and they walked very fast, as if they were carrying feathers instead of buckets full of water on their shoulders.
When picking vegetables, the muscles on their arms can be clearly seen through their thin clothes.
If I meet a man, I'm afraid I can beat him easily.
All the servants in Jiang's house are so strong.
It's the exact opposite of the servants in other people's homes.
Every year, the Jiang family has several servants who reach marriageable age. Zhang Jinlan wants to let them go and get married, but they all refuse to leave. Some of them even look for suitable candidates among the servants or maids before they reach marriageable age in order to stay in the Jiang family forever.
Once they fell in love, they immediately went to Zhang Jinlan and asked her to choose an auspicious day to get married.
There are so many benefits after getting married. First of all, the children born will not be considered slaves, and the Jiang family will send them to school for free. If they want to take the imperial examination in the future, the Jiang family will give them a sum of money to take the exam. Of course, there is only one chance. If they fail, they can take it again, and their parents will need to pay for it.
However, the servants of the Jiang family, whether they were servants or maids, could save a lot of money in a year. Some wealthy personal maids even had fifty or sixty taels of silver on them.
The cook who works in Jiang Fubao's clinic is even richer, with some earning seventy or eighty taels.
Of course, no one could compare to Xue Huan. She was young, but she had a huge sum of 200 taels of cash on her, which were all rewards from Jiang Fubao.
It was okay for the children born to these servants if they did not want to take the imperial examinations. After enlightenment, when they reached a certain age, they helped the Jiang family manage the farm and shops as shopkeepers or accountants, similar to modern employees. They were not considered slaves and they could start a family and live outside.
After the servants and maids get married, the couple can still live together and no longer have to sleep in a double room or a quadruple room. In addition, the Jiang family will give a reward as a gift and dowry to the couple. On the wedding day, the kitchen in the Jiang residence will cook a delicious meal and hold a banquet, which will only be attended by the masters and servants of the Jiang family.
Two red lanterns will also be hung outside the palace.
As long as the lanterns were hung, the neighbors passing by would know that another servant of the Jiang family was getting married.
The next day when she returned home, she would go to the courtyard to pay her respects to the masters. Everyone would give the bride a gift, either a bracelet or rouge and powder, and they were definitely not cheap.
After so many years, the Jiang family's servants are still the same batch. A total of two people have left, one male and one female. Both were released from slavery. One returned to her ancestral hometown to buy land, build a house and get married, and the other got married, but both of them did not live well.
The maid left the Jiang family with thirty taels of silver in her pocket, but was deceived by the scheming mother-in-law. She gave birth to two children in succession and worked day and night. In just three or four years, she aged ten years. Later, when she went to the street to sell vegetables, she met the purchasing maid from the mansion. The two chatted and the news spread in the Jiang residence.
With this lesson learned, none of the maids in the mansion dared to get married. If their lives were worse than those of maids, it would be better for them to remain maids forever.
Anyway, you have to serve others. If you serve the Jiang family, you can have enough food and clothes, and get money. You can wear beautiful clothes, and the master will be kind. But if you serve your husband's family, you will not get anything good, and you will be beaten and scolded. Even the dowry will be taken away. Your clothes will be patched up, and your hands will be frozen and swollen.
In the end, she had to go out to sell vegetables on the street in the cold weather with her children to supplement the family income. It was really pitiful.
As for the servant who had married a wife, he came back once. He wanted to send his eldest son to be a servant, but Zhang Jinlan disagreed. The child was only three years old and there was nothing he could do. However, Zhang Jinlan still gave him five taels of silver and sent him away.
With this giving, the friendship between master and servant came to an end.
"Fubao, please save me quickly." Near noon, a figure rushed into the clinic and howled at Jiang Fubao.
Jiang Fubao didn't even need to look up, she knew the man was her fifth brother just by the voice.
"What's wrong?" She was already used to Jiang Tongtu's startled look, so she asked calmly.
"Grandma forced me to go and see a girl. The girl was in the snack shop. Luckily I ran away quickly. When I saw grandma and mom sitting at the table entertaining guests, I ran away. What should I do? If I don't go, how will I get home at night? If I go, won't I be roasted on the fire?"
Jiang Tongtu was looking worried. He didn't know what to do for a moment and could only come to find his sister.
In his heart, Jiang Fubao is his little think tank.
"Fifth brother, why don't you want to see him? I remember you weren't that averse to the idea of seeing each other." Jiang Fubao motioned Shao Siyou to come over and replace her, then pulled Jiang Tongtu's sleeve and went to the backyard, talking as he walked.
"That girl's looks, um, are a little disappointing." Jiang Tongtu muttered, shrinking his neck.
"Oh, Fifth Brother, you think I'm ugly?" Jiang Fubao suddenly realized.
"It's not that she's not pretty, she's just not my type." Jiang Tongtu quickly shook his head. He only took a glance at the girl. She was not ugly, nor was she pretty. She was just an ordinary person, the type that you wouldn't be able to find in a crowd.
"What kind do you like, Fifth Brother?" Jiang Fubao pulled him to sit down. The cook who was picking vegetables was very considerate. She wiped her hands on her apron and brought two cups of herbal tea to the two of them.
"I like it. I, I don't know either." Jiang Tongtu was slow in coming to realize things, and he never thought about matters between men and women. He was only concerned with eating, drinking and having fun.
If you ask him which restaurant has the best food, which restaurant has the most exquisite items, or which river is best for fishing, he knows it better than anyone else.
"The fact that grandma and second aunt can introduce this girl to you means she must have something special. Maybe her soul is compatible with yours. Anyway, you don't have anyone you like. If you just want to look at the first impression, you have to find He Mayue. Could it be that fifth brother doesn't want to get married? Then I'll go talk to grandma and ask her not to introduce you to someone in the future."
Jiang Fubao stood up and pretended to leave.
Jiang Tongtu quickly called her back.
"Not really. I really want to get married. You know me. I will never get married on my own. I don't hang out with girls, so where can I meet one? Can I just pick one up from the street and marry her? She will think I'm a thief and beat me up. It's not worth it."
Jiang Tongtu was very shy and spoke a little embarrassedly.
"Then it's done. If you don't mind it, then go and meet her. Sometimes, just looking at her appearance is not a good thing. If you meet her and find that you are really not compatible, then just treat it as usual and have a meal with your grandma and second aunt. Anyway, it's not made clear, and no one knows that you are seeing each other. They just think that the girl's family is our relatives."
When Jiang Fubao saw that Fifth Brother's expression relaxed, she knew that she had succeeded in persuading him.
"Okay, then I'll go meet him, and Fubao can go too. You accompany me." Jiang Tongtu's character is too childish. He is only two years younger than Meng Bujiu, but his temperament is like Meng Bujiu's son.