Flowery Hair: A Maidservant

Chapter 55 Mid-Autumn Festival

From a young age, Meng Shu knew that her uncle was an extremely intelligent man. He had made a name for himself in Jinan County when he ran a general store. Now that she knew he was taking tea north, Meng Shu felt much more at ease. However, she secretly wondered what ideas her uncle might have to sell the damp tea.

Let's leave that aside for now, because the Mid-Autumn Festival is just around the corner.

The day before the Mid-Autumn Festival, the second young lady was quite responsible for her shops. She personally invited Manager Qi to Yunyi Courtyard and proposed the idea of ​​renaming Yunwuxiao.

Tang Xian was indeed already working on presenting Yunwu Silk as a tribute. Manager Qi was Tang Xian's confidante, and she was very pleased that the Second Miss was so attentive to Yongxiu Cloth Shop. But even without the Second Aunt's incident, Yunwu Silk would have been renamed anyway. After more than two months of improvements by the weavers, the current Yunwu Silk, while still light and thin, is now even more radiant.

Meng Shu served from the side, listening intently to Manager Qi's business acumen. Manager Qi was a clever man; perhaps knowing Madam Yun's thoughts, he focused on sharing his insights on how to recognize and employ people.

For example, how to judge whether the person in front of you is useful, how to deal with managing a few people and hundreds of people respectively, how to deal with subordinates who deceive their superiors, how to punish corruption, and even from saving expenses to increasing revenue and reducing expenditure, all of which benefited little Meng Shu a lot.

Why do people from wealthy families often act with such grace and composure? Putting aside their family background, it's because of the education they receive. Madam Yun's painstaking efforts are evident.

Around noon, Madam Yun sent someone to invite the Second Miss and Manager Qi to have lunch at Yun Gui Courtyard. Tang Xian was also present at the meal.

There were no outsiders present, so Tang Xian suggested a few names for the fabrics. In the end, they decided to rename the Cloud Mist Silk to Floating Light Brocade. After the Mid-Autumn Festival and the betrothal ceremony for the young lady, Tang Xian would take Floating Light Brocade to the capital.

In the evening, all the maids in Yunyi Courtyard received an extra month's salary as a reward from the Second Miss. The eight second-class maids, including Lvliu, each received a pair of pearl flowers. Meng Shu and the other two maids were to accompany the Second Miss to the Mid-Autumn Festival family banquet, so the Second Miss specially asked them to pick out a few hairpins and rings from the storeroom.

On the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the servants in all the courtyards of the Tang family mansion were busy from early morning.

Meng Shu's three first-class maids were dressed neatly and gathered together early in the morning to help the second young lady with her makeup.

All the women of the family will gather at Fu'an Residence today. This is a tradition of the Tang family. During festivals, not only will the young ladies be entertained by the old lady, but Madam Yun will also bring her three concubines to play cards and watch plays with the old lady. The managers of all the shops in Lin'an will also come to the Tang family to attend the banquet in the front yard. Of course, they will also come to Fu'an Residence to pay their respects to the old lady.

In the evening, the old lady would take Madam Yun to worship the moon, admire the moon, and the young ladies would gather by the artificial lake next to the garden to release lanterns and pray for blessings.

The arrangement was quite elaborate, so Meng Shu carefully styled the second young lady's hair into double loops. In addition to a pair of coral, turquoise, and amber beaded flowers, she also inserted a filigree jade hairpin inlaid with gemstones into her hair. The double loops made her look both relaxed and elegant. The key was that she didn't have to put her hair up in a bun, which made her head feel more comfortable. The second young lady knew Meng Shu's little tricks and felt very pleased. This was the difference between her and Rui Zhu.

Normally, Ruizhu would always wear her hair in a reverse bun with two gold and jade tassel hairpins, which would certainly make her look more like a legitimate daughter, but it was really tiring.

After finishing her makeup, Ruizhu took two dresses from the wardrobe. The second young lady pointed to the dress with a cross-collar, colorful silk tapestry embroidered with long branches of flowers on her left. Meng Shu immediately took a pair of openwork floral jade bracelets from her makeup box and put them on the second young lady's hands.

Today, the eldest young lady unusually did not come to Yunyi Courtyard to display her elder sisterly demeanor. When Meng Shu and her three servants arrived at Fu'an Residence, chatting and laughing all the way, the three concubines were already waiting, all dressed in luxurious attire. The young ladies, along with their personal maids, also gathered in groups of three or four under the eaves to admire several pots of green chrysanthemums.

Meng Shu couldn't help but raise her eyebrows, because Fu Zi, whom she hadn't seen for a long time, was standing behind the Fourth Miss, and judging from her attire, she had been promoted to the second rank.

Fu Zi noticed Meng Shu's probing gaze, and her face became slightly unnatural. She nodded and smiled at Meng Shu, a smile that made Meng Shu somewhat wary.

When she was working at Langya Courtyard, because she and Fuzi had returned from Chunfeng Tower, the servants in the manor inevitably pointed fingers and said some unpleasant things. The last time they met was in the main kitchen. Meng Shu wanted to comfort her, but Fuzi didn't want to recall her experiences with Chunfeng Tower and told Meng Shu that she should pretend she didn't know her afterward.

Then, news of Chun Ya reached the manor, and Meng Shu went to Lanting Courtyard to find Fu Zi, but she did not come out to meet her.

Unexpectedly, after a few months apart, Fu Zi became the Fourth Miss's personal maid in Lanting Courtyard.

When she slowly walked over, she chatted with Meng Shu as if nothing had happened. Meng Shu secretly felt something was wrong, so she only responded distantly, replying to a few words in a casual manner.

Not long after, Tang Xian and Madam Yun arrived hand in hand, and everyone present hurriedly greeted them.

Guangbai lifted the curtain and came out. "I'm sorry to have troubled you, sir, madam, and ladies, to wait a while. The old lady didn't sleep very well last night, so when Sister Suwen saw that she was sleeping peacefully this morning, she didn't rush to serve her and let her sleep a little longer."

The maids standing on either side hurriedly lifted the curtains to welcome the master, madam, and young lady into the flower hall. Madam Yun knew perfectly well that the old lady was upset because of the two young ladies, so she only asked with concern, "What's the big deal about waiting a little longer? Is Mother feeling alright? Should we call the family physician over?"

Tang Xian was the most filial son. "After breakfast, let Mother rest a bit more. I'll have the shopkeepers come over to pay their respects later."

Guangbai smiled and said, "The old lady said it's nothing serious. We'll call the physician over to check your pulse again tomorrow. The servants also think you look alright."

Breakfast was already laid out in the main hall. Suwen helped the old lady out from the inner room. Tang Xian, along with his wife, children, and the old lady, bowed and greeted her. The old lady took the seat of honor first and waved for the others to sit down. "It's alright. Today is a big day. We should play cards and watch a play to make it more lively."

Seeing that his mother looked well, Tang Xian didn't say anything more. Today, he didn't have the concubines stand aside to serve him either, and they all sat down to eat together. In Fu'an Residence, it was generally unnecessary for the maids in each room to serve them, so Meng Shu and the others were taken to the small kitchen at the back.

Because of the Mid-Autumn Festival tradition of eating mooncakes, the people at the kitchen counter looked forward to this day the most, and they all put in their best efforts to make mooncakes and other pastries in various ways. Meng Shu and the others also enjoyed quite a few while sitting in the dining room.

Donggua brought Meng Shu a plate of freshly made crab roe pastries. Seeing a strange second-class maid sitting next to her, she couldn't help but glance at her a few more times. Fuzi immediately got up and spoke to Donggua, praising her for making tea pastries and Donggua drinks, saying that her mistress liked them very much. Seeing that Donggua only responded perfunctorily, she inexplicably took the initiative to talk about her and Meng Shu's past experiences.

"Meng Shu and I have been through thick and thin together and have a very good relationship. You two have always been good friends, and we should visit each other more often now that we know each other."