Chapter 157 Pension
Chu Lin said with a smile, "Master, if you don't give us anything to do, we will all get lice from boredom."
She pouted with a complaining face, but her little eyes looked around the room curiously. When she saw that the entire wall of huanghuali wood shelves was filled with small toys, little stars appeared in her eyes, and she drooled. All flowed out.
Chu Fei, who was beside her, saw that she looked embarrassed and couldn't stand up to the stage, so he hurriedly pulled her, "Don't look around, don't embarrass the master."
Then Chu Lin reluctantly withdrew her gaze and smiled at Xia Zihan with a flattering smile, "Master, this slave has never seen the world. Seeing so many interesting things all at once, these eyes became... It’s not my own anymore.”
What does it mean that the eyes no longer belong to you?
This naughty guy...
Xia Zihan said with a smile on his face, "How is your practice of the Eighteen Palms of Songshan going?"
The Eighteen Palms of Songshan was a secret book that Qi Mei accidentally got from an old beggar when she went to Liuhuai City to inspect a shop while she was recuperating in Qing'an Town. Unfortunately, it only had the first volume and not the second volume.
Xia Zihan left it to Chu Cong and others to practice.
As for the next volume, Qi Mei has already used her connections to find it.
When the first and second volumes are complete, she will practice again.
"Uh...hehe, I've practiced it. I've almost practiced it. I've memorized the moves." It's just that I haven't understood the secret yet.
As soon as he saw her eyes twinkling and her face showing a guilty conscience, Xia Zihan knew that she must not have worked hard enough. She stared at her with a half-smile, which made Chu Lin's scalp tingle. "Practice ten times when you get back. If you haven't finished, you won't be allowed to sleep." .”
"Ah..." Ten times, how long do you have to practice?
Chu Lin's face fell, and she whispered, "I still need to learn about medicinal materials from Brother Bai, so how can I have time to practice the Eighteen Palms of Songshan."
"What did you say?"
"Ah, it's nothing. I, I mean I will definitely complete the task."
Oh my god, the little master’s eyes are so scary.
She almost thought that she was going to be kicked out by her little master and sent to do business outside the customs. According to Qi Lan, Qi Mei was secretly thinking about expanding her business to the Mengren Kingdom these days.
It scared her to death.
Chu Lin secretly stroked her chest.
Xia Zihan stopped arguing with her and announced the rank of the maids in his house.
Nuanyu, Silk Grass, Vanilla, Chu Xing, Chu Fei, and Chu Lin are the maidservants. The monthly salary is according to the Chu house system, with each person receiving two taels of silver per month.
Chu Kui, Chu Hao, Chu Xiao, Chu Meng, and Chu Yi are second-class maids, and their monthly salary is one and a half taels of silver per month.
Of course, they are different from ordinary maids. Xia Zihan will give them extra money, clothes and jewelry.
Because there were too many maids, she could not use so many people to wait on her, so she asked Aunt Yu to help them arrange a duty schedule, dividing the people into two shifts, one shift a day, and she could not rest on non-duty days, so she had to practice martial arts with Master Qi , learn calligraphy with Master Lin and learn how to do business.
In short, she tried her best to let these girls enrich themselves, learn more substantive talents, and help her do more things.
There was no one to choose the third-class maid Xia Zihan, but the work of the third-class maid was assigned to Qingye, Hongye, Luye, and Ziye. They were also given the monthly salary of the third-class maid, one tael of silver a month.
It costs a girl a month and a half to make money.
Before, their monthly salary was only half a tael of silver, but now it doubled, and they were still doing the work of third-class maids. The four of them were so grateful to Xia Zihan.
However, third-class maids are basically not qualified to enter the master's house. They usually do some menial work outside, cleaning the courtyard, guarding the courtyard gate, lighting fires, fetching water, doing laundry, etc. Even so, they are still doing more than washing vegetables before. , the work of killing fish, killing chickens, and chopping wood is much better.
After the announcement, Xia Zihan handed over the arrangements to Aunt Yu, who was in charge of all the personnel in her house.
They sent everyone down, leaving only Nuan Yu in the house.
Xia Zihan asked Nuan Yu to take out the account book sent by the shopkeeper in the shop in Beijing yesterday afternoon.
Just after turning a few pages, Chu Meng, who was assigned to be on duty today, knocked on the door and came in to report: "Master, Sister Qingya from the old lady's room is here."
"Invite her in."
"Yes." Chu Meng bowed her knees politely. After leaving for a while, she brought Qingya in, "Master, sister Qingya is here."
"My slave, please pay your respects to the county lord." Qingya saluted, "The old lady asked the county lord to come over, saying that she wanted to discuss the pension for the family members who died in the assassination that day."
In the assassination that day, a total of more than fifty people from the Chu and Chu families died. The Chu family had more people and more people died. A total of thirty-eight people died, accounting for two-thirds.
Eight people were loyal servants of the Chu family. They were sold into the Chu family when they were young. Their family members had long since disappeared. After discussing with Xia Zihan, Zeng and Xia Zihan decided to send their pensions to their closest relatives.
Of the fifteen guards who died in the battle, six had families. Xia Zihan proposed to triple the pensions of those six, giving part to their parents, part to their wives and children, and giving their The wife and children were brought to the house and given a job, but they were not required to sign a deed of sale.
In the Dasheng Dynasty, a woman had to support her young children after her husband died. She could imagine how difficult her life would be. All she can help is to give them a job and a stable place to live so that they are not burdened by life.
This is also the best she can do.
As for their husbands, there was nothing she could do about them.
Mrs. Zeng strongly supported it, "Yu Niang, you did the right thing. As a human being, you know how to repay kindness."
The guards died to protect them, so they should give their wives, children and children a stable life. Although they couldn't provide a lavish life, the Chu family could still afford an ordinary life. .
As for the other guards, Zeng sent stewards and sent double pensions to their parents, as well as to all those who had died and whose parents were still alive. Each family bought twenty acres of land to ensure that their parents would not starve.
Two hundred taels of silver plus twenty acres of land, if this were a village, it would be a wealthy household, enough for an ordinary family to live a prosperous life.
The grandfather and grandson were discussing here, and someone from the Chu family came, saying that they were sent by Crown Prince Chu.
The person who came was Manager Zhang from Prince Chu's side. As soon as he entered the door, he presented a gift to Zeng Xia Zihan and then presented him with five thousand taels of silver.
"My eldest son said that the Chu family's misfortunes this time were all implicated by the Chu family. Although our two families are now God-brothers, it's untrue to say this, but what happened, the eldest son can't do anything to the Chu family. Indifferent, these five thousand taels of silver are the pension given by the prince to the family of the deceased, and the old lady is asked to accept it on their behalf."
It was given by Prince Chu to the family of the deceased. It was hard for Zeng to refuse, so she gave Hongmei a look. Hongmei understood and walked over to take the banknote.
Zeng said, "Go back and tell Prince Chu to stop worrying about me. He has many things to do. When he is free, he can bring his wife and son over to play."
"Yes, I'll take my leave then." Manager Zhang saluted and went back. Mrs. Zeng also let Hongmei stuff him with a seal. He pushed it a few times and then accepted it politely.
Xia Zihan looked at the five thousand taels of silver note with a smile, "My uncle is good at getting things done, so this has saved us a lot of money."
However, the pension given by her and her grandmother was a bit high. It would cost six thousand taels of silver to settle the family members of the fifteen guards alone, with double the pension and twenty acres of land for each family.
The remaining twenty-three people will receive pensions as usual, one hundred taels of silver per person, but each family will be given an additional twenty acres of land.
Do the math and find out that after all, you get more than 10,000 taels of silver.
"Let me get the rest, grandma, I have money." Xia Zihan said.
Why would Mrs. Zeng ask her, a little girl, to take it? "Grandma can still get this little money, but your money will be kept for your children to use in the future."
"Grandma, you know, I have..."
"That's it." Mrs. Zeng interrupted her and ordered Qingya to find Manager Lu and Butler Cui. Then she gave the banknotes to them and explained her decision.
Finally, she ordered, "Second Butler Cui will handle the matter of sending pensions and buying land. Manager Lu, you will send someone to pick up the mother and son, and arrange something lighter for them."< br>
After thinking for a while, he added, "Let's see how those children fare when the time comes. We might as well arrange for someone to teach them how to read, read, or practice martial arts."
Those raised since childhood are more loyal than those bought. After a few years, when Yu Niang gets married, it may be useful to her.
Manager Lu and Butler Cui took the order and went out.
Xia Zihan said goodbye to Zeng and went to the front yard to find Old Man Bai.
Old Man Bai and Bai Yuexi were arranged in a small courtyard to the east of the front yard. There were two main rooms, two side rooms, plus two side rooms, which was enough for the father, son and two young men.
As soon as Xia Zihan entered the yard, he saw dustpans all over the yard. The fresh medicinal herbs on them were dried, which must have been newly picked yesterday.
"The county master is here. Doctor Bai and Master Bai are in the grinding room." A young boy trotted over quickly, nodding and bowing to salute her.
Of the two side rooms, one was given to the young man to live in, and the other was used by Old Man Bai as a grinding room.
Xia Zihan walked in and looked at the grinding room.
Well, everything is complete, including three large and small stone mills, and several large and small medicine pestles and medicine rollers.
The boy whispered to Xia Zihan, "Miracle Doctor Bai asked Manager Lu to send someone to buy these things."
So, the reason why Old Man Bai and Bai Yuexi stayed in the yard so peacefully was because they had such a small pharmacy?
"Manager Lu sent people to buy the medicinal materials outside from several villages on the outskirts of the city. I heard that they cost a lot of money, and Manager Lu said they were well worth the money."
It seems that Mr. Lu was ordered around by Old Man Bai a lot yesterday.
It was really hard for him.
I'm afraid this is just the beginning.
Xia Zihan silently lit a candle for Manager Lu.
However, Manager Lu, who was always frugal, was willing to spend money on Old Man Bai. It seemed that Manager Lu recognized Old Man Bai's medical skills.
(End of chapter)