Chapter 286 Subsidy
The Dou family was also besieged by refugees last night.
Fortunately, there are many Dou family members, with four generations living under the same roof, old and young, and there are twenty or thirty male masters alone. All of them are good at both civil and military skills, especially the several masters of the Dou family, all of whom have hidden good martial arts skills.
Half of the Dou family's servants also learned kung fu, and the Dou family worked together as one, and the refugees were besieged for half a night but could not break into the inner courtyard of the Dou family.
Only in this way can the Dou family be kept intact.
The next day, after Xia Zihan learned the news, he sent Chu Fei to inquire about the situation. As soon as Chu Fei walked out of the gate, he met Dou Er's maid.
"It was our girl who asked me to come. She heard that the Chu family was not peaceful the night before."
Chu Fei hurriedly brought her to Xia Zihan. The maid bowed and told her about the situation of the Dou family.
"The master took the young master and the family's male servants to guard the refugees in the outer courtyard. The women hid in the boats and boats and sailed to the middle of the lake. It was not until dawn that the eldest young master, covered in blood, stood on the shore and told the women to go back. ”
"The eldest lady fainted when she saw the eldest young master covered in blood. The second girl was also frightened and cried. Fortunately, the blood on the eldest young master's body was other people's blood, and the eldest young master was not injured."
There is a large lake in the back garden of the Dou family. If you hide in a boat and drive the boat to the middle of the lake, even if the refugees break into the inner courtyard without a boat, they will be out of reach. This way you can still preserve the reputation of the female family members.
It's indeed a good idea.
In a critical moment, the person who can come up with this solution is really smart.
The Dou family is worthy of being the head of a first-class noble family fifty years ago, and worthy of being born into a family of military generals.
Xia Zihan smiled and asked the maid to tell her, "Go back and tell you two girls and four girls that my grandmother and I are fine and have not been hit by the refugees."
"Seeing that the county master is here well, I will know it." The maid said happily, "then I will go back first."
"The tassels I have embroidered for the two girls of the Dou family have just been finished. You can come over by the way."
"I would like to thank the county master on behalf of my two girls." The maid took the tassel and blessed her body respectfully.
After knowing that the Dou family was fine, Xia Zihan was much happier, but Zhuo was in a bad mood. She sat on the fire bed in Zeng's house, wiping her tears and said, "God damn the refugees, they are fine, we are a family." It’s all gone.”
This was at the Crying Shi Family. Mrs. Zhuo had just received the news that the entire Shi family had been wiped out.
After Shi Wenting snatched Song Huai from Xia Zihan, Mrs. Zhuo became much colder towards the Shi family, but they were still relatives. When she suddenly heard the bad news about the Shi family, Mrs. Zhuo was still in a very low mood.
Mrs. Zeng comforted her, "Everyone has gone, so don't be too sad. Just take care of what's in your stomach."
"Well, I know, I just pity Mr. Dou."
Giving birth to a daughter who was disobedient not only caused the Shi family to lose face, but also caused Shi Hanlin to lose his official position, making the Dou family look three points shorter in front of Shi Hanlin.
He finally sacrificed his face and married his daughter into the Song family, but the Song family looked like that.
Mr. Dou would probably not close his eyes even if he died.
What she misses most is Shi Wenting.
It's a pity that Shi Wenting was selfish and didn't think about Dou at all, otherwise she wouldn't have used such extreme means to force Dou to beg the Chu family.
Hey...
Dou's daughter is a white-eyed wolf.
Mrs. Zhuo thought to herself as she wiped away her tears.
"Since I didn't go to the Chu family, I can't go to the Shi family either." She said, "If you want to hide, just hide completely."
"I couldn't go in the first place." Zeng said, "If I don't think about you, I have to think more about the Duke."
Chu Xuanyu received a secret order. If Zhuo appeared, but Chu Xuanyu did not, Lu Guogong would inevitably have an idea.
……
In the front hall, Xia Zihan was looking at the loss list handed over by the steward, with hundreds of items listed on it.
Most of them are things from the yard, such as benches, lanterns, corner lamps, lanterns and other items, including brooms, shovels, and rakes.
The ornaments in the house were not worn out much, only about twenty pieces, and most of them were from the servants' houses. They probably broke them in panic when they heard the refugees entering the yard.
For example, in her and her grandmother's yard, the refugees were not allowed to approach at all, and the Chu family's valuables were all in her and her grandmother's yard.
Therefore, the Chu family's loss yesterday was not huge.
To talk about losses, it was just a pity for the twenty-odd servants her grandmother had worked so hard to train.
It is very difficult for a master to cultivate a confidant who is loyal to him without any second thoughts, and her grandmother lost twenty-three servants in one fell swoop, which no amount of money can buy. "My Lord, in addition to the lantern, there are everything in the warehouse above. I went over to take a look."
Manager Wang, who was in charge of the inner courtyard, saw that Xia Zihan had finished reading, so he said, "Last night, all the lanterns in the warehouse were taken out for use, and most of them were damaged. The doors and windows of some unoccupied courtyards were also pried open. If it’s broken, it needs to be repaired.”
Fortunately, the Chu family was very thin. Apart from furniture, there were no decorations or utensils in the unoccupied courtyards. The refugees broke in and only broke the doors and windows.
However, the garden in the front and back yards was completely destroyed by the refugees, and it would probably take a month to repair it.
"Then just take it out from the warehouse and register it in the book. You can prepare a list for the cost of the lantern and give it to me..."
Xia Zihan gave the orders one by one, and Manager Wang handed her the list he had prepared earlier. She took it and took a look. Fifty lanterns cost eighty cents each, which was a reasonable price.
However, that is the usual price. After the war, I am afraid that it will not be available at this price.
Xia Zihan didn't say anything, took out his private seal and stamped it, handed it back to the steward, and said, "Go to Mother Cui to collect the fee. If there are any changes, report back."
"Yes, that slave will go down first." Manager Wang felt blessed and went down with the list.
An hour later, Mother Lin, who was in charge of shopping in the shop, came back and found Manager Wang with a look of confusion on her face. This..."
Although the difference was not much, less than three taels, but... she happened to not have that much money on her.
Mother Lin blushed, "I just gave all my money to the Wang family. Didn't Wang Quan just disappear?"
Wang Quan was a servant of the Chu family. He worked in the front yard. Unfortunately, he was killed by the refugees that night. The Wang family worked in the backyard as a servant, in charge of the laundry room in the house. He was considered a steward, but the woman whose husband died It's always pitiful, not to mention she has two young children with her.
The pension in the house was large, fifty taels of silver per person, but seeing the Wang family crying miserably and the two children being pitiful without their father, she couldn't bear it for a moment, so she took out all the sixteen taels of silver she had saved over the years. Gave it to her.
In fact, she also has selfish motives.
Her husband died shortly after she got married when she was young, and she was unable to leave a son or a half, leaving her with no one to rely on when she grew old.
When she saw that the Wang family members were hard-working and kind-hearted people, she accepted them as her goddaughters. In this way, she also gained a pair of grandchildren, and she suddenly had both children and grandchildren.
But she was also worried that people would say that she was coveting Wang Quan's pension and deliberately confessed to her.
That's why she gave all the money she saved to the Wang family. It was good now, but when she needed the money, it was gone.
Manager Wang took the order and wanted to go to Xia Zihan, but he turned around and thought, "It's really not worth it to embarrass myself in front of the county boss for these two and a half pieces of silver."
She handed the order to Mother Lin again, "I'll put down the money first, and we won't bother the county boss."
The manager's monthly salary was five taels of silver per month, and Manager Wang was able to make up for half a month's salary.
Mother Lin took the money and the order and left.
Manager Wang looked annoyed and regretted not asking about the price of the lantern in advance, causing her to lose two and a half taels of silver.
In Xia Zihan's yard, Chu Fei walked in and reported, "Manager Wang took out the private bag, but judging from her face, it seems that she will get it back from somewhere else."
No matter how sincere the manager is, no one will be stupid enough to provide additional money to the master's family. They themselves have to support their families.
This place subsidizes the money, and then get it back from other places next time. This is a method that stewards always use.
Xia Zihan was not surprised, and just told Chu Fei, "Take a hairpin from the box on the shelf and give it to Manager Wang, saying that there have been a lot of things these days, and there are so many fewer people in the house all of a sudden, so how lucky she is." Bitter.”
She is also happy when the steward can do things, and she can repay something to make the steward happy. She cannot be called stingy as her master.
Chu Fei said oh, walked under the wooden shelf, opened a small box on it, and saw a box full of hairpins, bracelets, rings, earrings, all made of red gold, but not solid, they were all hollow. of.
After Xia Zihan took over the Chu family's middle gift, he specially asked Qi Mei to buy a box of jewelry like this for the people below.
Chu Zhai changed its master to support Zhongfu, and the people below him would climb up the pole to please Xia Zihan. Similarly, Xia Zihan would also reward the people below him with some things, so as to win their hearts closer.
Sure enough, when Manager Wang received the red gold hairpin, his eyes turned red with emotion, "It turns out that the county master guessed it. Yes, the county master is so smart, how could he not guess it?"
And the county leader has always been generous and never lets his subordinates suffer.
Manager Wang held the hairpin and felt ashamed for what she had just thought. She shouldn't have paid two and a half taels of silver and still be thinking about getting it back next time. How could she be worthy of her kindness? Such a beautiful old lady, and the county owner who was so kind to her.
Manager Wang felt ashamed and blushed, saying, "Miss Chu Fei, I want to go and thank the county master for the reward."
Hu Fei said, "The county master said, you don't need to thank me. There are fewer servants in the mansion, and the county master doesn't want to add more people. I will have to suffer more from you old people in the future."
"We slaves cannot afford to be lucky. It is our duty to serve the good old lady and the county lord." Manager Wang said with a flattering smile.
(End of chapter)