Minglan was sitting in the right side room to eat her breakfast . As she was chewing the not-so-delicious fried cake in her mouth with her eyebrows knitted, she also tried to slowly recall the things that she had read last night . Then she decided to put the accounts aside and checked on the people first . After Minglan had taken over the name list of the personnel, she started to sort out the information in her mind quickly .

All the servants in Commander’s mansion added up to 62 . That number was too little for a huge mansion like this indeed .

Meanwhile, those people could be cla.s.sified into three groups . The first group of the servants who had been bought by Gu Tingye from the outside had no roots . However, it was still likely that they had already been at someone else’s service . The second group of the servants had been awarded by the Emperor . Most of them had used to be the family servants of the guilty officials before . There might even be some ladies or young masters among them, which was worth paying attention . The third group consisted of four families which were from Marquis Ningyuan’s mansion . Two families had been sent by Old Madam Qin while the other two families had been sent by the Fourth and Fifth Old Madam respectively .

Well, Minglan almost forgot to count the servants who had come with her from Sheng’s family .

After she had finished eating the breakfast, she checked her appearance quickly and then put on an informal front opening coat embroidered with plum flowers on twisted branches and a virescent gauze cloak . Today she chose the bright color and gorgeous dressing style . Then she was led by a few maids to the Morning Sunlight Hall .

At present, the sun was shining brightly in the sky . The doors on the four sides of the hall had already been opened . There were four Central Scroll Paintings on the eastern and the western walls . On the front wall on the north hanged the tablet which was granted by the emperor . A glossy rosewood square table was right below the tablet with armchairs of the same material by both sides . Two rows of wide chairs with short backs were arranged trimly by two sides of the hall . There was a small tea table carved with Ruyi patterns between each two of the wide chairs . The floor was paved with polished Blue Flagstone with a dark red woolen carpet in the middle .

What a hall of the mansion! It was grand and magnificent of great momentum .

Minglan looked at that rosewood huge chair with high back while thinking that only a woman in Old Madam Sheng’s age would look so commanding on that chair . However, since she was the madam of this mansion, there seriously was no one who could sit on that chair other than her .

After she had walked steadily toward the chair and took her seat, the elder servants who had carried the tea tray there for a long time stepped forward right away to give their obeisances . Minglan then nodded to them slightly . As she raised her head to have a look, she saw that the swarm of people who stood under the stairs had already been divided into a few groups . Some groups stood there neatly while the other ones being rather attentively .

Liao Yong’s wife took a step forward and said reverently with her head lowered, “Madam, that’s all the servants in the mansion except for four doormen . I have also brought the servants who work in the kitchen . ”

Being very satisfied with the straightforward style of Liao Yong’s wife, Minglan glanced at the latter with admiration and nodded .

Liao Yong’s wife seemed to be inspired . Then she pointed at several rows of people who were standing outside of the hall and introduced shortly, “These ones are in charge of the cleaning, these ones do the needlework . These ones take charge of the purchase work . These ones guard the yards . As for them . . . ” After her long speech, she pointed at dozens of girls who seem very young and said, “They haven’t been a.s.signed to anything yet . Momo Chang said that after Madam married into our family, those girls should be taught about the rules before they serve . Minglan memorized secretly of which groups of people stood there orderly and which groups looked less disciplined . She also memorized the leader of each of the groups .

At last, Liao Yong’s wife hesitated for a second and then said in a low voice, “Also, the lady in the House of Thorns Leaf . . . Eh, That Lady Fengxian in House of Ling Ding, the two maids who serve her aren’t from our mansion, so . . . they didn’t come . ”

Minglan frowned and asked, “What’s the name of the place she lives anyway?”

Liao Yong’s wife reacted fast, “It used to be called House of Thorn Leaf, but Lady Fengxian changed the name to House of Ling Ding . . . Master doesn’t have time to care about this, so we just use that name too . ”

Minglan didn’t comment anything but only smiled at Liao Yong’s wife, which made the latter’s heart beat fast . After that, Liao Yong’s wife stepped back with her head lowered . Minglan laughed inwardly while thinking, “It looks like this Lady Fengxian is a proud girl . Not only hasn’t she tried to win favor of others, she seems to have annoyed lots of people . ”

After that, Minglan turned around to look at Mama Lai . Then she found a few people who dressed fine clothes showing on the stairs by the door . Mama Lai smiled and introduced them to Minglan, “Lai family and Hua family were sent by Old Madam Qin . Tian family was sent by the Fourth Old Madam . Diao family was sent by the Fifth Old Madam . ”

After the introduction, those people went down on their knees and kowtowed to Minglan while paying their respects together .

Minglan was not very comfortable about the scene of so many people kowtowing and giving obeisances to her, but she still managed to endure that . After she had told them to stand up with a gentle smile, she put down the tea cup and overlapped her hands on her legs leisurely, saying in a loud voice, “Master has said that the Morning Sunlight Hall should only be opened at festivals or when the important guests arrive, instead of any random occasions . I considered meeting everyone here today a big event . So I ventured to open the hall . Now we finally meet each other officially . ”

Hearing her words, the people had different reactions . Some were touched, some were joyful, some were suspicious, some put on a fake smile and so on .

Minglan noticed everyone’s reactions and then said with a smile, “After today, we’ll live under the same roof . Since I didn’t know about you before, I’d like to get to know about everyone here . ”

Her words confused everyone there .

Minglan didn’t explain anything and only waved to the place behind her . Danju had already prepared a desk in the hall with papers, inks and inkstone on the surface . Then Ruomei stepped forward and sat down in front of the desk, preparing to do the writing . Danju then stood next to Ruomei . After that, Xiazhu walked toward them shyly .

Danju said with a smile, “Don’t be afraid . Let me ask you this, how old are you, where are you born?”

Xiazhu was in a daze while answering blankly, “I’m thirteen, Hillock . . . Village . I was born in Hillock Village on the west of Tong Prefecture . ”

“How many people are there in your family?” Danju asked fluently with a paper in her hand .

“My father, my mother, my grandmother, three brothers, two sisters, I . . . I am the youngest one in my family . My families are all farmers . ”

“How did you come to our mansion?”

Xiazhu looked at Minglan, finding the latter nodded at her gently . Then she nerved herself while replying, “When I was eleven, it hasn’t rained for a long time . We had a poor harvest that year and my brothers wanted to get married . Then my father found a trader and sold my two sisters and me to be maids . I was so lucky to be here that I could eat good food everyday!”

Someone was already t.i.ttering in the crowd . Minglan then cast a slight glance at them . They fell into silence right away while standing there sternly . Ruomei took notes of Xiazhu’s words quickly . There was only the rustle of the writing brush rubbing the paper .

“What happened next?” Danju asked in a soft voice .

Xiazhu, getting more and more courageous, said smoothly, “Afterwards, Momo Chang picked me and taught me rules for more than half a year . Then I was capable of serving Master . ” When facing Danju and other maids of Minglan, Xiazhu always felt inferior spontaneously, like a middle school students admiring a master student in the same workplace .

Then, Ruomei stopped writing while saying with no expression on her face, “Come leave your fingerprints here . If we find out that you have lied to our Madam, this will be the prove . Don’t blame anyone at that time . ”

“I won’t, I won’t!” With Xiazhu’s head shaking ceaselessly, she left her fingerprints right away .

Minglan smiled and said, “All right . Good for you . Come here now . ”

Xiazhu let out a sigh of relief and ran toward Minglan as if she had heard of her pardon . All the other servants who stood there already knew what this was all about . Someone’s face turned pale . Someone showed a hesitation on the face . Someone seemed not to be convinced .

Minglan didn’t pay any attention to them . She looked to Mama Lai’s direction and waved to a beautiful girl . This girl who had arched eyebrows and two big eyes as well as slender waist and large b.r.e.a.s.t.s did look very pretty and charming . Minglan then ordered, “That’s right, you . Come here . ”

After the girl had looked at a middle-aged woman beside her with doubt, she took a deep breath and stepped forward . Danju dragged the girl toward her with a tender smile . That girl seemed to be a bold one . She didn’t show a single sign of timidity while measuring Minglan up and down constantly . Lvzhi who was quite unhappy to see that walked over and pulled Danju away . Then she turned around and said smilingly, “Madam, may I question this sister?”

Minglan nodded with a smile while telling Qinsang to replace Ruomei .

Before Lvzhi came up with a question, that girl started to speak with a beaming smile, “My name is Mingyue, I am . . . ”

“You can’t use this name!” Lvzhi interrupted her all of a sudden, “It’s so similar to Madam’s name . Tell your parents to change another one for you . Get rid of the front four syllables!”

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