Normally, Zheng Zheng would go to Zuofu to study on even days and stay at home on odd days. During this period, due to the earthquake, the school was suspended for ten days.
Zheng Tan followed Aunt Shi to carefully inspect the surroundings of Yaxinxuan and Tingyu Xiaozhu. There were no cracks in the walls, and if the bricks and tiles were slightly damaged, he immediately asked the servant to repair them to make sure they were all right. He took inventory of the damaged items and recorded them in detail.
Next. Then Zheng Zheng took the lists of Yaxinxuan and Tingyu Xiaozhu and gritted his teeth at the things on them.
She had just attended a girls' school for a month, and now she could only recognize two to three hundred words. However, the names of the objects were all long and complicated, and she knew almost no words. She was too stubborn to ask anyone.
The more I look at it, the more headache I get.
Aunt Shi and her two maids were both illiterate, so they couldn't help much. They only made her sweat profusely and extremely distressed!
Aunt Shi presented a cup of sour plum soup: "Miss, don't be impatient for now. Drink a glass of water to quench your thirst."
Zheng Tong sighed after taking the sour plum soup and drinking it all. On weekdays, seeing Jin Tong acting vigorously and resolutely, taking care of the housework seemed like a piece of cake. How could it be her turn? Even the place where she had lived since she was a child had paid off the money
Not coming out yet.
Aunt Shi has served Zheng Tan since she was a child and knows her temper very well. Knowing that she is too strong and unwilling to ask for help from Jintong, she pretends to be casual and says: "Miss, Yaxinxuan, Tingyu Xiaozhu, Bao
You have some idea of what the object is, right?"
Zheng Zhan suddenly realized: "Yes, I can check the quantity first." It turned out that the numbers from left to right didn't match up at all. This is really bad. Zheng Zhan had no choice but to look down and secretly go to Su Bai for help.
Su Bai usually comes over on the afternoon of every single day to teach Zheng Zhan how to work as a female worker for an hour or two. She has a peaceful personality, superb skills, and great patience. She is not as strict as Ning Zi, so Zheng Zhan gets along with her.
Got the best.
Su Bai was not polite: "Miss, please show me the list of damaged items first."
Zheng Zhan shyly took out the list of her words and pictures, and secretly took a peek at Su Bai. Su Bai's face was as usual, with no intention of ridicule, and Zheng Zhan felt better.
Su Bai flipped through it for a while, and finally understood it. He checked each item one by one and showed it to Zheng Zhan. Then he told Zheng Zhan: "Miss, the items displayed in each room are recorded in the warehouse according to categories."
Then, he explained each item in detail to Zheng Zhan, starting with the large screens, gold, silver, copper, tin, jade, porcelain, hanging paintings, etc. in Xinya Xuan. As he talked, a big problem arose
Already.
Su Bai held a rough clay pot: "Miss, this is obviously a silver pot with a water egret and a beam, worth about 200 taels of silver. How did it become a worthless clay pot?"
Zheng Zheng looked at the clay pot with a confused look on her face and thought hard. She had the impression that she had used a beautifully patterned silver pot before, but where did it go? She couldn't remember it at all.
Su Bai didn't ask much, and pointed to a painting hanging on the wall and said: "How come this quartet of plum blossoms, orchids, bamboos and chrysanthemums carved from nanmu, inlaid with jade and wrapped with silver wire, has been replaced by a painting of Danqing ink painting?" She said.
He looked closely at the signature seal of the ink painting, and then twisted the paper with his hands to check the quality: "It was not painted by a famous artist, and the paper is quite rough. This four-part painting of plum blossoms, orchids, bamboos and chrysanthemums, inlaid with jade and wrapped with silver wire, is carved from nan wood and is worth at least
A thousand taels, has it turned into a worthless ink painting?"
Zheng Zhan had a dull look on his face, and finally understood why the numbers couldn't even match up, and everything in her room had been replaced?! Who is so brave?
Lan Xiang bravely replied: "Sister Subai, it's like this. When Sister Xiaoying was here, she said that the four-part painting and the teapot were no longer bright, so she took them back to Aunt Jiang and cleaned them before sending them back."
Su Bai smiled gently: "Can I trouble Aunt Shi to go to Aunt Jiang and ask her if she can count?"
Needless to say, the result was that Grandma Jiang received nothing at all!
The feeling of being betrayed was naturally unpleasant, and Zheng Zhan was furious.
Xiaoying was sent by Shen Miaolian to be by her side. She always trusted her and gave her good rewards as soon as possible. Later, even if Xiaoying was found to have secretly received from others and stolen valuable items from the house and sold them for money, she still firmly believed that it was Jintong deliberately framed the case and tried hard to protect Xiaoying. But now, these things in her room were obviously stolen by Xiaoying.
Yaxinxuan only had four items replaced, but half of the items in Tingyu Xiaozhu did not match or could not be found.
Zheng Zheng sat on the couch dejectedly and said nothing. She realized that Jintong was right to deal with her mother Xiaoying and others.
Just after dinner that day, Zheng Zhan took the list and apologized to Jintong in person.
Jintong was surprised. She naturally knew in her heart how much Shen Miaolian and her people had embezzled in the mansion, and how much they had tried to hide and sell in the mansion.
The reason why this mess is left unchecked is that although Shen Miaolian was expelled to the family temple, she claimed to the outside world that she was praying at the family temple and could not tell when she would come back. She had to take care of her own mess and Jintong was too lazy to take care of it!
Secondly, this mess is living proof. It would be a good idea to just wait for Zheng Qiyan to come back and wipe the butt of his "concubine".
Third, this is the situation in front of her. Let Zheng Zhan see with her own eyes that what her mother did is more effective than Jintong's hundred words.
But Jintong didn't expect that Zheng Zhan would come to plead guilty to her so simply. The tiger girl in the general family is indeed bloody and dares to take responsibility.
Jintong did not embarrass Zheng Tan. He only asked Zheng Tan for his opinion and asked Aunt Cai and Su Bai Ningzi to help them rearrange Yaxinxuan and sell off the damaged and replaced items. As for Tingyu Xiao Just ask a few little maids to look after the building and clean it up, and ignore it for the time being.
Jintong saw that Zheng Zhan had no idea about money, so he promised to take her out to see it as a reward.
Except for going to school at Master Zuo's house, Zheng Zhan had never been to any other place in Beijing. He was so happy that he almost jumped up.
On a nice day, in order not to attract attention, the six masters and servants all wore ordinary clothes and went out for a walk in the ox cart used to transport vegetables and rice in the kitchen.
Jintong told Zheng Zheng that if they use the carriage of the Marquis Mansion, it will be too eye-catching and they will definitely not be able to have a good time. It is fun to imitate the current Holy Lord and go on patrol incognito!
Zheng Tan felt it was extremely fresh. The carriage she usually rode in was naturally surrounded by people. Whenever she lifted the curtain, she would be criticized by Aunt Shi, saying that a lady shouldn't look around, which would damage her image. Now it's good, this The oxcart was uncovered and had only four sacks of coarse millet grits as backrests. She could look at it as much as she wanted!
Wu Ping was driving the bullock cart with a constipated look on his face. He was afraid of running too fast and bumping into Jintong and the others. He was also afraid of running too slow and being scolded by Jintong. He also had to perform well in front of Danzhu and had to control his strength. It was miserable.
It was a hot day in July, and I couldn't help but sweat. I was afraid of inhaling Jintong and his Danzhu, so I finally went to West Street. I took a long breath and felt relieved!
Wu Ping transported the coarse millet grits to the temporary shack in Anjifang. In recent days, some charitable people from relatively well-off families came to donate rice, food, clothing, and supplies. Anjifang assigned special personnel to look after them.
Jintong took Zheng Tan around, but Zheng Tan could only watch and exclaimed: "Aunt Shi, those women are too immoral, right? Working with men like that? It's really immoral!"
Aunt Shi looked at Zheng Zhan lovingly: "Sister Zhan, the poor people have to do this in order to fill their stomachs!"
"Then you can't be so naked!" Zheng Zhan saw that some women were wearing clothes that didn't fit properly. In addition to the hot weather, it was quite inelegant to tie up their clothes with their sleeves rolled up, and his face became more and more disgusted.
"Miss! This West Street is the poorest place in Beijing. After the earthquake, these people don't even have a place to live, so how can they care about their dignity! They only have a rag to cover their bodies and a mouth to eat. Not bad!”
"I have dozens of pieces of clothing in a season, but they don't even have a single piece of clothing to cover my body!" Zheng Zhan stayed in the Hou Mansion since he was a child. He was surrounded by wealth and wealth. How could he have imagined that there would be people in the world who were so poor that they had no clothes? Can't put them on: "Mom, how about we just take them... and raise them at home? We don't lack this."
Jintong made an appointment, concealing his identity when going out, and not mentioning the Marquis's residence, but instead talking about his home.
"Sister Zhan has a good heart, but if we raise them, their children and parents will also raise them together? How long will we raise them? What will the people who work at home think of us raising them?" Zheng Zhan lowered his head, knowing that he was thinking again. Forked.
"No matter where people end up, they have to rely on themselves in the end! They are now helping Anjifang to work, and they have three meals a day. Anjifang will give them wages according to how much they work, and when they stay in the West After the street is rebuilt, they will have a place to stay." Jintong patiently explained to Zheng Zhi.
Zheng Zheng looked at the strong men and women who were sweating profusely under the scorching sun. There were also many small children who were also helping to load sand and carry bricks. There was a child of seven or eight years old who ran too fast, fell, and immediately fell. Gulu got up, without even patting off his clothes, and hurriedly carried the sand scattered on the ground back into the basket on his back, packed it up and hurried to the construction site.
"Does such a young child have to work?" Zheng Zhan remembered that she sometimes changed several sets of clothes a day, and it took her a long time to learn how to embroider. The task Jintong gave her a day was to ask her to read four characters and trace ten characters. Page, she was still complaining and tired. She felt all kinds of emotions in her heart, lowering her head and thinking.
"There is a notice posted in Anji Square. If you complete the corresponding tasks every day and pass the inspection, you can get a bamboo stick. When the West Street is built, 120 bamboo sticks can be exchanged for a big house, and 80 bamboo sticks can be used to buy a house. 50 bamboo stick huts. First come first served, so naturally everyone in the family who can do it came out to help!" Jintong patiently explained to Zheng Zhi: "Ordinary people have to work hard every day to have food and clothing. If there are This is a natural disaster, the situation is precarious, and we may not see the sun tomorrow."
"Hmph! You have to be surrounded by hundreds of people to wait on you! Huh! You are so extravagant and lustful!" Looking at the sufferings of the people, Zheng Zhan has realized that he is really blessed amidst the blessings, but Jintong's daily expenses are more than She had no choice but to look down on Jintong angrily.
Although she had been reading for several months, her horizons had broadened. During the earthquake, she saw with her own eyes that Jintong managed the Hou Mansion internally and helped with disaster relief externally. He managed everything in an orderly manner and arranged hundreds of servants like an arm. Shizhi. In addition, I often hear the servants praising Jintong, and I actually admire her as my aunt.
She knew that although Jin Tong was lukewarm towards her on the surface, he had a good heart and had planned a lot for her. However, Shen Miaolian had been telling her bad things about Jin Tong for so long and suddenly made her get close to this aunt, and she also I feel awkward. So sometimes I can’t help but want to make fun of Jintong.
Naturally, Jintong was too lazy to argue with this naughty child, so he deliberately teased her: "Sister Zhan, do you know how many bricks, tiles, wood, and labor are needed to build a big house?"
"It's impossible that you still know!" Zheng Zhan retorted unconvinced.
Jintong held his head high and chest proudly, with a stern look on his face, smiling without saying a word.
"Sister Zhan, Mrs. Jin wrote down all the things needed for the reconstruction of West Street in categories, and asked Mr. Gongsun and Wu An to help prepare them. Even the drawings for the reconstruction of West Street were drawn by Mrs. Jin. What do you think? Does she know?" Su Bai looked around and saw that no one was paying attention to them, so she whispered to Zheng Zhan.
Zheng Zheng had always respected Su Bai, so he naturally believed her words, so she looked at Jin Tong even more unconvincingly, and finally remained silent.
At about the same time in Youzhong, the six masters and servants got on the carriage and went to the middle section of the most prosperous and lively Shili Long Street in Shangjing to find something to eat. Wu An did not dare to eat with them, so he saw a cake stall on the roadside and told Jintong. I plan to buy a cake to fill my stomach.
Zheng Zheng was curious about everything, so he pushed through, and then rushed out: "Mommy, give me twenty bucks. I want to buy a big cake with meat to eat. It smells so delicious!"
Jintong motioned to Subai, who held Sister Zhan's hand: "I'll take you to buy it so that you don't get crowded!"
"Ms. Jin, are the things outside not clean?" Aunt Shi was worried.
Naturally, Sister couldn't finish the cake. If it was normal, she would have thrown it away. But today, she saw so many children younger than her, and they had to work for food. She really couldn't bear to throw it away, and she just looked at it. Looking at Jintong and others, Wu Ping only ate a ten-sized piece of vegetarian cake, so he helped Sister Zhan eat the remaining half of the cake.
The few of them found a rather exquisite-looking restaurant for dinner, while Wu Ping continued to eat big cakes and watch the bullock carts outside.
Jintong listened to the waiter's introduction and ordered a table of dishes. The bill was three yuan and six cents of silver. Zheng Tong quietly asked Jintong: "Mom, how many meals like this can you eat for one tael of silver?"
"Let's eat three meals for one tael of silver."
"With ten taels of silver a month, can't I eat thirty meals?"
"Are you planning to take the Xinya Xuan people out to eat every day?" Jintong looked at her sideways.
"Hehehe!" Zheng Zhan also thought, but can she come out? "Mom, next time you take me to see somewhere else, okay?"
Oh, this naughty kid can act coquettishly with her. It seems like her stepmother is making rapid progress. Jintong pretended to think about it for a moment before replying: "If you behave better, I will take you to the theater next time."
"Okay, okay!" Zheng Zhan was so happy that she almost jumped up. Aunt Shi quickly held her down. Now that there were no four bags of grain blocking the cart, the entire cart was empty. Don't let it fall.