A Journey Through the Worlds of Film and Television.

Chapter 892 Qingwen

In the backyard of Rongguo Mansion, in Rongqing Hall.

"Brother Cheng, I heard from Yu'er before that you only have Xiangling to take care of your daily life, and she is not very considerate. I do have a trained maid by my side, but I don't know if she is suitable for you. If you don't mind, I will call her over, you can take a look at her, and if you think she is suitable, I will take her back, so that she can serve you tea and water and make your bed."

"Old Madam, thank you for your concern. I have heard from Brother Lian that the maids trained by the old madam are all first-rate. But Daiyu..."

"Don't worry about Yu'er. I've told her. Yu'er is still young. She'll have to wait another two or three years before she can get married. We can't leave you without someone to take care of you. It's not easy for you men to be officials outside. When you come home, you must have two maids who know how to take care of you."

"In that case, thank you very much for your kindness, old lady." Lu Cheng was also very curious about which maid the old lady was going to give away.

The maids in the Jia family can be divided into four levels, and the top one is naturally the maidservant. For example, Ping'er, who is by Wang Xifeng's side, is a maidservant brought to Jia Lian. However, Wang Xifeng has always kept a close eye on her, and although Jia Lian is also very greedy for Ping'er, he has never had the chance to get his hands on her.

It was precisely because Wang Xifeng was too strict that the opposite effect was achieved, causing the playboy Mr. Lian to be suppressed for a long time, and he would just bring things into the room regardless of whether they were good or bad.

In addition to the maidservants who serve as the main room, the next lowest are the first-class maidservants, the second-class maidservants, and the third-class maidservants.

First-class maids were paid the best, with a monthly salary of one tael of silver, and food and lodging provided. There were only eight first-class maids around Grandmother Jia, with Yuanyang as the leader. Xiren in Jia Baoyu's room was also a first-class maid trained by Grandmother Jia. She was sent to Baoyu's room to be his concubine.

Apart from Lady Jia, only Lady Wang and Lady Xing had a few first-class maids.

As for the younger ones such as Yingchun, Tanchun, and Xichun, the highest they served was a second-class maid.

At this moment, Grandmother Jia said, "Yuanyang, go and bring Qingwen here for Cheng'er to see."

Lu Cheng was also a little surprised when he heard the name Qingwen.

According to the time in the original work, Qingwen should have been sent to Baoyu the year Xue Baochai entered the Jia Mansion.

Now, both Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai came to the Jia Mansion a few years later than in the original novel, and Qingwen has not been sent away yet.

A moment later, Yuanyang came in with a girl wearing a light pink floral dress and a emerald vest.

Although the girl was only about thirteen or fourteen years old, she was already slender and graceful, with an elegant figure, eyebrows curved like willow leaves, and eyes as charming and clever as watery apricots. She actually had some similarities with Daiyu.

When Qingwen was about 10 years old, she was bought by Lai Dajia, the housekeeper of the Jia family, and was considered a servant in a servant's family. Lai Dajia's wife saw that Qingwen was quite clever and beautiful, so she often took her in and out of the Jia family.

When Grandmother Jia saw Qingwen, she liked her quite a lot and kept her by her side to train her.

Originally, Grandmother Jia wanted to send Qingwen to Baoyu to serve her after she had trained her well, but unexpectedly, Lady Wang knew about this in advance.

When Mrs. Wang saw that Qingwen was born charming and clever, she felt disgusted and repeatedly suggested to Lady Jia that she did not want such a maid to be around Baoyu, so as to avoid her leading Baoyu astray.

In the end, Qingwen was left with Lady Jia, in the hope that she would be trained further.

When preparing to send Lu Cheng as a maid, the first person that Jia Mu thought of was Qingwen. The reason was that Qingwen was the most beautiful of all the maids in the Jia family, and she had some similarities with Daiyu in her eyebrows and eyes. She was also the best knitting maid in all the maids in the Jia family.

If other maids were chosen to be given to Lu Chengre, they might not be pretty enough or have no talent, and thus would not be able to play the corresponding role.

Therefore, Grandmother Jia directly chose Qingwen.

Lu Cheng looked at the stubborn girl below him and couldn't help but think of the comment in the original novel:

A clear moon is hard to come by, and colorful clouds are easy to disperse. A heart as high as the sky, but a body as lowly as the sky. Being charming and clever attracts resentment...

Qing is Dai's shadow, and Xi is Chai's deputy.

Qingwen is Daiyu's shadow. Not only do they look similar, but they also have some similarities in character. She is strong-willed and would rather break than bend.

In the original novel, most of the maids in Jia Baoyu's Yihong Courtyard had unclear relationships with Baoyu, except Qingwen, who remained clean until her death.

It’s a pity that the cleanest Qingwen died on the dirtiest kang, wrapped in only a straw mat.

When Lu Cheng looked at Qingwen, Qingwen also looked up at him.

Seeing Lu Chengsheng's handsome and gentle appearance, and looking at her with gentle eyes, Qingwen couldn't help but lower her head. Then, the girl raised her head again, looking at Lu Cheng with some unwillingness, but saw that Lu Cheng had already looked away.

"Brother Cheng, is this girl still pleasing to your eyes?"

"Those around the old lady are naturally impeccable."

Hearing this, Jia's mother also smiled and said, "That's good. Yuanyang, take Qingwen downstairs to pack up her things, and by the way, find her indenture and give it to Cheng'er."

"Yes."

After leaving Rongqing Hall, Yuanyang couldn't help but say, "Qingwen, congratulations."

Qingwen replied, "What's there to congratulate? I don't know when this will end when I'm being sold like a commodity."

"You, don't be so ungrateful. Looking around the whole capital, there are countless women who want to marry the No. 1 Scholar, even as a concubine. Besides, our No. 1 Scholar is a gentle and elegant man, and he treats his servants very well. You will know it later."

Qingwen lowered her head, thinking of some rumors she had heard about the number one scholar, as well as the brief encounter she had just had, and her heart was filled with ripples.

In the evening, Lu Cheng took Xiangling and Qingwen away from the Rongguo Mansion and did not stay for dinner.

In the carriage, Xiangling looked at the girl in front of her who looked a bit like Lin Daiyu, and couldn't help but say, "Sister, you are so pretty. You do look a bit like Lin Daiyu."

"I am just a little maid. How can I have such a good life as Miss Lin?"

Xiangling smiled when she heard this: "The tone of voice is somewhat similar."

After returning home, Lu Cheng called Li, the maid who did the laundry and cooking, and Cuihua, the maid who was in charge of the cleaning, and casually instructed them, "Qingwen, the courtyard is not big, and there are not many rooms. You can live with Cuihua first."

"Yes, sir."

Cuihua looked Qingwen up and down and saw that she was beautiful and had slender white hands. It was obvious that she was not someone who could do rough work. So she smiled and said, "Sister, come with me."

When they returned to the main bedroom, Xiangling took the coat that Lu Cheng had taken off and hung it on the hanger beside her. She couldn't help but say, "Brother, this new sister Qingwen is really similar to Sister Lin."

"She's also a miserable girl."

At this time, Lu Cheng was thinking that it was time to move to a bigger yard.

Once you enter the small yard, you will find that the space is indeed a little small and there is no special stable, so it is not very convenient to raise horses in the summer.

Moreover, there will be more and more people in the mansion in the future. When Miss Lin marries in, this small courtyard will definitely not be big enough to accommodate them.

However, if you want to buy a large courtyard, you need a lot of money. Lu Cheng certainly has no shortage of money, but as a newly appointed top scholar, if he suddenly takes out too much money, it will easily attract attention.

The court had the Censorate, the Imperial Guards, and the Imperial Censors, and every move could be watched. This was the inconvenience of being an official.

Therefore, Lu Cheng also planned to find a suitable source of money so that he could use some of the money openly. Moreover, this source of money should preferably be in line with the status of the top scholar.

After dinner, Lu Cheng did some exercises in the yard and was about to go back to rest. Seeing Qingwen still waiting there, he said, "Qingwen, you should go back and rest too."

"Master, don't you need to serve me at night?"

"No, just be casual."