The maid's road to success

Chapter 126 Not scheming doesn’t mean you’re stupid

When Wen Niang was sent back by the servants of the Tongpan Mansion, in order to play the whole play, he deliberately spoke to Wen Niang in front of the neighbors.

"I am sorry to bother you today. I really want to eat some snacks from your shop, so I troubled you to come here. Thank you for making this trip."

Wen Niang calmed down the people who rushed out and immediately spoke loudly.

"Please go back and tell the adults that our shop has a limited amount of snacks every day. If you want to eat more, please come early every day to buy them."

The neighbors around saw that they were not arrested, but were invited to the Tongpan's Mansion to make snacks for the Tongpan's daughter because she liked their snacks.

Wen Niang caught a glimpse of a thin man behind the crowd who heard the conversation. He looked very unhappy and left quietly.

Wen Niang walked the servant of the Tongpan Mansion a few steps, returned to the yard and closed the door.

"Niang Wen, are you okay? We are all worried sick. An Ning said she would go to the Tongpan Mansion to rescue you."

Wen Niang's face didn't look very good either. She sat on a chair and drank a cup of tea before speaking.

"Luckily, Da Niu was smart and followed me to investigate the general situation of Qingcheng Entertainment, so I was able to think of a countermeasure. Otherwise, I would have suffered this time."

Bihe nodded. They had never thought that Da Niu would notice it in advance and come to report the news.

"If this incident happened suddenly, we would not know how to get rid of our suspicion in such a hurry. But Daniu followed the girl and saw her movements. I knew we could start with the girl and draw out her suspicion. As long as the judge investigates, he will definitely find some traces, and we can get away with it."

The matter of account books was a habit that Wen Niang Bihe developed at Fu Shou Tang. Bihe was in charge of tea and snacks, and a large family had to be careful with anything they consumed.

Everything that is taken away must be presented to the master and a record must be kept so that it can be easily investigated in case of any accident.

It can also prevent people with ulterior motives from taking action.

The snacks made by Wen Niang and her friends are more expensive, and their customers are basically wealthy ladies and ladies in the inner chambers.

In order to avoid trouble, they can only record who bought and how much they bought every day.

Firstly, it ensures that they understand guests' preferences and information, making it easier to retain guests; secondly, it is to avoid being targeted by those with ulterior motives.

They were lucky this time because their own account books had records of everything, and everything purchased by other people was clean and safe, which also alleviated their doubts.

Daniu was smart. He kept an eye on the people who came to report and provided them with key information.

"An Ning, I'm a little tired right now. Bring Daniu over here. I want to ask him some questions."

Wen Niang sat down on the couch to take a rest. Today's incident happened suddenly. Although she got through it safely, she was still very nervous. She was afraid that the magistrate would convict her without any investigation. She was also afraid that the girl would be careful and get rid of all the evidence.

Fortunately, she was calm enough and kept trying to prove her innocence, but after this trip, she felt exhausted.

When Daniu followed An Ning over, he looked a little embarrassed and nervously pulled at his collar.

Wen Niang stretched out her hand, motioning him to sit in front of her.

"No, no, my clothes are dirty and I stained the cushion."

Wen Niang pulled him to sit down, looked at him gently and asked.

"How did you think of going with that girl?"

Da Niu was still very nervous and only sat down a little bit.

"The money you left for me helped Xiaoliu recover from his injuries and provided enough food for the children at home. We are thinking about how to repay you a little bit here."

"Erya asked me to see what you do and what you need. I watched for two days and saw that you opened a shop and needed to buy flowers and food every day, so I picked osmanthus flowers and thought of sending them to you."

"I saw that girl bought something, but she secretly added something to the snacks. I felt that she must be up to no good, so I thought about following her to take a look."

Wen Niang nodded and pulled Daniu to ask.

"Daniu, are you willing to work with us? It might be hard."

Daniu's eyes suddenly lit up, he nodded, then seemed to think of something and shook his head.

"No, we kids can't work like normal people. We're afraid we won't do a good job and it will cause delays."

Wen Niang smiled and pulled him, looked into his eyes and asked.

"Don't worry about the rest. If you can't do it well, do it slowly. I just ask if you are willing to do it?"

Daniu's eyes became moist and he nodded.

"Yes, as long as the girl leaves behind a few brothers and sisters, I am willing to go out and carry sacks to supplement their food expenses."

Da Niu felt that he was no longer a child. He could not do much work, but he ate a lot. However, he was worried about the future life of his younger brothers and sisters.

I think the best thing is that Wen Niang is willing to take them in, but I have hands and feet, so I can't let Wen Niang support me.

"That won't work. We don't know how to take care of children. We still have to open a business. You have to take care of them yourself."

Da Niu naturally knew what Wen Niang meant, and nodded heavily while biting his lip.

"What you did today saved us once, and we will treat you well in the future. The weather is getting colder, and your house is leaking and uninhabitable. You and An Ning and An Ping should go and bring the children back. We only have three rooms left, so you should just bear with it for now."

Da Niu was choked with sobs and couldn't utter a word. He just nodded, and his tears kept flowing down, dripping onto his clothes.

Wen Niang's visit to the Tongpan Mansion wasted quite a bit of time. She still had to do business tomorrow and prepare food ingredients. The children also needed to prepare room necessities and clothes.

"Bihe, prepare the ingredients first. I'll go buy some quilts and some clothes nearby."

Bihe nodded. Wen Niang didn't know how to make snacks, so she went to buy some food and made the snacks herself. Division of labor would make things faster.

Wen Niang took the purse. Fortunately there was a cloth shop nearby, so she bought four quilts and eight sets of thick clothes. Wen Niang could only buy according to her approximate height.

There are also bathtubs, washbasins, soaps, shoes, and snacks.

Fortunately, since she bought a lot, the store delivered the goods to her home. Looking at the pile of things, Wen Niang could only go home for the time being and buy whatever she needed later.

When she came back, An Ning had already picked up all the children in a carriage. Big and small, they were standing in the yard, holding their tattered packages, not daring to go into the room.

"An Ning, wait for the cloth shop to deliver the beddings. The rooms at the back haven't been tidied yet. Lead them there to tidy up first. An Ping, go help Bi He. We have to open the shop for business tomorrow."

Wen Niang took the children to fetch water and clean up the room. Fortunately, there were a few empty rooms in the back yard, otherwise she wouldn't have known where to put them if she suddenly brought them back.

"This room has a big kang, and Daniu lives here with his two boys."

"The other two rooms only have small beds. Arya lives with her two younger sisters. Move that bed in later and put them together."

An Ning brought the people from the cloth shop to bring bedding and spread it out for several people.

Erya touched the soft and smooth quilt and hurriedly stood up with the help of the bed frame.

"Miss, cotton is expensive, we can just use straw mats."

Wen Niang pulled Erya to sit down and looked at her pale eyes.

"Call me sister, from now on I'm the second sister, Bihe is the eldest sister, Anning is the eldest brother, Anping is the second brother, we are all brothers and sisters, don't be frugal, the sisters can all earn money."

Tears flowed from Erya's blind eyes and she cried loudly while hugging her sisters.

Ever since she was kicked out by her family, she couldn't see and couldn't find her way home.

It was Da Niu who brought them one by one to that shabby but warm yard and fed them with food he collected by carrying sacks, begging, and picking up.

For the first time, I realized that they could be loved and pampered.

They can also use new and warm quilts, and someone will pay for their wound treatment and buy them clothes and food.

"Sister Erya, our quilt is so beautiful, it's made of floral fabric. It's the first time I use such a nice quilt."

Erya nodded and just cried while hugging a few girls.

There was no time to cook, so Wen Niang simply bought some food from a nearby restaurant.

Everyone had experienced a lot today and didn't have much energy to celebrate. They just got together for a good meal. Wen Niang and the others helped boil water so that the children could take a bath, change into clean clothes and rest.

Da Niu looked at his two younger brothers sleeping peacefully. They must have seen something good in their dreams, as there was a faint smile on their lips.

He opened the window, looked at the quiet night sky outside, touched the warm and soft quilt on his body, and felt indescribable happiness in his heart.

He had been a beggar ever since he could remember, and was raised by several old beggars.

He was very grateful to the old beggars for keeping him alive, but he escaped from the beggar's den after he was six years old because he gradually realized that the old beggars always liked to touch and kiss him.

At first he didn't know what it was for, but he didn't like this behavior. The old beggar just said that he did it because he liked him very much.

It was not until one day when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his buttocks while sleeping that he realized that the old beggars were hurting him. His back was bleeding, but he was under control and he escaped only when someone approached him.

He didn't understand whether this was right, but he knew that he didn't like it, was disgusted by it, and it hurt him, so he felt that the old beggars were hurting him.

On the way to escape, he hid in a brothel and saw with his own eyes two men hugging each other, doing that kind of thing, fighting and swearing at each other. He deeply felt that it was not the right behavior to like someone.

In order to escape completely, he came to Yuzhou. His shoes had long been rotten, and there were countless wounds on his feet. He came to Yuzhou City and initially survived by picking up leftovers thrown away by restaurants and hotels in various streets and alleys.

When I was a little older, I started to help others carry sacks, earning four or five cents a day and buying two pounds of broken rice and coarse flour.

Although it can only barely make ends meet, at least it is clean food bought with my own money.

He found an uninhabited place and treated it as his home. Although it was dilapidated, it was at least a place to shelter from the wind and rain.

The first person he met was Arya, who was abandoned at the dock and was holding on to her clothes and begging him to take her home.

But Erya had never left the village. The first time she went out was when she was abandoned. She couldn't even tell where her home was. Besides, she couldn't see anything and couldn't recognize the way home.

Daniu knew clearly that Erya was despised by her family because she was blind and was completely abandoned. He had no choice but to take Erya to his so-called home.

The money I earn every day is barely enough for two people to eat and drink.

Later, he picked up several other brothers and sisters one after another. As long as they were healthy and had intact limbs, Da Niu sent them to charity, where they would be treated better and might also meet someone who could not give birth to a child and could adopt one.

But for those with disabilities like Erya, even if they go to a charity, they will only be despised and bullied, and they may not live long before dying without knowing how.

The salary of Daniu was not enough to feed his family, so he started to pick up leftovers. Sometimes he was despised and beaten by others, but fortunately he managed to support his brothers and sisters.

But one time when Xiaoliu went out, he was teased by some bad boys. Not only was he beaten, but he also fell into the water. He had a high fever that night. Daniu felt very sad when he saw Xiaoliu becoming so weak and apologizing to himself for going out casually.

They had to steal the money out of necessity, but they unexpectedly met a noble person who gave them food and money for medical treatment. Thanks to God, Xiaoliu was able to survive.

It was the first time they met someone who did not despise or hate them but was eager to help. They just wanted to repay the kindness, but they didn't expect that they helped the benefactor again and had a real home because of it, a home that did not leak, was windy, or have insects, ants, snakes, or rats.

Daniu closed the window, turned sideways to face his two younger brothers, and muttered something.

"From now on, we have our own families, and we will live a good life."

After a good night's sleep, Wen Niang woke up late for the first time in her life.

When I woke up, An Ning and An Ping had already steamed the cakes, and Bi He was cleaning the shop.

Wen Niang watched Da Niu leading a group of younger brothers and sisters to work in the yard. The yard had been swept spotlessly clean, and Erya was still sweeping with a few little girls.

Da Niu carried buckets of water and took his younger brothers to clean the stone table, doors and windows.

"It's already clean, no need to scrub."

Wen Niang knew that these children had been despised for too long, and it was hard to find someone willing to take them in. They were afraid of being driven away, just like herself when she was first bought into Fu Shou Tang.

They scrambled to do work and try to please the maids and sisters in the orphanage, hoping to stay and not be abandoned again.

"They usually do some cleaning and washing at home. It's okay. I'll go to the dock to carry sacks later. I won't eat for free."

Wen Niang hurriedly stopped Daniu who was about to go out. Wen Niang knew very well that Daniu was afraid that she would drive them out again one day, so he wanted to earn some money to supplement their income.

"What can you do with the money you earn from carrying sacks? You might as well leave it at home to work. We need to run the shop and make snacks every day, which requires a lot of firewood. You might as well collect some firewood for the family. I can spend twenty coins a day just on firewood."

When Daniu heard that firewood was so expensive, he nodded immediately and said that he knew where to get firewood.

Wen Niang noticed that there was firewood piled up in the yard where they lived before. She thought that it must have been chopped by Daniu. In order to prevent him from going to the dock to carry sacks and exhausting himself, it would be better to find him something else to do.

"Just enough for use. There's too much space at home."

Da Niu found an axe and two ropes and left in a hurry, but Bihe chased him out.

"Why are you in such a hurry? I haven't had breakfast yet. Take these and eat them on the way."

Bihe didn't have time to set the table in the morning because everyone had to open the shop early, so they heated up the buns and steamed buns in the kitchen, and whoever was free could eat them.

Da Niu was holding four or five big buns, smelling the meaty aroma inside. He couldn't help but get wet in his eyes. He was afraid of being noticed, so he rushed out quickly.

When Erya heard that Daniu had left, she felt a little nervous, and they didn't know what they could do to help.

"Er Ya, take your brothers and sisters to eat first. After they are full, we will go to open the store. Can you wash the clothes you want to change into?"

When Erya heard that she also had something to do, she was so happy that she agreed loudly and was led to the kitchen by her younger brother and sister.

Seeing that these little kids were still very cautious, Wen Niang didn't know what to do. She could only take it slow as they had other important things to do today.

Opening a shop to do business, Babaozhai's malicious frame-up and attack on the daughter of the magistrate will definitely not end well. She needs to pay attention to the other party before she can completely vent her resentment.