Legend of Concubine's Daughter Minglan 知否知否 应是绿肥红瘦

C188. Regulating the Family, He Family's Medical Books (120.1)

In the morning, Minglan sat by the table alone with her eyes still heavy from sleep. She held her spoon up so slowly as if she was still dreaming. Danju couldn't help shaking her head when she looked at Minglan, "Madam, you are so lucky to be a woman. Otherwise, if you are a man, how are you able to read the book until mid of the night and go to work early in the morning?"

Minglan almost laughed out loud. Our dear spiderman once told us, with great power comes great responsibility. Since the men in ancient times had many more privileges than the men in modern times, they should at least work harder. Come to think about it, during Minglan's previous life, she also had stayed up late for work and got up early next day in the morning... Gosh, she really missed her previous life. At that time, although the sky wasn't clear, the ground was not so clean and the rivers were kind of polluted, women could still share part of the family properties after the divorce if their husbands cheated on them. Also, women in modern times could come after their husbands' concubines, retort their aggressive mothers-in-laws and post on the Internet about how their best friends seduced their husbands. The most important thing was, even if they cheated on their husbands, they wouldn't be sentenced.

All right-- Minglan stopped wandering those fantasies. One should always come back to the reality.

Wang Xifeng, the famous madam in ancient times, truly was an unreachable benchmark for Minglan. What a workaholic! Without any extra wages or the chance of promotion except for some profits that could be reaped from her work, Wang Xifeng still completely devoted herself into her job. However, it was just not worthy in Minglan's view. Every day, Wang Xifeng woke up at the midnight and started to deal with the family affairs before the daybreak. Also, she had to consider every member of her family. Even so, she still volunteered to help deal with the matters in Lord Ning's mansion! Come on!

At last, she lost her health and used up all her dowry. What's more, because she never had a son, her husband married You Erjie. So why did she work so hard? Because she needed the sense of achievement? It was so hard to understand.

As for Minglan, her nature just prevented her to be a model worker. She had already asked Liao Yong's wife and other mamas in charge to call the roll in the morning in turns and arrange the daily jobs to other servants. In the meantime, Minglan would check the accounts after the breakfast. Most of the time, the second day's work would be dispatched before the dinner of previous night. Minglan only needed to do the surprise inspection from time to time. And so far, everything went pretty well in the mansion.

Mama Cui was very unsatisfied with Minglan's 'laziness' and had lectured the latter more than once. However, Minglan only spoke with eloquence, "The result is always the same no matter I choose to work hard or not. Why do I have to torture myself?"

Mama Cui argued with a straight face, "Madam, you only need to work hard when you are young. When you have many children and grandchildren, you can enjoy resting yourself all the time."

"No, no, no." Minglan wagged one of her fingers, saying, "Mama, do you enjoying getting up late now?"

Mama Cui, trying to dodge the bright gaze of Minglan, replied, "Not that much."

"See? As the saying goes, pluck flowers as they bloom; wait and you'll have only the twigs. I can't wait until I get old to have a good sleep. Other young madams don't have the chance to have a good sleep, but I do. Also, if I don't take good care of myself, I would only waste what God has given me. Am I right, mama?"

As a woman who was clumsy of speech, Mama Cui never talked too much. So right now she could only glared at Minglan in anger. Everybody else all praised that the Sixth Lady of the Sheng family was the most docile and obedient girl. However, only Mama Cui knew that Minglan was a perceptive girl who always complied in appearance but opposed inwardly. All those wicked theories all sounded plausible when being spoken by her. She would approach you with a beaming smile and discuss with you with her eyes curved as if she really wanted to consult you.