When Qin Yuan returned to Wutong Garden, it was already time to light the lamps.
The little maids saw them coming back and hurriedly went to the kitchen to pass the meal order, asking if the lady needed hot water, handing over hot towels, serving tea, all very perceptively.
Cui Ming smiled and said, "They’re all eyeing the top maid position beside the lady and are trying to impress."
Qin Yuan nodded, "Teach them well. If you can train a few useful ones, they’ll call you their master, and I can promote you to be the housekeeper."
Hong Ye excitedly asked, "Really?"
"When have I ever lied to you?"
"Miss, you’re really stirring up my aspirations," Hong Ye blinked and said, "I used to only think about being careful and not causing trouble for Miss, thinking it would be enough to help Miss a bit, never dared to think so far."
"Pfft," Qin Yuan tapped her on the head, and said, "Didn’t I let you manage the tea room? Would I let you do it for nothing? We just came here and know nothing, see more, listen more, learn more. In time, who else would I use but you?"
Hong Ye quickly befriended people, with a bold personality. In the past life, she helped a lot. Half of the Prime Minister’s Mansion relied on Hong Ye to help manage.
Why couldn’t she be a housekeeper in the Marquis Mansion?
Hong Ye, covering her head, hurriedly explained, "I thought, which lady doesn’t have to wait until they are older to manage the household? The Sixth Madam is also ahead of Miss, in terms of seniority, who knows when it would be, so I never dared think about it."
Cui Ming seemed thoughtful.
The little maids already brought back the food box, ready to set the table. Qin Yuan said, "I’ll go see the Marquis first."
No matter what Gu Jinghui thinks, her daily care and greetings couldn’t be missing.
Qin Yuan went to the side room, unsurprisingly, Gu Jinghui was resting again.
"Has the Marquis had dinner?"
"He has."
"What did he have?"
"Nanny Rong brought lotus seed soup, the kitchen sent sour bamboo shoot porridge, duck breast with rouge, and some seasonal vegetables. After eating, the Marquis told us not to disturb him, he wanted to rest."
"Make sure to arrange the rotation well, so that the Marquis has someone to call on if he wakes up in the middle of the night."
"The maids all remember."
After giving a few more instructions to the little maids outside, Qin Yuan went back to wash her hands and have dinner.
Since Marquis Gu wasn’t there, Qin Yuan let the two maids join her at the table for a meal.
Hong Ye looked at the full table of dishes and said, "There’s so much, even with a few more people, it’s too much—it feels too extravagant."
Remembering that in her past life, there had to be at least twelve dishes for a dinner in the Prime Minister’s Mansion, otherwise Hong Ye would feel wronged, Qin Yuan couldn’t help but laugh.
The sudden wealth in the Marquis’s Mansion made the then-innocent Hong Ye bewildered.
But once someone is accustomed to luxury, they take it for granted.
"Why not set aside some for Gu Shiliu and the little maids watching outside to have more dishes?" Hong Ye asked.
"Alright."
Cui Ming helped portion the dishes, taking them outside for the little maids: "The lady says you’ve worked hard watching over the Marquis these days, this is for you to have more dishes."
The little maids exclaimed in quiet surprise, "Thank you for the lady’s reward."
Eating leftover food from the masters was for the more esteemed maids; the majority ate the servants’ provisions.
Now, the lady was giving them untouched dishes, it was indeed very considerate.
Hong Ye specifically saved a plate of meat, placed it in the food box, and said, "Later, take this to Gu Shiliu."
Qin Yuan smiled, focused on her meal, and didn’t speak.
At this point, she was quite hungry.
The Sixth Lady Gu was probably still busy balancing accounts with the housekeepers, it was not her fault, one could only blame the Sixth Lady Gu for spending too much time earlier.
Having something on her mind, Hong Ye quickly stuffed herself with a few bites then hurried out with the food box to find Gu Shiliu.
Cui Ming glanced at Hong Ye, continuing leisurely to count the grains of rice, savoring each bite.
After a while, Hong Ye returned, face beaming with joy, the table already cleaned up, Qin Yuan was leisurely sipping old Pu’er, leaning against the Arhat Bed, looking content.
Hong Ye said with a laugh, "Miss, guess what the Marquis did today?"
"What?" Qin Yuan lazily asked.
Hong Ye couldn’t help but chuckle a few times before saying, "The Marquis had Gu Shiliu register the Seventh Miss for the Qiqiao Festival talent contest, competing in embroidery, saying that if she doesn’t place, she’ll be kept in the mansion to learn embroidery from now on."
Cui Ming was stunned for a moment and said, "The Old Madam asked the Seventh Miss to learn needlework for three months, and she almost cried the Great Wall down. The Marquis making her compete, isn’t that..."
"Ha ha, isn’t it!" Hong Ye couldn’t stop laughing and said, "The Old Madam said the mandarin ducks embroidered by the Seventh Miss didn’t even look like wild ducks."
"Everyone participating in the Qiqiao Festival talent contest is highly skilled. Last year’s embroidery champion was even taken as a disciple by Hui Fengniang, a master of Su Embroidery."
"Gu Shiliu said the Seventh Miss was crying, wanting to go complain to the Old Madam, but couldn’t even leave the courtyard. The Old Madam had exempted her from visiting ceremonies these days."